ABOUT HUMILITY
First you learn humility, then you experience glory. Humility is precursor to honour. Don’t walk on the poor just because they’re poor, and don’t use your position to crush the weak. Do God’s work humbly. All of you serve each other with humble spirits, for God gives special blessings to those who are humble, but sets himself against those who are proud.
Desperation can lead to sincere faith in recovery. Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.” Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.” Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.” Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.” He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.” She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.” Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well. Matthew 15:21-28
THROUGH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S SUPREME POWER,
I HUMBLY ASK HIM TO HELP ME CHANGE MY SINFUL HABITS AND ATTITUDES
Recovery is about developing your faith in God’s ability to help you change and stay changed.
I have seen many people fail in recovery because they don’t plan not to. I have seen many people fail to move forward in recovery because of the “One day at a Time” concept.
The Bible is clear we should live for today, put our faith in God’s will for our lives.
Forget about yesterday and not worry about tomorrow, That doesn’t mean we should not plan anything. Whilst in rehab I wrote, with God’s help a five-year plan for every area of my life. It took me three years to accomplish because my faith was in God, not myself. I knew that if I followed His leading things would work out for my benefit.
It took courage for the woman in this story to talk to Jesus. Because of her courage and her faith He healed her daughter and He wants to heal you.
It takes humility to acknowledge God’s supreme power. Accept that He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It takes humility to accept that only He can help us overcome our addictions and compulsions. And, it takes humility to let Him lead us where we dare not go alone.
Writing a plan for my life whilst in rehab was just that ‘a plan’ It never became my reality until I became willing to do what He told me to do and go where He told me to go in faith, trusting Him as I went.
PRAYER: God help to plan for the future and start preparing for it.
Are you willing to put your faith in God and humbly trust Him
no matter what comes?
Hebrews 12:2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
The poet, Coleridge said, “Beyond what is found in Christ, the human race has not and will not progress.” If we have not put our faith in Jesus and wrapped our future around Him our progress in recovery until now must be suspect. Rather than continuing in our self-thinking now is the time to squarely face up to Him. He begs for a chance to grip you and to re-create you. He holds the key to our future but we hold the key to our hearts and lives.
There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear. Isaiah 59:2
How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It’s all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that’s needed there. But there’s far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility. 1 Corinthians 14:20
– Even after we warm to the simple basic truths of Christ’s message it is possible to slip away into disbelief.
The Apostle John categorizes followers into three basic groups.
“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. Matthew 5:8
In Luke 10:42 Jesus said “Only one thing is important. Mary has made the right choice, and it will never be taken away from her.”
What will you choose?
Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this?
By shifting our focus from what we do to what God does not cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.
The joyful sound for us originated at Calvary, where the deed was done, our
representative carried through all the obligations for our emancipation from sin.
Opening ‘The Way’ to the holy presence of God.
Download ‘Morning Harmony #175’
SOUND OF MUSIC
Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in
the bright presence of God. Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who
you are, what you do—they can’t keep it quiet! Psalms 89:15-16
On the day of atonement, in the wilderness, all the congregation looked on as
their representative Priest entered the Holy Place. They listened to silence, there
was a tinkling sound which came from the bells on the hem of the priestly
garments. It was a solemn moment. Everything hinged on the shedding of
blood. God’s acceptance of the offering for sin and a way of making into the
holiest. It was a joyful sound as they heard the bells ringing is the priest later
emerged., mission accomplished and an Atonement effected.
The joyful sound for us originated at Calvary, where the deed was done, our
representative carried through all the obligations for our emancipation from sin.
The opening ‘The Way’ to the holy presence of God.
Colossians 3:16 Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the
house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using
good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God!
Psalms 145:3 God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough. There are no
boundaries to his greatness.
PRAYER: Lord attune the rhythm of my life to the music of Your will, so I
become an instrument for You.
We enter with ‘good intentions’ want to do THE RIGHT THING! without really knowing what ‘the right thing’ is and we get it wrong.
Complaining is a common infection. It is easy to join the crowd. Mass complaint sometimes causes decisions to be revoked or changed. In Nehemiah 4:10 Some of the leaders began complaining that the workmen were becoming tired; and there was so much rubble to be removed that we could never get it done by ourselves. Nothing was right, their situation was grim, the felt flawed. Nehemiah 4:14 says “Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord who is great and glorious; fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!” That is how we need to respond when all seems hopeless in our lives. The Lord is great ant glorious.”
It is the commonplace that often corners us. Doing the same thing over and over expecting different results (insanity) A question we need to ask ourselves as we travel the road to recovery is “how am I going to cope with the commonplace?” A challenge to live an ordinary life in out-of-the-ordinary circumstances. It is wise to note that things around us, trees, birds, flowers, the sun, the moon, the starts diffuse beauty and color radiantly. It is the common behind the scene cables, wires, nuts, bolts, machinery, and equipment that are the sustaining power of modern-day commercial properties.
Don’t choose remoteness, or prefer the company of critics. This corners us. Prepare yourself for the task ahead. It may not seem spectacular or elaborate, but it can be effective. If it seems out-of-sight remember you are never out of the sight of God. He is watching you and watching over you and He knows there is nothing commonplace about what you are achieving through the process of recovery with His help.
I used to get annoyed in early recovery when people used to say to me “IT GETS BETTER” because for me it didn’t get better. All I did was stop drinking and using. Then in 1989 at the Salvation Army Bridge Programme in Adelaide South Australia, I invited God to lead me in recovery. Today I want to change that saying to “IT DOES GET BETTER – when you include God”
“Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10
