Celebrate Recovery Lesson from July 22, 2013 – Victory Principal 5: Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires. Matthew 5:6 Step 7: We humbly asked him to remove all our shortcomings. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 REMEMBER: You Are Not Alone – We’re going to answer the personal question: How can I have victory over my defects of character? V – Voluntarily submit The Bible tells us we are to make an offering of our very selves to God. Both inside and outside, body and spirit. Romans 12: 1 & 2. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. We got right with God, began to work on ourselves, worked our inventory, came clean, got ready and now…. We struggle with this part… We are entirely ready to have GOD remove all our defects…. I – Identify character defects We identify which character defects we want to work on first. Look at the items you discovered in your inventory. Falling down doesn’t make you a failure, staying down does! God not only wants to forgive us, He wants to change us! Proverbs 16:9 – In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Remember our weeds & roots lesson? The weeds are our sins (what people see). The roots are our Character Defects (what is hidden and in darkness). C – Change your mind When we became believers we became a new creation, a brand new person inside. 2 Corinthians 5:17. This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! Our responsibility is to take the action to follow God’s direction for change. You have to let God transform YOU by renewing your mind. Look at Romans 12:2, read it out loud so you can hear you say it. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Our very nature is to change. T – Turn over character defects Relying on our own willpower, our own self-will, has blocked our recovery. It is one of the main reasons we’re in recovery. We’ve tried to do it on our own. If we read James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord” we’re reminded. Humility is not a bad word, and it doesn’t mean weakness. Humility is like underclothes: we should have it, but shouldn’t let it show. See us as God sees us: truthfully. O – One day at a time We’ve said before, we didn’t get this way overnight, so don’t expect to have them instantly removed. Matthew 6:34 – So don’t be anxious about tomorrow, God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. God doesn’t say, “My name is ‘I was.’” God says, “My name is ‘I am.’” God doesn’t say, “My name is ‘I will be.’” God say, “My name is ‘I am.’” Look at Exodus 3:14. God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.” R – Recovery is a process Recovery is one day at a time. Don’t look for perfection, instead rejoice and be glad in the steady progress. Here these words of encouragement from Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure that God who began a good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns. Y – You must Choose to change As long as you place Self-Reliance FIRST, a true reliance on Jesus Christ IS IMPOSSIBLE. You must voluntarily submit to EVERY change God wants you to make in your life and humbly ask Him to remove all your shortcomings. All you need to do is humbly ask! God will tell you His name, He knows your name. James 4:6-8 - He gives strength to the humble,…so give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. When you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Village View Community Church
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:42:49 +0000
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