Celebrate Recover: Lesson 21- Relapse

December 27, 2023

Principle 7: Reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, Bible reading, and prayer in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain the power to follow His will.

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out.

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly. -Colossians 3:16

As you move forward in your recovery journey, it is important to safeguard yourself against relapse. Although most of us think of someone relapsing early in their recovery journey, it is not uncommon for someone further along to relapse as well. This lesson will provide ways to help keep yourself diligent and focused on your recovery.

Keeping your eyes on Jesus is the only way to prevent relapse.

I am reminded of Matthew 14:28-32, when Peter (one of Jesus’ disciples) walked on water.

Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

As long as Peter had his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on the water. Yet when he let the wind and waves around him distract him, he began to sink. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, He will give us the strength and the power to continue in our recovery journey.

Reserve a daily quiet time

During your daily quiet time, focus on Bible reading, prayer, and self-reflection. What is God telling you through His Spirit and His Word?

Evaluate

Be sure to evaluate your well-being. If we can understand how we are feeling and why we are feeling that way, we can take care of our needs in a much healthier and beneficial way.

Celebrate Recovery recommends doing a “H-E-A-R-T” check. Ask yourself if you fall into any of these categories:

Hurting
Exhausted
Angry
Resentful
Tense

Once we can identify our condition, we can use the tools that we have gathered to take care of ourselves in uplifting and healthy ways.

Listen to Jesus

This point goes along with reserving a daily time with God. Be sure to allow some time for God to speak to you and help you in your recovery and throughout your life.

If listening to Jesus is new or seems odd, don’t write it off. Jesus speaks to us in a variety of ways. Sometimes it is something we gain from reading the Bible. Other times it is a conviction or a strong feeling we get about something.

If you are a believer, God has give you His Holy Spirit to help guide you and direct you. As long as you are open to His leading, He will begin to speak to you in a way that is unique and just for you.

Alone and quiet time

Many of the points in this acrostic are redundant. Alone and quiet time is simply taking the time to focus on Jesus. The more time you spend with Him the closer you become to Him.

A relationship with Jesus is just like any other relationship. It requires time and commitment.

Plug into God’s power

Just like anything in life, we can’t benefit from God’s power if we don’t utilize it.

Imagine plugging your phone into a dead outlet. You may think it is charging, but as your battery continues to drain you realize something is not working as it should. So you plug your phone into another dead outlet. It still isn’t charging and you begin to wonder if something is wrong with your phone. After several tries, you finally find an outlet that works and your phone begins to charge.

We can choose to invest our time and energy into many things in this life that promise fulfillment. It could be a relationship, a good job, or even volunteer work. Eventually, those things will let us down and we will realize that we are running on empty- our battery is almost dead.

We begin to wonder what is wrong with us. Just like we would question our phone, we think that maybe we are broken, that we can’t do things on our own, that this is just the way we are. We begin to lose hope.

Then we turn to Jesus. We plug ourselves into Him- the only outlet and power source that truly gives life- and find that as He recharges us, we begin to heal. We have new life and a new hope.

His power in us isn’t an instant fix. Just like our phones take time to charge, so do we. It takes time to heal the damage that life has caused us. It takes time to fight addiction and sin in our lives. It takes time to develop a relationship with Jesus and to learn how to use the power He freely gives those who believe in Him.

God’s power is the only power in this life that satisfies, and the only one that truly works.

Slow down long enough to hear God’s answer.

We are used to a world that supplies answers to our questions in an instant. We can ask Google or Siri or Alexa a question and receive an answer in seconds. We can walk into a store or browse to an internet site and order just about any material thing we can think of.

It is easy to become frustrated when we don’t receive an answer from God right away. God answers our prayers in His time, not our own. He knows what is best for us, what we need, and when we need it. Be patient and take the time to listen to Him. He might be trying to speak to you in ways that could be missed if you move too fast.

Enjoy your growth.

Recovery, just like living a Christian life, is a journey. For those of us who are in recovery and happen to be believers, the two journeys intertwine into one. Our progress in our recovery is often a reflection of our progress and growth as a believer.

Don’t forget to celebrate your victories, even if they are small. Share your growth with others, as that will both encourage them and will spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who may desperately need to hear it.