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Monday, September 25, 2023

September’s Done Sunday – Did the Devil Make You Busy? - Purity 1155

 

September’s Done Sunday – Did the Devil Make You Busy? - Purity 1155

Purity 1155 09/25/2023 Purity 1155 Podcast

September’s Done Sunday – Did the Devil Make You Busy? - Purity 1155 


September’s Done Sunday – Did the Devil Make You Busy? - Purity 1155

09/25/2023 - Purity 1155 Podcast

Purity 1155 on YouTube:



Good morning,

Today’s photo of a misty morning sunrise view of Waite Road comes to us from yours truly as I captured this haunting scene Saturday morning as my canine, Harley, and I braved the crisp Autumn temperatures to begin a new day.   

Well, it is Monday September 25, and even though I failed to announce the first day of the Fall season this past Thursday, I figured I would give us all a collective wake up call this morning to the rapidity with which we go through the days of our lives by pointing out the September’s Done Sunday! That’s right, it seemed like we had just arrived at the month that marks Labor Day and the beginning of school and the NFL season just a few days ago only to blink and see that it will be October a week from today.  

This past week at the  Celebrate Freedom Growth Group meeting, Debbie Deyoe, our Women’s Leader, shared Corrie Ten Boom’s quote – “If the devil can’t make us bad, he will make us busy.” to point out the possible spiritual danger we can find ourselves in if we aren’t being mindful of the passing times and being intentional about investing ourselves in our relationship with the Lord and with others.   

Debbie confessed that she had been inundated with work and personal projects recently and noticed that as she “got busy” the thing that seemed to suffer was her “quiet devotional time” with the Lord and consequently her overall sense of peace.  Even though you would think that “being busy” at meeting responsibilities and “getting things done” would result in peace, that wasn’t Debbie’s experience and instead of deciding to get “busier” to accomplish peace, the Lord put it on Debbie’s heart to do less instead of more.

It was a timely word to deliver during this “busy” Fall season as many of the people in our group had similar testimonies of “doing too much” or not getting enough time with the Lord, for themselves, or with their families. 

And that’s another thing to keep in mind, while we may look on our busyness as the problem, we have to be careful to not go to extremes when we try tip the scales in the other direction.   While our busy-ness is one extreme, deciding to blow things off and let things go – or to even be “super spiritual” – could be just as dangerous to our peace as mind as a failure to meet responsibilities would equal suffering negative consequences for not doing what we need to do – or spending excessive amounts of time in spiritual pursuits may cause discord with our human relationships and dysfunction to our families.  

Not for nothing but this juggling act of our spiritual and “real world needs” is why I arise super early each morning to attend to my needs for physical exercise and spiritual commune with the Lord.   Years ago, as I decided to “seek the Lord” and know Him more, I realized that the early mornings were really the only time that I could find – not only the peace and solitude – but the actual time itself to pray, read, the Bible, and get the physical exercise I needed to be relatively healthy. My morning commute to work comes early each day and the hours after work in the evening were filled with family responsibilities, household chores, or just resting. So if I wanted the balance and harmony that comes from physical exercise and spiritual disciplines, I saw that I was going to have to be diligent in rising early and be willing to sacrifice a little sleep to find a deeper sense of peace.  

Some may argue that my morning routine makes me even busier, but the solid foundation of peace that is established through my daily spiritual practice in the morning paradoxically gives me the “rest”, joy, and resilience that prepare me for all the challenges that seek to exhaust my capacity.  

With that said, on Friday, I consciously made the decision to cordon off my weekends as time reserved for time with my wife and even eased back on spiritual pursuits a bit as we spent some time just relaxing and watching movies.  I love to help others when they are interested in following the Lord but realized that my “discipleship counseling” or “life coaching” activities are going to have to happen on weeknights otherwise I would run the risk of being too busy with helping others to the neglect of my marriage.   

