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Putting The Past Behind. The Road To Recovery (From a series by Rick Warren) Part Four. R. E.C.O.V.E.R.Y. R ealize I’m not God; I admit I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life in unmanageable. R.E. C.O.V.E.R.Y.
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Putting The Past Behind The Road To Recovery (From a series by Rick Warren) Part Four
R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y • Realize I’m not God; I admit I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life in unmanageable.
R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y • Realize I’m not God; I admit I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life in unmanageable. • Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover.
R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y • Realize I’m not God; I admit I’m powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and my life in unmanageable. • Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to him, and that he has the power to help me recover. • Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control
R.E.C.O.V.E.R.Y • Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust
The problem • Feeling guilty when we shouldn’t • Not feeling guilty when we should • Feeling guilty cause we are – yet not willing to confess it.
Dealing with the guilt • “What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven. What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record” (Ps 32:1 GNB) • Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! (Ps 32:2NLT)
Three Reasons For This Step • Guilt destroys my confidence • Guilt damages my relationships • Guilt keeps me stuck in the past • “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up, then God will show mercy to you.” (Prov 28:13 GNB)
How To Do This Step • Take a personal moral inventory • “Let us examine our ways and test them.” (Lam 3:40) • “Search me, O God, and know my heart, test my thoughts. Point out everything you find that makes me sad..” (Ps 138:23-24)
How To Do This Step • Take a personal moral inventory • Accept responsibility for my faults • “The Lord gave us a mind and a conscience. We cannot hide from ourselves.” (Prov 20:27 GNB) • “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is no in us.” (1 John 1:8)
How To Do This Step • Take a personal moral inventory • Accept responsibility for my faults • Ask God for forgiveness • “ If we freely admit that we have sinned, we find God utterly reliable… he forgives our sins and makes us thoroughly clean from all that is evil.” (1 John 1:9 Phillips)
How To Do This Step • Take a personal moral inventory • Accept responsibility for my faults • Ask God for forgiveness • “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you clean as freshly fallen snow.” (Isa 1:19 TLB)
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16 TLB)
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • To Whom? • 1. Somebody you trust. Somebody who can keep a confidence, who is not a gossip.
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • To Whom? • 2. Somebody who understands the value of what you’re doing.
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • To Whom? • 3. Somebody who is mature enough that they are not going to be shocked
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • To Whom? • 4. Somebody who knows the Lord well enough that they can reflect His forgiveness to you.
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • What do I say? • “I just need somebody to listen to me take my fourth step in recovery. Here’s some things I know are wrong in my life. This is what I’ve done, this is what I’ve felt.”
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • When do I do it? • As soon as possible. Don’t procrastinate. Maybe you’re not ready, maybe you just need a little more pain!
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • 5. Accept God’s forgiveness and forgive yourself • “All of us have sinned… yet God declares us not guilty if we trust in Jesus Christ, who freely takes away our sins.” (Rom 3:23-24 TLB)
How To Do This Step • 4. Admit my faults to another person • 5. Accept God’s forgiveness and forgive yourself • “ There is no condemnation for those who live in union with Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1)