Don’t be afraid of anyone. The Lord your God is with you.
You enjoy a close bond with your Creator. You have a keen awareness of His presence when you pray. During times in your life when you have been most afraid, you sense His nearness so vividly that you can actually feel yourself wrapped in His arms.
You hear the rustle of angel wings in the melodies of old songs. Your emotions overflow when the gentle breeze of the Creator whispers your name while the music encircles you with the sound waves of comfort and love.
You have discovered the elusive tranquility that many seek but rarely find. You are reminded of it on a daily basis as you spend time with God in prayer. Your prayers are not traditional or eloquent. They are more like a casual running conversation with a close friend. His gentle peace surrounds you as His presence lightens the atmosphere. Serenity is yours because you know that you are never alone and never forgotten.
We noticed something remarkable about the ministry of Jesus. He had no schedule or agenda. His ministry was not directed by Himself, His apostles, or even by God. To our amazement, we realized that the ministry of Christ was determined by people. Without fail, when the slightest flicker of faith sparked, or a request for mercy was whispered, the Savior’s footsteps suddenly stopped.
Tetelestai Recovery / Chapter 8, Facts are Changeable
The animals came to Noah in groups of two; every creature that had the breath of life.
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You enjoy a close bond with nature and find peace in the Great Creation. You have discovered the elusive tranquility that many others seek, by walking in harmony with the earth and all of its inhabitants.
You care deeply about animals and you understand their significance in the ecosystem of this planet. You sometimes prefer the company of animals to humans, because you appreciate their authenticity and non-judgmental acceptance.
You realize that the human connection to animals is a symbiotic and mutually beneficial relationship. You are grateful for the medical breakthroughs and scientific discoveries which have been made through the study of unique animal attributes.
You are amazed at the scope of human innovation which has been developed by observing the behaviors of animals. From the beginning of ancient civilizations in Noah’s day, to the modern era of technology, humans have relied upon the wisdom of the animal kingdom. It is a good person who values and protects the wildness of their world.
Initially, we feared awakening resentments and regret, but with God at our side, we grew confident that 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 our emotional excavation:
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 dead for so long.
We found the lifeless remains of enthusiasm, which had been suffocated by disappointment. We found fossils of unfinished projects, which might 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.
Rather than viewing the carnage as evidence of a wasted life, we began to see it as dry bones coming back to life. By faith, we saw a 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 our dead dreams 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 had been urged to follow in the footsteps of our Creator, who…
Gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. Romans 4:17
But wisdom is better than money because it can save a person’s life.
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Your life is much too valuable to waste time worrying about money. God has promised to take care of your needs as you take care of His.
The value of your life is very precious. God designed you in a unique way so as to provide you with the proper skills and wisdom you need in order to accomplish the assignments He selected just for you.
Wisdom comes to you in many forms. Sometimes it comes to you through dreams, songs, support groups, and bible studies. Sometimes you gain it through conversations with family and friends.
You see the true value of life from a spiritual perspective. You see treasures of the Divine sprinkled over the earth’s canvas in colorful wildflowers, spectacular sunsets, and twinkling night skies.
You enjoy the simple things of life. The basic necessities of food and drink are never taken for granted nor their preparation treated as drudgery. You do not worry for these basic needs, but rather, you celebrate them as gifts from God.
You believe the bountiful blessings God has given are meant to be shared with others. You have a warm and generous heart.
You know that life is more important than mere possessions. The true value of life far exceeds the things which can only be measured by human currency.
Your presence on this planet is being developed into a remarkable blend of generosity, wisdom, and integrity.
As God carefully molds you into the image of His Son, you are being transformed into a wise and wonderful human being.
They arrived in Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?”
He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So, Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight; saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.
Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, “Don’t enter the village.”
Mark 8:22-26
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Like the blind man in this passage, we needed a second touch from Jesus to heal our distorted view. All we had to do was be honest and admit that our perspective was still distorted. Jesus didn’t scold the man for not having enough faith, or for being inadequate. Jesus simply asked him what was wrong and then fixed it.
At the end of the story, after the man’s vision was perfectly restored, Jesus told him to go straight home and not to go back into the village. In our own parallel stories, we heard Jesus say, “Don’t go back into….”
We each heard a different ending to that sentence, based on our own uniquely personal experience. For all of us, it was a moment of truth. If we wanted to enjoy our total Tetelestai Recovery and be comfortable in our New Normal, we would not be able to return to that person, place, or thing which was certain to pull us back into our distortions.
In the original Greek language, the word for the phrase “It is finished”is Tetelestai.
I was introduced to the word Tetelestai one day when I was well into my fourth year of permanent healing from addiction.
It was during a year-long court battle which had been a residual consequence from my old life. The day I appeared in court to hear the verdict and receive my sentence, I claimed this scripture and the word Tetelestai over my case. I was relieved by the peace it held and became willing to accept whatever God had in store for me, even if it meant a year in prison.
