CR 01-01 Principle One - Denial Lesson D-E

The main idea of this information is about the first principle of recovery, which is to admit powerlessness over hurts, hangups, and habits. Denial is a major obstacle to recovery and must be faced. The power to change comes from God's grace, and we need a higher power, Jesus Christ, to restore us. Denial disables our feelings and drains our energy. We must let go of pride, worry, escape, resentment, loneliness, emptiness, selfishness, and separation. We need to recognize our weaknesses and turn our lives over to God. The journey of recovery begins with admitting powerlessness and seeking God's help. Principle 1. Realize I'm not God. I admit that I am powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing, and that my life is unmanageable. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5.3 Our Amazing Recovery journey starts with Principle 1, where we admit that we are powerless to control our hurts, hangups, and habits, and that our lives have become unmanageable, out of control. But before we begin this exciting journey, we need to ask ourselves the following two questions. Are we wearing a mask of denial over what do we really have control? Let's look at the first question. Are we wearing a mask of denial? Before we can make any progress in our recovery, we need to face our denial. As soon as we remove our mask, our recovery begins, or begins again. It doesn't matter whether we're new in recovery or we've been in the process and working the principles and steps for years. Denial can rear its ugly head and return at any time. We may trade addictions or get into a new relationship that's unhealthy for us in a different way than a previous one. God says in Jeremiah 6.14, They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace. Denial is serious. We can't heal our wounds, hurts, hangups, and habits by pretending they're not there. Following our six negative effects denial has had on our lives. D. Disable our feelings. E. Energy drain. N. Negates our growth. I. Isolates us from God. A. Alienates us from other human relationships. L. Lengthens our pain. As soon as we start working on this principle and admit that we're powerless, we begin to change. We see that our old ways of trying to control our hurts, hangups, and habits didn't work. Our attempts were buried by our denial and our problems were held close by our false sense of power. This leads us to the second question we need to answer. Over what do we really have control? In principle one, we recognize our need to admit our powerlessness. Our lust for the power to control is rooted in our weaknesses, not in our strength. We need to realize our human weaknesses and turn our lives over to God. Jesus knew this would be difficult. How difficult? He said this about a related issue, but it applies here as well. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19, 26. The following acrostic demonstrates what happens when we admit we're powerless. We begin to let go of the following serenity robbers. P for pride. O for only if. W for worrying. E for escape. R for resentment. L for loneliness. E for emptiness. S for selfishness. And S for separation. The power to change comes only from God's grace. In principle one, we start working and living the program in earnest. When we admit we're powerless, we go on to recognize that we need a power greater than ourselves to restore us. That power is the one and only true higher power, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12, 1 invites us. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. This verse spells out two important insights as we begin our recovery journey. First, God has a particular race, a unique plan for each of us. A plan for good, not a life consumed with dependencies, addictions, and obsessions. The second thing is that we need to be willing to get rid of all the unnecessary baggage, our hurts, hangups, and habits. And our lives that keep us stuck. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. Working through the eight principles will allow us to discover God's plan and purpose for our lives. The journey begins by taking the first step. The first step of the Christ-centered 12 steps relates to principle one. Step one, we admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable. I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Principle one prayer. Dear God, your word tells me that I can't heal my hurts, hangups, and habits just by saying they're not there. Help me. Parts of my life, or all of my life, are out of control. I now know that I can't fix myself. It seems that the harder I try to do the right thing, the more I struggle. Lord, I want to step out of my denial into the truth. I pray for you to show me the way. In your son's name, amen. Principle one lessons. Principle one lessons. Denial. Go to 2 Peter 2.19, page 1560. Powerless. Go to Proverbs 29.23, page 780. Denial lesson. Principle one. 2 Peter 2.19, page 1560. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity. For people are slaves to whatever has mastered them. The power to change comes only through God's grace. Principle one states, realize I'm not God. I admit I'm powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing, and that my life has become unmanageable. If we admit that we're powerless, we recognize our need for power greater than ourselves to restore us. That power is our higher power, the one and only true higher power, Jesus Christ. In principle one, we discover that we've been in denial of our hurts, hangups, and habits. The D in denial stands for disables our feelings. Hiding these feelings, stuffing them down, living in denial freezes our emotions and binds us. Allowing ourselves to feel and then to understand those feelings is where we begin to find freedom. The basic test of freedom isn't what we're free to do, but what we're free not to do. In recovery, alcoholics find that they're free not to take that next drink. We find freedom to experience our true feelings when we meet Christ and step out of denial. Romans 7-18 sums up the situation for all sinful human beings. I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. We all want desperately to do the right thing. But because of our hurts, hangups, and habits, no matter how hard we try, in our own power we always fall short. We end up doing precisely what we really don't want to do. In principle one, we finally face the reality that we're not God. We admit that we're powerless to control our tendency to do the wrong thing and that our lives have become unmanageable. Our recovery journey has begun. The second letter in denial is E. Go to Psalm 146, 7-8, on page 736. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free. The Lord gives sight to the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. Psalm 146, 7-8. Power to change comes only through God's grace. Principle one states, realize I'm not God. I admit that I'm powerless to control my tendency to do the wrong thing and that my life has become unmanageable. If we admit that we're powerless, we recognize our need for a power greater than ourselves to restore us. That power is our higher power, the one and only true higher power, Jesus Christ. In principle one, we discover that we've been in denial of our hurts, hangups, and habits. The next letter in denial is E, which stands for energy drain. A major side effect of denial is anxiety. Anxiety causes us to waste precious energy dealing with past hurts and failures, as well as with fear of the future. As we go through the principles, we'll learn that the positive change can occur only in the present. Worrying about the past and dreading the future both limit our ability to live happy and productive lives and to enjoy God's plans for us in the present. We can easily allow our past failures as well as our fears and worries about the future to paralyze us. The truth is that the only lasting way to break free from the tyranny of our fears and worries is to hand them over to God. If we want to be free from our hurts, hangups, and habits, we need to deal with our past failures, resentments, hurts, shame, and guilt once and for all. We need to claim the good sense of God's instruction to his people in Isaiah 43, 18. Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. That doesn't mean we're supposed to ignore the past. Instead, we need to learn from the past. Offer forgiveness, make amends, and then toss out yesterday's leftover garbage. Only then can we experience release from our guilt, grudges, and grief. In Philippians 3, 13 through 14, the Apostle Paul challenges us to follow his example. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Paul had a lot to regret. He had even participated in the murder of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. But because he was able to accept God's complete forgiveness, Paul found the strength to start over. Jesus went to the cross so that all our sins could be forgiven. Christ knows every good and bad thing we've ever done, as well as everything we've ever experienced. And in spite of it all, he loves us so much that he wants to give us a second chance. The second chance begins for us as we work the first principle. Hebrews 13, 6 tells us that we can say with confidence, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? We may worry about our future and be afraid to change. We all worry about those areas in life over which we lack personal control or the power to change. That's why, as we begin our recovery, we need to restore the serenity prayer in our heart. We may have been stuck in our hurt, hang-up, or harmful habit for so long that it has become part of how we perceive our identity. Part of who we feel we are. We may be thinking, what will happen if I really give recovery a chance? Will I change? If I give up my old hurt, hang-ups, and habits, what would be left of me? What will I become? Who will I be? We may have been abusing alcohol, prescription drugs, or food. We're afraid of what we may do without our substance of choice. We may have been enabling someone else in a dysfunctional relationship for years. Perhaps we wonder, what if I change and my alcoholic husband changes? Perhaps we wonder, what if I change and my alcoholic husband gets mad at me? The truth, though, is that we can face the possibility of change without doubt of fear. Because as we grow in our recovery, we discover with increasing confidence that the Lord is indeed our helper. 1 John 4.18 offers us encouragement. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Even if our past has been extremely painful, we may resist change and the freedom that can be found in starting to work through Principle 1. Because of our fear of the unknown or our lack of motivation caused by despair or overwhelming feelings of guilt or worthlessness, we close our minds to the possibility of positive change. If we would just transfer the energy required to maintain our denial into learning God's truth, a healthy love for others and for ourselves would begin to emerge. As we depend more and more on our higher power, Jesus Christ, we'll begin ever more clearly to see the light of truth in reality. That's why we need to claim Psalm 146, 7-8. The next letter in denial is N. Go to Psalm 107, 13-14, page 709.