Experiencing His Love


Great word from David at our CR.
“A man who only opposes the sin in his heart for fear of shame among men or of eternal punishment from God would practice the sin if there was no punishment attending it.  How does this differ from living in the practice of the sin?! 
Those who belong to Christ, and are obedient to the Word of God, have…
(1) the death of Christ (for their sin),
(2) the love of God,
(3) the detestable nature of sin,
(4) the preciousness of communion with God, and
(5) a deep-rooted hatred of sin as sin
to oppose to all the workings of lust in their hearts.” John Owen 
 
Which of these five things do I not appreciate? 
Which do I take for granted?
Which do I believe to not be true for me?
 
In my recovery walk with God, I confess – I have failed to appreciate Jesus’ death on my behalf and His amazing love in spite of my ungratefulness – failed to appreciate that while I was yet a sinner, He died for my sin so that I could experience Abba’s love.  I have failed to believe that God loves me 24-7.  I’ve believed the lies of the enemy that say that I have to earn my Father’s love, when His word says the absolute opposite.  I have believed the deception that certain sins aren’t nearly as detestable to God as others – not taking into account that any sin of any “size” and “shape” nailed my Savior to the cross.  I have forfeited the pleasure of communion with my Lord for communion with everything under the sun imaginable that seemed more interesting at the time.  And, I have failed to truly hate sin for what it really is – the highest form of rebellion against a holy, loving, merciful, gracious Lord.
 
The love of God for me
prompted the death of Christ for me
so that I can have precious communion with the Trinity,
illuminating the detestable nature of sin in me
and fertilizing my hatred for it in my life. 
That’s amazing.  That’s salvation.
 
Thank you, Lord.
David, CR Asst ministry Leader

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the
Read more

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha
Read more

Verbal Reality--Why you can't believe an addict and what you can do as a co-dependent

I recently came across the below article when websurfing for information about verbal reality, a concept a friend introduced me to last year during a time I was trying to figure out is someone was telling me the truth or not. The below article is specifically for Porn addiction, and comes from a very good website, but I've found it true with all addictive behaviors. If you've never heard of Verbal Reality, and you question whether or not your spouse is being honest, this is a good way to help you sort it out, and a great tool for your recovery. ______ Consider This. (from http://www.pornaddicthubby.com/Help-For-The-Addict.html) Addicts of any kind live in a "verbal reality." This means if they say it, it is true and if they say it passionately enough even they believe it is really true. Men who have an addiction to porn live in a verbal reality. A sex addict believes what he is saying while he is saying it. Your most helpful tool in dealing with verbal reality is look
Read more