Purity 293 12/17/2020
Good morning!
Today’s photo was taken by yours truly Tuesday when I got home from work.
With the news of the snow coming I purposely decided to take a picture of the
sunset down by the River just in case I forget what it looks like without snow
as the season of white has come in full force.
It is my prayer that all my friends stay safe now that this first
whopper of winter has come. Whether you will be enjoying the confines of your
home today or if you are one of the ones that will be travelling and working
regardless of the snow, it is my hope that you will take it slow and easy and
to remember that storms like these are reminders that God is in charge. Enjoy the splendor of this winter wonderland
but plan your movements, stay focused on your surroundings, and as always avoid
hasty decisions.
For those outside the snow zone, enjoy the fact that you are unaffected but heed the advice all the same.
(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:
1 John 2:6
(NKJV)
6 He who says he abides in Him
ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
If we say we
are a Christian, we have to walk like it.
Otherwise we are a liar, a phony, or a hypocrite.
Even though he
is not in the wrong, Hines apologizes and offers to pay for any damages, but
the man proceeds to take out a switch blade and slash one of his tires and then
takes out a crowbar and angrily breaks all the windows in Hines’ car. At this point, Hines’ Christian patience is broken,
and he takes a flame thrower out of his trunk and sets the man’s hot rod on
fire: stating “I see you have a flame job here. Let me give you a little touch
up! A little touch up for you!”
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:
A sense of hopelessness is an emotional reaction to how
we perceive ourselves, the circumstances surrounding us and the future. As we
have seen, the resulting emotional state may not be based on reality nor
perceived truthfully from God's perspective. The world is also filled with
naysayers, negative circumstances and obstacles we don't see.
Against these challenges, a biblical
hope must be established and maintained if we are going to experience freedom
from depression. To guide us through the maze of life, we must know the truth
of God's Word and be guided by the Holy Spirit. To illustrate, listen to Neil's
first entry in his daily devotional:
A
young pilot had just passed the point of no return, when the weather changed
for the worse. Visibility dropped to a matter of feet as the fog descended to
the earth. He couldn't trust in his own sensual perceptions, because he had no
idea of where he was nor what direction he was headed. Putting total trust in
the instruments was a new experience to him. Before he became a pilot, he had
always trusted in his own natural instincts and perceptions of reality. The ink
was still wet on the certificate verifying that he was qualified for instrument
flying.
He wasn't worried about the flying; however, it was reaching
his destination which was a crowded metropolitan airport that he couldn't see
and one he had never seen before. He would be within radio contact within
minutes. Until then, he was alone with his thoughts. Flying alone with no
visibility, he was aware how easy it would be to become disoriented and panic.
Twice he reached for the radio to broadcast, "Mayday, Mayday!"
Instead he forced himself to go over and over the words of his instructor who
had practically forced him to memorize the rule book. He didn't see the need
for it at the time, but now he was thankful.
Finally the voice of the air traffic controller was heard.
Trying not to sound apprehensive, the young pilot asked for landing
instructions. "I'm going to put you on a holding pattern," the
controller responded. "Oh, great!" thought the pilot. However, he
knew that reaching his destination was in the hands of a person he couldn't
see. He had to draw upon his previous instruction and training, and trust the
voice of the air traffic controller. The words of the old hymn, "Trust and
obey for there's no other way," took on new meaning. Aware that this was
no time for pride, he informed the controller, "This is not a seasoned pro
up here. I would appreciate any help you could give me." "You got
it," he heard back.
For the next 45 minutes, the controller gently guided the
pilot through the blinding fog. Course and altitude corrections came
periodically, as the young pilot realized the controller was guiding him around
obstacles, and away from potential collisions. With the words of the rule book
firmly placed in his mind, and the gentle voice of the controller, he reached
his destination. The controller assumed that the instructions of the flight
manual were understood by the young pilot. His guidance could only be based on
that. Such is the case of the Holy Spirit who guides us through the maze of life
with the knowledge of God's will established in our hearts.
It is easy to throw in the towel when our health is
failing and the circumstances are negative. The definition of a fanatic is
someone who has lost his way so he doubles his efforts. One of the most common
characteristics of burnout is the loss of hope. Unless we want to be depressed,
it is essential to maintain our hope when facing difficult circumstances.
Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild
the protective walls around Jerusalem. In addition to facing seemingly
insurmountable odds, Nehemiah was jeered by Sanballat and Tobiah, who set out
to create a sense of hopelessness:
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry
and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his
associates and the army of Samaria, he said, "What are those feeble Jews
doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they
finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of
rubble—burned as they are?" Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side,
said, "What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would
break down their wall of stones!" (Neh. 4:1-3, NIV).
