Tag: christianity

Tetelestai Recovery

The Next Right Thing

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If we were to replicate an artistic masterpiece, for example, Michelangelo’s sculpture David where would we begin? A block of granite would be a good start, but after that, what next? A chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other, then tap, tap, tap away. It seems there should be no concern over the shape of the nose until the face has begun to take form. An artist would not frustrate himself over an earlobe’s curve if the nape of the neck has yet to be established.

It is one thing for a sculptor to envision his finished project. It is quite another thing, to plan for every tap, every move, and every chip. The first is art. The latter is insanity.

And so, we were given only one instruction at a time. God didn’t show us how to take the next 53 steps of our journey. He simply showed us one first, and then the next, and the next, and the next. He knew that we had a tendency to run out ahead of Him and wander off. Therefore, He gently kept us at His side, giving us only one instruction at a time. He knew that one simple stumble could place us into the path of the enemy, so His hand held us close. To counteract the enemy’s offensive moves, His plan had to remain flexible and changeable. Therefore, if He gave us the entire game plan, we might have run ahead and walked into a trap or missed His unexpected strategic maneuvers.

Therefore, we encouraged ourselves and each other with the simple mantra: Do the next right thing. That’s it, that’s all. God never asks us to make a five-year plan, complete with bar graphs and pie charts. He merely asks us to place one foot in front of the other, holding tight to His hand.

One step at a time, taking care not to run ahead, we found that God’s direction for us wasn’t always religious in nature, nor did every event seem extraordinarily significant. But as our journey continued, we realized that each right thing led us to the next right thing. And in this realm of just one thing, the next right thing, we found balance in our walk and harmony with ourselves.

Chapter 13, The Next Right Thing https://a.co/d/deLSbDM

Tetelestai Recovery

Just Keep Walking

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Our relationship with Jesus has grown through some amazing times. It is an exciting experience of falling in love with the King of Kings who chose us as His Bride. He says He delights in us. We say the feeling is mutual!

Now, we no longer feel apprehensive about our desires. They have been placed there by God and will be fulfilled through our partnership with Jesus. As a member of His royal family, our needs will be met so we can be busy with Kingdom business.

Many Citizens of the Kingdom are hurting, hungry, and sick. Some are simply battle-weary and overdue for a little rest. Our Kingdom assignments are to reach out to them through the means of written words, spoken words, authentic friendship, and compassionate care.

In our New Normal, we find a sense of purpose and direction in knowing that we are on a mission for our King. He has planned coincidental meetings with people who have been called to fulfill their own assignments in partnership with ours.

Our New Normal is everlasting recovery, a new perspective of life’s adventure, and an ability to take life in stride, knowing that the One who created the universe and everything within it is on our side. He is with us and for us. He is our Advocate, our Father, and our Spirit. This New Normal gives us fantastic strength to endure whatever matters come before us. We walk in partnership with our Creator to the divine destiny He has set before us. Our path may not always be easy or smooth, but it is softened by walking with Him.

In our New Normal, we can release our fears of making mistakes and manufacturing failures. We look straight ahead, eyes fixed on Jesus, with our feet firmly planted on level paths. What we want and what He wants for us, are synchronized perfectly.

We simply walk it out together, one step at a time.

Tetelestai Recovery 2 – Our New Normal https://a.co/d/dh91w7s

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

Water Walkers

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One of the men in the boat, named Peter, asked Jesus to let him come out and walk on the water alongside Him. Jesus said, “Sure! Come on out.” Peter lunged toward the side of the boat as it was rocking and lurching. Then, climbed cautiously over the edge, he slowly lowered his weight onto the swirling liquid. If Jesus was a fraud, the next few seconds would have been the moment of truth. In former miracles, the people who were healed and delivered could have been in cahoots with Him on some elaborate hoax. However, walking on top of water, and inviting another human being to join Him would have been impossible to pull off, if it had been a scam.

Peter got out of the boat and walked toward Jesus. Some may hold to the impression that Peter took a couple of wobbly steps before going under. We do not agree with that conclusion. We believe he strolled quite a distance. Since Jesus’ closest companions failed to recognize Him, we assume He was more than several yards from the boat. With one lunge over the side of the boat, Peter took the walk of a lifetime: a walk to remember.

There were 11 other men in the boat who didn’t even ask if they could come out onto the water. Only Peter was impulsive enough to come up with such a wild idea! Whether he was completely successful in his faith walk or not, he was the only one with the audacity to ask if he could get out of the boat. He was the one who believed in Jesus’ ability to empower him to do it. He knew that in the midst of the storm, the safest place to be was with Jesus.

…Continue reading: https://a.co/d/efO53It

Tetelestai Recovery

The Root of Shame

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https://a.co/d/geHk3Md

We grew up so familiar with our shame, it seemed to be a part of our personality. We didn’t know how to relinquish it, so we put it on a pedestal and made it an object of worship. We justified our outrageous behaviors, bragged about our immorality, and shook off our fears with a ‘who cares?’ attitude. We couldn’t extinguish our shame, so we embraced it. We got together with other shame-filled people and competed for admission into the Hall of Shame.

When the power of Christ was revealed to us, we became new creatures. However, not all our shameful behaviors disappeared overnight. Shame was still very much a part of our lives. We no longer reveled in it. On the contrary, we wished it to be buried with our former selves whom we had grown to despise.

Ironically, the hatred we felt toward our shame was not an indication of our failure to believe. We believed in Christ, and we clung faithfully to his words, “It is finished!” However, that root of shame continued to produce bitter fruit and we needed relief.

We consciously pondered our thoughts of ourselves in relation to the thoughts God has toward us. We practiced praise continually. We claimed Tetelestai over our addictions, disease, poverty, and any other form of the curse from which the power of the cross had set us free. We watched our words and verbalized our agreement with God concerning His perception of us. We called ourselves Blessed, More than Conquerors, Children of God, and Chosen. We trusted that Jesus bequeathed to us his very own Shalom, which assured us the promise of wholeness, with nothing missing, nothing broken. We no longer trusted our feelings as the Truth, but rather, we relied on the Word of God and the guidance of His Spirit to be our compass. We recognized that facts are changeable and when we are out of options, it only means we are in the perfect position for a miracle. We believed that the supernatural could override the natural realm and we occupied territory never before conquered.

Sadly, our shame was still an integral part of our existence. Our guilt taught us that we made mistakes. Our shame told us we were a mistake. We had no remedy for our shame.

We tried to hide our feelings of shame with superficial coverings. We used money, prestige, aggression, relationships, and an air of superiority to quiet the inner voice which whispered, “If others only knew the real you…”

As we journeyed down this treacherous path, as new creatures in Christ, we searched for insights from our Sacred Text. In Mark 11, we found the story of Jesus encountering a fig tree which was covered in green leafy foliage but had no fruit. He simply said, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again.” And the disciples heard him say it. The next day, when passing by the same tree, it was reported to have been withered from the roots up.

At first, we felt that Jesus overreacted to the failure to find fruit. We suspected he had become too tired and hungry, which we all know is a prelude to becoming too angry. However, after closer inspection, we are reminded that this was a fig tree. These fig leaves were a reminder of that time back in the Garden of Eden when His newly created couple tried to cover their shame. The fig tree with leaves but no fruit was a symbol of humanity without purpose.

Home

Redeemed

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If you have a coupon you wish to redeem at the store, you are expecting to trade a worthless slip of paper or digital image for something of value. In other words, the real value of your coupon doesn’t exist until it is redeemed.

We are not defined by our history, we are remade and redeemed by it. Our true value is revealed through redemption. Our history brings us into an even deeper relationship with our Maker. God takes our past and weaves a new narrative which brings new life and a DEEPER life with Christ as our advocate and example.

In 2nd Corinthians 5:17, Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Through faith in Christ, we are made new. This verse reminds us that when we are in a relationship with Jesus, our past no longer defines us. We are transformed into new creations, with a fresh start and a renewed purpose.

Regardless of our past mistakes, failures, or regrets, God’s grace and forgiveness are available to us. In Christ, we can leave our old ways behind and embrace the new life that He offers.