Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition....4c

Step 4 

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord."

 Lamentations 3:40 

 "When you sincerely repent, your heart will be umble and broken and you'll have some sense of the immense love of God and the infinite cost of the cross. Then nothing will be able to stop you from coming clean to God- the Father who loves you. And the Bible says,

'If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness' 1 John 1:9

That's a promise you can count on!" 

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition...4b

Step 4 

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord."

 Lamentations 3:40 

 "Until you've humbled your heart before God and admitted your guilt, you haven't met the first condition of acceptance. If you aren't sorry, if you have no shame or regret, you aren't serious about seeking forgiveness. And if you've never really wanted to be forgiven, it's certain you haven't found peace with God. Confession isn't about saying the words. It's about humbly admitting to God that you were wrong and that you deeply desire to be right with Him. That is the only condition you must meet. And that's why no one should twist your arm and force you to confess. Make your confession only after you have recognized your sin and truly repented. Then you can be sure that God, who loves you with such deep compassion, will accept your confession with open arms. David, the psalm writer, says, 'The Lord is close to the broken hearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit' Psalm 34:18." 

Steps to Christ....Recovery Edition 4a

 Step 4 

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord."

 Lamentations 3:40 

 

" 'People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy' Proverbs 28:13 

The conditions of receiving God's forgiveness are simple and fair and reasonable. God doesn't expect you to make a great sacrifice or perform some painful penance in order to prove you're sorry and earn His forgiveness. If you simply confess your sins and choose to leave them behind, God will forgive you fully and freely." 

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition...3f

 

"As you see the awfulness of your sin, don't five up in despair. It was sinners that Jesus came to save. You don't have to make peace with God; instead God, through Jesus, is making peace with you. What amazing love! He is 'reconciling the world to Himself ' (2 Corinthians 5:19). He's romancing the hearts of His rebellious children with His gentle love. No early parent could be as patient with the faults and mistakes of His children as God is with those He's trying to save. No one could plead more lovingly  with the rebel. No human lips ever poured out sweeter invitations that God does. All His promises and all His warnings are spoken in love. 

When Satan tells you that you're too wrong to be made right, too filthy to be made clean, look to Jesus, your rescuer. Talk about Jesus and what He has done for you. It will encourage in the rough times to remember that Jesus has not given up on you, that He loves you, and that He will save you from yourself even now. Admit your mistakes. Admit that you have sinned, but tell the enemy that 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' (1 Timothy 1:15) and that He loves you too much to let anyone tear you away from Him." pg41-42

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition...3e

 

"Every sin you harbor makes you less interested in God. Unless you surrender all your junk to Him, you will eventually end up rejecting God completely. In all the Bible there is not a more fearful warning against playing around with evil than King Solomon's words: 'an evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him' (Proverbs 5:22). 

Jesus is ready to set you free from Sin, but He will never force you. If you persistently rebel, if you're determined to do evil, if you don't want to be set free and you won't accept His grace, what more can He do? You will have destroyed yourself by your stubborn rejection of His love. 'Indeed, the 'right time' is now. Today is the day of salvation.' (2 Corinthians 6;2). 'Today when you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts' (Hebrews 3:7,8)." pg.40 

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition...3d

 

"Don't be deceived by the idea that God is too loving and kind to judge those who reject Him. If that was true, there was no need for Jesus to suffer the horror of the cross. Only look at Jesus on the cross t know that God is serious about eliminating sin. Jesus died for us because there was no other way to save us from the consequences of sin. Without the total surrender of his will and the sacrifice of His own life, it would have been impossible for the human race to escape the deadly power of sin. But He couldn't bear to give us up, and so He took on Himself the guilt of our disobedience and suffered in our place. god in shackles. God impaled on a cross. God dying in agony. The unquenchable love of God for a world twisted and broken by sin! We have no escape from sin's power, no hope of a higher life, except through the surrender of our live to Jesus who suffered all that to save us." pg.38

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition 3c

 "If you see your sinfulness, don't wait to make yourself better. You may think you aren't good enough yet to come to Jesus. But do you expect to become better through your own efforts? 'Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away his spots Neither can yuo start doing good, for you have always done evil' (Jeremiah 13:23). The only way you can change is by God's help. Don't wait to feel more deeply convicted. Don't wait for a better time or to feel more qualified. You can't do it alone. Come to Jesus now, just the way you are." pg.38

Steps to Christ...Recovery Edition...3b

 "You can resist His love. You can refuse to be drawn to Him. But why would you want to, when you realize that He's been working to rescue you since long before time began? Knowing that, you'll fall at the foot of the cross, filled with sorry for the suffering your sin has caused Him.

God is speaking to your heart, creating a craving you can't explain for something you don't have. Addictions, sinful pleasures, money: these things can never satisfy your longing. The Spirit of God is pleading with you to come to Jesus- the only One who can truly satisfy your thirst. He's doing everything possible to make you want His good ways instead of the things that will destroy you. Don't keep trying to drink from the broken water-fountains of this world. God says, 'Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life' (Rev. 22:17)." pg 35 

Steps to Christ ~ Recovery Edition...3a Sorry Enough to Quit

"When you hit rock bottom, you'll discover that you are deeply loved." 

This quote come from page 34: 

 It's true that repentance comes before forgiveness because it's only when your heart is broken over your sin that you'll feel your need of a Savior. But do you have to wait until you feel sorry before you can come to Him? Is repentance a roadblock between you and Jesus? 

The Bible does not teach that! It doesn't say you must be sorry for your sins before you can accept Jesus' invitation, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest' (Matt. 11:28). It's the goodness of Jesus that leads us to repent. Peter made this very clear when he said God sent Jesus to give us both repentance and forgiveness (Act 5:31). Jesus changes how you see your addictions and your sins. He brings you to a heartfelt regret for the damage your mistakes have caused to yourself and others. At the same time He forgives you. Not only does Jesus help you to see the full picture of the damage your sin has caused, He changes your desires, giving you a hatred for sin and a desire to do what's right. Every time you clearly see your sin, every time you want to be pure, you can be sure His Spirit is working on your heart. 

Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition...series 2b

"Before Adam sinned, he loved to talk with God. Think what it was like to talk to the One who is the source of all wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3)! But when he rebelled, Adam disconnected from God. He became afrai and wanted to hide. It's like that for all of us until God changes our hearts. We get disconnected from God and caught up in our dysfunction and addictions, and we can't enjoy talking to Him. As sinners, we could never be happy being with god or with those who love Him. If God let us into heaven we'd hate it. We would never understand the unselfish motives of the angels. Becase of our evil thoughts and interests, we'd feel like misfits. We'd be like a wrong note, out-of-tune with the melody of heaven. Heaven would actually be torture to us. We would want to run away and hide from God- the One who is the source of joy to everyone else. That's why God leave it up to us to choose whether we want to be with Him in heaven or not. He won't force us to be with Him because, as sinners, His holiness and glory would consume us like fire. In our sin, we'd welcome death in order to hide from Jesus, the One who died to save us."

From "Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition" by Cheri Peters with Sophia Berecz 

quote found in chapter 2 
  

 

Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition...series 2a

 "In the beginning, Adam and Eve were strong and perfect in mind and body. They adored God and only wanted to please Him. But after they believed Satan's lies and disobeyed God, their minds were twisted. Instead of loving God, they cared only about themselves. That one act of disobedience crippled them and they became powerless over their behavior. Their lives became unmanageable. Satan easily took advantage of them and trapped them like slaves in a life of dysfunction and misery.

Every person since has been born enslaved. Satan intended to fill the earth with grief and pain and then point to all this evil and say it was God fault since He had created us. All humanity would have remained his victims forever if God had not stepped in to rescue us."

~ From "Steps to Christ- Recovery Edition" by Cheri Peters with Sophia Berecz 

*quote found in chapter 2 

Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition.....series 1b

 "Through Jesus, God poured out His relentless love upon a bruised and broken world. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." (2 Corinthians 5:19). God suffered with His son. In the agony of Jesus' suffering and His awful death on the cross, God paid the price for our full recovery.

Only the Son of God could save us, because only He was close enough to the Father's heart to be able to show us God's passionate love. Nothing less than the enormous sacrifice Jesus made for sinners could give us a clear picture of the Father's vast love for us."

~ From the awesome book "Steps to Christ~ recovery edition" by Cheri Peters with Sophia Berecz

quote found in chapter 1

Steps to Christ ~ Recovery Edition....series 1a

 Last week end I found an awesome book!! I just love it when God provides great books for me to read! The price on the back of the book says $10.00 - I paid $1.00 if not less (the way the lady at the thrift store figures the price when you get several things is in her head and so it's hard to tell for sure how much. But for the $10.91 we paid we got my husband 2 pairs of Dickies over alls and a couple of toys as well as this book! What a Deal!! I will be sharing tidbits from this book with you all in a series. I am just picking the quotes that really speak to me that I think will bless you. But believe me the whole book is well worth the time to read!! May God bless you! :O) 

"Jesus always spoke kindly, even when He told someone a difficult truth. He listened thoughtfully and gave each person his full attention when He talked with them. He was never rude; He never spoke harshly; and He never hurt anyone. Jesus didn't criticize people for being weak or for having faults. Instead, He told them the truth with love. Even when Jesus spoke against hypocrisy, unbelieve, and evil, there were tears in His voice. Jesus cried over Jerusalem, the city He loved. His heart broke for the people who had refused to receive Him, the one who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They had rejected Him, even though He was the only one who could save them from their dysfunctions and addictions. But despite their rejection, He still cared deeply about them. He always looked out for others even when it meant personal loss for Himself. Every person was important to Him. Even though He was the son of God, Jesus was never too good for anyone. He took special interest in the life of every person He met, no matter how little they mattered to anyone else. In every wounded person He saw a friend that He had come to save."

From an awesome book I found this week. "Steps to Christ~ Recovery Edition" by Cheri Peters with Sophie Berecz

quote found in chapter 1