I prayed this scripture and acknowledged the fact that God had already redeemed me. He had made me a new creation by healing me from addiction. As I was praying that morning, God was working on the judge. He gave the judge an insight into something that no one else had seen…
I was born into a two-parent alcoholic home and struggled for decades with drug and alcohol dependence. I started drinking as a small child and was a daily drug user by age twelve. I was blessed with a willfully strong intellect and despite my addiction issues, went to college, started a family, and became a successful entrepreneur. By age twenty-six, my occasional, yet increasingly frequent business, relationship, and legal problems caused me to seek relief from my struggle with drugs and alcohol.
I had an intellectual concept of a spiritual energy (Higher Power) and over the next twenty-seven years, I cycled in and out of sobriety, with the assistance of 12-step recovery meetings and multiple treatment institutions. In that twenty-seven-year period I worked steps, had sponsors and sponsees, attended meetings, worked service jobs and attended counseling. Despite what some would say was a strong recovery program, I continued to relapse with multiple auto wrecks, work accidents, play injuries, DUI’s, loss of relationships, divorce, and spiritual discourse. Consequences continued to mount and got more severe. I agonized over what I was doing wrong and often asked myself, “Why can’t I seem to get it? Why can’t I stay clean and sober?”
Bouncing from program to program I became active in four different 12-step programs and had a daily ritual of meetings to attend. I continued to relapse again and again over resentments, old acquaintances, the “disease”, and the never-ending discussions and excitement about the glory of the ‘good ole days’. My angst would grow until I would try a different drug or go back to my good old friend alcohol.
Faith in God or my version of a Higher Power, became shaken, questioned, and eventually dismissed.
And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 1 Peter 5:10
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This came as a shock to those of us who grew up in the psycho-babble era, where therapists were gods who slung letter-label disorders at us like lightning bolts. Most of us had been zapped by at least one label or another which altered our identity. Sadly, that movement brought such a self-defeated attitude; many of us doubted the power of the cross over our disorders.
Thankfully, after receiving the message of Christ’s finished work, we concluded that our dysfunctional labels need not remain our identity.
We claimed the powerful promise from Romans 8:37 concerning our sense of powerlessness:
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.
We subjected our past trauma to the truth found in Romans 8:28:
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love Christ, who have been called according to His purpose.
Paul didn’t write ‘some things’ or ‘the good things’. No, he said that all things, even the least expected or most traumatic things, will work together for our good and for the Kingdom’s expansion project.
We realized that it wouldn’t benefit the Kingdom if its soldiers and ambassadors were traumatized, weak, and frail (either mentally or physically). No military unit would succeed with a platoon of disabled soldiers charging in to take a hill. Fighters in poor condition would be counter-productive to the cause. When charging into enemy territory, only the healthiest, strongest, and well-trained are called up to active duty.
Knowing that God has called us up to active duty, we also trust that He has given us health, strength, and solid training. We have discovered the spiritual law of the Kingdom where trauma turns to triumph and frailty turns to strength.
Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. If I say, ‘This man will go with you,’ he will go. But if I say, ‘That one will not go with you,’ he will not go.”
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As you fulfill your mission and follow the call of God on your life, you sometimes encounter the loss of support upon which you had previously relied.
As you seek to fulfill the objectives God has set before you, a curious pattern seems to emerge. Many, who join you with passionate enthusiasm in the beginning, drop out before the project is completed.
While the world tells you that there is strength in numbers, your experience tells you otherwise. Time and time again, you have watched as friends and colleagues are called by God to other pursuits, while you are left to wonder how you will ever fulfill your mission without them.
You, like Gideon, are sometimes overwhelmed with the size of the battle in relation to the number of warriors in your company. However, you trust that God is the Commander of Angel Armies, so whatever you lack in human support, you receive in abundance from the spirit realm.
You understand that your journey is unique to your destiny and design. You realize that God has choreographed your life experiences to mesh with the talents and gifts you possess in order to fulfill the mission for which you were created.
While there are many who admire you, and hundreds who applaud you, only a few will actually go with you.
Little by little, God has removed your support system of humans so that your reliance remains on Him. When the battle is over and victory is won, you will not be tempted to give credit to other humans or take credit for yourself.
As you watch the number of workers decrease, you must fight against anxious thoughts which breed fear and worry.
You must dismiss feelings of rejection or abandonment, and choose rather to be grateful for the time of support you received.
When Gideon was first called, he struggled with a sense of inadequacy and cowardice. God brought many soldier volunteers to his side, to bolster his courage and boost his confidence. That was their only purpose, and once Gideon was on board and ready, God removed those props, one by one, until only a few remained.
Not every soldier was destined to go into battle with Gideon. In the same manner, not every person who joins your journey will be called to go the distance.
Not everyone can go where you are going. Each has their own call to follow. God brings many wonderful people into your life, to bolster your courage and strengthen your resolve.
You are grateful for their support and you remain gracious when the time comes for them to move on.
Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, "It is Finished!" 