No Copies are Permitted
This is an item that was emailed to me by our friend and Brother member, LooneyLarry from his friend, Kirk Goddard on June 16, 2005. I wish to sincerely thank them for this enlightening and freeing call of action.
"Taking Spiritual Inventory"
"This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father . . . to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27).
"Keeping yourself unstained by the world is an important test of your spiritual condition. The apostle John said, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). At first glance that might sound contradictory since God Himself so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for it (John 3:16). But John 3:16 refers to the inhabited earth--the people for whom Christ died. First John 2:15 refers to the evil world system in which we live, which includes the life-styles, philosophies, morality, and ethics of our sinful culture. That world and everything it produces is passing away (1 John 2:16-17).
James 4:4 says, "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." Those are strong words but compromise is intolerable to God. You can't be His friend and a friend of the world at the same time!
Separation from the world is the final element of true religion mentioned in James chapter one. Before progressing to chapter two, take a final spiritual inventory based on the checklist provided in verses 26-27: (1) Do you control your tongue? Review the quality of your conversation often. What does it reveal about the condition of your heart? Are there speech habits you need to change? (2) Do you demonstrate love for others? Do you have a sincere desire to help those in need? When you do help, are your motives pure, or are you simply trying to sooth your conscience or make others think more highly of you? (3) Do you remain unstained by the world? What is your attitude toward the world? Do you want to win it for Christ and remain unstained by its evil influences, or do you want to get as much out of it as you possibly can?
Suggestions for Prayer:
If your spiritual inventory reveals any sinful motives or practices, confess them and begin to change today.
For Further Study:
Reread James 1:19-27, reviewing the principles you've learned from those verses."
"Taking Spiritual Inventory" Continued p. 2
I have personally taken action and done painstaking, spiritual inventories on a regular basis for 11 years now. There are just a few more preluding things that I do before I am ready to take a "searching and fearless, moral inventory of myself" whereby I can prepare myself to be fit enough to take a sincere Spiritual Inventory. For those of you with a "program" you know what these preluding things are. For those of you who don't have a "program" you do not know. In brief, I will explain what they are after I quote our topic: "Taking Spiritual Inventory"
One of the things I do, is "admit that I am powerless" p.5 over people, places, and things. I cannot control others, I cannot control institutions, and I cannot control situations such as results of which I have not control over. Admitting that to myself and to others frees me from the rediculous notion that I am with ego driven ritiousness, more than as I truly am. I am nothing without a "Higher Power", or God of my understanding in my life. I am not my "Higher Power" nor am I God, and I do not have that kind of control over anything or anyone. This brings me to a humble place where I may be more receptive to change. The reason for banning the previously mentioned ideas is that sometimes my ego gets away from me and it becomes necessary for me to real it in and put it back into its place.
When I am functioning with E.G.O., I am not of service, I am not humble, I am not working with or for the Lord, I am in fact, working against the Lord as mentioned in the exerpt below. That is why I do a Spiritual Inventory often. In a program that I now have built a solid foundation of my life upon, one of the acronyms that I persistently recall is E.G.O., Eases God Out. I do my best to remain humble and be of service by recalling that acronym. These things are what I feel, make me a better person, and if I can, anyone can.
"Taking Spiritual Inventory" Continued p. 3 Two, since I have admitted that I am powerless and recognized that I am no longer in charge of anything except for me. By that I mean, what I think, what I say and what I do, I am totally responsible for that every day. Since I have put myself back in my place, someone has to be in charge. Thoroughly convinced of that fact, I realize that the only one I can trust to put me back in proper perspective is my only real source of "Higher Power".
I choose to utilize a "Higher Power" whom I have always called, "God" the Father, the Almighty creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crusified, died, and was buried. He decended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. (For those of you who do not believe this way please feel free to replace with your own belief, I have to go with what I know on this, so please, take no offense). I had to sincerely believe that God would restore me to sanity without a doubt in my mind.
"Taking Spiritual Inventory" Continued p. 4 The third thing that I needed to do occurred to me after I had done the second thing. I still wasn't satisfied. To utilize was not the proper approach! I needed to surrender completely. I had to recognize that I was in complete conflict between two wills here and my behavior inbetweent those two wills was completely wrong! I had to surrender to one of those wills and my free will was absolutely not the one I needed to choose. My free will is the will that got me in a spiritual mess in the first place. So what I did was I "made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as we understood Him."
For me all of these things had to take place before I could complete a thorough, sincere, fearless and searching, moral (spiritual) inventory. As you can see, there are three preluding phases that take place in the biblical version of this process as well. Granted my explination is a little different, I tried my best to base it on my own personal experience so that you could put yourself in my place and actually visualize yourself through the process of becoming completely honest with yourself. It is such an awesome process. After you have completed the Spiritual Inventory, please don't hesitate to ask me what is next . . . . . . . . I can't wait to tell you! ! The next phase is such a gift!
This item has been reinserted for your re-review and convenience as a courtesy. p. 5
"Taking Spiritual Inventory"
"This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father . . . to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27).
Keeping yourself unstained by the world is an important test of your spiritual condition. The apostle John said, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). At first glance that might sound contradictory since God Himself so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for it (John 3:16). But John 3:16 refers to the inhabited earth--the people for whom Christ died. First John 2:15 refers to the evil world system in which we live, which includes the life-styles, philosophies, morality, and ethics of our sinful culture. That world and everything it produces is passing away (1 John 2:16-17).
James 4:4 says, "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." Those are strong words but compromise is intolerable to God. You can't be His friend and a friend of the world at the same time!
Separation from the world is the final element of true religion mentioned in James chapter one. Before progressing to chapter two, take a final spiritual inventory based on the checklist provided in verses 26-27: (1) Do you control your tongue? Review the quality of your conversation often. What does it reveal about the condition of your heart? Are there speech habits you need to change? (2) Do you demonstrate love for others? Do you have a sincere desire to help those in need? When you do help, are your motives pure, or are you simply trying to sooth your conscience or make others think more highly of you? (3) Do you remain unstained by the world? What is your attitude toward the world? Do you want to win it for Christ and remain unstained by its evil influences, or do you want to get as much out of it as you possibly can?
Suggestions for Prayer:
If your spiritual inventory reveals any sinful motives or practices, confess them and begin to change today.
For Further Study:
Reread James 1:19-27, reviewing the principles you've learned from those verses."
Citation: Quotations have been taken from: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., New York, 1992. p. 5. et seqq. Except for quotation of email from Looney-Larry and Kirk Goddard. Thank you to AA and Looney-Larry and Kirk, on behalf of the Brain Injury Support Group, a support site for Brain Injury Survivors, Caregivers, Family and Friends. http://groups.msn.com/BrainInjurySupport
