myRECOVERYspace
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Members seek freedom from
Alcoholism
Anorexia & Bulimia
Codependency
Gambling
Marijuana
Narcotics
Prescription Drugs
Overeating
Overspending
Pornography
Self-Injury
Sexual Promiscuity
Tobacco & Nicotine
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(myspace is a trademark of myspace.com)
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Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
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Matthew 3:1-3
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| 3:1 |
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, |
| 3:2 |
And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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| 3:3 |
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
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12Step.org Comments:
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When John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus, he told the people to repent or "make a 180" as we
would say in todays vernacular. They were to turn away from their sins in order to be prepared for the
Messiah. This we must do also in order to live daily with the Messiah who came, Jesus the Lord.
In step 6, we repent of our sins - all of our known sins and not just our addictive behaviors - that we
have uncovered in step 4 and confessed in step 5. In this way we can be prepared to also live faithfully
with the Messiah on a day-to-day basis.
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Romans 6:8-14
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| 6:8 |
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
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| 6:9 |
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
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| 6:10 |
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
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| 6:11 |
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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| 6:12 |
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
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| 6:13 |
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that
are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
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| 6:14 |
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
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12Step.org Comments:
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The entire chapter of Romans 6 talks of our new life in Christ following a baptism into the likeness of His death.
Christ died and then rose again and death has no more dominion over Him. In the same way, as Christians we are to
die to sin so that it will not have dominion over us. As addicts, this means that we are to die to those things that
once enticed and seduced us. Through the previous steps we should have discovered what this dying means exactly for
us in our personal life. We now yield our body to righteousness instead of to the sin of our addictive behaviors.
This chapter of Romans makes clear and we also know from experience that this dying to sin is a continual
process - "a day at a time", as the 12 step saying goes. We become servants of doing what is right and good and
in that we find the freedom that we could never have had in our addictive behaviors.
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Galatians 5:1
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| 5:1 |
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
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12Step.org Comments:
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In this passage, Paul is talking about whether believers should be circumcised or not, putting themselves under the bondage of the law.
Paul points out that they were freed from that law, so be sure not to go back to it. In the context of our addiction. we can say that
since we have been freed from our addictive behaviors through the grace of Christ Jesus, then we are not to be entangled again with the
yoke of the bondage of our addiction. We are to stand fast, to abide in and remain in the liberty which Christ has given us and set us
free. God leaves this choice up to us. We should always remember that the true choice then is not between the "comfort" of our addiction
or not, but between liberty and bondage. By now we should be wise enough to choose liberty. That is what the sixth and seventh steps
are all about - to make this choice of liberty for our lives and not be entangled again with bondage.
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Ephesians 4:17-24
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| 4:17 |
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
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| 4:18 |
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart:
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| 4:19 |
Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
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| 4:20 |
But ye have not so learned Christ;
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| 4:21 |
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
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| 4:22 |
That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
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| 4:23 |
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
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| 4:24 |
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
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12Step.org Comments:
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The apostle Paul is telling us as Christians as he did to the Ephesians to make our walk with Christ consistent.
We are to discard the defects of character that alienate us from God, for it was not through these defects that we
learned Christ. Having completed the 4th and 5th steps, we know that the life of the old man was indeed corrupt
through deceitful lusts. We are admonished to put these old things away and to put on the new man and be renewed
in our mind instead. That is why God originally created us as He did - to live in righteousness and true holiness.
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Colossians 3:5-13
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| 3:5 |
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
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| 3:6 |
For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
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| 3:7 |
In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
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| 3:8 |
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
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| 3:9 |
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
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| 3:10 |
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
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| 3:11 |
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:
but Christ is all, and in all.
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| 3:12 |
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering;
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| 3:13 |
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, so also do ye.
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12Step.org Comments:
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One of the difficult things about getting rid of our addictive behaviors is that they are often wrapped up in so many
other parts of our character and habits. In our lives we have learned to accept many character defects in conjunction
with our addictive behaviors. Although lying or stealing may not have been our primary addiction, we may have learned
to lie or steal or any of a host of other character defects in order to conceal the tracks of our addictive behaviors.
By step 6 we have made an inventory and "come clean" with ourselves, our God and someone else about all of these incidents
in our lives. Step 6 is about our willingness to not only give up our addictive behaviors, but also all of the character
defects that surround them. Of course, this does not make it a "done deal". We will always need to be vigilant against
our defects of character. But as Christians, we are called to continually give them up, as outlined in this passage.
In that way we will not only be free of our character defects but it will guard against our falling back into our addictive behaviors.
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1 Thessalonians 1:6-10
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| 1:6 |
And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost.
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| 1:7 |
So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
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| 1:8 |
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to
God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
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| 1:9 |
For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve
the living and true God;
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| 1:10 |
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
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12Step.org Comments:
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In this passage, we see how the Thessalonians willingly turned from their idols to actively serve the true God through
Christ Jesus, even to the point of having "much affliction". Yet at the same time, there was "joy of the Holy Spirit".
In our addictive behaviors, we also were serving idols, and in the sixth step we make a decision that we want to
give up all of the things that led to that idolatry, to have God remove these defects of our character. The
Thessalonians give us an example of doing this willingly and afterwards being an example to many others of what
it meant to live faithfully with God.
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Revelation 16:8-11
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| 16:8 |
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
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| 16:9 |
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues:
and they repented not to give him glory.
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| 16:10 |
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they
gnawed their tongues for pain,
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| 16:11 |
And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
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12Step.org Comments:
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This passage from Revelation is revealing in that it shows how stubbornly people can hold on to their idols.
The judgement of God is coming upon people here for their wicked deeds. But the judgement of God in this
case does not lead to repentance. It leads only to more wickedness in blasphemy and cursing of God. The
lesson for us as addicts is to not be like this. We have lived in wicked deeds before God. We have made
something into an idol that was never meant to have that much power in our lives, whether it was alcohol,
drugs, sex, pornography, food, money, status, a certain appearance, unhealthy relationships or any of a
host of other traps in our world. By the sixth step we should be fairly aware of how these things have
harmed us and brought the judgement of God upon our lives. Instead of being like those who perished in
judgement in this passage, we can learn from our mistakes, repent of our deeds and of our thinking of
the past and find protection and peace in the love and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.
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