Category: Living Life Recovery

Retrain Your Brain

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We should discipline our thoughts to be pure because how we act is determined by what we think.

A single negative thought can bring undone all the good work we have done up till now. Recovery is a process of retraining the brain.

Philippians 4:8 tells us to “always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure, lovely and worthy of respect.”

Retraining the brain comes from reading and understanding God’s Word and putting it into practice in our daily living.

What The Bible Says

A fool speaks all his mind; but a wise one keeps it in until afterwards. Proverbs 29:11

Wisdom is enshrined in the hearts of men of common sense, but it must shout loudly before fools will hear it.
Proverbs 14:33

We have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation. 1 Peter 4:4

Prayer: God today let me listen to You and fill my thoughts with Your prompting

Don’t Judge Others

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My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too. Help carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ. Galatians 6:1-2

The Bible is clear ‘we should never think we have it all together and don’t need help.’ Neither should we think in recovery ‘our way is the only way.’ God has a plan for each of us. He reveals himself to us all in different ways. What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for others. The important part of this verse to me, right now is the part tat says “keep an eye on yourselves” Recovery is about working together with God and with others for our common good. It states later in this scripture Galatians 6:4  Let everyone be sure that he is doing his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work well done and won’t need to compare himself with someone else.

People make comparisons for many reasons. Some are happier to point out the mistakes of others in order to boost their own egos. Don’t be like that! EGO stands for ‘Edging God Out.’

As we move forward in the recovery process and grow spiritually we need to remember God is dealing with us all, individually. One of the greatest throw away lines I have heard in a Christian message (and I’ve heard a lot) was Pastor TD Jakes. I can’t even remember what the message was, but what he said was “What if God wants to do something totally different? And He wants to do it through you.”

DON’T ASSUME GOD WANTS TO DO THE SAME WITH OTHER PEOPLE AS HE DID WITH YOU!

Recovery changes lives

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Psalms 32:3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body became weak because I groaned all day long.

Suppressed guilt and shame in my life as a result of how I was living made it impossible for me to live a normal life. All day, every day I searched in vain for an answer to my problems.

Coming into recovery changed that. Just being able to talk about my problems openly and honestly in a safe environment helped me so much to open my mind and heart to God and others. There is nothing I enjoy more in my life today than opportunity to share my experience, strength and hope with people.

A number of years ago a Pastor in the church I attended used to ask me week after week “Archie are you RFA?” I never knew what he was talking about till I asked him weeks later. Ready for Anything!

  • Are you RFA?

Prayer: Lord today let me be ready for anything You prompt me to do and equip me to do it.

Coping With Isolation

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READ: Hebrews 10:22-25

vs22 LET US DRAW NEAR TO GOD

“Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” Romans 5:2

vs23 LET US HOLD ON TO HOPE

Hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Hebrews 6:19

vs24 LET US ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER

“God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:13

vs25 LET US NOT GIVE UP MEETING

If we hope to build healthy, growing, spiritual relationships we need to meet with others further along the recovery road than we are. And others who are not as far along as we are. God has high moral standards and we are called to follow His standards.

Discussion Starter #71

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When God Says Go

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”

Effective faith in our lives depends on God. It depends on us having total dependence on God and a willingness to do in our lives what He wants us to do.

Over the years of my recovery my life as taken many turns. Not necessarily the way I have wanted it to but always the way God intended it to. There have been times when I have thought to myself and asked God “What are You doing?”

One of the most important character traits we all need to learn in recovery is ’ availability ’ God at some point in your recovery is going to ask you to go where you don’t want to go or don’t understand why you have to go. In those times how you decide will affect the rest of your life and your recovery moving forward.

If God asked you today to move to an unknown destination would you go?

#HELP #DEPEND #KNOW

Prayer: Lord help me today to be open to our leading in my life.

Discussion Starter #61

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God Loves You!

To be a child of God has nothing to do with human parents. Children of God are not born because of human choice or because a husband wants them to be born. They are born because of what God does John 1:13

God brings us to recovery. He brought me to recovery and He brought you to recovery.

How? I hear you asking. By creating circumstances and opportunities in your life to get here.

Recovery for me is a result of going to a Salvation Army Bridge Program in South Australia. Just before I went to South Australia to end up on the Bridge Program I spent a number of nights sleeping on the streets of Perth in Western Australia in a carpark of the Salvation Army Bridge Program.

  • Are you prepared to go wherever God wants you to go to achieve recovery?

#Love #Hear #Ask

What The Bible Says

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. Romans 5:8

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” Matthew 22:37-40

The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both. 1 John 4:21

Prayer:  God help me today to hear Your voice and obey.