Archive for the ‘Step 2’ Category
Monday, March 6th, 2017
“I have tested you in the furnace of affliction!” Isaiah 48:10
I stood once in the test room of a great steel mill. All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point, and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point, and also marked. The master of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in a great ship, or building, or bridge. He knew this, because his testing room revealed it.
It is often so with God’s children. God does not want us to be like fragile vases of glass or porcelain. He would have us like these toughened pieces of steel–able to bear twisting and stretching and crushing to the uttermost, without collapse.
He wants us to be, not hot-house plants–but storm-beaten oaks. He wants us to be, not sand dunes driven with every gust of wind–but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms! To make us such, He needs to bring us into His testing room of suffering.
Many of us need no other argument than our own experiences to prove that suffering is indeed God’s testing room of faith. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds–because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:2-3
“When He has tested me–I will come forth as gold!” Job 23:10
(John MacDuff)
Tags:failure, God's Love, hardship, loss, Pain, strength, worry
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Wednesday, March 1st, 2017
“They will be Mine–in the day when I make up My jewels!” Malachi 3:17
We need a lot of chipping!” So said a saint as we were talking about the Lord’s gracious dealings with His people. The saying suggested to my mind–the Lord Jesus as the loving Sculptor at work upon the marble of our fallen humanity. There is an angel in the marble–because the pierced hand of the Sculptor has it in His mind, and brings it out by His skill. But there is a “lot of chipping” to be done before the beautiful image of His holy character stands out, displaying the perfection of His work.
The hard stone of unbelief,
the rough points of self-will,
the prominence of worldly ambition,
the sharp angles of pride,
the ugly faults of temper,
the stubborn marks of bad habits,
and the dark veins of selfishness—
are some of the things He removes!
“Those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son!” Romans 8:29
“God cuts and polishes His jewels in order to make them shine more brightly and beautifully in the crown of His glory in Heaven. All of God’s jewels need polishing!” (Richard Newton)
“God has many sharp-cutting instruments and rough files for the polishing of His jewels. Those He especially loves and means to make the most resplendent–He most often uses His tools upon!” Robert Leighton
~Frederick Marsh
Tags:anger, failure, God's Love, hardship, healing, loss, Pain, peace, Responsibility, strength, worry
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Monday, February 27th, 2017
“A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.” Luke 12:15
“Implanted within us is a desire for amusement — the entire suppression of which is as injurious, as it is unauthorized. The Christian religion is antagonistic only to that which is hurtful to spiritual life. It is not opposed to wholesome amusements. It does not rob us of any pleasures which are consistent with our eternal welfare.”
“Healthy recreation should be encouraged, with one proviso — that it never be forgotten that there is a higher end in life than to be amused. Care should be taken, not to suppress the desire for amusement — but to moderate and rightly direct it. The limitation which devotion to Christ imposes, must ever be observed, lest pleasure be made the business of life, instead of life’s relaxation.”
“The selection of fitting sources of amusement should not be difficult. There are many such, without tampering with questionable ones, which may prove detrimental and even destructive to spiritual life. The question requiring settlement is: “Am I, by the amusement in which I indulge, being spiritually helped or hindered? Is my soul being lifted up — or more heavily weighted down?”
“The Christian should find pleasure not only in the world’s confectionery — but chiefly in the strong meat of the Word.”
“All things are yours. Take them and use them; but never let them interfere with the higher life which you are called on to lead.”
“A ship is all right in the sea — so long as the sea is not in the ship. In the same way, a Christian is all right in the world — so long as the world is not in the Christian.”
J.C. Pittman, 1917
Tags:Attitudes, bondage, Choices, motives, New Beginning, Responsibility
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Monday, February 13th, 2017
“Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.” Luke 22:42
A cross is composed of two pieces of wood. The shorter piece represents your will–and the longer piece represents God’s will. Lay the two pieces side by side–and there is no cross; but lay the shorter piece across the longer one–and you have a cross.
Just so, whenever our will falls across God’s will–there is a cross in our life. We make a cross for ourselves . . .
— every time we do not accept Christ’s way,
— every time we murmur at anything He sends,
— every time we will not do what He commands.
But when we quietly accept what He gives, when we yield in sweet acquiescence to His will, though it shatters our fairest hopes, when we let our will lie alongside His–there are no crosses in our life, and we have found the peace of Christ.
“My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it–may Your will be done.” Matthew 26:42
“I delight to do Your will, O my God!” Psalm 40:8
Tags:Attitudes, bondage, Choices, failure, healing, Pain, peace, rebellion, Responsibility, worry
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Monday, February 6th, 2017
“The eternal God is your refuge — and underneath are the everlasting arms!” Deuteronomy 33:27
If we are held in the clasp of the everlasting arms — we need not fear that we shall ever be separated from the enfolding. “Underneath.” They are always underneath us. No matter how low we sink in weakness, in fainting, in pain, in sorrow — we never can sink below these everlasting arms. We can never drop out of their clasp!
