Lesson #6 Action (2 of 2) - For God Fore His Glory

STEP THREE

(WHILE SEEKING FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS)
WE MADE A DECISION TO TURN OUR LIVES AND
OUR WILLS OVER TO THE CARE OF GOD

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy
To offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God
This is your true and proper worship,” Romans 12:1

PRINCIPLE THREE

CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE TO COMMIT ALL MY LIFE
AND WILL TO CHRIST’S CARE AND CONTROL

“Happy are the meek,” Matthew 5:5

LESSON SIX
ACTION
PART TWO

A – ACCEPT

C – COMMIT

T – TURN IT OVER

I – IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING

O – ONE DAY AT A TIME

N – NEXT STEP

Working this Third Step leads to this discovery
- Surrendering is how we become empowered to
  - Take care of ourselves
Turning our will and life over to the care of God
- Takes the control of our life away from others
- Away from ourselves
Working this Third Step of surrender sets us free to develop
- Our own connection to our spiritual Source and to ourselves
  - A connection free of the
    - Demands
    - Expectations
    - Plans of another person
      - It will even set us free from our own
        Demands
        
        Expectations
        
        Plans

When we stop trying to control ourselves and others, and stop allowing them
to control us
- We become free to take care of ourselves

Working this Third Step helps us to realize we no longer have to allow our self-
esteem to be determined by the
- Actions
- Words
- Feelings
- Beliefs of others
  - People from our past or those in our present
We don’t have to allow our self-esteem to be determined by
- Our own self-perceived notions and beliefs
The most significant thing we may learn working this Third Step
- We can stop trying to do God’s job
However, memories of events may seem to be happening all over again
right now — through
- Nightmares
- Flashbacks
- Intrusive thoughts
  - We (CAN’T TELL TIME)
Life may be stagnant
- Seemingly not much progress has been made
  - We (CAN’T MOVE)
The same mistakes are being made
- Personally and professionally
  - We (CAN’T LEARN)
Through Denial the severity of the predicament
- Is minimized
  - We (CAN’T SEE)

Denial conceals the futility of our misguided strategies
Denial prevents us from seeing the negative consequences of
- Persisting in them
The steady diet of negativity keeps a person locked in the pain and
turmoil of Trauma
Self-esteem plummets
- The sense of inadequacy skyrockets
- The exercise of still more willpower
  - Seems like the only recourse
Efforts to control situations are often supported by neighbors, relatives,
doctors, spiritual leaders, therapists, and society at large

Intervention, in the denial system of codependents is the
- Exception rather than the rule
Everyone has preferences, however subtle
- About nearly everything
Professing not to care when one is asked to state a preference is fundamentally
dishonest
- It is Not being “flexible”
- it is Not being “polite”
- it is Not the simple act of generosity as it might seem on the surface
Making a choice within the context of a relationship means taking a concrete
stand that implies
- RISK

God has a strategy of escape
- The way is COPING
Overreacting is a choice but
- So is poise
With God’s help and the support of loved ones
- We can face unbelievable stress with the astonishing
  - Peace of God
    - Which “exceeds anything we can understand or imagine,”
      Philippians 4:7

Peace and grace are powerful weapons against stress
The Greek word for peace is Irene, it means
- Balance
- Beauty
- Harmony
- Symmetry
- Order
God’s peace brings about a feasible and functional process of
- Changing the way we think about our trials

We shift from believing that we are ill-fated victims of circumstance
controlled by
- Heartless fate or
- Mindless people
We begin to believe that despite the damaging experiences we have
encountered
- We are NOT “damaged goods”
We are children of the Most High
- Loved unconditionally by Him

Jesus, help me to truly believe that You know all things, that You created me
And You know exactly what I need. I acknowledge there are times when my trials
Get the best of me. Sometimes I doubt that things will get any better.
But that’s just my pain speaking to me. There is a higher road that I can follow.
There is a wiser voice, deep down on the inside that I can choose to listen to, Your voice, Lord.
A voice that counsels me to relax in God’s grace. A voice that lets me know
That although my trouble sometimes feels like a roller coaster ride, I have options,
To do my best to remember that God is with me. To focus my energy toward solving
The issue that is at hand rather than reacting with intense emotions.

Help me Lord to recognize that worry, panic and rage are useless emotions.
By living one day at a time, I can change the way I think. I can transform the way
I respond to the challenges that confront me. I can temper my emotions
With knowledge, discernment and truth. I can choose not to be afraid
And not to live life on the edge by choosing instead the gift of Your peace. Amen.

