A despondent man sits before a large, luminous forest painting in a dark room.
Tetelestai Recovery

Letting Go of Perfectionism: A Spiritual Journey

Although introspection is important to growth, it is not the main purpose of our spiritual awakening. We are moving into a new position of authority in Christ. We are leveling up. We are no longer human beings having a spiritual awakening. We are awakened spiritual beings affecting the realm of human existence.

Admittedly, human nature can often get in the way, so we frequently ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we need to improve. We ask for help in making the necessary changes. We believe we receive that help and start thanking God for the results even before we see them. We use the words of Christ, “It is finished!” (Tetelestai) to call an end to our obsession over shortcomings and our continual dialogue of negative self-talk.

Empowered by the Spirit of God, and emboldened by the words of Christ, we let go of the things that trip us up. We release our grip on perfectionism. We dismiss that internal committee in our heads who sit in judgement of our every motive, thought, behavior, or attitude. We stop auditioning for the lead role and find our proper place in the supporting cast. With the spotlight on Jesus and what He is doing, we take our eyes off ourselves and are relieved of self-consciousness.

A Date With Destiny

The Power of Forgiveness: Finding Strength in Mercy

“I tell you the truth. All sins that people do can be forgiven.” Mark 3:28

Forgiveness is an attribute which comes easily for you. You have been blessed by both giving and receiving forgiveness. You understand the forgiveness of God because you have received it abundantly.

While you may sometimes fail to make the right choice, your decision to accept God’s forgiveness for the wrong ones, is always the right choice.

You are grateful for the opportunities to offer forgiveness to others.

While it is human nature to be concerned about the risks of being merciful, you believe there is a much greater risk to the human soul when one opts to become merciless.

You are grateful for the mercy of God which provides healing and restoration. Not only does He show mercy to the offender, but He also offers forgiveness for the wrong and cancelation of the debt.

Like your Creator, you do not keep score. The mercy and forgiveness you learned from Him, enables you to wipe the slate clean and give everyone a fresh start.

Your appreciation for the forgiveness you have received is best displayed by your willingness to offer it to others.

You are a merciful person and for that reason, as Jesus reported in the Sermon on the Mount, you are blessed and will receive mercy.

It has been said that the word blessed, could be best defined by the phrase, empowered to succeed.

You are successful because you show mercy and because mercy is shown to you.

Whether or not you do everything perfectly, is not what determines your success.

It is your gift of mercy which creates a firm foundation for successful relationships.  It is also the defining force of your Christian walk.

For only those who give and receive mercy will ever truly know the heart of God. 

A Date With Destiny

Living as a Citizen of Heaven: Embrace Your Dual Reality

1 Peter 3:22…”Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God. All the angels and powers accept his authority.”

You are becoming more and more enlightened about who Jesus is, where He came from, and where He is now, preparing a place for you.

While it is true that your physical body is aging, your mind is being renewed every day. Each step of the way, the Holy Spirit is taking you to new heights of enlightenment.

Fueled by living water springing up from within you, your spirit rushes like a river, creating the power and energy needed to carry your physical form into each next heavenly assignment.

Partnered with the Spirit of God, supernatural energy is infusing you with a heavenly mindset.  As you focus your attention on heavenly pursuits, you are simultaneously improving the natural world in which you reside. 

In this way, you are living in two realms at once. You are a citizen of heaven, and an ambassador of Christ. Your heart is set on things above, and your days are filled with bringing heaven to earth.

Maintaining a heavenly focus creates melody in your mind and harmony in your heart. This music of heaven shifts your gaze away from your human struggles and toward the throne room of heaven.

Experiencing the power of Christ in this dual reality, His Kingdom is as real to you as the world in which you live.

A Date With Destiny

3/21 Finding Freedom in God’s Grace: Letting Go of Guilt

1 John 3:21…”Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.

You lead a carefree life because you release your mistakes and weaknesses into the safe grace of God.

When regret or guilt trouble you, they immediately become the next topic of conversation with God. You talk with your Heavenly Father throughout the day about the issues which plague your thoughts. As you share your memories with God, you find a sense of release. Your thoughts are turned toward His forgiveness and mercy, rather than your own failures and remorse.

You receive clemency from Christ, which wipes the slate clean. You understand this is not a once-in-a-life-time free pass, but it is a gift of grace, providing you with a fresh start whenever you need one, throughout your entire life.

When you talk things out with God, regrets are resolved, and guilt is eliminated.

Knowing that Christ has liberated you from any past mistakes, you are overwhelmed with gratitude rather than guilt.

A Date With Destiny

The Stability of Living in Christ’s Love

 Ephesians 3:19..."Christ’s love is greater than any person can ever know. But I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God."  

You know the love of Christ in ways that are difficult for some people to comprehend. Your trust in His love creates a bond of confidence between you and your Lord.

While you may have difficulty trusting other people, there is no doubt in your mind that God can be trusted to guide and protect you, no matter what.

