Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Step By Step

Step # 3We make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to God through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 7:25
Hence also, He (Jesus) is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

As you move through the Twelve Steps, you begin to see the simplicity and beauty that starts to emerge. We have lived our lives (in addiction) in self-deception. We have attempted to control our moods and emotions through our usage only to find that we sink deeper and deeper into depression and guilt.

We have attempted to control everything, and in the process our lives have become more and more chaotic and painful--------or as Step #1 says, "Unmanageable."

Step #1 teaches us to be compeletly and brutally honest with ourselves. We admit that we are powerless. We are not in control, especially when it comes to our chemical substances.

Step # 2 teaches us to believe in a God that is more than words on a page or notes in a song. That in fact God DOES exist and DOES desire to have an intimate relationship with us. We come to believe that He truly cares for us and, if we will trust Him, will bring order to our lives.

Step #3 teaches us that the only sane decision it to surrender our will and life to this God. We are to stop trying to control our lives and our circumstances or, as it is put so aptly, let God be God. We can let Him begin to give us wisdom and strength to help us deal with our circumstances.

Romans 6:16 reads: Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

I like the way the Message Bible puts the Roman 16 passage:
Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you've let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you've started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!

That, my friend, is good news if you are trapped in a lifestyle of addiction.
This isn't a pie-in-sky-hope-it-works offer.
It is a straight-from-God-heart- promise that He will work into your life if you lay down your wants and desires and turn to Him for help.
I have said this before on this blog but I feel the need to repeat it.
"Jesus did for me what I could not do for myself."
Why not let this be day that you take that first step?
I love you and am praying for you......

God on you.....
mb

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