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Free yourself from the shackles of your mind and take back your life. Learnto control your stress and be more than you can be.
THE BURNED-OUTCHRISTIAN
RISING FROM THE ASHES
Written by David Allen Rivera
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction…….………………………………………………….……………......................................2Chapter One: What's Going On Here?............................................................................................3Chapter Two: The Rising Storm......................................................................................................8Chapter Three: Discovering Relationship…………….……….……………………………………….15Chapter Four: Spiritual Attack…………………………….………………………………………….…26Chapter Five: The Making of a Man of God…….…………….………………….……………………30Chapter Six: Fighting To Win………………………………….…………………..……………………41Chapter Seven: Legacy Living…………………………………….………………………..………..…58Chapter Eight: Being More Than You Can Be…………………….……………………..……………63Bibliography…………………………………………………………….…………………………………69
Copyright © 2000 by David Allen RiveraLibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-132672All Scripture quotations are from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible
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INTRODUCTION
For those familiar with the type of research that I do, and the stuff that I have done, thisbook may seem out of character. But I guess it goes to show you that I am a more roundedindividual than you may have previously thought. Though it is more mainstream, it is still anarea, that unless you have psychological credentials, rarely gets attention from Christianpublishers.In 1996, after a spiritual awakening, I began working on a manuscript called
Being MoreThan You Can Be: How You Can Begin to Slay the Dragons in Your Life
.
In the next couple of years, as I began to step into the path that I thought would lead to my destiny, I reworked themanuscript, and in 2000, it became known as
Being More Than You Can Be: Raising UpWarriors in the Last Days
. I had the manuscript posted on my website, and received somepositive feedback. But in 2003, on his album
Closer
, singer Josh Grobin had a song called
You Raise Me Up
. The last line of the chorus was: "You raise me up to more than I can be." It is acomforting thought to believe that somehow, in 2000, the lyricist Brendan Graham stumbledonto my website and read my manuscript.In 2004, in the midst of one of the most difficult periods of my life, the focus of mymanuscript changed again, and was renamed
Being More Than You Can Be: Breaking thePower of the Past, To Be Released Into the Destiny of the Future
. However, for some reason, Inever felt satisfied with it. Here was my best piece of writing, and yet there was something aboutit that left me feeling like it was undone. It just didn't seem to come together into anything thatwas cohesive. Again, it went back into the file.And then, at the end of 2006, and the culmination of this very challenging period, I startedto experience a spiritual clarity that has allowed me to redirect the focus of the manuscript onceagain. I began to realize that everything that God had laid on my heart, and all that He hadshown me in His Word, was now working to guide me through what could have been a verydisastrous situation.To say that I'm out of the woods would be an inaccurate assessment, but I can truthfullysay that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I now have a more realistic sense of how Iam to fit into the scheme of things. Although I'm not sure where God is going to ultimately leadme, a faith and commitment to those things that He has birthed within me are still alive, and I amdetermined to stay the course.This book is written from a layman's standpoint– based on the things that I haveexperienced. Common sense should dictate that, depending on your situation, this is not asubstitution for medical treatment, and such a diagnosis should be initially procured. But, on theother hand, I think you will find some real answers to address some of the things you've beengoing through.We live in a physical world, and we think in terms of the physical. Yet we are adverselyaffected by things in the spirit realm, and if you are aware of these rules of engagement, thenthere are ways to come against the way you're feeling.Stress and burn-out is a national epidemic. I don't think it has been effectively dealt within the Christian community, because they don't know how to deal with it. They don't know how todeal with it because many Church leaders are burned-out themselves, and they're trying tomake their own way. This book, now titled
The Burned-Out Christian: Rising From the Ashes
,offers people the hope that is Christ, and the victory that comes from believing in God's Wordand the promises He has for us.
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CHAPTER ONEWHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
I was sitting on the edge of the table in my doctor's office, telling him that I had beengetting headaches every day for about four months. What prompted me to finally make anappointment to see him, were the chest pains I started getting when I was breaking up shale inmy back yard. He asked me what was going on in my life, and I began to tell him about all thework my wife and I were doing to our house, so much so that it was consuming all of our time. Irelated things that were going on at work. I expressed the frustration of working on my first bookfor so long, and not have it parlayed into anything that was beneficial to my writing career. Andthen was the investment I was making into my church, doing what I thought God wanted me todo, only to see the church move into a different direction. Without hesitation, the doctor told methat my headaches and chest pains were probably being caused by stress.Stress! You've got to be kidding. Ever since I was a child, I was always doing something–always working on something. And when I got older, because of my organizational skills, Iprided myself on being able to effortlessly multi-task. My wife criticized me because I wasalways working on a project. She said I didn't know how to have fun. In the midst of working onmy first book, she stood in the doorway of my den and said that ever since she knew me I hadbeen working on that book. It was an obsession. In reality, it was more than that. I had to alwaysbe working on something. It was what I did. It was as natural as breathing. I always felt I had tobe doing something productive. So, for the doctor to tell me that I was experiencing stress-related symptoms was like telling me that I could no longer handle what I had always done.Even though he made the arrangements for me to have a stress test to rule out anythingheart-related, my elevated blood pressure bolstered his argument that I needed to decompress.I began to realize that in my middle-age, I was not going to be able to handle the level of stress,pressure, and aggravation that I could when I was younger.He explained to me, that even if I could afford to retire and immediately fly to someCaribbean island to lie on the beach, my blood pressure would still be high, and I would still getheadaches. Immediate changes had to be made. Psychologically-speaking, my mind was likean onion, and I had to start regressing backwards by pealing away each layer to achieverestoration.Here's a good illustration that my sister-in-law e-mailed to me:A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 20 gramsto 500 grams. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on howlong you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'llhave an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. Ineach case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."He continued: "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens allthe time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able tocarry on. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you returnhome tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it uptomorrow."
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