Done something wrong? Frustrated?

1 Samuel 12:20-21 "Don't be fearful. It's true that you have done something very wrong. All the same, don't turn your back on God. Worship and serve him heart and soul! Don't chase after ghost-gods.

Frustration comes through foolish indiscretion. After a lot of repetitious mistakes failure becomes the familiar. After which comes inevitable frustration. Should we be content to live with frustration? It is often difficult in recovery to break the bondage of frustration. Sadly, wallowing in it will stop us from reaching the freedom God wants us to experience.

Frustration is a form of captivity. Depression from frustration can lock us into ourselves, imprisoning our spirit. Life need not be permanent captivity. Freedom from frustration is offered by Christ. Turning to Him for the cure involves us accepting our limitations, adjusting our ideas, abandoning the causes of our frustration and availing ourselves of the total victory and full salvation which is only found in Him. As we give Him control of our lives the door of darkness closes and His light shines in and through us.

Reconciliation

Colossians 4: 5 Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.

In recovery Steps 8&9 are about reconciliation.

With whom are we to be reconciled?

First, we are to be reconciled with our own conscience.
Second, we must reconcile with other people.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, as we have reconciled with ourselves and others, we are now prepared to reconcile with God.

Say "I'm sorry and mean it!"

Colossians 3:13
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

Step 9 says we need to make amends to others: Luke 6:38 says "Give and it shall be given you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

It is clear from the Bible that in recovery God wants us and expects us to forgive, as He has forgiven us. Making amends and forgiving others are a necessary part of the recovery process.

Rigorous Honesty!

"Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (Romans 14:12)

It appears that some people do not constitutionally seem capable of being honest. We can only treat them as unfortunates. Recovery from addiction can only begin when we face being honest with ourselves, and others, especially those within our support networks. Those who never make it are usually the ones who refrain from complete honesty. There is no immediate requirement of sudden outbursts of frank confession when we begin our new life of recovery. But we are destined to a life of honesty and it is here that many stumble. It is easier to choose a short-term period of self-revelation, than to maintain a close walk with God in which honesty is a priority claim. He knows every niche and corner of our lives, and reads the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and minds so why cover-up?


MEDITATION
I am called to daily accountability to God now and not just an end- of-the-road reporting of my life's doings. This is to my advantage, in that I can quickly confess my faults, failings and sins and this off-loading saves me from building up guilt and the associated ills that surround the burden of condoning sin. In as much as we can let go, we can let God; account for our sin, pardon and renew us. How much wiser than trying to camouflage our misdeeds, and grievances?

Are we prepared for an honest facing-up to our responsibilities?The Bible offers us this encouragement, "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

PRAYER
God, I find it easy to hide from my innermost self, and to gloss over my shortcomings. Please help me be honest. I confess my need just now.

Need Refreshment?

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.
Acts 3:19-20 (NLT)

False Pride

Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

James 1:9-10 Humble believers should be proud because being humble makes them important. Rich believers should be proud because being rich should make them humble.

In 1987 I first entered 'Recovery' in a 3 month live-in rehabilitation programme in Western Australia. I stopped drinking and using drugs - I learned the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, attended meetings on a regular basis (even started a couple of new ones). But I had a problem, that problem was 'false pride' You see I had lived my life believing God was for the week and I never saw myself as being weak so I had no place in my life for Him. Although I believed He was in my life, I never believed in giving Him control of my life, nor did I 'humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings' I knew I had them but believed it was up to me to change them. As a result of my wrong beliefs and attitudes I drank again. However, because of what I had learned in A.A. I knew I had to do something to STOP
So I did a geographical to to South Australia. Where I again moved into a live-in rehabilitation programme The Bridge Programme There I learned of my need for God, a personal relational need on a daily basis. I learned to LET GO of the false pride that prevented me from achieving lasting life recovery and to LET GOD into all the areas of my life I had not permitted Him into previously. The reuslt is I am now in my 21st year of a lasting, loving relationship with Him and I still go to Him daily and 'humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings'


In John 14:1-4 Jesus says “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

Today because of the letting go of false pride I am certain He is preparing a place for me and when everything ready He will come and get me so I can live with Him forever.

Never the same again....

Galatians 5:1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

Admission addiction is never easy, making it public is even harder. However, being honest about it with ourselves and others helps us amend our ways. The process of recovery begins with hope -

hope that things can be different by abstaining from our drug of choice and changing our ways of living and acting.

