God's grace – ROC Recovery Center

God's grace

April 24 2023

The Greatest Recovery Program of All

Doug Gould Personal Development, Spirtual faith, forgiveness, God's grace, Having faith in difficult times

As you know the ROC Recovery Center is a Christ-centered recovery program that offers men, women, and youth everything they need to succeed on a journey to freedom and long-term sustainable sobriety.

In making Christ at the center of our recovery, we see that all things come from His teachings. The freedom from bondage of addiction is just another one of His many gifts. But that doesn’t mean the road isn’t going to be met with an occasional obstacle or two.

ROC Recovery Center offers an approach in cleaning up the wreckage of our past that is free from shame and judgement so we can be free from addiction.

Step #1: We Admitted That We Were Powerless Over Alcohol—That Our Lives Had Become Unmanageable

The bible says:

“I know, O LORD, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps”

Jeremiah 10:23

David faced this dilemma many times in his life as well. In Psalms 38:4 David admitted that he, too, was overwhelmed by sin when he writes:

“For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.”

Even the Apostle Paul described his own struggle with sin and his need for God’s deliverance when he wrote in Romans 7:24-25:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Step #2: We Came to Believe That a Power Greater Than Ourselves Could Restore Us to Sanity

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “He who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

So, in Step 2 we are urged to acknowledge that recovery depends on “a power greater than ourselves.” To fully understand our dependence on God, we must examine our human sinful condition. We read in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

We have all sinned. We have all done things that are displeasing to God. There is no one who is innocent, therefore, since all have sinned, God designed a plan for man’s redemption. In Romans 6:23, we read:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

There is a way out! The Lord reveals this as we continue to read verse 23: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Furthermore, in Romans 5:8, we see just how much God loves us:

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

But wait, there’s more!

Step #3: We Made a Decision to Turn Our Will and Our Lives Over to the Care of God As We Understood Him

How do I apply this step? In Romans 10:9, we read that this gift is free to anyone who seeks it.

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13 says it again, “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Addiction doesn’t often have a direct cause-and-effect relationship to the person struggling with addiction. Not only will we have to expose our own shortcomings (sins), but we also have to examine and address the damage caused personally to us by the behaviors of others.

In other words, sometimes bad things do happen to us because we live in a world where man has free will to choose. This is when we offer to God our will, so that hopefully we will get to that moment to walk and live in complete forgiveness. One of Christ’s greatest teachings is forgiveness. This applies to us forgiving ourselves for our past mistakes, as well as forgiving others. This is why we celebrate the Life of Christ from death to resurrection. We live today because He lives.

We all can grow, change, and become what God has called us to be; however, we are not going to be able to do this unless we can let go of the past.

Christ’s forgiveness extends to people struggling with addiction as well. And when you make the decision to leave that life behind, the judgement that you might expect won’t be found in a Christ centered recovery program.

December 30 2022

Healing the Seed of Bitterness

Doug Gould Personal Development chemical dependency, finding forgiveness, God's grace, unresolved hurt

“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
Hebrews 12:14-15

Have You Ever Wondered What Causes Bitterness?

Even the word “bitterness” seems to leave a nasty taste! But that seed of bitterness is derived from a hurt that has been planted in you by someone else. It may have been intentional or unintentional, but whatever the case may be, if left unresolved, this hurt has the potential to grow into bitterness.

When this occurs, the actual hurt can at times become enlarged to a point that it can cause us to be confused – why? Because sometimes the hurt can be our own imagination.

Sometimes, the hurt is simply a misunderstanding that escalates into a conflict. Harsh words are spoken in anger, and thus, we experience feelings of being disrespected and discontent. At times, this hurt can be real or even blown out of proposition to the actual offense. Either way, if left unchecked and if the hurt is not dealth with, it has the potential to lead us down roads of destruction, including that of chemical dependency.

“If we allow this bitterness to settle in our hearts, then the condition of our soil becomes compromised.” (The Parable of the Sower, Mathew 13)
John MacArthur

The Bibles says in Lamentations 3:40: Let us examine our ways and test them; let us return to the Lord.

How We Can Examine Ourselves?

So, here are two points for us to examine if we are indeed holding onto bitterness:

The Soil of Bitterness:

This is a heart that harbors hostility and does not deal with hurt by the grace of God. When someone becomes bitter, the bitterness takes root in the heart and grows deeper.

As we work with those in recovery, we have discovered a world of people who have not dealt properly with their hurt. This hurt leads to certain behaviors and feelings of hate, anger, and being overly critical of others. People look to find fault in others to justify their own selfish behaviors.

The Fruit that Bitterness Produces:

The root of bitterness is easy to hide and camouflage because seldom do we really want to admit that we may be holding onto unforgiveness. We would rather laugh our hurt away or perhaps mask it with chemical behaviors to ease our pain. But what we see as a temporary fix to a deeper issue can only produce behaviors in people which causes them to become hypersensitive, ungrateful, insincere, hold grudges, and yes – have a wide variety of mood swings.

Bitterness will affect you physically, emotionally, and spiritually because the fruit of bitterness is like cancer that unless dealt with—will spread—

When our heart is bitter, we avoid God’s Word – why? Because it is easier and less painful to bury our hurt than to examine it. The truth be known, hatefulness and holiness cannot dwell effectively in the same heart.

How to Get Rid of the Root

Let God Reveal It

“The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?”
Jeremiah 17:9

A deceitful heart cannot diagnose a deceitful heart. You must ask God to show you if you are indeed festering any wrongful feelings toward another.

Let Grace Reveal

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
C.S. Lewis

A response of bitterness is never right when someone has done something wrong to you. You need to ask God to forgive you, and He will by His grace. By the grace of God, bury that hurt in the grave of God’s forgetfulness.

Let Goodness Replace It

When you forgive, you set two people free, and one of them is you!

Until next time, remember HOPE4:29.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
Ephesians 4:29