We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NLT)
In recovery circles there is a saying, “You are only as sick as your secrets.” Recovery is a process for each of us, and, in the right place, with safe and trusted people, we start to deal with our dark and often long held secrets. We follow the outline of the 12 Step Program as a means to help us restore our soul. As we begin to put each of the steps into practice we may find that, while we are ready to pray for God's will in some areas, we continue to feel uncomfortable with having God's light shine into others. We want to keep these areas hidden from those around us, and therefore, the guilt and shame of past events are left to fester and cause harm in our recovery process.
The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. (Romans 13:12 NLT) What hinders us from coming into the light of God’s healing presence is that we’re just unwilling to surrender all of ourselves to our new way of life. Light and darkness do not exist together. God wants us to be completely separated from the things of darkness. The longer we cooperate with darkness, the more we will hide our faces from the light. Darkness causes us to reject, or not even recognize, hope and help when it comes our way. To the extent that we surrender our lives to the light of Christ, we will be strengthened and directed by Him to live in new healthy ways.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:23-24 NKJV)
In the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous there is a chapter titled "How It Works." In most AA meetings a selection is read from this chapter, including the words, "Half measures availed us nothing" and "God could and would if He were sought." Our choice to live in the light will be as evident as the new attitude and behaviour others see in our life. When a person walks into a dark room, we recognize their choice for darkness or light by whether or not they turn on the light switch. As soon as the switch is turned on, the room is filled with light and darkness goes. Darkness is absence of light and when we welcome light, darkness no longer can exist.
What am I choosing today -- the darkness of secrets or the power of God's healing and forgiving light?
©2013 Partners in Hope
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Audio for Thursday, July 25, 2013 -- Secrets In The Dark (1)
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