Tag: Hope

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

The Testing of Our Faith

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One evening without notice, a moment of grace fell on our Friday night group. One member shared a passage from the book of James. It altered our perspective about these irritating, uninspiring days when we are simply putting one foot in front of the other.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

What do these tests look like?
  • When our feelings betray us and tell us we don’t love God like we should.
  • When our behavior slips into an old pattern and makes us believe we have not changed.
  • When the excitement and enthusiasm we once had for God seems dull and muted.
  • When we just don’t care about trying so hard, because it’s too much work.

Previously, these difficult times had been dark and made us doubt our relationship with God. We were frustrated to find Him so distant when we needed Him the most.

However, when we begin to view these events as a process which increases our patience and equips us for the next level, we start to see their value. We no longer need to feel frustrated when God goes silent. A good teacher is always silent during a test.

Tetelestai Recovery 3: Leveling Up / Chapter 4: Be Patient With Yourself https://a.co/d/0TrI59R

Tetelestai Recovery

Suddenly!

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Chapter 3, The Waiting https://a.co/d/0mQKWnR

As the believers waited in the upper room, the writer of Acts reported, “Suddenly, there was a sound like a mighty rushing wind…”

We see the word ‘suddenly’ and are reminded of those miracles we love so much. Jesus feeding the 5000 in a single afternoon; healing a blind man with mud; telling a dead girl to get up; and dozens of other stories set in a supernatural time warp, where the magic was instantaneous, and the desired results were immediate.

Obviously, Jesus was on a mission. He was out to prove that He was from God and to demonstrate the will of God by healing, delivering, feeding, and forgiving. If His miracles didn’t occur instantly, it would have been difficult for the onlookers to make the connection that Jesus was the one who had been the catalyst.

Additionally, while Jesus was in human form, the supernatural power of God did not have to travel through a flawed human to reach its destination. Perhaps His miracles were instantaneous because divine energy could flow freely through such a pure vessel. It didn’t get clogged up by the spiritual sediment and emotional toxins that the rest of us humans tend to carry. But, for whatever reason, miracles in Jesus’ day seem different than the miracles today. We rarely experience immediate, supernatural, instantaneous miracles and many of us struggle to hold onto our faith when we are waiting for our miracle to arrive.

We get discouraged because our ‘suddenly’ isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like. We start to doubt our resolve and question our faith because we see no results.

A Date With Destiny

Sacred Space

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Leviticus 9:5

The whole community assembled in front of the Tent of Meeting to worship the Lord.

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You have a very deep appreciation for sacred spaces and schedules. You maintain a protective attitude about holy days in the Lord’s house, and you are committed to making it a comfortable, safe, and welcoming place for the family of God to gather.

Not only are you dedicated to the physical structures of worship, but you are also equally attentive to the atmosphere of community which flows from them.

You cherish the bond of believers and are captivated by a sense of belonging. You find yourself at rest when you enter the place of worship. Although the previous week may have left you exhausted with its endless chaos and pressure, you are immediately at rest when you enter the house of the Lord, on His holy day.

Worship services bring your mind, body, and spirit into harmony. You find health and wholeness in the union of believers gathered in one place.

Although you adore the beauty of church buildings and their ornate designs, you are fully aware that the true presence of the living God cannot be not contained by time or space. His presence remains within you as you carry His presence into the world around you.

…See more https://a.co/d/gQ7kCoq

Tetelestai Recovery

Free Fall

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https://a.co/d/ejjflVF

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…

Continue reading https://a.co/d/ejjflVF

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 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

Word Caves

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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.

…Continue reading: https://a.co/d/cSmTFs1

Tetelestai Recovery

Pure Perfection

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Being confident of this very thing, that he, who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it unto the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Therefore, be perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48

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People commonly use the word perfect to describe a newborn baby. Babies are inadequate in every way. They are unable to feed themselves, walk, read, or even roll over. Sometimes they cry or make messes. Yet, we say they are perfect. Every stage is perfect and necessary in the process of transitioning to the next stage.

A tiny green tomato on the vine is a perfect tomato, although it does not have the color, flavor, or texture of a fully ripened tomato. The tiny green fruit is perfect, but it is not yet useful for its intended purpose. If it remains on the vine, the perfect green tomato will grow into its full potential. And throughout each stage of its growth, it will continue to be perfect.

Thus, we conclude that perfection is about potential. Perfection has little to do with current behavior or ability, but a lot to do with our mindset. Perfection is a state of being which maintains continuous momentum toward progress.

…Continue reading: https://a.co/d/cSmTFs1