The 5 Pillars

Today I would like to introduce you to the 5 Pillars. They are the 5 things that are of vital importance to us if we are to live our lives as Christians and continue to grow. As a recovery counselor, I use the 5 Pillars with all of my clients, whether they are struggling with eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, codependency, depression, grief and loss or just feel stagnant.

Church is not listed. That said, church is vital and needed. Most who profess to be Christians go to church. The 5 Pillars are what we need in order to gain a true relationship with Christ, to have a Christ-like walk. A pastor once said, "Sitting in church no more makes you a Christian than me standing in my garage makes me a car." Obviously, church is not enough. We need the 5 Pillare as these pillars allow us to continue the transformation that church starts but cannot complete.

The first pillar is the most important one of all, God. Without God in my life, how can I possibly have any hope? Changing my life takes both hope and faith. If this life and this world are all that there is, it can be a really depressing place. Thankfully, I know that there is so much more and that is what has given me the strength to go on no matter what happens today. I am eternally optimistic because I know that in the end I have an eternity with God promised to me.

Christ states that we are to love God with all of our hearts, minds, strength and (Luke 10:27, Matthew  22:37, Mark 12:30). Never forget that your relationship with God affects every aspect of your life. I know that if I put God first it makes me a better husband, father, employee, friend and even a better enemy. Never forget to pray for that relationship, "Today, make me like Christ. Please insure I live today less for me and more for You. Let me be your hands and feet to all those I come in contact with today. Please allow me to be salt and light to all those who see and hear me today."

The second pillar is a mentor. I need to have someone who is living their lives better than me, who is living their life as I want to live mine. They may be sober and I am trying to be sober. They may have lost a loved one as I have and worked through it. Maybe they just have the walk with Christ that I want to someday have. By letting them mentor and coach me, I can begin to improve the quality of my life and build a stronger faith.

Proverbs 11:14 tells us "Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but where there is an abundance of counselors there is safety." That means that in order to succeed we need more than one mentor. I would suggest several. You may have one who counsels you with your marriage, another with emotional struggles and another who who is more Biblically knowledgeable than you. 

The third pillar is living Biblically. Through reading, meditating on what I have read and the guidance of my sponsor I will have the ability to learn the Bible better. What I get out of this is better ways to live my life. Read the gospels written by the disciples and the letters written by Paul. Immerse yourself in the book of James and use them as blue prints for how to live your life. If you can model your life on what James writes, you will be living amazingly.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." I have nothing to add to that, it speaks for itself!

The fourth pillar is small groups. These are places where we will further get our faith built. I can be in a group of people who have the same belief system and values that I have. We have common features. There are study, Bible, youth, single adult, couples, single mom, over 40, recovery and support groups to name a few.  We can use these groups as ways to continue coping with all that this world has to throw at us and continue growing spiritually, emotionally, scripturally and socially.

Church is about us listening and learning. We may be in a room with 50 people or 5,000 depending on the size of your church. Small groups put us in smaller groups where we can begin to build relationships with people. We can also ask questions and get answers in small groups. Hands on participation is much better at causing behaviors and attitudes to change than the lecture format found in church. Plus, you can blend in and hide in church. You can't in small groups.

The fifth pillar is accountability partners. These are the people we surround ourselves with on purpose. I may not be able to choose who I work or learn beside, but I can choose which table I sit at during lunch and who I hang out with after I get out of school and/or work. I need to surround myself with positive people who have goals and are actually doing positive things with their lives. Not that I am not there for those who are struggling, but I need people that can help me when I am struggling also.

If bad association spoils useful habits (1 Corinthians 15:33) than positive association should grow them. Ecclesiastes 4:9,12 says, "Two are better than one, though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." Bottom line, there is strength in numbers and it is easier to make the right choice when you associate with people who make the right choice.

Prayer and meditation are kind of like church. I don't feel like I should have to tell you to do them, but I will. Prayer is a constant conversation with God. I start each morning with an hour at the gym. I lift weights for 30 minutes than do 30 minutes of cardio. I pray the entire time I do cardio, and that is why I start each day in a good mood. From there I continue to pray throughout the day. Most of my prayers are of gratitude for all that I have. Then I pray for those in need or who are having struggles. I also pray for understanding of the things I read, such as the Bible and other spiritual and apologetic texts.

In closing, here is the short cliff note version.

The 5 Pillars

1. God
2. Bible
3. Mentor
4. Small Groups
5. Accountability Partners.........and pray without ceasing all day every day!!!!!!!!!



It Doesn't Take Long

I was not in the gym for 3 months and stopped eating healthy. Before that 3 months I had lost almost 30 pounds, which had taken about 6 months. In half the time, all of the weight found it's way back. I am right back where I started 9 months ago. I am now three day into my workout, and I am sore and uncomfortable. It is unpleasant and I don't like the way that I feel. I will continue with my workouts for several reasons.

1. I know that it is good for me. 
2. I know that eventually it will become a routine and I will no longer be uncomfortable.
3. I know that I need to be in better shape.

Whether it is building muscles or building my relationship with God, the same positive reasons to engage in building ourselves up applies. I know that it is good for me. I know that the more I watch television, go to the movies and listen to secular music the more I am subjected to immoral and negative things. If I focus on meditation, prayer, worship music and my eye is on God I will be processing only good things. If garbage in, garbage out is true so is the exact opposite.  