God’s love is deeper than human sorrow. Sorrow is very deep, but still and forever, in the greatest grief — these arms of Divine love are underneath the believing sufferer.
God’s love is deeper than death. When every earthly support is gone from beneath us, when every human arm unclasps and every face fades from before our eyes, and we sink away into what seems darkness and the shadow of death — we shall only sink into the everlasting arms!
Drop your plummet into the deepest sea of sorrow, and at the end of your soundings: “Underneath are the everlasting arms!”
What abiding consolation! What all-embracing, never-failing strength!
~J.C. Pittman, 1917
Tags:Abuse, criticism, failure, Forgiveness of God, God's Love, hardship, healing, loss, New Beginning, Pain, peace, salvation, serenity, strength, temptation, worry
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Monday, January 23rd, 2017
Over the triple doorways of a European Cathedral, there are three inscriptions spanning the splendid arches.
Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the lettering:
“All which pleases us — is but for a moment.”
Over the other arch is sculptured a cross, and there are the words:
“All which troubles us — is but for a moment.”
But on the great central entrance to the main aisle, is the inscription:
“That alone is important, which is eternal.”
If we always realize these three truths, we would not let small things trouble us; nor would we be so much interested in the passing pageants of the hour. We would live, as we do not now — for the permanent and the eternal.
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!” 2 Corinthians 4:18
J.C. Pittman, 1917
Tags:Attitudes, Choices, failure, freedom, grief, hardship, healing, loss, New Beginning, Pain, peace, rejection, serenity, strength, worry
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Friday, January 13th, 2017
The sermon topic was “Finish Well” and that’s important, but you can’t finish if you never begin.
Seems like lots of folks are afraid to begin. Some wait to figure out their true calling. Some wait for someone else to tell them what to do. Some wait for permission. Some wait for a sign from God. As I listened to the sermon about crossing the finish line with integrity, I couldn’t help wondering how many folks in the audience were still in the starting blocks.
Tags:Attitudes, Choices, failure, New Beginning, Responsibility
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Friday, January 6th, 2017
“As your days’ so shall your strength be.”
Deuteronomy 33:25
The year before our eyes may hold in its bosom, events which may deeply concern and affect us. We do not know what is to come. What personal trials, what family trials, what providential trials may await us – we do not know. Every year hitherto has brought its trials in its train; and how can we expect the coming year to be exempt?
Sickness may attack our bodies, death enter our families, difficulties beset our circumstances, trials and temptations exercise our minds, snares entangle our feet, and many dark and gloomy clouds, make our path one of heaviness and sorrow.
If, indeed, we are His, whatever our trials may be – His grace will be sufficient for us.
He who has delivered – can and will deliver.
And He who has brought us thus far on the road, who has so borne with our crooked manners in the wilderness and never yet forsaken us – though we have so often forsaken Him – will still lead us along; will still guide and guard us, and be our God, our Father and our Friend – not only to the end of the next year, if spared to see it, but the end of our life.
Blessed with His presence – we need fear no evil;
favored with His smile – we need dread no foe;
upheld by His power – we need shrink from no trial;
strengthened by His grace – we need panic at no suffering.
Knowing what we are and have been when left to ourselves – the slips that we have made, the snares that we have been entangled in, the shame and sorrow that we have procured to ourselves – well may we dread to go forth in the coming year alone. Well may we say,
“If Your Presence does not go with us do not send us up from here!” Exodus 33:15
J. C. Philpot
1802-1869
Tags:Attitudes, Choices, God's Love, hardship, loss, Pain, serenity, strength, worry
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Monday, January 2nd, 2017
Many people have many plans for your life. You likely have plans of your own. But have you ever stopped and thought about what the difference between God’s will and yours or the devil’ will would be for your life? I am going to talk about what the devil would have you do and believe. Open your heart because you are about to learn how to avoid Satan defeating you.
There are 5 steps in Satan’s plan to defeat you: doubt, discouragement, diversion, defeat and delay. One by one, they lead you down into a miry pit that you can only get out of by the hand of God who loves us and wants only the best for us. And I have no doubt in my mind that each one of us will go through this process once, maybe even more, times in our lives. After all, we are human and we are quite capable of falling. We are not infallible like God. Just read what the Bible says and be hopeful.
The first step in Satan’s plan to defeat you is DOUBT. Doubt makes you questions God’s Word and His goodness for and toward you. To doubt means to disbelieve and to mistrust. In this case it means to disbelieve God and to mistrust Him. And yet we have no reason for doing either with Him. He has never let His children down.
