We've got steps to follow.
We've got principals to live by.
We got the 12 and 12 (Traditions and steps).
There is a lot of effort that goes into this new life we are laying hold of.
But in the effort, we find God's strength enables us to do what we've never been able to do.
Live clean and sober.
This new found relationship with Jesus was the missing part of our new life.
We tried church...
We tried being religious...
We tried being good....
But it wasn't until we were saved that our efforts became empowered by Christ.
Our efforts included the turning or our will and our life over to his care.
God alone is the Power we had been sorely lacking in pursuing this new life. A new way of living that always seemed to lie beyond our grasp. We chased it for so long that we began to believe the lie that we were destined to live and die trapped by addiction. We became hopeless. We embraced the lifestyle that was nothing more than a prison of spiritual darkness. We gave up. Every time we heard the words "clean and sober" they were like knives in our heart, cutting us deep with the shame and guilt of our inability to be free from drugs and alcohol.
IT was the light and voice of God that stirred us and gave us the smallest glimmer of hope that just maybe...
He was the Power we had been looking for. He was the answer to every dark day we had lived in addiction. So we surrendered. We gave up. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
In this surrender it was like the sun came up in our soul. Things would never be the same. This was the beginning of new life and a new way of life.
I have watched this transformation from darkness to light over and over in the lives of the men who come through Rapha. It is something that I never tire of and yet, I still don't understand how it works.
It is the mystery of God, this salvation experience. Yet I have seen men who I was close to giving up on, be laid hold of by God's Holy Spirit and receive this glorious transformation into a new life. It defies explanation. Men who had spent years and years and thousands of dollars trying to get sober, have this encounter with God and are changed. It really isn't about any treatment program. These are merely tools that God uses in this transformed life. It is about the power and presence of Almighty God in the life and body of one who has given up.
To see a man flourish and change into this new creation is the most wonderful thing in the world to watch. To see them become hungry for God's word, studying it and trying to grasp every word. Full of questions about what has happened, what is going to happen, they get up each day with a new sense and purpose for living. They truly are "babes" learning a new way to walk, talk, live and breath. All we did was to point them to the one who truly has the power to change.
Jude : 24
And now (right here at this very moment) All glory to God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) who is able (possesses the power, authority and ability to carry out and see to completion) to keep ( Own or possess because of a legal right) you ( all inclusive as the possession or ownership is based on the surrendered lives to Him) from stumbling (to stumble denotes movement. People who are standing still do not stumble, only those who are moving forward) , and who will (Future tense which means these verses are a promise. Due to his nature, His promises are yes and amen without fail) Bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy (there will be a celebration not only of our lives and existence with have been transformed, but because of who God is! His wonderful and glorious character that has brought defeat to the devil and his kingdom of darkness)
God on you today.....
mb
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