Principle 5 / Step 6

Introduction
Principle 5: Voluntarily submit to every change God wants to make in my life and humbly ask Him to remove my character defects.  “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” (Matthew 5:6)
Step 6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.  “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10)
 
Before we can do these critical steps, 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

I want to start tonight by telling you a true story about some guys in addiction.  It wasn’t drugs, alcohol, or lust, but an addiction none-the-less.  In fact, one of the most addictive, and difficult to overcome issues because it’s thought by many to be good thing.  It was an addiction to self and pride.  The Scripture tells us, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5)  Traveling through Galilee on way to Capernaum Jesus says, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. An,d after He is killed, He will rise the third day” (Mark 9:30-35).  The most unselfish act in history – God taking on human form to die for us, but the disciples don’t understand and just go on with their conversation.  In Capernaum, Jesus said, “what were you arguing about on the way here?” (Mk 9:35-36)  “But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.  And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’”  Addictions are not scabs that can be scraped off with just a little scar left behind.  Addictions are rooted deep down in hurts, habits, and ultimately in pride.  Pride says, “I can handle this myself.  It’s not my fault.  It’s not a big deal.”  But what we learn the hard way is that we can’t handle it on our own.  Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, And a proud spirit before a fall.”   Prov 13:10, “by pride comes nothing but strife.”  And Prov 29:23, “a man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.”  Pride leads us into selfishness, escape, resentments, loneliness, emptiness…and leads us away from God our only source of help.  And again, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).  Jesus’ disciples were still struggling with pride, arguing over who would be greatest in His Kingdom.  Meanwhile, Jesus was the perfect example of humility and being self-less .

That’s His example to us…

READY

Release Control
Sounds a lot like step 3 / principle 3 right?  Principle 3 was, “Consciously choose to commit all my life and will to Christ’s care and control,” while Step 3 was, “We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.”  It requires making a decision to release control to Christ.  Then in Step 4 we did inventory so the Spirit could show us what needed to change.  Now we need to follow thru on that decision to commit my life and will to Christ’s care and control and deal with the things He brought out in the inventory.  If you didn’t do inventory yet, it’s never too late to start.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

Easy Does It

We want quick fixes and immediate results, right?  God doesn’t usually fix everything over night.  He does make radical changes and many are right away, especially when we get saved and get the Holy Spirit; life is greatly different!  But this is a life-long co-operative process with the Holy Spirit.  So if you only want rid of some hurt or habit…if you’re not committed to giving your entire life & will over to Christ…you’re far from done with step 3 (choosing to commit) and 4 (the inventory).  Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Accept the Change

There is a big gap between seeing the need for change, and allowing change to occur.  That gap is filled with fear, doubt, old desires, etc.  That’s why those first 4 steps are so important.  Did you really decide to give all your life and will to Christ?  Do you really want to make the changes the Spirit identified in the inventory?  Consider 1 Peter 1:13-16, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

Do Replace Your Character Defects
This is only done through the Holy Spirit and your involvement with the Word and the Church, and you desperately need both.  Christ is your only hope for salvation and righteousness.  Can you be in Christ (the Word Made Flesh) and not reading the Word?  Can you be in Christ and snub His Bride who is one flesh with Him?  No.  You need the Word and the Church – that’s the way God declares it to be.  If you don’t have the Spirit or you ignore Him, replacing your character defects is impossible; you’ll replace one vice with another, one habit for another, one hurt or another and the end will be worse than the beginning as the old hurt/habit will return.  Like it says in             Matthew 12:43-45, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.  Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Yield to the Growth

As the Spirit begins to make changes and you begin seeing the evidence, embrace it, let it continue, cooperate fully!  Don’t pat yourself on the back and “reward” your good progress with a relapse!  Psalm 32:8-9, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.  Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle else they will not come near you.”  Are you READY to end the frustration, the exhaustion, the failure, and yield to Christ?