Tag: Healing

Tetelestai Recovery

Water Walkers

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When Jesus was spotted by His friends, coming toward the boat, they first thought He was a ghost. He knew what they were thinking. Although they should have been relieved to see Him, they were, in fact, terrified instead. He saw the horror in their eyes and realized they weren’t recognizing Him for who He was.

We recall times when we were unaware that Jesus was approaching, and we became frightened by our own misperceptions. We saw death approaching, but in the end, it proved to be the Author of Life. The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost. And much like those young men, we too become afraid of what He represents. Some fear He will leave them. Others fear He will prohibit their self-expression. Some fear He will demand too much or create too much controversy. Many of us encountered a fear of Jesus, not fully understanding who He was or why He’d come.

 Jesus comes to us in different forms. Sometimes He comes in the supernatural realm as an unmistakable tingle of the Great Spirit. Other times He approaches through the Presence of other addicts and inmates whom we fondly refer to as our cell-siblings. Addiction, incarceration, disease, and anxiety were some of the worst storms in our lives, and we were sure some of these issues would be the death of us. Yet, in the midst of these storms, Jesus appeared and offered the opportunity to take a leap of faith and join Him in the supernatural.

In the Sacred Text account, one of the men in the boat, named Peter, asked Jesus to let him come out and walk on the water alongside Him. Jesus of course said, “Sure! Come on out. The water’s fine.” Peter lunged toward the side of the boat as it was rocking and lurching, climbed cautiously over the edge, and 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, had it been a ruse.

The interesting part of this story is when it is taught as an object lesson in some churches, the point always seems to hover over the fact that for a split-second Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink below the surface of the waves. Many preachers belabor the point that Peter lacked faith. We disagree!

There were 11 other men in the boat who didn’t even ask if they could come out onto the water. Peter had faith! Whether he was completely successful in his faith walk or not, he was the only one with the intuition 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. In that moment of clarity, Peter suddenly received a divine revelation. Through this text, we receive the same revelation in our storms. We need not remain powerless and desperate. We are called to function alongside our King, even when natural laws dictate otherwise. Believers can overpower the Natural with the Supernatural.

The power in the spirit realm is faith, and Peter’s faith was increasing exponentially with every risk. His faith account was small, but it was growing. When Jesus asked him “Oh you have such little faith, why did you doubt me?” He was simply letting Peter know that as his faith increased, so would his ability to maintain his position of power in the Spirit realm. Pointing out that Peter had ‘little’ faith was not a reprimand but rather, an encouragement that when his faith grew bigger, it would become more reliable, enabling him to fulfill his call.

Chapter 12 – Water Walkers

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Tetelestai Recovery

Use Your Words

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This is a word created universe, and we have been given the authority of Christ to create our world with His words. What we believe, we speak, and the manifestation takes place.

Sometimes it is instantaneous, like a light switch. Other times it is a gradual process, like a dimmer switch.

We saw in the passage in Mark 11 that the tree took some time to die. Therefore, we were faced with the challenge to first believe, then speak, and then wait. We noticed that Jesus didn’t stand there waiting for the tree to die. He went on about His business and allowed His words to do the work.

In the same mindset, we learned it was best not to examine our progress, but only to believe and continue on our path. Days, months, and even years later, when encountering humiliating experiences, or running into old acquaintances, we were surprised to see that our emotional responses were no longer rooted in shame, but rather in strength. We found those mountains which loomed in our future had disappeared and our paths were leveled.   

 As we learned about words creating the world we desire, we understood that our words could destroy our root of shame. Once the root was dead, no one else, including ourselves, would be subjected to the fruit that grew from it.

Those mountains which needed to move would not be moved by exertion or self-effort. We could not uproot our shame any more than we could move a mountain. Both were subject to the same force, the spoken word. Knowing that the only energy that travels from the natural realm to the spiritual realm are our words, we speak to our shame and command it to bear no fruit. We speak to our mountains, and they disappear into the sea.

We declared the words of Jesus, “It is finished!” to our roots of shame and our mountain of amends.

As our mountains dropped into the sea, a tsunami of opportunities flooded into our lives. Wave upon wave of amazing possibilities washed over us.

Chapter 11 – Roots and Mountains

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Tetelestai Recovery

Hold That Thought

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Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

We had been healed and delivered by the final words of Jesus from the cross, “It is finished,” so we knew there was significance in last words.  We understood that enormous effort goes into choosing the right words to say goodbye, finish a letter, conclude a speech, or summarize a presentation. Final words are important. They leave a lasting impact and have far reaching effects.

What began with the word finally, impacted us so deeply, we were never the same.

Our cognitive distortions and faulty thought patterns were measured against the 8 descriptive words in Philippians 4:8.  With these eight guardrails in place, we could choose which thoughts to keep and which ones to set aside.  Using the acronym, PREPLANT, we could check ourselves regularly throughout the day to make sure the thoughts running through our heads lined up with at least one on the list.

PURE – RIGHT – EXCELLENT PRAISEWORTHY – LOVELY – ADMIRABLE NOBLE – TRUE

If a thought did not meet the criteria, it was deemed unhealthy and carried the potential to make us sick.  We could not level up until we let go of the thoughts that didn’t measure up.

Tetelestai Recovery

Yes and No

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As we leveled up in our new normal, we had to adopt the same type of mindset with our life choices as we did for driving on muddy country roads.  Our decisions and actions needed to be precisely calibrated in order to achieve the results we wanted.  Just as it would be foolish to see how close to the ditch we could drive without sliding off the road, it was also foolish to see how close we could get to temptation without giving in.  

In our leveled-up position, we learned that every action started with a choice. And every choice carried an equal and opposite result. In other words, every choice carried both a yes and a no decision.

If we said yes to sobriety, we said no to the chaos and destruction we once lived. And visa-versa.  If we said yes to a drink or drug, we said no to hope and sanity. When we said yes to thinking out our choices, we said no to making the same dumb decisions over and over, expecting different results.

To level-up, we had to accept our own responsibility for the choices and events of our lives. We had to realize that our decisions, even in little things, mattered.   Whether it was getting a good deal on a laptop we suspected was stolen, or working the system to get benefits we didn’t really qualify for, every decision set off a chain reaction of negative results and consequences.

We evaluated some of our individual experiences and shared them with the group.

One member who had been an addiction to porn, shared his decision-making process when it came to watching television.  He knew which shows would trigger lustful thoughts, so he simply chose not to watch them.  He chose instead to watch sports, cooking shows, and educational programs like Nova. He said yes to living free from his addiction which meant he said no to shows that triggered him.  Each time he made that choice, he placed himself into a position of freedom. He continues to pursue his destiny using the wisdom God has given.  He has leveled up into a mature, godly man who demonstrates great leadership skills. 

Another member of the group shared about self-esteem issues. 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 said yes to openness, and no to suffering in silence, he now operates in a position of power 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.  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 was a man who carried the joy of the Lord on his face. His smile was contagious, his demeanor was gracious, and he radiated positive energy whenever he walked into the room.  He often spoke of love and forgiveness as if it were his lifeline.  He had made a conscious choice to forgive whenever he was wronged. He refused to carry a grudge, but instead, chose to walk in love. He said no to rage and yes to compassion. Forgiveness and joy were no longer second nature to him; they were his new normal. 

Tetelestai Recovery

A Contaminated Mind

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Although our spirits were reborn and our bodies were clean from mood altering substances, our minds were contaminated with cognitive distortions. Our thought processes had become corroded with bitterness and disappointment. The original shine of innocence had been dulled by the storms of rage and the heat of humiliation. Our minds were splattered with the dirt and grime of the past. The good memories were cluttered with grief over what we ruined or what we lost. The bad memories made us cringe and flooded us with waves of nausea. Our heads were filled with regrets, resentments, and realities that we wished we could change.

