Day: 10 June 2018

Drop Outs

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Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. “What do you make of this? A farmer planted seeds. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. “Are you listening to this? Really listening?” Matthew 13:3-9

Beware of false hopes. We who have been caught up in the folly of addiction and compulsion are very aware of let-downs. Self-inflicted hurt suffered when we let ourselves down. The pain of being let down by people, systems and organizations. Some of these built up false hope in us. Counterfeit religion and man-made theories for changing our lifestyle and overcoming our problems that appeal to our ego’s.

In contrast, The Twelve Steps suggests getting to the heart of the problems within us. Proposals that do not recommend soul-searching and innermost judgment to pronounce personal guiltiness are misleading. Not until we are convinced and confess “I have sinned” recognizing the cause and effect of our problems can we hope to find a solution.

Many of us want to be content with a surface clean-up. Others realize cleansing must include the whole being. Are we happy enough to allow God access to every area of our lives? Only when we are willing to allow Jesus to defuse our ego and thoroughly purge through our lives can we expect recovery to effectively work in our favor.

dropout

Read Ezekiel 11

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Focus Verse: Ezekiel 11:21 “‘Not those who are self-willed and addicted to their rotten images and obscene idols! I’ll see that they’re paid in full for what they’ve done.”

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As we admit our sins and repent God will forgive and heal us.

WE ARE ALL ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD. 
2 Corinthians 5:10 Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.

EVERYTHING WE DO AFFECTS OTHERS
Proverbs 13:20 Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Matthew 12:37 “Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

Accountability

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The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10 “Sooner or later we’ll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what’s coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad.”  Step 7 in the ‘Life Recovery Twelve Steps’ says “Through acknowledging God’s supreme power, I humbly ask Him to help me change my sinful habits and attitudes.”

We are all responsible for our attitudes and actions as we walk the road to recovery in a relationship with God. In Celebrate Recovery they have a saying “If you could change on your own you would already have changed.” Recovery is a process that requires not only God support but also the support of ‘Accountability Partners’ and ‘Sponsors’  A sponsor is someone more spiritually mature than you are and an accountability partner is someone who will keep you on track and challenge you to live the life God has called you to live in order for you to become all He [God] intends you to be.

The WORD For Recovery

A New Creation

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2 Corinthians 5:17 Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone! The new has come!

logo_transparent_bgAnother of my favorite scriptures. This verse in my recovery saved my life.

I never believed when it came to step six changes in my character were possible. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a creature of habit. Always have been, always will be. I don’t adapt well to change. And I always prefer to be in control.

This one verse from the Bible gave me a whole new hope in my life. Hope that if I trusted God and did what he told me to do I never needed to be the person I was in the past again,

I want to tell you in my recovery journey I experienced so much change. In me, in my circumstances and in my life that without God would have driven me back to relapse.

Today I am a different person because I believed what the Bible said about change.

Change