CyberRecovery Page 8

by Rick Warren
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7 NIV).

After we've humbled ourselves and submitted to God, the Bible teaches us to defy the Devil. We don't passively resign ourselves to his attacks. We're to fight back.

The New Testament often describes the Christian life as a spiritual battle against evil forces, using war terms such as fight, conquer, strive, and overcome. Christians are often compared to soldiers serving in enemy territory.

How can we resist the Devil? Paul tells us, "Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17 NLT).

The first step is to accept God's salvation. You won't be able to say no to the Devil unless you've said yes to Christ. Without Christ we're defenseless against the Devil, but with "the helmet of salvation" our minds are protected by God. Remember this: If you are a believer, Satan cannot force you to do anything. He can only suggest.

Second, you must use the Word of God as your weapon against Satan. Jesus modeled this when he was tempted in the wilderness. Every time Satan suggested a temptation, Jesus countered by quoting Scripture.

He didn't argue with Satan. He didn't say, "I'm not hungry," when tempted to use his power to meet a personal need. He simply quoted Scripture from memory. We must do the same. There is power in God's Word, and Satan fears it.

Don't ever try to argue with the Devil. He's better at arguing than you are, having had thousands of years to practice. You can't bluff Satan with logic or your opinion, but you can use the weapon that makes him tremble--the truth of God.

This is why memorizing Scripture is absolutely essential to defeating temptation. You have quick access to it whenever you're tempted. Like Jesus, you have the truth stored in your heart, ready to be remembered.

If you don't have any Bible verses memorized, you've got no bullets in your gun! I challenge you to memorize one verse a week for the rest of your life. Imagine how much stronger you'll be.

http://www.greatday.com/

The Mystery

Today, I accept that part of myself that will never be satisfied, and I comfort and tame it. There is a place in me that knows it will never necessarily solve the eternal questions of life: Who am I and where do I come from, and where do I go when I die? At times, I can get depressed about that and feel that there's no real point to life. But I am beginning to feel that to accept and love this side of myself is what also gives life beauty and meaning. Perhaps meaning is not knowing and understanding, but an acceptance of mystery, an embracing of the unknown. After all, it is that mystery that gives even the most ordinary circumstance an eternal sort of glow - a sense of depth, a feeling that there is more.

I accept that I will never fully understand - I embrace the mystery.
- Tian Dayton Phd

'The soul is restless and furious; it wants to tear itself apart and cure itself of being human.'- Ugo Betti

Hello,
I've posted a couple of times on the friends and families board when I was trying to come to terms with my ex's alcoholism and my ex best friend's drug addiction, but I've crossed the line now myself and realise I need help! My ex died four months ago. he drank himself to death. I am not coping. I'm drinking, but not in a happy innocent party kind of way, in a dark, all alone, drink myself legless kind of a way.
For years I tried to help them both, esp my ex. I loved him so much. I miss him so much. Now I just feel useless and hopeless. I hate myself. I'm such a hypocrite.
I drink every night. i don't go out, i don't want to see people. It's not a social thing. I just FEEL SO..... but I don't have anywhere to put my feelings - especially the anger I feel. I can handle the grief, but the anger is another thing entirely and I feel like I've got to dampen it down for my own sake and for anyone's sake who wants to see me.
I don't know what to do. I'm too angry to do the 12 step thing. I'm too sad to want to help myself. I'm following him. I knew there was a danger and I tried not to do that, but it's too **** hard!!!
i get crazy that nobody ever asks about him because I think most people think well, he was no good for you. I know why they think that, but he wasn't always an alcoholic. I see people living on the street and I feel more akin to them than the people around me.
What is happening to me? I know this is wrong. I know how much it hurts other people, but I feel so hurt by other people right now I just don't care!!! I know how bad that sounds too.
Help me get my sanity back!!! How do I not follow him? I loved him, he was part of me. I'm doing everything wrong. I'm not honouring him the way I want to. I feel angry and like giving up, and drinking makes me feel close to him again. It's insane. I know it is. Please help me!

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Step 11 says, "We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and the power to carry that out."

What does practicing step 11 mean to you?

I have been dealling with part of recovery were you just still want to hold on to control over most everything.I have been rememeerring th phrase in the big book that says we cease fighting everything and everybody.Seems like I did alot of fightting of everything and everybody and it is tirering.I was in church today and the pastor was talking about be still and see the salvation of the lord.That if you were a soldier and were told to be still that it meant to lay down your weapons and dont do anything dont fight(our weapons being anger,control,and maniplation etc. etc.So I am trying to be still and let god control all of the things that around me at the house.So I made a decisions today to be still and let god get in the front and step aside.It is sometimes a hard thing to trust god in situations were you have to watch things that are not going the way you want them and you open the hole under your nose and take control.It is scary just to trust god in sobriety at times.Anyway what do yall do to let go and let god I guess the simple way to say it.And have you cease fighting everything and everybody.Or are you like me and leave claw marks on everything god tries to break you of or teach you?I coppied and pasted this from another site I am on to get more info.

