Matthew 7:7-8 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
As we get to know God better and discovery His character we will start to trust Him more and ask Him for His help more than we will rely on our own judgement.
God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play a major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. Ephesians 2:1
John 3:21 “Anyone who lives by the truth comes into the light. He does this so that it will be easy to see that what he has done is with God’s help.”
The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says: Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who can not or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty.
Rigorous honesty is vital in the process of recovery. Sometimes we don’t want to know the truth because we are no ready to deal with some parts of our past. Recovery is a process of continual spiritual growth. We may be comfortable dealing with some areas of our lives but not others because of our hidden shame.
John 8:12 Jesus says “I am the light of the world.” our verse today says the way to come into “the light” is to live by the truth. In the process of recovery, we need to face up to the things that can trip us up later and deal with them. The ‘Good News’ is Jesus wants to help us in the process and safely guide us on the right path through forgiveness of our shame and fear.
BETTER DAYS AHEAD
Psalm 23:5-6
Morning Start-Up
The good times are not all in the past. We sometimes remember the ‘good old days’ without remembering they were really ‘the bad old days’ Living standards and conditions that were not very good. I remember spending five years of my life homeless. I always had a roof over my head. Some were supplied by employers, some were shared accommodation because I had nowhere else to go and some were places rented by other people where I just visited one day and never went away. I also spent a short time on the streets of Perth but not long enough to qualify in my opinion as homeless. All due to my addiction to alcohol and abuse of other drugs.
The message of the Bible and the Twelve Steps of Recovery strongly challenged me to think in terms of better days ahead. It was not enough for me to simply move away from my old indulgences. Not enough to make a conscious choice to change my life. I had to totally reprogram my mind to think differently. I had daily come into the presence of God and seek His way of living in order to succeed in recovery. I had to obediently go where He directed me to go in order to experience the blessings He had in store for me.
When I committed my life, totally to God I found every day of my life filled with things from Him that were good for me.
Meditation
I will seek to fill my life with the things that God has prepared for my good. This helps me to resist the things that only bring me sorrow and suffering. I will endeavour to share God’s goodness and love with everyone I live and work with.
Prayer
I thank God for every good gift He has given to me. I thank Him for His love which I can share with others.