GREENE STREET LETTERS: Action - Verb

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Action - Verb - Movement

12 STEPS.
Movement and a striving to move forward from one point to another.

Steps # 1 - 3 - Trust God
Steps# 4 - 11 - Clean house
Step # 12 - Give away.

Sounds like Christianity to me if you recognize Jesus Christ as your Higher Power.
Granted that the symptoms of addiction, the using and destruction following after, are the main focus of someone struggling to be free.
But the root of addiction.
The heart of addiction.
The source of all that is wrong, is our sinful nature that caused us to choose badly the first time we used.
We continued to pursue the desires of that sinful nature until the chemicals altered our brain chemistry. This alteration now has us in a place where mind and body work against each other. Mind says, "I can quit." The body says, "No you can't." Mind listens to the body and gives it what it craves. IT becomes a cycle of destruction that leads us into places we never dreamed.

As the old adage goes: Sin will take you farther than you want to go...........keep you longer than you want to stay............cost you more than you want to spend. In other words, sin becomes our master.
Romans 7 - I'm full of myself--after all, I've spent a long time in sin's prison. What I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can't be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God's command is necessary.

This is the mindset and behavior that plagues mankind, but praise God! All of that was broken at the cross.
Jesus defeated the power of sin...
Jesus crushed the penalty of sin...
Jesus stomped the presence of sin
and took it captive. Paraded it around for all to see.
Yet, the ultimate defeat is still out there in our future. The day the devil is uncovered, beaten and forced to admit that Jesus Christ is Lord! Praise God, I want to be there on that day and see this for myself.
So while I am here in this fallen world, I don't have to live the demands that come from society.

Step#1 - Give up
Step#2 - Recognize
Step#3 - accept the finished work of Christ. Repent (turn away from) your sins, confess your sins, receive the forgiveness of Christ and His Holy Spirit into your life/ heart.

It can't be that easy?
Yes, it is.

God on you....
mb

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Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Action - Verb - Movement

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD