Exodus: All things for Good
Purity 454 06/25/2021 Purity 454 Podcast
Today’s photo of the view from my kitchen window on a summer’s day with
the Hudson River in the background comes to us from 2020. Yes, this view may be
a familiar one to some as I have captured and shared it at various times over
the last year on FB. Others may recognize my neighbor’s tree and the river beyond
it because I cropped this photo and made it the logo for the mt4christ247
podcast.
I share this old photo today because it is a day of celebration. It was exactly one year ago today that I moved
into my new home “Down by The River”.
This day was and forever will be a day of triumph and a day to remember
the goodness of God and what He has done in my life.
In 2018, my marriage fell apart in a very quick and unexpected fashion.
I filed for divorce in August and due to financial reasons, lived in the basement
of my home with my ex who was actively involved in another relationship and lived
upstairs. It was a very difficult for my
children and I and it was only made worse by the fact that no one other than me
had any sense of urgency to finalize the proceedings even though the divorce
was vehemently demanded by my ex initially.
More than a year later, at the end of September 2019, we signed and due
to some last-minute fumbling on our side, I found myself with the realization
that my new life would require a new place for me take my kids as my plans at
negotiating keeping the house fell through. Add to this difficulty having to
pay spousal support and being up to my eyeballs in debt. I almost immediately got a second job to
keep things afloat and had a pipe dream of a plan to make some moves to begin
looking for a place to live in June of 2020. (We agreed to remain in the house
until my son’s graduation from high school last year).
But God…
To detail the chain of events that happened from September 2019 to June 25,
2020, and how the Lord guided my path every step of the way would require more
space than we have today to document. My
story tells of the Lord’s presence in my life EVERY DAY while I did everything
in my power to turn things around and keep positive and trust that He would
deliver us. From the outside looking in,
the things that transpired would have people question my sanity as I made bold
financial moves through the direction of the Holy Spirit that I didn’t fully
understand myself and received unexpected blessing after blessing. It is a whopper of a story, but it was far
more compelling as I was living it, as I experienced the Lord leading me into “all
truth”, revealing to me things that were to come, and directing me to do things
that I could only do by faith.
According to my plans, I would have earned a place to start looking for
a new house by June of 2020, but according to God’s plan – I was to move into
my new home on this day in June 2020.
Oh and add to the backdrop that I was working two jobs in the forbidden zone
of the pandemic. No I wasn’t singing to
my neighbors from my window. I also got sick for a week that was most likely Covid,
but I was never tested, and I have been vaccinated so I guess I’ll never know.
Also I was the first house sold for my broker that spring because of the near
absolute shut down of the real estate industry due to the pandemic. So despite of these minor details and other
obstacles along the way, I can tell you that nothing is impossible for God.
Oh by the way June 25th is my birthday too. Yeah, I moved
into my new place on my birthday. God is
good.
Almost 2 years after I filed for divorce and lived in difficult
circumstances, I moved into my new place last year and my children and I have a
home that is defined by its peace. My
home and the remembrance of how God brought me here is a constant source of
joy.
So, if you are in a dark season, I can assure you that if you come close
to God, He will come close to you. If you surrender to Him, He will deliver you.
That doesn’t mean you just get to sit there “a hoping and a praying”, our
relationship with God is a co-operative effort. We are expected to use the talents
and resources made available to us by God.
If you want freedom, you are going to have to trust the Lord and be
consistent in pressing on toward your goals.
You must do everything you can to better your situation but above all
you are to continue to be faithful in prayer, worship, and the study of God’s
Word. We can’t do it all by ourselves,
but it doesn’t mean we don’t do anything.
We must show God, others, and ourselves that we are God’s children by
our words and actions. When we surrender ourselves to His care, He moves all
things together for good.
It may take longer than you want or planned for, but God will even use
the delays and things that infuriate you for your ultimate good. So be faithful and keep walking and talking
with God. He has good things for you,
but you must keep looking forward and never leave His side to get there.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, says the LORD,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Today’s total random
verse, I swear it, can encourage us in our Christian walk because it gives us a
glimpse of the love that God has for His people. And man did God have a future and a hope
for me!
Now before I go on
with how awesome God is, I must address the context of this verse, so I am not
accused of being some Pollyanna Christian that doesn’t know the word.
These words were
spoken by God to the remaining nation of Israel (Judah) to encourage them even
though nothing good was happening for them at the time. Babylonian Exile ring a
bell?
Have you read
Jerimiah? Brother, it is rough and real in its depictions of the suffering that
God’s people were going through during the time of God’s judgement on His
people for their idolatrous ways. The
history of God’s people in the Bible is fascinating and should be studied to have
a better understanding of who God is. He is holy, just, righteous, and loving
but because He is just He will judge and punish those who are rebellious to His
person and His ways.
Disbelief is rebellion.
If you don’t believe, you are telling the One who made you that He is wrong.
Excuse me? God made
you; and you don’t trust His word or the person of Jesus Christ?
