CHAPTER THREE

God is in Charge of Our Life

Again let us start with his grace:

Amazing Grace
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Thru many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
Tis grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
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When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Then when we first begun.

Welcome to chapter three of Addiction Recovery. We are grateful that you have made a decision in your life to live a new way. Again this will require honesty, willingness, and a total surrender of yourself to a greater power (Jesus) who is able to make a difference in your life. We pray that you are blessed as you participate and that this chapter and these coming chapters change your life!

In Chapter Three: We make a decision to let God be in Charge of Our lives
When we make this decision we decide to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God through Jesus Christ. In exchange we invite His will and His way into our life.

What does it mean when we say that God is in charge of our life? What does it mean if we say that we are married to the cross or that we cherish that old rugged cross? That old rugged cross implies a manner of life that is not easy, if the cross was meant to be easy then we might say that shiny gold cross that we wear around our neck as a shiny necklace, but that is not what the old rugged cross means. When God is in charge of our life we surrender our efforts to make our life easy, we deny ourselves and we take up our cross and follow Jesus. “We follow Jesus” if God in charge of our life then we follow Jesus! We are not our own, all things of our life belongs to God, and we trust him to work things out to our good. When God is in charge of our life, we belong to him, and he welcomes us to into his kingdom, as it is written,
Listen to Romans chapter 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you brothers in the view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service."

Here it seems that God is asking that we stop having fun, that we have no more rights, or that our life is finished! This is so far from the truth. It is true it will take a sacrifice on our part, we will have to give up our old ways, but in return we will receive a new life, a new way of living when we in truth surrender it all unto God. We must let Him be in charge from here on out! To do this we must go to the cross, but herein is the difference, many will go to the cross, but what then?
Some say to kneel and pray, some say to lay your troubles at the foot of the cross, but here it is, we must allow our lives to be nailed to the cross, we must forsake fleshly desires and cause our bodies and it’s hunger or lust for pleasures to die on the cross, while we live a new life, having a new mindset. We have to let go of all that we love about our addictions, the pleasure, and the security of friendship, and all that makes us feel good about it, and let it die at the cross.

We must be able to say within ourselves, “I have left my addiction to ….. at the cross, it no longer is allowed to live”
In this chapter we will study how we can let go and let God be in charge.
TO DETERMINE, TO SETTLE. OR TO MAKE A RESOLVE ABOUT AN ACTION IS TO DECIDE.
IN CHAPTER THREE WE MUST DECIDE! IN OUR LIVES WE MUST DECIDE: WILL WE TURN OUR LIVES OVER TO
GOD?
3. MADE A DECISION TO TURN OUR WILL AND OUR LIVES OVER TO THE CARE OF JESUS.
Read John 8:12
12. “Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Jesus is talking about walking in the truth, in our addiction we walk in a lie, we walk in darkness not seeing how much damage this is doing to us and to others, but if we follow Jesus we shall know the truth, as it is written, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my Disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” You see Jesus doesn’t want slaves; he isn’t trying to take away your life, and fun, but rather he is trying to give you a better life, a healthier life, one that lives the truth, and not a lie! Jesus is your friend and he loves you, but now if you are to know the truth, you must also know who the lie is, Jesus is the truth,
After reading this,
Answer the following questions:
Who is Jesus?
What happens when we trust Jesus and continue in His words?

Read John 15:1-10
1. I am the True Vine and my Father is the husbandman.
2. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
(Let’s examine, this is not meant to send an unwarranted fear to people, but rather a sobering truth and an expected end for those that choose not to follow Jesus)
7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments.

This is written to encourage Jesus’ followers to make a life of following Jesus, all to the good for the faithful follower.
What questions do you have after reading this?
Answer the following questions:
What makes us clean and takes away all of our unrighteousness?
What happens when we stay close to or abide in Jesus?
If we stay close to Jesus can we ask for things and expect them to be given
How is God glorified through your life?
What is the difference now, than all the times in the past that we have tried to change our life?

 

NOW WE LIVE TRUTH!
One simple word: TRUTH!

The truth shall set us free. Jesus is that truth. Now let us take a look at some more truth,
Read John 10:1-11
1. Verily, verily, I say unto, He that entereth not by the door unto the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2. But he that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep.
3. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
4. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6. This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.
7. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Now the truth is, Jesus is life and love, while the thief or Satan, is death and destruction. That being true, if your addiction is destroying your life then answer this question, Who has led you to this addiction based upon the definition of Jesus and the definition of the devil, that’s right the devil led you to this addiction in an effort to destroy you and those around you! Now Jesus wants to change the effects that your addiction has had, he wants to lead you to a new way of living that builds your life and restores it.
So now, here are some questions for you,

Answer the following questions:
Someone that tries to get into heaven without going through Jesus is what?
Who should we follow through this life if
we expect a good result.
What did Jesus come to give us?
Notice that none of this lesson tells us that we have to change our ways before we can accept Jesus, in fact it is just the opposite, we accept Jesus and let Him be in charge by listening to what He tells us and then our ways will change. If we want a different result we must decide to do things differently by letting Jesus have control.
As we have discussed and read here in these few chapters, truth must play a big part in making our decisions.

We have made decisions in the past that has hurt us and our loved ones and now we are here to make a change. It was Benjamin Franklin who stated the definition of insanity was "Doing the same things over and over again expecting a different result." According to this we must do things different so that our result will be different than it has been in the past. One thing different is to make a decision to let Jesus have control, to make a decision that acknowledges that we are unable to do this alone and that we need God to help us.
So now we are ready to let go of our old ways and to grab hold of God's ways and through faith we surrender it all to Him.
We must make a decision to let go and allow God to take charge!
NOW COMES THE TIME OF DECISION: YOU MUST COMPLETELY TRUST JESUS CHRIST TO SAVE YOU.

"LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAYS AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS MAN HIS THOUGHTS: AND LET HIM RETURN UNTO THE LORD, AND HE WILL HAVE MERCY ON THEM.

WILL YOU ACCEPT JESUS? WILL YOU REPENT OF YOUR SINS?

THEN IF YOU WILL CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THE LORD JESUS AND WILL BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, YOU WILL BE SAVED! ROMANS 10:9

ARE YOU WILLING TO BELIEVE GOD FOR WHO HE IS AND THE POWER THAT HE CAN BRING TO YOUR LIFE?
ARE YOU WILLING TO LET GOD BE IN CHARGE? YOU MUST DECIDE?