Our minds, once fresh and innocent, had gradually become a gurgling caldron of foul emotions, which continued to bubble up at the worst possible times. Most of us couldn’t even remember what a fresh, clean mind was, nor could we identify exactly when we lost ours. Clever coping mechanisms had served their purposes for a time, but we were tired of being covered in the dirt and grime of resentment, guilt, failure, fear, intimidation, and regret.

Our minds needed to be scrubbed clean if we were ever going to have the confidence and clarity to move into our destiny. So, we looked for answers in our Sacred Text…

Tetelestai Recovery Volume 2 – Our New Normal

Chapter Three – Brainwashed

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Tetelestai Recovery

Wake the Dead

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We examined the passage in Ezekiel 37, which described the valley of dry bones and the prophetic challenge to call them back to life. In the vision, God tells His prophet to speak specific words to the dry bones. In incremental stages, the bones were told to rise up, collect themselves, and grow tendons, ligaments, and skin.  Ezekiel gave one final command to the lifeless creatures, as instructed by God. He told the four winds to deliver the breath of life and each skeleton begins to breathe. Gathered together, they formed a mighty army and stood ready to defeat the enemy who had once destroyed them.

The excavation process in our own emotional tar pit, revealed decomposing dreams and dried up destinies. Those artifacts might have left us hopeless and grief-stricken over our wasted years, had we not clung to David’s hope from the 23rd Psalm: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. (Psalm 23:4).

We feared arousing resentments and regret, but with God at our side, we were assured there was nothing we couldn’t face and forgive. As much as we felt our history was set in stone and fossilized forever, we claimed the following Sacred Text over the excursion, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). In time, we became willing to enter our valley of dry bones and speak life over what had been so dead for so long.

We found the lifeless remains of enthusiasm, which had been suffocated by disappointment. We found fossils of unfinished projects, which could have been profound, had we not given up. We unearthed splintered fragments of gifts, talents, and abilities which had become casualties of our own sense of inadequacy. We didn’t see them as hopeless signs of a wasted life. Instead, we saw them as dry bones coming back to life. By faith, we saw our powerful future rising up from the wreckage of our past.

In our new normal, we spoke life over anything which reeked of death. In our new normal, we commanded those dry bones to rise up in service to our King. We did not think this was too much to expect for we had been given the resurrection power of Christ. We have been urged to follow in the footsteps of our Father, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. (Romans 4:17)

The winds of change swept through our own valley of dry bones, breathing life into what was dead inside. Slowly, methodically, our powerful army of gifts and talents began to rise. These warriors were character qualities which had been gifted to us from the Spirit:

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

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Tetelestai Recovery

Time to Come Clean

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But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

As we pondered this verse, we came to realize that whether it was our own sins or someone else’s, everything was forgivable, and nothing was a secret to God. All wrongs could be forgiven and thus, all minds could be made whole. Since God promised He would cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness, we were relieved to confess what we knew to be true about ourselves, no matter how distasteful.

We also felt liberated by the fact that we would be cleansed of whatever else was wrong with us. This was our troublesome state of unrighteousness, which in essence, were our damaged psyches. If our minds were to be cleansed of ALL unrighteousness, even the things we had forgotten or buried, we knew we could be completely clean and completely whole. We were safely positioned under the waterfall, jagged edges and all.

Tetelestai Recovery 2: Our New Normal; Chapter Three – Brainwashed

https://a.co/d/gl18r3O

Tetelestai Recovery

Tetelestai

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We needed a new mind, a new purpose, and a new sense of identity. It was in this prison of despair, we found the key to our freedom.

From this verdict of our King, emerged an energy which annihilated the grief of guilt, the harassment of hopelessness, and the agony of addiction. We noticed that Jesus’ final word, “Tetelestai,” translated into the English phrase, “It is finished,” seemed to imply a sense of giving up. We found this to be an unfortunate language barrier.

