Good Morning, meetpastordan readers…I was recently talking with a friend who is relatively new in the AA program, and he was telling me how difficult it is to make the changes that he knows he has to make in order to get – and stay – sober. He was in a treatment center for thirty days, and then he moved into a sober living house for another two months. According to him, he thought he was really getting the 12 step program. But unfortunately, he is now out of treatment and on his own, and has moved back into his old neighborhood. The old environment; the old friends; the old temptations are making it very difficult for him to stay the course, so he wanted to talk with me about his situation (and about a solution).
I’d had similar opportunities for this conversation before, so I knew exactly the approach I intended to take. There is a weekend radio show that is broadcast in our area called, “Intentional Living.” As the name implies, it is about engaging in the process of change. “Change” is the result of us being intentional about the way we do things. For instance, Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College in London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team decided that on average, it takes about two months for a new habit to become automatic. In other words, we have to participate in the process of change and be intentional about our choices.
Whether we are talking about a successful walk in a recovery program or the Christian walk of sanctification, the process is exactly the same. And that should come as no surprise since the 12 steps are based on Christian principles. Both endeavors require us to establish a solid spiritual foundation (Steps 1,2, and 3); to repent (Steps 4 and 5); to ask God to help us to change (Steps 6 and 7); then we begin cleaning up the messes we have made (Steps 8 and 9); and lastly, we continue to take a moral inventory of ourselves; maintain a conscious contact with God; and carry the message of hope to others who are suffering (Steps 10,11 and 12). In my opinion, if there were a 13th and 14th Apostle, it would have been Bill Wilson and Bob Smith, the co-founders of AA, because like the prophets before them, they were undoubtedly inspired by the Holy Spirit to put this program together. And the fruit is plentiful. Millions of lives have been changed by this process.
The intentional part of change begins by feeding the right information into our mind. Apostle Paul had this right when he wrote in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” Modern day psychology also follows this principle (although they may not be aware of it): “Whatever a person puts into their head shapes their expectations and their actions follow.”
So when I was talking with my friend about his dilemma, I stressed the importance of being intentional about his actions. It is important we believe in (or have faith in) the process; are committed to the process; and are willing to take the appropriate actions. For instance, in 2 Corinthians 10:5, Apostle Paul tells us: “…to demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words, when old thoughts come into our head that are rooted in evil, don’t let them take root. Take them captive (immediately), and replace them with thoughts that are pleasing to God. As stated earlier in this paragraph, if we dwell on ungodly thoughts and give them the opportunity to entice us, ungodly actions are likely to follow.
Galatians 5:17-18 explains the constant conflict between complacency and change: “The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to your sin nature.”
Because change always requires that we rise above our circumstances to become the person God wants us to be, the “right choice” of a “higher power” is essential. Unfortunately traditional AA leaves a gray area when it comes to selecting a “higher power”, therefore, it is often left up to the “sponsor” to explain this concept to his “sponsee”. But the truth is…the extent of his effectiveness depends on his own conception and understanding of “higher power.” In a Christian 12 step recovery program, that problem is eradicated because Jesus Christ IS our higher power. In fact, Jesus Christ is the ONLY higher power! Lucky for me, my friend in this discussion is a Christ-follower (therefore in Christ), but his misunderstanding of the indwelling Holy Spirit was the root of his issues.
[This paragraph is totally parenthetic because there has been 18 hours between the last paragraph and the next paragraph. In that interim time we have been dealing with a water problem in our lower level. It has been raining hard in St. Louis for the past three days and our sump pump stopped working. Luckily we became aware of the problem because I get up in the wee hours of the morning to write – or in this case to finish writing – my blog, and I went to check out our storage area. I could start over now and write in one setting about God’s faithfulness; or the truth of the scripture, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5); or “God works for the good in all things for those who love him and are called to his good purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Those will be future subjects, but suffice it to say, we escaped any serious damage and we now have a pump working on our behalf. So…back to the original message] (18 hours and ten minutes later).
My friend’s misunderstanding is not a unique problem. Many people hear about the Holy Spirit as part of the Trinity, but the concept of the indwelling Spirit was either neglected or not clearly explained. My friend’s explanation to me was, “I kept asking God to change my life, but it was as though he never heard my prayers.” I suspect that is the same scenario for many people who say, “Well, I’m just going to turn it over to God” or “I’m just going to let go and let God.” I believe their expectation is that God will sprinkle some “God dust” over their lives and their problems will miraculously vanish. But the truth is…it doesn’t work that way.
That is a total misconception of God’s marvelous gift to us. We receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so we can rise above the world around us; or resist the carnal desires of our flesh; or stand strong against satan’s lies and deception. God doesn’t fix our problems for us; he empowers us to fix our own problems. James tells us in 1:2-4, “…whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”
That is how we grow in our walk as Christ-followers. We call on the Holy Spirit to empower us with wisdom, patience, courage, strength, and perseverance…whatever it is we need to rise above the problem(s) we are facing. This brings into our lives the truth of James 4:10: “When you bow down (humble yourself) and admit your dependence on him (in this case the Holy Spirit), he will lift you up and give you honor.”
We must never lose sight of the truth of the Trinity. They are Three-in-One, not three separate entities. In other words, God is Jesus; Jesus is the God; Jesus is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is Jesus; God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is God! Make sense?
We received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who Jesus explains is himself in John 14:15-17. Just as his Apostles drew their strength and courage from him, we too can draw our strength and courage (or wisdom, patience, etc.) when we call on the Holy Spirit to empower us. The Word tells us when our motivation for calling on the Spirit is to “become the person God created us to be” (Ref. Ephesians 2:10 where we are referred to as his “masterpiece”) or “to bring honor and glory to God”, our prayers will be heard (and answered in God’s time).
Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is only the first step in a life-long process of growing to become more like Him. But our loving God knew the struggle we would have in this fallen world as we pursued that goal, because he saw the way this world treated his Son. Therefore not only do we inherit forgiveness of sin and eternal life when we accept His Gift of Grace, but we also inherited the power to rise above the temptations we will surely face in this world.
God’s salvation plan for us is perfect because it not only takes care of our eternal destiny, but it allows us to start experiencing his Kingdom of Heaven right here and now as we become Christ’s light in this world’s darkness. This process is not only the answer to our Christian walk, but it is also the answer to my friend achieving sobriety.
Our God is an awesome God, and he is available to ALL of us!!
May God bless you, and I hope you have a happy and prosperous New Year.
Please feel free to respond to this post, and please “like” and share it with other social media friends.
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
Leave a Comment