{"id":1055,"date":"2010-11-02T13:02:43","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T18:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2013-07-21T11:13:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T16:13:39","slug":"twirl-014-11210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/lessons\/twirl-014-11210","title":{"rendered":"TWIRL 014 (11\/2\/10)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This Week In Recovery Lesson<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Transformative Recovery:\u00a0Outside In\/Inside Out<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While God\u2019s love for us is unconditional, the quality of relationship we have with God is conditional. This is evident throughout Scripture. Relationships always have a when-then quality to them. When one thing happens in relationship, then another thing happens in response.\u00a0This is true of every relationship you have. It is not a theory; it&#8217;s a fact. You apply this fact about relationships to one degree or another everyday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Don&#8217;t believe it? Confront the person in your life that is representative of the best, most loving, mutually compatible relationship you have, and be disgustingly rude to him or her. Be arrogantly selfish and obnoxious. Say horrible things. You don&#8217;t even have to cheat on your spouse to drastically alter the character, mood, and attitude he or she exhibits toward you. A few choice words ought to do the trick. You might be saying, &#8220;Oh, he&#8217;d forgive me&#8221; or, &#8220;She&#8217;s above that sort of thing&#8221;. Depending on how\u00a0awful the thing is that you say or do, it could be awhile for things to return to &#8220;normal&#8221;, at least to the way they were, even after you tell your spouse that what you did was an experiment that you read written by a Christian Recovery Counselor. This paragraph was written to make a point, please do not go test the waters on this one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The truth about even our most loving relationships is that one person or the other is at least slightly dominant in the relationship. Why? Because there is always someone in the relationship at least slightly more interested and invested than the other emotionally. This can be tricky because this truth and be skewed by the reality that one person in the relationship is at least a little bit more secure about themselves in the relationship than the other. So,\u00a0the power in the relationship belongs to the least interested party. This does not mean, necessarily, that one loves more or less than the other; it simply means that the one who is more secure and less\u00a0temperamentally\u00a0sensitive will tend to have the power in the relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We will come back to this again later on but for now the question is this: In your relationship with God&#8212;Jesus Christ, who has the power?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Considering the power of the least interested party principle, who would you say really has the power in your relationship with God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you responded that God has the power in the relationship, does your life reflect that?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you answered &#8220;yes&#8221;, please explain how your life reflects that God has the power and authority in your life.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you answered &#8220;no&#8221; (Thank you for your honesty), please indicated how having the power in relationship with God affects the relationship.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What would you say is the benefit to you to be more invested in your relationship with God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What would you say is the cost\/consequence of being less invested in your relationship with God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you need for your life to be transformed by God into something better? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Will you submit to the lordship of Christ (lordship means authority) by surrendering unto Him your will in order to experience the transformative power of God in your life?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Submission\/surrender is the\u00a0WHEN\u00a0that is the condition to be committed&#8212;invested completely&#8212;in your relationship with God.\u00a0To experience the life of\u00a0empowering transformative recovery, you need to be\u00a0about the\u00a0WHEN\u00a0in the relationship. God\u00a0THEN\u00a0will\u00a0change you into something new.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Until you let go of all of the stuff in our life holds you down and keeps you stuck, you will wallow in double-minded beliefs and intentions, holding back the power of God who loves you and wants so much to set you free. But as long as you are holding on to the stuff&#8212;and you know what the &#8220;stuff&#8221; is that you&#8217;re holding on to&#8212;you hold on to the power and push back what God wants and will generously do for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Therefore, I urge you, brothers,\u00a0in view of God&#8217;s mercy, to\u00a0offer\u00a0your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God\u2014this is your spiritual\u00a0act of worship.\u00a0Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but\u00a0betransformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God&#8217;s will is\u2014his good, pleasing and perfect will.\u00a0Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What We Do&#8212;<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\">God desires to completely transform your life&#8212;every aspect of how you live&#8212;for your own good so that you will have a far better life.<\/span><\/h3>\n<dl><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There is\u00a0what we do\u00a0in this transformative relationship, and there is what God does. What we do is offer our bodies to God sacrificially with our actions&#8211;our behavior. It is what we do with our eyes and our ears. It is what we do with what goes in and what comes out of our mouths. It is what we reach for with our arms and hold on to with our hands. It is where we go with our legs and where we stay with our feet (Romans 12:1). It is with our bodies that we give in to selfish urges and fall into addictive patterns, and with our bodies that we quit giving in.<\/span><\/dl>\n<dl id=\"attachment_439\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There is\u00a0what we do\u00a0from the\u00a0outside in\u00a0when we offer ourselves sacrificially to God by the way we behave with our bodies.\u00a0Then there is\u00a0what God does in us\u00a0from the\u00a0inside out\u00a0to completely transform us by the full renewing of our minds&#8212;literally rearranging our brain chemistry so as to empower us to live better and to think and feel healthier. God exchanges our desires and intentions with His desires and intentions. We then can resist self-centered addictive urges through the power of prayer and actually live in freedom, proving that God&#8217;s plan for us is perfect and beautiful. (Romans 12:1-2)\u00a0What we do is weoffer\u00a0our bodies to God. Notice that the word &#8216;offer&#8217; is an action verb.<\/span><\/dl>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8212;Why would you say Romans 12:1 begins, &#8220;In view of God&#8217;s mercy&#8221;?<\/span><\/p>\n<dl>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How do you offer your body to God with&#8230;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/dl>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your brain?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your face?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your eyes?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your nose?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your ears?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your mouth?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your arms?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your hands?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your legs?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your feet?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your sexuality?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world.&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What are patterns of behavior (lifestyle) and attitudes in the world that this Scripture might be referring to?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #000000;\">What about the patterns of this world have an addictive element to them? Describe how the patterns you identified above are or have the potential to be addictive.<\/li>\n<li style=\"color: #000000;\">How would you say these addictive patterns have affected your life with regard to&#8230;<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your relationships?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your activities?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your time?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your diet?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your attitudes?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your lifestyle?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your idle time?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your &#8220;idol&#8221; time?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you communicate?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you problem solve?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you protect yourself?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you build confidence?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you manage pain?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you manage anxiety and stress?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How you relate to God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What do your responses to the previous question indicate concerning your ability to commit your recovery into God&#8217;s care?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Please refer to this week&#8217;s <a class=\"wp-oembed\" title=\"Open TWRAC 014\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/twrap\/twrap-014-11210\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color: #003366;\">TWRAC 014<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=TWIRL+014+%2811%2F2%2F10%29\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/lessons\/twirl-014-11210\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Week In Recovery Lesson Transformative Recovery:\u00a0Outside In\/Inside Out While God\u2019s love for us is unconditional, the quality of relationship we have with God is conditional. This is evident throughout Scripture. Relationships always have a when-then quality to them. When &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/lessons\/twirl-014-11210\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lessons","category-twirl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1055"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1055\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}