Press On

Posted on June 14, 2013 by George Crone

Jeremiah 45

Message to Baruch

45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 You said, ‘Woe is me! For the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ 4 Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. 5 And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”

Jeremiah had an ear for God and was obedient almost beyond description. Like  all the prophets, God placed a message on his heart and had him proclaim His message to all the people that time was drawing near. God was preparing righteous judgment over His rebellious children of Jerusalem.

The people of Judah didn’t listen to Jeremiah’s message from God; they complained, threw him in prison, mocked him, rejected him, and did not heed his warnings. But that did not deter Jeremiah. He knew His God, and he listened and obeyed. For 40 years he passionately and consistently warned the people of Jerusalem to repent.

I at times feel like Baruch. I have no doubt that God plucked me from the life of death and misery for a reason. There is hope in my story, a broken life full of pain and rebellion that God Himself transformed by grace at the moment I surrendered my unbelief.

There is little in my life today that resembles my old self. Many of the outside circumstances may look the same, but the inside is being transformed, thank you Jesus!

It was easy in the early days, filled with an incredible gratitude and passionate desire to know Him more and I searched daily to learn more of who I am through Christ, and to discover what His plans are for me.

As the years pass on and I mature as a Christian, and my eyes continue to open to the darkness of man’s hearts (which increases as I discover the selfish darkness of my own) I begin to see our communities, the nation, the entire world through the eyes of the old prophets.

The immorality, the selfish flesh-seeking hardness of man’s hearts appears to be so all-consuming that there seems like little hope for mankind and we are left with little choice but to warn those around us that the day of the Lord is coming and we must repent lest we all receive the righteous destruction that we so deserve.

There is however great hope in Jeremiah 45:5, For God lovingly warned Baruch that his whining about the burdens of serving the all-powerful God of creation is not desirable, and to help him with the pains of his soul God promised him that although he will witness great destruction of those around him, and the people will reject the message to repent, because of his faithfulness God will give him his life as a prize in all places he goes.

In other words, God is pleased with the servants who press on in spite of great opposition. We may be mocked, persecuted, rejected, and even imprisoned or made destitute while sharing the warning that God’s judgment is always present. But if we are obedient and faithful, eternity with God is our reward, which far outweighs any pains in this life.

We also have something the prophets of the Old Testament didn’t have, the Good News of Christ.

Our New Covenant with God no longer says obey God’s laws or be destroyed. Today we have atonement in the blood of the lamb. The Good News message we get to share with others is that the sins of those who call on Christ as Lord and Savior and follow His ways are washed clean, and with that comes the assurance of salvation, for it is Him who payed our debt.

Forgiveness is no longer ours to earn, but it became His to give, and all He requires is our faithfulness and obedience.

We don’t have to preach fire and brimstone from the street corner (as some still do) but we get the great joy of sharing “there is a Healer, and He loves you”.

For those of us who have crossed over the line and been given insight into the word of God, we have been bestowed by faith and grace alone with an understanding of the life and death difference between dying in darkness and thriving in light, we have been made prophets of the New Covenant.

It is not only our requirement from God as believers and followers of Christ to be transformed by the renewing of our own minds, but our privilege and calling to share that message of hope and salvation available to anyone who will listen.

The message today God is pressing on my heart from this passage is clear, do not become weary in our ministry of sharing the Good News, or in serving those in need that God places in our path.

Our life in Christ is a privilege, not a burden.

Jeremiah may have had nothing in the world’s standards of success; a poor man with a life calling to share a message that everyone rejected. But in God’s eyes, he was a great success.

Success, as measured by God, involves obedience and faithfulness in spite of opposition and personal cost.

My prayer today is that we all find great joy in the journey ahead, in spite of what our eyes may witness around us. We are chosen, cherished and desired children of the Almighty God, called to carry out a pre-ordained plan and purpose chosen just for us. One which we must eagerly and intently press on until that time comes when we are called home.

Prayers and blessings,

George

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Good Soil

Posted on June 13, 2013 by George Crone

Matthew 13:23

 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Well, I got mostly packed last night, down to the wire. In that I stayed up way to late last night and opted to sleep in this morning. That being said, short blog this morning ha ha.

So I open my bible and I happen to be in Matthew and my eyes rest upon this verse. What jumped off the page at me was grace, because what I was drawn to is the distinction made regarding the quality of what we produce, not the quantity.

Whether it be little or much, good fruit is good fruit, it cannot come from a bad tree.

To me, that is grace. Being a lifelong codependent, seeking self worth in the opinions of others, it comes natural for me to take that striving to over-produce posture with God.

If I help at least 3 people, give away at least $20, volunteer at least an hour of my time, read at least one book in the bible… (insert your “good” thing here), then I will have done enough for God today and I can rest.

Yes we were made for works, but God is looking at the heart behind the works. I believe this passage makes it clear that good fruit is in the act of producing good fruit, not a struggle and striving to produce enough fruit to be saved or forgiven or accepted or loved or… (insert your emptiness here).

To love someone is to engage with them, to spend time with them, to truly hear what they have to say when they need to share and be open and honest with them when they are interested in how we are doing.

I was touched deeply by Ed’s Story (Flannel Films: https://flannel.org/products/eds-story-1-3)

Seven incredibly moving short documentaries about a Pastor who is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and his open and inspiringly personal first person sharing of what he is learning through that journey.

In one, the fruit he describes is not the preaching to the thousands in a mega church as he did for so long, but learning the incredible beauty and grace found in connecting with the one.

Today on my heart is that we each slow down, make eye contact and a connection with everyone God places in our path.

Let’s take our time to be intentional and purposeful in everything we touch today, not just rush through the things in front of us in a worry-hurry-scurry manner to the next, the next, the next.

Prayers and blessings this day my friends.

George

p.s. I can’t recommend enough checking out the short trailer which shares what Ed’s Story is all about.

https://flannel.org/products/eds-story-1-3

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No One Knows That Day or Hour

Posted on June 12, 2013 by George Crone

Mark 13:32-37  “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

I woke up this morning thinking “ok, this is it, tonight will be the last evening I have to pack before I leave for vacation this Friday”.

And then it hit me, what a blessing to know the exact hour of my departure. I have time to prepare; prepare in my mind what I need to do, and then time to physically prepare by carrying out the plans I make.

In that scenario, the plans I have for me are the plans I make for me. I am choosing to vacation in Mammoth Mountain, I am choosing the transport which is backpacking, I’m choosing the recreation which is fishing and hiking, the duration, the food I will eat, the company I will keep. It is I who must make these decision on what to do and how to carry that out.

But in God’s kingdom, the eternal day of reckoning is always present yet we do not know the departure date. Mathew and Luke both account of Jesus’ red-letter words, God Himself that spoke to the masses and is recorded for us which speak of the end times and He makes it very clear, no one can know the time so we are to remain prepared at all times.

But how do we know what to take, what to leave behind, what to carry with us in our heart and mind at all times so when the inevitable surprise comes we know how to respond?

It is made very clear in God’s instruction manual. What He teaches, what He promises, what He has done; it is all in the bible and given to us so we can study it, know it, live it.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So much of the stress in planning a vacation or family get-together or business venture is in the preparation, because we have to think of everything, and what we forget to include can have a much greater cost that we realize, it can even ruin a project.

Planning is everything

God in His great mercy and masterful wisdom took the stress of having to “figure out” what to do on our own. He gave us all we need. His Word, the bible.

The challenge then is to do what He tells us in His word. I believe this is one of the meaning behind “the word shall set you free”. If we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) and there is evidence of our salvation by the fruit of our works (Colossians 1:10)

Our life is to become a purusit of obedience to God’s loving instruction. He is not a tyrant who is waiting to punish us when we fall short, He is a loving Father who wants to reward us when we comply with His pure and perfect desires for our lives, poured out for His glory alone.

  1. Matthew 19:17
    And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”


  2. John 14:15
     “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.


  3. John 14:21
    Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”


  4. John 15:10
    If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.


  5. 1 Corinthians 7:19
    For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.


  6. 1 John 2:3
    And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.


  7. 1 John 2:4
    Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,


  8. 1 John 3:22
    and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.


  9. 1 John 3:24
    Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.


  10. 1 John 5:3
    For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.


So what will be the final words you would here if judgment came today?

I Never Knew You

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

or….

Well Done Good and Faithful Servant

Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

We simply need to press deep into God’s word; study, learn and live out what He teaches us. We have right in front of us the glorious teachings of our benevolent Creator. Do we take it seriously or is it just a trophy on the shelf that we show others on weekends.

My prayer today brothers and sisters is that we all look to God, call on God, praise God for what He has done, is doing, and has promised to. He has already won the battle for those that believe in Him. Let’s live like the free people we are and share the Good News with others today.

God Bless,

George

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We do not see to believe, we believe and are then given sight

Posted on June 11, 2013 by George Crone

John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”

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There is no other

Posted on June 11, 2013 by George Crone

Acts 4:7-12  They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is 

“‘the stone you builders rejected,
    which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

For me, the journey to surrender, the giving up of my ways and embracing the true healer in Jesus Christ was a long and stubborn struggle.

