Living Life Recovery is a safe place where people can come and investigate the reality of God’s promises for their life, at there own pace.
1 Chronicles 16:24
Sing to God, everyone and everything! Get out his salvation news every day! Publish his glory among the godless nations, his wonders to all races and religions. And why? Because God is great—well worth praising! No god or goddess comes close in honor. All the popular gods are stuff and nonsense, but God made the cosmos! Splendor and majesty flow out of him, strength and joy fill his place.
Here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY DOESN’T ABSOLVE OUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
We are responsible for what we say and what we do. We are also responsible for our past mistakes and making amends for them. Recovery requires a change of culture and a willingness to ‘be different’ In the past, we have got by trying to fit in. It is now time to seek the will of God for our lives and putting it into practice. It is now time to make sure the sins of the past are not coming back to haunt us in the future. The way to do that is by taking responsibility for them. Admitting and accepting them and doing all we can do, with God’s help to minimize their influence on our life moving forward.
Those who fail in recovery don’t plan not to.
A number of years ago (around the birth of Living Life Recovery) I attended a men’s Bible Study at the Ferntree Gully Salvation Army. In that group, we studied the book of Amos. Since that day the book of Amos has been one of the most encouraging books of the Bible in my life. In the ‘Life Recovery Bible’ in the introduction to the book of Amos says – “God called Amos, a shepherd from Tekoa, to awaken his people from their denial and to warn them of the painful consequences that would come. Amos confronted the people of Israel with their ill-treatment of the poor and oppressed, demanding that they act with justice and mercy. God gave this warning of punishment in the hope that his people would change.”
As we begin this last week of the ‘4o Days of Recovery’ I believe we have much we can learn from the book of Amos. As we look at what it means to ‘Serve in Recovery‘ I believe we all need to begin by taking self-assessment on our own character towards other people, and we need to start amending it beginning first with the three questions below.
DO WE NEED TO CHANGE HOW WE TREAT OTHERS?
Amos 8:4-6 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing, Who says, “When’s my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time?” Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day’s work. You exploit the poor, using them– and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.
DO WE NEED TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING ON HOW MUCH GOD CARES ABOUT PEOPLE?
Psalms 14:2-6 God sticks his head out of heaven. He looks around. He’s looking for someone not stupid– one man, even, God-expectant, just one God-ready woman. He comes up empty. A string of zeros. Useless, unshepherded Sheep, taking turns pretending to be Shepherd. The ninety and nine follow their fellow. Don’t they know anything, all these impostors? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this– Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray? The night is coming for them, and nightmares, for God takes the side of victims. Do you think you can mess with the dreams of the poor? You can’t, for God makes their dreams come true.
DO OUR ACTIONS NEED TO CHANGE TO MATCH OUR WORDS?
Deuteronomy 25:13-16 Don’t carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don’t keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God–all this corruption in business deals!
Self-confidence is no confidence – develop God-confidence.
Proverbs 16:7When the way you live pleases the Lord, he makes even your enemies live at peace with you.
In the process of recovery, you will always have mockers.
As I have matured in recovery, especially in the early days it is surprising how many people have wanted to take credit for my development. I have often wondered how many of them would still want to take credit if I fell in a heap? One of the hardest things I had to do in my life is accept that I only have to please an audience of One. One of the best messages I ever received from God came from a throwaway line by Pastor TD Jakes who said ”What if God wants to do something totally different right now and He wants to do it through you?” I think about that question often
God is pleased when you are faithful to Him. It demonstrates you commitment. Joh 6:29 Jesus said, “Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
God is pleased when yo obey Him. It demonstrates your love. Joh 8:29 “The One who sent me stays with me. He doesn’t abandon me. He sees how much joy I take in pleasing him.”
God is pleased when you trust Him. It demonstrates your faith. Heb 11:6 It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
Have you ever had to ignore others to follow God?
STEP THREE I am making a decision to let God help me change and commit to working with Him to do so.
Our goal is not recovery: It is spiritual and emotional maturity demonstrated through service. The key to service is willingness. Jesus set the example of service we need to aim for. His whole purpose of coming to earth was to serve, not to be served.
Service is the best way to become like Jesus. Now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God.
Romans 7:6
Opportunities to serve others are given to us each by God through the Holy Spirit. This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. Ephesians 3:7
Serving others turns the world’s values upside down. Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant.” Matthew 20:25-26
Join us tomorrow here for the ‘4o Days of Recovery ~ Week 6 Podcast’
One day he [Jesus] was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Luke 11:1-4
Father reveal who you are. When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say, Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:13-15
An old Scotsman I used to work with at the Salvation Army no matter what he was talking to people about always managed to ask the question of people “Where is God in your life?” Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say I am?” Two great questions. When was the last time in your prayer life you asked God to Reveal who He is?
Set the world right. We spend so much time and energy trying to fix the world and failing. We continually beat ourselves up because we can’t be the person we should be, the person we want to be. Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” When was the last time you went to Jesus and asked Him to Set the world right?
Keep us alive with three square meals. We skimp and we scrape wishing we had things we don’t need. We work to support lives dominated by things that bring us temporary satisfaction. “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed.
Matthew 23:25 When was the last time you depended on God instead of your own selfish desires and greed?
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. We spend so much time resenting life, resenting others and resenting God. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 When was the last time you boldly stepped out in faith, knowing that God has you covered? When did you last forgive yourself? When did you last forgive someone else? Resentment kills!
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. The biggest stumbling block in most of our recoveries is ourselves/ Yes the devil plays a part but mostly he uses our own stinking thinking and unbelief to bring us unstuck. When did you last ask God to keep you safe from self-destruction and the grasp of the devil?
One day he [Jesus] was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Luke 11:1-4
Father reveal who you are. When Jesus arrived in the villages of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “What are people saying about who the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some think he is John the Baptizer, some say, Elijah, some Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” He pressed them, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” Matthew 16:13-15
An old Scotsman I used to work with at the Salvation Army no matter what he was talking to people about always managed to ask the question of people “Where is God in your life?” Jesus asked His disciples “Who do you say I am?” Two great questions. When was the last time in your prayer life you asked God to Reveal who He is?
Set the world right. We spend so much time and energy trying to fix the world and failing. We continually beat ourselves up because we can’t be the person we should be, the person we want to be. Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” When was the last time you went to Jesus and asked Him to Set the world right?
Keep us alive with three square meals. We skimp and we scrape wishing we had things we don’t need. We work to support lives dominated by things that bring us temporary satisfaction. “Woe to you, Pharisees, and you religious leaders—hypocrites! You are so careful to polish the outside of the cup, but the inside is foul with extortion and greed.
Matthew 23:25 When was the last time you depended on God instead of your own selfish desires and greed?
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. We spend so much time resenting life, resenting others and resenting God. Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10 When was the last time you boldly stepped out in faith, knowing that God has you covered? When did you last forgive yourself? When did you last forgive someone else? Resentment kills!
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. The biggest stumbling block in most of our recoveries is ourselves/ Yes the devil plays a part but mostly he uses our own stinking thinking and unbelief to bring us unstuck. When did you last ask God to keep you safe from self-destruction and the grasp of the devil?
I am a friend of God, because He calls me friend!