Brand-New Website!

RecoveryintheBible.com

OK, it's big day here, as I just posted for the first time on my new blog (THE QUESTION CORNER) at my new website at the address above. Check it out, take it for a test drive, and comment so I can be sure that the comment feature works! Today's question at THE QUESTION CORNER is simply this: How do YOU keep on keeping on? To get straight to it, http://RecoveryintheBible.com/blog

Today's photograph is by Jo Chaney.

Check It Out!

You guys have been very helpful with your feedback on my new website, and I now have one that is alive and open. Thanks so much -- and please, chime in at:

RecoveryintheBible.com

This painting by Claudia Wood Rahm is entitled I Am the Vine.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

This morning in my Quiet Time, I was asking the Lord about all the lawlessness and depravity we are witnessing in our world, and I heard myself say: HOW DO I BLOOM ANYWAY? And this is what, I believe, I heard Him say:

"Child, you have heard Me say, “All will be well” in the end; you already know about My provision and protection in the desert and the wilderness and on the stormy sea. Why then do you doubt  and fear? Leave these things, especially justice, to Me -- I have got this! For your sake, please drop the rock and step out of My Way! Simply climb in here, under My wings, and wait and watch. I AM gathering My church together to separate My people from those who turn to useless things instead of to Me, the Living God Most High, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. Remember the evidence from your past: how I led you to into safety and freedom and joy -- Fullness of Life in Christ. Now you know that Life with a capital “L” has little to do with earthly pursuits that only fill men’s mouths with gravel. Now you know that it was I who brought a vine out of Egypt and grafted you into that Vine. I AM the Vine, and you are a branch purposed to bear My fruit. Surrender to My Power and just let Me flow through you, in you, and out of you this day -- one day at a time. This is Life in the Vine, and your Father is the Keeper."

This seems to line up with Scripture as I read it, and I would be so interested to hear about  what YOU are asking -- and what our Lord is saying to YOU this day!

 This photograph is by Liz Burnell.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

"Little girl-woman, I love to hear you thanking Me for the all-embracing reality of your Life in Me, your abiding in Me, the True Body, as I abide in you by My Holy Spirit. What a priceless gift of inestimable value you have been given to cherish. Your eyes are fixed on Me as I stand, with arms extended toward you, across the raging waters and the stormy seas that swirl about you in a world that is hopelessly broken. Thank you for keeping your eyes fixed on Me! This keeps you from sinking into the limitations of life with a lower case "L." With Me and by the Holy Spirit, the impossible becomes possible, and you have evidence from your past to prove it. Share your evidence whole-heartedly! It is my desire for My people to find one another, to encourage and edify one another, to testify that, in Me and by My Lavish Love and Mercy and Power, you are made able to "walk on water" until the day you come to live in Me, fully and forever."

This is what I heard in my Quiet Time with the Lord this morning. I call these "Downloads from God" and offer this one (above) as an example of a Direct Connect. I am hoping to hear back from others: What are YOU are hearing?

This painting by Jerry Allison (1992) was published as a postcard by Standard Publishing in 1995.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

For me, recovery means I knowing am powerless (Step 1) and, because God has given me so much evidence, knowing also that He is The Highest Power (Step 2). That makes it a whole lot easier to Let Go and Let God (Step 3) and to sweep this ”temple” daily (Steps 4-10) so that His Light can lead me (Step 11) to be salt and light on the earth. All this aligns with Christ's commission to Go and make disciples (Step 12).

Step One John 15:5

Step Two Galatians 2:20


Step Three John 3:30


Steps Four-Ten

 Matthew 12:43-45


Step Eleven Romans 12:1-2


Step Twelve Matthew 28:19

In short, my recovery turned out to be Christ-centered, though it was not at first. Thus my present purpose seems to be encouraging us to surrender -- not just any old Higher Power (of whom there are many according to the Bible), but to God Most High, the God above all gods -- to proclaim that it DOES matter to whom we surrender.., that our safety, freedom and JOY is found in Christ alone -- literally and forever. What think you about Christ-centered recovery?

This photograph is by Eric Jonas Swensson of Sound Shore Media.

Recovery in the Bible (RIB)

THE QUESTION CORNER

Here's what I got this morning, the kind of the thing I hear when I seek and listen: Good for you, girl woman of God. You have heard Me and returned to a place of weeping with a broken and compassionate heart. You have seen the others as I see them, as I desire to help them if you will drop the huge, hard rock you have been holding and step aside out of the middle of this road. I AM walking toward them, even now, I AM. Good that you have dropped the rock. Good that your heart is soft and sad again. You have recognized the anger that only causes cancer and gets in My Way. You will reap what you are sowing -- mercy and grace that paves the way from Me to walk in to reveal and heal. Good for you, girl woman of God.

This is what I call Direct Connect. Do you know what I mean? And if so, what are you hearing from God today 2015, at such a time as this? 

This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.