As it turns out, in the original Greek language of the New Testament, Tetelestai is a declaration of victory, completion, and success.

We needed a new mind, a new purpose, and a new sense of identity. It was in this prison of despair, we found the key to our freedom.

From this verdict of our King, emerged an energy which annihilated the grief of guilt, the harassment of hopelessness, and the agony of addiction.We noticed that Jesus’ final word tetelestai, translated into the English phrase, it is finished, seemed to imply a sense of giving up. We found this to be an unfortunate language barrier.

Tetelestai is the comment an artist might whisper after completing his final brush stroke on a masterpiece.

Tetelestai is the report a soldier would bring to his commanding officer when a battle was over, and victory had been secured.

We believe our Savior used His final breath on the cross to declare for all time, to all creation, in every dimension, that there is nothing left undone: It is finished; Tetelestai.

There is no more drudgery to sobriety and no more anguish to recovery. There is no self-effort which must be added to what has been declared, Tetelestai.

IT IS FINISHED

In matters of our recovery from substance addiction and the mental dysfunction which accompanied it, we were completely helpless. We had no thought which could heal our thoughts. We had no disclosure which could remove our secret shame. We had no detour which would lead us out of the darkness. We were lost. We were alone. We were afraid.

But suddenly, in a random, unexplainable moment, the gift of Tetelestai was revealed. We had run out of options, yet in that barren wasteland of emptiness, we stumbled upon a treasure trove of truth.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6

Tetelestai Recovery: Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished” https://a.co/d/bDUe2X7

Tetelestai Recovery

Out of Options

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There is an overpowering conflict which occurs within the mind of anyone who has encountered the desperation of addiction. The struggle to escape one’s own mind by flooding it with toxic levels of mood-altering chemicals is the true definition of insanity. Yet, many of us suffered from this fatal and debilitating disease, consenting to the madness as if there were no other option.

In search of total recovery, we discovered we were not only seeking to be delivered from our dependency on mind or mood-altering substances, but we also searched for freedom from our thought processes, our twisted perceptions, and our obsessive fears.

In this emotional state of chronic crisis, we were exhausted.

We struggled to be free from a mind which plotted its own demise. Our thoughts quite literally tormented us to the point of insanity. We needed a way to manage our feelings and silence our sickness.

Our problem was not that we felt guilty. The problem was that we were guilty.

  • We were damaged and we had caused damage.
  • We were hopeless and infused hopelessness into everything we touched.
  • We were in a death march toward nothingness and our lives had no direction.
  • Our primary purpose was to find a reprieve from ourselves.
  • Our public self was known by our private self as a fraud.

Tetelestai Recovery: Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, “It is Finished”

Chapter One – Out of Options

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Tetelestai Recovery

Expectations

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The writer Mark tells us that this group of women went to that tomb expecting to find a corpse, but they still went. I suggest to you that Jesus works this way, even today. If you have just enough faith to seek Him in your despair, in your darkness, in your doubt, even if you don’t expect much, He’s going to give you more than you bargained for. He did for those women, and He still does it today. Marks’ gospel is more concise that the other 3, but it does reveal to us that where they laid Jesus is now a bare spot on the floor. He is GONE. The tomb is an empty place.

For centuries after this event, scholars have wrestled with this problem. In the first century, the Jews thought the disciples stole the body to promote their hoax. The disciples thought the Jews or the Romans had taken the body. The Romans weren’t sure because they had stationed a guard over the tomb. But NOBODY was saying that the body of Jesus was still in there.

Death and despair have been emptied of their power. Destructive forces do not have the final word. The empty tomb is the historical evidence for believing in the truth of the resurrection.

Look for Jesus in the last place you saw Him. It may have even been an unpleasant or traumatic experience, like it was for the women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning. Even if you have low expectations, give it one last shot. This may be the time you find new hope.

~Pastor Marc