Tetelestai Recovery

Word Caves

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.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Vocal Vibrations

We fight our battles in the spirit realm through vocal vibrations. We speak the words of God to pull down cognitive distortions that produce fear, despair, discouragement, and low self-esteem. These are the strongholds of the enemy.

Strongholds are the enemy’s Trojan horse. They are the mental constructs where the forces of darkness hide, staging attacks from within. These forts are constructed, brick by brick, through words and phrases heard over the course of a lifetime. Some of the words come from others, some come from ourselves. But ultimately, each brick in the stronghold originates from the enemy.

As we level up, we can sense that strongholds in our minds are slowly being dismantled. Some of the bricks fall and roll away. Some of the bricks are slung back at us. Some of the bricks are used by the enemy to build new strongholds in a different area of our lives.

To pull down these internal strongholds, we speak words of life, newness, clean slate, fresh start, and positive energy. We claim power and healing in the promises of God. We absorb life-giving, life-sustaining words from our spiritual siblings. We notice words of life all around us, electrifying the atmosphere with sparks of light. We generate spiritual energy when we speak these words to ourselves and our fellow travelers. Our power intensifies as we receive words of life from Sacred Text, songs of praise, prayer, and uplifting conversations.

These energy producing words are breaking through the barriers and exposing the enemy’s hiding places. Our strongholds are crumbling like the walls of Jericho as we shout praise to God. These vibrations from our vocal cords pulverize the enemy’s garrison like a jackhammer.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai Recovery 3: Leveling Up

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Addiction takes many forms—but so does God’s power to set us free. Tetelestai Recovery – Leveling Up is a lifeline for anyone seeking lasting victory over destructive habits, unhealthy dependencies, or hidden battles of the heart.
With compassion and clarity, this book combines timeless biblical wisdom with practical guidance, showing how God’s Word can break chains that seem unbreakable. Inside, you’ll discover how to:

  • Understand the spiritual roots of addiction
  • Replace lies with God’s life-giving truth
  • Build new patterns grounded in scripture
  • Walk in freedom every single day

Whether you’re struggling yourself or walking alongside a loved one, this book will point you to the ultimate source of hope and transformation: Jesus Christ. Freedom isn’t just possible—it’s promised.

Tetelestai Recovery

Changing the Mind of God

But Moses reasoned with God and eventually talked Him out of it. Surprisingly, Moses brought up some very valid points and God was open to his feedback.

Then the Lord said, “I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are. Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them. Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.”

But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”

So, the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people. Exodus 32:9-14

Moses took a bold approach. He had the courage of a junior executive pitching a new concept to the CEO. He had the heart of a quarterback who asked the coach to reconsider the play he had just called.

Based on the response God gave Moses to his input, what other events in history might have been altered, based on this perspective?

  • What if Noah had discussed the flood plan at depth with God and asked for more humans to be spared?
  • What if Abraham had continued his negotiations for the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, asking God to hold off if he could find just one righteous man?

On the other hand, what if the ones who approached God boldly had been more timid?

  • What if Jacob said when wrestling the Angel of God, “If you don’t bless me, that’s okay, I’m fine either way,” rather than making the risky move by saying, “I’m not letting go until you bless me.”?
  • What if Moses had just responded with, “Okay Lord, I guess you are just going to wipe out those people and start over with me. I don’t have any say in the matter.”?

Read more… https://a.co/d/6cXobBz

Tetelestai Recovery

Water Walkers

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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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 Recovery

Group Purpose

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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.

Tetelestai Recovery

Word Seeds

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.

Tetelestai Recovery – Chapter 9, Saying is Sowing

https://a.co/d/2YrZd9u

Tetelestai Recovery

Self Destructive Tendencies

We found the facts of the first story in Mark chapter five, concerning a demon possessed man who cut himself and lived in tombs, to be tragic and disturbing. We also identified with him in a way that few others can. This man was out of his mind, and everyone knew it. The historical facts had proven that human power was no match for a demon. Evil was an entity to be feared and avoided.

When we were lost in our addiction, we were self-destructive, violent, fearful, crazy, and more conspicuous than we cared to admit. The demoniac man is one we relate to with deep heartbreaking empathy. We walked his path. Like him, our path led to Jesus. And in like manner, Jesus called out our demons and returned us to our right minds.

  • Fact: this man was violent and dangerous.
  • Fact: anyone who got close got hurt.
  • Fact: the man had been this way for many years.
  • Fact: there was no treatment or remedy available for him.
  • Fact: no mortal man could throw down with a legion of hell hounds and live to tell about it.
  • Fact: the demoniac man ran toward Jesus.
  • Truth: Of all these facts, only one held any significance: He ran toward Jesus.
  • Truth: When he ran to the Prince of Peace, with his frightening facts, they were overpowered by the Truth.
  • Truth: The man’s sanity was restored, and his life changed forever.

Oddly, the story states at this point that the people were afraid. Sadly, when we were delivered from our addiction, some of our friends and family were afraid too. They were afraid it wouldn’t last; afraid it was too good to be true; afraid it was a manipulation technique; or just afraid of being hurt again.

Tetelestai Recovery – Chapter 8, Facts are Changeable

https://a.co/d/1wqIxA6

Tetelestai Recovery

Not Just Another Statistic

Truth can change the facts but the facts can never change the Truth.

We discovered within the Tetelestai realm of recovery, we were no longer destined to remain stuck in our sickness and disoriented in our dysfunctions. We were painfully aware of the facts concerning statistics, relapse, and case studies. We also knew the facts of our past, our failures, and our crimes.

We could not rely too heavily on these facts however, for if we subjected ourselves to natural results, we would forfeit the opportunity of a supernatural override. If we allowed ourselves to be enclosed by a fence of facts, we would once again fall victim to the old status quo. In agreement with Christ, we declared, “Tetelestai,” against becoming just another statistic.

We looked to the fifth chapter of the gospel of Mark to discover Jesus’ total disregard for facts. In this one chapter, we found three unique and unrelated accounts of individuals who desperately sought to change the facts of their reality. Each case study contained significant details which would negate the likelihood of change. To change an unchangeable fact is outside the realm of reality. We, like the characters in Mark 5, rejected typical reality based solely on facts. We believed that our righteous Judge could and would overrule the facts to establish His trademark justice which is lovingly steeped in mercy.

When we claimed the powerful declaration of Christ, “Tetelestai,” over our sickness, poverty, strained relationships, and criminal records, we were, in essence, asking Jesus to override our human facts in preference to His divine truth concerning our divine purpose and potential.

Tetelestai Recovery – Chapter 8, Facts are Changeable

https://a.co/d/hGqluhL