by Deacon James Baker

Learning to live a spirit filled life or living a spirit filled life of believing in Jesus Christ.

How do I go about this? Do I have to read the bible from front to back?  Reading the bible will help, but it’s not the only avenue.  There are several good options designed to help us live a life of a believer.  What I am trying to say is “how can I learn to put my faith into action and grow my faith?” 

By working a spiritual program there are 12 step programs like AA that have helped me to come to believe.  The promises of the program were first to admit my powerlessness over alcohol.  Let me say that this program I use is not a cure all for your problems, but it helped give me a spiritual program and a process to come to believe.  I began to process pain, to be able to forgive others and myself, and most importantly to find God and be grateful.  The Book of AA says you have to get the spiritual part in order to completely work a program to get recovery.  There is one God and this program directs the person to turn their life and will over to the care of God as they understand him. 

There is another program I would like to mention, it is the 12 steps of humility by St. Benedict.  St. Benedict is the founder of the monastic life of Benedictine Monks. I am not saying we have to become monks or nuns, but, rather, to look at the 12 steps of humility and the principles they use to live a spiritual life.  The use of these programs can help us grow in our beliefs and help us answer the question, “What Would Jesus Do?”

These programs help us to look at ourselves, our actions, our thought and deeds, to take a fearless moral inventory of ourselves and, when we are wrong, to promptly admit it. These programs teach us how to live. 

The degrees of humility help us to learn the path of being a humble person.  The life of someone who obeys God’s commandments, who serves his fellow man without grumbling, who follows the laws of the time and who obeys orders of his boss or bosses will become humble. These programs help us to find hope in times of hopeless situations and turn people, places and things over to the care of God. These Programs are designed to help us find and live a spirit filled life in the presence of God who is Jesus Christ!