Purity 277 11/28/2020
Good morning!
Today’s photo comes from a friend who, instead of getting in line to take
advantage of Black Friday specials, used the morning yesterday to go “paddling”
with some friends reminding us all that some of the best gifts in life can not
be wrapped up and put under a tree.
It reminds me of Psalm 118:24 which says “This is the day the Lord has
made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
So, take today and tomorrow and rejoice and be glad in it.
Some of my friends from my church are taking a part of their day today
to wish people a Merry Christmas as they will be bell ringing and collecting
for the local Salvation Army at the Hudson Walmart between 8am-5pm. So if you’re in the area, stop by and wish
them a Merry Christmas and contribute to an organization that provides for those
in need.
(There is More at the restricted blog). Follow
me on Twitter, MeWe, or Parler for easy access.
Blog M T 4 Christ dot org – This is where the Facebook post ends.)
This morning’s
meditation verse was:
Psalm 118:6 (NLT)
6 The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people
do to me?
One of the many benefits of making Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior and
deciding to live a discipled life is that when you fully understand and accept
that you have been accepted into the kingdom of God, had your sins forgiven,
and have been given the promise of everlasting life, fear is put in its rightful
place.
The only one to fear is God and He has made peace with you. Death “loses
its sting” because we don’t really die as much as we are brought into His
presence with the pain, suffering, and mysteries of this life being left
behind.
While we don’t go rushing head long into death, we understand that it is
not to be feared and that it will lead to us seeing His spiritual kingdom and
meeting God face to face.
As for the opinions of men, particularly those who don’t know the Lord, we
listen and have compassion for them, but we know that they are spiritually
blind and in desperate need of love. Any
insults or criticisms should be taken into perspective as the rantings of a
petulant child that doesn’t really know what they are saying.
However, Ignorance can kill so we must guard ourselves and be wise and
discerning in terms of what we say when dealing with those who don’t know the
Lord because they are capable of anything. Lies, betrayal, and murder may all
be options for those who’s worldview is essentially meaningless or of their own
creation.
As long as we show the love of God and are wise, we can walk through all
the turmoil of this life with the fearlessness that comes from knowing that no
matter what we face God has made us His own.
So be the light that shines in the darkness. Be the love in the face of
hate. Share the Truth of Jesus Christ knowing we were given the gift of the
gospel for this reason: to heal that which was broken and to save that which
was lost.
Today we continue to share from Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope
Again, where we begin Chapter 4 where they discuss understanding God and the three
principles of Faith.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Anderson’s books for your own private study and to
support his work:
Understanding Your Heavenly Father
Dearest,
I feel certain I am going mad again.
I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't
recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am
doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible
happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think
two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't
fight any longer.
A final letter from Virginia Woolf
to her husband
He brought light out of darkness,
not out of lesser light; He can bring your summer out of winter, though you
have no spring; though in the ways of fortune, or understanding, or conscience,
you have been benighted until now, wintered and frozen, clouded and eclipsed,
damped and benumbed, smothered and stupefied till now, now God comes to you,
not as in the dawning of the day, not as in the bud of the spring, but as the
sun at noon.
John Donne
An attractive, talented 18-year-old
young lady made an appointment with me to deal with a multitude of problems.
She was the daughter of a pastor and had grown up in the Church. She had made a
decision for Christ and was committed to follow Him.
Her presenting problem was a serious
eating disorder. Reluctantly she revealed her tormented secret life, which was
riddled with starvation, manipulation, depression and thoughts of suicide. She
was obsessed with her appearance and held a general disdain for herself.
Realizing this, I shared with her how Christ saw her. I reminded her that she
was a loved, chosen daughter of the King. I told her she was a new creation in
Christ and a personal friend of Jesus. Tears streaming down her face, she
summarized her basic problem by saying, "I wish I could believe
that!"
Believing is not a matter of
wishing. It is a matter of knowing and choosing. It is not something you feel
like doing; it is something you choose to do based on what you have come to
believe is true.
Faith is the operating principle of
life. Everybody lives by faith. You drive your car by faith, believing that
your car will run, that the road is safe, that the traffic signs are right,
that the lights at the intersection are performing up to standard and that
other people will basically obey the traffic laws. If you didn't believe that,
you would probably never get into a car again, or you would at least have
serious apprehensions about it.
You eat by faith, believing that the
canned food and packaged meat is safe. By eating the product you are showing
great faith in the rancher and food processor. Your confidence is bolstered by
the law, which is enforced by the Food and Drug Administration and by your
county health department.
Three
Principles of Faith
Faith in What or Whom?
The first principle we need to know about faith is that
it is dependent upon its object. The primary issue isn't how much you believe;
it is what or whom you believe in that counts. The only
difference between non-Christian faith and Christian faith is the object of our
faith. Christian faith is not wishful thinking; it is based on truth revealed
to us by God. The person and nature of God and His word is the only valid
object of our faith.
The writer of the book of Hebrews lists
in chapter 11
several biblical heroes who believed God. They had great faith because they
believed in a great God. Then the writer says, "Remember those who led
you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their
conduct, imitate their faith" (Hebrews 13:7,
emphasis added). He didn't say that we should imitate what these heroes did,
but that we should imitate their faith—because what they believed is what
determined their conduct. The next verse reveals the object of their faith.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
The fact that God is immutable (i.e.,
He cannot change) is what makes Him the only reliable object for our faith. Nor
can His Word change. "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of
our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8). The
fact that God and His Word never change is what gives us stability in a
changing world. God is always faithful, and His Word is always true. Because
God is faithful, we can live with the confidence that His promises are also
true: "For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are
yes" (2 Cor.
1:20). Herein lies the basis for our hope, according to Hebrews 6:16-19:
For
men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as
confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even
more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose,
interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it
is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have
fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast.
How
Faith Is Increased
The second principle of faith is that it cannot be
"pumped up." Many express the sentiment, "If only I could
believe." They can believe. Belief is a choice. If I can believe,
can't anybody else?
How much faith we have depends on how
well we know the object of our faith. If you know seven promises from the Word
of God, the best you can have is a seven-promise faith. If you know 7,000
promises from God's Word, you can potentially have a 7,000-promise faith. That
is why "faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ"
(Romans 10:17).
Any attempt to step out on faith beyond
that which you know to be true is presumption, not faith. If your faith is
weak, then seek the counsel you need to make sure that what you are believing
is indeed true. The consequences of doing otherwise are predictable.
"Through presumption comes nothing but strife, but with those who receive
counsel is wisdom" (Proverbs 13:10).
Remember: faith is dependent upon its object, and we are called by God to walk
by faith according to what He says is true.
If I wanted to take away your hope, all
I would have to do is distort your concept of God and of who you are as His
child. Ask Christians who have been depressed for any length of time about
their concept of God and what they believe about themselves. You will hear
people questioning God or their salvation, or believing things about themselves
and God that are not true. Visit a psychiatric ward in a hospital and you will
find some of the most religious people you have ever met. But what they believe
about themselves and God is totally distorted.
To illustrate this second principle of
faith, look at Psalm 13:
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide
your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have
sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and
answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my
enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when
I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your
salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me (Psalm 13:1-6, NIV).
This psalm portrays King David with
many of the classic symptoms of depression, including hopelessness, negative
self-talk, thoughts of death and sadness. Even though he believes in God, David
is depressed because what he believes about God is not true. How can an
omnipresent and omniscient God forget David for even one minute, much less
forever?
"Wrestling with my thoughts"
is nothing more than talking to himself, which is not the answer. So David asks
God to enlighten his eyes, and by the end of the psalm his reason has returned.
He remembers that he has trusted in God's unfailing love, then expresses hope
that his heart shall again rejoice. Finally he exercises his will by singing to
the Lord.
Faith
Determines Our Walk
If we really believe the truth, it will affect our walk
and our talk. This is the third principle of faith. If there were five frogs on
a log and three decided to jump off, how many were left on the log? The answer
is five—we only said that three decided to jump off. They may have
come to this decision because they thought it was the right thing to do, but it
is only wishful thinking or good intentions until they actually hop off the
log.
"But someone may well say, 'You
have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will
show you my faith by my works'" (James 2:18).
James is not contradicting the glorious truth that we are saved by faith and by
faith alone. He is saying that the way we live our lives reveals what we
believe. People will not always live according to what they profess, but they
will always live according to what they believe. The road to hell is paved with
good intentions, and the apparent profession of faith by some is just wishful
thinking.
Much the same can be said about hope.
Hearing somebody say, "Oh, I hope so," probably means, "Wouldn't
it be nice if that were really true!" That is not biblical hope. Hope is
the present assurance of some future good based on the Word of God.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not seen. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:1, 6).
If you want to experience the blessings
of God, hop off the log! "If you know these things, you are blessed if you
do them" (John
13:17).
In your Bible, the English words
"faith," "trust" and "belief" all derive from the
same word (pistis) in the original Greek language. Believing something
is not just giving mental assent or credence to something. Scriptural belief is
a demonstrated reliance in the object of faith.
It is also important to understand that
believing something does not make it true. Christianity teaches, "The word
of God is true, therefore I believe it and I will live accordingly by
faith." Believing does not make it true, and not believing doesn't make it
false. Truth is truth whether we believe it or not. According to Paul, if we
renew our minds according to the truth of God's Word, we prove that the will of
God is good, acceptable and perfect, and other people would see it as they
observe how we live our lives (see Romans 12:2).
The present New Age philosophy is
distorting this basic premise. New Age teaches, "If you believe hard
enough, it will become true." That is false. It would also have us believe
that we can create reality with our minds. To do that we would have to be God;
and that is exactly what they are saying. That is the same lie the devil tried
to get Eve to believe in the Garden of Eden. We are created in God's image, but
we are not God. We don't create reality with our mind; we respond to reality by
faith according to what God says is true. God has not given us the right to
determine what is true or false. He has given us the privilege to respond by
faith to what He has said is true.
Suppose you just bought a new computer,
but you didn't bother to look at the manufacturer's handbook explaining how it
should work. So you attempt to use it the way you think it should work; but it
won't work. That computer was designed to work only one way. Any attempt to use
it any other way will fail.
Similarly, the wise man said,
"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of
death" (Proverbs
14:12). God created us in His image, and told us what the truth is and how
we are to live by faith. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the
life" (John
14:6). Try another way and you will be lost. Believe something other than
the truth as revealed by God and you will never become the person God created
you to be, nor experience the freedom of forgiveness He purchased for you on
the cross. If you try to "get a life," other than the life of Christ,
you will remain dead in your trespasses and sins.
Like every other perception of reality,
much of what we have come to believe about God was assimilated from the
environment in which we were raised. If we were fortunate enough to have been
raised in a loving Christian home where the Word of God was honored, then our
perceptions of God could be fairly accurate.
Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.
------------------------------more
on Monday ------------------------
God bless
you all!
