Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/23/12 - Consuming Anger

"And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil." Ephesians 4:26-27 NLT

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires." James 1:19-20 NLT

Anger in itself is a normal human emotion. We all get angry. It's when we allow anger to dictate our actions that it becomes consuming and dangerous. It is OK to be angry when some hurts us but if we endeavor to hurt them back that is sin. Retaliation is not just wrong because of the harm to the other person, but because of the harm it causes our spirit and our natural selves as well. Any doctor or mental health professional will tell you the dangers prolonged anger. It can lead to high blood pressure, migraines, heart attacks and strokes, and that's just the physical consequences.

For recovering Christians the anger and resentments can keep us from growing in our recovery and even open the door to relapse. As the text says,"anger gives the devil a foothold." It's an emotion we can't afford to dwell in for long.

The passage from the Book of James also cautions us about listening before we speak. How many of us have found ourselves being angry over a miscommunication or a misunderstanding. We're not angry over what they said but what we thought they said. A lot of the time if we had just engaged our brain before we engaged our mouth we would have been OK but we caused harm because we didn't think and we didn't listen.

It's time pray for God's guidance in letting go of consuming anger and demonstrating more of His love.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/21/12 - Victim, Victimizer or Volunteer

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." James 1:2-4

At some point in the process of recovery and in our relationship with Christ we will see evidence of our old patterns resurfacing, in particular those we haven't truly dealt with. Whether it's childhood abuse that is causing us to select abusive partners, abandonment issues that turn our friendships into "hostage ships" or even sexual abuse issues that cause unwanted promiscuity in the name of looking for love. Unfortunately its the deep dark issues that the enemy loves to set us up with and the main reason that he can use those issues is because we have not allowed to shine His healing light into those deep dark places. So instead of dealing with the issues we now move from victim to victimizer or to volunteer. A victim of abuse who abuses others has become the victimizer and the victim of child abuse who keeps getting into abusive relationships as an adult has become the volunteer. The only way to break the destructive patterns is to turn to God and allow Him to guide us to the heart of the pain and misery that is causing us destruction in the here and now. This is where prayer, meditation, step work, sponsorship and studying the Word and our other recovery literature come in. Now once we are aware of our issues and are in the process of allowing God to work on us, when the enemy does try to throw it our face we now have the tools to do as the text says and "count it as an opportunity for great joy" because we no longer have to fall for the same old trick. Our faith can grow, but in order for it grow as much as possible we have to allow God into even the darkest places in our lives and into the deepest holes in our heart.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/19/12 - Faith in the Gift

"Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." Romans 4:1-5 NLT

Some recovering folk have trouble with accepting the concept that salvation and recovery are freely given gifts and not earned. We, because of the depth of pain and suffering in our past, believe we are unworthy of God, or to be given anything. We think that we must somehow earn our recovery, salvation and our relationship with God. The problem with that thinking is that we're trying to earn something that can't be earned. If it could be earned there would have been no need for Christ's sacrifice.

It's the same with our recovery, if that could be earned then we wouldn't have needed God's help. The steps aren't a process of earning our recovery. They are an act of faith and deeper surrender to God. We can never earn what has been freely given to us. The life we live after the gift is one of serve because we are grateful for the gift not because we are trying to earn it. In fact if we are truly honest with ourselves if it were not for God's grace and mercy we would have been given what we had truly earned, emotional, mental, physical and spiritual death, and not the unmerited favor of salvation and recovery.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/16/12 - Humble Servants

"Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves." Luke 22:24-27 NLT

One of the dangers for people in recovery is a lack of humility. Unfortunately due to our self centered natures, as we more time away from whatever we're recovering from, we can be tempted to fall into the trap of believing we're living and maintaining our newly blessed lives by our selves. We can also fall into a sense of entitlement that because we are clean and saved we are somehow owed something from God. And don't let us into a position of leadership in this state because we will act like princes believing we should be served.

We really need to look to Christ's example. He came to serve and even as King of Kings and Lord of Lords He had humility. He served people and we need that same mentality. We need never forget where we came from or how much further we still need to go. Everything we have including our recovery is a gift from God. We need never forget that.

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/15/12 - Don't Give Up 5 Minutes Before The Miracle

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Unfortunately one of the assurances of living a life in Christ and in recovery is that we will be tempted on occasion to give up. The reality is the enemy will do all he can do to confuse us, distract us, to get us to turn away from God and buy into defeat. He will try his best to make us think we have made the wrong choice by following Christ and entering recovery. His job is to make us suffer but we can overcome the suffering and temptation if we keep pressing, if we keep our focus on God, IF we PERSEVERE!

Perseverance is one of the keys to walking with Christ and ongoing recovery. Our old life was one of self gratification and that led to near self destruction. So now we find as we begin to deny self and begin living for God we can't fall off at the first sign of trouble. There will be times that we may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel but we just have to trust God that it's there. We have already seen the light in our lives because once we are no longer caught up in our self destructive patterns our lives got better. Now the Apostle Paul is reminding us that there is a greater prize awaiting us, eternal life.

We have to keep pressing until we enter our rest and like Paul we can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have remained faithful." No matter how tough the temptation gets, we can't leave 5 minutes before the miracle. As much as the enemy may try to make us think we are, we are not alone. God is with us. As Kirk Franklin said, "If your heart is broke, lift your hands and say I know that I can make it. I know that I can stand. With Jesus I can make, with Him I can stand. Now matter what comes my way, my life is in Your hands."

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/13/12 - Step 12 - Sharing God's Love

"What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one—for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For Your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” ) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39 NLT

Step 12: Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and practice these principles in all our affairs. (12 Steps for Christian Recovery)

The ultimate goal of the process of Christian Recovery is not to just no longer do what ever we are recovering from but to allow God to change us so dramatically that we become a living demonstration of the power of His love. The message we carry is hope. Hope that through a loving relationship with Christ that we can be free because of His sacrifice on the cross. The 12 Steps and the Word of God have provided us a path back to God and to change. We who were lost and broken are found and made whole. We aren't perfect but we are being perfected. The love that God has shown us wasn't just intended for us to absorb without sharing. God saved us to use us as an instrument of His will, to let our example shine for others so that folk will be drawn to Him by the change they see in us.

That is the essence of the message, that God loves us so much that He changed us so that we can attract others to be changed. The best way we carry the message is by example. We share His love by the love we share.

***Just a reminder there is no service at RCC til the 3rd Saturday in May. We will keep you posted on our core group meetings, outreach events and other activities in the mean time.***

Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/12/12 - Step 11 - Seeking God's Face

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." Matthew 7:7-11 NLT

Step 11: We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God through Jesus Christ, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out. (12 Steps for Christian Recovery)

At this point in our step process we should be mostly free of our past, and continually examining ourselves in the present. The next task for us should be to seek to constantly improve our relationship with Christ. Because of the change God has made in us, our prayer life should be more that the self centered laundry list of our wants and needs. We begin to pray for God's will for us and the power to carry it out. We also begin to listen for the answer. There is nothing spooky about this step, prayer is simply talking to God and meditation is listening for the answer. Yet too many of us never even bother to listen.

The problem is that every relationship requires us being able to listen. If you never listen to your spouse they will probably feel as if their feelings and opinions are not valid to you. If we act like this to our friends they probably won't be our friends very often, yet we treat God just like this and say how much we want to grow.

Our growth is directly tied to our relationship with God. The more we seek Him, the more we will grow. If we don't seek Him we won't grow. 

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