Following His Steps

When it comes to addiction, everyone has an opinion.
"Why can't they just stop using? Don't they see the damage they've done?"
Such statements only push the addict deeper and deeper into their using.
When they hear such statements spoken against them, they don't hear the words...they feel the guilt and shame that rises up within themselves.

When it comes to the Twelve Steps, everyone has an opinion.
"They Work!" 
"They didn't work for me!"
Some get wrapped around the axle concerning the phrase "Higher Power".
Lot's of people are for the Twelve Steps.
Lot's of people aren't.
I happen to be one who does favor them, maybe for a different reason.

I see the Twelve Steps as a blue print for new life. A defining of boundaries in which, if you work them, you will find freedom and a new way of facing life. But....
and here is the kicker.
Only if you allow Jesus to be your Higher Power....
Or to put it in a religious context.....
Your Lord and Savior.
In some ways, the church has done a disservice to the addict and the alcoholic. I don't think it was intentional, but it is there none the less.
The church has silently propagated the message that you can come to Jesus, pray a prayer and everything is done. Nothing further than to show up on Sunday's and put a little change in the plate.
You don't hear much about the discipline of following Jesus.
And discipline is just what a recovering addict needs in their life.
Such is the reason for the Twelve Steps.

Steve Yarbrough, founder of Rapha, used to hit home hard the saying that, "Jesus will save your soul.....but He won't keep you sober. In other words, there is a discipline that needs to be embraced by the addict in order to live out this new life. This is where the Twelve Steps come int.
The discipline found in the Twelve Steps is very simple.

Step #1-3 --Trust God.
Here we face the truth about ourselves.
We are powerless over our using.
Our lives have become unmanageable.

Step # 4 - 11 - Clean House
Here we begin by looking at our past and formulating a moral inventory, both the good and the bad. We want to deal with out past by letting God bring healing to us after we have confessed our sins.
We do this to God.....ourselves....and another human being.
Once that is done, we are ready for God to remover character defects and patterns of sin from our lives.

We not make a list of persons we have harmed and are entirely ready to make an amends for the damage we've done. Once the list is complete, we take each offense, one at a time, and go to that individual (when possible) and make the amends.

We learn to promptly admit when we are wrong, taking a daily inventory of our actions and motives. Keeping secrets, no matter how large or small, is fertile ground for addiction to creep back in. 

We pray daily that our conscious contact with God improve. Praying only for His will in our lives and the strength to carry it out.

Step # 12 -  Give it away
Here we find the addict moving under the power of God's Holy Spirit, after having a spiritual experience ( or awakening). Now the mission is to take this message to other who are still trapped in addiction. And the very last part of step # 12 --- to practice this principals in all our daily affairs.

I want to close by writing part of a verse from Matthew 7.
It will be very familiar to some of you.
I do not want anyone to take offense by the way I'm going to use it.
I know the implication of what Jesus is saying in this verse, but when I read it, I can't help but think of the Twelve Steps.

Matthew 7:24-25
"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life. Homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit---but nothing moved the house. It was fixed to the rock."

God on you...
mb