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Step 12. Spiritual Principle: SERVICE
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these
steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
((Galatians 6:1)Brothers if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But, watch
yourself, or you also may be tempted.)
When we get along in our recovery enough, the Lord will place people in our paths for us to help. As we walk with
God daily and experience His freedom from addiction, He will slowly begin to pull on our hearts to help other people who are
also trapped in the dark pit of addiction like we once were. If we are truly free, then we know how fortunate and blessed
we are to have received God's help and mercy when we could have easily checked out of this world with a very uncertain afterlife.
As with all the other eleven steps, we need to let God decide when we are truly ready and strong enough to begin helping others.
When you are taking an airline flight, one of the things the stewardess always tells you before takeoff, is that if there
is a rapid decompression, you must put your oxygen mask on first before your child's. Because if you don't, you may pass out
and not get your mask on at all, and then both of you would be in peril. God will help us to kind of get our spiritual oxygen
mask on first usually, before He has us dealing with others problems on a large scale. God is able to do whatever He wants,
but He just wants to make sure that our life is safe enough to build on first so that we don’t hurt anyone, or relapse
because of stress-overload.
I will never forget how hopeless and terrified I was as a Christian to know I was trapped in different secret sin
habits. I always wondered what would happen to me if I died at night, whether God would just forget about it all, or whether
I would be in big trouble. I remember one time, I was in a river rafting accident and I was trapped underneath a log jam and
couldn't get my head above the surface to breathe. I knew that I was drowning, and even under that water I saw the different
things about my life that made me unready to meet God. A miracle happened and a log moved so I was able to finally surface
and breathe, but I never forgot that. I don't think we need to be "scared" into repenting because I think addiction needs
to be dealt with by healing the emotional pain that is fueling it. But I do think reality is reality. I think we need to allow
the Lord to help us in every way He wants and needs to, so that when He returns soon, or if we die, that there will be no
doubts as to what will happen to us. The bible sais that someone that keeps returning to their sin habits is like a dog that
keeps returning its vomit, and "I" was that dog so many times, but God helped me to get free. I was like the servant described
below.
LK 12:42 The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge
of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master
finds doing so when he returns. 44 I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose
the servant (a Christian) says to himself, `My master (Jesus) is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat
the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk (willful sin habits). 46 The master of that servant will
come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place
with the unbelievers (Hell).
Once again, no condemnation here, but God showed me that I had to take my recovery very seriously,
or there could be some serious consequences for me later. Before that, I always thought that I had more time. God is
able to turn our stumbling blocks, into stepping stones. He is able to use you to help others to receive His help.
The Holy Spirit is our addiction Counselor and personal Teacher to help us to overcome any addiction, and when we have truly
overcome our addiction through Him, He will give you a burden for the other people still suffering in this terrible nightmare
of addiction. Not only will you help them, but you can help their families as well. All you have to do is be willing to be
willing, and to let God lead you from there. As you pray for people and they invite the Holy Spirit into their lives to help
them to overcome their addiction problem, you will see miracle after miracle happen for them. The need is all around us, and
more and more people are perishing every day because of addiction. God will send you to give them the same comfort, hope,
help, and support that you received from Him and others during your time of active addiction. God has a plan to use you to
help others, so please pray about this and be open to whatever He wants to do to use you. People want help from someone who
has really been there.
Perhaps you will work as a drug and alcohol counselor, or at a recovery center, or perhaps you will
just help other family members to get through their addiction time. There are many people online that you can help as well.
Either way, God will lead you and just being open and not being ashamed about what God has brought you through, is a good
start. Addiction is about as real as it gets, and I have seen people return to their habits and be dead in a day. It is tragic,
but true. Christians die from addiction overdoses and suicides too, and we live in a time where everything in the world that
can be shaken, is being shaken. When we leave our bodies because of an addiction, all our choices end. Here now, today, you
have a choice. Christians are just people that have chosen to cry out to God for help. Be willing to help people, and be honest
and vulnerable about what God has done for you in overcoming your addiction. Many people hide their addiction in the dark,
because they are ashamed of it. Together we learn, we pray for each other, and we receive God's answers and help. Someone's
life may be depending on you someday, so be willing to testify about what God has done for you, and what He wants to do for
them. God can make a big difference in this world through you, all you have to do is say yes to Him today.
Here is a prayer to pray to help you.
"Dear God, I first of all want to thank you again for setting me free from addiction and for helping
me to live free from sin and addiction habits. You helped me when I could not help myself, and you showed great mercy, patience,
and grace upon my life, when I was helplessly trapped in my sin and addiction. I just offer my life to you today Lord Jesus,
to be used in whatever you way you choose to use me to help others who are trapped in addiction just like I was. Help me to
always remain humble Lord, and to give you all the glory and credit for everything you have done for me, and will do for them.
In Jesus name I pray, amen".
Some scriptures to help you.
2CO 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the
God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we
ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ
our comfort overflows. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,
which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know
that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
LK 21:34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties
of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face
of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that
you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
2PE 2:20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the
sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that
is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
REV 22:14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life
and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral,
the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
1JN 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there
is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son,
purifies us from all sin.
1JN 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have
not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
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