So as we begin the last “busy” week of September, try to be mindful of what you are “busy” with and whether or not you are “too busy” and try to find a balance between doing enough and doing too much.  When we don’t have peace, that is a red flag telling us that something is out of balance and while we may have to be “busy” at certain times and seasons, if we don’t manage our personal, professional, and spiritual lives properly something may fall apart regardless of how busy we are. 

If you have too many balls in the air at once, even the best juggler will drop something eventually.  So examine your life, know what you value, meet your responsibilities the best you can, but don’t fall into the enemy’s trap of being “too busy” that will lead to something crashing to the ground and breaking.

    

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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.

( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Anger, Hot Temper.

Proverbs 15:18 (NASB)
18  A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.

Today’s verse falls under the seventh point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Anger, Hot Temper

 7. A hot-tempered man creates dissension.

Today’s verse contrasts the hot-tempered man with those slow to anger and the difference is war and peace as the hot-tempered man stirs up strife – or dissension – disagreements leading to discord whereas the slow-to-anger generally calm disputes.  

Angry people are contentious and unfortunately, anger can be as an addictive pattern of behavior as drug abuse as anger provides feelings of power and satisfaction when the angry person gets their way. Might doesn’t necessarily make right and because we are predisposed to go with “what works” – if our angry bullying outbursts get people to bend and yield to our wills, we can get in the habit of being an “angry” person. 

Why are cycles of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse such a problem?  Because the abusers learn to get what they want through angry and controlling means and often these patterns get stronger and remain in place until something breaks.     

So be strong and courageous and slow to anger and try to teach the hot-tempered person that there are better ways to “get things done” and show them the strife they are creating and how their anger is more of a problem than a solution.

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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3) 

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

26 -The Spirit Interceding

The Negative and the Positive

God’s Word is designed to have a twofold effect upon the Christian: a distressing and a comforting. As we appropriate the Scriptures to ourselves, pride will be abased and the old man cast down; on the other hand faith will be strengthened and the new man built up. Our poor hearts first need humbling, and then exalting; we must be made to mourn over our sins, and then be filled with praise at the realization of God’s amazing grace. Now in Romans 8:26, 27 there is that which should produce both these effects upon us. First, we are reminded of “our infirmities” or weaknesses: note the plural number, for we are full of them—how our apprehension of this should “hide pride from us!” Yet, second, here is also real ground for comfort and hope: “The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.” The frail and erring believer is not left to himself: a gracious, all-powerful, ever-present Helper is given to support and assist him. How this blessed fact should rejoice our hearts!

The tones of Scripture, then, fall upon the ear of God’s children in ever alternating keys: the minor and the major. So it is in the passage before us, for next we read “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” What a pride-withering word is that! One which is in direct variance with what is commonly supposed. The general belief is that men do know well enough what they should pray for, but they are so careless and wicked they do not discharge this duty; but God says, they “know not.” Nor can the godliest saint or wisest minister help the unregenerate at this point, by drawing up for them a form of words, which suitably expresses their needs, for it is one thing to have Scriptural words upon our lips, but it is quite another for the soul to feel his dire need of what he asks for; it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh in prayer, or God will not hear.

But the words of our text are yet more searching and solemn: they refer not to the unregenerate (though of course it is of them), but to the regenerate: “we (Christians) know not what we should pray for as we ought.” And again we say what a heart-humbling word is this. Now we are partakers of the Divine nature, now a way has been opened for us into the presence of God, now we have access to the Throne of Grace itself, now we are invited to “make known our requests.” Yet so fearfully has sin darkened our judgment, so deceitful and wicked are our hearts, so blind are we as to what would truly promote the manifest glory of God and what would really be for our highest good, that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” Do you actually believe this, my reader? If you do, it must bring you into the dust before the One with whom we have to do.

“We know not what we should pray for as we ought.” No, we “know not” even with the Bible in our hands, in which are full instructions to direct praying souls; in which are so many inspired prayers for our guidance. No, we “know not” even after the Lord Himself has graciously supplied us with a pattern prayer, after which ours should be modeled. Sin has so perverted our judgments, self-love has so filmed our eyes, worldliness has so corrupted our affections, that even with a Divine manual of prayer in our hands, we are quite incapable (of ourselves) of discerning what we should ask for—supplies of Divine grace to minister to our spiritual needs—and are unable to present our suit in a spiritual manner, acceptable to God. How the recognition of this fact should empty our hearts of conceit! How the realization of it should fill us with shame! What need have we to cry, “Lord, teach us to pray!”

But now on the other side: lest we should be utterly cast down by a sense of our excuseless and guilty ignorance, we are Divinely informed “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us.” Wondrous indeed, unspeakably blessed, is this! Instead of turning away from us in disgust because of our culpable ignorance, God has not only provided us with an Intercessor at His right hand (Heb. 7:25). But what is to the writer even more remarkable, God has given His needy people a Divine Intercessor at their right hand, even the Holy Spirit. How this glorious fact should raise our drooping souls, revolutionize our ideas of prayer, and fill our hearts with thanksgiving and praise for this unspeakable Gift. If it be asked, Why has God provided two Intercessors for His people, the answer is: to bridge the entire gulf between Him and us. One to represent God to us, the Other to represent us before God. The One to prompt our prayers, the Other to present them to the Father. The One to ask blessings for us, the Other to convey blessings unto us![1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).


Saturday, September 23, 2023

Discipleship - Accountability, Personal Responsibility, and Boundaries - Purity 1154


 Discipleship - Accountability, Personal Responsibility, and Boundaries - Purity 1154

Purity 1154 09/23/2023  Purity 1154 Podcast

Purity 1154 on YouTube: Coming Soon!

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a fiery sunset over the shores of an unknown beach comes to a currently unknown friend who shared this photo on or around August 29th of this year.  Yup, my memory and efforts to discover our “mystery photographer” have failed me this morning but I felt compelled to share it all the same because of its beauty and hope that my “unknown friend” will forgive me and give me a heads up so I can give credit to where credit is due and possibly find out where this scene was captured. Wherever it is, it looks nice, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it in person.  So if this is your photo and would like to enlighten us, let me know and I will update the blog.  

Anyway, It’s Saturday and as much as I was looking forward to getting to my countryside home last night, my joy had to be tempered by the fact that my wife TammyLyn is very much on the mend. Although her pain has decreased, she has to be gentle with herself because the sights of her wounds from dental surgery are delicate and healing and if she overly exerts herself she could inadvertently open up her wounds.

My enthusiasm for Friday night was also tempered by the fact that I had a frustrating day at work as equipment failures, inexperience, assumptions, and well-meaning interference caused what should have been a relatively simple task to be complicated, turning a 3 hour job into a 7 hour learning experience.

When your equipment fails to work after multiple replacements, you have to realize that the equipment isn’t the problem and the variable that “surely can’t be the problem” is the problem”. In troubleshooting, sometimes you encounter the mystery of things that work in some ways but mysteriously don’t work overtime or in the ways they should.   In those instances you are confronted with the “it works – but it doesn’t work” paradox – and even though you have evidence that “it works” – that fact that it inexplicably “falls apart and doesn’t “stay working” forces you to accept that what “looks good is actually bad”. 

But I eventually “got ‘er done” and now see the error of my ways and how I could have avoided spinning my wheels for so long. But the effect of the learning experience of my “no good, very bad, terrible day” at work was that I was exhausted and went to sleep around 8:30 pm last night, causing me to “fail to be accountable” by not reporting my “food plan success” to my accountability partner as I am in my 5th week of overcoming my food addiction.

I fell asleep and forgot to text and when I awoke this morning I realized my failure because my accountability partner sent me a message after the time I normally check in stating “ALEXA HELLOOOOO” – because I had failed to remember before and have actually set a routine to have my electronic personal assistant to help me be accountable – to tell me to “text Scott” at 9pm each day– but that doesn’t help when Alexa is down at River house in Stuyvesant and I am asleep at TammyLyn’s Countryside Home in Easton.  

So I texted Scott to let him know that the food plan was a success, and I appreciated his faithfulness in keeping me accountable. I will have to set a reminder on my phone for the weekends, I guess. 

