Today’s writing is a continuation of December 11 and 12…
Get it my heart …
Yesterday I wrote about the need for Jesus to be at the core of our belief system if we truly want to be an effective follower of Him and witness for Him.
I noted that the upline system solution for all of mankind is a heart filled and fueled by Christ.
Oh, how I wish putting that system in place was an easy endeavor.
Flashback …
A few days ago I was talking with a friend and shared my battle with alcoholism and drug addiction with him.
I also shared a bit about my evolution into becoming a Jesus follower. For those of us who have learned how to conquer an addiction one day at a time, we know that our reprieve is based upon our spiritual condition. During my first ten years of sobriety, my spiritual condition slowly became dependent upon my relationship with Jesus.
This relationship did not just happen, in fact, I told my friend how angry I would get at God every time I would pray for Him to remove my addiction and nothing would happen.
Eventually, I gave up on prayer and God…thank God others didn’t…a story for another time.
The fact of the matter is when I prayed for God to relieve me of the bondage I was in, He most likely sent help to me in the form of His people, but my heart was so hard I couldn’t see, hear, or feel them because my heart was so full of the world and my will.
Simply stated, my heart needed to soften and my upline needed to be fixed.
How does an addict fix his upline?
I’m glad you asked …
- He or she must first admit there is a problem with the upline. It took me a five-week stay in a treatment center for me to finally surrender and admit I was an addict who couldn’t fix himself on his own. An addict who needed a heart transplant.
- He or She must buy into the fact there is a Higher Power who is able to restore his or her sanity. Active addicts are insane…I always write from experience.
- He or she must turn his or her will over to that Higher Power every day or every minute or every hour etc …
The first three steps as noted above leads us to all of the upline system changes that need to take place in order to do the next right thing one day at a time.
Back to the system of the heart …
Once I found Jesus…if my wife is reading this she will follow with, “Oh, was he lost?”
Anyway, once I found Jesus my recovery became easier.
But it took me ten years to find Him because I had some major systems failures that needed tending to.
You see, it is hard to allow Jesus to inhabit your heart if there is no room for Him. I had to create systems to make room.
Making room for Him …
I made room for Jesus by starting my day with God in prayer, scripture reading, and meditation.
I made room for Jesus by maintaining constant contact with Him throughout the day. When I screwed up, I promptly admitted it to Him, sought forgiveness, and moved on.
I made room for Jesus by attending thousands of 12 Step meetings during my first ten years of sobriety.
I made room for Jesus by attending church on a regular basis.
I made room for Jesus by helping others with addictive disorders.
I made room for Jesus by being a part of a small group that studied the Bible…the first group I was ever a part of was led by my barber.
I made room for Jesus by putting boundaries in place. For example, I stayed away from people, places, and things that would set off my craving for mood-altering substances.
I made room for Jesus by working with spiritual mentors. I am forever indebted to key people God placed in my life in order to help me connect the dots in opening my heart to Jesus. The barber I used for a number of years was one of them…he worked on my head in more ways than one. 🙂
He lives in me …
Today, Jesus lives in me.
I still have to keep all of my systems running properly in order to keep Him right where I need Him and where He needs me.
Why this rabbit hole?
Writing is so fun for me because I never know where I’m going with it when I start but eventually it tells me how it needs to end.
I went down this rabbit hole of “systems” a couple of days ago because I know many of you have had a lot of time to think during 2020.
I’m assuming that some of you have had thoughts of making positive changes to your life in 2021.
Positive change doesn’t just happen.
It takes work.
The hardest and most important work will be the work you put in towards changing your upline systems in order to make room for the positive change to be a part of your life.
One other thing …
If you don’t know where to start…I’ve been much more successful in making positive change to my life since I found Jesus, let Him in, and kept Him in.
And no Jesus was not lost.
We are lost.
It’s why He came.
P.E.A.C.E
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
