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!
 

Scripture:

18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
      because he has anointed me
      to preach good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
      and recovery of sight for the blind,
   to release the oppressed,
    19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Luke 4:18-19 (New International Version)

(Please take time and read this,
and when your finished please,
please say a Prayer of Thanksgiving.)

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady
with a look of defeat on her face, walked
into a grocery store. She approached
the owner of the store in a most humble
manner and asked if he would let her
charge a few groceries.

She softly explained that her husband
was very ill and unable to work, they
had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at
her and requested that she leave his
store at once.

Visualizing the family needs, she said:
'Please, sir! I will bring you the money
just as soon as I can.'

John told her he could not give her
credit, since she did not have a charge
account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a
customer who overheard the conversation
between the two. The customer walked
forward and told the grocer that he would
stand good for whatever she needed for
her family.  The grocer said in a very
reluctant voice, 'Do you have a grocery list?'

Louise replied, 'Yes sir.' 'O.K' he said,
'put your grocery list on the scales and
whatever your grocery list weighs, I will
give you that amount in groceries.'

Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed
head, then she reached into her purse
and took out a piece of paper and scribbled
something on it. She then laid the piece
of paper on the scale carefully with her
head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer
showed amazement when the scales went
down and stayed down.

The grocer, staring at the scales, turned
slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly,
'I can't believe it.'

The customer smiled and the grocer
started putting the groceries on the other
side of the scales. The scale did not
balance so he continued to put more and
more groceries on them until the scales
would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust.
Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper
from the scales and looked at it with
greater amazement.

It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer,
which said:

'Dear Lord, you know my needs and
I am leaving this in your hands.'

The grocer gave her the groceries that
he had Gathered and stood in stunned
silence.

Louise thanked him and left the store.  
The other customer handed a fifty-dollar
bill to the grocer and said; 'It was worth
every penny of it.  'ONLY GOD KNOWS
HOW MUCH A PRAYER WEIGHS'

THE POWER:  When you read this,
say a prayer. That's all you have to do.

Just stop right now, and say a prayer
of thanks for your own good fortune.  ..

So dear heart, trust God to heal the sick,
provide food for the hungry, clothes and
shelter for those that don't have as we do.

AMEN & AMEN

Scripture:

8For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9not by works, so that no one can
boast. 10For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2: 8-9

Reflection:

The Plan of Salvation

Salvation=  It is the ultimate reward you
receive for giving your life to Jesus Christ.

The Reward=  Eternity spent with Christ
your Savior in heaven.

How do you get this Salvation=  You
receive Salvation as a gift through grace,
God's love.  You don't get this from anyone
else, or by doing good things.  You get
salvation because of your faith, it is a gift
from God.

The cause of Salvation=  Salvation causes
our center of focus to change from ourselves
to serving God, (good works).

This is God's Plan for you, you can accept
or reject it, the consequences are totally in
your hands.  But please keep this in mind,
God Loves You and that's why this plan
is given to you.

Prayer:

Dear Lord,
I admit that I am a sinner. I have done many
things that don’t please you. I have lived my
life for myself. I am sorry and I repent. I ask
you to forgive me. I believe that you died on
the cross for me, to save me. You did what
I could not do for myself. I come to you now
and ask you to take control of my life, I give
it to you. Help me to live every day in a way
that pleases you. I love you, Lord, and I thank
you that I will spend all eternity with you.
In Jesus Name    Amen

 Bruce Larson, in The One and Only You,
illustrates the ease with which we can lose
that passion in marriage. He uses the common cold
and a married couple as his principal point-makers.

THE FIRST YEAR:
the husband says, "Sugar, I'm worried about
my baby girl. You've got a bad sniffle. I want
to put you in the hospital for a complete
checkup. I know the food is lousy, but I've
arranged for your meals to be sent up from
Rossinis. It's all arranged."

THE SECOND YEAR:
"Listen, honey, I don't like the sound of that
cough. I've called Dr. Miller and He's going to
rush right over. Now will you go to bed like
a good girl just for me, please?"

THE THIRD YEAR:
"Maybe you'd better lie down, honey
Nothing like a little rest if you're
feeling bad. I'll bring you something to
eat. Have we got any soup in the house?"