I am 5'7". In college, before drinking (started at age 21) I topped the scales at 170!!! About 3 years ago, I stopped eating lunch during the week in order to get a faster, stronger alcohol 'high' immediately upon returning to the apartment from school. As result, I lost 30 lbs without trying anything else, dropping me down to 140. The more I drink, the more weight I lose. If I stop drinking and have nothing to look forward to... no incentive to skip lunch... I fear I will gain that weight back or have to work REALLY hard at keeping it off despite the running I do. Any thoughts?

On the foolishness of judging others

The act of judgement is an act of pride. It involves looking to our own store of knowledge, putting together a few facts, figures or fancies, and coming up with some sort of answer or solution to a given problem or situation. All too often it is the wrong solution or answer, and because of pride, we refuse to correct course.


Judging others is an act of monumental pride - enormous pride, stupendous pride, galling, astonishing, fantastic pride. This should be understood. When you render judgement on another, you have taken upon yourself an awesome responsibility for making the correct judgement. Because, after all, your judgement is not necessary.

All things, big and small, invite your judgement. The condition of the weather, political matters, the taste of your food, a television program - at every moment of the day, something or other is inviting your judgement of it. And so often, and so willingly, you render it, without being aware of the consequences, without taking care of the responsibilities entailed.

You judge, and then to make matters worse, you believe in your judgement. You've looked at the evidence, you've made a judgement - it must be right! There couldn't possibly be any other conclusion to arrive at but the one your've chosen, could there?
What you don't see, don't understand, is that your judgement leads to suffering - your own suffering. It does not touch the person judged; he or she is free of you and your thoughts and your judgements. You cannot change their behaviour by even a hair's breadth by your judgement.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Companionship
^*^*^*^*^
"Letting go of everything at once
was both painful and terrifying.
I could never have accomplished this alone.
It took the help, understanding and wonderful companionship that was given so freely to me by my 'ex-alkie' friends.
This and the program of recovery
embodied in the Twelve Steps . . .
Whole new vistas were opened up for me,
new avenues of experience to be explored,
and life began to take on color and interest."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 311
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Thought to Consider . . .

This is a great day to be sober, patient, tolerant,
kindly and loving.


*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
C A R E = Comforting And Reassuring Each other

Celebrated my first year of sobriety last Monday,24/10/2008
Celebrating my Birthday today,2/11/2009
:11:

RESTORING THE WRECK



"Being wrecked in the same vessel, being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned to the welfare of others, the things which matter so much to some people no longer signify much to them." Alcoholics Anonymous, page 161



"I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives." Jeremiah 17:10



For what it's worth: Alcohol flooded my entire being, drowning everything decent in me. Alcoholics Anonymous and the loving mercy of God are clearing away the mess from the flood and a total restoration is in progress. My motives, values and purpose are slowly changing. Sometime, very slowly; and, sometime, flood damage reappears, usually when I take charge. My job is not to give orders but to “let go and let God”. And I have noticed that progress improves during those times I maintain an attitude of gratitude.



God bless you.



Joe W.

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn
us, we have confidence toward God.
And whatever we ask we receive from
Him, because we keep His commandments
and do those things that are pleasing in
His sight.
( 1 John 3:21-22 *NKJV )


Now would you change the way that you live if you
knew that God knew all of your thoughts, heard all of
your words, and knew all the desires of your heart? Well
He does for it is written; The Lord knows
the thoughts of man That they are futile.
For He also; knows the secrets of the heart. .
( Psalms 94:11 ) & ( Psalms 44:21 )

Now when we try our best to have pure thoughts and
desires and follow the Commandments put forth by
God, we often get our prayers answered. For it is
written; The effective, fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much. ( James 5:16 )

So when you speak be careful of the words you
use, and keep them soft and sweet. For we are to
always encourage one another and build
each other up, Most of all, always think before you speak so
that; The words of my mouth and the meditation
of my heart be acceptable in Your sight O Lord ,
my strength and my Redeemer.
( 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ) ( Psalms 19:14 )

Now my friend, have a Great Weekend and may it be
filled with blessings indeed! Amen.

All My Love & Prayers,
Pastor Allen

Ego Death

When I begin to experience real love, I go through an ego death. On my road to spiritual freedom, which is nothing more than learning to love, I go through what has long been called a dark night of the soul. This is a death of the ego, not in the Freudian sense, but in the way ego is defined in Eastern philosophy. I have a small 'I' and a large 'I.'
Part of my path toward expansion into my larger external self, which is of God and Love, is a death of my smaller self, which sees the world as here only to feed my needs. Really it is through the recognition of giving and receiving and of loving that we become full.
I allow and understand my ego death.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Today's Thought:
Oh, I believed there was a God I just didn't believe He ever did anything for me so why should He do anything for me now. It took a while for me to realize that with my past history of 30 years drinking and driving the fact I was still alive was proof enough that God had been doing for me all my life.
Submitted By:
Rover

ACCEPTANCE

“Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement
of the facts of the situation. Then deciding what to do with it.”

