3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
“Trust in the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself. In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.” Proverbs 3:5-6
When we take an honest look at our powerlessness and turn our lives over to God’s care (Steps 1 & 2), that is when He can actually DO something about our dilemma… when we are willing to TRUST Him. “Letting go and letting God” can be tough, quite similar to jumping off a cliff! Trusting our lives into God’s care and asking for His will instead of ours may not have been even considered. What if we don’t LIKE His will for us and it doesn’t fit into our plans? Are we willing to trust Him anyway? Has what we’ve tried to do before to solve our problems ever worked? Is it time to let Him have His way, no matter if it’s not our way? What have we got to lose?
A. The surrendered life:
- John 10:1-10 Matt. 11:28-30
- Gal. 2:20 Luke 9:23-25
- Rom. 6:16 -23
B. Submission to Divine will:
- Psa. 40 Prov. 3:5-6
- Psa. 143:10-11 Mark 8:34-36
- Psa. 32:7-9 Rom. 12:1-2
- Prov. 28:26
C. Pleasing God:
- Prov. 16:7
D. Understanding:
- Prov. 2:6 Psa. 119:104-106
E. Salvation through Christ:
- John 3:16 Acts 15:11 (TLB)
- Acts 4:12 Acts 2:21
I am discovering that even if one generally understands the first three steps and has perhaps begun to put them into practice, or at least gained an understanding of how vital doing so is to one’s recovery, spiritual growth and well-being, and life in general , for myself, at least, it seems that I’m struggling just to get Steps 1&2 applied somewhat consistently bcs.from childhood on I, out of necessity, learned how to be too independent and distrustful and how to not ask for help no matter what and now I’m having to unlearn much of that and re-program myself, with the Lord’s help and the help of my support network, and it’s been really hard thus far. Step 3 kinda scares me because, just like any other step I can’t do it 1/2-way and it, too,is going to be one that I have to do on at least a daily basis.
Step 3 – Since I believe there is a power greater than myself, why not let it take care of me? This step really pays off down the line when I know that God really is taking care of me, my needs, and who I will become. I will be able to concentrate on serving Him by helping others without the concerns of my own needs, because He cares for me. I am being helped by helping others, thus serving Him. There was a “knock at the door” and I “decided” to open it, and I was ready for the next step. Praise God.