Joyful and Triumphant: O Let’s Go!
Purity 508 08/27/2021 Purity 508 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo of a spectacular sunrise comes to us from a friend who has
recently moved with their family to St. Croix and just wanted to share their
view and their good morning greetings with their friends on social media. There were many comments about the beauty of
the view but the one I like best said: “Thank you for this, needed it”. I absolutely love how we can touch one
another’s lives simply by sharing our experiences. We never know what is going on in the lives
of our friends who are far away and what dark circumstances they may be walking
through. We can only speculate about why
our friend’s commentor “needed” this photo but aren’t you glad they received
it?
So never underestimate your impact on someone else’s life. I would encourage you to “put yourself out
there” and share what’s going on in your life.
What may be simple and mundane for you may be special and meaningful to
someone who is walking through hard times.
The things we have grown accustomed to and take for granted may be considered
“really great” by somebody else. When we
share our experiences, we can bless others and in turn their response can wake
us up to how good we have it! So share your hope because it may just turn out
to inspire you as well.
It's Friday, and I say thank God and rejoice. I for one take great joy in the journey between
places sometimes as much as I do in the final destination. One of the activities that my generation took
pleasure in as youths was “cruising”, just driving around somewhat aimlessly,
enjoying the sights, each other’s company, and listening and singing along with
music. In the wake of my divorce, this
is a joy that I have reconnected with.
While I regularly use my drive time to and from work to worship the Lord
by listening to and singing along with Christian music, and sometimes I am
brought tears in the heights of joy as I reflect on God and what He has done
and is doing in my life, it really wasn’t “cruising”. Oh by the way, I highly recommend passionately
worshipping the Lord in song. A regular practice of worship opens your heart,
spirit, soul, and mind to the reality of Lord’s presence in your life and His
great love for you. Worshipping the Lord in song is actually reaching out to
Him with your spirit. When you do that, don’t be surprised when He reaches into
your life and touches you.
Anyway since I am single and independent again I have made new friends and
often take advantage of opportunities to get together with them at various
activities. All my friends are at least
20 to 30 minutes away from me, some as far as an hour. When I go on one of these “mini-road trips” to
get together with them, I am positively filled with joy just at the fact that I
am “free” and “going somewhere”. I have
compiled playlists of new music that isn’t necessarily Christian but who’s content lifts my soul and spirit all the
same. I love upbeat music that celebrates life, love, and freedom and I know
that anything that points to these aspects of life are really just pointing to
God.
The sheer thrill of “going somewhere” on a “Friday or Saturday Night!”
just runs through my spirit and I rejoice all along the commute to wherever I
am going with a smile that goes from ear to ear.
While I suppose I could reflect on what is not perfect in my life, I
instead just rejoice in the moment and anticipate what I will find when I
finally get there. Let me tell you,
travelling with an attitude of contentment, joy, and expectancy is the only way
to fly.
And like I said when we rejoice over the blessings of our current
situation we really are just acknowledging what God has given us. When we realize that and bring Him in to our
experience by thanking Him for it all, it just raises the joy all the
more.
O come all ye faithful. Joyful and Triumphant! Are you joyful? Are you going through life triumphantly?
Well, keep walking and talking with God, the joy and the triumph are there
for the faithful to experience. Don’t look back into the past too much or too far
ahead into the future. Joy and Triumph can’t be experienced yesterday, and we
don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. So draw close to God by rejoicing over where
you are and what you have, no matter the circumstances, and Let’s Go – O Ye
Faithful! – and let the joy and triumph flow through our hearts, minds, and
spirits.
This morning’s meditation verses are:
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (NKJV)
19 For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
20 For you are our glory and
joy.
Today’s verse speaks about the hope
and joy that are inherent in the Christian’s life.
Okay, while we don’t swear oaths and
just let our “Yes’s by Yes and our No’s be No”,
I testify that I did not cleverly craft the first part of this morning’s
message to fit in with today’s meditation verse. When you walk in the spirit, it is utterly
amazing how the events of your life will just flow into common themes or how
appropriate Bible verse just seem to “come up”. This phenomenon is called “tracking with the Spirit” in some circles.
So as referred to previously, what is
our hope? What is our joy? What is our crown of rejoicing? “Is it not even you in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” For
Christ is our glory and joy.
Okay, this verse is reflecting on the
ultimate “joy to the world” that will
come to all Christians when Christ returns. Yes, all of “this” is leading to
something. As mad as the world may seem and no matter how strange and dark the
days may seem to be getting, we have the assurance that one day all things will
be made right. The fact of Christ’s eventual return is the hope and the joy
that we can glory over at all times and quite frankly should be something we
continually remind ourselves of to motivate us to be faithful to serve and
represent His kingdom in the hope that we will be used by Him to bring more
into His grace.
So yes, we look to the end and can be
joyful and triumphant over what will come to pass.
However, as we indicated before, God
is omnipresent. He is everywhere. That
means He is with us now. His presence
is with us now. So we can have hope now.
We can have joy now. And we can even put on our “crowns of rejoicing” now.
So count your blessings today. Share
the hope of Christ today. And rejoice and be triumphant today.
The war has been won and somehow
wretches like you and me have been selected to be on the winning side. Because of our victory and freedom in Christ,
we have something to glory over every day. So why not let the joy of the Lord be our
strength and triumph today?
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 13.
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:
Relationship:
The Heartbeat of Growth and Maturity
The two most common questions I am asked about the
ministry of discipling others to spiritual growth and maturity are, "What
curriculum do you use?" and "What program do you follow?" If
your curriculum isn't based on the Word of God and your program isn't
relational, then what you are doing isn't discipleship.
The curriculum of discipleship is not
the problem. Bible-based studies on spiritual growth abound. The missing link
in discipleship is usually the personal interaction. It takes very little
commitment to say, "This book will tell you what you need to do
to grow in Christ." It takes a lot of commitment to say, "Let's share
with each other what Christ is doing in our lives and help each other grow in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Discipleship is an intensely personal
ministry between two or more persons who help each other experience a growing
relationship with God. Discipleship is not "building my life into
yours." Discipleship is a process of building the life of Christ in one
another. The life of Christ does not refer to the 30-plus years Jesus
physically lived on planet Earth 2,000 years ago. The life of Christ is the
presence of God within us. Discipleship is practicing that presence.
Jesus said, "Come to Me" (Matthew 11:28)
and "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19).
Mark records, "He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that
He might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the
demons" (Mark
3:14, 15). Notice that Jesus' relationship with His disciples preceded His
assignment to them. Discipleship is being before doing, maturity before
ministry, character before career.
Every Christian, including you, is both
a disciple and a discipler in the context of his or her Christian
relationships. You have the awesome privilege and responsibility both to be a
teacher and a learner of what it means to be in Christ, walk by the Spirit and
live by faith.
You may have a role in your family, church or Christian
community that gives you specific responsibility for discipling others, such as
husband, father, pastor, Sunday School teacher, discipleship group leader and
so on. As a discipler, you are always a disciple who is learning and growing in
Christ. You may not have an official responsibility to disciple anyone, but you
have the opportunity to help your children, your friends and other believers
grow in Christ through these caring and committed relationships.
In
this final chapter, I want to roughly sketch the ministry of discipling one
another which we in the Christian community all share. Keep in mind that a good
discipler is a good counselor, and a good Christian counselor is a good
discipler. Whether you are a professional discipler and/or counselor or are a
growing Christian who is committed to helping others grow in Christ, the
following designs for discipleship and concepts for counseling will give you
some basic practical guidelines for your ministry.
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, Spotify, iHeartradio, 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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