Recovery
God have been dealing with me a lot of my emotions, things of the past, having a hard time. but i thank God for Minghui, she is the 1st leader i can just come transparent with. i wrote her a letter regarding my past - the hurts and failed relationships and things which had happened...i was crying when i wrote the letter...i dunno y suddenly all these came back to my mind...but i know until i deal with all these and move on...i am not ready for a new relationship or even be a connect group leader..have been struggling a lot...came across this book and i am reading it...it is very useful for me at this point of time...below are some abstracts from the book...
What is recovery? It is being able to reflect upon your past and how it contributed to your identity, both positive and negative, without allowing the negative to control your present life. Recovery is finding new meaning to your life by ridding yourself of the contamination of the past. It means claiming your circumstances instead of letting your circumstances claim your happiness.Backsliding occurs because we are bent on following our desires, rather than God's guidelines. The end result is clear.
Although God and Satan use the same channels, they have different intention...God knits the spriti,soul and body in harmony and balance. Satan creates discord between the three areas. God offers faith, which is based in hope and love. Satan offers fear, which only brings discouragement and defeat.
Ephesians 6:13-17 (New King James Version)
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;The first thing to understand from these verses is that Jesus is our armour. He is our defence. We no longer have to find ways of defending ourselves, we have to implement all that He has provided. There are three pieces of armour which were given at our conversion. According to the verse, we have put on the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, and put on shoes of readiness that comes from peace.
The Belt of Truth. We are to align ourselves with the word of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the saem yesterday, today and tomorrow. Knowing that God loves us and is on our side means that we can trust Him and what is written in the Bible. We need this strong base of support to withstand the schemes of Satan.
The Breastplace of Righteousness. We do not stand on our own merits. We never did. The breastplate enables us to stand because of the righteousness of Jesus. He is our grounding before God. The breastplate protects us from those emotions which challenge our standing before God -- self condemnation or pride.
The Shoes of Peace. Peace is a natural result of standing on the merits of Christ. Our trust is in Him and He will not fail us. Circumstances may not have changed, and temptation may not have ceased, but this peace passes all understanding. Peace in our heart enables us to stand.
