This was so good, I coudn't resist posting it on my blog. A dear friend taught about Step 3 and Principle 3 in our Celebrate Recovery Meeting on Monday night and it was truly inspiring! I am very proud of you dude! Check it out!
Celebrating Recovery at NLC: Step 3 Practical Applications: "Practical surrender: Reminders for ACTION - “B’s Attitudes”(from Assimilation Coach and Men's Mixed Issues small group leader - Br..."
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
All of Me
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21, NASB)
"...and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:9-11, NASB)
Jesus wants all of me. In my own strength and in my own way, I am woefully inadequate (in matter of fact, I am powerless) to do anything God would have me to do in thought, word, or deed. Whether it is prayer, worship, relating to my wife or to a friend, ministry, forgiveness, eating sleeping…, whatever I may do, I need Christ Jesus to do it in me. Everyday I wake up in the morning I am faced with a choice: Do I begin to tackle the myriad of tasks that await me in my career, at home, in ministry, in service, or do I spend time with the Lord to gain perspective, strength, courage, and direction to do His will? The answer seems obvious, but how often I am deceived into thinking that somehow I can accomplish God’s will in my own strength! What a fallacy!! What pride!
I need God in every nook and cranny of my life. Even in those things that seem so routine and mundane, they will fall flat with no power and efficacy if done without the presence of Almighty God. Jesus wants all of me all of the time. He is my strength. He is my confidence. He is my courage. He is everything to me. My prayer today is that all of that is realized in my experience.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NASB)
"...and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:9-11, NASB)
Jesus wants all of me. In my own strength and in my own way, I am woefully inadequate (in matter of fact, I am powerless) to do anything God would have me to do in thought, word, or deed. Whether it is prayer, worship, relating to my wife or to a friend, ministry, forgiveness, eating sleeping…, whatever I may do, I need Christ Jesus to do it in me. Everyday I wake up in the morning I am faced with a choice: Do I begin to tackle the myriad of tasks that await me in my career, at home, in ministry, in service, or do I spend time with the Lord to gain perspective, strength, courage, and direction to do His will? The answer seems obvious, but how often I am deceived into thinking that somehow I can accomplish God’s will in my own strength! What a fallacy!! What pride!
I need God in every nook and cranny of my life. Even in those things that seem so routine and mundane, they will fall flat with no power and efficacy if done without the presence of Almighty God. Jesus wants all of me all of the time. He is my strength. He is my confidence. He is my courage. He is everything to me. My prayer today is that all of that is realized in my experience.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NASB)
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Grace
“For by grace you have been saved through faith: and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10, NASB)
God knows me and understands me perfectly and also accepts me and forgives me continually. God’s love is absolute toward me and his acceptance of me and forgiveness of me is immutable in Christ. These truths gave me much hope during the darkest times in my life. When I felt unlovable and far from God because of my sin, I knew that God still loved me despite His full knowledge and understanding of me, and that He accepted and forgave me in Christ.
When I was in the throes of sexual sin, not a single day passed that I was not engaged in some sort of physical acting out (and sometimes several times a day). It is an amazing thing to realize that none of that was hidden from God’s knowledge and yet His grace through Christ forgave me and His acceptance of me never wavered. I was learning the lessons of grace. I don’t think I will ever fully comprehend the breadth and enormity of the love of God. I get a better understanding of His love though, as I better understand how much He hates sin (He cannot even have it in His presence) and yet He was willing to suffer humiliation, ridicule, rejection, pain, and ultimately death, to open up the Way to restore my relationship to Him.
I often think of the death of Christ with much love and appreciation for what He was willing to endure on my behalf, for my good. However, I am beginning to realize that His death had implications far beyond my initial understanding. His death meant complete and utter separation from God in every way! What he must have endured during that separation is unimaginable! God did what it took as a holy God to be able to have a relationship with me. I can scarcely wrap my mind around it! It inspires me to continue to seek more of Him daily and to surrender more and more of my life to Him in love.
So far in my journey of discovery in God’s Word, there has been only one passage of Scripture that moved me to tears when I read it and the Holy Spirit gave me a deeper understanding of it. That passage is Ephesians 3:16-19 which reads “…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
God knows me and understands me perfectly and also accepts me and forgives me continually. God’s love is absolute toward me and his acceptance of me and forgiveness of me is immutable in Christ. These truths gave me much hope during the darkest times in my life. When I felt unlovable and far from God because of my sin, I knew that God still loved me despite His full knowledge and understanding of me, and that He accepted and forgave me in Christ.
When I was in the throes of sexual sin, not a single day passed that I was not engaged in some sort of physical acting out (and sometimes several times a day). It is an amazing thing to realize that none of that was hidden from God’s knowledge and yet His grace through Christ forgave me and His acceptance of me never wavered. I was learning the lessons of grace. I don’t think I will ever fully comprehend the breadth and enormity of the love of God. I get a better understanding of His love though, as I better understand how much He hates sin (He cannot even have it in His presence) and yet He was willing to suffer humiliation, ridicule, rejection, pain, and ultimately death, to open up the Way to restore my relationship to Him.
I often think of the death of Christ with much love and appreciation for what He was willing to endure on my behalf, for my good. However, I am beginning to realize that His death had implications far beyond my initial understanding. His death meant complete and utter separation from God in every way! What he must have endured during that separation is unimaginable! God did what it took as a holy God to be able to have a relationship with me. I can scarcely wrap my mind around it! It inspires me to continue to seek more of Him daily and to surrender more and more of my life to Him in love.
So far in my journey of discovery in God’s Word, there has been only one passage of Scripture that moved me to tears when I read it and the Holy Spirit gave me a deeper understanding of it. That passage is Ephesians 3:16-19 which reads “…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”
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