I am often asked, "HOW will I know what God's will for me is???." The "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "...that it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that as time passes our thinking will be more and more on the plane of inspiration We come to rely on it." Inspiration is defined as, "the thoughts of God implanted in the mind and soul of man." Once the thoughts of God hit our souls we do not need to run it by our intellect to know it is indeed the Truth.
Although we are not yet capable of turning our will and our life over to the care of God in Step Three, we are capable of making a decision - a final choice - to do so. Deciding from this day forward we are willing to overturn our thought processes that are propelled by our human instincts in order that they may be ruled only by the will of God - which is received through inspiration.
If you have already made that decision, may God bless you and may He keep you. If you have not, perhaps now (this moment, right now) would be the time for you to make it... to turn your thoughts and your behaviors over to the care of God and begin to live a life of peace and a life of pure, unimpeachable joy.
Written By Armand
As with any commitment, this one begins by simply making a decision. Not the type of decision I so well know and that can be undecided by a wisp of my will. Your definition - a final choice - makes making the decision different, vital, essential, actionable. By then integrating the remaining Steps into my life in such a way that they become my life, my thinking can and will undergo a spirit-awakening change as it is no longer the prisoner of my unrequited instincts. Instead, my thinking becomes inspiration-based and, therefore, inspired. At this new level of consciousness and being, I intuitively know His Will for me. Yet, I must rely on the remaining Steps to carry it out.
ReplyDeleteMichael a surrendered spirit in the sense necessary gifts God's will to us...Thank you... Armand
DeleteLiving in God's will is where heaven on earth resides. We develop our spiritual muscles in the 11th step where we build our relationship, trust and position ourselves to hear His message for us. But only if we desire and work to listen. The Oxford Group, the forerunner of our blessed program, understood the importance for us to develop the skills necessary to discern the thoughts we receive and to know which thoughts are of God and which are not. The Oxford Group has published a "process" for us to follow to provide the best opportunity to screen out the thoughts we receive from our ego and the evil one. The Oxford Group published a pamphlet "How To Listen To God" which you can access on the internet through an online search. There is also a book introduced to me by my sponsor written by Wally Paxon also titled "How to Listen to God". I would strongly recommend you invest the time and effort to learn from the wisdom of those who came before us.
ReplyDeleteJim thanks for the info. Prayer and Meditation quits the human nature and gives energy to the will of God...Thank uou... Armand
DeleteArmand,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” As the previous words confess, true humility is the state of being required to admit that my life up to this point is best described as the mindless meanderings of a madman. Without that absolute admission and the humility it requires, any exercise of faith towards any person, place or thing, by this alcoholic, is a very harmful proposition indeed. On the one hand I think of Moses, who believing he was born for a "special purpose”, and he was, misappropriated his appointment with divine destiny, killed an Egyptian, fled to the desert, was mercifully reduced from prince to a shepherd for 40 years. Until, it is written, he "became the humblest man on the earth." It was only then and after he had learned to be gentle and caring with a flock of sheep in the wilderness that he was deemed fit to be used by the Lord to lead Gods people to the promised land. And with a patience and love for them that rivaled God Himself.
Then I ponder Saul of Tarsus, otherwise known as St. Paul, who acting out with self confessed rage and misplaced religious zeal and, "persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it."... That is, until his Damascus Road experience and instantaneous conversion which resulted in the rebirth of arguably the greatest messenger of the Gospel the world has ever known. In each of these examples, although a heart was broken and pride was crushed; the talents, personality, culture and even passions that formed their unique identity were preserved and even enhanced as their faith now possessed the right disposition to be used by God.
So whether my willingness to follow the Master takes forty years (it almost did), or occurs in an instant in time, it was true humility that opened the door to a decision that has lead to an ocean of Living Water and fathomless love, and like you, an almost indescribable empathy and deep desire that all who are seeking recoveries greatest gift, humbly reach out and receive what is so freely given and can never be taken away.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic humility is the Key that unlocks the door to the grace of God...Thank you...Armand
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