God shows His compassion by not giving us the punishment we deserve. Instead, He gives us blessings we don’t deserve, forgiving us and transforming us into who we are intended to be. God showed His care for us by sending Jesus to take our punishment and open the Way to Him. He is compassionate, merciful and loving to all who call on His name.
We grow spiritually when we learn the importance of loving others
Colossians 2:9-11 Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of ……… keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin.
1 Corinthians 13:13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation:
Trust steadily in God
Believing God exists can and will help us to recover requires consistently and steadily trusting Him regardless of what is going on in and around us,
Hope unswervingly
Unswerving hope that we will overcome whatever comes our way with His help gives us confidence that things will get better.
Love extravagantly
Love never quits. Loving God is the most important command in the Bible.
The best of the three is love.
Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? How blessed are you parents, with your lives full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you. Parents rejoice when their children turn out well. Wise children become proud parents. Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us. Love like that.
MEDITATION
Tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God. Love your children by disciplining them. An appetite for good brings much satisfaction, but the belly of the wicked always wants more. A good life gets passed on to your grandchildren. So point your kids in the right direction and when they’re old they won’t be lost. Discipline them, and they’ll turn out delightful to live with. And, don’t come down too hard on your children or you’ll crush their spirits.
PRAYER Just for today Lord teach me to love my children as You love me. Show me how to be Your example to them so they too will want to follow your ways, live good clean lives, and seek Your will for them.
Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. 1 Timothy 4:8
Living life in recovery according to God’s will makes life valuable. Through this process, God asked us to choose life through following Jesus rather than leading life according to our own sinful desires.
God wants us through the process to stop trying to control our own destiny and let Him guide us. This makes sense based on the way we lived prior to recovery and the fact that Christ knows better than us what is good for us and what we need to keep moving forward in life.
God also asks us to submit to Him in order that we might lose our self-centeredness and understand the value of our own lives and the lives of others in our circle of influence.
– What value do you place on your life and the lives of others now that you are progressing spiritually in recovery?
Prayer: Just for today Lord help me to place the same value on life as You do.
GOD CREATED US
God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. Genesis 1:27
Hebrews 11:3 By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.
John 1:3 Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him.
GOD LOVES US
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. Ephesians 1:4
Romans 5:8 God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
Zephaniah 3:17 God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love and delight you with his songs.
GOD VALUES US
We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. Hebrews 4:15
1 John 3:2 Friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him.
God’s name is a place of protection— good people can run there and be safe. Proverbs 18:10
God’s claims of always being good are grounded on His claims of being all-loving, all-kindness, and all-faithful. Getting to know Him and all He has done for us, is doing for us, and will do for us is the strongest argument for obedience to His will any of us needs to move forward in recovery and spiritual growth.
How many times as a child are we told when questioning things in our lives “God made it” and been content to believe what we were told.
When we look honestly at where we have been, what we have done, and where we are now how can any of us doubt God’s intervention in our lives? He has kept us safe to reach where we are right now As children He has allowed us enough life experience to realize our need for Him and has offered us the opportunity to love and to serve Him.
Service to God through recovery, giving up our selfish ambitions for His Divine will makes us courageous enough to face the future in the knowledge He cars about us, equips us, and prepares us to become better versions of ourselves in His strength.
2 Timothy 3:17 says “Through the Word, we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”
My hope and prayer today is that everyone reading this will seek and find their S.H.A.P.E. according to His will so that everyone He brings into our spheres of influence will seek to find their S.H.A.P.E and pass on the message of God’s love to all who still suffer from the negative effects of addiction and compulsion..
Psalms 36:5-6 God’s love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.
GOD KEEPS US SAFE WHEN WE RUN TO HIM
Psalm 16:1 Keep me, safe God, I run for dear life to you.
GOD IS GENEROUS IN LOVE – HUGE IN MERCY
Psalm 51:1 Generous in love God, give grace! Huge in mercy – wipe out my bad record.
GOD CAN DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE WITHOUT BEING A BULLY
Ephesians 3:20 God can do anything you know – far more than you could ever imagine, guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
I could spend all day sharing verses and giving examples of the things beyond my wildest dreams God had done for me. But recovery is about Learning to Live Life and I have a lot of life living to do today.
L O V E
Bible Reading: Romans 8:31-39
Focus Verse: Romans 8:35 Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture.
Learn to accept different
Romans 14:1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with–even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently.
Overcome your own prejudices
Mark 6:4 Jesus said, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.”
Value God’s creation
Psalm 113:7-8 He picks up the poor from out of the dirt, rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash, Seats them among the honored guests, a place of honor among the brightest and best.
Endure hardship together
Hebrews 3:7-8 That’s why the Holy Spirit says, Today, please listen; don’t turn a deaf ear as in “the bitter uprising,” that time of wilderness testing!
LOVING GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMAND
Mark 12:29-30 Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; 30 so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’
LOVE NEVER QUITS
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.
WE MUST BE KNOWN FOR OUR LOVE
2 John 1:5-6 Permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed.
We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Romans 8:38-39 I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Paul says in these two verses when we believe Jesus is the One True Higher Power and put our faith in Him it is impossible to be separated from Him. His death for us is proof of His unconquerable love. Nothing can separate us from His presence.
The Bible demonstrates to us how great His love is for us and convinces us we have nothing to be afraid of.
Not only does He love us, but He also empowers us to overcome all obstacles we will face as we grow in our faith and apply what we learn.
WE CAME TO BELIEVE THAT GOD COULD RESTORE US TO SANITY
This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.
John 15:13
I am sure there have been times in all of our lives when we thought we had blown it. Places we have been where we believed there was no coming back from. Times when we knew left to our own devices we were finished.
.Jeremiah 29:11-14 says “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “When you call on me when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed. I’ll turn things around for you.”
God encourages us to love Him, trust Him, put our faith in Him and encourage others to do the same.
Living Life Recovery is a safe place where people can come, share and investigate the realities of God’s promises for themselves.
We believe that as we investigate God’s promises for our lives and practice the ‘Spiritual Principles of Recovery’ as outlined in ‘God’s Word’ we will find the strength and freedom we need to live productive and peaceful lives.
We welcome anyone who has a sincere desire to change their lives. To rise above the pain and turmoil caused by dependencies and compulsive behaviors their own lives or the lives of a loved one or friend.
On completion of my list of sinful habits, I will confess them to God and to someone that I trust. Join me this week for week three of Step Five
