Do you want help?

[Fluttering]

Let God Run Wild
by Jon Walker


"... God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things
at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good
work." (2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV)


As my six-year-old tried to open a package, I sat patiently waiting for
him to ask me for help. It was one of those protective, hard plastic
packages that some manufacturers use - you know, the kind that are
nearly impossible to open short of using a small explosive.
I knew my son wouldn't be able to open the package on his own, but I
make it a general rule never to grab things out of my son's hands - like
one child might disrespectfully snatch something away from another.
Sure, I'm bigger than him, and I could've taken it out of his hands, but
I wanted him to make his own choice about whether or when he would ask
me for help.
It didn't take long before he looked up at me, and I said, 'Do you want
me to help you?' He said yes and handed me the package. I knew it would
require more than my hands (or teeth) to open it, so I found some heavy
scissors and squeezed hard to cut through the plastic.
Today, you may be holding a package in your hand, and wrapped in its
hard plastic shell is something Jesus called the "abundant life." You're
straining to get inside the package, using all the means and schemes you
can think of to break through the abundant life.
God is patiently sitting next you you, waiting for you to abandon your
independent attempts to create the abundant life, waiting for you to let
him loose in your life, waiting for you to say, "I can't, but, God, you
can."
In that moment, God becomes your strength, "so that in all things at all
times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (2
Corinthians 9:8 NIV)

What now?

* Let God run wild - Accept the powerful love of God in your life
and allow his grace to run free in your life.

* Stop trying to open the package - Give the package to God and
let him open the abundant life for you. Ask God to show you what package
you're struggling to open, and when he does, hand the package to him.

* Trust God with your needs - God knows you need to open the
package. What makes you think you have to open it on your own? Why do
you believe that your efforts to open the package will produce a better
life for you than if you allow God to open the package? (What is your
behavior saying about your beliefs?)

(c) 2007 Jon Walker. All rights reserved.

Jon Walker is a pastor-advocate living in Tennessee and the former
pastor of communications at Saddleback Church.

[GlassPrisoner]

Before I came into AA, and found God, I insisted (and took pride in) doing everything myself.

It was only when I was thoroughly beaten, that I admitted defeat and asked for help. First from an fellow AA, then the group, and finally I turned my will and life over to Him. (Which I still do every morning).

Asking for help HAS to be one of the single hardest things for a self-centered, self-reliant alcoholic to do. I know it was for me.

But, in doing so, I've gained strength and freedom like I've never known before.

[mike_mass]

Thanks, that was beautiful.

[cmc]

Wow....how true that is!
Thanks Fluttering!!

[Fluttering]

Perhaps no one since the apostle paul has wwritten more graphically about the expereince of spiritual bondage than the great theologan Augustine (AD 354-430(. Although blessed with extraordinary intelligence, in his younger years he had wallowed in deep depravity.

Looking back, Augustine gave this account of his strugel: "I was bound by the iron chain o fmy own will. I was rather an unwilling sufferer th a willing actor. And yet it was through me that habit hafd become an armed enemy against me, because I unwilingly come to be what I unwillingly found myself to be."

Many of us have gone through a similar struggle. We wanted deliverance from sin yet found ourselves unable to shake off the cahins of habit. Then, as we turned in faith to Jesus Christ, we were liberated and coul drepeat the words of Charles Wesley's hymn, "Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast cound in sin and natruire's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke--the dungeon flamed with light! My cahins fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee."

He alone can break the shackles of sin. recieve Him and the "truth will set you free."

Vernon Grounds