GREENE STREET LETTERS: Following A Path From The Darkness

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Following A Path From The Darkness

Romans 12:2
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Then you will know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

If I Follow The Bible, I Don't Really Need To Work The Twelve Steps

News flash!!!! Working the steps IS following the Bible. Did you not know that the steps were a combination of the book of James.....The 13th Chapter of I Corinthians.....and Jesus' teaching from the Mount (Also known as The Beatitudes)? Can't get much more Scriptural than these three parts.

The steps are a guide....a path to help navigate a new way of living.
In the old life, a person lives by chaos, in chaos, all the while creating more and more chaos.
So to be suddenly called to move into a daily routine of order is a hard task. The steps provide a discipline and direction. Why do you think the battle cry of recovery is ONE DAY AT A TIME? Because that is all we have to live....one day.

The Steps are a path of hope, and hope is a powerful tool when it is pointed toward Jesus, because he is the creator and finisher of all hope. I guess you could say that hope and faith go hand in hand. You can have both of them, pointed in the wrong direction, and still be disillusioned and helpless. But when my hope rests in the simple fact that, in this new relationship I have with Jesus, He truly is who He claims to be, and will do what He has promised to do.

Such faith....
Such hope...

Fuels me to cling to....rely on......trust in....and look to in every situation, Jesus.

You see where I keep referring to the steps as a path.
Well, what is a path?
It is a worn down direction that has been created by others who walked it over and over, until it can be clearly seen by someone who has never walked it before.

In other words, the Twelve Steps are a path that others have followed....
Not just one or two people....
Not just hundreds or thousands....
But this Path to God, and life with Him has been trod by millions.

I guess that is why we can say with all confidence that "Rarely have we seen anyone fail who has thoroughly followed our path.

The only ones who truly fail or those who will not give themselves to this relationship Jesus is calling all of us to, or those who simply do not want to follow.

I know this...
The Twelve Steps are a path to healing and restoration based on God's truth that will change the way you think, act and live.

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, August 10, 2016

Following A Path From The Darkness

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD