Tonight at Celebrate Recovery was one of those nights, where you go in expecting a good word from God, but come out changed. The Holy Spirit moves and you can see every person in the room being affected in one way or another. Some express it openly, with tears, raising their hands, whatever, but other people you can almost see they are resisting the fact that they are being moved, and trying to make sure people don't notice. I'm guilty of that, a lot of times at Church, because showing emotion at any time for me has never been something I've really been keen on doing. But tonight that all changed...
What God did tonight, I don't believe stops at 8:00 a Faith Christian, nor do I believe the message was solely for those that were there tonight. I believe that there is someone, maybe several someone's that need to hear this, and so i've decided to share the message, and hopefully the Holy Spirit will move in you like He did in me.
For those that aren't familiar with what CR even is, in a nutshell its a Christian recovery program that is for people with hurts, habits or hang-ups. It is not limited to only drugs and alcohol, but is recovery from a broader prospective. Yes there are drug and alcohol recovery groups, but CR is also for the emotionally scarred, those going through a divorce, etc etc. It is based on 8 recovery principles, and tonight's principle, was "Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life, and humbly ask him to remove my character defects."
"Really thats great for those addicts! Drug addicts, Alcoholics, whatever, but I'm good with God, thanks!" I'm pretty sure we are all guilty of that type of thinking of some sort, however there is not a person alive that God is finished with. We all have things we need to work on, some of us are more aware of than others, but how do we go about the change exactly? The answer is we need to get READY.
READY is probably my favorite acronym within the Celebrate Recovery principles, because it sums up so much in just a small word, it is a process, one we could all benefit from.
R ---- in READY starts with us releasing all control. Releasing control to God doesn't mean just letting God in here and there in some areas of our lives, but we have to give it all up, our jobs, or finances, our children, our situations. We tend to think we know better than God. I am 100 percent guilty of it, probably more than most people. I'll pray "God I let you have control" but become frustrated when things don't go the way I planned, or want them too, or there is a trial. Yep, I can do better than God...that attitude has absolutely gotten me nowhere.
Psalm 143:10 says Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing. What I like about this is the beginning. Teach me your way, other translations use the phrasing "help me". Releasing control is scary, and we may not know exactly how to do it, but God is there, patiently waiting to teach us, to help us. God's got it anyway, why waste away our minutes trying to control something we are incapable of controlling, our lives.
E---- "Easy does it" Thats it, easy does it, give it all to God. Not just your problems, and not just when you are having problems, and not when you feel like it, Commit everything to God. Easy does it, in a nutshell is emphasizing the R. Psalm 37:5 says to commit EVERYTHING you do to the Lord, trust him and He will help you. Now is the time, commit everything you do to the Lord, whether it be your job or taking out the trash, and you will start to see how the Lord can work in your life.
A --- Accept the change. We can become comfortable in our shortcomings. I personally hide behind cynicism. I am great of poking fun of myself, it is a skill I have learned over the years, because if I can get to myself before anyone does, than it becomes funny and no one will notice the reality. That is not a healthy way of living, however, because in that, i'm speaking the negative in my life, and the more negativity I speak in my life, the more beaten down I become. That was my personal commitment tonight was to start being more positive and speaking more positive things. Truth is, I have been viewing God in a cynical, negative light without even knowing it. I haven't deemed myself worthy of His grace and His love. That is the reality of the situation, and it Hit me tonight. its the whole reason I like to control my life, because deep down, i've always felt like God would probably fail me in the end, especially since I am such a "failure" at life. The truth is, God loves me, God wants good things for me, and God wants me to be happy, and His love is unfailing, and He feels the same way about every single person on this earth. Eph 2:10 says we are God's masterpiece, and he doesn't want to chisel away at us because He hates us, its because He loves us soo much, too much to leave us where we are.
D -- DO REPLACE. The thing about empty space, is that it is still space. When we have a void, whether it be a negative or a positive one, it needs to be filled, and when we take out a negative part of our lives, we must fill it with something positive, or you will see the negativity start to seep in. When I find myself thinking or speaking something "negative" or "cynical" my commitment to God and to those that hold me accountable is to replace the thought, or the verbal statement that might come out of my mouth with something positive. We can't just toss out something and expect it to go away. We must find positive things to replace the things God is working on us with. Jesus even addresses it in Matthew 12:
43 “When an evil[a] spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. 45 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”
Replace your negative traits, habits, and thoughts with positive ones, focused on God.
The final letter in this acronym is Y---- Yield. We must yield to the growth. "Ok God, I am ready." God is not just going to take some massive magic wand and heal us, and turn us into perfect people. There is no such thing, but we have to yield to the changes God wants to make, and when we fail, which we do, get back up and say ok God, you said this was a process, begin in me again. Create in me a clean heart.
1 John 3:9 says "Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life[a] is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God."
We are children of God. We are called to a standard of holiness, and we are called to allow God to constantly work in us. We do this by staying in God's word. Read your Bibles guys, spend time with God. Guard your hearts, and minds as well. James 4:8 says Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
There is an old saying that says "The spirit and the flesh are like two fighting dogs, the one that is going to win is going to be the one you feed the most." I made a commitment tonight to give up control of my life. I had taken back control of my life, and through that I have been feeling stressed out. impatient, basically, crazy. Am I going to wake up feeling like a kid that belongs in a Brady Bunch happy video tomorrow? Probably not, but its now that I exercise my faith, I trust God no matter what I may feel or see with my own eyes in my present circumstance.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Tonight, I begin to exercise my faith and i would encourage you to do the same. Whatever God is convicting you of, let Him work in you. I ask you...
are you READY?