THE FOURTH YEAR:
"Look, dear. Be sensible. After you've
fed the kids and washed the dishes you'd
better hit the sack."

THE FIFTH YEAR:
"Why don't you take a couple of aspirin?"

THE SIXTH YEAR
"If you'd just gargle or something instead
of sitting around barking like a seal."

THE SEVENTH YEAR:
"For heavens sake, stop sneezing. What
are you trying to do, give me pneumonia?"

"MARRIAGES ARE NOT RUINED BY A BLOW
OUT, BUT BY A SLOW LEAK."

Reflection:

I know a pastor who does the following when he
marries a couple.  First he has the bride and groom
face each other and places 3 braided ropes around
the shoulders of the couple one rope at a time.
After the first rope he says:  This represents
the bonding of (woman's name) with (man's name).
After that he places the second rope around their
shoulders and says:  This represents the
bonding of (man's name) with (woman's name).
After that he places the third rope around their
shoulders and says:  This represents the
bonding of GOD, (the woman's name), and
the (the man's name), in the union of Holy
Marriage, God IS love.
 
ALL OF YOU PLEASE PUT GOD IN YOUR
MARRIAGE AND BOND TOGETHER!  NO
MORE SLOW LEAKS!
 

In Thailand, the people greatly love
and admire King Bhumibol (Rama IX),
who has led them for over 60 years.
To display their respect for the king,
the Thai people wear bright yellow
shirts every Monday, because yellow
is the official color of the king.

As we seek to live for our King, the
Lord Jesus Christ, we should also
show our colors of allegiance and
appreciation for all He has done for
us. But how? What are the “colors”
that declare to the world that we
serve the King of kings and Lord
of lords? The night before His
crucifixion, King Jesus told us what
 our “colors” should be when He said,
"BY THIS ALL WILL KNOW THAT YOU
ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE
LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER".
(John 13:35). (Bill Crowder; August 26, 2008)

Scripture:

Never be lazy in your work, but serve
the Lord enthusiastically.
Romans 12:11 NLT

Reflection:

Personal responsibility comes home

The USS Astoria was the first U.S.
cruiser to engage the Japanese during
the Battle of Savo Island, a night action
fought 8-9, August 1942.

About 0200 hours Signalman 3rd Class
Elgin Staples was swept overboard by
the blast when the number one 8-inch
gun turret exploded. He was kept afloat
by a narrow life belt that he managed to
activate.

At around 0600 hours, Staples was
rescued by a passing destroyer and
returned to the Astoria, whose captain
was attempting to save the cruiser by
beaching her. The effort failed, and Staples,
still wearing the same life belt, found
himself back in the water. Picked up
again, he was one of 500 survivors.

On board a transport, he closely examined
the life belt that had served him so well. It
had been manufactured by the Firestone
Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio,
and bore a registration number.

Given home leave, Staples asked his mother,
who worked for Firestone, about the purpose
of the number on the belt. She replied that the
company insisted on personal responsibility
for the war effort, and that the number was
unique and assigned to only one inspector.
Staples remembered everything about the life
belt, and quoted the number. It was his
mother's personal code and affixed to every
item she was responsible for approving.

Commander Eric J. Berryman, quoted by R.
Kent Hughes in 1001 Great Stories and Quotes
(Tyndale House) p 234-35

Scripture:

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace
to the humble."  James 4:6

Reflection:

I had a friend who had a favorite Bible
quote, he used to quote it to me all the
time. "Resist the devil and he will flee
from you". James 4:7.  Everytime I
turned around there was my friend with
that quote. The problem with him quoting
that verse was that he would forget the
first part of the verse.  "THEREFORE
SUBMIT TO GOD, resist the devil and
he will flee from you".  You see simply
resisting satan is not enough, simply
resisting evil will not make it flee.  If
you want to put the devil on the run,
if you want to get rid of evil, SUBMIT
TO GOD, and resist the temptation of
pride.  James also wrote, "Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and
He shall lift you up."  James 4:10
You see we all have a choice to make,
God  allow us to fall flat on our face,
so that we become humble and
submitted, or we can humble ourselves.
I don't know about you but guess what?
I pick the later.  
When I was an active preacher I found
myself falling into to a false and very
deceptive sense of pride.  After, what
I perceived a great sermon, I found my-
self feeling,"look at me, I'm
sacrificing for the Lord".  Believe me
my outward appearance and attitude
reflected my feeling.  But I soon discovered
that when I humble myself in places no-
body sees, there is less temptation of
pride.  Public humility may bring the
praise of men and woman, but private
humility will bring the public grace and
favor of God.  AND THE GRACE OF GOD
PUTS THE DEVIL ON THE RUN!

