2022 | Discussion Starter #209
I am a friend of God, because He calls me friend!
Month: July 2022
Daily Reflection July 31,2022
Not all in recovery
Matthew 6:14 “Forgive people when they sin against you. If you do, your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you.
One of the problems with the process of recovery is – not everyone is in recovery, even though we all need it. We need to remember this fact when it comes to repairing relationships..The purpose of recovery is to help us live better lives through personal change with God’s help. It is not to make others love us or accept us more and it is definitely not for others to change because we have.
The fact is as we grow spiritually and change our habits and attitudes we may still come across people who will treat us badly. In those instances, we need to stop, say a prayer and leave them in God’s hands.
- Are you ready to let God deal with the people you can’t deal with?
Prayer: God help me today to accept that recovery is about
You helping me to change myself not others.
4o Days of Recovery ~ Day 30
The Right Time For Recovery is NOW!
Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today. Procrastination is a sign of weak character.
2 Corinthians 6:2 God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.
Remember when you reached ‘rock-bottom’ When you finally realized on your own you were incapable of reaching and keeping hold of recovery. When you consciously made a decision to let God help you change your life and agreed to work with Him in the process? God heard you! and look at you now.
Joshua 24:15 says “If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve–and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”
Accepting God as God and Jesus Christ as the One True Higher Power isn’t always easy for us. Coming from dysfunctional backgrounds and ill-equipped to deal with most of our issues. Most of us have tried without success. Trying quick fix solutions with varying degrees of sustainability. It is time to accept God and only God through the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit in a relationship with us has everything we need to successfully journey through the maze that is recovery and be used by God to help others do the same.
Let Go of Past Failures and Doubts
2 Corinthians 1:9 We felt we were doomed to die and saw how powerless we were to help ourselves; but that was good, for then we put everything into the hands of God, who alone could save us, for he can even raise the dead.
2022 | Discussion Starter #208
In my life back in 1989 God and I reached an agreement. He leads I follow. From that day to this day that is how my life has worked. He opens doors and I walk through them.
Let Go and Let God #2
Psalms 46:1-2 God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake.
The Bible tells us ‘God is a safe place to hide’ He is ‘Ready to help when we need Him’ So why do we invest so much time and effort trying to hide from Him because of our addictions and compulsions?
A couple of the reasons I believe are:
Our inadequacies lead us to hide from God. God has all the resources we need to change our lives. He wants us to live fearless and courageous in His presence. He doesn’t want us to hide behind our inadequacies, making excuses about why we can’t achieve recovery and live the life He is offering us. He wants us to use our God-given talents and abilities to bring glory to Him.
Fear of failure leads us to hide from God. Often in our lives, we hide from important responsibilities because we are afraid they are unachievable. In Matthew 19:26 Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” We need to be prepared to ‘STEP UP!’ and ‘STEP OUT’ in our responsibilities, believing that all things are possible with God and trusting Him with every area of our lives.
I a sure you can think of many more reasons why we hide from God. Why not share them here and encourage others in the recovery process?
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Let Go and Let God #1
2 Corinthians 1:9 We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally–not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead!
This week at Living Life Recovery we continue our six-week series on A.A. slogans. We commenced by looking at what the Bible says about ‘Living One Day At a Time.’ We followed that up last week by looking at the slogan ‘Easy Does It.’ and the process of adapting the Twelve Steps as a new way of living, developing personal relationship with God and changing our lives with His help at our own pace.
This week we are looking at the slogan ‘Let Go and Let God’
During our lives of addiction and compulsion there are times when our lives seemed to be falling apart. Times when we felt all was lossed and we were doomed to failure.
The ‘Good News’ is that at all times God is ready, willing and able to help us, no matter what is going on. All we need to do is to learn to ‘Let Go’ of self and ‘Let God’ equip us to become the people He is calling us to be.
2022 | Morning Harmony #207
“The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives: It’s who you are, not what you say or do that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. “
4o Days of Recovery ~ Day 29
Recovery is about Progress
If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.
Barack Obama
We have all heard the quote ‘You only fail when you stop trying.” Recovery is about progressing.
1 Corinthians 15:58 With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in recovery. There are millions of people who are still going through the negative effects of addiction and compulsion. Some will never make it to recovery. Some will and will ‘Quit before the miracle happens.’ But we are on the road and we need to ‘stand our ground’ stand up and be counted. Be different and make a difference where we can. Some of those people who haven’t reached recovery yet or have and have gone back to their old ways are waiting to hear from us. Waiting for us to walk with them through their recovery process. We need to be confident and realize ‘nothing we do’ in the name of recovery is a waste of time or effort.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 May the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you.
It is through God’s love for us we are going to progress and help others to progress. It is by seeing what He has done in and through our lives, others are going to want to investigate His promises for their lives. It is through listening to those who have traveled this road before us we are going to gain wisdom in the process that will help not only us but others too.
2 Timothy 1:7 God doesn’t want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible.
Jesus command was clear Matthew 28:19 Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life. Everybody needs recovery. Because we are all sinners and we all need a Saviour. His name is Jesus and He says Mark 8:34 “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.”
4o Days of Recovery ~ Day 27
When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the One who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.1 Corinthians 2:1-5
Paul could have overwhelmed his listeners with intellectual arguments. Instead, he shared the simple message of Jesus Christ by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide his words. In sharing the message of recovery with others, we should follow Paul’s example and keep our message simple and basic. The Holy Spirit will give power to our words and use them to bring glory to Jesus.
Whilst I accept I am responsible for sharing the love of God and what He has done in and through my life I also accept I am not responsible for who responds to my words of how they respond. That is between them and the Holy Spirit. Too often I have seen people burn out in recovery because they get it into their heads “I am responsible for rescuing others.”
I love this passage of scripture where Paul demonstrates plain understanding we are called to share our personal experience, strength and hope with others, rely on the Holy Spirit and God’s power to prompt others to change their lives and guide them in the process of doing so.