First Post of 2011 for Celebrate Recovery

Happy New Year and congratulations on making it through another year! I am so excited that 2011 is here and 2010 is gone and past. Whether it was great, challenging, unbearable, difficult or joy-filled, I am praying that 2011 will be the greatest year of your life!!

I also believe that 2011 will be the best year for Celebrate Recovery too. And here is why, “Because I believe in you!”
God believes in you and I believe in you. We believe that you have what it takes to experience the transforming healing power of Jesus Christ to set you free from ALL your hurts, ALL your habits, and ALL your hang-ups once and for all.

I want to remind you as we start the year about a couple of truths about God:

• There are no hopeless cases or people in God’s eyes. In fact, the more hopeless or helpless you are, the easier it is for God to fix. Jeremiah 32:27 says: I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
• God has not given up on you so don’t you give up on God. Luke 15:20 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
• God is not angry with you and wants to reveal His love to you on a deeper level. Psalm 86:15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
• God does not want you to walk around with so much guilt and shame. Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
• God’s word is living and active and has the power to set us free. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. John 8:32 then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
• Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. To know truth is to know Jesus Christ personally and Christ is the pathway to freedom. John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
• God wants to use you at Celebrate Recovery. Did you know that you are God’s masterpiece that He created to do great things for Him? Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. If you have ever suffered, God wants to use you. If you have ever had trouble, God wants to use you. If you ever felt like you were crushed and overwhelmed beyond your ability to endure and would never live through it, God wants to use you. 2 Corinthians 1:3-10NLT All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you.
Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.
We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.
I hope these simple yet profound truths about God encourage you today to trust and follow him more deeply this year.

Be Blessed and Encouraged

Bill Rieser