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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Purity 292: Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship


 Purity 292

Good morning!

Today’s photo was taken by yours truly while I was out travelling through suburban Niskayuna, NY.  Despite temperatures in the 30’s, the weather yesterday was sunny and bright, and I knew I had to pull over to capture the sun and blue skies above these pines as evidence of the “calm before the storm” as we anticipate December’s first big snowstorm later today.

As someone whose grown up in upstate New York, I know what snow is and I know about the inevitability of its coming, but sometimes you just irrationally hope that it just won’t come.  We know it’s a fact of life but yet we hope against hope that we can somehow avoid it. 

The reality of its coming was brought to my attention by a friend and I realized that I had to make a decision to cancel the last Celebrate Freedom meeting of the year. It was also to serve as our holiday party but with circumstances of a fast-approaching Christmas and other considerations, I also realized that rescheduling wasn’t really an option.  So I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t wrap things up like I had anticipated. 

But instead of living in fear and anxiety of the storm to come or being bitter about Celebrate Freedom’s cancelation, I decided to enjoy what the Lord had brought me in the present moment. I captured this photo of the sun and blue skies.  I enjoyed the unobstructed travel on the roads as I drove around. I also enjoyed the fact that people have decorated the outside of their homes in anticipation of Christmas. I even enjoyed the idea that, if the outpouring of this projected snowstorms lasts, we would have a white Christmas.  But most of all I enjoyed the fact that I have a relationship with God who loves me and has set me free of my personal darkness and the consequences that have resulted from it.  

When I focus on that fact, and the fact that every moment I live and breathe and walk in the freedom that God has given me, it continues, and is promised to never end, I find it difficult to remain upset, disappointed, or fearful of a snowstorm for long. 

God is with me and, if you turn to Him, He will be with you too.  Stay safe in the storm by making peace with the One who controls it all.  Keep walking and talking with God or start today. 

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This morning’s meditation verse was:

Psalm 115:11 (NLT2)
11 All you who fear the LORD, trust the LORD! He is your helper and your shield.

 With the projected storm for our area, many will fear its coming but as stated above we can be safe in the storm by making peace with the One who controls it all. 

Whenever the fear of the Lord is mentioned in scripture, I always think of how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So I looked up that verse:

Proverbs 9:10 (NLT2)
10 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

 So if we are wise, we will fear the Lord. We should fear the consequences of not being in relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ because without it we will one day face His wrath.  

 Some of the scariest verses in the Bible, point to the fact that some will approach the Lord on judgment day thinking they are His, only to find out that they are not.  The verses that point this out run a wide spectrum – from those who did good works in the Lord’s name (only to find out they were apparently trusting in their self-righteousness) to those who had a loose or cursory belief or “faith” in the Lord (only to discover that their “belief” wasn’t a covenant relationship). Across this spectrum of those on the outside of the Lord’s grace, whether they seemingly did much or little for their fellow man in the name of the Lord, they all have the same charge against them. They are chastised by the Lord as those “who practice lawlessness” (Matt 7:23) or “do evil” (Luke 13:27)

 So if we claim sonship in God’s kingdom, we have to make sure we are His by repenting of our sins and following Him.  Any charge of hypocrisy that could be leveled against us is eliminated by our earnest seeking of the Lord and abandonment of our habitual sins.  If you place your faith in Jesus, you are given the power to overcome but you must choose it and walk it out, relying on Him to bring you through.  It also means not walking away after you have success.    

As the above verse says, those who fear the Lord, trust Him. If we trust Him, we follow Him, and He becomes our Helper and Shield. 

The storms in life aren’t always meteorological.  I have friends who currently have walked away from the Lord and who are again locked in their old familiar cycles of addiction and broken relationships.  

There is power in the name of Jesus, but that power comes from a faith that is active and alive. That power comes from a restored relationship with the Lord.  It comes from not just saying you’re sorry. The power comes from a decision to abandon the old familiar ways of life that never satisfy and instead decide to walk out life His way.  

The prodigal son was welcomed home with open arms.  The door is always open, but the prodigal must surrender to the Father and come home. It’s my prayer that those who are lost in darkness, go home.     

 Today we begin chapter 6 of Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope Again, where the authors discuss not living up to the freedom we have and taking God at His word.   

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:

Not Living Up to the Good News

During the Civil War, General Sherman burned Atlanta, then waged war against the civilians of the South during his long march toward the Atlantic coast. His theory was that soldiers fight wars, but civilians support the soldiers and pay for war. He wanted to defeat the South's ability to support the war. He broke the back of the war effort the moment they felt defeated, hopeless, useless and helpless, and no longer believed the war could be won.

This is exactly what Satan wants us to believe, with the demonic intent that we will be demoralized in the spiritual battle between good and evil. But our war with the world, the flesh and the devil has already been won! We just have to believe it.

Slavery in the United States was abolished on December 18, 1865, by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. How many slaves were there on December 19? In reality, none; but many still lived like slaves—because they hadn't learned the truth. Others knew and even believed that they were free, but chose to live as they had been taught under slavery.

Several plantation owners were devastated by this proclamation of emancipation. "We're ruined!" they cried. "Slavery has been abolished. We've lost the battle to keep our slaves." But Satan, the chief spokesman against the truth, slyly responded, "Not necessarily. As long as these people think they're still slaves, the Emancipation Proclamation will have no practical effect. We don't have a legal right over them anymore, but many of them don't know it. Keep your slaves from learning the truth, and your control over them will not even be challenged."

"But, what if the news spreads?"

"Don't panic. We have another bullet to fire. We may not be able to keep them from hearing the news, but we can still keep them from understanding it. They don't call me the father of lies for nothing. We still have the potential to deceive the whole world. Just tell them that they misunderstood the Thirteenth Amendment. Tell them that they are going to be free, not that they are free already. The truth they heard is just positional truth, not actual truth. Some day they may receive the benefits, but not now."

"But they'll expect us to say that. They won't believe us."

"Then pick out a few persuasive ones who are convinced that they're still slaves, and let them do the talking for you. Remember, most of these free people were born slaves and have lived like slaves all their lives. All we have to do is to deceive them so that they still think like slaves. As long as they continue to do what slaves do, it will not be hard to convince them that they must still be slaves. They will maintain their slave identity because of the things they do. The moment they try to profess that they are no longer slaves, just whisper in their ears, 'How can you even think you are no longer a slave when you are still doing things that slaves do?' After all, we have the capacity to accuse the brethren day and night."

Years later, many have still not heard the wonderful news that they have been freed, so naturally they continue to live the way they have always lived. Some have heard the good news, but evaluated it by what they are presently doing and feeling. They reason, I'm still living in bondage, doing the same things I have always done. My experience tells me that I must not be free. I'm feeling the same way I was before the proclamation, so it must not be true. After all, your feelings always tell the truth. So they continue to live according to how they feel, not wanting to be hypocrites!

One former slave hears the good news, and receives it with great joy. He checks out the validity of the proclamation, and finds out that the highest of all authorities has originated the decree. Not only that, but it personally cost the authority a tremendous price, which he willingly paid, so that he could be free. His life is transformed. He correctly reasons that it would be hypocritical to believe his feelings, and not believe the truth. Determined to live by what he knows to be true, his experiences begin to change rather dramatically. He realizes that his old master has no authority over him and does not need to be obeyed. He gladly serves the one who set him free.

The gospel is the "Emancipation Proclamation" for all sinners. Because of the Fall, we were all enslaved to sin. We were dead in our "trespasses and sins" (Ephes. 2:1), "and were by nature children of wrath" (Ephes. 2:3). The good news is that we are no longer slaves to sin. We are now alive in Christ and dead to sin (see Romans 6:11). We have been set free in Christ. We are no longer sinners in the hands of an angry God. We are saints in the hands of a loving God. We are forgiven, justified, redeemed and born-again children of God.

You may not feel like it, you may not act like it and others may tell you that you are not, but you have been justified in Christ. "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

Take God at His Word

According to Hebrews 6:13-20, God stakes His own credibility on the fact that our hope is in Him:

When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf (NIV).

The two unchangeable things are God's promise and the oath confirming the promise. Our hope in God is a solid anchor for our souls, and the answer to hopelessness and depression. If God cannot lie, then the basis for our hope is found in the truth of His nature, character and word.

Hopelessness from Faulty Perceptions

Although God cannot change, our perception of Him can change; and that will greatly affect how we feel. To illustrate this, look at how Jeremiah became depressed because his perceptions about God were all wrong:

I am the man who has seen affliction because of the rod of His wrath. He has driven me and made me walk in darkness and not in light. Surely against me He has turned His hand repeatedly all the day. He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. In dark places He has made me dwell, like those who have long been dead (Lament. 3:1-6).

Jeremiah believes that God is the cause of his physical and emotional hardships. He actually believes that God is out to get him, when in fact He is out to restore him. Instead of being led by God, Jeremiah feels that he is being driven to dark places where God has abandoned him. Jeremiah is in the basement! Listen to his feelings of entrapment, hopelessness and fear:

He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in secret places. He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. So I say, "My strength has perished, and so has my hope from the Lord" (Lament. 3:7-11, 18).

Jeremiah was depressed because his perception of God was wrong. God wasn't the cause of his affliction. God didn't set up the circumstances to make his life miserable. God isn't a wild beast waiting to chew people up. But Jeremiah thought He was, and consequently he lost all hope in God. Then suddenly everything changed:

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord (Lament. 3:19-26, NIV).

Nothing had changed externally in Jeremiah's experience. The only thing that changed was his perception of God. He had won the battle for his mind by recalling what he knew to be true about God. Hope returns when we choose to believe in the true nature and character of God.

This is why it is so necessary for us to worship God. Our heavenly Father is not an egomaniac who needs His ego stroked every Sunday morning. He is totally secure within Himself. He doesn't need us to tell Him who He is. We worship God because we need to keep the divine attributes of God constantly on our minds. We don't worship God to change Him; we worship God to change ourselves, as Jeremiah did.

Faith As an Antidote for Hopelessness

The writer of Hebrews said, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). Hope is the parent of faith, which is the evidence of things not seen. Martin Luther wrote:

Everything that is done in the world is done in hope. No husbandman would sow one grain of corn if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed; no bachelor would marry a wife if he hoped not to have children; no merchant or tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby.

This truth can be illustrated in many practical ways. Suppose you hoped to catch the next bus, which was scheduled to come at 11:00 a.m. You leave your home at 10:45 a.m., giving yourself enough time to walk at a leisurely pace. So you walk by faith to the bus stop, hoping the bus would be on time and that the schedule was right.

If the bus were late and the schedule were wrong, your hope would be dashed. You would lose faith in the public transportation system. If you fell behind schedule and thought you had no hope of catching the next bus, you would not proceed by faith. That would be foolish.

If you thought there were no hope for any promotion at work, you might look around for other positions. If you had no hope of finding the grocery store open on Sunday at 6:00 a.m., you wouldn't drive there.

What if you believed there were no hope of being loved, no hope of eternal life, no hope of change, no hope for the future, no hope for joy in your life? You would probably be depressed and not very willing to continue living by "faith."

Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. Hope is the present assurance of some future good that is solidly based on the true nature and character of God. Remember, our hope is in God, not in humankind nor in the circumstances of life. His word is true. His promises can be claimed with confidence and counted on. He cannot break His covenant, which assures us of His presence within us and the forgiveness of our sins (see Hebrews 8:8-13).

Matthew Henry said, "The ground of our hope is Christ in the world, but the evidence of our hope is Christ in the Heart."  Paul wrote, "God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). It is Christ's presence within us that changes our mood and our perception of reality. "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence" (Psalm 42:5).


Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.

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

 

God bless you all!

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