Working this Third Step will help us to become HUMBLE
The Third Step helps us realize there is a better way than our
- Despair
- Confusion
- Exhaustion
- Sometimes self-abuse
  - It helps us find that way
Working the Third Step will help us realize our circumstances will change
only when we accept them, and quietly figure out what it is we need to
do to take care of ourselves
- Within the framework of reality
Working this step will help us realize that instead of
- Resisting
- Denying
- Trying to control the behavior of those around us
- Neglecting ourselves
  - It may even have made things worse and
  - It wears us down
Working this step will help us realize this reality –
- All our efforts to control others produced not one iota
  of change in their behaviors
Working this Third Step of SURRENDER will begin a process where
- Things are being worked out WITHIN us
- Things we do not yet know about
- Things we will see with the passage of time
  - Important changes are happening WITHIN us

While working this Third Step of surrender, we may want to scream this is wrong,
but a month or maybe a year later the wisdom of what was happening is seen, and
- We can truly thank God for the way things worked out and
- For not letting things work out the way we may have wanted
Working this Third Step of surrender does not mean we say yes to all that comes
our way
- It means we learn to trust when we want to say NO
  - Then we say NO
- It also means we learn how to trust when to say Yes
Many of us enter this Third Step because our own willpower has lead us deeper
and deeper into a destructive lifestyle
- We no longer want or can afford
  - We see no way out on our own
  - We’re tired of what our efforts have produced

While working this Third Step, we may discover
- Much letting go is involved in the process
Hard lessons must be learned to work things out inside us
- So we can have the best possible life
While working the Third Step, we discover:
- God’s love is immediate and powerful, yet gentle, healing
  and nurturing
- God’s love takes into account what we want and need
- God’s will contains discipline, not deprivation
- God isn’t shame based, people are
- Yet, God holds us accountable for our actions

This Third Step is not about
- Mindlessness
- Selfishness
  - It’s about learning to trust our mind
  - Trust when we do turn our will over to God
  - We will be guided by a Higher Power and His divine wisdom,
    it’s about
    - Finding
    - Valuing
    - Respecting
    - Trusting ourselves

Working Step Three will help us get into the flow for our lives
- Stepping into God’s care, which is a gentle step
  - One that brings peace and harmony
This doesn’t mean our actions will never cause
- Discord
- Hurt feelings
- A reaction in others
Surrendering cannot be
- Forced
- Faked
Surrendering happens at a core soul level when whatever
we’ve been trying to
- Control
- Manipulate
- Influence
- Resist
  - Becomes at last
    - Too much for us
      - We let go

Working this Third Step of Surrender means
- We don’t have to rely on ourselves
We become grateful
- Even when we feel our lives or other people’s lives might
  be a mistake
- When we feel timing is wrong
We trust that we’re not a mistake
- All is coming to pass on schedule
While working this step we become open to
- A change of heart
- A transformation of mind
- A transformation of our circumstances
Working this Third Step means we
- Surrender
- Give up
  - We give our Higher Power permission to do for us
    - What we cannot do for ourselves
Working this Third Step of Surrender affords us the opportunity to
- Become teachable

Humility and giving up make surrender possible
Becoming teachable allows us to learn what we could never have learned
- Had we not become willing to become students
Even after taking the first two steps we can still be stuck in the Cycle of Failure
that keeps us bound by
- Shame
- Guilt
- Anger
- Fear
- Depression
We get past those old familiar negative barriers of
- Pride
- Fear
- Guilt
- Worry
- Doubt
  - By taking ACTION

It’s all about ACTION
We choose to COMMIT….
- Making a choice requires ACTION
Almost everyone knows the difference between right and wrong
- Most people don’t like making decisions
We follow the crowd
- It’s easier than making the decision to do what we know is right
We procrastinate making commitments that will allow change to occur
- From the pain of our hurts and habits
To not decide is to decide
As recorded in John 9:41 MSG Jesus said:

“If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see
everything so well, you’re accountable for every fault and failure”

Putting off the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Higher Power, Lord and Savior
- Is really making the decision to not accept Him

“The One Who laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
And the heavens they were the works of His hands. They will perish,
But He will remain and continue permanently; they will all grow old and
Wear out like a garment. However, like a mantle thrown about one’s self,
He will roll them up, and they will be changed and replaced by others. But You
Lord, will remain the same, and Your years will never end nor come to failure”
Hebrews 1:10-13 AMP

It takes action to open the door
- All you need is the willingness to make the decision
  - Christ will do the rest

“For you shall go out (from the spiritual exile caused by sin and evil)
With joy and be lead forth (by your Leader, the Lord Himself, and His word)
With peace; knowing the word that goes forth out of His mouth shall not
Return to Him void (without producing any effect, useless), but it shall
Accomplish that which He pleases and purposes, and it shall prosper in
The thing for which He sent it”
Isaiah 55:11-12 AMP

“Jesus is sending this word to you,
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him,
And he with Me”
Revelation 3:20

