Step 11: The Connection: The With-God Life; Step 12: The Vocation: Helping Others
Daily Scripture
Philippians 4:6-8, Colossians 3:2, Jeremiah 29:13-14, Hebrews 12:1
Philippians 4
6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. 7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.
8 From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.
Colossians 3
2 Think about the things above and not things on earth.
Jeremiah 29
13 When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14 I will be present for you, declares the LORD, and I will end your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you, and I will bring you home after your long exile, declares the LORD.
Hebrews 12
1 So then, with endurance, let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
This week’s GPS has offered a very brief introduction to the Bible principles in John Ortberg’s book Steps. Honestly, this short format has barely skimmed the surface. Click here to learn how to study the book with others. Or read the book and follow the steps.
“The goal of Step 11 is beautifully simple: improve our conscious contact with God…. ‘Improve’ means this is something you can do even if you think you’re terrible at it. This step doesn’t say perfect our conscious contact with God, just get better at it than we are now…. Instead of just trying to avoid the wrong thoughts, we deliberately fix our minds on what is life-giving.” * In Philippians 4 the apostle Paul expressed what may seem impossible: “Don’t be anxious about anything.” But he also pointed to the secret of that: “focus your thoughts.” And step 12 is the ultimate point of it all: “The discovery: the only way to keep sobriety is to give it away. And so it is for us with joy and gratitude and hope and friendship and encouragement.” ** Growing spiritually is not to make me better so I can brag about how much better I am. The point of growing is to be able to help someone else grow. Which produces one more phrase: the mess is the message. I don’t share my dazzling spiritual accomplishments. I share what my honest inventory showed I needed to change, which can encourage someone else to change.
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That’s why Hebrews 12 spoke of running “with endurance.” Living life with God is a marathon, not a sprint. “Often I don’t feel like examining my life, but after I’ve finished, I’ve never regretted having done it. Sometimes I don’t desire to confess my faults to my friend, but afterward I’m always grateful I did. There are days when spending time meditating or serving another person sounds unappealing to me, but I’ve never done it and then said I wish I had that chunk of time to do over. Keep coming back. Just show up. Don’t overthink it. This is why we need community, spiritual friendships, and accountability partners—to remind us of our values. We generally sin alone, but we heal together.” *** And “We are never done. Spirituality is not a skill to be mastered but a life to be lived. Each day brings a new and fresh need for God’s help. Each moment is a new opportunity for surrender.” **** A truly transformed life awaits you, 12 steps away. You can’t; He can. Are you desperate enough for that life to take the 12 steps to get there?
Prayer
Lord God, I come back to where I started. I can’t; you can. I need you desperately; I need the transformed life you offer me more than I need anything else. Please do in me what only you can do. Amen.
GPS Insights
Carol Cartmill
Carol Cartmill serves as Lead Director of Mission Ministries for Resurrection, A United Methodist Church. She provides leadership to mission programs that maximize the congregation’s involvement in life-changing ministry beyond the walls of the church, locally and across the globe. Carol applies her passion for equipping people for ministry, practical experience from working in a multi-location church setting, and an educational background in organizational management and leadership. She is married to Jim, mom to daughters Lauren and Kristin, and “Grammy” to Hayley, Eloise, and Taylor James. In her free time, Carol enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors golfing or gardening, or indoors looking for inspiration on the Food Network.
Lately, I’ve been praying a fairly straightforward prayer that goes something like this, “Lord, help me to focus on your goodness and all of the blessings in life, help me to be a non-anxious presence to everyone I encounter, and guide me as I seek to be used by you for redemptive and productive purposes.” In order to have even a fighting chance to do any of those things, I have to be thoughtful about what I consume in the way of news and social media and instead ground my thoughts in things that are of God rather than the world around me. That doesn’t mean tuning out, but rather not letting what I hear, see, read and experience impact my opinions and actions without first asking the question, “Based on what I know of our good and loving God, what would Jesus want me to do in the situation?”
There’s no way around it. This way of life requires discipline. It takes building worship, prayer, study of Scripture, community with others, giving, and serving intentionally into my life. Last time I checked, there’s only one all-knowing, all-powerful, consistent presence in life, and that is God. Everything needs to be run through the filter of God’s guidance. This is the way of life we are meant to live. God is present in all of it–especially the difficulties and challenges. We aren’t left to navigate life alone.
I simply can’t. God can. I’m going to let him do it. Amen and amen.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Ortberg, John, Steps: A Guide to Transforming Your Life When Willpower Isn’t Enough (p. 237). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
** Ibid., p. 263.
*** Ibid., p. 269.
**** Ibid., p. 271.
