This Week’s Recovery Application Challenge
Prior to proceeding with TWRAC 028 application challenge, be sure to click on TWIRL 028 for this week’s recovery lesson.
Step Into The Light (Faith is an ocean you can walk on)
Years ago I worked with a man named Stacy. Stacy is an African-American gentleman who sang in the choir at a baptist church in the inner city of Chicago. He informed me one day at work that the choir he sang in would be on public television singing behind recording artist, Patti LaBelle. I watched the performance the night it was on and was blown away. I love that black gospel music. I am a huge music fan and when all is said and done black gospel music is right at the top of what I most enjoy.
The next day at work I told Stacy how much I enjoyed the performance. Then I asked if I could visit his church so I could take in that experience live and in person. Occasionally on Saturday nights, the choir would have a special night where they would perform for about 90 minutes or more. So I drove almost an hour from my suburban home into Chicago for the next performance. I was expecting to arrive at one of the city’s finer church buildings and I would be able to take my seat in the back and enjoy the night’s performance. After all, this church boasted the fine choir that backed up Patti Labelle.
I arrived to this small somewhat beat up building just a few minutes before showtime. The parking lot wasn’t that full on this beautiful summer evening and the thought went through my mind that perhaps I was at the right place but on the wrong night. I went inside and stood in the back. I was stunned. The parking lot wasn’t very full, but the place was packed. You see, this small baptist church that probably doesn’t seat more than 120 people or so is located in the middle of the neighborhood and I suppose most of those inside walked to church. There could have been 200 packed in there.
I stood in the back and looked inside as the concert got started. This will not sound good or politically correct, but I felt a bit awkward and uncomfortable since I was the only white guy in the building. All eyes would be on me if I went in, right? Black families attend predominately white churches in the metropolitan suburbs of Chicago all the time and seem to assimilate just fine, even when they are the only black people in a church of all white folks. We don’t think anything of it, and they and their children seem totally comfortable. So why would I feel uncomfortable? But I did.
I was standing in a doorway in the back and no one really noticed me. The performance had begun and everyone was into it. Everybody was on their feet. It was a worship experience, for sure. Except for the first song, which went on for about ten minutes, my experience was peripheral. It was attractive to me and enjoyable but I knew I needed to go in to fully benefit from this experience.
I began walking into the sanctuary looking for a seat as the next song began. I found a seat all the way up in the third row. “Excuse me, pardon me” I would say as I stumbled my way to my seat in the middle of the row. Now I really felt like everyone was looking at me. As I walked by each person in the row toward my seat I felt the men and women reach up and affectionately put their hand on the back of my shoulder to help me pass through. It felt good and did a lot for me to feel welcome there.
After that fifteen minute song and before the next one, the choir paused and the director led a greeting time where every body welcomed one another. At my church in the suburbs, we shake hands with one another, occasionally exchanging hugs for a minute or two, would greet guests with a handshake and a smile, and then it was on with the service. At this church in inner city Chicago, I received hugs from probably two dozen men and women in nearly ten minutes before the concert resumed. I loved it. They would ask where I came from and then assured me that I would have a great time in their church community.
The performance last a couple of hours and all of us in the congregation were not the least bit an audience of spectators. Every one participates and it is one giant choir led by the actual choir. Every one standing around me may as well been in the choir because I was surrounded by wonderful singing voices. What a night! What a great night! I flew home on a cloud. It was an incredible fulfilling experience.
I would attend a few more of these services and some Sunday morning services as well. The pastor was an awesome preacher and would sing with the choir intermittently throughout his sermon. Again, the congregation actively participated throughout.
The reality of my experience was that until I walked in and was immersed into the spirit of what was going on I would have only a peripheral experience, meaning that I might enjoy myself; I would get a glimpse into the greatness of something crazy good, but I would miss out on the experience of something amazing. It is like that in our recovery and whether or not we are actively participating in a relationship with God.
I needed to step out of the boat of my comfort zone and step into the light of what God wanted and had for me at that concert. From the periphery I could have witnessed what God had in store for everybody else in the experience of the night, and I may never really even known all that I was missing. But having stepped into the light of that amazing intense spiritual experience, I was exceedingly blessed well beyond my expectations.
Here’s the thing. When we focus on our discomfort and unsettledness in our recovery journey, we are walking around the light rather than going all in. When we are drawn away by the distractions circumstances and relationship issues, the tendency is to put the focus on our problems and how we can attempt to fix or manage them on our own. We tend to doubt that God is good and wanting to bless us from His heart of love for us. We are in effect double-minded and, on our own, step out of the light of the goodness of God. We then wonder why we aren’t blessed enough. Instead, we wallow in the mire of instability and discontentment.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:6-8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the light of your life—the light of all life—and as you step outside of the boat of your circumstances, no matter how burdened you might feel, He can and will bless you exceedingly, well beyond your expectations from the bounty of all that is His. If you find yourself standing in the back, attracted to what you see going on (whether it be something in the Bible, something at a church service, something at a recovery meeting, or something you see in someone else living in the light), take courage and take the next step into the light. Don’t be content any longer walking around the light when you know it’s better in it. As it good as it might feel to stand in the warm light of the sun on a cool day, imagine what it is to immerse yourself into the light of God in an experiential relationship with Christ. Tell Him that you want what He wants and has for you and then walk right on into it. Go all in.
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:31-32 (NLT)
- How might you be on the outside looking in to what it really is to experience all that God wants and has for you in your relationship with Christ?
- Describe a specific time or situation when you experienced something powerful from God in your relationship with Christ?
- What would you say were the differences or distinctions between the answers to the last two questions? What was happening in your life in either case?
- Describe a time or two when you felt like God was holding out on you or withholding blessing from you?
- What were you praying and believing God for?
- What was the outcome of that situation?
- What did that feel like for you? How did it define your perception of who God is in relationship with you?
- How would you describe or define your relationship with Jesus Christ?
- How might you be distracted from pursuing what God wants and has for you in your relationship with Jesus?
- What does it mean to you to be seeking what God wants and has for you?
- How might you be double-minded and not receiving what God wants and has for you according to what He has promised?
- What and/or whom, when you really think it through, are you putting your trust and hope in for the life that you want? Spouse? Ideal of present or future spouse? Children? Career? Money? Possessions? Yourself?
- What motivates your prayer experience?
- Would you say that you are all in in your relationship with God? Explain.
- What would you say needs to change in your will and life so that you can step out of the boat of your comfort zone and into—all the way into—the light of God’s merciful provident love in your daily experience?
- How confident are you that if you trust solely in the graciousness of God in relationship with Christ that your life will be better—much better—for having done so?
- Please take some time now to talk to God, asking Him to reveal Himself to you in the way that sparks faith. It’s not about how much faith that you have; either you believe that God loves you or you don’t. If God is God and loves you so much that He did not spare His own son He knows died for you, how much does He want to bless you in relationship with you. Pray that God will help you to, not put your faith in faith since faith by itself is worthless, but to trust Him who loves you and wants so much to bless you out of His abundance.
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