Step Seven-Week Four
Rest is an important ingredient in the recovery formula. Rest is important in maintaining balance in our lives. We live in a world where there always seems to be too much to do.
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Recovery is about learning to Live Life
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Category: Step 7
Soul Searching
Step Seven: WE HUMBLY ASKED GOD TO REMOVE OUR SHORTCOMINGS
I read a quote that says: “A single candle can light up a room, a single star has the power to light up the sky, and a single soul has the power to change the world.”
Thomas Aquinas wrote: The neediness of the soul is a pointer to God.
Step seven is about readiness to allow God to remove our deepest, darkest, selfish desires. To search our soul and to put it right with Him. Join me here tomorrow night as we explore the need to put our souls under Christ’s protection if we want to move forward in recovery.
Find an Accountability Partner!
In Step Seven, if you haven’t already it is time to find an Accountability Partner.
Focus on God
Psalms 34:4 I looked to the Lord, and he answered me. He saved me from everything I was afraid of.
In the process of God changing our sinful habits and attitudes, it is important we keep our focus on Him.
If you ask ten different people in recovery the best way of achieving and maintaining recovery you will get ten different answers.
Recovery in my life is covered in prayer, meditation, and being led by God. I do have trusted people in my life whom I go to bounce things off but the final decision in everything I do lies with me and God. God gave us free will for a reason. I believe that reason is to see how much we have learned through our relationship with Him and how we implement it in our daily living. Don’t make any decisions you have not talked to God about.
Psalms 34:2-8 I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
I. FOCUS ON GOD – He changes our character.
Romans 5:4 Endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident
hope of salvation.
II. FOCUS ON GOD – He conquered our past.
Romans 8:37 Despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us.
III. FOCUS ON GOD – He controls our future.
1 Corinthians 2:9 It is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him. ¨
from today’s Scripture:
HEAR and REJOICE
Matthew 6:7 When you pray, don’t be like the people who don’t know God. They say the same things again and again. They think that if they say it enough, their god will hear them.
GLORIFY and EXALT
Psalms 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain,
for the Lord our God is holy.
CALL and BE SAVED
Luke 7:50 Jesus said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Step Seven – Week 2
In what ways are you depending on God every day?
Developing Good Habits
We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
1 John 5:13-15 I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life. And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
Romans 8:5-11 (Complete Jewish Bible) Those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature, but those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom. For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah—indeed, it cannot. Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God. But you, you do not identify with your old nature but with the Spirit—provided the Spirit of God is living inside you, for anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of the Messiah doesn’t belong to him. However, if the Messiah is in you, then, on the one hand, the body is dead because of sin; but, on the other hand, the Spirit is giving life because God considers you righteous. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Yeshua from the dead is living in you, then the One who raised the Messiah Yeshua from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.
WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT?
Those who identify with their old nature set their minds on the things of the old nature.
The bible says in Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Step eleven says “We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out”
The scripture above encourages us to stop identifying with our old nature. Romans 12:2 tells us to ‘Stop conforming to the patterns of the world.’ Developing good habits in our lives requires:
The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The Holy Spirit teaches us.
John 14:26 The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The Holy Spirit lives within us.
Romans 8:11 The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
The Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes.
1 Corinthians 2:10 God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
Change your habits
We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify
us from all unrighteousness.
In Romans 7:15 Paul says “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
Paul recognized that in his own strength he was incapable of changing his bad habits and in the case of recovery from self did not even know why he did what he did. He knew the difference between right and wrong. He wanted to do what was right but without help outside of himself, it was impossible.
1 John 2:15 says “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” The world and all it offers entices us to live according to our selfish desires. There are millions of dollars worth of ads all around us pointing us in that direction.
Giving up things we enjoy is more difficult than giving up things we don’t like so much. But the joy that comes from quitting that which is not good for us is more rewarding than giving up that which pleases us.
Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. It is easier to change our bad habits if we have something tangible and good to change them too. In the Bible, there is a lot said about changing our bad habits, about what to change them too, and a God-directed process. Hebrews 10:24-25 says “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” Recovery meetings are an important part of the process of habit changing. If you are not in one can I encourage you today to find on and attend until the miracle happens. A lot of people in my experience give recovery meetings a GO. Can I suggest today they need more than a go. Recovery is a life-changing process that takes both time and support and the best place I know to find it is with like-minded people, going through the same things as we are. There is a saying in Alcoholics Anonymous that says ‘IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT!’
Recovery is not just about attendance at meetings you need to get involved, you need to learn to rely on God, and you need to apply whatever He tells you to.
Out or In?
…. you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
Recovery is a process we choose to follow. Are you out or are you in? You can’t be a little bit in recovery, any more than a woman can be a little bit pregnant. It is an all-or-nothing commitment.
The Bible goes on in 1 Peter 2:10-12 to say “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.“
- Because you have changed – live lile it:
– Stop doing the things you know are sperating you from knowing and following God’s will for your life.
– Stop hiding who you are, your God-given identity and show people His loe and His power through the changes He has already made in you.
– Encourage others by your actions to prepare for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ by your example of right living through the power of God mercy in your life.
Commit to the process of recovery. And, in humbly ask Him to remove any blocks that are stopping you from becoming all He is calling you to be through faith.
Step Seven – Week One
WE HUMBLY ASKED GOD TO REMOVE OUR SHORTCOMINGS
Titus 3:8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
WHAT WE ONCE WERE WE ARE NO MORE.
2 Corinthians 5:17I f anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
– our lives used to be dominated by our shortcomings, to overcome them we need God’s help and God’s guidance.
Step Seven talks about HUMILITY. Both humble and humility refer to having a low or modest estimate of one’s own importance. Our shortcomings in our past have been all about the ‘WIFM’ (what’s in it for me. Now we are at the step where we allow God to take our selfish ambitions, self-centered opinions and self-righteous attitudes and change them so we can become people who not only understand what it means to love God and love others. So we can become the people He is calling us to be.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT BEING HUMBLE.
BEING HUMBLE IS NOT HAVING TO HIGH AN OPINION OF YOURSELF.
Zephaniah 3:12 Those who are left will be lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.
BEING HUMBLE IS HAVING A CHILDLIKE ATTITUDE.
Matthew 18:4 Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
BEING HUMBLE IS RECOGNISING HOW MUCH YOU NEED GOD.
Genesis 32:9-10 Jacob prayed, “God of my grandfather Abraham, and God of my father, Isaac— Lord, you told me, ‘Return to your own land and to your relatives.’ And you promised me, ‘I will treat you kindly.’ I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness you have shown to me, your servant. When I left home and crossed the Jordan River, I owned nothing except a walking stick. Now my household fills two large camps!
GOD LOVES THE HUMBLE
Psalms 138:6Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud.
Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
– Thomas Merton
Wrong Advice
We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
Read: Psalms 1:1-6
Focus Verse: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, Psalms 1:1
Think about it: Advice in this world is freely given. Some of it good. some of it bad and some of it just plain evil. The good news about all advice is ‘We don’t have to listen too it.’ or apply it to our lives,
Welcome to Step Seven.. Which says “WE HUMBLY ASKED GOD’ for advice on how to live our lives. On the right and good processes, He would have us learn and apply to our daily living to please and honour Him. When it comes to the world the people we need to seek advice from are those who have travelled the road we are now travelling and been successful with Gods help to change their life direction.
There is are many voices in the world telling us what to do and what in their opinion is good for us. We need to always remember God is also speaking to us and has something special to say to us each. We can hear His direction and His plan through prayer and meditation. We can also hear it through listening to the right people He places in our lives at the right time to guide us on His way. Other people have been successful in the way we want to go. For our own benefit and spiritual growth and for the benefit of others in our ‘Sphere of Influence’ we need to seek those people out , listen to and apply their advice when it is given.
Learning to appreciate there is goodness in the world will attune us to God’s way of living and place us firmly in His will as we attempt to change our lives for good and not for evil.