Through hope we learn and apply the principles of recovery to our lives. This develops new found faith.

faith that things can and will be different because we are different in so many ways.

From faith we learn to put our trust in the one true Higher Power, Jesus Christ and apply the new characteristics we develop from recovery to our daily living. This then leads to love.

love for God and others, unconditoional love that does not depend on us geting what we want but what we need to live victorious lives of service in reaching out to others who are still suffering.

Through applying hope, faith and love to our daily lives, one day at a time we experience new freedom and grow in strength and commitment to the recovery process.

Is your God too small?

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.
Psalm 8:1-2 (New Living Translation)

God is full of surprises! He mixes the normal with the totally unexpected and the natural with the supernatural. His ways are often beyond our understanding, His power beyond our expectations and He always manages to surprise us. He is incomprehensible in His sovereignty, inexhaustible in His resources and unfathomable in His reserves. In our lives and in our recoveries we often fail to credit God with the fullness and wonder He deserves. Yet He is always ready to give personal time and personal attention too us each.

When you think of God - think BIG. Set your sights on appreciating who He is and what He has done for us.

God promises "If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." Jeremiah 29:13. Acknowledging the wonder of God in our lives can be the first step to an enlarged vision of Him for many of us and a refreshing appreciation of His personal interest in us each.

God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course Psalm 119:34

"Praise God"

Psalm 106:1-2 Hallelujah! Thank God! And why? Because he's good, because his love lasts. But who on earth can do it—declaim God's mighty acts, broadcast all his praises?

As we draw upon God for strength to do right and the power to overcome. It will get easier to express our appreciation. We can do this woshipful praise, through verbal testimony and through practical actions.

Whilst relief can be felt through sharing all of our bad past with others through meetings, sustaining the relief requires the over all glory be given to God for redeeming us from dreadful behaviour and sinful ways.

Romans 10:9 Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation.

Let us not be obsessed with the old life but marvel in the new life that He has given too us through application of the Twelve Steps on a daily basis. God is worthy of our best accolades for He has done in us and all He has still yet to do to help us become the people He created us to be.

About Living Life Recovery

2 Cor. 1:3-4 All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.

God wants to strengthen us in our time of weakness and comfort us in painful experiences.

It is good for us to count on God to minister to us in this way. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in God will always provide others to help us. This is how Living Life Recovery works. We are partners in a ministry of support; this is not a ministry of a few cheering words but of deeper spiritual involvement.

People who allow the Holy Spirit to convert difficulty into victory will know the blessings that come from sharing hope with others in recovery.

Doing what God wants to fit your own circumstances!

A number of years ago God gave me a vision 'Living Life Recovery' He gave me at that time clear instructions of what He wanted me to do and how He wanted me to do it. He gave me a curriculum to use and a definite structure to apply to making it a tool to change lives of people suffering from addiction and in recovery. A mission to make a difference in His Kingdom.
Because I am human however I as it says in The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous looked for
easier softer ways.

I began LLR as God wanted it done, using the curriculum that He provided. Then because my life got too busy I searched for and found curriculum that meant less time in preparation - less time in communication with Him, seeking His message for each and every meeting.

The result of doing this was that LLR was not as effective as God wants it to be, due to the fact I was only giving it the time I had to give, instead of giving it the commitment God requires. Also as a result of this delivery of the vision to others was not the vision God wanted delivered.

Tonight I thank God for revealing the errors of my ways and renewing the original vision He gave to me for LLR. A vision that is 'Church for People with Addictions' A place where people can come, to be themselves, to belong and grow in personal relationship with Him.

Nehemiah 7:3 (New Living Translation)

I said to them, “Do not leave the gates open during the hottest part of the day.And even while the gatekeepers are on duty, have them shut and bar the doors. Appoint the residents of Jerusalem to act as guards, everyone ona regular watch. Some will serve at sentry posts and some in front of their own homes.”

God has a plan for each of our lives and with Hid plan comes tasks and responsibilities - In this passage Nehemiah assigned each family the task of protecting the section of the wall of Jerusalem near their home. For each of us God instructs us to protect the things He has given to us. It is tempting to relax our guard of those things sometimes. But we must continue to serve and take care of all He has entrusted to us. Following-through is a vital part of our Spiritual growth and includes giving the time and commitment to His plan. Communicating with Him daily on the plan and trusting Him to do what He wants to do with it.