Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory - Softcover

Baker, John

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9780310221111: Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310221110 ISBN 13: 9780310221111

Publisher: Zondervan, 1998

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Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life is unmanageable. 'Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor.' Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover. 'Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.' Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ's care and control. 'Happy are the meek.' Openly examine and confess my faults to God, to myself, and to someone I trust. 'Happy are the pure in heart.' Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects. 'Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires.' Evaluate all my relationships. Offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me and make amends for harm I've done to others, except when to do so would harm them or others. 'Happy are the merciful.' 'Happy are the peacemakers.' Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and gain the power to follow His will. Yield myself to be used by God to bring this Good News to others, both by my example and by my words. 'Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires.'

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About the Author:

John Baker is the founder of Celebrate Recovery, a ministry born out of the heart of Saddleback Church. The program is being used in 12,000 churches and over 500,000 individuals have completed the program. John began serving as a lay pastor at Saddleback in 1991; and in 2001, Rick Warren asked John to become the pastor of Celebrate Recovery. He travels nationally speaking at churches and training them in the Celebrate Recovery program. John and his wife, Cheryl, have been married almost four decades and have served together in Celebrate Recovery since 1991. They have two adult children. John Baker es fundador del ministerio 'Celebremos la Recuperacion', un ministerio que nacio del corazon de la iglesia Saddleback. Desde su comienzo, ha sido incorporado por 12,000 iglesias y mas de 500,000 personas han terminado el programa. John empezo sirviendo como pastor laico en Saddleback en 1991; y en el 2001, Rick Warren le pidio a John convertirse en pastor del ministerio 'Celebremos la Recuperacion'. el viaja a iglesias por todos los Estados Unidos como portavoz y entrenador de este ministerio. John y su esposa han estado casados por casi cuatro decadas y han servido juntos en el ministerio desde 1991. Ellos tienen dos hijos ya adultos.

Moral Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust. 'Happy are the pure in heart.' Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our-selves. Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Lamentations 3:40 Think About It In this principle, you need to list (inventory) all the significant events---good and bad---in your life. You need to be as honest as you can be to allow God to show you your part and how that affected you and others. The acrostic for MORAL shows you how to begin. Make time Set aside a special time to begin your inventory. Schedule an appointment with yourself. Set aside a day or a weekend to get alone with God! Clear your mind of the present hassles of daily life. 'Then listen to me. Keep silence and I will teach you wisdom!' (Job 33:33 TLB). Open Open your heart and your mind to allow the feelings that the pain of the past has blocked or caused you to deny. Try to 'wake up' your feelings! Ask yourself, 'What do I feel guilty about? What do I resent? What do I fear? Am I trapped in self-pity, alibis, and dishonest thinking?' 'Let me express my anguish. Let me be free to speak out of the bitterness of my soul' (Job 7:11 TLB). Rely Rely on Jesus, your Higher Power, to give you the courage and strength this exercise requires. 'Love the Lord, all of you who are his people; for the Lord protects those who are loyal to him. . . . So cheer up! Take courage if you are depending on the Lord' (Psalm 31:23--24 TLB). Analyze Analyze your past honestly. To do a 'searching and fearless moral' inventory, you must step out of your denial! That's all that the word moral means---honest! This step requires looking through your denial of the past into the truth! 'The Lord gave us mind and conscience; we cannot hide from our-selves' (Proverbs 20:27 GNB). List List both the good and the bad. Keep your inventory balanced! If you just look at all the bad things of your past, you will distort your inventory and open yourself to unnecessary pain. 'Let us examine our ways and test them' (Lamentations 3:40). The verse doesn't say, 'Examine only your bad, negative ways.' You need to honestly focus on the pros and the cons of your past! As you compile your inventory, you will find that you have done some harmful things to yourself and others. No one's inventory (life) is flawless. We have all 'missed the mark' in some area of our lives. In recovery we are not to dwell on the past, but we need to understand it so we can begin to allow God to change us. Jesus told us, 'My purpose is to give life in all its fullness' (John 10:10 TLB). Principle 4 Prayer Dear God, You know my past, all the good and the bad things that I've done. In this step, I ask that You give me the strength and the courage to list those things so that I can 'come clean' and face them and the truth. Please help me reach out to others You have placed along my 'road to recovery.' Thank You for providing them to help me keep balanced as I do my inventory. In Christ's name I pray, AMEN. A Word of Caution This lesson is to prepare you for the task ahead. Do not begin this principle without a sponsor or a strong accountability partner! In Les-son 8 you will discover how to build your 'support team.' Write About It Where will you go for quiet time to begin your inventory? What date have you set aside to start? What time? What are your fears as you begin your inventory? Why? What can you do to 'wake up' your feelings? Describe your experience of turning your life over to Christ. 6. How do you attempt to turn over your will to God's care on a daily basis? 7. List the things you have used to block the pain of your past. 8. What have you done to step out of your denial? 9. How can you continue to find new ways out of your denial of the past? 10. Why is it important to do a written inventory? 11. What are some of the good things you have done in the past? 12. What are some of the negative things you have done in the past? 13. Do you have a sponsor or accountability partner to help you keep your inventory balanced?

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