Well because God
gave us free will, you can hold whatever opinion you like. However you will be
judged according to what you believe and put your faith in. If its not Jesus
Christ, at the end of your life there will be hell to pay.
Weeping and gnashing
of teeth doesn’t sound good to me. Lake of fire doesn’t sound good to me. The fear of hell was always before me when I
was living in sin. By God’s grace, He showed me His love for me through Jesus
and I was very grateful and joyful when I placed my faith in Him and knew I had
been rescued from perdition.
Anyway, many “Bible
scholars” get snarky when people quote Jerimiah 29:11 as a promise for God
working towards a good future for them because of the dismal circumstances that
surrounded God’s encouragement and because it was directed at the nation of Israel/Judah.
And I can understand
some exasperation at Christians who quote verses out of context because of
their lack of maturity or Bible knowledge, but I think I am more exasperated by
Christians who would “pharisaical-ly” chastise or correct their “weaker”
brother and tell them they shouldn’t use this verse to instill hope because of
its original context.
Us “wiser bible
scholars” should educate our own hearts and allow whoever to take all the hope
and encouragement they can get out of God’s word. Instead of standing on your academic laurels,
encourage your brothers and sisters to study the word and if the Lord wants to open
their eyes to more of His truth, trust that He will.
So do I think that
God has thoughts of peace, and not evil towards us,? Absolutely!
Do I think God will
give us a future and a hope? I know He has and will. I
n Christ we have a
future and a hope right now. We are free in Christ right now.
Are wonderful things
necessarily going to come our way here on earth? Maybe not, but I know that those
who place their faith in Jesus Christ, have a future and a hope. Christ will return or we will go to Him if
our life expires before He does. We
will be part of His kingdom for ever and ever, where there is no more sickness
or death. I’d say that’s a pretty good
future and because of it we can stand in hope for the day it comes and every
day in between here and there.
As
always, I invite all to go 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 with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, concluding in Chapter 4.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’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 $15.00:
Balancing
the Indicative and the Imperative
The greatest tension in the New Testament is between the
indicative (what God has already done and what is already true about us), and
the imperative (what remains to be done as we respond to God by faith and
obedience in the power of the Holy Spirit). You have to know and believe
positional truth to successfully progress in your sanctification or you are
going to try doing for yourself what God has already done for you.
The balance between the indicative and
the imperative is about equal in Scripture, but I have not observed that in our
churches. Most preaching I have heard focuses on the imperatives. People could
go to a good evangelical church for years and never hear the message that they
are children of God who are alive and free in Christ. We need to worship God
for all He has done, and rest in the finished work of Christ. We need to hear
again and again the wonderful identity and position we already have in Christ;
then we will be better prepared to receive the instructions and assume our
responsibility for living the Christian life.
In Summary
I was asked if I taught the eradication of the sinful
nature at the new birth. One cannot give a simple yes or no answer to that
question. If you are asking, "Do you believe that the old man is
dead?" the answer is yes. I am no longer in Adam, I am spiritually alive
in Christ. If you are asking, "Do you believe that the Christian can still
sin and walk or live according to the flesh?" the answer is yes. New
believers are dominated by the flesh and deceived by the devil. It takes time
to renew the mind and overcome the patterns of the flesh.
If you asked me, "Do you believe
that you have a new nature?" I would answer yes, because God has given me
a new heart and I am now spiritually alive. My "new self" is oriented
toward God. I have become a partaker of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4),
and "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man" (Romans 7:22). If
you asked me, "Are you a sinner or a saint?" I would joyfully
respond, "I believe I am a saint by the grace of God and I intend to live
my life as His child in the way He intended me to live by faith in the power of
the Holy Spirit."
Don't forget that our entire being was
morally corrupt before we came to Christ. Our minds were programmed to live
independently of God and the desires of our flesh are in opposition to the
Spirit of God. The flesh, our old nature, has to be crucified by the believer
(see Galatians
5:24). I do not believe in instant maturity. It will take us the rest of
our lives to renew our minds, and conform to the image of God. The seed that was
sown in us by God is only a beginning. Being a child of God and being free in
Christ is positional truth and the birthright of every believer. Because of a
lack of repentance and ignorance of the truth, many believers are not living
like liberated children of God. How tragic! Perhaps the following illustration
I used in The Common Made Holy will explain part of the
reason why.
Slavery
in the United States was abolished by the 13th Amendment on December 18th,
1865. How many slaves were there on December 19th? In reality, none, but many
still lived like slaves. Many did, because they never learned the truth, others
knew and even believed that they were free but chose to live as they had been
taught.
Several plantation owners were devastated by this proclamation
of emancipation. "We're ruined! Slavery has been abolished. We've lost the
battle to keep our slaves." But their chief spokesman slyly responded,
"Not necessarily, as long as these people think they're still slaves, the
proclamation of emancipation 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 barrel in our gun. 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 13th 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. Someday they may receive the benefits, but not now."
"But, they'll expect me to say that. They won't believe
me."
"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 as slaves and have lived like slaves. 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 ear, '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 began 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.
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is
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Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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