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The ABC’s of Overcomers
The Context
“…They [followers of Jesus] overcame him [Satan] by the blood
of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony [belief and
proclamation of what God says about their redemption]” —Revelation Twelve Successive
Stages A. Recognized our need for
power greater than our own
1. We realized and admitted we lacked
peace on the inside, had an issue we wanted to live without (2
Corinthians 1:9; Romans 7:18; 2 Corinthians 12:9). 2.
Came to believe that God could set us free of our issue, provide the
peace on the inside, sanity. (Proverbs 28:26; Romans 5:8-9; Psalm
30:2-3; Mark 9:23) B.
Changed Our Direction and Attitudes
3. Made a decision to turn our will
and our lives over to the care of God as
we understood Him.
(Proverbs 3:5-6; Galatians 2:19-20; Romans 12:1; Psalm
40:1-2) 4.
Made a prayerful, searching, and fearless inventory of our mistaken
basic assumption for meeting our needs of self-worth, and a confidential
moral inventory of ourselves… (Lamentations 3:40-41; Psalm 139:23; Matthew 7:3-5) a.
We pinpointed whatever problem
emotions exist b.
We defined our goal (e.g. money) c.
We identified our goal-oriented
(problem) behavior d.
We identified problem thinking e.
We
took a prayerful moral inventory of ourselves Important: We realized the
understanding from this study was necessary to complete the practical
steps of Stage 4, as well as Stages 5, 6, and 7. 5.
Admitted to ourselves, to God, and to another trustworthy human being
the exact nature of our shortcomings (Jas 6. Were in agreement with God for Him
to remove all these defects of character
(Jas. 4:7, 10;
Jer. 10:23-24; Heb. 12:1-2; Hos. 10:12; Micah 7:18-20) 7. Humbly
asked God to remove our shortcomings (Isa.
66:2; 1 John 1:9; Isa. 1:18-19) We: ·
Wrote out ·
Meditated
on ·
Proclaimed ·
Declared ·
Held onto ·
Rested in ·
Expressed
gratitude to God regarding ·
Praised
God regarding ·
Worshiped
regarding… …the biblical assumption,
promise, blessing, or prophecy of
Stage 6 (Prv. 4:20-22; Jeremiah 23:29; Isaiah 55:11; Mark 4:20,26-28;
Rom. 10:9-10,17; 2 Cor. 10:5-6; Rev. 12:11). After we knew that
we knew that we knew in our heart of hearts, that we had already received the
security / significance / healing / provision for us of Stage 6, we prayed the
prayer of faith for the same (Jas. 5:14-16; Mk. 4:26-29; 11:22-24; 1 Jn.
5:14-15). This stage (7) is
the one stage that we often did not complete before undertaking the next
stage—Stage 8, and then Stage 9. Important: We realized the
understanding from this study was necessary to complete the practical
steps of this stage. 8.
Made
a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to
them all (Matt.
5:23-24; 6:14-15) 9. Made direct amends to such people
wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others (Mark
11:24-26; 2 Cor.
For additional practical help with this stage, review Chapter 12 of J.
Keith Miller’s important book, A Hunger for Healing 10.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it (Ps. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation
to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of
God's will for us and the power to carry that out. (Proverbs
2:3-5; Psalm 1:2; James 5:13; Romans 8:26; Colossians 3:16) C.
Helped Others
12.
Having had a deeper faith and relationship as the result of these
Stages, became more and more of a living blessing of God, trying to carry
this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs. (I Peter 3:15; Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 96:2-4;
Galatians 6:1; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Important: We realized that if we could not undertake Stage
4 or any subsequent Stage, we hadn’t completed Stage 3. We strongly recommend these simple yet
extremely effective resources for this rewarding three-phase, twelve-stage
process:
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Enlist the help of others — others
who love Jesus the Christ and love you |
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