Psalms 27:1-3 The Lord gives me light and saves me. Why should I fear anyone? The Lord is my place of safety. Why should I be afraid? My enemies are evil. They will trip and fall when they attack me and try to eat me alive. Even if an army attacks me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if war breaks out against me, I will still trust in God.
Ephesians 6:11 Put on all of God’s armor. Then you can stand firm against the devil’s evil plans.
A new week begins! As we approach a new week, how are you going to approach it? Because I know whatever comes, whatever happens, God is in control and all can be well with my soul.
DANGEROUS IRRESPONSIBILTY
Psalm 23:4
One of the disciplines I learned early in recovery. In fact, I learned it whilst in rehab in Rockingham in Western Australia through the reading of the Alcoholics Anonymous book 24 Hours a Day. It was the importance of starting the day right in a morning devotional time. Over the years I have maintained this practice. Whilst the Territorial Wholesale Manager of ‘Salvation Army Family Stores’ we used to start every day with ‘morning devotions’ that included all staff, many of whom were not Christian but who all looked forward to our time together before we commenced work for the day.
To that end, Living Life Recovery will now have a ‘Morning Start-Up’ reading featured here on our website at http://livingliferecovery.com(better late than never) The purpose of these morning start-up meetings is to focus our attention on recovery each day and having a God focus throughout the day to help us as we move forward on our spiritual walk.
The title for day one is above with a link to today’s verse for today. My prayer is that God will draw us closer to Himself as we share these important start-up messages together.
Morning Star-Up
When we were living irresponsibly we often put our lives in danger. I certainly did, but that’s another story for another time. Under the influence of alcohol or another mind-altering drug of choice we often disregard safety and common sense. At other times we may have experienced inexplicable fear and anxieties from which we felt powerless to escape. Like many other people, we looked for release by using more of our drug of choice. However, when the effects wore off our fears and anxieties remained. Our fears and anxieties were only brought under control when we handed them over to God and allowed Him to lead us to the right solutions.
Meditation
The world is full of people, situations and experiences that I was afraid of. I found that using alcohol and other drugs helped me forget those fears for a while. But they didn’t remove my fears. When I put my life in God’s hand in 1989 I discovered He removed my emotional fears. With Him, I can walk through the darkest valley, without fear secure in the knowledge that He will take care of me.
Prayer
I pray I will never take my life out of God’s hands and allow fear and anxiety to control my life.
Bible Reading: Matthew 4:18-20
Focus Verse: Matthew 4:19
These men already knew Jesus. He had talked to Peter and Andrew previously (John 1:35-42) and had been preaching in the area. When Jesus called them, they knew what kind of man He was and were willing to follow Him.
The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon. He told him, “We have found the Messiah.” Messiah means Christ. And he brought Simon to Jesus. John 1:41-42
We all know people who don’t know Jesus. We all know people who do not understand the recovery process. We all have a responsibility to God, to ourselves and to them to introduce them to a personal relationship with Him. The One who can heal every sickness, take away every pain and lead us all into a life far better than any of us can expect for ourselves.
Today at Belgrave South Baptists Church Pastor Tim Dyer began the series ‘The Greatest Message Ever’ He read from the passage The Sermon on the Mount. As I listened today and read along I was reminded of the significance of the ‘Beatitudes’ in the recovery process and in our lives in general and would encourage everyone this week to take time to read these wonderful words of Jesus and to take inventory on how we are measuring up against them.
In order to help me change, I will investigate and record with God’s help – my sinful habits and attitudes.