One member of the group shared about self-esteem issues that led him into criminal behavior and addiction. From childhood, he had been trying to cope with the confusion of trauma, unaware of what to call it. He struggled with feelings of unworthiness and was unable to feel a sense of value. That all changed when he made the choice to learn about trauma and its effects. He chose to develop a relationship with Jesus, his Healer. He made a choice to forgive and move away from the pain.
Because he says yes to openness, and no to suffering in silence, he now operates in a position of influence and serves as an advocate for others. He has the wisdom of God and the heart of a servant.
Another member shared about his past life of uncontrollable rage that resulted in murder. He spoke about feeling as if he had no choice when it overtook him. His experience with rage was like driving on a slippery, muddy road at full speed, headed straight for the ditch, and unable to stop.
It was hard for us to believe he had ever struggled with rage. This is a man who carries the joy of the Lord on his face. His smile is contagious, his demeanor is humble, and he radiates positive energy whenever he walks into the room. He often speaks of love and forgiveness as if it is his lifeline. He makes a conscious decision to forgive whenever he is wronged. He refuses to carry a grudge, but instead, chooses to walk in love. He says no to rage and yes to compassion. Forgiveness and joy are no longer second nature to him; they are his new normal.
My purpose on this planet is not just to stay clean and sober. My purpose is to discover my divine destiny while helping others discover theirs. It is my mission to join forces with the Creator of the Universe in order to bring heaven to earth. I am alive today so that I can tell everyone who suffers from the disease of addiction: there is hope, there is healing, and there is freedom. The supernatural power of Jesus is for you, your family, and your future.
During the times when dark forces are taking their best shot, making your situation look hopeless, you can safely conclude that Jesus is on the scene and the enemy has just been served notice of eviction.
Maintain your conversation with Jesus, and never let your gaze drift to the raging symptoms. If you find it hard to believe, that’s okay. Faith will come. Simply pray the breakthrough prayer:
“Jesus, I believe. Help my unbelief!”
Tetelestai Recovery 1: It is finished; Chapter 14, The Breakthrough Prayer https://a.co/d/jdfppvK
I was plagued by the demon of addiction. It made do and say crazy things. I hurt those I loved. Addiction made me depressed, unreliable, and unreasonable. I now know that the demon of addiction is a shapeshifter and never wants to be exposed for its true identity. My opioid prescriptions were as addictive as any street drug, if not more so. Still, I considered myself immune to the label addict, preferring to call my drug of choice, medication.
Pain pills after a back injury made me feel the way I’d always wanted to feel. The opioids triggered a reaction in my brain and slowly, like a dimmer switch, my mind lost its luster. I failed to recognize how lifeless and dull it had become as I moved through my days in a flurry of activity, struggling to prove that I was not the person I had become. I became disoriented in the darkness for many years, and I lost all hope that it might be possible to get free. I believed my pain would be unbearable if I ever stopped taking the pills. It was a deceitful lie straight from the pit and one that wreaked havoc on everything and everyone in my path.
I needed help. I needed hope. I needed healing and deliverance from a dark captor who refused to release me. I needed someone to stand in the gap and believe for me, because I had lost even a spark of faith to believe for myself.
Through a catastrophic chain of events, in the very lowest point of my life, I met some brave believers who stood in the gap for me with their own faith; just like the father did for his son in Mark 9:18-27. Any flicker of faith I may have possessed before that time had been snuffed out and I was lost in the darkness. These kind souls came to me in my despair and showed me the light of Christ’s love. From the illumination of their light, I began to see Jesus in a way I had never seen before. He appeared as my healer, my deliverer, and most importantly, my rescuer. He accepted me in my fallen position and still loved me, despite who I had become.
Tetelestai Recovery 1: It is Finished, Chapter 14 The Breakthrough https://a.co/d/gqrG8QF
In all honesty, we knew that God, in His infinite wisdom, would never give us more wealth than we were spiritually mature enough to handle. But we also knew that the devil was crafty and if he could keep our focus on money, whether too much or not enough, we could remain distracted from our destiny and thus, make his job a lot easier. Looking back, we saw that when we pursued our own financial security, it put God in a very precarious position. He wanted us to have a sense of security, but not so much that we became independent of Him.
Jesus Himself taught us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” showing that our Father welcomes us to ask for what we need, when we need it. We do not have to beg or plead; nor do we need to hoard or steal.
In the book of Exodus, manna was provided in the wilderness on a day-by-day basis. Gathering ahead of time was pointless because it wouldn’t keep overnight. God knew that humans were hoarders by nature. Not much has changed since then. We are still prone to squirreling away our supplies just in case God fails to come through for us in the future. We inventory our supplies and check our bank balance whenever we feel insecure. When we suffer loss, we feel powerless. When we see an increase, we feel powerful, yet more insecure than ever.
