Purity 407 05/01/2021 Purity 407 Podcast
Good morning.
I share it today because
it’s a lovely example of shining forth despite our circumstances and this tree
reminds me that it’s nice to be firmly rooted back at home again.
As much as I thoroughly
enjoyed my time in San Antonio at the Freedom in Christ Ministries Practicum, I
am very much contented to be rested and reacclimated to my humble abode down by
The River.” My “working vacation” was just
that as my time away was firmly scheduled and I am grateful that I decided to
see some local sights in Texas when I arrived because the three days at the
practicum were consumed with activity. The busy schedule and my delayed return
on Thursday caused me to be completely unproductive yesterday as I used the whole
day to rest and get back in a New York state of mind.
Vacations can be fun but
its good to be back to life and back to reality. I took many indulgences while on vacation and
its good to get back where I belong and to recommit myself to the stable
disciplines of regular Bible study, exercise, and healthy eating I had in place
before I went away.
That’s the great thing
about our walk with God, He gives us grace. He knows we won’t walk perfectly
and can’t live the Christian life in our own strength. When we get distracted or decide to go our
own way for a while, it is always a relief and a comfort when we see the error
of our ways and realize God hasn’t left us or forsaken us. While we may feel shame
and embarrassment to have strayed or shown our weakness, God never holds it
against us and is happy to welcome us back into His presence with open arms and
to encourage us to stay close and to walk with Him again.
So have a wonderful
weekend. Enjoy yourselves in whatever you decide to do. Be a blessing to the
others in your life. And remember that no matter where you go or what you do,
the journey is always better when you let God guide your steps and you lean on
His power to see you through.
(An Audio version of this message is available
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, you
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This morning’s meditation
is:
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)
13 No temptation has overtaken you
except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow
you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also
make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Today’s verse is
an assurance from the word of God of the spiritual power that we have been
given as believers to overcome temptation proving our victory over sin.
Although we may
feel at times that we are under a special set of tempting circumstances, the
Apostle Paul assures us that no matter how special we think our temptation is,
it is similar to what others have experienced for all temptation is “common to
man”.
The enemy is an
expert at knowing what sins will tempt us and I would attest to the fact that
some of the sinful situations I have fell into seemed to be highly personal and
almost demonically orchestrated. The way
things would fall into place or how sinful opportunities would develop would
make the unenlightened among us think that our sin “was meant to be”.
Of course at
the time, in my sinful state, I saw nothing sinister in the developments that
led to my opportunities to sin. In fact I gloried over, my good fortune or the
success of my sinful schemes and manipulations. In my lost state, resistance to sin was a
foreign concept because I was actively seeking to sin. There were certain boundaries to my
degradation that I wouldn’t go beyond, and I must admit that any suggestions to
go places that lied outside of my corrupted sense of morality were never
answered. So even in my sinful state, I
had some power to say no to temptation.
But after
putting faith in Christ and having received the Holy Spirit, my conscience was sharpened,
and I was increasingly convicted by my sinful thoughts and actions until I was
called and drawn to repent of the things I once actively pursued.
I never thought
freedom from the bondages I was wrapped up in was possible but with God it is.
The renewing of my mind is an ongoing process, but I stand amazed at what the
Lord has done to my conscience. My spiritual
eyes have been opened to see the wrongness of sin and my mind can quickly take
temptations and discern the practical and spiritual consequences that would
result from giving in.
I must admit
that I am not perfect and sometimes have made provisions for the flesh at
moments that could have been disastrous but have managed to either find a way
of escape or have not pursed the sin that I was tempted by.
The one thing I
realized is that some sins take a lot of planning and commitment and other sins
don’t.
The sins that require planning are thankfully
avoided because I will catch myself if I see sinful plans start to develop.
Those planned sins require a whole chain of events to come to fruition and I
can destroy the process by breaking any link in the chain. I’m happy to say that in most cases these
sins don’t make it off the drawing board and I mentally throw out the blueprints
for destruction long before the plans begin to materialize.
The sins that don’t
require a whole lot of planning require a different strategy: preparation and
avoidance. A commitment to avoid and not
give in to sins of the moment must be made in the mind before faced with the
temptation and opportunity to sin. Wisdom must also be employed to avoid
situations where sins of the moment are likely to happen. So we simply don’t go
there anymore, literally, but if we find ourselves faced with the opportunity
spontaneously, our mental preparation and our regularly relying on the Holy Spirit
for guidance will give us a way of escape.
Sin has been
defeated but we must rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us to hate our sin
through the word of God, to discern the negative consequences for giving in,
and to foster our relationship with God to the point where we will see our sin
as a betrayal of our fellowship with the Lord and not worth the disharmony it
would cause in our relationship with Him.
So be on guard
for the temptations that will come from the flesh, the world, and the devil but
be assured that the closer that you draw to God the further sin will be from
you and that if we faithfully pursue the Lord and take every thought captive to
the obedience of Christ, we can find the way of escape and be victorious over
sin, by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, one day at a time.
I invite all to mt4christ.org where I always share
insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters
in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue to share from Dr. H. Norman Wright’s “Experiencing
Grief
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Wright’s books for your own private study and
to support his work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $5.00:
Chapter 22.
Saying Good-Bye
One of the steps you can take in the letting go process
is writing a "Letting Go" letter. A letter such as this generates
feelings but releases them as well. It moves you along the recovery process and
brings healing. Some read the letter out loud by themselves or to a trusted
friend. You could talk about one of the most special times you ever experienced
together, what you miss, what you wish, what you wish you could still talk
about, what has been most difficult for you during the time of grief, what you
will do to remember them, and what you've learned. These subjects may bring up
others. Conclude your letter by stating that you are in the process of letting
go and experiencing life again. Remember this is an honest expression. Here is
a sample letter:
Dear...
This is a strange letter. I never planned to write to
you after your death. But your leaving has left a painful hole in my life. I
don't like the empty grieving feeling I have inside. I miss you. I miss it
all—your voice, your presence, your laughter, your raising your eyebrows, your
stubbornness. You know what else I miss? Your dreaming out loud. I miss our
dreams and the future we won't have here together. I feel cheated. This was not
the time for you to die. Or it wasn't the time I thought you should.
I've cried buckets of tears over you. I've cried for
me and raged at you and God and me and everyone else who still has someone.
I've wanted you to come to me, and I wish I could come to you. I don't like
being alone. Oh, I know there are others around, but they aren't you!
It's been months. I've stabilized now. I'm learning to
rest in the hope that someday, some way we will see each other again. I'm
taking a big step now. I am taking baby steps to go on with my life. I feel
strange saying this to you, but you went away, you were taken from me, but I
have been holding on to you. Now I'm letting go to live life again. I have our
history together, memories together, and a rich life because of you. Thank you.
I'm letting you go, but I will never leave you. I will have to let you go many
more times. I know that. I miss you. I love you. You are never forgotten.
Perhaps you've been in your grief for a while. There are two questions that
will need to be addressed at some time or another. They are different, even
strange. Have you committed yourself to a certain amount of time to grieve?
Some do unintentionally, and some do intentionally. You may have heard that it
takes two years to grieve if it is a natural death, three for accidental. Don't
let any of these suggested time frames dictate your recovery time. Don't set a
time frame unless it's all the time you need. Keep it open-ended.
Have you given yourself permission to stop grieving at a given point in time
in the future? Think about it. Each person in grief will need to give
themselves permission to grieve and permission to stop grieving.
Throughout grief you will say good-bye to the one you lost, and eventually
you'll say good-bye to your grief. Remember life is a series of hellos,
good-byes, and hellos.
Most good-byes carry a sense of sadness, a feeling of "I wish it wasn't
so." Do we ever look forward to good-byes or get used to saying the words?
Probably not. Many lead to heartache. The word good-bye—originally "God
be with you" or "Go with God"—was a recognition that
God was a significant part of the going. Perhaps we have forgotten that along
with the journey we gain strength when we remember that the Giver of life is
there to protect and console, especially when the good-bye is because of death.
A good-bye creates an empty place in you, which causes you to ask questions
that need to be asked. Why suffering? What are my values? What do I believe?
How will this good-bye impact my life? How will I be different?
The author of Praying Our Goodbyes said:
We all need to learn to say goodbye, acknowledge the
pain that is there for us so we can eventually move on to another hello. When
we learn to say goodbye we truly learn how to say to ourselves and to others:
Go. God be with you. I entrust you to God. The God of strength, courage,
comfort, hope, love is with you. The God who promises to wipe away all tears
will hold you close and will fill your emptiness. Let go and be free to move
on. Do not keep yourself from another step in your homeward journey. May the
blessing of our God be with you.
If your loved one knew Jesus and you know Jesus as your Savior, your
good-bye is just for a season. One day you'll say hello again. Your loved one
is just going to the banquet table before you. Just imagine your loved one in
the presence of Jesus experiencing the joy of his closeness.
What have you said good-bye to? What are you saying good-bye
to? What do you need to say good-bye to?
Saying good-bye is one of the significant tasks of grieving. It begins with
accepting the reality of your loss, working through your pain, adjusting to
life without your loved one, withdrawing your emotional energy from this person
and reinvesting it elsewhere, and finally, changing the relationship with your
loved one from one of presence to one of memory. And saying good-bye is part of
the concluding process.
Experiencing Grief.
----------------------------more
on Monday-------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our
Victory over the Darkness Discipleship Class via the mt4christ247 podcast!
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