I Will Give To You.......................

Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends

(the very bounds) of the earth.

Over the past few days, God has taken me on this journey through two books.

1.) The Bible

2.) The big book of A.A.

One, the Bible, being the infallible word of the living God,

and the other, big book of A.A., the thoughts and understanding of a man who was delivered from the power of alcohol.

Because the call God has given to me involves serving people in addiction, I find that the Bible is revealing some truth that the big book shares.

I chose the verse of Acts 1:8 because this is where my journey has begun.

Monday afternoon as I was mowing, I was talking to God.

(Before you think me crazy, I have some of my best conversations with God while mowing.)

During the course of our time together, He brought the Acts 1:8 passage to my mind.
I wasn't dwelling on Acts.

I had not even been reading in that particular book.
But there it was in my mind......."Acts 1:8"

Suddenly I saw it in a way I had never seen before.

Acts 1:8 contains the very essence of the Twelve Steps.

It has Step#1 ( the beginning)

and

Step # 12 ( the ending)

It begins with Jesus saying to his disciples, I am going to give you something.
What?
Power.

Step # 1 involves the recognition , the confession and admittance that we are powerless.
God does for us what we could not do for ourselves...He gives us power.
This power, the Holy Ghost, is the one who brings change to us.

It is the beginning of a relationship between us and God.

Then at the end of Acts 1:8 Jesus states that "You will be my witnesses" and we are too take his message to the world.

Step #12 tells us that "having had this spiritual awakening, we seek to take the message."
Here is the part that I think the church misses.

A person in recovery takes the message to others because in the very act of doing so, it helps them to remain sober, strong, and on the right track.

What if this idea that the reason we share is not only because Jesus commanded us to, but there was a benefit that strengthened us and helped us to not fall back into our old ways and lifestyles.
That the reason for taking the message to others was that it enabled you to remain strong and on the right track.

Think on these things.

God on you........

mb