Friday, March 30, 2012

***For the next 12 posts God has led us to take a trip through the 12 Steps for Christian Recovery in order to reaffirm the nature of the Recovery Christian Center. Join us Saturdays at 5pm for an awesome time in the Lord***

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Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 3/30/12 - Step 1 - The Irony of Powerlessness

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 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. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies." 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NLT

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our problems, that our life had become unmanageable.

One of incredible and ironic things about powerlessness is that once we admit we, in and of ourselves, don't have the power to conquer what has kept us in bondage we open ourselves up to finding the real power. The reason many of us refuse to accept our powerless is because of the very nature of our predicament. Denial, self centeredness, self destruction, over inflated ego, and pride mixed with shame and guilt keep us from acknowledging that we are truly coming to the end of our road. Regardless of the individual manifestation of whatever has kept us in bondage, the feelings of dereliction, shame, guilt, hopelessness and the total lack of self esteem have kept us locked for so long.

The simple act of admittance that we are powerless and that our lives have become unmanageable is the powerful first step towards finding help. That's the irony. If we just admit that we can't, we can finally open the door to Who can. It's time to stop fighting and just surrender. It's time to stop beating our heads against the wall and admit that we need a way out. We might be just a fragile clay jar but once we admit that we are just that, we can begin to find the great treasure, but if we refuse and keep trying to think we can handle this which is slowly killing us, we will stay lost. Surrender is our only option.

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