God helps those who help themselves?

I've heard this term alot, and just had a pretty heated internet discussion about it just recently..."God helps those who help themselves". Our pastor actually discussed this yesterday at our service and confirmed that NOWHERE in the Bible does it say this phrase. You know where it came from? Benjamin Franklin...so I ask, do we take the word of a fallen human being, or do we trust in the word of God (the Bible)? I think I choose the Bible. If anything, the Bible states the exact opposite, God helps the helpless.

Isaiah 25:4 declares, "For You have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat..." Romans 5:6 tells us, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

In terms of salvation, we are all utterly helpless. We are all infected by sin (Romans 3:23), and condemned as a result of that sin (Romans 6:23). Nothing we can do on our own can remedy this situation (Isaiah 64:6). Thankfully, God is the helper of the helpless. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us (Romans 5:8). Jesus paid the penalty that we were incapable of paying (2 Corinthians 5:21). God provided the "help" that we need precisely because we could not help ourselves.

I think especially when we're talking about recovery, it's important to remember that God loves and helps all of us. Alot of us choose not to believe or recognize it, but Jesus loves us and knows each and every one of us intimately. From day one He has provided all the things we may take for granted...our food, shelter, family, sunshine, and the list goes on and on.

We do have to make the choice to give our lives over to Jesus. We do have to fully submit ourselves to Him. We do have to surrender control. We can't do this on our own. We can't fix ourselves. Every human being on this earth is a fallen being, a broken being. Jesus is the only way to salvation. Jesus is the only way we will ever get into Heaven.

What we shouldn't do as Christians is fall into a pattern of inactivity because we believe God will just do all of our work for us. If we ask God to help us find a job, then we should be actively looking for a job. If we ask Him to help us stop abusing drugs and alcohol, then we should be actively trying to quit (find a recovery program, etc.). He's not just going to magically do all of the work for us.

As always, God Bless...

Enjoy God's Blessings!

Ahhhh, the Seattle area in summer is truly a blessing. And it's greatly appreciated since we only get about 3 months of sunshine here. I just got done mowing my lawn and it's sunny and 65 degrees...which is a welcome break from the clouds and rain.

So that's what I want to talk about today, is that we are surrounded by God's blessings each and every day (yes, even when it's raining I guess...LOL). The simplest of things that we may take for granted are HUGE blessings. A roof over our heads, clean water to drink, a toilet to flush away our waste, food in our pantries...and the list goes on. Take a minute to think of the other countries in this world that are struggling day in and day out. There are also plenty of people here in our own country who struggle as well.

God loves us all and if we give him our lives he will bless us and provide for us. Even if you haven't given your life to Him, you are still being showered with His blessings, you may just not recognize it or you may take it for granted. Remember that He is our father, and will love us as His children more than we can even comprehend. So enjoy His blessings. Enjoy the sun, enjoy each other...if you are in recovery like me, enjoy the freedom from our addictions that He blesses us with.

And please remember to share your blessings with others. God gave each of us different spiritual gifts, and whatever yours is, please share it.

God Bless...I'm gonna try to soak up some more good weather!

What have I put in my head?

Went to group tonight and that was one of the questions. Thinking back over all the years that I was separated from God, I realize all the harmful stuff I've let into my head. It especially hit home when I thought about the stuff I've let my son see so early in his life. He's seen movies like Predator vs. Aliens, and games like Gears of War, and graphic, bloody stuff that no kid should see. Once I sobered up and went into recovery with Christ, I truly asked Jesus to forgive me for leading my son astray. I was also wandering astray, but thank the Lord I was found!

Jesus won't just erase our memories of the things we've seen and heard over the years. We have to really allow the Holy Spirit to reside in us and try and follow it's guidance on a daily basis. That little thing we call "intuition" or "conscience" is God speaking directly to us through the Holy Spirit. It truly is our divine counselor. Problem is most of us don't listen as we should. We tend to try and go our own way and we suffer the consequences.

So back to the stuff we let into our minds...The thing I'm most guilty of is movies. I'm not letting my son watch anything questionable anymore, but I'm pretty lenient about what I watch. I don't really mean nudity or stuff like that, more along the lines of violence or language. I tell myself that I know I don't use that language and it's not going to affect me. I really need to pray about this more and follow God's guidance. I pray for His wisdom every day.

So that's something to think about...what kind of content are you letting into your head and how is it affecting you? If you have kids, are you letting them see anything questionable that will affect their little minds? Jesus is ready to forgive us and the Holy Spirit is always ready to guide us towards holy decisions

God Bless and good night!

Sin and Evil

A couple days late, but I thought I would share some lessons from this past Sunday service at my church. It was about the makeup of true evil and sin.

From the moment we are born onto this earth, we are born into sin. Of course we know it all stems from Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Alot of people believe we are inherently good natured, especially as children. But have you ever wondered why we have to teach kids to play nice with others? Or why we have to teach them to share? Or why we have to teach them to speak nicely? Because if we didn't, everyone would be completely self centered and murderous. If we didn't teach our children how to behave they would take whatever they wanted, beat other kids up when they got mad, talk horribly to each other, and so on. We are not inherently good, we are inherently sinful in nature.

Dr. Millard Erickson summarizes sin as this..."Sin is any lack of conformity to God's moral or spiritual law, whether in deed, word, thought, action or disposition. Actively, it may be violating God's law, or going beyond the limits He set. Passively, it may mean "falling short", or failure to do what God desires or commands. In short, sin is man's tendency toward autonomy, rather than surrender of self, life and will to God".

Many non-Christians will say they believe they will still get into Heaven because they are "good people". Some will even say they only "miss the mark" 2 or 3 times a day. Even if we mess up once a day, that's sin and it separates us from God. Every single one of us misses the mark MUCH more than 3 times a day. Again, think of not only your actions, but your thoughts, your words, your disposition. I'm sure you will realize just how much we all sin on a daily basis.

Romans 3:9-12 says...

What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.

As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

That pretty much says it...every single one of us is a sinner. The beautiful part is that Jesus led a perfect life and paid the ultimate price so that we may enjoy eternity in Heaven with our Father. Sin would be the doom of us all if it weren't for God's gift of grace.

Romans 3:23-24 says...

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, He freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins.

Here's the thing...Sin has to be admitted before it can be defeated. We have to admit our faults to God and truly repent. Repenting doesn't just mean saying we're sorry...we have to make an effort to overcome whatever the sin may be and not do it again. Of course we are human and we will fall again, but we have to make that effort to improve. God not only forgives us, he completely forgets about our past sins and washes us completely clean. When we completely surrender to Him and give our lives over to Him, he makes us into completely new creatures, thus the term "Born Again". It's true, we really are born again as new children of God.

Some notes on Satan. We all know he is evil incarnate. He will do everything he can to tempt us and destroy our relationship with God. We must trust in the Lord to deliver us from Satan and his evil. Satan has no power over us as long as we have God inside of us. God rules over all things, including Satan and all of his demons. We have nothing to fear.

Here's what the bible tells us about who Satan really is:

• The father of lies. John 8:44


• A thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy. John 10:10


• A strongman who strong arms. Mark 3:27

Evil comes in ALL shapes and sizes, BUT IT'S STILL SIN. Jesus Christ will deliver us. We are going to sin, it's in our nature since Eve ate the forbidden fruit. But we have to try and live every facet of our lives for the Lord, and when we do sin we have to admit our sin to God and ask for Him to wash us clean...and He will. If you haven't already given your life to Jesus, there is still time. He is waiting for you and loves you...no matter what you've done in your past.

I'll close this post with Psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

God Bless!

More first step stuff

Just emailed someone that belongs to a loss group on yahoo groups. She helped me through my tough times when I was losing my fiancee this past January. She has finally decided to break it off with her guy because he was basically the exact same guy I used to be. She was really beating herself up, saying things like she is damaged for life, and has no self esteem.

This brings me back to the first step again. No matter what life has thrown at us, we don't have to go it alone. Jesus is always ready to carry us through the tough times. He has a plan for each and every one of us and we just have to trust in Him. He won't let us down. If we stay faithful and completely surrender our lives to Him, great things await us.

For me surrender means doing His will in my life. I can't abuse substances, I can't be selfish, I can't be judgemental, and so on. The list of things I CAN do are what really matters. I can finally have a loving relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am free to love, I am free from drugs and alcohol, I am free to be a father to my son and future stepson, I am free to be a loving and caring husband, and much much more.

Please always remember, that no matter what this life throws at us, Jesus will always be there for us. This life will be over in the blink of an eye, so don't despair. We've got an eternity in Heaven ahead of us with our Father. I know it's tough to always think like that, but if you make the effort and always put God first, it will make an eternity of difference...literally.

God Bless