GREENE STREET LETTERS: ECARG ----- Don't Get It Backwards

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

ECARG ----- Don't Get It Backwards

Amazing?
Yes!
The ability to save someone lost?
Yes!
The Power and Thunder that can break the bondage of addiction?
Yes!
We need GRACE now more than ever.
I don't need to recognize GRACE after the fact.
I need to recognize GRACE in the moment.
My attitude becomes too loose and I am swayed by a moment or a voice.
I find my mind wandering to places it should not go.
I loose focus and my recovery suffers.
I let down my guard and the things of this world draw close to destroy me.
I need God's amazing GRACE.

I Peter 5:8-10
Be sober (wow! imagine that. God calls us to be sober. Must be something to this recovery thing.)

Be a vigilant (Pay attention to what is happening in your thought world and around you in the natural world).

Because your adversary, the devil (Yep! You've got an enemy who does not want to see you succeed. He wants to steal everything from you. Kill you and destroy your name and reputation.)

Walks about (Dude! He isn't God. He can't be everywhere at once. He is not omniscient or omnipotent. He is only blowing smoke at you trying to hoo-do you into believing he is some kind of all powerful being who is going to win in the end.)

Like a roaring lion (excuse me? The devil has a God complex. He wants to be God. How do I know this? Because Jesus is the Lion of The Tribe of Judah. He, the devil, is trying to imitate Jesus....He appears as an angel of light with soothing words that are coverings for the lies that are a part of his arsenal.)

Seeking whom he may devour (He looks for the non-believers. Those who are rebellious. Those who have a form of religion but deny the Power of God.

That is why I need the GRACE of God.
That is why I need the Empowering presence of God in my life that enables me to be who I was created to be.......and do what God is calling me to do.

Grace....
If you go on down in I Peter 5, you'll run across this verse.

But may the God of all GRACE, who calls us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

That is a promise....
May you find the truth of it today.....
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, November 7, 2012

ECARG ----- Don't Get It Backwards

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD