The Bible is a
strategy guide for spiritual warfare. It is also a manual for recovery for the
wounded. Repeatedly we see its characters and even great spiritual heroes –
David, Simon Peter, the Prodigal Son, Paul the chief of sinners – get back on
their feet after failure. In the gospels we meet the Samaritan woman at the
well, the woman caught in adultery, the penitent thief, and so many others meet
Christ and find forgiveness and recovery.
The gospel is for
sinners. For those who have failed and lost battles while fighting the war
within.
So you know your own
temptations, defeating habits, and persistent struggles. You recognize the sin
that besets you, cripples you, and stifles you. Yet you fall and you fail. What
now? Do you quit? Do you doubt? Do you retreat? You must not! There’s another
choice: recovery. What Jesus did for Peter after his denials, He can do for
you. Let’s learn how.
Turn to John 21.
Possible visual aid – crutch. Represents our need for
help in spiritual recovery.
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As we begin, let me
ask all of you: How many among us know the significance of the date, June 6?
What about June 6, 1944?
It was D-Day, when
the Allies stormed the beach at Normandy. There was a physical, visible,
earthly war. If the Allies had not paid the price and made the sacrifice, our
nation might have been forced to submit to Nazi rule. We might be speaking
German today.
But there was
another battle here at home – an invisible, spiritual battle – going on at the
same time. Stores closed, Wall Street paused, the President led the nation in
prayer, and untold numbers of Americans devoted themselves to prayer.
Check out this
fascinating post from Eric Metaxas:
“BreakPoint: The Spiritual
Battle on D-Day”
And read this
amazing prayer – and exhortation to all Americans to pray – as led by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Franklin Roosevelt's
D-Day Prayer
On D-Day, How did
the spiritual warfare (the nation in prayer) affect the outcome of the military
warfare (Allied troops on the ground)?
War correspondent
Ernie Pyle, who arrived at Normandy on June 7, observed that the Allies
achieved victory “with every advantage on the enemy’s side and every
disadvantage on ours.” Despite this, he wrote, the total Allied casualties
“were remarkably low—only a fraction, in fact, of what our commanders had been
prepared to accept.”
“Now that it is all
over,” Pyle finished, “it seems to me a pure miracle that we ever took the
beach at all.”
Whatever we might
say about D-Day, the truth is that the outcome of our war with sin begins in
the heart. That’s why it’s vital that we understand how to win the war within.
But how can we recover
after we have fallen?
Let’s study John 21
and see how Jesus got Simon Peter back on his feet after his three denials.
Again there is a charcoal fire. Again there are three questions. By Jesus
reenacting the scene where Peter had disowned him previously, He gave Peter the
opportunity to change his answers. In this way Peter could repent of his
failure, be forgiven, and be restored.
Here we went through John 21 and discussed its events.
We compared Jesus’ three questions to Peter’s previous three questions and his
repeated denials. The Greek word for the “charcoal fire” appears only here and
in the texts describing Peter’s denials at a previous charcoal fire.
We noted the possible distinction between agapao and phileo in John 21, but also the fact that Peter was troubled by the fact that
there was a third question. It became obvious to him that Jesus was in a sense
reenacting the scene of the denials and giving Peter a chance to change his
answers. He offered him spiritual recovery so he could win the war within.
We briefly named the
Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and discussed how they might be adapted in
our efforts at spiritual recovery from sin.
1.
We
admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2.
Came
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.
Made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
4.
Made
a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.
Admitted
to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.
Were
entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.
Humbly
asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.
Made
a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them
all.
9.
Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
10.
Continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.
Sought
through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we
understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to
carry that out.
12.
Having
had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this
message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Then we followed with these:
Steps to Recovery
Admit your sin,
temptation, lack of perfection.
Identify your
triggers, choices, and reactions.
Let the past refine
you but not define you.
Surrender more fully
to the Lordship of Christ.
Repent. Reverse.
Retreat. Release. Repeat!
Seek and accept
God’s forgiveness. Yours too.
More Steps to
Recovery
Confess and make
restitution where possible.
Accept God’s
discipline with His forgiveness.
Mine the wreckage to
learn its lessons.
Get godly counsel,
accountability friend(s).
Teach others about
His power to restore.
Move forward,
confident but still cautious.
Some of this
material was suggested by, and adapted from, Winning the War Within, by Charles Stanley.
Possible hymns:
Burdens are Lifted
at Calvary
Restore My Soul
Love Lifted Me
I am Coming, Lord
I am Resolved
I Bring My Sins to
Thee (possible invitation)
Do You Know My
Jesus? (possible invitation)
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