Anyway, although I like to report what is happening in my life sometimes it can be a mouthful to write out and I can veer off course from where I wanted to go in terms of writing the blog.   

I sat down initially to write about accountability, responsibility, family, boundaries, and discipleship because of something else that happened yesterday!

I am currently in a discipleship/friendship relationship with a man that I met through the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group that I lead on Wednesday nights.  “Sam” is an older gentleman and has sought my counsel and prayer on a few occasions, and because I am training to be a Deeper Walk certified prayer minister, we have agreed in principle to enter into a discipleship/prayer ministry relationship where I intend to lead Sam through the Freedom in Christ Course material to prepare him to go through the Steps to Freedom in Christ and possibly other forms of “freedom prayer” or “healing prayer” ministry.  

As he attempts to walk by faith, Sam is encountering difficulty in his interpersonal relationships and has come to me for support, advice, and prayer.  Yesterday, acting on my advice, he had a discussion with his significant other that turned contentious and afterward, while I was struggling through my workday, Sam sent me a text asking if we could pray about it.   I didn’t see the text until the workday was done and responded that I was sorry to hear that his “talk” didn’t go well as I got in my car to head north to TammyLyn’s house.   While I drove, Sam texted back. asking if we could talk. When I got to countryside I decided that I could call Sam while I took Harley for a walk down Waite Rd – something we do when I arrive at my countryside home.  But when I called Sam to check in he didn’t pick up and there was no room to leave a message in his voicemail.  At that moment, I made the decision that I had to set a boundary on my personal with my wife, and texted Sam back telling him to “lean on the Lord” and wouldn’t be able to speak to him until Monday  because I was with my wife for the weekend. 

In that short walk down Waite Road, I came to the realization that now that I am going to move into the phase of my life where I begin to establish myself as a “life coach” – I was going to have to make some clear limits on my time in terms of when I can provide ministry.  I have to value my “family” time and encourage those I counsel to be personally responsible for their walk by realizing that there will be times that they will have to “practice” what I am encouraging them to do.  

Walking in the Spirit – which is the remedy to all life’s problems that I prescribe – requires you to “lean on the Lord” by:

·       reminding yourself what God’s word says

·       agreeing that it is true and applies to you ‘

·       going to the Lord in prayer to seek His presence and help.

·       and making the decision to not enter into sin or to linger in negative mind states that contradict God’s word. 

So when your accountability partner, sponsor, mentor, discipler, family, or friends are not available when you encounter a crisis, you “practice” being a disciple by going to God in prayer to find the comfort, strength, and guidance to overcome. You turn from the world and its problems and fleshly solutions, and you turn to the Lord for his wisdom, love, and pathway to peace. 

The pathway of Christian discipleship can and will be a lonely road at times but with the Lord you are never alone and have to accept that we don’t base our success on some other person’s presence or faithfulness, we rely on the faithfulness and presence of the Lord to lead us to freedom and victory.  

While other people may not be there for you when you need them, the Lord is with us always and it is from Him where we receive the help we need.  

Early on in this latest chapter of the Celebrate Freedom ministry at Starpoint Church one of the people shared a testimony of how in the past they relied on their sponsor to maintain their sobriety and confessed how their sponsor relapsed and was unavailable when they began to struggle. Rather than standing on his own or going to his “higher power” for support, this person took his sponsor’s absence as an excuse to relapse himself!

 “They weren’t there, so I relapsed” may sound like an understandable excuse but it reveals a real immaturity in that person and exposes a lack of personal responsibility that will invariably lead to failure.  

Another participant, in talking about his alcoholism and decision to come to a recovery meeting,  said “Now that I’m not allowed to drink anymore…” which caused me to respond that unless they were going to choose sobriety for themselves, they would invariably fail to stay sober.   No one can force you to clean up your life and as far as I am concerned unless you decide to surrender your life to the Lord and pursue progressive sanctification, there really is no point in even trying to change. 

