Tag: Weakness

Support Networks

18th July 2022 aeboyle 2022, July, Step 11, Step 12, Thought For Today Comments Off on Support Networks

Every man should seek to have three individuals in his life: a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy.

A Paul is an older man who is willing to mentor you, to build into your life. Not someone who’s smarter or more gifted than you, but somebody who’s been down the road. Somebody willing to share his strengths and weaknesses—everything he’s learned in the laboratory of life. Somebody whose faith you’ll want to imitate. A Barnabas is a soul brother, somebody who loves you but is not impressed by you. Somebody to whom you can be accountable. Somebody who’s willing to keep you honest, who’s willing to say, “Hey, man, you’re neglecting your wife, and don’t give me any guff!” A Timothy is a younger man into whose life you are building. For a model, read 1 and 2 Timothy. Here was Paul, the quintessential mentor, building into the life of his protege—affirming, encouraging, teaching, correcting, directing, praying. Do you have these three guys in your life? Howard Hendricks

2022 | Day Seventy-Three | Thought for Today

14th March 2022 aeboyle 2022, March, Thought For Today Comments Off on 2022 | Day Seventy-Three | Thought for Today

“I wish I had your faith” “You’ve got it easy” I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has said these things to me. Following Jesus and serving Him is not always easy. When things don’t go according to plan in my life my natural inclination as a man is to ‘fix it’ To do whatever I have to do to make it right. But that’s not what God tells me to do

Job 4:6 says “Shouldn’t you worship God and trust in him? Shouldn’t your honest life give you hope” Following Jesus means waiting on Him, for things to happen in His time? Sometimes that is hard. When you see things falling apart, do all that you can, and waiting for Him to intervene isn’t always easy or comfortable.

MEDITATION
If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn’t much to you in the first place. Strategic planning is the key to winning. Since God has so generously let us in on what He is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. Don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, Don’t resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under His loving correction. Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times.

PRAYER
Just for today Lord strengthen me as I go through Your program of disciplining me. Help me persevere when times get tough. Don’t let my weaknesses get the better of me. Help me to rely on Your strength to overcome whatever comes my way today.

2022 | Day Eight | Discussion Starter

8th January 2022 aeboyle 2022, Discussion Starters, January Comments Off on 2022 | Day Eight | Discussion Starter

1 Corinthians 10:13 You are tempted in the same way all other human beings are. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take. But when you are tempted, God will give you a way out so that you can stand up under it.

It is common when we fail in recovery to blame our circumstances or other people.

The bottom line is “I am responsible for my actions.” No one else can make me relapse unless I choose to. We don’t want to hear that but it’s the truth.

Recovery is not easy. Many times it would have been easier for me to turn back to where I felt comfortable than it was to continue in recovery. I choose not to, because ‘my worst day in recovery is far better than my best day when I was using’

  • What was your best memory of using?

  • How does that compare to your life now?

Prayer: Please God help me always to remember where I came from.

Self Control

To develop self-control we must first know God’s life guidelines
An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. 2 Timothy 2:5

We need to guard our speech
Post a guard at my mouth, God set a watch at the door of my lips.
Psalms 141:3

God wants us to be disciplined in our habits
Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, 2 Peter 1:5

The Bible says God’s power is greatest in our weakness My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Time to Listen

18th August 2021 aeboyle 2021, AA Slogan, August, Thought For Today Comments Off on Time to Listen

Read

Isaiah 22:9-11 You found the weak places in the city walls that needed repair. You secured the water supply at the Lower Pool. You took an inventory of the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some to get bricks to fortify the city wall. You built a large cistern to ensure plenty of water. You looked and looked and looked, but you never looked to him who gave you this city, never once consulted the One who has long had plans for this city.

Think

The leaders of Judah did what they could to prepare for war: They got weapons, inspected the walls, and stored up of good intention which really won’t give us what we need. We balk at the thought of having to rely on God. After spending so much time and energy learning to rely on ourselves. Recovery is war, against our own selfish desires, false pride, and self-reliance. We have looked and looked for the ‘easier softer way’ it speaks about in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Having not found it we need to take notice of the cliche that hangs in many a recovery room and ‘THINK! THINK! THINK’ about our trials and failings and look to the One who has already planned our escape route and strategy.

Pray

Pray today that God will give you the strength to have faith in His ability and availability to help you consult Him, listen to Him and follow His leading ‘Just for Today ‘ in order for you to understand His strength in your weakness, establish and build a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit and move forward on the road to recovery.

