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.
The gullible believe anything they’re told; the prudent sift and weigh every word. The wise watch their steps and avoid evil; fools are headstrong and reckless. The hotheaded do things they’ll later regret; the coldhearted get the cold shoulder. Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion; wise realists plant their feet on the ground. Eventually, evil will pay tribute to good; the wicked will respect God-loyal people. Proverbs 14:15-19
STEP SEVEN: Through acknowledgment of God’s supreme power,
I humbly ask Him to help me change my sinful habits and attitudes.
I HUMBLY ASK HIM TO HELP ME CHANGE
The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to Him and put the child among them. Then He said, “I tell you the truth unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 18:1-4
The Bible doesn’t say a lot about taking drugs but it does give us a number of warnings about excessive drinking, warning about continuing to act out on our addictions and compulsions even though we know there is a better way to live – Gods Way
Proverbs 23:19-21 Listen, dear child—become wise; point your life in the right direction. Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat. Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOU ARE GOING TO END UP ON SKID ROW.
Luke 21:34 “Watch out! Don’t let your hearts be dulled by carousing and drunkenness, and by the worries of this life. Don’t let that day catch you unaware.”
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOUR HEART WILL DULLED BY THE WORRIES OF YOUR LIFE
John 8:34 Jesus said, “I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave.
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE TO USE YOUR LIFE WILL BE A DEAD-END. YOU WILL BECOME A SLAVE TO YOUR ADDICTIONS AND COMPULSIONS.
Galatians 5:19-21 When you follow your own wrong inclinations, your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group—and there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
WARNING: IF YOU CONTINUE USING YOU WILL NEVER GET IN ON GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Proverbs 20:1 Wine gives false courage; hard liquor leads to brawls; what fools men are to let it master them, making them reel drunkenly down the street!
WARNING: TRUE COURAGE ISN’T FOUND IN A DRINK OR A DRUG
THROUGH ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S SUPREME POWER I HUMBLY ASK HIM TO HELP ME CHANGE MY SINFUL HABITS AND ATTITUDES
2 Corinthians 13:5 Check up on yourselves. Are you really Christians? Do you pass the test? Do you feel Christ’s presence and power more and more within you? Or are you just pretending to be Christians when actually you aren’t at all?
THINK! THINK! THINK!
Proverbs 31:9 Speak up for the poor and helpless and see that they get justice.
LOVE OTHERS
Romans 13:13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.
CHANGE WHAT YOU DO
1 Corinthians 6:19 Didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.
ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR RIGHT LIVING
Ephesians 5:18 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.
LIVE DAILY IN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
Proverbs 3:5 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
This Sunday in the Living Life Recovery Facebook group it was my intention to speak about this subject. However, I have had a big week at work and with Victoria, Australia being in Stage Three – Corona Virus Lock-down I do not feel I am up to it this week. This post and the downloadable file are the notes I was going to use to talk about this subject. I hope and pray God uses it to reach out to others as we Walk the recovery path together.
Archie Boyle
“My Creator, I am willing now that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray tha you remove from me every single defect of character which stands in your way of my usefulness to you and my fellow. Grant me the strength, as I go from here, to do your bidding. Amen” Big Book (A.A.)
SERENITY PRAYER
“God grant ne the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”
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
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.
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.
In Step Seven, if you haven’t already it is time to find an Accountability Partner.
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.”
In what ways are you depending on God every day?