You understand that pure love is not an emotion.  It is a commitment. You see the way God’s love has supported you during some of the most difficult and wayward times of your life. You realize that this love is not fickle. He does not withdraw His love to manipulate or punish.

You enjoy living in the love of Christ and you seek to demonstrate that love to others.

This life of love is not an emotional roller-coaster of feelings, but rather, it is a higher level of stability.

The presence of Christ’s love in your life creates an atmosphere in which you are difficult to offend, easy to approach, and quick to forgive.

A Date With Destiny

Dispelling Myths: The True Character of God

Luke 3:18…John continued to preach the Good News, saying many other things to encourage the people.

God has chosen to display His true character of mercy and love through you to those who have misunderstood Him to be harsh and cruel.

You were chosen to bring something very special to your world.  

Many people claiming to speak for God, have indicated that He is angry and hard to please. This has become an obstacle to their need to ask for His help.

You are correcting this erroneous perception by showing the true character of God, as displayed in Jesus’ life.

You are chosen to talk of the loyalty of God, proven by His repetitive message throughout the Scriptures, “I will never leave you or turn on you.”

Your deep sense of loyalty has helped you understand the heart of God. In this world of insecurity and unrest, the humans who inhabit it are running scared from a God who frightens and repulses them.

Their misperceptions of God have left them without help and without hope. Your message of good news will soften people’s perceptions of God and remove their fear of asking for His help.

God has chosen you to spread the good news of healing and wholeness to His broken world.

A Date With Destiny

Finding Divine Guidance for Life Success

Proverbs 3:6…Seek God’s will in all that you do. And He will give you success.

Seeking and following the will of God empowers you to succeed.

The fear of failure may drift through your thoughts when you take on a project you feel inadequate to manage.

However, as you seek God’s will, and are gently led by His Spirit, you are empowered to succeed. Knowing that you are following the design for your life, set forth by the Creator of the universe, you reject fearful feelings and face each challenge head-on.

Being led by God, you see His supernatural power at work in all your efforts. You realize that He is able and willing to make a success out of anything – even things you thought were failures.

Empowered to succeed, you rise each morning with new energy, anxious to find your divine assignment for the day.

Sometimes your successes do not appear very successful at first. There are times that your initial attempts at success look a lot like failures.

But, you live by faith, not by sight. You do not view failure as the end, but rather, the beginning of a new approach.


A Date With Destiny

The Book of Remembrance: Your Name Matters

Malachi 3:16…Those who honored the Lord spoke with each other. The Lord listened and the names of those who honored and respected the Lord were written in a book. The Lord will remember them.


While you do not see yourself as the main character in the story of life, it excites you to know that God has entered your name into the book He is writing about those who honor him.

Knowing that God is taking the time to listen to your words, and record them in a book, along with your name, leaves you awestruck and a little self-conscious.  However, it is not God’s intention to make you uncomfortable; but rather, it is His way of paying tribute to those who honor Him.

Your willingness to speak well of God and talk about His goodness softens the hearts of those who have misunderstood Him to be cold and uncaring. The positive impact of your speech will change the perceptions of those who have run from Him for far too long.

Not only will your name be written by angels in heaven’s book of remembrance, but your words will be recorded by humans in earthbound books, which will make an impact on future generations.

A Date With Destiny

Harnessing Spiritual Power Through Music

2 Kings 3:15…While the musician was playing, the Lord’s power came upon them.

Your appreciation for music comes from a deeply spiritual center within you. Knowing there is supernatural power released in music which produces an emotional response; you have dedicated your talents to God and remain willing to share His praises through music wherever you go.

 Whether humming a tune, strumming a guitar, singing a chorus, or tapping out a rhythm, musical expression is a language understood by all.

The power of God which flows through a room when musical notes accompany words of praise is a phenomenon you treasure. Participating in the musical experience is one which moves and excites you.

You keep a song in your heart and often find yourself singing a praise song over and over in your mind throughout the day. 

Some might call it an earworm, but in the realm of the supernatural, you know that you are connecting with God on an unconscious level. You are being built up in your spirit and infused with the power of Christ.


Tetelestai Recovery

Idolatry of Emotions: Claiming Righteousness Through Grace

When we discovered the power of Jesus’ declaration, “It is finished,” we claimed tetelestai over our misaligned compass comprised of human emotion.

We stopped worshipping at the feet of our feelings and ditched them at the foot of the cross. We learned that our feelings were an unpredictable deity. We saw that exalting our feelings to a place of devotion, was nothing short of idolatry.

We made a firm decision to discover God’s thoughts of us, rather than our own thoughts of ourselves.

We didn’t feel like believing in our rightness, but the Word stated we were the righteousness (right-ness) of God. We were much more comfortable feeling wrong and running from it. We were unsure how to settle into knowing, rather than feeling.

It didn’t feel right to believe right, but once we got a revelation of grace, and stopped relying on how bad we felt, we discovered a sense of stability we’d never known before.