After doubt comes DISCOURAGEMENT. Discouragement makes you look at your problems instead of staying focused on God and His goodness in your life. Discouragement can easily be overcome, but for some it can lead to detrimental emotional problems like depression. We need to fight, through the power of prayer, this discouragement that Satan attacks us with. God would never do anything to cause us doubt or discouragement. So don’t let Satan get even a slippery grasp on your life. That’s all he needs to bring you spiraling down.
Discouragement will lead you to DIVERSION. This means that the wrong things in life suddenly become attractive and you crave them more than what is right. This is the dangerous step. Once you are into sinful patterns, it is hard to break them. The old saying says that Old habits die hard. Once something becomes a habit, it is very difficult to overcome and get out of.
Once Satan has you into his diversions, he then leads you to DEFEAT. This makes you feel like a failure. It can hurt so bad that some people give up on even trying to get out of a situation. Satan’s grasp is so strong that you just can’t bear to even try for anything good anymore. Defeat is not for God’s children. The victory is already won for the believer and if we just focus on the words “It is finished,” the battle is over, what a difference we would see in our churches.
And finally, once you feel you are defeated you are lead into DELAY. You put off doing something – usually something good so that it never gets done. In this case, you put off calling on God so your life never gets straightened around.
If you are feeling or experiencing ANY of the above 5 steps in your life, I suggest you call a/your pastor and get some spiritual guidance. Better to feel a little awkwardness now than to completely turn around the path to your eternity.
This battle plan that Satan has for all living persons was first set in motion with Adam and Eve. Satan placed doubt in Eve’s mind about what God had said. When she learned she could be like God, she was discouraged with what she had and wanted more. All of a sudden that tree and its fruit looked pretty good – she fell for the diversion. When Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, they felt shame and defeat. They knew Satan had gotten the better of them and they had saddened God’s heart. And when God did approach them, the delayed in answering because they knew what they had done was wrong. Rather than coming forward and saying sorry to God, they both made excuses, blaming someone or something else for their actions. This was the delay process.
And now, thanks to them, we all have to deal with these five steps. Some may have to go through all five of them in order to finally see the light. Some may only go through 1 or 2 or 3 before they realize what’s happening.
Don’t despair. God won’t leave you there. All you need to do is lift your eyes Heavenward and reach up with your hand and God will take it and lift you up, cleanse you and give you a brand new start.
We don’t need to stay stuck in the mire and mud of our sins. God knows we are human and He is fully willing to give us a helping hand. All we have to do is reach out and ask. Don’t let Satan get the victory because God has already won the entire spiritual war. Keep focused on the Lord in your heart and you won’t stumble into Satan’s battle ground.
By Sheri Liegh Adams, copyright Sheri Liegh Adams, all rights reserved
Tags:Attitudes, Choices, freedom, hardship, loss, New Beginning, Responsibility, strength, worry
Posted in Ability to Overcome, Anxiety, Assurance, Choices, Faith, For Friends & Family of Dysfunctional People, General Recovery, New Beginning, Pain, Pastors & Recovery Pros, Responsibility, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Things to Ponder | No Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2016
Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
I chuckled when I read an email from Barnes & Noble on January 3. It listed three diet books for the New Year at 20% or more off. On the news on TV, one of the newscasters talked about his new book on losing weight.
Some people need to lose weight for health reasons, but not everyone’s New Year’s resolution is to lose weight.
Some friends told me they wouldn’t make a New Year’s resolution because they probably wouldn’t keep it after two or three weeks.
A lady in my exercise class said the first two or three weeks in January the exercise classes are packed. Then they go back to their normal size.
My New Year’s resolution is not based on diet and exercise. Instead it is based on Jeremiah 29:13. I want to seek the Lord with all my heart and find him. I pray that resolution will become stronger with each passing month.
My citizenship is in heaven, and I’m going to spend eternity with my heavenly Father. I might as well get to know him now.
How will I seek him and find him? I’ll spend more time in prayer and daily Bible study. I’ll review more Bible verses on a regular basis and join the women’s Bible study group that resumes this month.
Praise & worship will become a daily practice. As I work at the computer, that music will fill me with the presence and power of the Lord. I will sing to the LORD and praise him as long as I live.
Will you join me in 2017 to seek the Lord with all your heart?
Dear God, help me seek you with all my heart. Amen.
Application: What will you do this week to seek and find the Lord?
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Copyright 2010-2012, Yvonne Ortega, LPC, LSATP, CCDVCAll Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
Yvonne is a Speaker, Author, Counselor, Cancer Survivor and
serves on the Board of Directors of Christians in Recovery.
She is the author of
Finding Hope for Your Journey through Breast Cancer.
If you would like to have her speak for your organization or church, please contact her through
her website:
http://YvonneOrtega.com
Tags:Attitudes, Choices, New Beginning, Responsibility
Posted in Ability to Overcome, Attitudes, Choices, Faith, General Recovery, New Beginning, Responsibility, Step 12, Step 2, Step 3 | No Comments »