Prayer:

Oh God, awesome in power and might.  I
submit to You, to Your authority, to Your
Lordship, to Your power.  There is no God
besides You, I chose humility.  Forgive me
for pride and arrogance.

(Note:  The other day a good friend emailed
the following to me. Whenever things get
rough for you, please remember this letter)

It is not known who replied, but there is a
beautiful soul working in the dead letter office
of the US postal service.

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month.
The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter
Meredith was crying and talking about how
much she missed Abbey.. She asked if
we could write a letter to God so that
when Abbey got to heaven, God would
recognize her. I told her that I thought
we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,
Will you please take care of my dog? She
died yesterday and is with you in heaven.
I miss her very much. I am happy that you
let me have her as my dog even though
she got sick.
I hope you will play with her.. She likes to
play with balls and to swim. I am sending
a picture of her so when you see her You
will know that she is my dog. I really miss
her.
Love, Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a
picture of Abbey and Meredith and
addressed it to God/Heaven. We put
our return address on it. Then Meredith
pasted several stamps on the front of the
envelope because she said it would take
lots of stamps to get the letter all the
way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped
it into the letter box at the post office. A few
days later, she asked if God had gotten
the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.

Yesterday, there was a package wrapped
in gold paper on our front porch addressed, '
To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith
opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers
called, 'When a Pet Dies...' Taped to the
inside front cover was the letter we had
written to God in its opened envelope.
On the opposite page was the picture
of Abbey &Meredith and this note:


Dear Meredith,
Abbey arrived safely in heaven.
Having the picture was a big help.
I recognized Abbey right away.
Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit
is here with me just like it stays in your
heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since
we don't need our bodies in heaven, I
don't have any pockets to keep your
picture in, so I am sending it back to
you in this little book for you to keep
and have something to remember
Abbey by..
Thank you for the beautiful letter and
thank your mother for helping you write
it and sending it to me. What a wonderful
mother you have. I picked her especially
for you.
I send my blessings every day and
remember that I love you very much.
By the way, I'm easy to find, I am
wherever there is love.

Love,
God

AND THEY ALL SAID AMEN!

How You Can Make a Fresh Start
Whitney Hopler

(The last two Reflections in the series)

Do you feel stuck?  Maybe you don't
like the way your life has been going
lately, but can't seem to change it.

No matter how stuck you may have
become, you can move forward with
God's help.  

#13. Share your story with others.  Let people
who don't yet have relationships with Jesus
know about how God has given you a fresh
start in life.  Talk with people on common
ground (wherever you all are regularly together,
such as at work, school, or your favorite restaurant).  
Accept people as God's creations, even when
you don't agree with their lifestyles or approve
of their choices.  Avoid being preachy, pushy,
or phony with them.
Simply share the story of what you life was like
before Jesus and what it has been like since
Jesus changed your life.  Then naturally shift
the conversation to them, asking about something
simple like: "What about you?  Have you ever had
any interest in God?".  As you're faithful in caring
for people, you can expect God to do the rest of
the work to draw them into relationships with Him.  
Celebrate how God uses your own fresh start to
inspire other people to pursue fresh starts in their
own lives.

#14.  Keep going strong.  Stay closely
connected to God so you can live with
passion each day and depend on God's
power to help you live out the right values.  
Your fresh start can keep propelling your
life in the right direction.

{Adapted from Fresh Start: God's Invitation to
a Great Life copyright 2009 by Doug Fields.
Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers,
Nashville, Tn., www.thomasnelson.com.

Article publication date: August 20, 2009