Philippians 4:8 You’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
It begins when we make a conscious decision to recover by doing whatever we need to do to live right. I heard a tape when I was involved with “Adult Children of Alcoholics.” on which the presenter said, “If you are an alcoholic and also an adult child of an alcoholic and you don’t deal with problems in your upbringing ‘YOU ARE GOING TO MESS IT UP.” I believe it is the same with Bible-based and Church-based recovery. If you have an addiction and you get involved in Bible-based or Church-based recovery and fail to deal with your addiction ‘YOU ARE GOING TO MESS IT UP!’
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are used in recovery programmes all over the world. Secular and Christian for one reason: ‘THEY WORK’
So I believe the first thing we need to do in the process of recovery is to learn and understand ‘The Twelve Steps.’ and what they mean for us to successfully change our lives. Applying the Twelve Step process is a life-long process that we learn as we grow physically, emotionally and spiritually.
That is why I think the first part of the threefold process is to RECOVER.
The second part in the process I believe is to REPENT.
Ezekiel 14:6 says “Repent! Turn your backs on your no-god idols. Turn your backs on all your outrageous obscenities.” In order to experience lasting, growing recovery we need to change our habits, our thoughts, our actions, beliefs, and commitments.
Repentance is not just about saying “I am sorry” Repentance is about changing every area of your life and bringing in it into line with God’s will for your life.
The third part in the process I believe is to RELIVE
Reliving requires learning new ways, God’s ways of living. It requires changing what you do when you do it and how you do it in every area of your life.
RECOVERY IS A LIFE-LONG PORCESS BECAUSE IT TAKES A LIFETIME TO WORK THROUGH THIS THREEFOLD PROCESS IN OUR LIVES AND APPLY THEM TO
GOD’S STANDARDS OF LIVING.
RECOVERY IS A PROCESS OF:
– Getting to know yourself.
– Getting to know God.
– Putting effort into getting to understand others.
The Bible says of the process of recovery It’s not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:7 In other words “you can’t go through the process without including God.”
The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it. 1 Corinthians 11:19 The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says of the process “It demands rigorous honesty.” You can’t achieve successful recovery by continuing to lie to yourself to others or to God. And, “you can’t achieve recovery based on half-truths.”
It’s not fragrance and smoke from the altar that whets your appetite. So I said, “I’m here to do it your way, O God, the way it’s described in your Book.” Hebrews 10:6-7 Recovery is a life-long process “you can’t achieve it just for a period of your life and then go back to your old way of living.”
As I posted yesterday current work commitments do not permit time for me to spend time daily on sharing here. To that end, I am going to present weekly a podcast. I am using for curriculum a process. Given to me through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and my own experience of recovery and daily living life recovery in a relationship with my Higher Power ~ Jesus Christ.
The picture below outlines the process the podcasts will take. How long it will take? I have no idea! It depends on where the Holy Spirit leads as we go through this process together.
