Tag: Spiritual Awakening

A Date With Destiny

Praise

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You should praise him. He is your God. He has done great and wonderful things for you. You have seen them with your own eyes. Deuteronomy 10:21

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You have been called by God and down deep, you have always known it.

Your destiny will involve many different seasons. It will take on a variety of forms as you move through your allotted time on this planet.

Embedded in the foundation of your spiritual core is an interlocking system consisting of a perfect blend of praise and gratitude.

You are grateful for the peace that replaces discord in your thoughts. You remain ever mindful that gratitude and praise are powerful deterrents to discontentment.

Your gratitude for the things God has done for you is revealed by the enthusiastic way you talk about Him.

You love to get together with friends and family who have this same sense of appreciation for the work of God in their own lives as well.

You love to share stories of miracles and mercy. You openly tell of the times that God has showered you with comfort and compassion during times of great difficulty.

You also enjoy hearing others talk about what God is doing in their lives. You adore being surrounded by people who openly express their gratitude for the blessings of God. On the other hand, you find it tedious and exhausting to be around complainers. You know that a very high level of toxicity is contained within a complaint so you combat its effects with the purposeful practice of praise.

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A Date With Destiny

Spokesperson

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Matthew 10:20

It will not really be you speaking. The Spirit of God will be speaking through you.

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You are called to be the voice of Christ to some of God’s lost children who don’t seem to be able to hear Him for themselves. When you speak of God’s love and forgiveness, it is the Spirit of God speaking through you, infusing the atmosphere with hope and life.

There are specific souls you will be drawn to. This is a nudge from the Holy Spirit.

Due to your own life experiences and unique character qualities, the connections you make with those who are struggling will prove to alter their lives as well as your own.  You will be the one to help them find their way to the Father, and thus, find their way home.

As a representative of redemption, you find that the chosen ones are typically the most broken ones.

Your ability to connect with  troubled people in a non-judgmental approach makes you the ideal candidate to bring God’s message to those who cannot hear His voice for themselves.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Be Patient With Yourself

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As we release our addictions with the words of Jesus, “It is finished!” and settle comfortably into our new normal, we feel gratitude beyond words. The dysfunctions we struggled with in the past are fading in the distance. We are on firm footing and making solid progress.

Sometimes we make really good progress and are pleased with the distance we cover in such a short time. We feel that our relationship with God is in great shape, and we are motivated by our sense of accomplishment.

At other times, however, we feel as if we were trudging through mud, putting one foot in front of the other, lacking any drive or inspiration. We feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and disinterested. During these times, we don’t feel so great about our relationship with God. We assume He is disappointed with our lack of energy and enthusiasm.

These times are rare, but they happen often enough to make us question our stability and resolve. We wonder if one of these periods might last so long that we will just give in and give up.

We don’t want to lose what we have gained, and we don’t want to miss the joy of the journey, so the thought of trudging through the marshy swampland of doubt, discouragement, and disagreement feels very threatening.

We love the mountaintops and the flowery meadows, but we must face the fact that dry deserts and muddy bogs are also part of the expedition. We must make peace with both if we want to get where we are going.

When the roads are easy, we feel joy in looking back to see how far we’ve come. When the roads are difficult, we seem to take one step forward, two steps back. Sometimes we slip and fall. Sometimes we just stand still and shrug. Even when we do finally get on firm footing again and start to move forward, we scold ourselves for not being stronger, more resilient, or more determined.

Chapter 4, Be Patient With Yourself

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Tetelestai Recovery

Empowered to Succeed

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Waiting on God and being certain of His blessings is not pie-in-the-sky or wishful thinking. This faith choice is not presumptuous or improper. Blessings are the divine energy of God empowering us to succeed because we choose to believe in His goodness. He has equipped us with a divine destiny. He wants to see us succeed as much as we do.

And so, we wait for what God has promised, in the same way we might wait at a bus stop, in eager anticipation. We aren’t sitting at some random corner, hoping a bus might drive by. We are positioned at the right place at the right time, waiting for what we know is on its way. We aren’t waiting to see if a hopeful future will appear. We are waiting with confidence, certain of it.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Unmet Needs

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These needs keep us running from one relationship to another; one career path to another; one church to another; one substance to another. We play the blame game, accusing our parents, our partners, or our culture. We know we have unmet emotional needs, so we are naturally drawn toward people and situations that promise to meet them. Of course, it is only a matter of time before they fail us. No human can fully meet our deep emotional needs. It is a painful lesson we have to learn time and time again, until we begin to understand what it means to level up.

We must accept the fact that no human being is equipped to completely fulfill another human being’s emotional, spiritual, and psychological needs. It is just not possible. And it is not their fault.

To level up, we must set aside our petty resentments about how others have failed us. We must admit, we are foolish to think they won’t. They are human too!

 From this new perspective, we begin to see Philippians 4:19 much differently. God promises to meet all our needs. Not just physical and spiritual, but emotional as well. So, we must now ask ourselves, “What are some of my emotional needs?”

  • The need to be needed.
  • The need to be loved.
  • The need for relationships.
  • The need for encouragement.
  • The need to love without fear.
  • The need to be significant.
  • The need to be useful.
  • The need to be content.
  • The need to feel worthy.
  • The need to have a sense of purpose.
  • The need to have a sense of direction.
  • The need for boundaries.
  • The need for security.
  • The need for approval.
  • The need for respect.
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A Date With Destiny

Who Are You?

