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Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 9/21/12 - Don't Forget The Source!

"Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were dependent upon Herod’s country for food. The delegates won the support of Blastus, Herod’s personal assistant, and an appointment with Herod was granted. When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his throne, and made a speech to them. The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a m
an!” Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died. Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers." Acts 12:20-24 NLT

One of the reasons we need to be ever vigilant in our recovery and our relationship with God is that the same blessings and gifts granted to us through our new found freedom can also be used by the enemy to trick us up. In the beginning we are so grateful to be free but the danger of a lack of vigilance during this continued freedom is that we can be manipulated into forgetting where the Source of our freedom comes from. Instead of acknowledging and affirming that our recovery comes from our relationship with God we start to allow ourselves to think that we are that source. The we are clean under our own power. We begin to forget where we came from, how desperate and close to death we were, how we suffered and start to think that we are somehow responsible for our current spiritual and physical condition.

King Herod found himself in the same position. When his people began to worship Him, rather than correct them and give honor to God, he "fell in love with his own press releases" as the saying goes, and it destroyed him. Many of us can find ourselves in the same boat if we're not careful. We must acknowledge that everything that we have and everything that we are comes from God and we are NOT Him. We are merely stewards of what He has given us, and the best stewards know who there Master is!

‎Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 9/17/12 - I'm Still Standing

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9


One of the common misconceptions about getting clean and having a relationship with God is that life is going a bed of roses just because we are finally living right. Unfortunately that's just not true. In fact we will probably be under attack from the gate simply because our former master, whether you call him the disease, the enemy, the devil, etc., is rather jealous, and will do whatever he can to make you miserable if you let him just to spite God. 


Our hope is that no matter how hard he tries, God is much more powerful and loves us so much that He will never let the enemy win. No matter what comes down the pike we can say with confidence, "I'm still standing!" As long as we don't give in we might get messed with but not messed up. Dealing with challenges is a part of life, but now we know that with God with us so we are never alone. No matter how many mistakes we make or how many times we get knocked down, He is there to pick us up, heal our hurts and set us back on the right path, even when we created what has knocked us down.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 9/3/12 - Spiritual Accountability

"But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives." Jude 1:20-23 NLT

One of the hardest things for folk in Christ and in recovery to do is to be accountable and to hold others accountable for our and their actions. However, the ability to own up when we are wrong and be transparent with our faults is key to strengthening our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others. All of our awareness of God and ourselves must be put into practice. We talk about our issues openly with our support system and we willingly look at the suggestions they give us because we know if God put them in our lives then He is going to work through them to help us.

We also have to be willing to loving pull others up as well. Most folk won't let someone walk off a cliff without trying to warn them and maybe if they ignore the warning try to stop them and even rescue them before they fall. We need to be willing to do the same thing for folk spiritually. We have a responsibility not to ignore someone God has placed in our life when we see them on a self destructive path. Sometimes folk will heed a simple verbal warning that the cliff is ahead and others may need to be snatched back from the edge of the abyss. Either way we try our best simply because God snatched us back.