New Life Recovery Garden

07/16/2022

If you can't find peace in your heart and soul, remember this:

"God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!"
Psalms 46:1-3 (NLT)

Depend and trust in God because all else will fall short!

05/02/2022

Franklin Graham doesn't hold back the truth even though it may harm his standing amongst his peers, or the world in general. That's why I respect and admire this Man of God.

In this article, Franklin speaks about the new progressive Christianity that is, in my opinion, taking over Western churches.

Jesus, therefore, was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 8:31-32 (NASB77)

Progressive Christianity is a counterfeit gospel.

04/28/2022

“Daily Reminder to Live By”

This is just a daily reminder for all those who desire to follow Christ, including me. Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” Luke 9:23-25 (NLT)

In other words, we must deny selfish desires and personal will, surrender and submit to God’s will as a “living and holy sacrifice” (Rom.12:1), and progress to be more like Jesus. Oh, and this is very important it’s not just a one-time occurrence; it’s daily or continuously.

This truly is a daily reminder to live by!

04/20/2022

“Survivor’s Guilt”

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jer. 29:11 (NLT)

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”Eph. 2:10 (NLT)

This may sound a little strange, but sometimes I feel a little guilty for escaping the grip of alcohol and drug addiction. Why me? Why did I survive when so many other people succumb to their substance addictions? Often, news of the passing of one of my “partying” friends would cause me to think that it could have been me that didn’t make it.

It seems as though God used more than a few negative occurrences (failed marriage, problems with other relationships, job loss, and legal problems) to get my attention, but I wouldn’t change the way I lived. I had to live my life my way. After all, it was my life to live. Considering my very rebellious attitude, I am amazed that God didn’t give up on me and allow me to be a casualty of my own rebellion.

But God had, and still has, a plan for me – a plan “for good and not for disaster” (Jer. 29:11). He not only saved me, but God also saved me to “do the good things he planned” long ago (Eph. 2:10). But God didn’t force me to submit to His plan. That’s not the way He works. I wasn’t a puppet on a string.

I needed to give up the misconception that I had a “right” to my life and to live it as I pleased. Once I surrendered to Jesus’ Lordship, He was able to take over and use me for His purposes. And that purpose was for me to be a living testimony of God’s extreme love, grace, and mercy. The mercy shown to me is profound; I deserved to die, spiritually and physically, due to my life of rebellion against Him.

Do I still get a touch of survivor’s guilt at times? You bet, but it is always a reminder that I have work to do. I desire to live for Him and spread the good news of salvation, deliverance, and hope through Jesus!

04/16/2022

“Life Priorities”

For me, this recent Lenten season has been a time of reflection and soul-searching. Not only did I reflect on what my Savior, Jesus, had done for me on the cross, but it also was a time of self-evaluation. I asked myself the question, “Am I living the life God intended for me to live?

Hopefully, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I received the answer. The answer was no: I need to reprioritize what I do with the precious gift of life. For those who know my history, you know how significant this is, considering the fact that I’ve been given a second chance to make things right in my life.

During my time of reflection and introspection, a reoccurring thought entered my mind: Time is swiftly passing away. The Gospel writer James wrote in James 4:14: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (NLT). My days are truly numbered, and tomorrow isn’t a certainty. When it comes to living life as I should, there is no time for procrastination or the idea that I’ll get around to it when I have more time. The time is now!

Of course, the next question that kept coming back to me was how should I spend my time? Again, I received great advice, or exhortation, from the Bible: in fact, it comes from Jesus. In Matthew 6:19-12 Jesus says, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matt 6:19-21 (NLT). Storing up treasures in heaven, that’s the answer! It’s not the accumulation of material, temporal things; it’s doing God’s will and accumulating eternal things (treasures).

What are these “treasures in heaven?” Well, I think the answer to that question is becoming clearer in my mind as well. Let’s just say that if we totally surrender to God’s will and obey His greatest commandment to whole-heartedly love Him and others, we will be accumulating treasures in heaven!

Going forward, I hope I can redirect my life and better utilize the time I have left on this earth to do God’s will. I need to trust Him more and realize His plans for me are much better than my own.

Life is short, it’s always time to live it His way!

04/12/2022

“Perfection”

“If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matt 5:46-48 (NLT)

In this passage, Jesus is exhorting His followers to be perfect, as God the Father is perfect. First, let me point out that the word “perfect” as it is used here means “complete or whole,” especially morally. I would go as far as to say that this passage instructs Christ-followers to be complete in love, just like our Heavenly Father.

Is it even possible for us mere humans to fully or completely love God and others? If we were “mere” humans, I believe the answer would be no. However, sincere Christ-followers aren’t mere humans; they have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so everything is possible. There are many bible verses that speak to the fact that God can do anything and that God can do anything in us and through us.

It is Jesus who makes us perfect, or complete. The Gospel writer Luke wrote: “Then he said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?’” Luke 9:23-25 (NLT). If we surrender (“take up your cross”) our will to the will of Jesus, He will do through us what we couldn’t do on our own.

Will we still mess up? Yup, but by God’s grace and power we can desire perfection!

03/20/2022

“Entitled”

“I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.’”
Psalms 16:2 (NLT)

You could definitely say we live in a society where people feel entitled to receive or do everything they want. In the past, we had a word to describe a person, often a child, who received everything he or she wanted: spoiled. We don’t use that adjective much anymore to describe the person who receives everything they want, but maybe we should.

Why were the words spoiled and spoiling used? It’s because the person who receives everything without personal effort doesn’t develop a producer/giver character. Instead of producing (or giving) goods and services, a person who is “spoiled” only learns to consume and take. In addition, the person doesn’t learn responsibility when allowed to receive or do anything their heart desires. The bottom line is that it feeds selfishness and pride.

I would like to offer another reason why having an entitled attitude is detrimental: It will result in a person being incapable of knowing and experiencing God's love, grace, and mercy. To appreciate and experience love, grace, and mercy, a person needs to realize it is an unmerited gift. If people feel entitled, how can they experience receiving a gift or favor?

No one can earn God’s love; it is freely given. Do we deserve God’s love? Are we “entitled” to it? No, the Bible makes it clear: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins” Romans 3:23-24 (NLT).

We need to live and treat others with these facts in mind: All good things come from God, and they are not deserved. Let’s not rob people of experiencing God’s love and grace by enabling them to believe that they are entitled to everything they want or need.

02/14/2022

“Practicing Humility”

Jesus said: “The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Matt 23:11-12 (NLT)

My workplace has provided an unexpected environment for refresher lessons on humility. Over the last couple of years, I learned to operate unfamiliar production equipment for a new job, and I needed to be trained by an experienced operator who seemed to know everything about what appeared so foreign to me. In both situations, the trainer was much younger and more experienced at what they were teaching me, which added to the humbling experiences.

In those training situations, I couldn’t help but to feel humbled. Wow! I think I know a lot, but I obviously don’t know everything. I needed considerable help to do what I needed to do in order to succeed and perform my job.

One of the largest obstacles to overcoming an undesired habit, addiction, or behavior, in general, is the lack of necessary humility. Let’s face the truth; we all have an ego to contend with, especially in the ego-boosting society/culture that we live in. We live in a culture where self-interest and self-esteem rule the day – If it feels good do it, and you can do anything on your own. To say the least, this has gone too far.

Especially when it comes to changing undesired behavior, we need to realize we need help. We need God’s help, but often we don’t see that God often uses others to provide the help we need. It is often difficult to admit to ourselves and others that we can’t do or overcome something on our own.

Humility may not come easily, but it is necessary to reach our potential and live as God intended for us to live. Humble yourself, and let God exalt you!

02/07/2022

“New Life with Gratitude”

“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Luke 7:47 (NLT)

Anyone who has spent time with people in true recovery should have noticed a striking characteristic of those who are free from the grip of a soul-stealing addiction: They are very grateful. People at recovery meetings often express this gratitude in their testimonies and shared experiences.

In the verse above, Jesus explained to his dinner host, Simon, why a woman demonstrated tremendous love by kissing Jesus’ feet and anointing them with expensive perfume. Her show of love was in response to the forgiveness she received from living contrary to God’s will for her life. Experiencing great forgiveness can result in the desire to show great love; forgiveness and love are proportional.

I believe the same proportional relationship exists between grace and gratitude. People who experience and realize God’s great grace are more likely to be grateful. Many people who are in recovery realize that they wouldn’t be in recovery and have a new chance at life if God hadn’t shown them great grace and mercy. So, they are very grateful.

All people have missed the mark by not living the life God intended for them to live, but all have also experienced God’s grace and mercy. It is important that we all live a life that demonstrates love and gratitude for the forgiveness and grace given from God.
Anyone who has spent time with people in true recovery should have noticed a striking characteristic of those delivered who are free from the grip of a soul-stealing addiction: They are very grateful. People at recovery meetings often express this gratitude in their testimonies and shared experiences.

01/31/2022

SCARS

“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
Prov 16:9 (NLT)

I overheard a conversation between co-workers the other day concerning tattoos. The conversation made me think of other body markings: scars. While I don’t have any tattoos, I do have my share of physical scarring. Similar to many tats, scars often tell a story or at least have a story behind them.

My scars remind me of God’s grace and the ways He has protected and guided me through my years of aimless wandering. Looking back, it could only be by God’s grace that I am alive and can do the things I do today.

The large scar on my shoulder is the result of being drunk and high. I fell off a friend’s deck and bashed my shoulder on some rocks below. This scar reminds me that only God could have delivered me from the soul-stealing addiction to alcohol and drugs. It also reminds me that only God’s grace could have prevented me from killing myself or, more importantly, others during the many times I have driven under the influence.

The long, vertical scar on my back reminds that me that my plans aren’t always God’s plans for my life. When I broke my back for the second time, I needed extensive surgery. Consequently, I was placed on social security disability for nearly seven years, and I could no longer grow crops and raise livestock, something I had done since my youth. Gone was my self-perceived purpose in life – to help feed the world.

God had other plans for me. There can be no doubt in my mind that He wanted me to go in a new direction and feed people’s souls. It has been my mission ever since to bring a message of hope to the hopeless.

Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” Eph 2:10 (NLT). I never would have changed direction without God determining my steps. I am where I am supposed to be in this mortal life, living according to God’s plan.

05/16/2021

Musings from Pastor Dave, the plowboy preacher:

Every year while planting my gardens, I ask a number of questions: Is the soil warm enough for germination? How deep should I plant the seed? Is there enough moisture? How firm should I pack the soil? As you can see from the picture, nature has no problems planting seeds. The cluster of many kohlrabi plants is from an unseen hole in the seed packet during planting in early April. Every year, I seem to have “volunteer” plants, especially tomatoes, which seem to do better than the plants I intentionally plant.

Do we as human beings over-think stuff? Do we often think we can improve on God’s design for nature, maybe even ourselves as part of God’s great creation? We need to remember that God is the ultimate Creator and Sustainer of the universe, not us. Our role is to work with Him, within His will and design.