I may be uncomfortable doing it right now because I am unused to it. That is almost always true of anything when we first begin doing it. Once we do something for several weeks, we become accustomed to it. I need to be in the habit of making God a priority.  Christ made me a priority when He died on the cross. The least I can do is return the favor.  

Finally, I need to be in better shape spiritually. I I know that building my relationship with God is important, and I know that the more I know about him the stronger my faith will become. This world is full of evil and temptation. They never take a day off. If my faith and relationship with Christ do not grow, then eventually the calling of this world will draw me back into it. I need to make sure that I am doing things spiritually healthy on a daily basis.

So, in closing here is why we need to stay vigilant and build our relationship with God. It has actually been proven that the more positive I am, the more I will draw positive people to me. So it would reason that the more I am Christ-focused, the more I will draw Christ-focused people to me. I also need to know that there is no difference between secular time and when I am in church. I always represent Christ. My focus should always be on God no matter where I am, and my actions and words should represent that. If not, I need to get back on track before I become so spiritually out of shape that I just give up. Here is how I stay in shape:

1. Pray without ceasing. Make prayer an ongoing daily conversation with God
2. Read the word of God
3. Live your life guided by the book of James (my personal favorite); read it weekly 
4. Attend church consistently (Church is like a workout supplement)
5. Find a small group or prayer group and begin building your community of believers
6. Find a mentor that you can go to when you have doubts or questions
7. Set up accountability partners everywhere you go (work, gym, small group, church, softball, etc)
8. Always represent Christ in all that you say, think and do!

What is Celebrate Recovery

I was going to do a review of the lessons in Celebrate Recovery, but I was told that it is copywrited up to and including their acrostics. So I will instead do a quick review of what Celebrate Recovery is and consists of so that people who read this can have an understanding of it. First we will look at how it is different from most of the 12 step programs out there.

For starters most Celebrate Recovery groups begin 30-60 minutes before the first group for food. It tends to be really good grub for cheap. Then big group begins. Big group lasts for an hour and consists of one of two things. Rotating weeks you will have a testimony from someone of the changes that have occured in their lives (where they were to where they are), the following week is a lesson on the 12 steps. Next is small groups for an hour. We will get what small groups are later. After small groups come coffee, dessert and good conversation. That is a typical night of CR, anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on what you attend.

The biggest thing to know is that Celebrate Recovery is for life's hurts, habits and hang-ups. It is not only for substance abuse.  Here is an incomplete listing of groups:

 Adult Children of the Addicted

Alcoholism

Anger

Brokenness

Codependency

Depression/Despair

Divorce

Eating Disorders

   Over Eating; Anorexia; Bulimia

Gambling

Guilt and Shame

Legal and Illegal Substance Abuse

Loss of a Loved One

Low Self Esteem

Love & Relationship Addiction

Need to Control

Overspending

Pornography

Resentment

Sexual Addiction

Sexual/Emotional/Physical Abuse

Workaholism

Another huge difference from most 12 step meetings is that Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered, Biblical scripture-based group. The focus is on God and what He can do in your life. All of the 12 steps have Bible scriptures to tie them more into the commands and promises of God. The principles are also scripture-based. It makes for a much deeper meeting than most that I have been to.

Celebrate Recovery big group begins and ends with worship music. The worship music is probably my favorite part of the group. I am a big fan of worship music. I feel that worship music gets us prepared for opening up to and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us. Big group lessons have words that will help us in our recovering from whatever our hurt, habit or hang-up is. Each word is an acrostic for the steps to either achieve the word or overcome the word. The acrostic makes it easier to remember, which with my memory was a positive thing.

The small groups are split up by gender. Women and men both benefit from this. It is easier to share in a group full of people the same gender. It also allows for people to talk freely and not in front of their spouses/mates. There is more attention paid to the person speaking and not how they look. It also cuts down on people hitting on each other and more intimate things are shared this way. At least, from what I have seen and heard. I would feel a lot safer saying that I always let my partner use me and that I am highly codependent and like to focus all of my attention on my parter if I am in a group where there are not people that could be partners now knowing that about me and scheming on how they can use that tidbit of information to take advantage of me. Just saying.......

If there are enough attendees, the groups are split up by topic. You may have a substance abuse, depression, codependency, anger management, divorce/separation, grief/loss and financial groups that all meet in separate rooms. They are all gender specific. This is a great way to talk to others who are dealing with the same issues that you are so you know that you are not alone in your struggles.

We do not introduce ourselves as being addicts or alcoholics. Instead, people are encouraged to identify themselves by positives, such as being a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I personally introduce myself as David, and then add that I have been blessed with many trials and tribulations in life that I have grown from. If you want to be successful, refer to yourself by positives not negatives. If you are in secular meetings, introduce yourself as sober or in recovery.

There is child care available at most Celebrate Recovery groups. The difference is that the people who are watching the children are generally background checked (at least if it occurs at a church they should be due to the church standards that exist). There are also several programs that are designed for children 5 and older that will give them things to discuss with their parents to help make that relationship stronger.

