8 Principles
Last time I put my thoughts down on this blog you may recall that I wrote that I was going to take some time off. If I am being totally honest my intention was to quit all together.
Each month my hope is to help you all understand the ins and outs of the Celebrate Recovery ministry, what it is like for someone to need to start over and how this ministry can change each person’s life bringing them back to the loving arms of Jesus Christ!
The one thing that I lost sight of is that I am not only the Ministry Leader, but I am also in recovery! I have been so busy trying to do the right thing for everybody else, I lost sight of why I am doing this in the first place. I cannot say that I was not warned that this would happen, because I was. But like some human beings I believed that it could not happen to me! The same thing that I preach to everyone else, I fell pray to. The Biblical comparison to Step 12 is from Galatians 6:1- “Brothers and Sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
In Celebrate Recovery, unfortunately this type of thing happens all the time. We get comfortable with how far we have come in recovery and think that we don’t have to come back anymore. Or that we do not need to take our recovery seriously anymore and we end up just going through the motions. This is what we call a relapse of sorts, not that we have totally fallen back into our old habits, hang-ups, or hurts. It is that we have become, complacent in our recovery and we stop relying on Jesus Christ and rely on our own power to get us through each and every day.
So, for my benefit and hopefully for those that need a refresher, Here are the Eight Principles based on the Beatitudes!
1. Realize I am not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life has become unmanageable.
2. Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that He has the power to help me recover.
3. Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control.
4. Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.
5. Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.
6. Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm that I have done to others, except when doing so would hurt them or others.
7. Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow his will.
8. Yield myself to God to be used to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words.
By remembering these principles and applying them to our everyday lives, God has given us a blueprint for living our best life.
In my step study one of my final thoughts is as follows, “Let God show me what He needs me to concentrate on first. Who needs the most help, and what gifts has He given me that will help those that I am allowed to serve.” A statement that I need to keep close to my heart and remember always. Principle 8 prayer: Dear Jesus, as it would please you, bring me someone today whom I can serve. Amen.
Until next month, God Bless.
Don.
