Purity 370 03/19/2021 Purity 370 Podcast
Good morning.
We made it to Friday
again and I was thrilled to wake up to no sign of snow in my driveway as the
local weatherman had warned of the possibility of 2-4 inches of the white stuff
falling overnight just the day before.
I love it when the
weatherman gets it wrong. It demonstrates
that with all our scientific equipment and knowledge we really can’t predict
what will happen from day to day. It
shows us that someone else oversees the direction of our world. God is sovereign. It reminds me of Psalm
115:3 which says:
Psalm
115:3 (NKJV)
3 But our God is in heaven; He
does whatever He pleases.
Now our response to that can vary based on what we believe about Him. We could be angry about all the suffering in the world and claim that God is heartless, mean, or uncaring. With that ire born from our pain, we could hate God or claim He doesn’t exist.
People with a negative view of God or who deny his existence and speak of the vast amount of suffering seem to forget about the beauty in the world. They seem to forget about the material blessings that God has made available to us to enjoy. They also seem to forget the love that God has brought to their lives through their families, friends, and partners.
If you blame God for the bad, you should also give Him credit for the good too.
Usually this negative view of God is born from the fact that those who hate Him or deny His exist, know that God is holy, and their lives are not in harmony with His ways. For all the posturing and intellectual arguments they may present, if you look at their lives they are usually defined by sin, self-righteousness, or both.
However, those who know that God is real, and that God sent Jesus Christ to bridge the gap between us and Him, know that He is good and can be trusted. Through our faith in Christ, we can know a good deal about the Lord, who some will claim to be unknowable.
Whatever natural disaster or personal turmoil we may face, we know that God made it all and He will decide what will come to pass on earth and in our lives. But because we have living breathing relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ, we know that whatever may pass, or if He should call us home, our lives are secure in His Hand and that nothing can separate us from His love.
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This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not
on your own understanding;
Today’s verse speaks about the level of devotion and trust we are to have when we have given our lives to God through our faith in Jesus Christ.
So much of our lives are uncertain. As fallible men, we will never know the answers to everything. Much of our faith is a mystery.
We don’t know how many days we have left on the earth. We don’t know the future of our lives. We don’t know how long our loved ones will live. We don’t know what events will come to pass in our country in the days or years ahead.
So with all these uncertainties, what are we supposed to do?
Well today’s verse tells us. It tells us to trust in the One who is unchanging. It tells us to trust in the One who does know all that will happen. It tells us to trust the Lord. But it also tells us to do two other things:
1. It tells us to Trust the Lord with all our hearts.
This points to the sincerity of our faith and our heart’s role in our commitment to God. When you take the intellectual knowledge you have about God and process it to believe in your heart you enter into an experiential knowledge of God that transcends mental understanding. The “heart” points to the core of our being. When you trust the Lord with the core of your being, you are undoubtedly His.
2. It tells us not to lean on our own understanding.
Let’s face it. The combined wisdom of the world pales in comparison to the wisdom of God. Also, unless you are a genius your personal wisdom probably pales in comparison to the combined wisdom of the world. So knowing that we don’t understand it all, we should not lean on our own understanding but should lean on the Lord who is the only One who does understand it all.
I know others who in times of trouble have leaned on this verse to remind themselves to trust in the Lord no matter how bad things may appear. This verse grounded them in their faith and it carried them through some very dark days, teaching them to rely on God and to preserve.
So whether you are walking problem free or are in the midst of some serious personal turmoil, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
I invite all to mt4chritst.org where I always share
insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters
in Christ with their walk.
Today we will share from Dr. June Hunt’s Biblical Counseling Keys on “Alcohol
& Drug Abuse: Breaking Free & Staying Free.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work:
E. What Is Codependency?
They surround sports heroes and stars of stage and screen... they're known
as "enablers"... those who make sure the alcohol keeps flowing and
the pills keep pumping. They keep giving addicts what they want — or what they
demand — but to their detriment, and often to their demise.
One case that made international headlines in 2009 involved Michael Jackson,
the "King of Pop." His attending doctor has been accused of
providing, to appease the superstar, the drug that ultimately caused his death.
It was a premature death ... an unnecessary death ... perhaps even a wrongful
death.
While Mickey Mantle's dependency was solely on alcohol, there was much
codependency in his life. While loving enablers think they're doing what is
right ...
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to
death."
(Proverbs 16:25)
The term "codependency" is often associated with addictions,
specifically with the dysfunctional relationships between the addicts and the
"people pleasers" around them.
- Codependent
was a word first used in the 1970s to describe a family member living with
someone dependent on alcohol. The prefix co- means
"with" or "one associated with the action of another."
- Codependency
became a term describing the dysfunctional behavior of family members
seeking to adapt to the alcoholic's negative behavior. The dynamic of
codependency is similar to that of having an elephant in the living room
that no one talks about but everyone maneuvers around in such a way that
the appeased elephant will cause as little disruption as possible.
- Codependent
people or "enablers" enable the alcoholic to continue on
with the addiction without drawing and maintaining boundaries.
- Codependency
is a relationship addiction. Just as the alcoholic is dependent on
alcohol, the codependent is overly dependent on the relationship with the
addict.
- Codependent,
today, refers to anyone who is dependent on another to the point of being
controlled or manipulated by that person.
Those who are codependent are desperately trying to please the addict;
however, they would be wise to ask themselves ...
"Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or
am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would
not be a servant of Christ."
(Galatians 1:10)
Being an
Enabler
Question: "How can I know whether I am being an enabler?"
Answer: You are an enabler if you perpetuate another's
abusive behavior by protecting that person from experiencing painful
consequences that could actually serve as a motivation for change.
- The
codependent father who gives money to his drug-addicted daughter is enabling
his daughter to stay on drugs.
- The
codependent wife who calls her husband's boss saying, "He has the
flu" — when, instead, he has a hangover — is enabling her
alcoholic husband to continue drinking.
- Ask
yourself, How many lies have I told to protect the one I love from
suffering negative repercussions from unwise choices? The Bible has
strong words about those who protect the guilty. ...
"Whoever says to the guilty, 'You are innocent,' will be cursed by
peoples and denounced by nations."
(Proverbs 24:24)
Biblical Counseling Keys - Biblical Counseling Keys – Biblical Counseling Keys:
Alcohol & Drug Abuse: Breaking Free & Staying Free.
----------------------------more
tomorrow-------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our
Victory over the Darkness Discipleship Class via the mt4christ247 podcast!
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