Billy and Marilyn share their experience and their deliverance from bondage by Jesus Christ.
They just celebrated 41 years of marriage!
Category: Recovery to discovery
WHERE THERE IS AGREEMENT:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol … that our lives had become unmanageable.
“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Romans 7:18)
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
“… my grace is sufficient for you, for my POWER is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
..for it God Who works in you to will and act according to His good purpose.. (Phil. 2:13)
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of GOD as we understood Him.
“… If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25)
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40)
“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?..”(2 Cor 13:5)
5. Admitted to GOD, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” (James 5:16)
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to cleanse us of all unrighteousness” (1st John 1:9)
6. Were entirely ready to have GOD remove all these defects of character.
“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land.” (Isaiah 1:19)
“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:6)
7. Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:10)
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:11)
“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:6)
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23, 24)
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Give and it shall be given you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38)
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith GOD has given you.” (Romans 12:3)
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with GOD as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will, and the power to carry that out.
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” (Col. 3:16)
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13)
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and practice these principles in all our affairs.
“Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)
“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2)
WHERE THERE IS CONFUSION:
God as we understand Him: Taken in a literal context this is the God of the Bible that Bill Wilson and the Oxford Group understood Him when the AA program was created back in the mid 1900′s.
How it is used today: A god of your own personal “understanding” however the God of the Bible cannot be fully understood. Here are a few verses to back that up,
Isaiah 55:8-9,
For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Even though we can know God personally and have an intimate relationship with Him we will never fully understand Him.
WHERE THERE IS DISAGREEMENT
The only real disagreement I could see other than a works based program is the last two steps.
“a conscience contact” God desires a close personal loving relationship with us. This entails both the spirit and conscience and is accomplished by a daily surrender to Jesus Christ, submitting to His Lordship and asking to be filled with His Spirit. Studying the Bible and prayer.
“a spiritual awakening” The Bible teaches that we have to be born again in the Spirit (John 3) this may deeper than an “awakening”. The term “born again” means born from above. This is when God puts His Spirit in you.
If I were to make any changes to the 12 steps it would look like this.
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power God who is greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature
of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact the study of His word to build a relationship with
God, as we understood Him, praying only to get to know Him more, for knowledge of His will for us
and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to been born again we walk in the newness of life that Christ has for us sharing the great commission with others.*
carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our
affairs.
*At this point sobriety has become an incidental, a blessing on the side.
DOES GOD USE THE 12 STEP PROGRAM?
OH YA! The 12 step program is an instrument that the Lord will use to bring a person out of bondage gracefully (He’ll use a rehab center the same way). God knows what a person needs. He also knows how to minister that need to a person in order to deal gracefully with the addiction, at the same time He makes His presence known and allows an individual the freedom to choose Him or reject Him.
