1 Corinthians 3:9 What makes things worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God’s field in which we are working. Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house.
Welcome to Living Life Recovery. My name is Archie and I am a recovered alcoholic. Recovered through the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit moving in and through my life on a
daily basis.
Today’s reading from the Living Life Recovery Discussion Starters series is headed:
Grace and Mercy
Jesus is a firm foundation of the recovery process. He can help us to overcome any problem or trouble we may encounter through daily reading of the Bible. learning and adapting what we read to our daily living. Jesus is a firm foundation on which we can build better lives for ourselves and help others to do the same.
Spiritual growth begins through establishing a personal relationship with Jesus, but it doesn’t end there. Spiritual growth is about seeking to know God’s will for our lives. Learning to apply it through the examples Jesus gives us and moving forward daily through the power of interaction with the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 says ‘What happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments.’
This verse demonstrates for us some of the things that are going to change in our lives when we make a conscious decision to live God’s way. “Things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.” All things that were missing from our lives in our days of addiction and compulsion.
Willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.
- Willngness to keep going. Regardless of how good or how bad it gets.
- A sense of compassion in our hearts and conviction to the process. We will start caring about others, being empathetic to where they are in the process and understand that overcoming their problems is going to take time, patience and reliance on God.
- We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments. We are going to start telling the truth. Start letting our YES!’ be yes and our ‘No’ be no. stop promising things we know we can’t deliver on and start liing our true identities with God’s help.
I have two questions for us each today based on today’s reading.
- Are you willing to keep moving forward in the recovery process?
- If not what things are stopping you from doing so.
Grab a bit of paper and a pen and write out your answers to these two questions.
After reading them and praying about them ask yourself – What can I do today to help me move forward in the recovery process and help others to do the same?
Prayer: Just for today Lord help me to examine my commitment to the recovery process. And, help me continually build my character to mirror Your Grace and Mercy.
What the Bible Says
- GOD WANTS US TO OPEN UP TO HIM
Open up before God, keep nothing back; he’ll do whatever needs to be done. Psalms 37:5
1 Corinthians 2:11-12 Whoever knows what you’re thinking and planning except you yourself? The same with God—except that he not only knows what he’s thinking, but he lets us in on it. God offers a full report on the gifts of life and salvation that he is giving us.
1 Corinthians 2:14 The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion.
- A PURPOSE FOR EVERYTHING
God made everything with a place and purpose; even the wicked are included—but for judgment.
Proverbs 16:4
Ephesians 2:10 We neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Psalms 138:7-8 When I walk into the thick of trouble, keep me alive in the angry turmoil. Finish what you started in me, God. Your love is eternal—don’t quit on me now.
- COMMITMENT TO GOD
When a man makes a vow to God or binds himself by an oath to do something, he must not break his word; he must do exactly what he has said.
Numbers 30:2
Hebrews 11:6 It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
James 4:8 Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field.
Dear friends, I’ve dropped everything to write
you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything
you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. Jude 1:3
Thank you for listening today. Join me next week for week three of this series WHO IS GOD! Which is titled Hope through Submission.
May God keep you safe, well, and growing till then.
sharing my experience, strength and hope. 