12 Step Christian Recovery Program*
Jesus said; “ I am the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father except through Me”. From the Gospel of John chapter 14 verse 6
The first three steps are about making your peace with God.
Step One is recognizing your brokenness.
Step Two is about the birth of faith in you.
And Step Three involves a decision to let God be in charge of your life
Steps Four through Seven are about making peace with ourselves
Step Four involves self-examination.
Step Five is the discipline of confession.
Step Six is an inner transformation sometimes called repentance.
Step Seven involves the transformation or purification of our character
Steps Eight through Ten are about peace with others.
Step Eight involves examining our relationships and preparing ourselves to make amends.
Step Nine is the discipline of making amends.
Step Ten is about maintaining progress in
recovery.
Steps Eleven and Twelve help us keep the peace we have established.
Step Eleven involves the spiritual disciplines of prayer and meditation.
Step Twelve is about ministry.
The Steps kept Simple
The First Step tells us that our flesh and our spirit are always at war with one another and we are powerless in respect of trying by ourselves to win the war.
The Second Step tells us that coming to believe in Jesus Christ is the only way to overcome the flesh.
The Third Step tells us that unless we turn our entire will and lives over to the care of Jesus we will be still be acting as if we have the power to overcome.
The Fourth Step tells us that Jesus wants us to begin the process of healing our relationships both past and present so that we can become a disciple who can witness with no hanging baggage.
The Fifth Step tells us to continue the healing process by confessing our sins to another human being.
The Sixth Step tells us to be sure that this is what we want to do and if it is then we must be entirely ready for God to heal us of all sinful effects brought upon us by either our doing (victim) or someone else (perpetrator) or both.
The Seventh Step tells us to ask God outright to heal of the effects of our sins.
The Eight Step tells us to be willing to partake in the healing of the relationships we discovered in Step Four.
The Ninth Step tells us to actively move in conjunction with the Holy Spirit towards healing all of our relationships.
The Tenth Step tells us how to keep a Daily Inventory about our relationships and when we are wrong to try to promptly admit it. Note: our relationships include that with God as well!
The Eleventh Step tells us to talk to God (prayer), to praise Him, to meditate on His word, and to ask that His will be done for us in our lives.
Step Twelve tells us to go and do the "great commission" given in all four gospels by Jesus.
STEP ONE
I ADMIT THAT I AM POWERLESS
OVER THE EFFECTS OF MY SEPARATION OR LACK OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD, AND THAT MY LIFE HAS BECOME UNMANAGEABLE.
What is meant by being powerless? It means that there is nothing we can do with our own power or will. No amount of effort, no amount of money, no amount of wishing and hoping and even no amount of programs or medications can alleviate the effects of our separation or lack of fellowship with God
The Book of Galatians chapter 5 verse 17 states For the flesh has desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want..
But praise God, there is One who can help us! The Apostle Paul tells us in the Book of Romans Chapter 7 verses 15, 17 and 24-25.
What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, note the word through because it is Jesus Christ who is going to get you through the steps.
Now what has caused this separation from God? The Book of Isaiah tells us in chapter 59 verse 2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
This separation or lack of fellowship with God causes a sense of emptiness inside that we need to fill so we can feel better.
So, we try to fill the empty feeling with excessive drinking, drugging, gambling, pornography, overeating, and many substitute money and material items as their god. These excesses can lead to illness and sometimes death. But as someone once said; the temporary or seemingly good is often the deadly enemy of the permanent best.
And what does God say about these works of the flesh? Again, its the Book of Galatians that tells us in Chapter 5 verses 19-21 Now the works of the flesh are obvious, immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, act of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Ever since the creation of man, we have been rebelling against God. And right before He destroyed the world by a flood God said: how great was mans wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil From Genesis chapter 6 verse 5
What we need is a clean heart. A heart that accepts God for who He is, and a heart that desires to be filled on a daily basis not of worldly things or desires but to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. As David says in Psalm 51 verse 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Here is an excerpt from the great book Faith in the Night Seasons by Chuck and Nancy Missler. They talk about Gods will for us, the purification of the body, soul and spirit.
Gods will for the believer is sanctification-the purification of our body, soul and spirit-so that Christ can be formed in us and we can experience His fullness. This aspect of Gods will is the one Christians
understand the least.
The purpose of salvation is so that we might be reconciled to God and be
delivered from sin. God wants us freed from sin so that we might fellowship and commune with Him. He wants to dwell among us. We were created for that purpose. Gods whole purpose in creating mankind was for loving fellowship.
Sanctification is the process by which God brings this perfection and
this completion. Scripture tells us that when we first believe in Christ, we are sanctified. In other words, it’s a fact that we are set apart and holy unto God. However, in order to experience this sanctification and all the benefits that go with it, we must allow God to conform us into His image, so that we can enjoy an intimate, love relationship.
The purpose of sanctification is twofold: outwardly to reflect Christ in
all that we do (abundant Life), and inwardly to experience His presence
(and His fullness). Abundant Life is simply experiencing Gods Life (His
Love, Wisdom and Power) in and through us in place of our own. Fullness of God is being totally filled up with him (inside and out). As Colossians 3:11 expresses it, Christ (has become) all and in all.
The key here is, that before God reveals Himself to us, we must first be willing to unconditionally obey Him. The more we trust and obey Him, the more He leads and guides us; the more we allow Him to lead and guide us, the more we will get to know Him; and the more we get to know Him the more we’ll experience and see His presence in our lives.
Now let us look at the Book of Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
You must now answer the following questions before going onto the next step. Do you believe that no human power can relieve your problem and that God can and will if He were sought? Do you admit that you are powerless over your circumstances and that your life is unmanageable? Do you believe that you have acted in a manner that is not very sane? What are you willing to do to get well?
When do you want to get well?
*http://www.recoveredthroughchrist.com/synopsis.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment