He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!!!! (even those who think that they are too intelligent for this stuff, as I foolishly thought I was once...)
Bible Study
Sermon on the Mount-Part 7
Matthew 5:41-48
- And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
(In ancient times government agents were in a position to compel forced service upon a subjugated people. A Roman soldier, for example, could compel a Jewish native to carry his armor or materials for one mile. Jesus now states that if someone compels you to walk a mile, go with him twain. The believer is to be willing to “go the extra mile.” Doing double our duty not only proves our loyalty to human authority, but likewise proves the spiritual intention of our heart.
- Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.)
(Jesus clearly taught that a loan should be looked upon as a potential gift. There are many statements in Proverbs against borrowing, lending, and surety (cf. Prov. 6:1; 11:15; 22:7; 27:13). While we are warned of the dangers of borrowing and lending, Jesus clearly emphasizes that the believer ought to be willing to lend to those in need. Even the beggar is to be ministered to through the provision of giving to him that asketh thee. This statement certainly forms the basis of all Christian charity, and provides the proper social application of the message of the gospel to the physical as well as the spiritual needs of man.)
- Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
(The law of love, sometimes called “law of Christ,” summarizes the ethical principle of the Sermon on the Mount. “Love thy neighbor” summarizes the entire second table of the law (cf. Lev. 19:18–34). But the unscriptural addition “hate thine enemy” was a popular concept in Jesus’ day. The admonition Love your enemies is one of the greatest statements Jesus ever made. The love enjoined in this passage is love that originates from God Himself. Man is not commanded to attempt to love his enemy on the basis of mere human affection but rather on the basis of a love that comes from God. The quality of love commanded here is expressed by giving. Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you. Loving an enemy involves doing good toward that enemy in order to win him over to Christ.)
- That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
(In summarizing the importance of love, Jesus reminded that love was a necessary proof of salvation: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven may be better rendered, “that ye may prove to be sons of your Father.” An initial reading of this text out of its context might seem to imply that loving one’s neighbor automatically makes one a child of God. However, the New Testament is clear that love is the evidence that one is already saved by the grace of God (cf. 1 John 3:14). Therefore Jesus reminds us that we are to love our enemies as our brethren, for even the publicans love those who love them. Publicans were public officials of Jewish nationality who worked for the Roman government as tax collectors and were generally despised by the people.
- Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
(This section of the Sermon on the Mount is summarized with the statement Be ye therefore perfect. Since the New Testament is clear that even the believer is capable of sin, the term perfect (Gr. teleios) is not to be taken as sinless perfection. Perfect here means “complete,” that is, possessing a complete love that, like God’s (v. 45), embraces those who love you as well as those who do not.)
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My Prayer for the Day
"Heavenly Father..Thank You for your words today. For teaching me to love those who hate me...and to be ok if people are mad at me...I pray for them anyway, love them anyway. Thank you for showing me that I can love and forgive but I don't need to have them in my life to do this. Thank you for teaching me to go the extra mile also. Father, sometimes I get weary because of all the misinformation out there regarding You, AA, the institution of medicine...I know that my search for knowledge ultimately lead me to you but it was a hard, confusing, frustrating- a painful way to find you. We are SO lost amongst the powers at be..the prince of the world, satan, really stuck it to us Father. He knew where to get us...he blocked us from you...creating stumbling blocks, distortions and distractions, he tempts and lurs away by using our emotions against us, he took away the foundation of family, weakened the male and masculated females...no wonder we are lost and confused! Then we try to go along with it and further fragment our soul...Father....My simple prayer is-I pray they wake up. I pray for more laborers in the field....So many sick souls that want help, need to be harvested...yet we waste time helping those who don't seek or want us or engage in stupid drama...Not enough foot soldiers...Not enough help. We need solid sponsors that will go the extra mile and help others and stand for truth. I pray that we can bust through our selfishness and see the bigger picture. In Jesus name-Amen"
Today’s action
- Today I will work for God and be grateful that I am no longer batting for the otherside!
- Today I ask God where I can be of service to Him....If that means I just leave someone be or let something be on not obsess on them or it for the entire day!!
- Today I will respect my limitations and not put myself in situations that are volatile...That if I am not emotional sober yet I need to cut myself off from emotional situations. If we can't control our drinking we don't go to the bar until we are solid in our sobriety. If we can't control our emotional reactions then we need to stay away from emotional situations. We need to start looking at this a real disease. This is a toxic and emotionally abusive disease to those around us. We are sick. Depending on what stage you are in sobriety (not time, stage) whether we like it or not.
The "special part" is in there but has not been tapped into yet...no matter what your sick distorted mind has told you. We have cancer of the soul.. it takes time to clear of the dark, gross, moist, toxic, mess in our guts. God can't and won't work in that mess until we show that we are serious about trusting him (Step 3). When we start to feed the light part little by slowly that "cancer" shrinks, more light is allowed in. This is done through the Steps, not our so called intelligence.
It isn't complicated if we are willing to be taught, by God, guiding us toward what we need. WE have to feed light. We don't have the luxury to dabble in ANY of our old habits or entertain the loops if we can avoid it. You only get free through discipline and diligence to you recovery. I simply had to cut my self off cold turkey from those things I couldn't handle in my sobreity and devote myself to getting well.
In early sobriety it was of course alcohol. Then it was the company I kept. Texting ex boyfriends "just in case" Then it was facebook, then it was TV, drama with friends...all these things always took me back to darkness. FEEDING THE LIGHT, God, by strengthen my sobriety first. We have the tools, I tell you more than I was told-there is no excuse not to fully recover. Simply and focused.
If I am addicted to drama-I must stay away from drama. If I am addicted to seeking knowledge that is driving me craZy I stay away from it. I had to quit watching youtube and unsubscribe to all the stuff I was tweaking on. I can watch it now because I am firmly planted in my faith. I could totally have facebook and not get sucked in, but I choose not to because now I don't see the point. I could totally go to the bar if I wanted to and not drink...but I choose not to, again no point. I could probably hang out with thoses I left behind but I choose not to because it would do more harm to them then good.
Popping in and out of people life is not cool. Only if I can fully commit to keeping up with that relationship and feeding that relationship will I have a relationship.This includes family and friends. Right now I am not capable of having any more people in my life than I have because I don't have time to nourish that friendship. I am committed to this right now and the people God brings me to help and my existing people-Brian and Janie...lol...That's it. Before I didn't respect my limitations and tried to be super social like other people. I was so unhappy- people pleasing and being fake and resenting they were taking me from my drinking time. That is not fair to them. Maybe in the future, when I am stronger I will have friends...but now God has me here, so I stay where God has me.
- Today I will not live in the delusion that I am normal-That I can't just behave and act like others do. I am a alcoholic with the brain of a alcoholic. If I am thinking, over thinking, that isn't good. I know my mind is out to not only destroy me and destroy these I say I love and then turn around and say horrific things to them.
- Today I will not rob ANYONE of their peace by one of my many fleeting emotions....INSTEAD, I will call out to God and then call my sponsor!
5th STEP
God I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I know you better. Help me become aware of anything I have omitted discussing with another person. Help me to do what is necessary to walk a free man at last. AMEN
(p. 75 BB)
6th STEP
God help me become willing to let go of all the things to which I still cling. Help me to be ready to let You remove all of these defects, that Your will and purpose may take their place. AMEN
(p. 76 BB)
7th STEP
"I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch."
(p. 13)
"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen."
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Podcast of he Day
Fr. Jim C. – 38th Michigan Conference – 1990
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Big Book
We the Agnostics
"To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.
But it isn’t so difficult. About half our original fellowship were of exactly that type. At first some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life —or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you. But cheer up, something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows that you need not be disconcerted.
If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?"
Hils Blah
God is THE ONLY thing that could combat the kind of darkness that dwelled in me. My demon was strong that kept me drunk for over half my life. Do you hear me?? I had NO control not to drink or act out inopraratly. Self WILL doesn't work. The moment I found alcohol it become my cure for what was aling me why before I picked up. My "cure" only feed the darkness inside. It got stronger the more I fed it. I fed it through sex with strangers, lying, cheating, using people, stealing from my jobs and family, getting high off emotionally havoc....the thing that got a hold of me early on in my life had its grip on me. Not once did I seek God...except when I wanted something I thought I needed and or to get me out of some stupid situation I was involved in or if a cop was behind me...Santa Claus God. You do for me God, You owe me God for just being me. I did nothing to deserve the grace I got the night of 4.7.14....I had no intention to stop. I was brutally seperated and given grace.
God gave me a huge GIFT and intercepted my DEATH. I mean seriously...that is huge. He then basically gave me a choice....He did the hard part by removing me from it...what was I going to choose to do from there...free will!! Will I gain momentum and feed God....or will I stay in meeting and slogan based dry drunk sobriety or will I choose to catapult into the 4th dimension and have a full blown spiritual experience and THEN serve this amazing power that did this for me!? It's all a choice people. No one got me sober, not even me..all I did was make a decision in Step 3 that I still, and will, make that choice everyday for the rest of my life.
Each time I turn over my life to him, not just in words, but in faith, I get fed and I get stronger. The more I feed God by doing the right thing, the more wisdom, courage and strength he gives me. I honest couldn't "want' anything more then this. He is EVERYTHING and he is truly the only power that COULD AND WOULD if he were sought. My drinking and self destructive behavior was all consuming. Don't you think I wanted out? Don't you think I wanted to stop emasculating men and cheating? Don't you think I wanted a normal life?? OF COURSE I did!! But I was enslaved! Just like clockwork, same time, same drink. I had no power of choice. God gives us his power and grace for that brief moment...it's up to us to go from there.
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