I recall thinking, does it have to be religion? Do I have to become a Jesus freak?

There were two types of religious people that I saw growing up, the plastic people I saw from a distance who feigned perfection and mushy gushy fake hugs or the ones that I knew  closer such as family and friends who might go to church on Sunday but then drank, faught, lied, cussed, cheated, stole and otherwise lived a life that Christ had no affect on.

Neither modeled a life that I wanted, and in that Jesus was not real.

Through the pains of my alcoholic household complete with multiple childhood molestations, beatings by my father, and otherwise uber-dysfunctional upbringing I became a seeker of relief at a very early age.

Some of my earliest memories were in 6th grade timing out hall passes with a friend so we could go into the restroom and play the hyperventilation game where you would kneel down, breath rapidly for 1 full minute, stand quickly and strangle yourself while someone else did a pounding compression on your chest then made sure you didn’t hit your head when you passed out and crashed to the floor.

That game then graduated in 7th grade to the woodshop shellac room where we would put towels under the doors, open all the cans and inhale until near blackout – which led to the most agonizing headache the next period but it was worth the pain to experience the high.

By 8th grade it was my parents alcohol and before the year was up we found kids who smoked and sold pot, and it was off to the races.

In my brokenness I spent my entire life seeking relief, an answer, a purpose. Who can save me? Who will help me? Being an only child and having parents that were unavailable it had to come from the world. Partying with friends was the easiest trap to fall in to, and fall I did.

By the time I was 21 I was so strung out on cocaine, meth, pot, pills and alcohol that I had been to the hospital for overdose and made 2 trips to rehab in the same year.

What rehab gave me was my first look at the 12 steps and a “higher power”. The program worked, to a point. I was given a structure to live by and a concept of God that worked for me. I was told a higher power could be a rock if I believed it will get me sober, so I made nature my higher power. That was the same one my father had, he would tell me how God was in the trees and the plants and the mountains, and that’s all there was.

I learned how not to drink and for 14 years I stayed sober, but I never went to church, never opened a bible, never prayed. I stayed involved in secular 12-step recovery for about 7 years until they started looking at me to “give to others what I had found” (step 12). I had nothing to talk about, I just didn’t drink anymore, but God was no more personal to me than a rock was.

Besides, my career had taken off, had close personal friendships, cars, money, vacations, respect from my peers, got laid occasionally… who needed 12-step recovery anymore, so I stopped going and embraced what life could offer.

I had arrived… or so I thought.

Fast forward over 25 years later, after a 10 yr relapse that nearly killed me (again) I was again lost, alone and empty. I was having suicidal thoughts and saw no hope, not even a little bit.

It was a cool morning, I was in the woods on the coast of Big Sur, California in a campground on January 3, 2011. After a 3 day New Years drinking binge I awoke early and wandered off by myself, bible in hand and dropped to my knees and cried out to Jesus, claimed Him personally as my Lord and Savior, told Him I believed He died and rose for my sins, and that I was ready to surrender my life to Him.

I had no proof  He was really real, but I swallowed my pride, intellect and ego and surrendered just the same, because what I did know is that I wanted Him to be real.

I had no idea at the time, but that was truly the Saul to Paul moment in my life that changed everything.

Soon after I walked through the doors of  Celebrate Recovery. It was the 12-steps that I remembered from my youth but with a twist; they define the higher power, that power is Jesus Christ.

I was truly home.

After a lifetime of financial, career and relational successes and still feeling completely dead inside I had nowhere else to turn, and surrendering to Christ was the greatest choice I ever made. And everything that led to that moment in my life, all the pain and struggle was all worth it.

I know this is turning into a long blog this morning, but for me it is the perfect illustration of this verse and really the whole New Testament; there is NO OTHER HEALER.

A concept of God, a different god, no God, it will all give you something that may seem real, and there will plenty of people around you who will tell you it is real,  but it will not set you free from what pains you.

Addictions, broken relationships, emptiness, depression, suicidal thoughts or even attempts. No amount of money, or people treating you differently, or circumstances changes heals anything, it only numbs the pain for brief periods.

It is the power of Christ alone who heals.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

God is not a concept, a fairy tale spoken in olden days, or the same God and just defined many different ways by any religion on the planet.

God is the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Three as One, whole and complete and very real.

