Spiritual Inventory part 3

1.   Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.  “Happy are the pure in heart.” Matthew 5:8)

2.   Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”  (Lamentations 3:40)

Introduction

Before we can do this critical step in our recovery called the spiritual inventory, we must first have fully accepted steps 1-2.  Step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.  Step 2 is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with them.  Moreover, we must also make the decision of step 3.  Step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.  The Spiritual Inventory will test your understanding of steps 1 and 2, and especially your decision of step 3.

Tonight we continue our inventory.  Last week we talked about 4 areas in our life that we need to examine: your relationships to others, your priorities, your attitudes, and your integrity.  This week we continue with four more areas: your body, your mind, your family, and your church.

Spiritual Inventory (continued)

Area #5: Your Body
That you have hurts and habits connected with how you use your body is most evident by the pains, sicknesses, improper functioning or use of your body.  I’m not saying every pain or illness is the direct result of your sin, but many are.  Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”  And 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  So here are some questions you need to deal with in your inventory:

In what ways have you mistreated your body?  Has there been alcohol, drugs, immorality, hatred of self, self-abuse, poor diet, denial of rest, stress, etc? 

What evidence of that mistreatment can you see or feel?  Do you fear effects that you cannot yet see or feel?

Area #6: Your Mind

That you have hurts and habits connected with how you use your mind is most evident in what you think about and desire.  Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Here are some questions you may need to deal with in this area:

How have you damaged your way of thinking and desires?  We have sinful minds to start with, but how have you further polluted it?  Some example are alcohol, drugs, immorality, bitterness, resentment, anger, pride, self-worship, self-hate, etc.

How have you improperly guarded your mind? – in some ways we need to guard it, like from the sinful things like we just mentioned.  But, also how have you NOT dealt with things you need to deal with because you “put it out of your mind”, denied it, or justified it?

How have you neglected the Word of God?  This is one of the greatest sins in the church today; indifference to, neglect of, and disrespect for the Word of God.

Area #7: Your Family

That you have hurts and habits connected to your family is most evident in how you spend your free time.  Do you want to be with them or will you do almost anything to have an excuse to get away.  Matthew 15:4 says, “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’”  That’s pretty tough stuff; I think God takes our treatment of our family pretty seriously.  Then 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  Yeah, that’s pretty serous.  Here are some questions for this section:

How have you mistreated members of your family?  Have you failed to provide for their needs, over-provide wants (spoiled them), neglect, lie to, selfish behavior, failure to train, or have you enabled sin? 

Do you resent any family members?  Why?

Area #8: Your Church

That you have hurts and habits connected to your church family is most evident in how much desire to have fellowship with them.  It isn’t an option as spending time with our church family is commanded by God in many ways including 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16 which say, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.  Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”  The context of this verse shows it is talking about the Church collectively being the Temple.  We all have a part to play and we need each other…which agrees with step #1 by the way.  Here are the some questions for your inventory: 

How has God confirmed to you what your role is in the church and how are you fulfilling that role?  The Bible says every believer has a part to play, like every part of your body has a role or function. 

Are you critical of those in the church instead of involved in a selfless way?  Why?

For the time you are spending at church, why are you there?   Is it to appease your guilt?

Conclusion: (the five tools to help you prepare for inventory)

1.   Memorize Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
2.   Read and keep reading the “Balancing the Scale” verses
3.   Keep inventory balanced listing both the good and the bad – very important!  List on the back of the page the good things God has done, has led you to do, or is leading you to do.
4.   Continue to develop your support team
5.   Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Spiritual Inventory part 2

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.  “Happy are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8).

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40).

Before we can do these critical steps, we must first understand steps 1 and 2…

Step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.  Step 2 is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with them.

And we must make the decision of step 3…

Step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

Areas to Examine in our Spiritual Inventory

There are several areas of our lives that we need the Holy Spirit to lead us through as part of our spiritual inventory.  With any person, object, or event that we list in column one of our inventory worksheets we should consider these areas.  Some will apply, some won’t, and there may be other areas that need to be included as well; the ones listed below are helpful reminders and starters.  We covered area #1 last week, this week we add several more, with more to come next week.

Area #1: Relationships with Others

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Questions:

Who has hurt you?  
Against whom have you been holding a grudge?  
Who have you hurt?

Area #2: Priorities in Your Life

Our priorities are most evident by how we spend our time and money…what are yours?
Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Questions:
After making the decision to turn your life and your will over to God, in what areas of your life are you still not putting God first?
What in your past is interfering with your doing God’s Will?
What have been priorities in your job, friendships, goals?
Who did your priorities affect?

Area #3: Your Attitude

Your governing attitude is most evident in your reactions to the unexpected.
1 Thess 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Questions:

Do you have a grateful attitude or do you mostly complain about circumstances?
In what areas of your life are you ungrateful? 
Have you gotten angry and easily blown up at people?
Have you been sarcastic?
What in your past is still causing you fear or anxiety?

Area #4: Your Integrity

Your integrity will be most evident when people from different parts of your life come in contact (job, family, friends, church, etc).
Prov 10:9 “He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known.”

Questions:

In what past dealings were you dishonest?
Have you stolen things, even things like time, information, affection?
Have you exaggerated yourself to make yourself look better, even on resumes, dating, or a traffic stop?
In what areas of your past have you used false humility?

Conclusion

Don’t forget the five tools to help you prepare for inventory…

1.   Memorize Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

2.   Read and keep reading the “Balancing the Scale” verses
3.   Keep inventory balanced listing both the good and the bad – very important!  List on the back of the page the good things God has done, has led you to do, or is leading you to do.
4.   Continue to develop your support team
5.   Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Spiritual Inventory

Introduction
Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

      “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:40).

Principle 4: Openly examine and confess my faults to myself, to God, and to someone I trust.  “Happy are the pure in hear” (Matthew 5:8).

 

Tonight we begin talking about the spiritual inventory.  Before we can do so, we must first understand & embrace steps 1-3.

step 1 is understanding that I cannot deal with my hurt or habit on my own.

step 2 is understanding that God cares about me and He has the power and desire to help me deal with them.

step 3 is choosing to commit all of my life and will to Christ’s care and control.

 

We must understand these first 3 steps and choose to commit ourselves to God before we continue any further with our recovery from hurts and habits.  We simply can’t move on without them and expect to have lasting success.  Why? Because if we don’t know by now that we are unable to deal the with hurts and habits on our own, that God can and will help us because He does have the power, and unless we make the decision to turn our lives over to Him; we are still trying to recover using our own wisdom and strength, which just leads to more of the same old stuff.  The Bible says, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Corinthians 3:18-19).  Our best wisdom is foolishness to God.  Using our wisdom is what got us into the habits and harmful responses to hurts in the first place.

Here is something I have learned about the inventory: not only is it an essential part of recovery, it helps us understand if we have truly decided to give our lives and wills over to God’s care and control in step 3 or not.  This step will test that decision.

Think about your life thus far, with one word, describe you life battling your hurts and habits?  What one word do you wish described your recovery?  Inventory is a critical part of the path between beaten and victorious…you must come through the spiritual inventory.

The key to being successful with the inventory is asking for God to lead you through it.  Doing it on your own will get you frustrated, off-track, at best.  I recommend that you spend several days in prayer and reading the Bible before and during the entire process (I recommend you do that all the time, for just for inventory).  Some passages you may want to read include 1 Corinthians, James, and the Gospel of John.  You can’t ignore God and expect to know how He is leading you.  You can’t expect to work through the inventory finding truth it you cut yourself off from the source of Truth.  I also encourage you to have a sponsor, someone who has been through all 12 steps of CR before to help you stay motivated and focused.

The inventory is hard to do because it makes you deal with situations you may be hiding, avoiding, ignoring, or denying.  You will deal with the hurts others have thrust upon you, and the hurts you have caused yourself and others.  Be on guard, your emotions can lead you stray, either to beating yourself up or shifting your blame onto others.  Neither of this is helpful or productive in lasting recovery.  You need to deal with truth; truth about yourself, about situations, and about others.  Only the God of Truth can keep you from getting off track.

The Spiritual Inventory sheets

The sheets are made up of five columns across; I will discuss what you should do with each one below.  I have been asked if it is better to work across the five columns, one issue at a time, or work down the columns.  Across helps you stay more focused, but as you work across, more things will come up for you to add going down the columns.  I trust you will understand as we talk about each column.

Column 1: The Person

List the persons, objects, or events that you resent or fear.  List the first one and then move onto column two.  Go back to column one for each additional person, object, or event so that you list all the persons and things that you resent or fear.  You need to write it down, don’t just think it over.  The fact is that as you work through step 4, resentments fade as the Light of Christ come on them.

Column 2: The Cause

List the specific actions of the person, object, or event that hurt you.  List how this action caused you to resent or fear.  As you work through “the cause” it can be very painful, you need the Holy Spirit, a sponsor, and maybe even an accountability team to help you.  God said, “   Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I hold you up by My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).  The fact is that most resentment, bitterness, anger, fighting, and slander come from the suppressed pain of hurts and habits. Also, most low esteem, withdrawal, shame, mistrust, fear, and self-dislike come from the suppressed pain of hurts and habits.

Column 3: The Effect

List how the hurtful actions impacted your life, both in the past and present.  This is not a time to beat someone else up; you just want to deal with truth.  No doubt we’ve all been hurt by the words or actions of other people.  Sometimes, like in the case of abuse, we did nothing to cause the hurt but we sure did receive it.  The point here is to work through “the effect” being honest and objective; keep asking the Lord to help you with that.  The fact is that hurts and habits what we ignore or hide can, and often do, harm us in ways we don’t realize; we need to honestly examine things and make sure we aren’t creating excuses.

Column 4: The Damage

List how your basic instincts were injured by the specific actions of each person, object or event, including your security, social, and sexual instincts.  God said at the beginning of Ezekiel 34:16, “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick.”

Column 5: My Part

List your part in the hurt or habit.  Again, honesty and truth are essential, seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit first, and also your sponsor to ensure you are not erroneously shifting blame.  The Spirit used David to write Psalm 139:23, which says, “Examine me, O God and know my mind; test me, and discover if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.”  Of course, Lamentation 3:40 is let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.  The fact is that if you have been victimized or abused, even as a child, you can find freedom in this part of the inventory.
 
Conclusion: five tools to help you prepare for inventory
In order to help make sure you are cooperating with the Holy Spirit during the inventory, here are five things you can do before you start and once you begin.

1.   Memorize Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

2.   Read and keep reading the “Balancing the Scale” verses (see below).

3.   Keep inventory balanced listing both the good and the bad – very important!  List on the back of the page the good things God has done, has led you to do, or is leading you to do.

4.   Continue to develop your support team.

5.   Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

 

One last thing, this step is so critical to our recovery and to basic living that we’ll see it again…

Step 10: We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  (1 Corinthians 10:12)