Author: Ron Miller

Romans 12
Living Sacrifices
1. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. 2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5. so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8. if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
Love
9. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. 21. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Most sin (if not all) is based in selfishness. When we offer our bodies as living sacrifices we stop living to ourselves, and begin to serve God and others. This world is full of products and services that are targeted to our selfish desires and offer to give us an easier life. Sometimes we get caught in the opposite trap. We wrap our lives totally around another person, and ignore our own self. This is usually a codependent tendency. To love others as we love ourselves implies that we already love ourselves.

As we change our focus on the world, and see ourselves and others as God sees us, life takes on a fully different meaning. When we realize that we all suffer from the same selfish tendencies, the same insecurities, and life hits us all in ways we have never been prepared for, perhaps we can show more grace toward those who stumble even when it hurts us.

Leaving things for God to handle when we are not equipped with omnipotence is a very healing thing to do.

How do you feel when you are around people rejoicing? Can you join them?

How do you feel when around those mourning?

Can you associate with people who do not share your “place” in life?

Can you easily leave the vengeance to God?

What does it mean to overcome evil with good? How can we do this?

Romans 11
The Remnant of Israel
1, I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah how he appealed to God against Israel: Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? 4And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5. So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7. What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8. as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.” 9. And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 10. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
Ingrafted Branches
11. Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
13. I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15, For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18. do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20. Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
All Israel Will Be Saved
25. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
28. As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29. for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31. so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. 32. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
Doxology
33. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out! 34. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35. “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” 36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

One of the steps to recovery asks that we take a searching and fearless inventory of our life, and in the following steps to deal with the results accordingly. In this process we “Cut off” that which is causing us harm, and we “Graft in” that which will make our lives better.
One of the things God wants to do is to graft you into his Life-Giving body (the body of Christ). Isn’t is a wonderful thought that we become part of God’s recovery plan by allowing ourselves to be grafted in?

What things have you needed to cut off from your life in order to be healthy?

What things do you need to “graft in” to your life to become more healthy?

How can our group help?

We appreciate you being a “grafted in” part of our “group tree”!!

Romans 10
1. Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5. Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” 6. But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven?;” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7. “Who will descend into the deep?;” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8. But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9. That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15. And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16. But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18, But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” 19. Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.” 20. And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” 21. But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

We humans truly believe the old saying that laws are made to be broken. If we can be honest about this one thing about ourselves, we will make great progress toward recovery. There are many “religious” people in this world who believe one thing or another about who God is, and how people should live, but Jesus points out that in a true religion, the orphans and widows are taken care of. Recovery starts with the step that acknowledges that we are not god, and that we cannot on our own power ascend, or descend to where God may be. We can only humbly repent and ask for him to come to where we are and help us. We must say that he is Lord, and stop fooling ourselves and thinking that somehow we are the lord. This also is backed up by some action. By taking our own inventory, and sharing that inventory with God and others, we show that we mean business, and the power of those hurts habits and hang-ups is broken.

Lastly, we become God’s representatives here by sharing our experience, strength and hope with others. How else would this life changing message be spread to all who are in need?

What “laws” make you feel the most guilt or shame?

Do feel the need to chase God?

Do you feel God chasing you?

Have you felt the power of guilt and shame disappear through confession?

Have you shared with other your experience, strength and hope?

What do the following phrases mean to you?

“I was found by those who did not seek me.”