Kathleen Casey Theisen




Before program I kept wishing that I had a perfect body, spouse, mother, child, or whatever. My dissatisfaction with the things in my life kept me from really accepting that things were exactly the way they were meant to be for that time. I always used the excuse, "If you had a spouse, ex-husband, mother, or whatever like I did, you’d also have to eat.” I never took responsibility for my compulsive eating and I lived in blame and guilt.

When I came into program and heard the Serenity Prayer at my first meeting, I didn’t fully understand its meaning. What I have finally come to understand is that I cannot begin to change the things within my control until I accept my powerlessness over food and over the people and circumstances in my life. I have now come to accept the fact that there are some things I cannot change, but I can change my attitude towards others. As I do so, I am learning to take responsibility for my part in the things that happen to me. What a difference that is from the past.

One day at a time ...
Only when I acknowledge and accept the reality of what is in my life, can I begin to change the things that are within my control.


~ Sharon S.

The K-LOVE Encouraging Word for Sunday, 1 November 2009:
There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 NLT

Learn to say I am

"This is for you," my friend said on my birthday.

I opened the tiny box with that feeling most women get when they know they're about to receive jewelry. I was right. I lifted out the necklace and held it in my hand.

"Read the brochure that comes with it," my friend encouraged.

I picked up the tiny leaflet. The necklace was more than a piece of jewelry. It was an ancient symbol that represented self-confidence-- that intangible thing that can so easily enhance, or distract from, our ability to joyfully and peacefully live our lives.

It was exactly the reminder I needed.

The next day, I drove to the airport for my flying lesson. I wasn't exhilerated to be flying that day, but I wasn't dreading it, either. I was simply living each moment. It was time for me to get into the pilot's seat and fly the plane.

I taxied down the runway, then pushed in the throttle, wearing the self-confidence medallion around my neck. The plane lifted happily into the air. I gently took us up to five thousand five hundred feet. Following Rob's instructions, I turned left, steeply. Then I did a steep turn to the right. I did a power-on stall, something that had horrified me in the past, then a power-off stall. The airplane and my flying worked.

It was a breakthrough day in flying. Until then, I had been acting as if, going through the motions, making myself fly. Today, I genuinely enjoyed my time in the air.

The necklace didn't have any power. The power came from remembering to believe in myself.

It's easy to give up confidence in ourselves. We can give it to people from the past who encouraged us to not believe in ourselves. We can give it to mistakes we've made, building a solid case against ourselves based on some lessons we went through, past errors in judgement, and learning experiences. We can forfeit our confidence to a traumatic event-- like a divorce, a death, or a loss.

Don't panic.

Breath.

Stop saying, I can't.

Part of the language of letting go is learning to say, I can.

Give the gift of confidence to yourself.


God, I believe in you. Now help me learn to believe in myself,too.

One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed The Creator. They picked one scientist, to go and tell The CReator that they were done with Him. The scientist walked up to The Creator and said, " Creator, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost."

The Creator listened patiently and kindly to the scientist and after he was done talking, said "Very Well! How about this? Lets have a man making contest."

To which the scientist replied, "OK, great!"

But , The Creator added, "now we're going to do this just like I did, back in the old days with Adam".

The scientistsaid, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

The Creator looked at him and said, " No, no, no. You go get your own dirt."

THERE'S AN END

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. ..."
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NLT)

Someone once remarked, "If it weren't for death, life would
be unbearable." As strange as that may sound, it's actually very true. Right
now, we're locked into this fallen and broken world. Pain, suffering, and
affliction are just part of the package of living here on earth. It comes with
the territory, and it always will as long as we're on earth.





But there is a way out. We won't always be locked into this
condition. Whether it comes through the natural process of physical death or
whether it comes via Christ's return, we're going to shed the mortal bodies
we're in right now and become just like Him (1 John 3:2).





We're going to leave this world behind and enter into God's
actual presence in Heaven. And when we do, all of our trials, afflictions,
sufferings, and troubles will vanish away forever. The book of Revelation
expresses it best:





I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look,
God's home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be
his people. God himself will be with them. . . . He will wipe every tear from
their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All
these things are gone forever." (Revelation 21:3-4 NLT)





As real as our suffering is right now, its absence in
eternity is just as real. No matter what your trials entail right now, they
aren't forever. God guarantees they will eventually end, and when weighed
against what awaits you in heaven, all the hardships you've ever endured are
going to seem quite light.




Godspeaks