Much like the other pursuits we struggled with, such as drugs, alcohol, sex, perfectionism, popularity, and many others, we had trouble finding a point at which we could say, “This is enough, I am completely satisfied and content. I do not need any more.”
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.
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…
We searched the scriptures for more proof of the power of praise. We were astonished to discover that the act of giving thanks was typically the prelude to a miracle. Jesus himself made this point when feeding the 5000. The gospel accounts tell us that He held the 2 fish and 5 loaves, looked up, and gave thanks. Immediately following His expression of gratitude, the food multiplied and there was more than enough to go around.
We see another example in the story of Lazarus. The man had been dead four days when Jesus appeared and raised him from the dead. Amazingly enough, the words of Christ, right before calling Lazarus from the tomb, were words of gratitude to God.
Our search led us to some Old Testament writings of King David who was a pro when it came to praise. Time after time, David poured out his heart in the Psalms. Sometimes they were words of praise from start to finish. Other times, the writing began with an outpouring of distress, but turned to praise in the final stanzas. Whether threatened by enemy armies, wounded by family betrayal, or overwhelmed by too many decisions, each painful experience was handled with the same primary coping mechanism. We found it over and over in the final lines of each sad song, “Yet, I will praise God.”
We were delighted to find another example from the familiar Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale. After reading verse after verse of Jonah complaining to God in a pathetic prayer of self-obsession, we found a sudden change of heart. In verse 9 of Jonah chapter 2, the pitiful prophet abruptly states, “But I, with shouts of praise will sacrifice to you.”
Suddenly, in the next verse we read, “And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry ground.”
This principle of praise as a precursor to a miracle was not just for Old Testament Kings and Prophets, nor was it only for Jesus during His ministry. We discovered post-ascension proof that praise continues to be the key component to divine intervention. We read the story in Acts 16 of Paul and Silas chained to the wall in a jail cell. Their midnight praise session was so powerful, it created a shift in the earth’s plates and the prison foundations shook until the chains fell off and the cell doors opened.
After gathering evidence from scriptural data and personal experience, we were amazed to find that the key to unlocking any miracle is this simple, yet powerful act of praise.
Tetelestai Recovery – Chapter 10, The Power of Praise
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.
Tetelestai is the Greek word which Jesus spoke from the cross in His final moments of mortality. The English translation, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), is the basis for this program.
We believe that Jesus’ words hold miraculous power. We speak these words into our own lives and into the lives of other survivors. We are confident that a spiritual principle is set in play when our statements come into alignment with the words of God.
So also, will be the word that I speak: it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.Isaiah 55:11
Since Jesus gave witness on the cross, “It is finished,” we align with Him in calling an end to our disease of addiction and dysfunctional behaviors. We testify in agreement with Jesus and thus, the matter is resolved.
Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 2 Corinthians 13:1
We believe that the disease of addiction and its accompanying dysfunctions can be over-powered by two distinct elements:
Christ’s blood as a divine transfusion which heals us from the inside out.
The words we speak testify to this truth.
And they have defeated the powers of darkness by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of their testimony. Revelation 12:11
Therefore, we join forces in the spirit realm through our spoken words as we gather together. We each testify to the power of Christ who heals and delivers us from what we fear most – ourselves.
We believe in the scriptural principle of sowing and reaping. We see the effects of this principle in the natural realm as well as the spiritual. We are certain that an oak tree will not grow from a thistle seed. Therefore, we do not expect to receive hope and healing by speaking of our addiction as a lumbering giant which threatens to steal our sobriety.
We dare not speak of relapse, as this seed grows into a massive, poisonous vine which produces an itchy sensation known as irritable, restless, and discontent syndrome. We dare not speak of our past indiscretions as a boastful or laughable matter, for this seed will grow into a field of dandelion memories with brightly colored egotistical blooms. How quickly they turn to hollow puffs of fly-away seeds, searching for another ego to embed! We dare not speak of our resentments, for this is the thicket which depletes our energy and slows our progress.
The words which produce a harvest we don’t want ought never to be sown by our voice. The negative words which have been spoken to us, or about us, or by us, must be pulled up by the roots before the harvest ever comes.
We begin our day with a simple statement from our own lips, “I cancel out any negative words which have been spoken or written to me, about me, or by me, in the name of Jesus. I ask the Holy Spirit to destroy any growth which may have occurred from these cursed seeds, and to remove them by the roots.”
Those things which we believed of ourselves, based on the things we were told by other sick people from our past, had emerged as a thicket of tangled thoughts and continuing behaviors. As we walked through the steps of our recovery, we found undergrowth which kept tripping us up. When we released our recovery into the hands of Jesus, the Holy Spirit began to guide us regarding the removal and elimination of these parts of us we didn’t know how to manage. Some of us needed counseling, some needed medication, some needed a change in diet or activity, but all of us needed supernatural healing in many layers.
Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, "It is Finished!" 