Bible Studies

Revelation: Don’t be Aftraid

Many people shy away from the Book of Revelation thinking it is too frightening or not applicable to the daily life of a Christian; certainly not to someone in recovery. No so! Revelation has many themes running through it. In this Book great evil is given full reign over the earth. Horrible and terrifying images are presented. There seems to be no way to overcome this terrible evil.

But if you read to the end of this book we learn that God is sovereign. He is greater than any power in the universe. Satan and his minions are defeated. In the end, a new heaven and a new earth are created where we, as believers, live in peace and security for eternity.

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Are You Tending Your Garden?

Recovery is much like tending our own garden. A garden needs water, fertilizer, sunshine, good soil and a lot of attention by the gardener. We, as Christians and recovering people need:

  • the water of prayer, meditation, and communing with God
  • the fertilizer of fellowship
  • the “Sonshine” of resting in Him (letting go and letting God)
  • the rich soil of God’s Word in which to firmly anchor our roots. Not only must we read the Word but we must *understand* it and *actively apply* it to our own lives. Roots must be anchored in the soil, they must take up the nourishment and then send it to the entire system of the plant so it may flourish.
  • a lot of attention by us, as our own gardeners, to remove all weeds that appear.

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What’s Love Got to Do With It?

What does love have to do with recovery? EVERYTHING! Easily a book could be written on this subject but I only have a few lines, so here goes.

Lack of self-love results in a tremendous amount of inner pain. Low self-esteem often leads people to look to sources outside of themselves for the love that they do not feel for themselves. This can result in “looking for love in all the wrong places” like same sex relationships, drugs, abusive relationships, codependent relationships, eating too much, alcohol, improper sexual relationships, etc. Or one might try medicating the pain with drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, etc.

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Relationships: Trusting God and Not Ourselves

Proverbs 19:5 NRSV
A false witness will not go unpunished,
and a liar will not escape.

Our mouths get us into more trouble than most other things, particularly if we are the kind of people who consider ourselves to be moral. I mean, we would never consider shooting someone or punching them out. But it’s nothing to gossip about them with a co-worker in a hidden corner. Rather than express our anger and fear to someone else, we need to learn how to pray.

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Amazed by Common Grace

Common Grace. It is a term used in theology to describe the grace God gives to every living person on planet earth. It is called “common,” not because it is not worth that much, but because everyone alive gets it.

Grace by definition can never be demanded. God gives grace, not because He has to, but because He decides to. The scripture says that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

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What is Your Purpose?

Doing what I am supposed to do, according to the Bible, is one of the hardest things in life. It’s easy to be self-indulgent. It’s easy to be lazy. It’s easy to hide behind my emotions, my desires, my fears. It’s hard to be a Christian.

Proverbs 19:3
One’s own folly leads to ruin,
yet the heart rages against the Lord.

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A Pastor’s Letter to His Daughter

This is an excerpt from a letter from Legh Richmond (1772-1827) to one of his daughters. We all can be instructed by these words.

My dear daughter,
May my dear child be preserved from the defilements of a vain, dangerous, and destroying world. You know not, and I wish you never may know–its snares and corruptions!

I send you the following applications of my sermon on Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

On circumspection of walk, redemption of time, and general sincerity of character:

1. Adhere most scrupulously to Scriptural truth; and labor to preserve the strictest integrity, simplicity, and sincerity.

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Do You Worship a Thing?

The traditional symbol of the medical profession, the serpent on a pole, is commonly known as the staff of Asklepios. This was the name of a Greek physician of the eighth or ninth century BC. And it involved one of the most anomalous events in the Bible. Yet the roots of the serpent and pole symbol go back farther, to the Exodus from Egypt around 1200 BC. When the children of Israel were plagued with venomous snakes, Moses was instructed to “……. “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard (pole); and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live (Num. 21:8, 9).”

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