“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people”

Romans 9
God’s Sovereign Choice
1. I speak the truth in Christ “I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit“ 2. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4. the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
6. It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10. Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad “in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12. not by works but by him who calls“she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13. Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15. For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16. It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19. One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20. But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21. Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22. What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath “prepared for destruction? 23. What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory“ 24. even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25. As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” 26. and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
27. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
29. It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31. but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” 33. As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

One thing that separates us from the rest of God’s creatures is that we all too often ask “why?”. I think this was one of my favorite words growing up. This seemed to make one of my Dad’s favorite phrases “Because I said so!”. Well this was pretty accurate. My Dad was the ruler of his domain (his home and family), and the same can be said of God. God created us, made rules for us, we broke the rules, and so what do we deserve? Arguably, as a child of God, we deserve punishment, but are given mercy.
There is no lack of dysfunctional families in the Bible. Jacob’s family was just one of them. Rebecca knew ahead of time that the older would serve the younger, but it took an elaborate deception to convince Isaac. Perhaps this was unfair to Isaac and Esau, but nonetheless, it was all ultimately part of God’s plan.
Our lives are full of pain and injustice that perhaps become part of God’s ultimate plan for us. Jacob’s son Joseph said of his life “You meant it for bad, but God used it for good.”

Can you see bad things in your life that God has used for good?

What choices did God make for your life that you see as a mistake?

Romans 8(b)
Future Glory
18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21. that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
More Than Conquerors
28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36. As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39. neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

One of the hallmarks of chronic depression is the lack of hope. A life that is full of worries and striving will over a period of time reap hopelessness. It is very difficult to keep looking forward to the end where we win, when we seem to be beaten down every day. I really don’t think it’s an easy thing for us to wake up every morning and face each new day with an ever positive attitude that will always conquer all.
This is where life in community comes into play. As we share our true feelings with each other the pressure is released and we no longer feel like we always have to have all of the answers, or live with a fully joyful attitude every minute. As humans we can get dragged down from time to time. When being dragged down becomes a way of life, we need to find somebody to share life with. Two or more together can win battles where one person would be overwhelmed. After all, you cant watch your own back!

God’s word here offers much hope for our future. Can you believe that it is written to you?

What battles can these words help you find victory over?

Where do you run when you feel sad and lonely?

Does your future seem bright?

Romans 8
Life Through the Spirit
1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2. because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4. in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7. the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14. because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17. Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Sometimes the one who condemns us the most is ourselves. The law that has been laid down in our hearts (good or bad) by our upbringing and experiences plays a huge part in how we view and accept our own behaviors. In this case the “law” is what condemns us, and makes our lives intolerable.
Through the recovery process we begin to realize that God has a better plan. A plan that is full of grace and truth. The truth is that if a picture is crooked in your living room, you aren’t really bad and condemned. To the obsessive-compulsive person, this is intolerable. The “law” in his heart condemns such things, and he must set it straight. His life is unbearable until he can change this flaw.
The laws that live in our hearts and govern our view of ourselves and the world around us is what can make our lives unbearable and drive us to the behavior that we really want to be rid of in our lives. Jesus’ passion for us made it possible for us to experience NO CONDEMNATION! He has paid the price so we no longer have to. Accepting this gift, and internalizing it toward our feelings of self-condemnation is a broad step toward recovery.

Are you still condemning yourself?

Have you accepted God’s gift of freedom from condemnation?

Can you still hear the voices from your childhood that tries to condemn you?

Romans 7
An Illustration From Marriage
1. Do you not know, brothers for I am speaking to men who know the law that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? 2. For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. 3. So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man.
4. So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Struggling With Sin
7. What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 8. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18. 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. 19. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. 20. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23. but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25. Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

God’s plan for us is to live happy, balanced lives. There are a lot of things that we should and shouldn’t do in order to live our lives according to God’s perfect design. This world is not perfect, and certainly we ourselves are not perfect.
The laws that govern our lives point out just how imperfect we really are. If we are honest, we realize that we have hated, lied, envied, lusted, and done many other things that are contrary to God’s perfect plan for us. These rules are good rules to live by. It’s just that our bent for selfishness just can’t handle them.
The answer to this dilemma is very easy, yet becomes difficult the more we try to calculate it. We must die. But if we die, we no longer exist. God sent a substitution for us to die, so since the high price has been paid, we are no longer subject to the guilt and shame associated with being a breaker of the law.
The example that God has set for grace and forgiveness should be a model for us in our lives. We need to forgive as God has forgiven us. We need to be able to pray without fear “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.
Do your feel forgiven?

