Purity 305: Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

 Purity 305 01/06/2021 

Good morning!

Today’s sunset photo was taken by a friend who is living the “lake life” down in Florida.  I especially like the cloud formations captured here as the shapes are somewhat “angelic” which dispel any feelings of envy and instead turn my thoughts to the Lord and fills my heart with thankfulness for my friend and allows me to share in their joy.     

Today I continue to share Dr. Neil Anderson’s “Twenty “Cans” of Success”, to encourage my friends that are fasting as well as those who aren’t.  

2.  Why should I worry about my needs when I know that God will take care of all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19)?

 

One earmark of success is a lack of worry, which is made continually possible by trusting in the Lord.   

 The world system of competition and “one-ups-Manship” threatens to steal our peace at every moment. Social media can fill us with envy for the things that our friends post instead of sharing in their joy. 

Some of us are unwittingly in bondage to it as we still seek to accumulate wealth, “toys”, or experiences as evidence of a happy and successful life. Just like a child who has broken or discarded their Christmas toys that were so desperately wanted, we are meant to discover that things, relationships, or experiences do not ultimately satisfy us.   Only establishing peace and harmony with God can do that.    

When we let go of the world’s game of “keeping up with the Joneses” and also disregard the world’s ideas and remedies for happiness (a drink, an affair, a trip, a snack), we can come to understand that we have a lot less “needs” than we thought we had.  

When we look to the eventual end of our lives, we will realize that the people, places, and things will all go away and that the only need we really have is God.    But a relationship with God, through faith in Jesus Christ, is not only to be pursued to guarantee a spot in eternity, it is to be a strength and a comfort that we can experience here and now.  

So, don’t worry about your “needs”.  God will provide what you need, the greatest of which is His continual presence in your life.  Look at what you want, think about what you need, and follow where He leads.   

 

(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 107:6 (NLT2)
⁶ “LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.

 Not for nothing, but this is the second day in a row where the word “help” has made its way before us.  Does someone you know need help?  Is it you?  

 As this verse shows us, those who cry out for the Lord’s help are rescued from their distress.     

 But trust me when I tell you, before I surrendered my life to Christ. there were several times in my life where I cried out and I wasn’t rescued.  I had no relationship with the Lord at the time and frankly, should I have even expected rescue?  

 I had lived in rebellion to everything the Lord stood for and had lived my life my way.  I shouldn’t have been surprised that my ideas about how to live my life were short sighted and lacked wisdom.   So I suffered almost continuously in this viscous cycle of pleasure and pain and occasionally major disasters happened.   When everything went wrong, only then would I even think about praying for help.  Sometimes I actually did get help, but I would attribute my good fortune to luck or chance and immediately forgot about any thoughts of changing my dysfunctional ways.  

 But God is patient. After decades of living in darkness and suffering major losses, I heard a promise of new life and hope that was tied to faith in Jesus Christ.  I took Him up on it.  At first, I still tried to do things my way with His blood to cover me, only to discover that I was still subject to the consequences of my decisions and that my relationship with God wasn’t some “church game” of empty expressions and weekly observances.  My relationship with God was real and it only would improve if I followed Him into the light.  

 So I cried out for help and I actually listened to God and began to change my religious ideas to conform to what the word of God told me about who God is and who I am in Christ.  Our faith isn’t supposed to be a set of doctrinal beliefs of a God who is high above and distant as much as it is supposed to be heartfelt convictions of how we are to worship Him with our entire lives as His presence is close and never departs.   

 So if you or someone you know needs help, know that God may bless those who are running amok on occasion, but the real help and rescue only comes when you abide in His truth and presence by following Him.  

 Today we begin chapter 9 of Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope Again, where the authors begin their examination of suffering.

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:

Suffering for Righteousness' Sake

I think we've lost the knowledge that happiness is overrated, that in a way, life is overrated. We've lost somehow, a sense of mystery about us, about our purpose, our meaning, and our role. Our ancestors believed in two worlds and understood this world to be the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short one. We are the first generation of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth and our search for it has caused such unhappiness. The reason? If you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe in only the flat, material world around you, if you believe that this is your only chance for happiness, if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches—you are despairing.

Peggy Noonan

Speech writer for Presidents Reagan and Bush

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

1 Peter 4:12-14

We live in a fallen world, and life on this planet isn't always fair. We want things to go our way, but they often don't. We want justice to prevail, but that will not perfectly happen in this lifetime. God will make it right in the end, but until then we will have to live with many injustices. Many Christians struggle with depression because they have never understood the role that suffering has in our sanctification, and that suffering is an inevitable consequence of living in a fallen world.

We are tempted to think that Christians shouldn't have to suffer if they live a righteous life. Early Christians, however, suffered greatly at the hands of the religious establishment. After being beaten for sharing what they believed, "They went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name" (Acts 5:41). "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:12).

Furthermore, persecution is not just a thing of the past. More Christians were martyred for their faith in 1997 than in any other year in Church history.

Scripture uses many terms to describe suffering, including affliction, anguish, distress, grief, misery, pain, tribulation and chastisement. In addition, various metaphors also depict suffering—e.g., refining fire (see Isaiah 48:10; 1 Peter 1:6, 7), overflowing waters (see Isaiah 43:2) and birth pangs (see John 16:20-22; Romans 8:18-22).

J. I. Packer defines this anguish as "getting what you do not want while wanting what you do not get." Such is the lot of everyone, and it plays a significant role in the understanding and treatment of depression.

Although most of us would rather not face it, suffering and anguish are a part of the process of conforming to the image of God. Many Christians are depressed because they believe they shouldn't have to suffer—which isn't true. Suffering plays a critical role in our sanctification.

Why Do We Suffer?

First, Christians will suffer for the sake of righteousness. We will share in the glory of Christ only if we "share in his sufferings" (Romans 8:17, NIV). "If we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:12). "For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ" (2 Cor. 1:5). Much of the suffering of the believer is in relation to living for Christ in a hostile world. "Trials" are destined to come "in spreading the gospel of Christ" (1 Thes. 3:2, NIV). "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22, NIV).

Second, suffering will also come as the consequence of our own sin and as the chastisement of our heavenly Father. David felt the heavy hand of God in the form of physical and mental suffering as a result of his sin (see Psalm 32:3-5). Even apart from sin, our heavenly Father will discipline us in order to share in His holiness. "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). Even the sinless Christ was perfected through suffering (see Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 5:8).

Finally, suffering comes simply from our human frailty as part of a fallen world. The decaying of the "outer man" and the accompanying afflictions are part of our normal existence in the present life which is "subject to a thousand troubles and under sentence of death."  The bonds of intimacy, if not broken through sin, are surely broken through death—resulting in a profound suffering of love lost in a fallen world.

Along with all of creation, "we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23, NIV). Despite our natural aversion to pain and suffering, Scripture tells us that they are hard realities and even a necessity in the life of the believer. In Packer's words, "suffering Christianly is an integral aspect of biblical holiness, and a regular part of business as usual for the believer." 

Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.

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

 

God bless you all!