Purity 446 06/16/2021 Purity 447 Podcast
Good morning.
Today’s photo of blue skies and a winding wooden pathway comes to us from
our friend who is traveling out West. This scene is presumably somewhere in
Yellowstone National Park but could be anywhere in between Yellow Stone or Grand
Teton National Park in Wyoming and destinations unknown in Montana as our friend
isn’t staying in one place.
I share it because it’s Thursday and I use photos of pathways to remind
people to join me on the pathway of Christian discipleship by either attending
tonight’s discipleship class, or by listening to the classes via the
mt4christ247 podcast, or by just deciding to continue, or to begin anew, the
journey of walking and talking with God.
Just like our friend who isn’t
staying in one place on their trip out west, we shouldn’t stay in one place in
terms of our faith. Life is a journey that moves on regardless of what we do
and if we are not progressing in our relationship with God through the way we
live, we are not enjoying the abundant life the Christ died to bring us.
Our life in Christ is a dynamic
journey of self-discovery and kingdom purpose as we go to God to transform us
and to impact the world around us by finding our purpose for God and by sharing
His truth and love with others.
While we look to provide for
ourselves and our families and seek to do good works for the glory of God, it
doesn’t mean that we stop developing ourselves. Part of God’s purpose for us is to enjoy the
fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control, and the good news is that there is always room for
each of us to grow in these areas.
For example, just because I am
teaching a class on discipleship doesn’t mean I have stopped learning. And just
because I have had victory over certain struggles in my life doesn’t mean that
the work is done.
Today, I begin a food plan that
involves monitoring what I eat, developing a healthier and more intentional
mindset in terms of what I consume, and that has a community aspect that will
provide accountability and support.
You see, two years ago, I read Sweet
Surrender, a Christian book on Food Addiction, and recognized that I had an
unhealthy relationship with food. I had
the intention of following the food plan detailed in the book and even
announced on FB that I was finally going to overcome my food addiction, but I
failed to follow through.
I have several great excuses why I
failed to do so. I mean really great ones like I was getting divorced; I was
working on my master’s degree, I was working two jobs, I had to find a place to
live, and oh yeah, during all this stuff, there was a global pandemic. So excuse me for losing my focus about diet
and exercise! - See I told you, great
excuses.
Well all those excuses are gone
now, and although I have been good in terms of working out 6 days a week since
last November, my efforts were being sabotaged by some insidious evil: me! By eating mindlessly, I was my own worst
enemy.
This isn’t my first rodeo with
weight loss, before coming to Christ, in my 30’s I had a season where I got disciplined,
started running and was working out twice a day. I was also taking diet pills to boost my metabolism. I went from my worst, at over 300 pounds all
the way down to my fittest, at 215 pounds.
I managed to accomplish that feat as
a means of overcoming the depression and grief caused from the death of my
infant son, Holden in 2002. Crawling out
of the shadows of that depression caused me to be at my worst and it took years
to see daylight.
My weight loss most have been in the
2005-2007 window somewhere as I adopted a view of life that told me there was
no God, life was suffering, and happiness all depended upon my efforts.
My weight loss journey at that time
was fueled by self-loathing and a desire to achieve some personal state of
bliss where there was no God. There was no reason in it either because as much
as I worked out I didn’t change the way I thought about food in my heart and I
was drinking, smoking weed, and taking any psychedelic drugs I could get my
hands on in some attempt to escape and find a higher state of consciousness. Back
then it would be accurate to say I was literally “running with the Devil”.
But in 2010 God called me to faith
in Jesus Christ and since then has pulled me completely out of the darkness of depression
and addiction and has made me realize that anything is possible with Him.
But that doesn’t mean, we don’t need
help. I tried to do the food thing on my own but I feel I need “the program” I signed up for to provide a
system to follow and the support of others to help me to avoid “going blank” and
losing my focus only to discover another bought of binge eating has occurred, a
binge that I just opened the door to and felt powerless to stop and justified
in doing but that was counter productive to what I really want.
That’s the spiritual warfare aspect
of what we face. Our flesh or the enemy
gives us thoughts and impulses that go against what we want for ourselves. The enemy tells us that our goals are
impossible and usually we agree and just give up.
But with God personal goals, like
good health, are possible. We just have
to believe we are free in Christ, humble ourselves before God, and others, by
asking for help, continue to stay connected to God through prayer and His word,
and to resist and challenge any thoughts that oppose our goals and God’s will
for our lives.
So don’t stay in one place, God has
called us to life, and He wants you to know a life that is filled with the
fruit of the Spirit, but it may mean that you have to leave the chains and
comforts of the past behind to find it.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Luke 2:12 (NKJV)
12 And this will be the sign
to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a
manger."
Today’s verse is a message
from an Angel as the context of this verse is the Christmas account of the
shepherds of the field being invited to go and see that the Messiah has been
born. If the appearance of the angelic
hosts of heaven weren’t enough for the shepherds, the babe lying in the manger
would be the evidence that the course of human history was forever changed as
God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ.
We can usually take
great comfort and joy when we hear verses like Luke 2:12 in the month of
December as we are drawn together in the fellowship of our yearly Christmas
celebrations but if we aren’t seeking the Lord continually verses like this may
seem to be out of place in the month of June.
But they shouldn’t,
the joy of our salvation should carry us every day of the year. While I
understand that we didn’t get to see angels or the Christ child lying in the
manger, our life of faith does have “signs” from God that are just for us and
prove that He is with us.
One of the things
that will keep us in the faith is the continuing signs of God in our lives. As
Christians, we should remember the moment that God welcomed us into His kingdom
and all the moments where His presence has impacted our lives ever since.
The gathering of
believers at church, the fellowship of the saints, is one place where we can
continually see the signs of Christ’s appearing as each person there has been
drawn there by God and each one has their own testimony of God’s goodness. As we walk in faith, we see God in our
interactions as He guides our path.
There is a signpost
up ahead and it is telling you that God is with you.
So keep the faith by
keeping your eyes, hearts, and minds open to the things of God. The signs of
God’s presence are all around us. So if
you see something, say something because the people around you might not know
how good God is and we may be the hand that points them to the sign that leads
them right into His kingdom and to life forever more.
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, continuing Chapter 3.
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:
The following list supplements the "Who
Am I?" list in chapter 2. These statements further describe your
identity in Christ. Read this list aloud to yourself repeatedly until it
becomes a part of you. Pray through the list occasionally, asking God to cement
these truths in your heart:
Since I am in Christ, by the
grace of God . . .
I have been justified—completely forgiven and made righteous
(Romans 5:1).
I died with Christ and died to the power of sin's rule over
my life (Romans
6:1-6).
I am free forever from condemnation (Romans 8:1).
I have been placed into Christ by God's doing (1 Cor. 1:30).
I have received the Spirit of God into my life that I might
know the things freely given to me by God (1 Cor. 2:12).
I have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
I have been bought with a price; I am not my own; I belong
to God (1 Cor.
6:19, 20).
I have been established, anointed and sealed by God in
Christ, and I have been given the Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing our
inheritance to come (2 Cor. 1:21;
Ephes. 1:13, 14).
Since I have died, I no longer live for myself, but for
Christ (2 Cor.
5:14, 15).
I have been made righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).
I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me. The life I am now living is Christ's life (Galatians 2:20).
I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephes. 1:3).
I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to
be holy and am without blame before Him (Ephes. 1:4).
I was predestined—determined by God—to be adopted as God's
son (Ephes. 1:5).
I have been redeemed and forgiven, and I am a recipient of
His lavish grace (Ephes.
1:17).
I have been made alive together with Christ (Ephes. 2:5).
I have been raised up and seated with Christ in heaven (Ephes. 2:6).
I have direct access to God through the Spirit (Ephes. 2:18).
I may approach God with boldness, freedom and confidence (Ephes. 3:12).
I have been rescued from the domain of Satan's rule and
transferred to the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13).
I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. The debt
against me has been canceled (Col. 1:14).
Christ Himself is in me (Col. 1:27).
I am firmly rooted in Christ and am now being built in Him (Col. 2:7).
I have been made complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).
I have been spiritually circumcised (Col. 2:11).
I have been buried, raised and made alive with Christ (Col. 2:12, 13).
I died with Christ and I have been raised up with Christ. My
life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christ is now my life (Col. 3:1-4).
I have been given a spirit of power, love and
self-discipline (2 Tim.
1:7).
I have been saved and set apart according to God's doing (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5).
Because I am sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He
is not ashamed to call me brother (Hebrews 2:11).
I have the right to come boldly before the throne of God to
find mercy and grace in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by
God by which I am a partaker of God's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).
Recently, a pastor who was attending
one of my conferences on resolving spiritual conflicts pulled me aside after a
session. His comments to me reaffirmed my conviction that understanding our
spiritual inheritance is the key to resolving our daily conflicts.
"A lady in our church dropped by
for counseling this week," he began. "She has been struggling in her
relationship with her alcoholic husband. She was at her wit's end, feeling
terribly defeated. She came to tell me she was calling it quits on their marriage.
"I pulled out the list of
statements you shared with us declaring who we are in Christ. I said, 'Here,
read this aloud.' She read about halfway through the list and began to cry. She
said, 'I never realized all this was true of me. I feel that maybe there is
hope for me after all.'"
Isn't that incredible? The truth about
who you are in Christ makes such a big difference in your success at handling
the challenges and conflicts of life. It is imperative to your growth and
maturity that you believe God's truth about who you are.
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
also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Audible.com.
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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