Twelve Steps Of A.a. Step Three Turn Our Will And Our Lives Over To The Care Of God (2)
Monday November 2, 2015
God has taught us how we may know His will through the Bible and through listening to and obeying, good counsel from pastors, sponsors, and Christian friends who have been walking with God for some time. As we regularly exchange our will for God’s will and plan for our lives, our daily life will take on new meaning and will be satisfying.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. (Jeremiah 29:11; 31:3 NIV)
What is this satisfying way of life we find by following God’s will? It is not up to us to figure out or re-invent God’s will for our lives. The God who created us has established through His principles recorded in the Bible what He alone knows is good for us. He also warns us to stay away from those things that He knows would harm us. His thinking isn’t twisted by wounds and resentments and shame and fear. His perspective is solely one of love and blessing. His desire for us is to know a satisfying way of life and live it well.
Turning our will and our life over to the care of God is not simply asking God to bless what we think and figure out. It is actively researching the Bible for what God says brings satisfaction in life, and then submitting ourselves to building on that foundation on a daily basis. During the adjustment stages of our new life with God in recovery we will find ourselves being irritated and stretched by the unfamiliar ways in which God is leading us. Turning our will and our life over to the care of God is to humbly admit, “God actually does know better than I do”. Even though we may not FEEL like doing what God says, we need to trust God and make the change.
Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. (Romans 5:2-4 NLT)
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