Recovery to Destiny - At A Glance

This note is a snippet - a glance, of my latest book with workbook included "Recovery to Destiny; Journey to the Promised Land". This project was intense, fun, and very rewarding. Now I have the honor of speaking this message live and including others who have journeyed and roads in /out / through and beyond recovery. I pray this blesses you. There will likely be 3 parts to it. BUT if you want the full benefit I would suggest you buy the book/workbook, get a copy of the teaching CD, or suggest I come speak for your church, group on this message - because there's SOOOOOO much more.

Recovery to Destiny - At a Glance  Pt. 1

Some people easily pass from one place to another, some are in the midst of passing right now,  some know they need to pass, and some, if honest with God and self, are content right where they are.  I'm not talking about a physical location.  I am talking about the emotional, mental and most importantly spiritual place you reside. Where are you living right now?

 I do prison ministry around the country and I know that there is a much greater threat to freedom than fences, inmates and officers. There is a prison of our mind, will and emotions that we can remain stuck in. If we stay there we will never fully experience the Promised Land that God has designed.

Today , I would like to leave you with a vivid picture of the choices you have in your life – no matter where you spend your days.  These choices are locations but they are mindsets and lifestyles that will move you, catapult you to another place and space. These places are Egypt, the Wilderness and the Promised Land.

Some of our choices lead to physical death or like the inmates I minister to - physical incarceration, but many more choices lead people to death in relationships, value of self, hope, or joy. Sin kills the good in our life, leaving our life looking like a wasteland. This is Egypt. Egypt represents living your life apart from God and following the lies of Satan. It's a painful life that leads to destruction. We can be enslaved by addictions, abuse, gambling, food, money, smoking, work, spending, relationships, sex, drugs, alcohol, cussing, gossiping and we can build our own prisons of unforgiveness and anger.

Let me start by challenging you with a few questions. I think it's important that we do what the Bible says and examine our ways and test them. If we don't challenge the foundation of our thinking – our stinking thinking will continue to win out and we will continue to lose the battle. And that is not how God designed our life to look.

Why are we living in Egypt?
What do we really want to get out of life?
What's the point of these little games we play? Who really wins?
Why do we spin out of control looking for love and acceptance? Would we even know if we found it?
Where is this lifestyle leading?
What do I have to lose by making radical steps to produce radical transformation? What do I have to gain?

In the book of Exodus Chapter 1 verses 8-14 we see what life of slavery looked like for the Israelites. They were organized into work gangs, put to hard labor under gang foremen. They were despised, mistreated, abused and taken advantage of.  V 13, 14 tells us the Egyptians couldn't stand them and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor – making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the word, crushing them under the cruel workload."

Isn't that a great image of the strongholds in our life? The masters we serve on a daily basis? Consider the condition of our heart and how we labor day after day, building brick by brick, the stony walls around our own hearts? True we may have accomplished keeping everyone else out, but at the end of the day most of us realize we have become trapped inside a very lonely, desperate, desolate fortress of isolation.
1 Peter 5:8 "Keep your mind clear, and be alert, Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion as he looks for someone to devour." 

See Satan brings temptations into our lives that cause us to labor aimlessly and toil long hours with no good fruit to show for our effort. He crushes our spirits. He leads us to destroy our lives and the lives of those all around us.  Maybe like me – you didn't choose to live in Egypt. Your parents, a close family relative or someone else who had access to you brought you into Egypt with them. Maybe, like me, you were born there because your parents were already slaves there as were the generations prior to them. BUT NOW – the choice is yours, will you remain there? Or, are you willing to make the journey out?

Joshua 24:15 says "Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Matthew 6:24 tells us "we cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other."

And just like some of our families where our lifestyle of Egypt originated, we have now brought our children.  2 Kings 17: 24, 41 "They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the Lord nor do they obey His laws and commands ...  So those people worshiped the Lord, BUT they also worshiped their idols; and to this day their descendants continue to do the same.

The first step to choosing to come out of Egypt is to envision a life that is much greater; a purpose that is much stronger and a passport that is extremely available. God is able – will you avail yourself to His plan for your life?
So how do you even do that – well let's start with three verses that tell us what we have to do to shift our mind for this kind of life.

1.      Colossians 3:2 "Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things."
2.      2 Corinthians 5:7 "Our lives are guided by faith, not by sight."
3.      Eph. 4: 13-15 "Until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed and carried about by all kinds of teachings that change like the wind. We will no longer be influenced by people who use cunning and clever strategies to lead us astray. Instead, as we lovingly speak the truth, we will grow up completely in our relationship to Christ, who is the head."

But is this a simple thing to do? Is it the popular thing to do? Is everyone doing it?
Stay tuned for Pt. 2 of Recovery to Destiny – At a Glance to learn about the keys to this mind-shift and the road map out of Egypt.