Category: Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai Recovery

Suddenly!

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Chapter 3, The Waiting https://a.co/d/0mQKWnR

As the believers waited in the upper room, the writer of Acts reported, “Suddenly, there was a sound like a mighty rushing wind…”

We see the word ‘suddenly’ and are reminded of those miracles we love so much. Jesus feeding the 5000 in a single afternoon; healing a blind man with mud; telling a dead girl to get up; and dozens of other stories set in a supernatural time warp, where the magic was instantaneous, and the desired results were immediate.

Obviously, Jesus was on a mission. He was out to prove that He was from God and to demonstrate the will of God by healing, delivering, feeding, and forgiving. If His miracles didn’t occur instantly, it would have been difficult for the onlookers to make the connection that Jesus was the one who had been the catalyst.

Additionally, while Jesus was in human form, the supernatural power of God did not have to travel through a flawed human to reach its destination. Perhaps His miracles were instantaneous because divine energy could flow freely through such a pure vessel. It didn’t get clogged up by the spiritual sediment and emotional toxins that the rest of us humans tend to carry. But, for whatever reason, miracles in Jesus’ day seem different than the miracles today. We rarely experience immediate, supernatural, instantaneous miracles and many of us struggle to hold onto our faith when we are waiting for our miracle to arrive.

We get discouraged because our ‘suddenly’ isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like. We start to doubt our resolve and question our faith because we see no results.

Tetelestai Recovery

Free Fall

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https://a.co/d/ejjflVF

It soon became apparent that we had run out of remedies. We could not fix our minds with our minds, nor could any other human being fix what was somehow so desperately broken within us. Self help was no help at all.

Sure, every so often, we tasted freedom. But soon, a simple fear would become an obsession. The obsession would grow until it merged into others and eventually became unbearable. In those vulnerable moments, we began to sense the disease taunting us, begging us to come back and promising it would be different this time.

Over and over, we found ourselves perched dangerously close to the edge. Some of us fell and never returned. Some of us fell and climbed back up to start again. Some of us realized that all the recovery programs in the world would not be able to keep us from falling…

                  …and falling…

                                           …and falling again.

Suddenly, in that terrifying emptiness of free-fall, the revolution began.

Plummeting into oblivion, a final cry for help escaped our lips and in that moment of complete abandon, we were given a word which would change our beliefs about recovery forever…

Continue reading https://a.co/d/ejjflVF

Tetelestai Recovery

A New Brag

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Paul had a messenger of Satan he referred to as a thorn in the flesh. He realized it was to keep him from becoming conceited, but still he asked God to remove it. He asked three times and each time, God told him His grace was sufficient. On that third ask, Paul finally realized there was a higher purpose for the thorn.

He was quite the achiever. He was a writer, and activist, a preacher, and the recipient of divine revelation. Those are some heady titles. Anyone in his position would struggle with arrogance.

Before his conversion, Paul had been a well-educated, well-connected, influential person. Perhaps he had an ego problem all his life. He was ambitious about his political career and eager to gain social standing by stopping the Christian movement. As a Roman citizen, educated in the Pharisaical law, he could advance his political pursuits in the eyes of the religious leaders while also remaining a loyalist to the Roman government. Snuffing out the Jesus movement would have brought him the promotion and respect he deserved.

But as he sat in a prison cell, frustrated with a messenger of Satan, he couldn’t think of anything he’d like more that to have God take it away.

We wonder if this messenger of Satan was one of the guards at the prison. Maybe they had worked together when Paul was a Christian bounty hunter, and the guard was now taunting him about being ‘one of them’. Perhaps the messenger of Satan was another prisoner. Perhaps the thorn was a conspiracy theory that Paul was a double agent, and the Damascus conversion was a clever lie to get the early Christians to trust him so he could infiltrate their secret communities and advance his political career.

No matter who or what his thorn in the flesh was, it caused Paul a great deal of distress. But God said, “My grace is sufficient. It is made perfect in your weakness.”

So, the guy who was prone to conceit found a new brag. He would brag about his own weakness so the grace of Christ could be the driving force behind all he would accomplish. It was hard on his ego, but good for his soul.

…Continue reading https://a.co/d/hH2bXok

Tetelestai Recovery

The Risk of Enlightenment

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In our leveled-up position, we consistently receive divine revelation and fresh insights from the Lord. As mysteries are revealed and scriptural mysteries jump off the page, we become quite passionate about our supernatural encounters. These events are the mountain tops of human experience in our never-ending quest for significance and purpose. It is a glorious experience to serve as a trusted confidant to one’s own Creator.

Once these secrets and mysteries are in our possession, we encounter opportunities to dispense them as the Spirit leads. We walk in spiritual authority and become bold in the pursuit of our call. Sometimes our newfound confidence can start to look like conceit.

The pendulum swings back and forth between passion and pride. We are overwhelmed with gratitude for what God has given, and we are enthusiastic about our call. Yet, we are also enthralled with our newfound knowledge and comprehension. In our human frailty, we sometimes get carried away with our heightened awareness and become a little too impressed with ourselves.

Conceit is a common problem for any receiver of divine revelation. Without realizing it, as a leveled-up believer, we might find ourselves at the center of attention. We may start gauging our success by the compliments we receive and the followers we collect on social media. We may become so certain of our own divine revelations that we begin to discount the teachings of others. We may find ourselves craving and thriving on comments like, “I’ve never looked at it that way before,” or, “You have such a gift for interpretation,” or, “You are so inspirational.”

It is encouraging to hear supportive comments and reassurance. We are told repeatedly throughout the scriptures to build each other up because God knows we need encouragement. However, our fragile egos may be so deeply damaged, the slightest compliment can make us feel like we are walking on air. Therefore, when we are given a position of great influence, the risk of conceit rearing its ugly head is always a threat.

As with the story of Paul, we too may find ourselves with a thorn in the flesh; a messenger of Satan to prevent us from becoming conceited. Those of us with a prickly past have plenty of thorns and thistles scattered along the path we once walked. We are quite vulnerable to a messenger of Satan taking a stab at us with the fragments of our old life.

…Continue Reading https://a.co/d/exK63jy

Tetelestai Recovery

The Things We Cannot Change

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The Serenity Prayer speaks of accepting the things we cannot change. Obviously, there are circumstances and people in our lives that we have no power to change, but we do have the option of adjusting our perspectives to make the best of a bad situation.

But what about the past? We cannot change the past. We can either forgive it or be doomed to relive it, but we can’t change it.

Oh sure, we may try to rewrite history and adopt a more sanitized version of the role we played in each event. This habit is not about dishonesty or refusal to take responsibility, but rather, it is about our inability to bear up under the shame of who we once were. We cringe when a memory is triggered, or a past behavior is thrown in our face. Some of us have felony convictions, divorces, failed careers, and a group of resentful people waiting in the wings, ready to dig up our sordid past, preferably in public view.

We tiptoe carefully through the thorny thicket of public events and social media posts, hoping to avoid any references that might puncture our day. Sadly, from time to time, we encounter someone who learns about our past and gathers the ugly details to use as an arsenal of accusations meant to destroy our reputation and damage our credibility.

We are certain that God has given us a new life in Christ. Yet, we also worry that our past will not stay silent forever. We fear that it is only a matter of time before it resurfaces, shattering our new lives to bits.

This may sound overly dramatic to someone with a stellar past, but for those of us who have done deeply regrettable things, there is nothing that can knock us down quicker than a shameful past invading our new lives. With fury and force, these thorns and thistles are aggressive propagators, leaving us hopelessly tangled in a thicket of our failures.

Accepting the past is a difficult thing to do. It is even more difficult when we are asked to explain it. Emotions are triggered. Shame is ignited. The fear of rejection and abandonment rises to choke us. And the most excruciating part is, every time our past comes back to haunt us, we are forced to relive it, watching ourselves play the role of someone we hate.

…Continue Reading https://a.co/d/aarn6Nh

Tetelestai Recovery

It’s a Choice

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Considering whether or not God can actually forget our sins, leaves us with two important theological questions:

  • If God can forget things, then how can He be all knowing?
  • If God can’t forget things, then how can He say that He remembers our sins no more?

Forgiveness is extremely difficult for us, so we assume that it must be even worse for God because he is all present, all powerful, and all-knowing.

In our human relationships, we like to believe that the people we have wronged will gradually forget about it over time. But with God, we know that’s not an option because He exists outside of time. There is no movement of time in the spirit realm. He is everything, everywhere, all at once.

So, we have to ask ourselves, “How can God say that He forgives us and remembers our sins no more?” The answer is simple: He chooses not to remember.

Because He is God, he can make choices that are outside the bounds of human ability. With the attribute of omnipotence (all powerful), He can make the choice not to remember.

In Isaiah 43:25, God says, “I will not remember your sins.”

In Jeremiah 31: 34, “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Hebrews 8: 12 and Hebrews 10:17, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

There is nothing to indicate God absentmindedly forgets, as if He suffers from dementia or it just slips His mind. Rather, in His infinite mercy, He chooses not to remember the wrongs that He has forgiven. Therefore, we conclude that surface level theology says, “God forgets,” while leveled-up theology says, “He chooses not to remember.”

…Continue Reading https://a.co/d/et0BASS

Tetelestai Recovery

It’s Okay to Be Human

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He didn’t condemn them for being distracted by their growling stomachs. He didn’t belittle them for showing signs of weakness. He didn’t minimize their hunger by comparing it to His own when He fasted for forty days. It wasn’t His desire to see them suffer to prove their devotion.

…Continue Reading https://a.co/d/7AFtNaA

In the multiplication miracle of feeding the five thousand, we see that Jesus was happy to give the hungry people as much food as they wanted. They ate until they were satisfied, and there was plenty left over.

By this example, we can rest assured that Jesus is pleased when He is given the opportunity to be generous. He is not stingy or miserly when it comes to providing the necessities of life. He will not withhold the resources needed to fulfill our destinies. We know that He wants us to have everything we need to successfully complete our human journey. However, there are times we may feel uncomfortable asking, for fear our requests might be based upon selfish motives.

As we level up, we learn this is a needless fear. God is a loving Father. He will not give us something that is bad for us. We think back to the days when our children were young, and they asked for candy when it was time for dinner. We didn’t judge or condemn them. We simply said, “No. That’s not good for you,” and then provided them with a healthy option instead. We know that God will do the same for us. He won’t give us anything that will do harm. We trust Him to protect us; sometimes even from ourselves.

We see that during His mission on earth, Jesus never scolded anyone for asking too much or too often. In fact, He stated time and time again, “Just ask. I want to give you what you need. ”

The feeding of the five thousand demonstrated the Father’s heart through the acts and attitudes of His Son. Jesus had compassion on the famished crowd.

He didn’t condemn them for being distracted by their growling stomachs. He didn’t belittle them for showing signs of weakness. He didn’t minimize their hunger by comparing it to His own when He fasted for forty days. It wasn’t His desire to see them suffer to prove their devotion.

They were hungry and He wanted them to be fed. Jesus met their needs abundantly. He provided more than enough. There may have been some who gave up and left early before the miracle arrived. This may account for the enormous number of leftovers His disciples collected after everyone was fed.

We realize it is critically important that we never become one who wanders away, feeling the pressure to fend for ourselves, rather than waiting to see what Jesus is doing.

We know there will be times of waiting. And during those times, we might not have a clear view of what is happening, or how the miracle will unfold, but waiting is part of the process, and we must become willing to put in the time. Knowing Jesus like we do, we can be sure that compassion is His first response.

Tetelestai Recovery

Dark Days

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https://a.co/d/g67wFqj Chapter 9: Hold That Thought

The trajectory of our future is altered by our thoughts when we base them on the perceived realities that swirl around in our brains unchecked. We may hate our pessimism and suspicion, but we can’t break out of the cycle. We may despise our long dreary days of dark thought spirals, but we can’t seem to stop them once they start.

We think about what people were saying about us behind our backs. We wonder if they really wish we weren’t around. We suspect we are going to be fired, dumped, rejected, or abandoned. We replay old conversations, trying to read between the lines so we can better prepare for a number of worst-case scenarios that are likely to befall us.

It has been said that a coward dies a thousand times, a brave man, only once.

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Our thoughts create the reality we live in, whether they align with the truth or not.

To level up, we must develop healthy thought patterns and discipline our minds to stay on a positive track. We can no longer allow our thoughts to wander aimlessly through the minefield of our worst imaginations. We must carve new pathways for our thoughts to travel. We need to keep our thoughts on the high road and pump the brakes when we are headed for the ditch. But how?

Continue Reading: https://a.co/d/g67wFqj

Tetelestai Recovery

Word Caves

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Some of us are isolated in self-fulfilling word caves:

  • “I will never be like my mother/father/sibling!”
  • “No one is going to tell me what to do!”
  • “Once and addict, always an addict.”
  • “I will never allow anyone to get close to me again!”
  • “I can’t trust anyone but myself.”

Sadly, we lose our identity in these word-caves because they only define us by the negative; what we won’t do. The words never define us by our positive traits or what we can be. Our personalities form around our resistance, which prevents us from developing a sense of self and cultivating our gifts, talents, and abilities. We lead a reactionary life, in knee-jerk mode. Our light is dimmed by the darkness of our own words.

Living in these caves leaves us dull and lethargic. We search for an identity. We become chameleons and mimic the personalities of those we find likeable or interesting. The fit is never quite right, and we rarely feel truly authentic.

The word cave, ‘No one is going to tell me what to do!’ creates a rebellious monster within us. It roars with rage around authority figures and pushy people.

The word cave, ‘I will never let anyone get close to me again!’ is a self-sabotaging prophecy. Keeping people at arm’s length keeps us safe from the risk of heartbreak, but it also keeps us imprisoned in solitude. In time, loneliness transitions into self-pity, and we no longer have to push people away. No one wants to get close.

Many of us hide in the caves of addiction, alcoholism, co-dependence, idealism, lies, promiscuity, and even perfectionism. These caves may have been where we ran to hide at one time in our lives, but they are not healthy places to be. Eventually, these caves become prisons. The fortress where we hide becomes the stronghold of the enemy to keep us from fulfilling our divine destiny.

…Continue reading: https://a.co/d/cSmTFs1

Tetelestai Recovery

Pure Perfection

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Being confident of this very thing, that he, who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Therefore, be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48

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People commonly use the word perfect to describe a newborn baby. Babies are inadequate in every way. They are unable to feed themselves, walk, read, or even roll over. Sometimes they cry or make messes. Yet, we say they are perfect. Every stage is perfect and necessary in the process of transitioning to the next stage.

A tiny green tomato on the vine is a perfect tomato, although it does not have the color, flavor, or texture of a fully ripened tomato. The tiny green fruit is perfect, but it is not yet useful for its intended purpose. If it remains on the vine, the perfect green tomato will grow into its full potential. And throughout each stage of its growth, it will continue to be perfect.

Thus, we conclude that perfection is about potential. Perfection has little to do with current behavior or ability, but a lot to do with our mindset. Perfection is a state of being which maintains continuous momentum toward progress.

…Continue reading: https://a.co/d/cSmTFs1