I was 80 lbs overweight, my relationships were a mess, I had pre-diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, was on medicines… today that is all gone. No medicines, no illnesses, I have lost all the weight, my phone is filled with Christians brothers and sisters who love me as I am and am supporting me as I grow. And above all, my life is filled with purpose and hope.

I didn’t change any of it. I tried for 45 years to change my life through self-help books, counseling, over-achieving, materialism, but none of it had any lasting affect.

But one 5 minute moment in time, broken and surrendered changed everything. God is real, alive and available to everyone who sincerely calls on Him.

And I promise, anyone who is seeking, being in love with Christ does not make you a Jesus freak, a religious zealot, leave you as a carnal christian of being all talk and no change. It is not the stuff you see on TV, He does not create wars, cause hate, make biggots.

He fills a heart with love for all mankind and a desire for everyone to experience the love of Christ that set us free. He fills a heart with compassion for those that don’t know Him personally yet, and a desire to show them how wonderful the real God is and how different life can be.

People will always define God wrong and in that hurt his name by doing evil stuff in His name, but the true and living Christ living inside a person will change a heart to one of love, grace, compassion and hope. There is no agendas or dark hidden side, it is freedom to live and love as God intended, in the midst of a broken world.

A true walk with Christ leads one to deeper levels of love, and connections and a desire to be someone of value and used for good in world. It is a gradual destruction of all things selfish and a powerful calling to find ways to love everyone around you.

I used to the think the last few steps of the 12-steps were an incredible burdon as a youth learning how to not drink or drug. It was something you had to do. But what I found is that when true recovery begins through a focus on Christ and studying God’s word, the steps become a natural progression, an out-flowing of the heart that can’t be stopped even if we wanted to.

Marks of the True Christian

Romans 12:9-21 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[g] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

God continues to reveal the darkness in my own heart which the more I become willing to let him uncover the truth behind my old self, the more that old man dies and the new can rise up. 

If you have been trying to get off the addiction train, or filled with hurts, habits and hangups, life just isn’t going as you thought is would when you were filled with dreams as a child, check your relationship with Christ.

My whole life I called myself a Christian, but I felt uncomfortable deep down when people asked me if I was saved. I would boldly say yes, but inside I knew I had doubts, that my life was no different.

A person knows when he has truly surrendered his will to the will of God. Nothing stays the same. We stop trying to fill our emptiness with people, places and things.

When we find living water we instantly recognize that we have taken our first drink of our entire life. And the thirst for Him is nearly insatiable from that point forward.

I desire for everyone to experience this feeling. Of knowing that Jesus is real, he is pure and perfect love, and He died not just for mankind, but much more personal than that, He died for YOU and He died for me. We are alive because God chose each of us before time began.

Without God, concepts like that are far off and meaningless. With a personal relationship with Christ there is an understanding in the promises of eternity, the restoration of a soul, of living for kingdom purposes and that this incarnation is temporary, promises that now bring great peace to a mind, healing to a broken heart, and purpose to a lost and wondering soul.

My prayers today brothers and sisters is you have come to know this same peace and hope, that you share it with everyone God places in your path today. Whether it be a kind word or smile to the checkout lady, a prayer for the person that cut you off on the freeway instead of a finger and a curse,  help out that coworker that you battle with instead of talking behind their back.

Let’s all today shine a light today that blinds those around us.

And if you don’t know Him yet, ask yourself “could I be missing something”. Investigate for yourself. You have nothing to lose. If you are like me you’ve tried everything else and it was all OK, but it wasn’t GREAT.

There is great hope, joy, peace and purpose waiting for anyone who is willing to ask questions for themselves and not take the word of those around them who doubt and speak against God out of ignorance and fear.

Find out for yourself.

My prayers for a blessed day my friends.

George

Posted in 12-steps, Addiction, alcohol, Celebrate Recovery, drugs, encouragement, faith, God's story, hope, love, my story, Recovery | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Put on the New Self

Posted on June 10, 2013 by George Crone

Colossians 3:3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

The Apostle Paul was a master teacher, one who was chosen by God to teach that Christ is God, and those who believe and have faith are called to a higher standard of living. It’s a calling placed in the heart of every follower of Christ which demands that we not be conformed to the ways of this world.

And those who are either currently wrapped in bondage to sin or those who have been sober for a short time, months or even years know exactly what that bondage looks and feels like.

People who never experienced childhood trauma or chronic dysfunction in the home as a kid growing up don’t know what it is like to be filled with mountains of shame, self loathing, an inability to trust others, a pervasive fear that invades every thought and an overwhelming desire to unplug from reality by any means possible; food, drugs, alcohol, lust, power, ego, anger, self-righteousness, pride… it all feeds a delusional self-image of having arrived, being whole and complete while in reality living as enemies of God.