“The Ten Commandments were given so that all could see the extent of
Their failure to obey God’s laws. But the more we see our sinfulness,
The more we see God’s abounding grace forgiving us.
Before, sin ruled over all men and brought them to death, but now God’s
Kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in
Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
Romans 5:20-21

“And this is God’s commandment:
That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ
And love one another”
1 John 3:23

Working this Third Step of Surrender
- We let go of preconceived notions about what will happen
We let go of
- Our limitations
- Our agendas
- Our script
- Our beliefs
We are willing to be open to what God has in mind for
- Us
- Our lives
  - Our will belong to God
Jesus tells us:

“THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, THAT YOU BELIEVE IN THE ONE HE HAS SENT”
(John 6:29 TLB)

Sometimes we surrender to anything and everything, and call it God’s will,
then we feel
- Angry
- Hurt
- Get mad at God
  - This isn’t about God, it’s about us
Working this Third Step helps us to understand
- We cannot control others
  - So we stop trying
  - We also come to realize t
    - We no longer have to let them control us

This Third Step is the FREEDOM Step

While working the Third Step, we make a decision to live life differently
- A conscious decision to begin taking care of ourselves with God’s help
While working this Third Step we discover the process of surrender happens not
once, but again and again as we master a succession of lessons
- Lessons of
  - Healing
  - Liberation
  - Love
Some days it will feel as if nothing is happening
- Other days it will feel as though too much is happening
Working the Third Step we make the decision to acknowledge this every day
- ALL IS WELL
Working the Third Step helps us to trust the process
- It will take us where we truly want and need to go
  - In Divine and Perfect timing
Working the Third Step helps us to trust God’s plan
- It is better than ours
Working the Third Step helps us to trust ourselves
- We have now tapped into a Power and Source infinitely more powerful
  than anything we’ve known

ACTION:

A – ACCEPT

Jesus Christ as your Higher Power and Savior
Now is the time to choose to commit your life
God is saying make it today
- Satan says do it tomorrow
Romans 10:9 says:

“If you declare with your lips, ‘Jesus is Lord,” and Believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”

C – COMMIT

It’s only after making this decision that you can begin to commit
- To start asking and
- Following His will
All of us have tried to run our lives on our own power and will and
- Found it to be less than successful
  - So in this step we change the definition of will power
Will power becomes the willingness to accept God’s power
- TO GUIDE OUR LIFE
We come to see that there is no room for God
- If we are full of ourselves
We need to pray the prayer the Psalmist prayed when he said:

“Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God,
May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground,”
Psalm 143:10

T – TURN IT OVER

“Let go and let God,” is a
- Known
- Relied upon phrase in renewal and recovery
It doesn’t say just let go of some things to God – or – let go of, and turn over
big things to God
Proverbs 3:6 tells us:

“In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you,
and crown your efforts with success”

Jesus Christ doesn’t want a relationship with just part of you
He desires a relationship with all of you
Jesus says:

“Come to Me, and I will give you rest – all of you who work so hard
beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke – for it fits perfectly – and let Me teach you;
for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls; for I give you only
light burdens,” Matthew 11:28-30

I – IT’S ONLY THE BEGINNING

During this step we make the initial decision to accept Christ as
- Our personal Savior
Then we can make the commitment to seek, and follow God’s will
The new life that begins with this decision is followed by a
- Lifelong process of growing as a Christian
Philippians 1:6 puts it this way:

“God Who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow
In His grace until His task within you is finally finished”

This process of renewal (inner healing) and recovery gives us hope of an exciting
new life
- A life we live in new way:

O – ONE DAY AT A TIME

If we remain
- Stuck in yesterday
- Constantly worrying about tomorrow
  - We will waste the precious time of the PRESENT
It is only in the present that change and growth can occur
We can’t change yesterday
- We can only pray for tomorrow
Jesus gave us instructions for living this philosophy:

“Don’t be anxious about tomorrow,
God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time,”
Matthew 6:34

If we could go back and change the past, I’m sure we would do many
things differently
- We can’t
We also can’t live in the future
- Always worrying if “This or That” is going to happen
  - Leave that up to God
We can and do live in today
With Jesus’ guidance and direction we can make a difference
- In the way we live today
  - One day at a time

N– NEXT STEP

Ask Jesus into your heart
- So He can be your Higher Power
Believe Jesus Christ
- Died on the cross for us
- Showed He was God
  - By coming back to life
    (1 Corinthians 15:2-4)
Accept God’s free forgiveness for your sins
(Romans 3:22)
Switch to God’s plan for your life
(Mark 1:16, Romans 12:3)
Express your desire for Christ to be the Director of your life
(Romans 10:9)

Dear God, I believe You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins
Ao I can be forgiven. I’m sorry for my sins, and I want to live the rest
Of my life the way You want me to. Please put Your Spirit in my life to direct me.
In the precious name of Your Son, Jesus, I pray. Amen