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What does your birthday reveal about your spiritual gifts, character, and calling?

This unique devotional uses your birth month and day to guide you through key scriptures—from Genesis to Revelation—using the chapter and verse numbers that match your special day.

What’s inside:

  • Bible verses matched to your birthday [Month] = chapter, [Day] = verse
  • Reflections on your spiritual personality, strengths, and values
  • Encouragement and inspiration for your walk with God
  • A powerful tool for self-discovery and faith growth

Perfect as a birthday gift, personal devotional, or keepsake.

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Tetelestai Recovery

Stop the Madness

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After escaping Crazytown, David finds a cave to hide in, alone (1 Samuel 22). It is a safe place, where he no longer has to answer difficult questions or pretend to be someone he is not. However, his alone time to power down and reboot doesn’t last long. Members of his family hear of his whereabouts and come to join him.

We find that nothing spotlights our dysfunctions quite so vividly as when family shows up to help! Granted, it is a blessing to have family who care enough to show up, but we also know the risk. For those of us, whose tendency is to shut down emotionally when family dynamics are in play, our emotions become glitchy and start to malfunction. We say the wrong thing, blurt out secrets, wear the wrong clothes, belong to the wrong social groups, and vote for the wrong candidate.

It has been said that family is everything. Families can teach us about loyalty, behavior, and self-preservation. They can teach us work ethics and responsibility. Families also teach us how to be manipulative, sarcastic, and selfish. All families have their own layers of drama, chaos, and distrust.

Some families are quite ordinary. Some families are quite extraordinary. All families have dysfunctions, traditions, trauma, and mixed messages.

Family members know too much about each other and the history they all share. Family can push our buttons like no one else. Family can make us feel included or rejected; loved or despised; powerful or weak. Although family dynamics are messy, they are God’s plan for a place to start. Unfortunately, each generation has an ancestry made up of humans, so we all possess some elements of dysfunction within our family code.

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Eventually, David enlists the help of a neighboring king to look after his family so he can heal. We can’t help but notice that this sounds an awful lot like an Al-Anon topic. Family members can be part of the recovery process, but it is not appropriate to become cave dwellers too, just to show their support.

Chapter Seven – Don’t Get Too Cozy In Your Cave https://a.co/d/gU3iw9Y

Tetelestai Recovery

Don’t Get Too Cozy In Your Cave

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In 1 Samuel 22, we read about David, the would-be king who is making decisions clouded by dysfunction. The story begins with rejection, danger, and drama. David is at risk. He has experienced trauma. He is out of his element, all alone, and without clear direction. His life has come down to a series of geographical moves and his only reason is simple, “I am here because it was not safe there.”

These words ring true for us as well. We have experienced trauma. In response, we run, we tell lies, we act crazy, and in the end, we finally find a cave where we can hide.

We enter our caves carrying something that makes us feel fierce. We carry memories of times when we weren’t so weak. Despite our insecurities and weakness, we also know there is resilience, tenacity, and charisma woven into our DNA by the Creator of the Universe.

In David’s story, he had the sword of Goliath strapped to his side, reminding him of his greatest victory. But, later, after experiencing his own trauma, it seemed his glory days were over. He is hiding in a cave which he refers to as his stronghold. Battling anxiety, depression, and loss, the cave becomes a makeshift fort for David and his absent army. Bringing an abrupt end to his promising career, his entire future has been destroyed by one man. The grief was too much to bear.

The man who once killed a giant with a rock, got hit between the eyes with trauma and it took him to a dark place. Everything changed. Nothing will ever be the same. He is alone. He is unprepared. He is in self-defense mode, and his behavior becomes irrational and unpredictable.

We too have experienced moments of trauma, laying the groundwork for our current dysfunctions. Whether we can remember them or not, each of us has heard, seen, or experienced things that made us feel unsafe, forcing us into unhealthy coping patterns. For some, the trauma was a single event, such as an accident, an illness, or a loss. For others, the trauma came gradually in waves, due to chronic pain, devastating disappointments, years of neglect, indifference, or abuse from a parent or spouse, or the emotional baggage of living in a deeply dysfunctional environment.

Chapter 7, Don’t Get Too Cozy In Your Cave https://a.co/d/gU3iw9Y

A Date With Destiny

Help

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Mark 9:27

But Jesus took hold of the boy’s hand and helped him to stand up.

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The Lord cares deeply about you and comes to your rescue whenever you ask for His help.

God sees that some of the things you go through are difficult. You know that help is required if you are going to be able to withstand the pressure and come through to the other side, unscathed.

With the calm reassurance of Jesus at your side, these struggles do not leave you weakened. Instead, you emerge from difficult predicaments with a newfound awareness of your position of power in Christ.

You sense His presence of with greater intensity during times when you are down and finding it impossible to stand on your own.  Because of this, you have learned to be grateful for your struggles, because they generate a new level of intimacy between you and your Savior.

Because you know He is there to carry the heaviness you feel after having been wronged, He enables you to move freely into forgiveness where healing can be found. 

Assured that the Creator of the universe is interested in what happens to you, and is willing to help whenever you ask, your confidence is solid and no earthly problem can shake it.

https://a.co/d/4a536Xc

Tetelestai Recovery

Internal Dialogue

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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 the internal committee in our head who sits 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.

Chapter 1, Leveling Up https://a.co/d/bQ7ZwiO