Jeremiah 2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

Jeremiah 3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Once a person comes to Christ however, we are set free. We are no longer sinners who sin, but saints who sin. It is the cross that binds us to God, the blood of Jesus that washes us clean.

Does that mean all our troubles go away, not by a long shot, in fact in some ways the battle gets harder. In our old life we were fighting the wrong battle. We focused outward accusing others as being the problem, the cause of our pain, and in that we justified our actions to feel good at any cost.

Colossians 3:5-11 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave,[e] free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Notice the Good News Paul sprinkles within the roadmap to recovery in this verse. We are all the same, regardless of what walk of life, no matter where we come from, what we’ve done, we are all now equal in the eyes of Christ.

We cannot out-sin Grace. That is worth repeating. We can NOT out-sin Grace. For the repentant heart there is great hope in the continual renewal of our life when we take our sins to the Lord and freely admit and repent.

Now we have a new self; “…which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator”.

Being renewed. When we come to an authentic walk with Christ, God’s word comes alive and where once we lived in shame and guilt over our sin, and walked around blind and destroying ourselves and others through our own brokenness, we are now given insight into the condition of our own dark and hardened hearts, and the true work of sanctification has begun.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but after 2.5 years on this road of recovery, since the morning I dropped to my knees and cried out to Christ for healing,  I now realize He instantly went to work on me, but not the way I had thought or expected.

Much like the way the Apostles and Israel thought that Jesus was going to overthrow Rome and become their new leader and make their lives wonderful from that day forward. They were expecting Him to do all the hard work and they could just live happily ever after.

I too had that same expectation. I thought, now that I am growing in the knowledge of Christ, He would simply take my sinful nature away, let me go on living my life in peace and serenity with no more struggles or strivings.

That is in fact what He offers us, complete freedom from our old self; but many like myself don’t even recognize the gift right in front of us most time. We go on applying our old understanding to the new life. We struggle and strive to earn grace and love, we battle our lustful or addictive thoughts trying to earn salvation.

The incredible news is we are already given that incredible gift of Salvation, solely by what God has done for us. Our striving to put off the old self is just icing on the cake, it is the hard work and fruit bearing years that are in response to Grace, it should not be an attempt to earn it.

That distinction matters a great deal, for in the former you are still not free, you are not a new creation, nothing has changed until YOU make the difference. In the latter, It is Jesus who makes all the difference, and living in the assurance of salvation allows us to BE FREE.

If we can get that distinction down in our heart, then we can instantly began to feel empowered to rejoice in our new bodies.  It then becomes OK for the guilt and shame to melt away; and yes… even if we aren’t perfect yet.

We will fall short the rest of our lives, but if we continue to rely on God’s grace, know that if we continue to pursue righteousness and honestly with all our heart, mind, body and soul, that we continue to do our best to work out our salvation with fear and trembling; then we can rest in the peace and joy that comes from the assurance that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.

The “New Self” is not living perfect, but being in pursuit of righteousness. We are allowed to feel great joy in the fact that we can now see our sin, and that our desire to root that out is now in us.

We felt only guilt and shame before, but it all changes with Christ.

This too is worth repeating… We are no longer sinners who sin, but we are now saints who sin.

In our old lives there was no hope, no joy, no future. But in our new lives in Christ we are assured of it, if we stay the course.

The foundation of all 12-step recovery programs is the same foundation that brings us to Christ.

  1. I am powerless, I am not God, I am just a broken sinner in need of a Healing, Loving, Gracious Savior who can’t do it on my own, I’ve tried a thousand times in a thousand ways and I give up. I can’t do it.
  2. There is a God, a Supreme God who is the Creator of all things. It is He who in His perfect love saves the un-savable from the path of destruction we were once on.
  3. I surrender my life, my will, my understanding, my desires, my everything to what God has in store for me. I become a seeker of truth. I now desire nothing more than to know God’s will, plan and purpose for my life and I pray daily for the power to carry that out.

Colossians 3:12-17 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

So today brothers, my prayer is that we can above all give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who in His unmerited favor chose to give us sight, to remove the veil of self deceit, denial and death. That He in his love chose to open our eyes to the darkness in our own hearts so that we can be humble and surrender to our Savior, and show grace, love, patience and kindness to others and especially ourselves.  Let’s enjoy the path He placed in front of us this day.