Live

For the next twenty-four hours take time to listen to God, to do what He tells you to do. And, at the end of the day before you go to sleep evaluate His involvement in your day and give Him thanks.

What The Bible Says

31st October 2020 aeboyle 2020, October, What The Bible Says Comments Off on What The Bible Says

Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”  Under the circumstances, it’s hard to keep quiet. You yourself have done this plenty of times, spoken words that clarify and encouraged those who were about to quit. Take limitations in your stride. Just let Christ take over! So the weaker you get, the stronger you become. 

Human weakness

31st October 2020 aeboyle 2020, Morning Harmony,, October Comments Off on Human weakness

The Bible says in Proverbs 19:21 You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail

Morning Harmony #15

15th January 2020 aeboyle 2020, January, Morning Harmony, Comments Off on Morning Harmony #15

Beating Blame

John 8:6-9 They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt. Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest.

We all find it easier to see the weaknesses of others, than to see our own weaknesses. even when we were abusing alcohol and drugs we found it easier to blame other people for our failures and faults. We like to think we behaved the way we did because because of our spouse, children, boss, our financial circumstances etc. At our worst it seemed to us everyone and everything else was to blame while we alone were blameless. When our spiritual eyes were opened one of the first things we saw was our own sin and weaknesses.

We must learn to beat and to overcome blame. Through self-examination and investigation before God is important step in the process of recovery.

God helps me not to dwell in the past, in my own shortcomings or the shortcomings of others. He reminds me I have been forgiven and His forgiveness enable me to see the truth about myself. I no longer need to spend time pointing the finger at others or blaming them for my weaknesses.

ACCEPT WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.” Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.
1 Corinthians 1:25-26

GIVE THANKS TO GOD
If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. 2 Corinthians 11:30

STOP BLAMING OTHER PEOPLE
It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Matthew 7:3

#Blame #Thanks #Weakness

Prayer: I pray that God will help me not to be critical of other people or to blame them for my weaknesses or wrongdoing.

We all Need Recovery

5th October 2019 aeboyle 2019, October, Thought For Today Comments Off on We all Need Recovery

NOW THAT I AM IN THE PROCESS OF CHANGE,
I WILL CHECK MYSELF DAILY TO MAKE SURE I AM NOT SLIPPING BACK INTO MY OLD WAYS
IF I AM, I WILL TAKE STEPS TO RECTIFY IT.

When Jesus arrived, he saw this huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke–like sheep with no shepherd they were. He went right to work teaching them. When his disciples thought this had gone on long enough–it was now quite late in the day–they interrupted: “We are a long way out in the country, and it’s very late. Pronounce a benediction and send these folks off so they can get some supper.” Jesus said, “You do it. Fix supper for them.” They replied, “Are you serious? You want us to go spend a fortune on food for their supper?” But he was quite serious. “How many loaves of bread do you have? Take an inventory.” That didn’t take long. “Five,” they said, “plus two fish.” Jesus got them all to sit down in groups of fifty or a hundred–they looked like a patchwork quilt of wildflowers spread out on the green grass! He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples, in turn, gave it to the people. He did the same with the fish. They all ate their fill. The disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. More than five thousand were at supper. Mark 6:34-44

Step Ten is about taking regular inventory of where we are at in this stage of our spiritual development. What we currently have that is useful for helping ourselves and others and what the Holy Spirit can add to what we currently have as we put our trust in Him.

I love this scripture and how Jesus, even though He knew what the disciples had, and what He was going to do with it. Says “take inventory” It is important in the recovery process that we continually take inventory, not just in our own character and behaviours but also in how much we have moved forward from the last time we took inventory. ‘What weaknesses did I display yesterday that I have changed today?’ Recovery is about daily progress, not daily perfection.

We have all sinned and fall short of God’s perfect plan for our lives. We can’t succeed in recovery and in life in our own strength. That is why we all need Jesus and we all need recovery.

In His strength, we will always have more than we need to do the things He is calling us to do.

 

 

What The Bible Says

21st August 2019 aeboyle 2019, August, Thought For Today Comments Off on What The Bible Says

ABOUT POWER
Jesus called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves. When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness ……….. quit focusing on the handicap and start appreciating the gift. It is a case of Christ’s strength moving in on our weakness. Luke 9:1~John 1:11-12~Acts 1:6-8~2 Corinthians 12:9

Do Not Be Discouraged

5th August 2019 aeboyle 2019, August, What The Bible Says Comments Off on Do Not Be Discouraged

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. He told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size–abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ Hebrews 4:12 ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

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