Without God’s peace through faith in Jesus Christ, whether you succeed in getting sober or not, it won’t make much difference when you end up in hell.  Without God you might as well stay a drunk or addict because although your addiction may cause you to suffer here on earth, it will pale in comparison to the anguish you condemn yourself to in eternity.

I encourage Christian discipleship not just because it “makes you a better person”, I encourage people to follow Jesus because it saves your life and gives you meaning and purpose.  If you fall short of following Jesus, it doesn’t matter what you do, you are doomed.  

Personal responsibility and a commitment to follow the Lord is a fundamental aspect of a life lived in the Spirit. So as much as I want to “be there” to support and encourage others in their faith walk and struggles, there has to be an understanding that while I will do my best to encourage others in their walk, it is their walk – not mine – and they will have to walk it out for themselves.   

So yesterday, I made the decision to make my time with my wife on the weekends sacred – to put up a hedge that will protect my relationship with my wife and demand that those I seek to help be responsible to put into practice what I teach and to develop a deeper relationship with the Lord for support.  

Walking in the Spirit isn’t a list of rules and principles to follow – it is a living relationship with God Himself – who is always present and always faithful to help those who rely on Him.  

So enjoy the weekend and be sure to put up appropriate boundaries to keep your life balanced and to encourage others to “lean on the Lord” rather than just “leaning on me”.

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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.

( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Anger, Hot Temper.

Proverbs 15:1 (NIV2011)
1  A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Today’s verss fall under the sixth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Anger, Hot Temper

 6. Hot words stir up strife.

Today’s verse points to a fundamental truth on de-escalation and keeping contentious exchanges from becoming volatile or violent.  God’s word encourages us to “answer” in a gentle manner when confronted with anger and warns us that if we speak harshly we can cause others to be angry. 

As disciples of the Prince of Peace, we are, as much as it depends on us,  to walk in peace with others.  So we don’t “fight fire with fire” or return “evil with evil”, instead we respond to evil with good and respond with a gentle word rather than a harsh response when we encounter someone else’s wrath.

A gentle word could calm someone down and establish a ground where peace can be negotiated and found. So be wise and follow God’s word to move from anger to peace.

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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3) 

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

26 -The Spirit Interceding

How the Spirit Intercedes

First, when the believer is most oppressed by outward trials and is most depressed by a sense of his inward vileness, when he is at his wit’s end and ready to wring his hands in despair, or is most conscious of his spiritual deadness and inability to express the sinfulness of his case, the Spirit stirs him in the depths of his being: “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” There has been some difference of opinion as to whether this refers directly to groanings of the Spirit Himself, or indirectly to the spiritual groanings of the Christian, which are prompted and produced by Him. But surely there is no room for uncertainty: the words “cannot be uttered” could not apply to a Divine Person. That which He produces in and through the believer, is ascribed to the Spirit—the “fruit” of Galatians 5:22, and Galatians 4:6 compared with Romans 8:15!

As it is the Spirit who illumines and gives us to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the depravity of our hearts, so He is the One who causes us to groan over the same. The conscience is pierced, the heart is searched, the soul is made to feel something of its fearful state. The conscious realization of “the plague of our hearts” (1 Kings 8:38) and its “putrefying sores” (Isa. 1:6), produces unutterable anguish. The painful realization of our remaining enmity against God, the rebellion of our wills, the woeful lack of heart-conformity to His holy Law, so casts down the soul that it is temporarily paralyzed. Then it is that the Spirit puts forth His quickening operations, and we “groan” so deeply that we cannot express our feelings, articulate our woe, or unburden our hearts. All that we can do is to sigh and sob inwardly. But such tears of the heart are precious in the sight of God (Ps. 56:8) because they are produced by His blessed Spirit.