God Bless,

George

Posted in Addiction, encouragement, faith, God's story, hope, love, Recovery | Leave a comment

Ephesians 4

The New Life

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

For those that struggle with addictions, the word struggle hardly defines the turmoil inside. That agony that rips at your insides to just unplug, to find relief from the pain and anxiety, the crawling of flesh that eats at your sanity.

Shedding off the darkness, purging of evil thoughts and behaviors does not go willingly; it is a battle for our very soul. The hardest part for an addict to remember however is that it is not our battle to win.

Everyone who has been there knows that we can’t do it by our own will-power. It was our weakness to the flesh that got us there in the first place. The Good News is as a new believer in Christ we are given the gift of awareness of our own powerlessness.

We cannot do it. That may sound hopeless but it’s quite the opposite. For once we stop relying on our own agenda, our own understandings, our own historical view of our failures and begin to focus on God’s word, rely on the Holy Spirit within and accept the incredible grace, love and power that is born in each believer through the Holy Spirit, we are given supernatural strength to overcome the most hideous soul-destroying thoughts and behaviors.

Jesus Christ did not come to condemn…

Christ Sets Us Free

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

It is God who heals, He does the heavy lifting. Our role as former gentiles, those who were once lost and blind is not now to struggle to overcome sin in the same manner we had tried to for years.

No, today, with singularity of focus we are to call out to the One True Healer, Jesus, and then listen for His voice. He speaks in the still of the heart, He encourages, He loves, He protects, He provides. The more we come to love, rely upon, and obey our Lord and Savior we will find that our old selves fall away like dead snake-skin.

Jesus Heals

Matthew 15:30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them

We will follow what our mind focuses on. If I sit around stressing on what I don’t want to do, that is what I will eventually do. God’s love does not dictate that we fixate on the past that held us bondage, but that we eagerly with joy and anticipation look forward to the future, with great hope and joy. For God’s promises are real. I’ve watched them come to life in others around me in recovery, and I’ve experienced them in my own life.

Focus on the Path Ahead

Proverbs 4: 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.

Restored relationships, healthy choices, people shining hope, victory and light where once there was nothing but despair and hopelessness.

There is a healer, His name is Jesus, and for all who become seekers He will reveal Himself and set you free. I know at times I struggle to remember that basic truth. I get to feeling like it should happen faster, or look a certain way. But God lovingly continues to say no to doing it my way and patiently awaits my obedience to do it his way; and I love Him for that.

Again my prayer is that we all be encouraged this day, that we feel closer to God who has come to live within our souls to be with us every step of this journey into a new life, a life as the new creature that He predestined before time. His love is not generalized for man, He is personal and died for you and me, the sinner who believes and is seeking.

Ask and It Will Be Given

Matthew 7: 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

But we must never let down our guard, for when we find ourselves basking in the glory of the good days when temptations have subsided and we feel we have arrived, the evil one knows that we are weak. He too seeks, but he seeks to destroy.

Return of an Unclean Spirit

Matthew 12: 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

The battle rages in our mind, we must guard against the old man who wants to say we have no value, it will never work, what’s the point of all this toil. There is incredible value in the man who opens his heart and mind to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and with that comes supernatural power to be used in a way far beyond imagination. We can live that way today if only we choose to believe what God tells us, that we are forgiven, loved and set free by the blood of the lamb.

My desire is that all of God’s children see ourselves today as that person, set free not by our own struggles to overcome, but that by the cross we have already overcome. We no longer have to fight the battle, God is the one doing the heavy lifting and we just need to open our hearts and mind and let Him in and praise Him each and every moment and be filled with the joy that comes from following Him.

God Bless,

George

Posted on June 7, 2013 by George Crone | Leave a comment

Embrace Conviction

Posted on June 6, 2013 by George Crone

1 Thessalonians 4:1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

There is no gentle way to put it, the conviction of sin stings; it is supposed to. God gives us the Holy Spirit for a very specific purpose, to guide us on our journey of sanctification. He is our Healer, our Strength, our Teacher. He loves us unconditionally and will remain with us beyond the end of times.

But just like all good teachers must do by the mere nature of their role, they give us a bad grade when we fail a test. In the case of terrestrial teachers they may in fact influence our ability to learn by not fully understanding how each individual learns best, but our Heavenly Father is perfect love, has perfect knowledge, and knows us intimately. He meets us where we are and He knows what we need, when we need it, and how to deliver it perfectly.

Our spiritual test will never be over till that magnificent day when we meet Him face to face. Whether we find ourselves in a mountain-top experience as a result of good choices and passing a trial, or suffering in pain over a failed opportunity to learn and grow, neither has any bearing at all on how much God loves us.

If our walk with God was supposed to be all lovey dovey feel good all the time we would get all A’s all the time. But we are sinners, and we must face the bad grades of rebuke and trials that come from poor choices and work harder to improve on them.

Some Christians live their faith out thinking now that we are in Christ we can go on living any way we want. Well we can’t. God does not negotiate on righteousness. We will be judged by the condition of our hearts, the works of our lives and the level of our righteousness.

Romans 2:6-7 He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

We must make the critical distinction in our hearts that we are not obeying God to earn love. We are born again and yes we are given new life by His grace alone.

It is true that in our ignorance as an unrepentent blind sinner life was easier, for once a Christian gives His life over to Christ and is taught the truth of love and righteousness we are called to be transformed and live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord.

Romans 12-2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

That’s not easy! God understands when we fall short, but He will judge those who stop picking up their cross daily and make a concerted effort to become more holy and pleasing in His sight every day. It is our efforts, our struggles, not just our desires that He sees. It is great to be convicted, but it is quite another thing to act, to be transformed by those convictions.

1 Thessalonians 4:2-7 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification:that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

For those like me who struggle with lust it must be dealt with. The world bombards us with sexual images and seductive advertising and lustful literature (50 Shades of Gray comes to mind; mommy porn). America has become no better than Sodom and Gomorrah spending billions of dollars on pornography, sex terms being the #1 search terms on Google, alternative lifestyles being taught in our children’s schools and the attempted destruction of marriage and family values in the court systems throughout the world.

1 Thessalonians 4:8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

God knows we are weak, but that is why he gave us the Holy Spirit, so in Him we can be strong. If we find ourselves repeating any form of conscious sin it is a matter of life and death.

We must deal harshly with conscious rebellious sin (addictions, compulsions, deceptions, denials) in this life or God will deal with it harshly in the next.

1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

The concern on my heart is not that we can travel too far away from God’s grace and forgiveness, but to share the conviction in my own life the critical distinction that God saves the repentant heart. To become complacent in our sin, to say that “God understands” and not change our ways and using weakness as an excuse is to give up the fight, is to throw away the very gift He is giving us. The cross sets us free so we don’t have to suffer in our sin any longer.

As I heard Joyce Meyer say not long ago, [paraphrased] “if we find ourselves stuck in the muck of childhood trauma and suffering years later over it, it is because we choose to, not because we have to“. Jesus died on the cross to atone for those sins, sins of others and our sins.

Yes it can take time to heal, but it so easy to assume the role as victim. If you want to know more about this, just ask me, I’ve done it very well for 30 years without even realizing it.

God came for the broken sinner so we could be transformed, renewed, born again, to live as His new creation. Jesus did not die so we could feel better about our sinful nature, but that we could overcome it. Forgiveness for past sins is the gift none of us deserve, but we grieve the Spirit every time we consciously choose to sin.

If our child continuously brought home D’s and F’s, or gets caught shoplifting over and over, do you love Him any less… no. But do you not ache over their poor choices, would you not do anything in your power to help them see the error in their ways, would their actions not come with consequences if their behavior continued. God loves us and His love comes with righteous judgment and rebuke when necessary. If we don’t want to feel guilt over sin, stop sinning.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

We have free will and the choice is ours whether we want to bask in His glory or bake in His judgment. Both responses come from the same unconditional love He has for us. He loves us, do we love Him?

John 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

For the person who acknowledges his sin and does everything in his power to be renewed there is strength, hope, and victory to be had on the journey; with that comes forgiveness and grace beyond description.  But for those who sit in a pew each weak and claim to know Christ but whose life has no reflection of Holy Spirit within there should be cause for concern.

There is no harder or darker heart than the one that can listen to the Truth each week and yet not feel convicted over their own sinful nature. If we ever believe that we have moved beyond conviction then there can be no further sanctification, for our conscience filled with the Holy Spirit is God’s relentless prodding to push for greater victories, for His glory alone.

2 Timothy 2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Granted no two people’s walk will be the same, however God’s word has a specific purpose which is the same for all, a transformed life equipped for good works.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Conviction and rebuke is not something to rail against, it is something to be embraced. We can find great joy when we are called out by trusted brothers and sisters in Christ, for with awareness of our sinful nature should come the willingness to humbly admit it, face it, and by relying on the power of Christ in us we will be victorious to overcome it each time temptation arises.

Proverbs 13:1 A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

My prayer today brothers as always is that we take the time to listen to God’s quiet voice before it becomes an unavoidable hammer to the heart. God is always pushing us toward deeper water, greater heights, more profound life changing faith.

It is His convictions that carries us further down the road which He destined for us before time. Let us walk that road today, together, encourage one another with joy in our hearts and a song in our step, for we are loved beyond measure.

God Bless,

George

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The Elect

Posted on June 5, 2013 by George Crone

1 Thessalonians 1

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know,brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and howyou turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

I struggle with my sin nature. As I once again called up my sponsor and friend and confessed my character defects he said to me, “thanks be to God that you continue to find your way out of the holes that you have yet found a way to circumvent”.

Not long after that beautiful vision of God’s faithful love and compassion for the sinner (which I sometimes forget includes me – righteous piety can be flipped by the devil into pride and self-righteousness in a whispers breath predicating a great fall in the flesh), another brother brought up the conversation of The Elect. Who is the Elect?

I have long pondered the concept that Christ died for all, even the most wicked in the land since the beginning of time. God offers salvation to all, but there is a response to the unmerited gift that man must participate in. This concept can get very deep into theological quagmire very quickly, and it is not someplace I choose to go often. Many brilliant minds have pondered, debated and defined the reach of God’s sovereignty and tri-omni-ness (my own word, you like it?) and how that defines our role in salvation.

I completely agree that salvation comes by God’s grace alone, but in that must come a transformed life, a life converted from selfishness to selflessness, one that hungers to know more of the Creator, the Resurrector, the Healer, the Life Giver. How can a person who has been tapped by God and moved from blindness to sighted, from darkness to light be unchanged?

Sadly I know several Carnal Christians, people that go to church on the weekend, raise their hands and sing songs, are members of their church, even serve in some capacity yet the rest of the week they are fighting with their spouses, yelling at their kids, combating with co-workers, partaking in drugs and alcohol, watching porn, telling dirty jokes, gossiping, watching filthy movies and the list goes on.

A life touched by Christ may still fall in the holes of temptation, but he won’t find excuses to justify his actions, he will reach out to his Christ-centered friends and confess, he will cry out to Christ Jesus in agony over the fresh nails that he drove into the wrists of his loving savior, he will drop to his knees and petition the Holy Spirit within to be delivered from this evil that continues to remind him of who he once was, he will open God’s word with an anticipatory heart knowing that truth, love, peace, purpose, redemption, hope and direction are all promises found within God’s book of life written just for us.

This first letter to Thessalonia is beautiful in that Paul is letting them know that their faith is evident through their labor of love and steadfast hope.

As God continues to reveal the hardness and darkness of my own heart that was born of years of abuse as a child, then further hardened by me making the free will choice to play victim my whole life and reach out to drugs, alcohol, sex, career, money, and other worldly pursuits as a seeker of  self-worth, this letter reminds me that my service, hope and steadfast repentance are evidence that God loves and has chosen me (v 4). That the deep convictions to hate sin in my own life, to reach for a bar so high that others think I am insane for even trying, but in all that I become an example to others, my family, my peers.

In my old life I was an example of what the world has to offer, and I had many who loved to follow and be a part of that life style. Today I am surrounded by people who love Christ, and  look back on those days as proof that God knew our pain, and walked along side and kept us alive and minimized in many cases the damage we did to those around us because He had a bigger plan. He was building our God-story.

If we find ourselves regretful over what seems like a wasted life of being lost and blind, take great joy in the fact that God’s timing is perfect. No matter where we find ourselves in this journey of sanctification, we are where we are, when we are, and how we are by God’s great design. Our past path of destruction is evolving into God’s great testimony of redemption.

We are the elect, the ones who can now speak to the blind, for we once were the blind, and our history of destruction proves it. We have become hope for the hopless, sight for the sightless, light in the darkness.

If we can remain filled with hope, continue to climb out of those holes that we seemingly can’t wait to jump into at times, press on toward the goal, shine the light that God pours into us simply by sharing our story with anyone in earshot, then we can rest in peace knowing that God’s plan, vision and purpose for our lives goes far beyond our imagination and all we must do is continue to get up each day, give thanks and praise to our God, and hang on for the ride.

May God continue to bless and press on our hearts the journey that He has prepared for us this day.

God Bless,

George

Posted in Addiction, alcohol, conviction, drugs, encouragement, faith, God's story, hope, love, my story, pornagraphy, sex, trials | 7 Comments

Ultimate Dog Tease

Posted on June 5, 2013 by George Crone

ha ha

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