Have you ever been in a situation that
seems impossible, and matters become worse when your efforts are ridiculed?
What did Nehemiah do? He prayed, posted a guard and kept working (see Neh. 4:9-23),
and he was successful in rebuilding the walls.
But the enemy never gives up. He just
changes strategies. Nehemiah's enemies saw one chink in the armor, but he was
equal to the challenge:
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of the
enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to
that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me
this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the
plain of Ono." But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to
them with this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go
down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Four
times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer
(Neh. 6:1-4, NIV).
The devil will be persistent, but we
must never let him set the agenda. We must not negotiate with the enemy, nor
allow him to distract us from our calling in life. No one and nothing can keep
us from being the people God created us to be. In the face of opposition, our
answer is always the same: "I am a child of God, saved by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and I choose to live my life by faith according to what God
said is true in the power of the Holy Spirit."
The next time the devil sends you a
message, send him back this answer:
We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who
was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that
we are children of God, and that the whole world is under control of the evil
one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding,
so that we may know him who is true (1 John 5:18-20,
NIV).
In this world, we are always going to
face negative circumstances and the inevitable loss of health. Our hope does
not lie in our ability to overcome these obstacles in our own strength and
resources, but in God's strength and resources.
Nor does our hope lie in the eternal
preservation of our physical bodies. Our ultimate hope lies in the
Resurrection:
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 then shows how we do not lose hope
in the midst of negative circumstances and failing health:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this
all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every
side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body
the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so
that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. Therefore we do not lose
heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is
seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen
is eternal (2 Cor.
4:7-11, 16-18,
NIV).
Dr. Victor Frankl, the late Austrian
psychiatrist, was among those imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II. He
observed that prisoners did not continue to live very long after they lost
hope. Even the slightest ray of hope—the rumor of better food, a whisper about
an escape—helped some of the camp inmates to continue living even under
systematic horror.
There is not enough darkness in all the
world to put out the light of one small candle. Truth always shines through the
darkness. Let us close this chapter with a testimony we received of how light
shining in the darkness set one captive free.
I
was raised in a good family and had a very good childhood. I received Christ
into my life when I was 20, and married a Christian woman when I was 22. We had
three children and I worked in the same excavating business that my father and
grandfather owned.
When I was 31, I decided to start my own business. The first
two years went great and life seemed to be very good. There isn't much work in
the winter months because of the weather. In the third spring of my new
business, I learned that my mother had Lou Gehrig's disease which has no known
cure. That spring was incredibly wet which made it almost impossible to get any
work done. The bills piled up and for the first time in my life I started to
feel depressed.
I always felt that I was in control of my life, but now
everything I did seemed to make it worse. I felt guilty that I couldn't be with
my mother who lived 800 miles away. We fell further behind in our bills and
then my wife suffered a miscarriage. It seemed like I had lost control of
everything. The depression got worse and I started to think of suicide.
The next season we started so far behind that I didn't see
any way to catch up with my bills, and my mother was getting worse. The fact
that she wasn't a Christian weighed heavily on me. Then, praise God, my father
led himself and my mother to Christ. Finally something good happened. Shortly
later she died, but I still missed her.
When the bill collectors called, all I could think of was to
kill myself. I could sense no hope. In the past I could always fix things, but
now I couldn't. I finally decided to end it all. On my way down the steps to
get a gun, two questions came to my mind. First, "Which is more important,
having your bills paid by the insurance money, or your children having a
father?" Second, "Which is more important, having your bills paid, or
your wife having a husband?" At that moment I knew I didn't want to kill
myself, but those condemning and suicidal thoughts just wouldn't go away.
I met with my pastor regularly, but I still couldn't see any
hope. Then I met with a friend who had gone to a "Living Free in
Christ" conference. He showed me in Ephes. 1:18-21
that I have Christ in me and the same power that raised Him from the dead. He
asked me if I thought there was anything that power couldn't do. Of course not!
He then explained how the battle was in my mind and how I could win that battle
by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. From that time on I
have not been depressed nor entertained any thoughts of suicide. I finally
found the hope I had been looking for.
A few weeks later, my friend moved away. There was so much
more that I wanted to learn, so I bought Victory over the Darkness,
The Bondage Breaker, and Helping Others Find Freedom in
Christ. I read them all on my way to Washington, D.C., to
attend the Promise Keepers event called "Stand in the Gap." The
transformation has been incredible. My wife tells me she has a new husband.
When I read God's Word it comes alive. When I listen to my pastor preach, I
often cry because the Word of God touches my heart. My life will never be the
same because of the freedom that Christ has given me.
Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.
------------------------------more
tomorrow--------------------------
God bless
you all!
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