GREENE STREET LETTERS

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Lamentations 3:24
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, therefore I hope in Him.

"You have been on my mind most of the day and I thought about calling but wasn't sure when the best time would be. You see something has happened in me and I was trying to pin point where my turning point in life happened.

You see June 1st 2008 I got locked up, June 28, 2008, I arrived at RAPHA. I believe in my heart and with all my heart some time's around my third week there, I broke down and ask You to Pray over me for my lower back, It Worked. I was healed.

I started believing in a Power Much Greater than myself, what I didn't know at that point God Touched my entire being. Today I can't picture living without His Hand nudging me along the way. My Friend all I wanted to say, I Love You Man, this all started when God used Your Hand To Touch me. May my God continue to Bless You and All The Work He has laid For You. Your Friend, Mark."

This was a message sent to me by someone who I am honored to call friend and brother.One Mr. Mark Cotney.
Mark has a few years on him. Maybe that is why we relate to each other so well. Along with the years, Mark has a lot of mileage also. His body shows the scars and pain of a life lived in the darkness of addiction. But his face shows the gratitude and glory of the Lord for being saved out of the madness.

Someone today needs to read this because of their own struggles with addiction. Too often we read the horror stories when it comes to drugs and alcohol. Death, misery, destruction seem to grab the headlines, or become the story that is passed. We need to hear the stories of the ones that have made it. We need to trumpet the name of Jesus as being the source of real life and real sobriety. That is why it is a pleasure to reprint Mark's message to me this morning.

You see, all this talk about God and His ability to end the misery of addiction is a problem to me. Either it real and true.... Or it's all a lie. Well, for me, it's true. I've seen the proof of it in the lives of those who gave up will and life,and handed over to Christ. Why not you? Why not now? Why not today? What do you have to loose except years of pain and destruction.

Psalm 107:14
He (God) brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke the chains in pieces.

God on you...
mbb

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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, May 18, 2016

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD