Christian Principals of Recovery

By Bruce Stanley

This book is the result of a prayer. After a ten-year attempt to recover from a ruined life of drugs and alcohol, to the countless programs, meeting rooms, rehabilitation facilities, and traditional clinical modalities, I was never abstinent longer than six months. My prayer? "God save me from myself!"

The answer came from reading 2 Peter 1:3-11. There, God describes how if we put our trust in Him and desire to escape the brokenness of our lives, we can grow in our faith through a process called sanctification and, therefore, receive the reward of a new life in freedom and peace. This book is a testimony of this truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638742777

Book preview

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LOST & FOUND

Christian Principals of Recovery

BRUCE STANLEY

ISBN 978-1-63874-276-0 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63874-277-7 (digital)

Copyright © 2021 by Bruce Stanley

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Copyright ©2016, 2018 by Bible Hub

Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

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by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

New International Version (NIV)

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

English Standard Version (ESV)

The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New Life Version (NLV)

Scripture quotations marked NLV are taken from the New Life Version, copyright © 1969 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683. All rights reserved.

King James Version (KJV)

by Public Domain

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Testimonies

Christian Principles of Recovery

Principle 1

Principle 2

Principle 3

Principle 4

Principle 5

Principle 6

Principle 7

Bible References

Additional Readings

About the Author

Foreword

Iremember a time when I was speaking on a panel for a recovery conference, and as usual, I discussed my disdain with the mainstream addiction recovery efforts. Normally, this includes talking about someone’s identity and why I reject the idea of once an addict, always an addict. I believe a Christ follower shouldn’t introduce and identify themselves as Hello my name is Adam, and I’m an addict or alcoholic. This is unbiblical, and I adamantly reject this practice.

After the conference, an Alcoholics Anonymous old-timer approached me and felt he needed to defend his position on why he announces himself as an alcoholic. He said, Pastor Adam, I am an elder at my church, and the same reason we say that we are a sinner saved by grace is the same reason we announce ourselves as alcoholics or addicts saved by grace.

My response was, "Sir, with very much love and humility, I tell you the Bible does not define believers as sinners. And I would, with great reverence, tell you that the Bible rejects someone attaching their identity in the old self that has been crucified with Christ because the life they now live is not that. Believers in the Bible are defined as saints, new creations, beloved, children, and more than conquerors.

"Sir, if Christ says that our old has passed away and we are made new in Him, then how dare we identify ourselves with the thing that caused Him to be slaughtered on a cross.

Our identity is in Christ. Even bringing it down to earthly standards basic psychology tells us that if you tell yourself you are something, then you will live your life through that lens. The man then paused with a look in his eyes that seemed as if wheels of puzzling thoughts were rapidly turning in his head, and he walked away.

I bring this story up because it is absolutely crucial that we as the church address addiction from a biblical worldview. Addiction is not a surprise to God. Lost and Found is a great weapon for combating addiction with the truth and promises of God. Pastor Bruce Stanley’s exegesis of scripture is very thought-out and comes from a thirty-year addiction point of view. He doesn’t write these things because he read a lot about addiction in scholarly works (which he has), but he writes from a firsthand knowledge of the Holy Ghost radically changing his life forever. From drug addict to pastor.

Lost and Found forces you to look at the truth and promises of God and shows you a very practical way to apply them. I have witnessed for almost five years now how God has used this curriculum and book to set hundreds and hundreds of men free from the bondage of addiction.

Not white knuckling it through behavior modification, just for today sobriety, but TRUE FREEDOM! They realize that in Christ, they’re not damaged goods but a bloodstained child of the kingdom. Then HOPE ignites a flame in their lives, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

If you’re a person, church, or Christ-centered recovery program that desires a theologically sound addiction recovery curriculum, look no further.

Pastor Adam Comer (CEO S2L Recovery)

Preface

Iwant to thank a lot of people who believed in me and showed me grace when I didn’t deserve it. Obviously, if it wasn’t for Christ, my salvation, and a renewed life by God, I wouldn’t be writing this book, much less be alive. That said, I would be remiss if I didn’t dedicate this book to my wife, Alana, for sticking by me and her many prayers. The destruction my addiction caused in my relationship severely hindered any chance of a successful marriage if not for what God was doing in her life too, and her love for me.

This book is the result of a prayer. After a ten-year attempt to recover from a ruined life of drugs and alcohol, to the countless programs, meeting rooms, rehabilitation facilities, and traditional clinical modalities, I was never abstinent longer than six months. My prayer? God save me from myself!

My résumé of a decorated war veteran, honored college grad, husband, father, and successful career resulted in homelessness and living a life of a hopeless addict. It took eight DUIs, countless amounts of incarceration, being caught in infidelity, and being shamed by colleagues and friends to bring me facedown in a ditch on December 12, 2012, (12-12-12). In the pouring rain, in the middle of the night, not knowing where I was or how I got there, for me to sincerely cry out to God for help was what it took.

This wasn’t the first time I had reached out to Him; however, this time it was different. I don’t think I seriously ever really considered suicide before. I may have manipulated it to get attention, but at this point in my life, I was living as if I didn’t care if I died or not. The choices I was making were risky, dangerous, and lethal. It took a supernatural intervention to wake me up. I was a blind fool.

All glory goes to God for rescuing me from myself. I take no credit for it. It was only a stewardship of the gift God gave me that I can even boast. His mercy and grace were by His will, not mine. He is victorious; therefore, I am victorious. Amen.

Introduction

Iwas born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and lived most of my childhood in Houston. However, we lived in five other cities and three other states before I turned eight years old. My father was a good man, and after graduating at the University of Texas in Austin, he succeeded through a career in the oil business as a mineral and geological surveyor. His career moved us around a lot during the sixties and seventies and eventually led him to an executive position with Shell Oil in Houston, Texas.

My mother and father came from humble beginnings with God-fearing families when they married at twenty and seventeen years of age. I was a middle child with an older sister of two and a half years and a younger brother of just a year and a half. Those were the golden years, and my memories then were without any conflict or challenge.

After years of my father never using alcohol at any level, he was introduced to it as an antidote to a headache at work. He liked the feeling it gave him and quickly realized that adding this newfound mineral water to his career was beneficial. In those days, executives drank during the workday, and it allowed him more time with others in higher positions.

It didn’t take long for my father to earn another title as the wooden leg among his colleagues for being the last man standing during events and outings. But that didn’t last long either. It took ten years for this habit to catch up to him, and he became an alcoholic. He was a prideful man concerning his accomplishments, and at a time when alcoholism was considered a weakness and moral failing, my father struggled with being in denial.

My father died in a car accident in 1979 when I was thirteen, and things changed real fast. He was thirty-six years old, and he sheltered my mother from everything except raising my siblings and me. It was a shock to everyone and left her desperate to take over the reins. Again, it was during that time that my father’s death was considered a moral failing, and it left us in the wake of that shame. Most friends and family didn’t know how to help or understood why it happened. We all felt left alone to pick up the pieces.

Things were never really explained to us children. It was taboo to even talk about it. Because of the accident, my father’s funeral was a closed casket affair. I felt like I was never given the opportunity to say good-bye to my dad. It left a hole in my heart as I’m sure it did for the rest of us.

It didn’t take long for new challenges to interrupt our family life. New men were introduced as my mother struggled to find direction and authority to help her survive raising a family. Being the oldest boy, named after my father, and left only with this guidance from him, When I’m away from the house son, you have to be the man of the house, my interpretation of that didn’t match well with the new men who were trying to lead our situation. Many left us, but one man stayed, and needless to say, we didn’t get along very well.

I started drinking alcohol in my closet at the age of fourteen. My dad drank, and so I was just doing what he did, and I didn’t