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
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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.).
