Single Minded Devotion

Single-Minded Devotion

Bible Reading James 4:7 – 10

Step 3: We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.

“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.” (Romans 12:1)

Principle 3: Consciously choose to commit all of my life and will to Christ care and control.

“Happy are the meek.” (Matthew 5:8)

We may already have chosen to follow God’s way, letting his paths the overall direction for our lives. But even so, many of us still keep a part of our heart hidden away from God. We have devoted this part of ourselves to gratifying our addictions, to doing things that are contrary to the will of God. This sets us up for living a double life, which can fill us with guilt, shame, and instability.

Even for those of us who have made the decision to give our hearts to God, we face new moments of decision every day. James was addressing Christians when he wrote, “So give yourself humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to Him” (James 4:7 – 8).

When we choose to live a double life, it is easy to become doubtful that God hears us at all. James wrote, “For a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn 1^st this way, and then that” (James 1:6 – 8).

When we resist the devil at every turn and choose to draw close to God, he will draw close to us. When we open up our hidden hearts and begin to make choices in favor of recovery, we will soon grow confident that God desires to help us.

God has already defeated the devil, all we need to do is choose the winning side.

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I'm Not Different

In the beginning, it was four whole years before Celebrate Recovery brought permanent sobriety to even one addicted woman. Like the “high bottoms”, the women said they were different;… The Skid-Rower said he was different… So did the artist and the professional people, the rich, poor, the religious, those of little faith, the Indians and Eskimos, the veterans and the prisoners… Nowadays all of them, and legions more, soberly talk about how very much alike all of us addicts are when we admit that the chips are finally down.

I cannot consider myself “different” in Celebrate Recovery; if I do I isolate myself from others and from contact with Jesus Christ, my one and only higher power. If I feel isolated in Celebrate Recovery, it is not something for which others are response. It is something I’ve created by feeling I’m “different” in some way. Today, I practice being just another addict in the worldwide fellowship of Celebrate Recovery.

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