He Holds Us in Place, Not Ourselves

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, pg 85)

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 24, 25)

AA is not a program based on God, but a program based on self. God, as we understood Him, is merely a prop for putting men and women into a set of steps which never end, a program which never takes a man anywhere but back to his failed self. Even in Celebrate Recovery programs, which hopefully are losing members faster than they get them, leaders will admit that they see before themselves nothing but a life of "forever recovering."

No, there is not higher power of my choosing, but rather a set of rules through which the Higher Power is filtered. In effect, men and women will end up worshipping themselves and their own efforts, even though they talk about God and "turning their will and life over to a Power Greater than themselves."

The Bible could not be clearer about what believers in Christ receive when the believe on Him whom the Father has sent (John 6: 29):

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

We receive everything that we need in Christ. Paul did not pray for the fired-up Ephesian Christians to receive more, but to receive a revelation of all that they had, and by extension, what we have in Christ:

"17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, " (Ephesians 1: 17-20)

In Ephesians chapter three, Paul prays:

"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3: 16-19)

In effect, our job is not to hold onto God, even, but rather see how much God is holding us and to see what He is giving us as well.

Well did Jude, Jesus' half-brother, write to Christians, to all who believe on the Name of Jesus:

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 24, 25)

It's not our job to stay close to God. He already lives in us, He keeps us, and He is the one who presents us without fault before God, since we have been made the righteounsess of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)