Second, when the soul is so sorely oppressed and deeply distressed, the Spirit reveals to the mind what should be prayed for. He it is who pours oil on the troubled waters, quiets in some measure the storm within, spiritualizes the mind, and enables us to perceive the nature of our particular need. It is the Spirit who makes us conscious of our lack of faith, submissiveness, obedience, courage, or whatever it may be. He it is who gives us to see and feel our spiritual wants, and then to make them known before the Throne of Grace. The Spirit helps our infirmities by subduing our fears, increasing our faith, strengthening our hope, and drawing out our hearts unto God. He grants us a renewed sense of the greatness of God’s mercy, the changelessness of His love, and the infinite merits of Christ’s sacrifice before Him on our behalf.

Third, the Spirit reveals to cast-down saints that the supplies of grace for their varied needs are all expressed in the promises of God. It is those promises which are the measures of prayer, and contain the matter of it; for what God has promised, all that He has promised, but nothing else are we to ask for. “There is nothing that we really stand in need of, but God hath promised the supply of it, in such a way and under such limitations as may make it good and useful unto us. And there is nothing that God hath promised but we stand in need of it, or are some way or other concerned in it as members of the mystical body of Christ” (John Owen). But at this point also the help of the Spirit is imperative, “that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Cor. 2:12).

It is thus that the Spirit bears up the distressed minds of Christians: by directing their thoughts to those promises most suited to their present case, by impressing a sense of them upon their hearts, by giving them to discern that those precious promises contain in them the fruits of Christ’s mediation, by renewing their faith so that they are enabled to lay hold of and plead them before God. Real prayer is in faith: faith necessarily respects God’s promises: therefore if we understand not the spiritual import of the promises, the suitability of them to our varied cases, and reverently urge the actual fulfillment of them to us, then we have not prayed at all. But for that sight and sense of the promises, and the appropriation of them, we are entirely dependent upon the Holy Spirit.

Fourth, the Spirit helps the Christian to direct his petitions unto right ends. Many prayers remain unanswered because of our failure at this point: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (Jas. 4:3). The “ask amiss” in that passage means to ask for something with a wrong end in view, and were we left entirely to ourselves, this would always be the case with us. Only three ends are permissible: that God may be glorified, that our spirituality may be promoted, that our brethren may be blessed. Now none but the Spirit can enable us to subordinate all our desires and petitions unto God’s glory. None but the Spirit can bring us to make our advancement in holiness our end—the reason why we ask God to grant our requests. This He does by putting into our minds a high valuation of conformity to God, a deep longing in the heart that His image may be more manifestly stamped upon us, a strong inclination of will to diligently seek the same by the use of all appointed means.

It is by the Spirit the sin-troubled Christian is helped to apprehend God as his Father, and his heart is emboldened to approach Him as such. It is by the Spirit we are granted a conscious access to the Throne of Grace. He it is who moves us to plead the infinite merits of Christ. He it is who strengthens us to pray in a holy manner, rather than from carnal motives and sentiments. He it is who imparts any measure of fervor to our hearts so that we “cry” unto God—which respects not the loudness of our voices, but the earnestness of our supplications. He it is who gives us a spirit of importunity, so that we are enabled (at times) to say with Jacob, “I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me” (Gen. 32:26). And He it is who prepares the heart to receive God’s answer, so that what is bestowed is a real blessing to us and not a curse.

In conclusion let it be pointed out that the motions of the Spirit in the saint are a “help” to prayer, but not the rule or reason of prayer. There are some who say that they never attempt to pray unless conscious that he Spirit moves them to do so. But this is wrong: the Spirit is given to help us in the performance of duty, and not in the neglect of it! God commands us to pray: that is our “rule”—“always to pray” (Luke 18:1), “in everything by prayer and supplication” (Phil. 4:6). For many years past, the editor had made it a practice of beginning his prayers by definitely and trustfully seeking the Spirit’s aid: see Luke 11:13. Do not conclude that lack of words and suitable expressions is a proof that the Spirit is withholding His help. Finally, remember that He is Sovereign: “the wind bloweth were it listeth” (John 3:8).[1]

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).