There are 5 basic rules to the small groups:

1. Your sharing is focused on your own thoughts and feelings and is limited to 3-5 minutes.
2. There is no cross talk. Cross talk is when two individuals engage in dialogue to the exclusion of others. Each person is free to express their own feelings without interruption.
3. We are here to support one another. We will not attempt to "fix" another.
4. Anonymity and confidentiality are essential requirements. What is shared in the group stays in the group.
5. Offensive language has no place in a Christ-centered group.

The sharing focused on you is a good thing. It makes us focus on us instead of allowing us to take the focus off of ourselves and put our focus on helping someone else. We need to work on us. I am perfectly shattered and I need to work on fixing me before I can truly help others. The best way for me to help them is to work on myself and getting a closer relationship with Christ. The not attempting to fix each other ties into that also. It is way easier to tell others what they should do. I would recommend that you instead think of what your advice to them would have been and how it applies to you.

There are a lot of secular groups that claim to be child friendly, yet you will hear the "F" bomb and other cuss words peppered into a lot of people's sentences. For starters, that kind of language has no part in true recovery. We should care about those around us and how our language could be found offensive to them.  Secondly, do you really want your children to hear that kind of language? I know that I don't. On occasion people may slip up, but it does not permeate the sharing like at other 12 step groups.

There are also people who are asked to leave. If you are trying to get dates, you should and will be asked to leave. If you come high or drunk, you will be asked to leave. You may be talked to in a 1:1 situation, but you will not be allowed to impact the group. These are the types of things that are done for the safety of the group. I actually have known women who have stopped going to secular meetings because they were constantly having people try to pick up on them. Not a conducive atmosphere for positive growth to occur. If that is how the people who have are sober are acting and/or allowing others to act(principles before personalities in most secular groups), I will go somewhere else.

I have made changes in the first 6 months of attending Celebrate Recovery that I did not make in 7 years of secular 12 step meetings. I needed to be able to talk about God. A "door knob" seemed like a very unrealistic higher power. I could kick a door off of it's hinges. I did not need little "hp" or little "g', I needed the big "G" God to make positive changes. Knowing the forgiveness of Christ allowed me to forgive myself, which I had never been able to do before.

It is also good to be around people who have never had drug and/or alcohol problems. You see that everyone struggles and you see that you are accepted and loved by people who are not addicts. For the longest time, I thought that I could only be friends with former addicts and criminals, but CR has shown me otherwise. It has put me around positive people who live their lives in ways that I want to live my life in. If you want to have positive growth, put yourself around people who are where you want to be. I do that at CR, and so can you.

I have a life now through Christ that I never had without him and I can finally look in the mirror and love the person staring back at me. I went from a drug addicted felon with no hope and no self esteem to a Christian who can attempt to give to others the grace and hope that was given to me. I can truly do all through him who strengthens me, and so can you. I would strongly encourage anyone considering Celebrate Recovery to look into it, and remember that it is a lifelong commitment. It worked for me and it will work for you. It is not a magical cure; it needs to be actively worked on a daily basis.

You see, I still get frustrated, still get sad, still feel guilty, still feel lonely and I do not always do the right thing, but I strive to be Christ-like and try to ensure that each day I live my life will be better than the day before it. I am no longer a hypocrite; I no longer hate or harbor resentments and anger. Instead I laugh, I cry, I love, I am quick to help and even quicker to forgive. What I once saw as weakness I now often see as strength. Some of those who were once my enemies have become my heroes. It is amazing how your outlook on life changes when you are in recovery.

If you have any questions/feedback, either add them as comments or e-mail me and I would be happy to answer them! If you need to find a CR group in your area, go to http://www.celebraterecovery.com/ and there is a group finder header that will allow you to look by state and city for active groups.

Living Free Video Shot for New Life Church

Celebrate Recovery Lesson 2 - POWERLESS

Lesson 2 - POWERLESS

Principle 1: Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor." Matthew 5:3

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, 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)

When we accept the first recovery principle and take that first step out of our denial and into reality, we there are very few things that we really have control over. Once we admit that by ourselves we are powerless we can stop living with the following serenity robbers, the bandits that steal away our faith and hope, spelled out in the following acrostic:

P ride
O nly ifs
W orry
E scape
R esentment
L oneliness
E mptiness
S elfishness
S eparation

PRIDE – Ignorance + pride + power = a deadly mixture
Proverbs 29: 23 - "Pride ends in a fall, while humility brings honor."

List some of the ways that your pride has stopped you from asking for and getting the help you need to overcome your hurts, hang-ups, and habits.
I'm supposed to have it together. I'm the one that my friends and family come to when they need encouragement and advice.  I am a counselor, I should not have any problems. I have this under control, I can do this my way. My way is the last addiction, holding onto the locus of control. Pride forgets God, or feels our plans for our lives are better. Want to make God laugh, tell him your  plans for your future.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

ONLY IFS - keep us trapped in a fantasyland of rationalization
Luke 12: 2, 3 - "Whatever is covered up will be uncovered, and every secret will be made known. So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight."

What in your past has caused you to have the "if onlys"?  Ex.:"If only" I had stopped ______years ago.  "If only" ______________ hadn't left me.

If only I wasn’t a felon, if only I wasn’t an addict, if only I had a job, if only I, if only I, If I only had a brain! In this program we start testimonies with I am a grateful believer in JC who struggles with __________. I do not struggle with ______, instead I have been blessed with many trials and tribulations that have strengthened me and my relationship with my higher power.

WORRYING – a from of not trusting god enough

Matthew 6:34 - "Don't be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time."
What is worry? It is defined as, "to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret. To torment with cares, anxieties, etc.

Instead of worrying about things that we cannot control, we need to focus on what God can do in our lives.  What are you worrying about?  Why?
If I worry, that simply means that I am not trusting God enough. If I truly believe in God, than I know one thing - God's got this! If you have trouble, try this short little prayer:

So, Lord - I give these worries to you.  Lord forgive me for worrying - I know your word says to not be anxious for anything - Lord help me to trust you more!

ESCAPE –a world of fantasy and unrealistic expectations of us and others
Ephesians 5: 13, 14 - "For the light is capable of showing up everything for what it really is. It is possible for the light to turn the thing it shines upon into light also."

In what ways have you tried to escape your past pain?  Be specific.

I have tried to dull the pain with excess foods, drugs, alcohol, relationships, shopping, violence and sex. I have learned to recognize the pain now for what it is and am able to work through it with the Lord's help.  It's a vicious cycle - life's stress and regrets can make me feel hopeless and then I use, and that makes me feel even more hopeless so I use again - You can only imagine how glad to be off of that merry-go-round I am. I'm no longer hiding from these things and have searched myself and realized that my not trusting the Lord is sin, and that the act of addiction is sin, and not exercising and treating my body as God's temple is sin - so I've repented from these things - I still fail, but I'm recognizing it quicker and getting back on track.

RESENTMENTS – an emotional cancer if allowed to fester and grow
Ephesians 4: 26-27 - "In your anger do not sin ... do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

How has holding on to your anger and your resentments affect you?

It's made me sick.  Holding onto these things and stuffing down the feelings with addiction, has kept me from growing up and growing in the Lord. This has been a process of uncovering things I was holding on to and had to really internalize that if God loved me so much, enough to send his son to die for me - and has forgiven me - then I needed to let go and "accept" his forgiveness and trust in his forgiveness.

LONELINESS – In recovery and in Christ, we never have to walk alone
Hebrews 13: 1, 2 - "Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. Don't forget to be kind to strangers, fos some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it."

Do you believe that loneliness is a choice?  Why or why not?  How has your denial isolated you from your important relationships?

Yes, loneliness isdefinitely a choice. It may be subconscious at times, but it is a choice.  I can remember feeling so lonely in my house of five.  I became so self centered that I could not think about anyone else, but myself.  Again, this has a been a process to overcome the detachment, isolation and self-centeredness - I still battle the negative thinking that no-one wants me around and such - but I've learned to tell myself otherwise - learning scripture has helped keep me grounded. Learning who I am in Christ and then realizing that others are thinking and feeling the same way that I am- helps me to focus on them and share God's love with them - and realize that even if no one is around, the Lord is always there.  If I can't get others focused - I can almost always get Christ focused!

EMPTINESS
John 10:10 - "My purpose is to give life in all its fullness."

Describe the emptiness you feel and some new ways you are finding to fill it?

I used to feel empty. I felt that I had no purpose, that I was nothing, no good, a junkie and a convict. When I woke up in the morning as an Agnostic, I knew that right there was probably the best that I would feel all day, maybe the rest of my life. That kind of not having anything to look forward to was depressing. I have found contentment and joy in the Bible. God's word fills me with his promises and hope for tomorrow and I've gotten a lot of joy sharing that same love and joy with others to help make their lives full!

SELFISHNESS – we often pray, our father who art in heaven, gimme gimme
Luke 17:33 - "Whoever clings to his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall save it."
What does it mean to be selfish? It is defined as, "devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others. Characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself."

Selfishness is at the heart of most problems between people.  In what areas of your life have you been selfish?    
Facebook and video games began to be an issue. I would come home and pour myself into the computer, playing games and facebooking with the stress of my job as my excuse to ignore my family and play games to escape. Then I realized how much that was hurting my wife and my son. In the past I would see people that gave and gave of themselves and I admired it, but I had never really seen that in my own life. I had never even considered doing that in my own life. I had never jumped wholely into anything.  I have began to give of myself instead of only taking. I still need to give more of myself at work, more of myself to my son, more of myself to my fiancé, and more of myself to Christ. But I have started, and that is better than it was!  

SEPARATION – some talk of finding God, as if he could ever get lost
Romans 8: 38, 39 - "For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can't and life can't. The angels won't and all the powers of hell itslef cannot keep God's love away ... Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died for us."

Separation from God can feel very real but it is never permanent.  What can you do to get closer to God?

I know all it takes is for one or two mornings to wake up a little late and then boom - I'm off on my own again. I need to remember to start my day with God, and that if He is needed He is never more than a knee away when I pray. I make my days wrong, I have the first thought wrong syndrome. With Christ guiding me I now have first thought right!  

FOUR ACTIONS from Principle 1

1.) STOP DENYING THE PAIN. You are ready to take your first step in recovery since you have identified that your pain is greater than your fear. 

Psalm 6: 2, 3 - "Pity me, O Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, for my body is sick, and I am upset and disturbed. My mind is filled with apprehension and with gloom."

2.) STOP PLAYING GOD. You are unable to do for yourself what you need God to do for you.  You are either going to serve God or yourself.  you can't serve both. 

Matthew 6: 24 - "No one can be a slave to two masters: he will hate one and love the other; he will be loyal to one and despise the other."

3.) START ADMITTING OUR POWERLESSNESS. As you work the first principle, you are  seeing that by yourself you do not have the power to change your hurts, hang-ups, and habits

Matthew 19:26 - "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

4.) START ADMITTING THAT OUR LIVES HAVE BECOME UNMANAGEABLE. You can and have admitted that some/all areas of your life are out of your control to change.

Psalm 40:12 - "Problems far too big for me to solve are piled higher than my head. Meanwhile my sins, too many to count, have all caught up with me and I am ashamed to look up."

This Ain't No Game Living Free #3 A Blog by Scott

What happens when we go where we are not welcome? Simply put we are asked in no uncertain terms to leave.  It becomes evident when we have strayed from our fenced in lives and head into territory that is claimed by Satan himself that he will pay attention and rise up against us.  The last several weeks have been the hardest but most rewarding of my life.  Starting Living Free at our church during the training process basically felt at times like a social club of sorts.  Yes we all had a common mission and goal to serve but the truth is during our training period we were serving ourselves. Its not that its bad to focus inward before you minister outward but it just doesn’t feel real.  Brothers and Sisters it got real today. 

My family almost died tonight coming home from Living Free.  I was so excited to talk about my group and how we were connecting as a family.  I was so passionate in telling everyone in the car that my group is awesome and I know God is doing amazing things.  That is when "It" happened my little car encountered a turn that I was not ready for because I was on cloud 9 and not paying attention.  I went through a ditch hit a pole kept going did a hairpin turn in a field with weeds not less than 8 feet high came back out the same ditch and back onto the road.  IT DID NO DAMAGE.  I had a trunk full of food and supplies from group IT DID NOT SPILL OR UPSET ANYTHING.  God completely protected us from harm. We sat in shock and after investigating this miracle we as a family gave God  a prayer of thanksgiving.  To him be all Glory for this Miracle.

This “Ain’t no game” and I see now two things.

 #1- People are praying for us and God is protecting us

 #2- God is bigger and has more power than Satan and HE is protecting us. 

We in the ministry of helping others should never forget that this is WAR and we the people who chose to fight this “Holy War” will NOT QUIT, NOT SURRENDER, AND NOT LAY DOWN.  We are going to take back souls from Satan and they will impact their own lives, their family legacy, and their worlds. 

It is an honor to serve God in Living Free and I know we are protected and we will take back what Satan is trying so desperately to steal. 

“Gods Got this”

Love and Respect

Scott

Celebrate Recovery Lesson 1 DENIAL

Lesson 1 DENIAL

Principle 1: Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable.

"Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor." (Matthew 5:3)


Step 1:We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, 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)

What are you holding on to? Are we racked with guilt or shame? Do we not realize that these are the feelings that will keep us trapped by our past. We will remain unable to forgive ourselves and remain where we are instead of making positive steps forward. What is the answer? The Bible tells us what we should do when there are things that slow us down or keep us stagnant:


"Since we have such a huge crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstands, let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up, and let us run with patience the particular race that God has set before us." (Hebrews 12:1)

2 Points about the verse: 
1.) God has a particular race, a unique plan, for each of us. A plan for good, not a life full of dependencies, addictions, and obsessions. 


2.) We need to be willing to get rid of all the unnecessary baggage, the past failures, in our lives that keep us stuck

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past" (Isaiah 43:18)

"The Lord is my Helper and I am not afraid of anything that mere men can do to me." (Hebrews 13:6)


"Where God's love is, there is no fear, because God's perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18)

ARE YOU WEARING A MASK OF DENIAL?Before you can make progress in your recovery, you need to face your denial. As soon as you remove your mask, your recovery begins -- or begins again!

WHAT IS DENIAL?Denial is defines as a "false system of beliefs that are not based on reality" and a "self-protecting behavior that keeps us from honestly facing the truth."

EFFECTS OF DENIAL

Disables our feelings

Energy lost

Negates growth

Isolates us from God

Alienates us from relationships

Lengthens the pain


Disables our feelings When we repress we freeze our emotions. Understanding and feeling our feelings is freedom True test of freedom is not what am I free to do, but what am I free not to do???

2 Peter 2:19:  “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.“


Energy lost A side effect of our denial is anxiety, which causes us to waste energy running from our past and worrying about and dreading the future. Change can only occur today

Psalms 146:7-8 “He frees the prisoners, He lifts the burdens from those bent down beneath their loads.”


Negates growth We are as sick as our secrets and we cannot grow in recovery until we are ready to step out of denial into the truth

Psalms 107:13-14 “They cried to the Lord in their troubles, and he rescued them! He led them from their darkness and shadow of death and snapped their chains.”


Isolates us from God God’s light shines on the truth, denial keeps us in the dark

1 John 1:5-7:  “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”


Alienates us from relationships Denial tells us we are getting away with it. We think no one knows, but do they?????? What is the answer?

Ephesians 4:25:  “Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves.”


Lengthens the pain We have the false belief that denial protects us from the pain. In reality, denial allows our pain to fester and grow and turn into guilt and shame.

Jeremiah 30:17:  “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord, 'because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.'

"Know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

STEP OUT OF YOUR DENIAL SO YOU CAN STEP INTO JESUS' UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND GRACE. THAT IS HOW YOU CAN BEGIN YOUR HEALING JOURNEY OF RECOVERY.

QUESTIONS TO ASK OUR SELF:

1.) Am I going to let my past failures prevent me from taking this journey?

2.) Am I afraid to change? Or, what are my fears of the future?

Stepping Into Freedom, second blog From Scott

I’ve got everything together……or do I

Well it happened again another great session of Living Free at our Church. Living
Free is a Living Breathing thing that has a tendency to be much more tedious than
anticipated. Please don’t read into this a complaining winey attitude. I am just expressing
that the elements are many, there are so many moving parts to a program like this it’s
amazing and at times overwhelming. We have 24 adults registered so far, that sounds
easy right? Well… not so much. You see we have a meal before our sessions (For 50)
There are copies to make, attendance and contact information, Bibles that need to be in
place, Facilitators that have there own lives and families, Set up of three rooms, Video
preparation, copies of materials, lesson book sales etc. The list goes on and on and on.
Truthfully without the excellent support of my amazing wife Rachel who serves as Co-
Coordinator, our Core Team of Facilitators, my daughters who serve as teachers for the
children, the workers who assist with Babies and children, and last but certainly not least
our prayer warriors, Oh yes and the support of our church it just couldn’t happen.

Living Free Kids
Beyond the adults thee are children, 18 so far to be exact that we are privileged to serve
we feel strongly not to make this a daycare, watch a Disney movie, setting. Our Kids
have a teacher, an assistant and a lesson with a purpose. Going into this I would have
never suspected the fringe elements to helping people it’s so much bigger it’s helping
families as well as individuals.

I serve this program not only as Coordinator but also as Facilitator for “Stepping Into
Freedom” that is a Christ Centered Scripture Based 12 step program. Sitting in my group
it hit me this week that we have been so focused on starting a program that I feel we
forgot the objective really is to help people by running a program with excellence. This
is so much more important than the many elements it takes to make this run smoothly it
comes down to impacting lives in a group setting. Thank God he gave me a wake up call
as to why it is we do what we do. I’ve got everything together…… or do I – Answer --- I
Do Not. God does and what he started he will not let fail.
“Gods Got This”
Blessings and RespeCT-
Scott

Living Free - And so it begins.....

Hello my name is Scott and I’m a …….. 

You see, this is the paramount difference between Living Free and many other programs that are available for people with Life Consuming Issues ( LCI ).  I have come to believe that I have been transformed and can not be defined by a label.  The reason this is possible? I have been healed by the amazing love and power of Jesus! Sounds cheesy, right? Inside church settings and programs the terms we throw around  lose translation to the rest of the world, especially the secular world.  I really can’t speak for you, a group of people, or anyone in generalizations. I can only speak for me. 

I have been changed by the power of God and now I have the Awesome opportunity to help other people. Not because I have the answers, but because I know who does. I serve only as a simple sign pointing upwards that says, “ hope and healing is possible and available. All you have to do is ask!” 

I have been asked to speak weekly via this blog regarding the beginning of a program my wife and I serve as coordinators for in our church called Living Free.  I admit very candidly that I have never participated in a blog but I am a man who will be honest and open as I proceed with this task.  If it somehow helps someone or serves to point them to a new beginning of hope, it is worth it. 

The journey began January 20^th with the first open facilitator training at our church for Living Free and culminated with the graduation of my team of facilitators. June 21^st we began and I am pleased to report a positive start: 17 adults, 10 children, 8 facilitators and 6 children’s workers.  That results in a total of 41 people involved in Living Free at our church for the first night.  Wow, to God be all the Glory and praise.  This result is right at ½ of what had pre-registered, but I know the best is yet to come.  We are not discouraged. This is amazing!

 

As I close this first Blog let me just say to you what my team has been saying for months

“God’s Got this”

Blessings,

Scott

Truth Project Week One

The Truth Project this week looks at what is truth and introduces us to a new word (read that Truth Project created Latin) that the lesson calls veritology, or the "study of truth." Dr. Tackett shows us what we will be studying over the course of the Truth Project, which ranges from God to Man, Truth to Social Order and a lot in between.

There are several questions that are asked during the course of this lesson that really stuck out to me. The first question was, "What is Truth." His answer for this was from an 1828 copy of Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language that defined truth as "Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. We rely upon the truth of the scriptural prophecies."

Wow, right there in Webster's Dictionary we are told that Truth is found through reliance on the scriptural prophecies. That is a huge statement, and one that assuredly would not go over in today's touchy, feely mainstream. It looks at scripture, which might leave some people out. It even looks at Biblical scripture, which not only leaves out atheists and agnostics but also those who do not use the Bible. That means that not only are some people left out, but some people are wrong. Acknowledging that fact makes some people mad (mostly those who are left out and/or are wrong).

I am sorry, but life leaves some people out. Some of us are right, and some of us are wrong. Case in point, I am an Illinois fan that lives in Missouri. I am surrounded by Mizzou fans who are as proud of their team as I am of the Illini. We both want our teams to win when they play each other. Last year I stated proudly, as I always do, that the Illini would win the Battle of the Border. My friends argued that Missouri would win it. No matter how much faith each of us had in our position, one of us was wrong. In the end, even though we both used statistics and history to validate our claims and postulate them as facts, one of us was wrong (Sadly enough, it was I who was wrong last year).

The next question I liked was "How does man react to truth?" The Bible gives us numerous scriptures, such as 2 Timothy 4:3-4, "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

It is becoming less and less popular to be Christian. We go off to school and are taught by a lot of the professors in the secular institutions that evolution is a fact, and only someone uneducated would believe in God. Even worse, we have those who profess to be Christian who do not teach fundamentally sound doctrine. They take parts of what Jesus said and use it out of context in order to gain followers, or to get more money into their coffers. I think of many of the evangelists that I see on television, or those who teach that God loves us just as we are and is happy with us even if we continue to sin.

The Bible warns us of these people. In fact, the Bible states that man will suppress the truth (Romans 1:18), distort the truth (Acts 20:30), reject the truth to follow evil (Romans 2:9) and even exchange the truth for a lie (Romans 1:25). This tends to be the popular choice, to live a lie even when we know the truth. There is a battle that is being fought constantly today. The Truth Project refers to it as the cosmic battle.

The cosmic battle is the ongoing fight between God and Satan, the truth versus the lie, reality versus illusion. There is a battle of worldviews that is erupting in our culture, and we need to be more than evangelists and ministers. We need to be ambassadors of the message. Think of us as the public relations department for Jesus. Are we living in a way that brings people to God or are we polarizing people because our works do not match our words? Do we follow the truth, or do we live a watered down version of the truth.

Even a half-truth is a lie, and lies are from Satan. The Bible clearly tells us this in John 8:44, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." Are we living as children of God, or does the way we live our lives indicate that we are living as children of Satan. So we need to live our lives by not lying. We need to live our lives by telling the truth. So, what is truth?

Ravi Zacharias says that the single most important question that we can ask ourselves is what is truth.  Zacharias defines it as, "That which affirms prepositionally the nature of reality as it is." R.C. Sproul defines truth as, "That which corresponds to reality as perceived by God, because God's perception of reality is never distorted." As defined early, truth is not subjective, but objective. Just because I believed that my team would win did not make it so. If you say that the sky is blue and I say that it is yellow, one of us is surely right and the other is wrong. If you say that there is no God, and I say that there is........one of us is wrong and the other right. I know that God exists, period. I can prove this fundamentally, historically, philosophically, scripturally as well as logically.
The final question that is asked in Week 1 is this, "Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?" If you do believe that it is real, can you intelligently defend your beliefs? Do you have the knowledge to defend your position and the ability to do so civilly and intelligently?

Even more importantly, if we do believe it to be true, than we would follow the truth that Christ laid out for us. So if what God tells us is the truth, why do we shy away from it? Most of us would argue that we do not, and that we follow God's commands. If that is true, does your life truly reflect that you follow God's commands? Have you allowed your faith to become watered down? Do you treat the word of God as your guide book, or do you constantly look for loop holes so that you can do as you please and feel that you get away with it? Do you listen to the authors and preachers/pastors who tell you what you want to hear and not what the scriptures truly say?

Examine your life, and ask yourself this question: Do I really believe that what I believe is really real, and do my actions reflect that what I believe is real really matters?

The Truth Project Introduction

I am starting to attend a small group called the Truth Project at my church on Wednesday nights. It was created by Focus on the Family. They describe the series as follows:

"What is Focus on the Family's The Truth Project^®?

In a recent study, the Barna Research Group revealed a stunning statistic that continues to reverberate throughout the evangelical world. Only 9 percent of professing Christians have a biblical worldview.

Because of this, today's believers live very similarly to non-believers. A personal sense of significance is rarely experienced, we spend our money and time on things that fail to satisfy and we begin to wonder what life's ultimate purpose really is. We are, in short, losing our bearings as a people and a nation.

To counter this slide within the body of Christ, we are launching one of the most ambitious and powerful projects in the history of our ministry—Focus on the Family's The Truth Project.

The Truth Project is a DVD-based small group curriculum comprised of 13 one-hour lessons taught by Dr. Del Tackett. This home study is the starting point for looking at life from a biblical perspective. Each lesson discusses in great detail the relevance and importance of living the Christian worldview in daily life.

We believe this one project represents the possibility for exponential change within the body of Christ, as we expect that thousands will be transformed by this curriculum. As it has been throughout history, God continues to call ordinary people to make an eternal difference in our world.
 
We invite you to be a part of this cultural change by participating in or leading a small group of your own. Contact us to learn how you can get involved in Focus on the Family's The Truth Project!"

I am excited to begin this small group, and as each week passes I will let you know the things that really stuck out to me and what I have gotten out of the group. I feel that we should all have the ability to defend our beliefs while not being confrontational, and this series is possibly a great way to do that. I once had a professor define intelligence to me this way, "An intelligent person is someone who can equally debate both sides of the discussion."

