G.A.R.T.H.
Getting Addiction Recovery Through Honesty
Week Five: Confession Follows Self-Examination
Welcome to G.A.R.T.H. you have come to the right place if you are seeking love, healing, and understanding.
We are a Christ centered program that heals with the truth;
Here at G.A.R.T.H. we seek to support all that are interested in freedom, restoration, and full recovery from the bondage of addiction. We desire to participate in helping those that are hurting and in need of accountability and counsel. Our hearts reach out to those that struggle with the loss of control in their lives due to dependency. We are a brother, a sister, and a friend in the time of need. At G.A.R.T.H. we seek to lend an open ear and the wisdom of God to enable the captive to overcome. Our 12-step program requires the individual to examine him or herself in truth and through honesty accept the tools needed to begin the process of healing. So with this short mission statement we welcome you and look forward to assisting you in full recovery and restoration.
This 12-step program does not claim to be the only way, the perfect way, or the absolute way for you. It is merely a resource of additional training that encourages truth and honesty, healing, hope, and recovery with and emphasis on love. It is highly recommended that the individual get connected to a church body along with this program.
Amazing Grace
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Thru many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
Tis grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Then when we first begun.
Welcome to week five of Addiction Recovery. We are grateful that you have made a decision in your life to live a new way. This will require honesty, willingness, and a total surrender of yourself to a greater power that is able to make a difference in your life. We pray that you are blessed as you participate, and that in these coming weeks change will become very noticable to you. Let us begin week/step four. Read the following and the join me in the short prayer below.
WEEK/STEP FIVE - Confession Follows Self-Examination
We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another person(s) the exact nature of our wrongs.
“Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
Have you forgotten what your search has found?
Our focus this week will be what we found when we did our self-examination and what we have done with our findings since then. Please focus on the following:
HAVE YOU TAKEN TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR LATELY? I MEAN REALLY LOOK IN THE MIRROR? HAVE YOU TRIED TO SEE WHAT WAS INSIDE OF YOU? WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE ON THE INSIDE, IN YOUR HEART, IN YOUR MIND, IN YOUR SOUL? YOU'VE HEARD OF THE TERM SOUL SEARCHING, RIGHT? HAVE YOU DONE THIS LATELY AND IF SO, WHAT DID YOU SEE? IF NOT TAKE TIME FOR A FEW MOMENTS AND TAKE A LOOK AT YOURSELF, SOUL SEARCHING, THEN TAKE TIME TO READ THE FOLLOWING:
" WHAT MANNER OF PERSON?"
Steps 4 & 5 state that we are to make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves and admit/confess to God, to ourselves, and to others the exact nature of our wrongs. This takes courage and honesty, brutal honesty that hurts us many times. We must look at the truth of ourselves no matter how difficult it may be. So let us look in the mirror now and be honest.
JAMES 1:22-25 " BUT BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY, DECEIVING YOUR OWN SELVES. FOR IF ANY BE A HEARER OF THE WORD, AND NOT A DOER, HE IS LIKE UNTO A MAN BEHOLDING HIS NATURAL FACE IN A GLASS: FOR HE BEHOLDS HIMSELF, AND GOES HIS WAY, AND STRAIGHTWAY FORGETS WHAT MANNER OF MAN HE WAS. BUT WHOSO LOOKS INTO THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY, AND CONTINUES THEREIN, HE BEING NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER, BUT A DOER OF THE WORK, THIS MAN SHALL BE BLESSED IN HIS DEED."
After we have looked into the mirror at the truth about ourselves and our addiction what is the condition of our heart? Depressed, cast down and sad maybe, hopefully. This is what truth often does, it hurts at first, but then it blesses us with joy when we finally accept it.
Once we have come to the truth about ourselves and our situation/addiction we now need to take all of the truths that were once hidden and denied through many lies that we have told, and confess them to God. Confession is the beginning of healing.
Sometimes it's hard to confess our faults to God or to others because we just don't know what will happen to us when we do. Because of this we tend to believe that we can get by without confessing the truth. The following scriptures will support confession and tell why it is needed and the absolute right thing to do.
Read Mathew 18:15-35 What questions do you have after reading this?
Answer the following questions:
Why must we tell our faults to another?
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What happens through confessing our faults?
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What happens when forgiveness is not given?
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When we have wronged someone and we go to them confessing our wrong does it give the other person a chance to forgive us? What happens when they do? When we are reconciled and all faults have been forgiven this will strengthen our relationships with those that we have done wrong. If they choose not to forgive us then it is in God's hands, but the good thing is it is no longer a weight on our consciense that burdens us down with negatives. Now we can move forward into recovery. Without confession and our attempts to make ammends with those that we have hurt we cannot move forward in truth unto a freedom from all of our past failures and ways. Addictiction recovery can anly be achieved by laying aside all the past and moving towards a new life. Here is what Jesus teaches"
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside evry weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience that race that is before us." Hebrews 12:1
We cannot move forward until our sins are properly dealt with as we have just read.
Read Hebrews 12:1-11 What questions do you have after reading this?
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Answer the following questions:
Do we have people watching our actions?
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Who is our role model that we should follow?
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Did Jesus say this would be easy?
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What are the rewards to confession and forgiveness?
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In making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves we cannot hide from God or ourselves any longer. We cannot cover up the problem and make attempt after attempt to hide it any longer. We must confess who we are and what we do!
Thank you for participating in week five: Confession Follows Self-Examination if you have any questions or would like to give a comment please send them to us using the feedback form below. God bless you!
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