Friday, June 18, 2010

This Is How I See It!


There are a lot of people out there who are smarter.
There are a lot of people out there who have mucho degrees in the field of addiction and recovery.
There are a lot of people out there who work in rehabs and clinics, who give of their time
and life to work with others. Working with those who are seemingly trapped by drugs and alcohol.

But for whatever reason, God has seen fit to call me to be a voice in this battle.
I am filled with no pretense of this call.
I know that a call from God usually follows the awareness that the one called is truly
not qualified to carry out God's mandate.
Hence the need for call-ee to strongly follow the caller.

I have been given an incredible gift of being able to spend time with countless hundreds of people
who have come to Rapha Treatment Center for help.
I wish I could tell you that I have developed intuitive senses that lead me to identify those who
seemingly will succeed in their recovery attempts.
I do not have such senses.
What I do have is a heart that loves each man God brings here.
A heart that knows that only God can break the power of addiction and bring real healing.
I know that the power and healing comes when a life is surrendered.
When the one in addiction is sick and tired of being sick and tired, and says," I give up!"
No matter what your belief: whether addiction is a disease or a moral lapse.....
whether you believe that addiction is best treated with medicine
or
addiction is a byproduct of a broken relationship between man and God....
The ultimate goal is for the individual caught in the addictive lifestyle to break free
and become a productive part of society.
Can a person be clean and sober and not be a Christian?
Of course.
There are many who have managed to break free of the addiction using nothing more than self will.


From my view point, those who have managed to do it on their own.........
their clean and sober....
but there isn't any joy or peace in their lives.
You see, it's not enough to simply stop doing drugs and alcohol...
we desperately need an alternative source of life.
The substances we have used for years and years all had one thing in common....
They made promises to us.
IF you take me...
IF you drink me...
I'll make you feel a certain way and all your troubles will disappear.
OF course what we failed to see was that these promises were empty and only brought disappointment and destruction.


To me, liberation........true freedom, not just abstinence, comes through a person.....
Jesus Christ
and not a system of ideal and principals.
The 12 Steps of AA
point to Jesus as the source of power that can restore us to sanity.
Sanity? The ability to make sound judgements.
Jesus is the power.....
Jesus is that source of life that will not disappoint.
The steps are merely defining principals that give my life boundaries and discipline.

Jeremiah 9:23 - 24
This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone....
that they truly know me and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I the LORD have spoken!


In an age when we look to science and technology for our answers,
God is saying that knowing Him is numero uno.
Knowing Him.....Not with head knowledge or a using of the mind to comprehend some concept or precept....
Knowing Him is something that happens within the heart.
It doesn't always make normal, logical sense.
It just is.


It comes through intimate encounters with God.
Maybe during a cup of coffee in the morning, your mind will suddenly send you a thought.
You think to yourself, "Where did that come from?"
It just might possibly be God talking to you.
I'm kind of crazy that way to believe that this is the norm for God when He is communicating
with those who are searching for Him.

John 17:3
And this is eternal life....
That they should know you...
The only true God,
and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth...

Didn't mean to be so long winded in this posting, but thanks for letting me ramble a bit.
Until tomorrow...
God on you.....
mb

1 comment:

Bobby said...

I'm thankful that God called you into this war against addiction. May God give you many more years of fruitful ministry against the powers of darkness.

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