I hope to learn not only the Christian perspective better in this small group, but the secular world's view too. In learning better what the secular and Christian worldviews are, I can then better defend my position by learning about both. I also hope to see ways to improve upon how I am currently living so that I can become a better father, husband, friend and counselor. I hope you will enjoy reading my blog on The Truth Project so that you can take the 13 Week journey with me.

Welcome

This is the very first blog for my web site, www.spiritualspackle.com. I am really excited, because this web site means that my book is progressing well. As I said, this is my first blog, and it is the first of many that will grace this site. I will have my biography on this site soon, and it is the life that I will briefly describe in my  biography as well as the concepts that allowed me to stop being an agnostic and instead step into a relationship with Christ, how I forgave myself for the choices that I made in the past, step ped out of my many addictions, stopped living a criminal lifestyle  and instead began living my life as an example to the people in my life of how a Christian should live  that will be the basis for my forthcoming book entitled, “Spiritual Spackle.” I have the titles for each of the books  chapters and the introduction written, and I am beginning the first chapter. That first chapter is at least partially dictated. It is a tough chapter, as it is my life from birth to the beginning of my 5^th grade year. Right now I am at work, and using this as a test for my first entry to allow my wife who is designing the site for me to see how blogging posts as she begins to put the website together. This blog may be very scattered and disorganized, like a jig saw puzzle that was thrown out of the box on the ground and the pieces left as they fell  as I am writing it between client’s sessions for ten minutes at a time.  I can guarantee that the writing will get better and be more cohesive in the future, so bear with me.

I have high hopes that this site can be used by many different people, from those who do not know Christ to those who are curious about Christ, from those who are new to Christ all the way to those who have been Christians their entire lives. It will be useful for those who need inspiration for life’s challenges, be they big or small. I want to be able to use this site to encourage the person who had a flat tire today all the way up to the person who lost their Dad. I want to introduce new ways of thinking to the visitor’s on this page, and encourage those who visit here to build their faith and have hope that is insurmountable through mediums from blogging to music, books to movies and everything in between.

I am looking at the various pages that I want to have on my site.  Those pages will include a page on Celebrate Recovery,  a page on Living Free, a page blogging my reading the Bible in a year and how I am affected by each of the readings that I read each day, updates on my book(s), and random thoughts that I have which are heavily influenced by my relationship with Christ. It will also have reviews of inspirational books, movies and music.  I also plan to blog each program that I work through, so there will be a page started in June after I get back from Florida where I will blog the Purpose Driven Life as I work through that over 40 days, then One 2 Won crosstraining will probably be next. I want a site that reviews small groups that people have facilitated and/or attended and how it has impacted their lives.

I want a forum so that people who have questions that they are having problems answering can get the information they need so that they can comprehend everything  that they want to know when it comes to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I had many questions when I first began going to church that were answered for me, such as why is there evil, why do good people in my life die and the people who are the worst such as me still live, how do we know that Jesus walked the face of the Earth, can I truly be forgiven of my sins, etc. People took the time to answer my questions, so I will try my best with the help of the other’s who will contribute to this site to answer yours.

This site will also be linked to Facebook, and I may even have to begin twittering so that can be on there also. I am excited about the opportunity to get to know some people really well, as I will hopefully have several contributors that will help get this site going and regular visitors that share their lives with us. I also will have the opportunity to give people a glimpse into my life as it was and how it is now, and can share my strength, hope, inspiration and faith with you the visitor.

One of the main focuses of this site is giving people a window into the live’s of people who are in recovery from all that this sinful world has to throw at them. I would argue that everyone has demons in their live’s that they need to overcome, whether it is food, relationships, childhood physical/sexual abuse, rape, shoplifting, codependency, divorce, lying, being unable to show empathy/compassion, compassion fatigue, PTSD, depression, anxiety, drugs/alcohol, gambling, shopping, debt, overworking, pornography, grief/loss, etc. I want you to know that you are not alone, and that there is hope for all of us. Saul of Tarsus at one time hunted down Christians and executed them , then was redeemed of his sins and after a Pauline conversion went on to write over half of the New Testament. If there is redemption for Paul, forgiveness for King David after committing adultry then having a man murdered, even grace for the criminal crucified next to Jesus Christ, then there is surely a loving Father who can forgive.

This website will impart hope to those who suffer by allowing them to see the wonderful transformation that is possible through God’s grace. It will open other’s eyes to the wonders that God is able to create from the trials and tribulations that life throws at us. I have seen God by way of the Holy Spirit begin to make changes in me that I never dreamed were possible. In the first 30 years of my life I had sometimes intentionally and other times unknowingly conspired with the devil to destroy people’s lives. In the past several years I have used the Holy Spirit to help rebuild my life and used that new  life which I have been blessed with to help other’s overcome isses since I was saved. I have seen and met many incredible and wise people through programs such as Celebrate Recovery, Teen Challenge, Church Army and Living Free who have through the power of Christ made wondrous changes in their live’s and learned the true meaning of being born again.

Thanks for coming to visit, and I truly hope that this is the first of many times that you will come to this site. I look forward to getting to know you as you get to know me.