Matthew 5:2-12
And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. --
This first Principle, being "poor in spirit" refers to our realizing that we cannot control our tendency to do the wrong thing, and it corresponds to AA's Step One: "We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. --
Principle Two says that we believe that God exists, that we matter to Him, and that He is the One Who has the power and authority to change me, to help me recover and heal. This corresponds to Step Two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. (Insanity is defined as doing the same thing, expecting a different outcome. To make a change, we need to change.)
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. --
Principle three has me deliberately choosing to give my life to Jesus, to commit all my life and will and desires to Christ's care and His control. Step Three states that: We made a decision to turn our lives and wills over to the care of our Higher Power.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. --
This is Principle Five, being willing to let God change me, and asking Him to do so, however He chooses. This corresponds to Step Six: We were entirely ready to have God remove all our defects of character; and Step Seven: We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. --
This is Part One of Principle Six, to evaluate all my relationships, and offer forgiveness to all who have hurt me or harmed me in any way. It corresponds to Step Eight: We made a list of all persons [who had harmed us, or] we had harmed, and become willing to [forgive and] make amends to them all.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. --
This is Principle Four, to openly examine myself, and admit to myself, to God, and to someone else I trust, all my faults and shortcomings. Step Four says: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves; and Step Five says: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. --
Part Two of Principle Six, Evaluate all my relationships, and make amends for harm I've done to others, except when it would cause more harm to bring it up openly. Step Nine says: We made direct amends to these people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for in the same way they persecuted the prophets which went before you. --
Principle Eight says to yield ourselves to God to be used by him to bring His Good News to others, both by my example and by my words. Often, and in many parts of the world today, to speak out boldly for God and His ways will bring opposition, or worse. Step Twelve says: Having had a spiritual experience as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Principle Seven is to have an appointment with God every day for self-examination, Bible reading and study, and prayer; in order to know God and His will for my life and to gain His power to follow His will. Step Ten says: We continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it; and Step Eleven is: We 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.
I left these in the order the Bible lists them, rather than the order of the Principles or Steps. The order of the Steps and Principles are a logical progression of the levels to master in order to attain spiritual, moral and psychological healing. I've found that to skip one to go on to the next will cause me to get "stuck" and stop making progress, and I had to go back to the one I skipped. And only one time through will get to all the surface issues; to go deeper for greater healing, I needed to repeat these steps several times.
If you want healing and cleansing, you can't do it by yourself. Find a Celebrate Recovery group in your neighborhood, and don't be afraid to go. "Those people" are all of us. Maybe you aren't addicted to drugs, or alcoholic, or relationship obsessed, but we all have been wounded, and have wounded others in our lives.
And Jesus is coming soon. Be prepared to see Him.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
