GREENE STREET LETTERS: Doing The Right Thing In The Right Way

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Doing The Right Thing In The Right Way

Psalm 119:1-3
Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord. Joyful are those who obey his laws and search for him with all their hearts. They do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in his paths.

Jesus will save you......
Jesus will empower you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit...
The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth...
But you have to be willing to become responsible for learning to hear his instructions.
You have to be willing to carry out what you hear God saying.

There's no mystery to this new life...
God will never tell you to use...
He will never instruct you to drink...get drunk...or anything associated with the old lifestyle. Just isn't going to happen.
So what's the rub?
Well, for starters, getting "ME" out of the way.
I have to put into practice a form of discipline in my daily routine. To do such is called "being responsible". Not something we've been good at in the past.

The old lifestyle is one that is best defined as "Chaotic". We lived in a swirl of emotion and drama. One bad choice only lead to destruction on some level. In order to clean up the mess, we made other bad choices. Pretty soon they piled up so high that we just quit trying to clean up the mess. Our goal for the day was to simply not "feel" anything. To escape. To run away. To split. Such only magnified the chaos.

That is why we needed a POWER greater than ourselves who could restore us to sanity. Sanity being the ability to make sound decisions and then carry though with them. When we begin to move in this fashion, we are becoming responsible. We are putting into place, and into practice the discipline that will carry us through the day.

(The following is from the LIFE RECOVERY BIBLE)
Responsibility will result in SECURITY:
This is one of the most obvious results of our experiencing life recovery. We have not only made restitution, we have also begun to act responsibly in all areas of our lives. Responsibility is living up the our part of life, not blaming or expecting someone else to make up for our lack. We experience a genuine sense of security when we are doing our part----living responsibly in our everyday lives.

One thing we use to teach at Rapha was "Jesus will save your soul, but he won't keep you sober." That comes from discipline and a focus to be responsible. Think on these things.

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.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Doing The Right Thing In The Right Way

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD