Step 3 of the twelve steps says: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.” The secular skewing of this step is intended help the recovering person to be comfortable while marginalizing God in the person of Jesus Christ. Many have understood the phrase, “as we understood Him”, to mean God is powerful no matter what I determine is representative of God.
To pray to the God that one comes to understand and believe according to myth, legend, fantasy, fate, karma, romanticism, and so on, is no more than the God of one’s perceptions borne out of his or her imagination. If ultimately God is a figment of one’s imagination, where is the power to recover? If the higher power to recover is originated in the imagination of the recovering person, how can the person’s higher power be greater than the willpower of the addict in need of recovery? If one’s perception and belief of God is anything less than the truth found in the person of Jesus Christ, there can be no relationship with God. Without relationship with God is the absence of authentic power to recover. Therefore, it is necessary that you decide to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and tell Him that in a relationship with Him is where you want to be.
The objective of this NLX 101 lesson is to acknowledge that the power for authentic recovery does not come in the form of religious rituals and traditions, nor does it come in the secularization of proven Christ-centered principles, but that real power for real recovery comes in the truth of relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The challenge to commit in a submitted relationship with Christ is foundational to the transformed life and there is no justification in marginalizing such profound truth. Questions are asked of participants that either lead them to discover the truth of what is to be gained in relationship with God for empowered recovery, or else to examine their present relationship with God in order to determine the degree to which their lives reflect their commitment to recovery God’s way. In any case, the challenge is to advance their relationship with God to the place that it is symbiotic to their recovery journey.