Power When I Need It
At some point in recovery, living sober and clean will take more strength and wisdom than the program and fellowship of AA can offer. We need help that only a power greater than we are can supply – we need it now and in abundance. (Sometimes even 50 x a day, too!)
God offers us the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead – lavishly. It’s ours for the asking – and when we are too weak – or willful – Christ asks for us.
The power that prayer is, I am ashamed to admit, I do not fully use. So, when I heard a favorite pastor offer prayers for “the addicts,” I listened – and offer it to you, friend. Maybe you have never prayed – or asked for prayer.
Here’s how my “friend” Dr. Tony Evans prays for us, and those we love:
Recovery, day by day, is a blessed gift. It is the fruit of God’s sweet and timely answers to prayers, spoken and unspoken, and to our being willing to do the next thing, beginning with putting our drug of choice down.
Recovery is the blessed evidence of the Good Orderly Direction we have when we work the steps.
Recovery is blessed freedom from the snares of addiction and all the stinkin’ thinkin’ that held us locked up in resentment, envy, fear, and pride. (See The 12 & 12, Step 4, especially pp. 50-54)
I believe and trust the one whom the Lord sets free from sin and its bondage is free indeed – once and all time, never to be lost or cast aside for failing to be “perfect.”
But I can forget.
Hearing a pastor pray is a huge help!
Everyday, in many ways, God flicks me upside the head, reminding me to spend my inheritance NOW! And each day is an opportunity to see what freedom feels like.
I hope your Easter was blessed with a refreshed awareness, gentle reader, of the power that raised Christ from the dead. It’s ours for the asking, for the taking, for the using and for sharing its hopes with the many hurting folks who are in bondage because of alcohol abuse – or who love folks who are still using and abusing.
I would love to hear how Christ is “sponsoring” you –
Love in Christ,
Sober and Grateful
