Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your
lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And
continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy
Spirit. Live in such a way that God's love can bless
you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord
Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you.
Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.
Rescue others by snatching them from the
flames of judgment. There are still others to
whom you need to show mercy, but be careful
that you aren't contaminated by their sins.
Titus 1:20:23 NLT

<…the Lord has already told you what is good,
and this is what he requires: to do what is right,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 NLT

Reflection:

During my years in the Christian Ministry,
I of course had contact with a wide variety of
Christians. I delighted in my discovery of
the many positive things we shared as
followers of Jesus Christ.There were also negative
characteristics that we as Christians seemed
to share. One of those characteristics was
we as Christians,"often times shoot our own
wounded". We often times become impatient
and judgmental with our brothers, and sisters,
and reject them. Especially when they struggle
with sin and doubt. Instead of rejecting them,
Jude says, we should have mercy on them—
just as Christ had mercy on us when he forgave
our many sins. While we must not tolerate or
accept sin, we are to love and accept others
with kindness and mercy.

Would you remember this one very important
thing. Please remember this:
If you know someone who has fallen away from
God, your kindness may be just what is needed
to lead them back to God.

I am a recovering alcoholic.  I have been
recovering since 1978.  I was one of those
happy drunks, this of course only fortified
my conviction to drink.  If I was happy, if
I made everyone happy, it was ok to drink.
Of course I was never taking into account
that drinking was taking over my life.  I
could do nothing, I could not even function
normally without being drunk.  Everybody
loves a happy drunk, but I didn't love myself.
Only when I turned my life over to Jesus, my
supreme being, did I begin to recover.  I received
no help, no encouragement, no assistance
at all from the church, only the head of the
church Jesus Christ.
We as a nation spend over 500 billion dollars,
that's right 500 billion dollars on addiction.
The emergency rooms of our hospitals, the
morgue's of our cities, are filled with the
bodies of drunk drivers, and overdose
victims.  Close to 25% of all Medicare,
and Medicaid expenses come from
substance abuse.
We are in a war and we are loosing the
battles.  Among all of this, Where is the
church?  If, as a church, we want to see
God at work in our communities, I think we
need to examine and help these lives that are
being lost to self-destruction. 
It is fine for a church to hold pot luck dinners,
present Christmas Pagaents, and have Wednesday
night prayer services. What is not fine, is for a
church, the body of Christ, to be apathetic and
unconcerned about the individual lives of our
community.   
If, we as a church, are to serve God, then we are
to serve His people. 
We need to see and help those lives that are being
disturbed by the epidemic of addiction.  The bottom
line has been reached and our cities and towns are
spinning wildly into self-destruction. It's time to stop
building walls around our individual lives.  We must
respond to the call as a faith community.  We must
respond as a "church" of God.  It's time to launch
"recovery ministries" in our churches.  It's time to
open all aspects of our church life to addicts who are
seeking recovery.  It's time to make a difference, one
day at
a time, one life at a time, in a whole society
that is caught in the "down fall" of addiction,.
WE NEED TO GET INVOLVED NOW!  If we are
are truly the body of Christ, then we are to be
INVOLVED NOW!  THERE IS SOMEONE IN
NEED.......DO SOMETHING!

"Help me to perform whatever miracles you want of me today."

Prayer to Overcome Addictions

Dear God,
I come to You as I come to no one else.
I am so sorry. I have tried to throw away my life, my body, my soul—through addiction.
But recognition of my addiction has never given me power to control it.
You know this. You never blame me. You know the truth.
Addiction is an attractor field in which minds and bodies become mired to escape emotional pain.
But there is another, better way to escape pain.
Pain is transcended through an authentic calling from You.
Therefore, I surrender myself, now, to You.
I demand, now, in this moment, Father, that You call me—that You call me loudly.
You raise me up out of addiction and into a higher level attractor field.
And as You raise me, so do You raise Humanity out of addiction and into a higher level attractor field.
Together we rise, as one force in You, one at a time and together.
Because the world needs us. We rise or we fall, together.
For You need me. I am Your Thoughts, Your Voice, Your Hands.
I rejoice in awe over my inherent holiness: I am where You reside.
By Your grace, as I read this, my mind is aligned with Yours.
By Your grace, the power of my mind is multiplied exponentially by all who read this.
Aligned with You, we are more powerful than any evil—
or any substance—can ever be.
Together WE form a conduit of love that reaches into my need for addiction and I am healed.
By healing myself, I now heal Humanity's need for addiction.
Joy fills my soul. My gratitude is infinite.

Thank You.

Scripture:

All the believers were united in heart
and mind. And they felt that what they
owned was not their own, so they
shared everything they had. The
apostles testified powerfully to the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and
God's great blessing was upon them all.
Acts 4:32, NLT

Reflection:
.
What do "things", mean to you.
Are "things", important to you.
Is it important to own what you possess.
I think to most people ownership is very
important. But today's scripture
verse gives us a very different slant.
None of these Christians felt that what
they possessed was their own, and
so they were able to give and share,
actually eliminating poverty among
them. This is important, THEY WOULD
NOT LET A BROTHER OR SISTER SUFFER
WHEN OTHERS HAD PLENTY.
This question begs an answer, "How do
you feel about your possessions? It seems
to me that we, all of us, need to adopt a new
attitude given to us by the scriptures. That
attitude is THAT EVERYTHING, YES
EVERYTHING, WE HAVE COMES FROM
GOD, AND WE ARE ONLY SHARING WHAT
IS ALREADY HIS.
With that attitude I know what "things" are
in my life.

Prayer:

Oh God thank You for sharing with me Your
grace. And especially, Oh God, for sharing
Your Son with me. Oh Lord let it be that
the only "thing" I possess, is the power of
the Holy Spirit!