Friday, September 22, 2023

Simple Things Mean the Most - Purity 1153


Simple Things Mean the Most  - Purity 1153

Purity 1153 09/22/2023 Purity 1153 Podcast

Purity 1153 on YouTube: 



Good morning,

Today’s photo of a hazy multicolored sunset sky over the green fields near Holmquest Farms comes to us from Dana Filli and Rich Tomlin who shared this simply heavenly scene on social media yesterday stating “When you work hard and hurry home and have a free night.. we hop on the quad to the farm.. it’s the simple things that mean the most.”  

Well, It’s Friday and I couldn’t agree more with our friends’ sentiment that the simple things do mean the most. And today I am giving thanks for the simple things that I have that mean so much. 

In the forefront of my mind, I am thankful for my wife, TammyLyn, and her simple beauty and faith.  I was fully prepared to go full “monk” after my divorce and walk this world alone but my prayers for a faithful Christian wife were answered through TammyLyn.  TammyLyn just got out of some major dental surgery yesterday afternoon and has been in a lot of pain because of her condition and my schedule I haven’t been able to speak to her and am looking forward to the end of the workday today so I can head north to our countryside home to be in her presence and to comfort her in whatever way I can.  

TammyLyn’s condition has also reminded me of the “simple thing” that many of us can take for granted – being healthy and pain-free.   My commitment to slay my food addiction since August 18th has me weighing in at 223.6 pounds this week, down from 238.9, and I am feeling great not carrying the extra 15 pounds. While my Body Mass Index (BMI) is still in the “obesity range”, I am really appreciating my relatively good health and have a renewed intention to keep moving in the right direction health-wise. In hindsight, it is somewhat frightening to realize how unaware and unaffected I was about how I was sabotaging my own efforts through mindless eating.   And in light of TammyLyn’s dental problems, I have been sure to brush my teeth and use my water pick each morning. You shouldn’t take the “simple thing” of your faith for granted and  be diligent in being a good steward to your body.   It is the temple of the Holy Spirit after all and we are to make it a living sacrifice to the Lord, so let’s make it a healthy one!

And of course, I am thankful for the “simple thing” of my faith in Christ and all that the Lord has done in my life since the day I put my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior.   The interior peace and joy that I have from the Lord stay with me because I abide in Him, literally walking and talking with Him as I go through my days on the earth.  For those who don’t know peace or the joy of the Lord, seek Him, spend time getting to know Him through the Bible and through prayer, and follow His lead for your life.  When you walk in the Spirit, you will be blessed by the fruit of the Spirit. 

If that wasn’t enough, I am also thankful for all the people that God has put on my path as I have walked through this life. My family, my friends, and particularly my brothers and sisters in Christ that have met along the way since 2010 have blessed me beyond measure. There are too many to name but this morning in prayer I was reminded of my faithful partners in ministry, Debbie Deyoe and Scott Salvadore, who led the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group with me, as I got an “indication” from the Lord to hand over the reigns of leadership to each of them for the next two weeks.  I don’t know if I got this call because things have been pretty hectic in my life lately or if the Lord wants to do something through them in the next two weeks, but I am thankful for my friend’s faithfulness and feel confident that they will rise to answer the call to lead.  Right guys? Right, Lord?  I guess we will find out, but unless I got my wires crossed I’m pretty sure that the Lord is calling them into service, not that they weren't serving already, lol.

But that reminds me how blessed we are when we can be vulnerable to ask others for help and to be pretty confident that we will receive it. The simple thing of being in “community” or “harmony” with your friends to the point where you can be open, honest, and ask for help is a blessing that unfortunately few of us have.  

Often when I have led ministries and have met newcomers and heard their stories of how they were living a double life in the shadows of darkness, guilt, and shame and how lonely they were in their hurts, habits, and hangups, I am reminded just how important it can be to have people in your life that you can be honest with and can receive support from. The simple thing of “not being alone” is so huge and we should watch ourselves and make sure we don’t slip into isolation. If you are feeling down, get up and seek the Lord and the company of the saints, you don’t have to do life alone anymore!

Anyway, this has been a practice in gratitude and I recommend it as a daily spiritual practice. If we are always giving thanks for the things we have been blessed with, we will be anchored in the pathway of peace and abiding in the simple thing of joy.  

So keep walking and talking with God. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, and his provision and mercy endure forever.  God bless you all and have a great weekend doing and enjoying the “simple things” that mean the most.

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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.

( While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Anger, Hot Temper.

Genesis 4:3-8 (NIV2011)
3  In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.
4  And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
5  but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
6  Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
7  If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
8  Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Today’s verses fall under the fifth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Anger, Hot Temper

 5. Cain’s anger turned into hate and murder.

Today’s verses tell the story of the first homicide that was the product of jealousy, failure to heed the Lord our God, and was committed in the heat of prideful anger.  

In this passage, verse 4 is highlighted because it sets the stage for Cain’s motive. His brother Abel was looked on with favor, but Cain wasn’t.  While there is quite a bit of speculation as to why Abel’s offering was favorable (maybe because it was a blood sacrifice and cost Abel the life of the first born of his flock?) and Cain’s wasn’t (maybe because it was only something that the Lord provided?), in the end it doesn’t matter.  Cain’s jealousy and anger was not a justifiable reason to kill Abel – AND – the Lord specifically tells Cain to just turn that frown upside down and to just do “what is right” – warning Cain that if he doesn’t sin will have its way with him.

Rather than being obedient to the Lord, Cain’s anger led him to murder his brother and to not exactly cower with guilt and shame when confronted by the Lord about the whereabouts of his deceased sibling. 

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” – Seriously Cain? Wow. 

Anyway as tragic as Cain and Abel’s story is, it provides us with the most basic principles of our faith – “do what is right according to the Lord” – otherwise sin will rule over you – and it shows us the dangers of not listening to the Lord and letting our anger move us to regrettable actions.   

So “do the right thing” and seek the Lord’s help to let go of feelings of anger to pursue His ways of peace.

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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3) 

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit

26 - The Spirit Interceding

If left to himself, the believer would never see (by faith) the all-wise hand of God in his afflictions, still less would his heart ever honestly say concerning them, “Thy will be done.” If left to himself, he would never seek grace to patiently endure the trial, still less would he hope that afterwards it would produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness (Heb. 12:11). If left to himself, he would continue to chafe and kick like “a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke” (Jer. 31:18) and would curse the day of his birth (Job 3:1). If left to himself, he would have no faith that his sufferings were among the “all things” working together for his ultimate good, still less would he “glory in his infirmity that the power of Christ might rest upon him” (2 Cor. 12:9). No, dear reader, such holy exercises of heart are not the product of poor fallen human nature; instead, they are nothing less than the immediate, gracious, and lovely fruits of the Holy Spirit—brought forth amid such uncongenial soil. What a marvel!

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought” (Rom. 8:26). At no one point is the Christian made more conscious of his “infirmities” than in connection with his prayer-life. The effects of indwelling corruption are such that often prayer becomes an irksome task, rather than the felt delight of a precious privilege; and strive as he may, he cannot always overcome this fearful spirit. Even when he endeavors to pray, he is handicapped by wanderings of mind, coldness of heart, the intrusion of carnal cares; while he is painfully conscious of the unreality of his petitions and unfelt confessions. How cold are the effusions of our hearts in secret devotions, how feeble our supplications, how little solemnity of mind, brokenness of heart. How often the prayer exercises of our souls seem a mass of confusion and contradiction.

“But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). It is particularly the help which the blessed Comforter gives the Christian in his prayer-life, in the counteracting of his “infirmities,” which is now to engage our attention. In Zechariah 12:10 He is emphatically styled “The Spirit of grace and of supplications,” for He is the Author of every spiritual desire, every holy aspiration, every outgoing of the heart after God. Prayer has rightly been termed “the breathing of the newborn soul,” yet we must carefully bear in mind that its respiration is wholly determined by the stirrings of the Holy Spirit within us. As the Person, work and intercession of Christ are the foundation of all our confidence in approaching the Father, so every spiritual exercise in prayer is the fruit of the Spirit’s operations and intercession.[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).