Purity 280 12/02/2020
Good morning!
Today’s photo was taken by yours truly yesterday in Castleton on the
Hudson as I pulled over to get a pic of the double rainbow that the Lord decided
to grace us with.
I chose this pic because I took it, and because it was a breath of fresh
air after the previous day’s torrential downpours. It also reminds me that the Lord can give us
glimpses of beauty in the midst of the storm and that no matter how dark and
intense the storms in our lives may be, they don’t last forever.
Also, my mother told me that, somehow from her vantage point of her
hospital room at CMH, she saw it and she considered it a good sign and it gave
her hope.
The most frustrating thing about having a loved one in the hospital, in
general, is trying to decipher the reports about their diagnosis and prognosis
and to get a realistic picture of what to expect according to the medical experts
and how that information is later interpreted and reported by the one telling
you, be it the patient themselves or a second party.
No matter what our disposition is normally, I think we all become optimists
almost to the point of denial as we are just predisposed to the belief that “everything
is going to be okay” or “of course they will be healed”. For anyone who has suffered traumatic losses,
we know that this particular sentiment although true more times than not isn’t
always true and that bad things can happen.
After receiving different reports about my mother’s progress, I have cycled
from not concerned, to fearfully concerned, to relieved and assured of healing
on its way, to becoming not so sure. Reports
of vital signs in and of themselves can lead us to say “Oh, they’re fine…” and
then subsequent reports of treatments and doctor’s orders can make you say: “What
are they doing… whoa… this is no joke.. this is serious”.
My mother’s condition is serious. That’s why she’s in the hospital.
However, she believes she is getting better and is going to get well and
eventually be released, prayerfully by the end of the week.
Regardless of reports and what anyone thinks, God is the only one who
knows what will happen and He is the author of every healing that takes
place. So, until my mother walks out of
that hospital, I will continue to petition the Lord with prayer to bring her
through.
Regardless of the outcomes, I know that God’s plan is best, and I thank
Him for the love that He provides me through the relationship with my
mother. He has blessed us beyond measure
in our lives and, while I pray for a good outcome, I fully accept His will for
our lives. That’s all we can really do
anyway, trust Him.
My mother was our
example of faith in God growing up and I know she goes to the Lord in prayer
often. If it’s our faith that makes us well, I know she has more than
enough.
The word says that
the promises of God are “yes and amen”.
So, last night I texted my mother a few Bible verses to encourage her
not to be afraid and to know that our God is with her and He can comfort and
heal her. She simply responded “Amen”
with a heart emoji. She expects to get
out and she agrees with the Bible verses that say she will. Amen, indeed.
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This morning’s
meditation verse was:
Psalm 37:5 (NLT2)
5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.
I know this verse to be true, more ways than one. I am still in progress, but I continually am trying to commit my life fully to following the Lord and trusting Him. I can testify that He has helped me over and over and over. While I came to be “born again” in the spring of 2010, I honestly think that the Lord has been with me all my life, protecting and guiding my path even when I turned my back on Him, was lost in the darkness of my own sin, denied Him, and went after other gods.
It's been said that God never wastes a hurt and now I know that’s true because as I give testimony of the truth of Jesus Christ to save and transform our lives, I understand what it’s like to not believe, to live selfishly, to feel alone and lost and I try my best to explain what true faith in Christ means: God with us.
Commit everything to the Lord and Trust Him and He will help you. Start a life free of regrets. Keep walking and talking with God.
Today we continue to share from Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope Again, where they discuss three of the areas where we have conflict with God’s word that we need to resolve to overcome depression.
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:
Counterfeit
vs. Real
In making a public profession of faith, early Christians
would stand, face the west and say, "I renounce you, Satan, and all your
works and all your ways." This was the first step in repentance. The Catholic
Church and most other liturgical churches still require that statement to be
said at confirmation.
In addition to that generic statement,
individual Christians would specifically renounce every counterfeit religious
experience they had, every false vow or pledge they had made and every false
teacher or doctrine they had believed. We encourage every person we counsel to
do this as well.
To renounce means to give up a claim or
a right. To renounce means that you are making a definite decision to let go of
your past commitments, pledges, vows, pacts and beliefs that are not Christian.
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and
renounces them finds mercy" (Proverbs 28:13, NIV).
Some people commit themselves to Christ
and choose to believe the Word of God, but they hold on to past commitments and
still believe what they always have believed. That would make salvation a
process of "addition" instead of transformation. Such people just add
something to what they already had.
Every believer must decisively let go
of the past, which is the first step in genuine repentance. If we totally
embrace the truth, then we are also defining what is not true. Our new life in
Christ was made possible because of His crucifixion and resurrection. Our sins
are forgiven, but nobody pushed the "clear" button. Now that we have
the mind of Christ (see 1 Cor. 2:16),
we must renew our minds to the truth of God's Word.
The apostle Paul reveals the close link
between renouncing and not losing heart (i.e., not being depressed or
discouraged):
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not
lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not
walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation
of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor. 4:1, 2).
Paul is contrasting the truth of divine
revelation with that of false teachers and prophets. Knowing God's holiness and
His call for church purity, Paul exhorts us to renounce every immoral practice,
every distortion of truth and any deceitfulness of the heart.
God does not take lightly false
guidance and false teachers. In Bible times such teachers were to be stoned to
death, and there were serious consequences for those who consulted them.
"As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the
harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him
off from among his people" (Leviticus 20:6).
Similar warnings about false teachers and false prophets are found in the New
Testament. That is why it is necessary to renounce any and all involvement with
false guidance, false teachers, false prophets and every cult and occult
practice. We don't want to be cut off by God; we want to be connected to Him.
Deception
vs. Truth
The ultimate battle is between the kingdom of light and
the kingdom of darkness, between the Christ and the anti-Christ, between good
and evil, between the father of lies and the Spirit of truth. Therefore, an
important step in being set free from depression is the process of sorting out
lies and choosing the truth.
We are admonished to speak the truth in
love (see Ephes.
4:15, 25),
and to walk in the light (see 1 John 1:7).
Many who struggle with depression believe lies, walk in darkness and avoid
intimate contact with others. In order to overcome depression, and live free in
Christ, we must choose the truth by winning the battle for our minds. This
requires an uncompromising commitment to God's Word, regardless of how one
feels.
The first step in recovery is to admit
that we have a problem, then find at least one person with whom we can be
totally honest. The worst thing we can do is to isolate ourselves and sit alone
with our troubled thoughts.
The Greek word for "be
anxious" is merimnao, which may have been derived from two words—merizo,
which means "divide," and nous, which means
"mind." An anxious person is double minded, and James says that a
double-minded person is unstable in all his ways (see James 1:8). Jesus
said, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other....For this reason
I say to you, do not be anxious for your life" (Matthew 6:24, 25).
There can be no mental peace or emotional health if one is double minded.
Bitterness
vs. Forgiveness
We have never met a depressed person who isn't struggling
with bitterness. Depressed people carry the emotional scars and bear the pain
of wounds others have inflicted upon them. They have never known how to let go
of the past and forgive from the heart. Some have chosen not to. They hang on
to their anger as a means of protecting themselves from being hurt again—but
they are only hurting themselves.
Forgiveness is the key to overcoming
bitterness. Forgiveness is to set a captive free, then to discover you were the
captive. We cannot be liberated from our past or be emotionally free in the
present without forgiving from the heart. The future threat of torture that
Christ promised to the unforgiving (see Matthew 18:34)
turns out to be a present reality.
But God is not out to get us; He is out
to restore us. He knows that if we hang on to our bitterness, we will only hurt
ourselves and others (see Hebrews 12:15).
As Paul said, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and
slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one
another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has
forgiven you" (Ephes. 4:31, 32).
We forgive others for our sake, and for
the sake of our relationship with God. What is to be gained in forgiving others
is freedom. We are also warned by Paul that we need to forgive others so that
Satan doesn't take advantage of us (see 2 Cor. 2:10,
11). This critical issue must be resolved in order to find freedom from
depression. Trying to overcome depression while holding on to our bitterness is
like expecting physical well-being while simultaneously eating both health
foods and poison.
Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.
------------------------------more
on tomorrow--------------------------
God bless
you all!
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