Have you forgiven others?

Are you still striving to live within the law?

DEAD TO OLD HABITS – ALIVE TO NEW LIFE

Romans 6
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
1. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2. By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3. Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin 7. because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16. Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17. But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we have finally found ourselves in a place where we can only admit our own powerlessness, and then begin to rely on a power greater than ourselves in order to muster enough sanity to make it through our daily life, we come to a place where we know that we must begin to take charge of our own domain and start saying NO to the temptations to feed our habits and addictions. At this point, the part of us that believed that sin was a necessary part or our lives dies and once dead, it’s power over us is broken.
At this point, part of us can relate to Christ’s death, and resurrection as we die to an old way of life and begin a completely new way of life. The desires of our hurts, habits and hang ups are behind us, and in front of us is a true desire to live life differently from here on out.
There still exists grace for those days where we are weak, but overall, our life has taken a different path, and there begins to have meaning and feeling where once there was but sadness and death.
How’s that for a paradox? We spent our lives doing what we thought would make us feel full, good and right, and it only left us feeling empty, guilty and shameful in the end. Then we die to these habits and behaviors only to then find a new life that is full, and brings peace and happiness that we had never known before!
One of the advantages of taking a fearless inventory, and then sharing it with another person is that the power of those things to influence your life has lost it’s potency. This is like how Christ’s death actually makes death powerless over him from that point on. Once we face our fears, we find that they have much less power that we attributed to them.

What things in your life have become powerless since they have died through your confession?

REJOICE IN SUFFERING – POWER IN POWERLESSNESS

Romans 5
Peace and Joy
1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2. through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4. perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
6. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10. For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11. Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned 13. for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16. Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
18. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Being at peace with God is the best place to be in this life. Many seek it in many ways, but few truly achieve it. This is because peace with God can only be obtained through suffering. Most of the major religions of the world teach this. Only Christianity takes this concept one more step and teaches that we can have peace with God through Christ’s suffering. Imagine that! We no longer have to suffer, because Christ has done enough suffering for us.
But the fact remains that in life there is much suffering. If this were not the case, there would be no need for recovery. Paul asks that we take a step back from our suffering and realize the true value that is built into the suffering. Suffering builds patience, character, and ultimately hope. Hope is that light at the end of the tunnel that lets us know that the trip through the dark tunnel will be worth it. I can relate to this. Not too long ago, I hiked through a tunnel at the Snoqualmie Summit in Washington State. We tried to hike with our flashlights off, and just concentrated on the light at the end of the tunnel to get us through. It was quite an experience.
God’s grace is free to all who will admit they are powerless, and that they need the gift of Christ’s Passion to obtain peace with God.

What is the cause of most of your suffering this past week?

Do you see that you have learned more patience through your past suffering?

When you look up, can you see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Have you accepted Christ’s suffering in order to obtain peace with God?

RECOVERY BEGINS BY FAITH

Romans 4
Abraham Justified by Faith
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

When we realize that there is something in our lives that we want to change, we will try and try again using whatever power we have. Most of the time, our efforts become futile. This happens not because we really don’t want to change, but that we have not yet reached the point in our lives where we are fully ready to give up that behavior that has such a hold on us.
True faith works best when we have hit bottom and have run out of hand-holds. We then realize that the only way up is to give up and depend on our “higher power” to rescue us. Faith grows as we hear the stories of others who have traveled the recovery road for some time, and we can find encouragement and help from others. As they share their experience, strength and hope, our faith is built, and we move further along the road to recovery.
It is God who rescues us, and he chooses to use people in community for His purpose. Through a community of people of faith, help is realized, and lives are changed. When we isolate ourselves, help is fleeting.

Abraham did not really do anything except believe God. What has to happen in our lives to make us start believing God?

Have you ever experienced “The more hurriedly I go, the behinder I get”?

How do you feel when you hear about the experience, strength and hope in others?