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Thursday, October 21, 2021

On the Path – Answer the Upward Call - Purity 555


On the Path – Answer the Upward Call - Purity 555

Purity 555 10/21/2021 Purity 555 Podcast

Good morning

Today’s photo of a stairway somewhere along the Indian Ladder Trail at John Thatcher State Park in Altamont NY comes to us from a friend’s hike on October 17th.  

While they shared several photos from their excursion that were worthy to pass along, I share this one because I like the way the stairway ascends through the rocks and has fallen leaves as a sign of Autumn along the path.

It’s Thursday and as always I also shared today’s photo as an encouragement to my friends to answer the upward call of God and to begin, or to continue, their faith walk along the path of Christian Discipleship which is defined by an intention to follow God’s way for living and seeking out your purpose in His kingdom.  One way you could do that is to join our Freedom in Christ Discipleship Class tonight at Rock Solid Church in Hudson NY at 6:30 pm or by listening to the classes via the mt4christ247 podcast.  

The power of the Christian faith doesn’t lie in sitting in a pew or a comfy chair at a church service once a week, although that is time well spent. The power of our faith lies in living in the presence of God on an ongoing basis where you seek His wisdom, strength, and guidance to lead you to experience the fruit of the Spirit regardless of the circumstances you face.. A life of peace, love, joy, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, and self-control is worth pursuing and it is the life that God wants you to have. 

So keep walking and talking with God.

Christ came to earth to save us from the consequences of our sins by reconciling us to the Father, but He also came to give us life and life more abundantly. So put your faith in Him and answer the upward call of Christ to enter into His peace every day.


Today’s Bible verse is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.  

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Proverbs 15:1 (NLT2)
1  A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.

 

Today’s verse teaches us some wisdom for dealing with one another that could result in peace.

 

I love how God uses His Word to address the difficulties of human interactions and guides us in the way we should go.   While we can’t control how other people behave, we can be responsible for our part in our relationships with others and use the wisdom God has given us to affect the outcomes of our interactions.  

Here the Lord advises us to give a “gentle answer” to deflect anger rather than responding with harsh words that can make “tempers flare”.  

Generally, when people are angry they are ready for confrontation and may be looking for a fight.   When people bring angry words they are anticipating an angry response and are ready for things to escalate or they are ready to dominate the other person’s response with more angry invectives. When we fight fire with fire, bring harsh words as a response to theirs, tempers can flare, feelings can get hurt, and relationships can be strained or broken.

So God advises we do the unexpected and to speak calmly to encourage those who are angry to naturally lower their volume by meeting their vitriol with a peaceful demeanor and a soft response.  

The angry person generally doesn’t expect a soft response and may see that there is no reason for their hot temperament and slowly cool off.  

Even if they don’t we can take solace from the fact that we didn’t make things worse and learned a valuable lesson in using restraint and patience when facing conflict.  

The Lord wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to have peace in our lives. One way we can do that is to meet anger and the pain, confusion, or ignorance that may have caused it with compassion.

So the next time someone brings an angry word to you, remember the Lord’s advice, and respond with a gentle answer and a compassionate heart that seeks to be at peace with all men whenever possible and to share the love of God at all times.

 

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 sharing from June Hunt’s Dating: Secrets to Great Relating When Dating  

 

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and to support her work. If you need this title you can find it online at several sites for less than $5.00:

III. Causes

Many dating relationships are unfulfilling because they begin with the wrong focus and then stay off course. If you have an unfulfilling dating relationship, could it be that the progression of your dating is outside God's established order? When you commit yourself to God's progression and wait for His timing, He will protect and direct the course of your dating....

"For he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones." (Proverbs 2:8)

A. What Sets Up Dating Disasters?

Melinda thinks the relationship with Chris is progressing, so she invites him to join her at an outdoor concert. Chris arrives—with another woman! Both women assume Chris is "my date," but neither one can tell if either one is really a date! In clamoring for Chris' attention, the two competitors find they have much in common and become friends. In the end, poor Chris is left in the lurch....

"A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike." (Proverbs 27:15 NKJV)

Some sure pitfalls to successful dating include...

  • Past abuse/poor role models
    No one sets out to be emotionally unhealthy due to woundedness. Love cravings often are created in childhood because there is "no water in the well"—their "love buckets" are empty. These children may become adult love addicts because they...
    • —Did not receive enough positive affirmation or affection as children
    • —Experienced a traumatic separation or a lack of bonding with a parent or significant adult
    • —Felt and continue to feel intense sadness and a profound loss at being abandoned or rejected
    • —Felt and continue to feel extreme fear, helplessness, and emptiness
  • Emotional immaturity/inexperience/fear
    Children with empty "love buckets" create a fantasy about some "savior" who will remove their fear and finally make them feel whole. As adults, they still behave like emotionally needy children who...
    • —Believe that being loved by someone—anyone—is the solution to their emptiness
    • —Enter relationships believing the other person cannot take care of themselves
    • —Assign too much value and power to the other person in a relationship
    • —Live in fear that those who truly love them will ultimately leave them
  • Poor self-image/lack of character or conviction
    Children who grow up being emotionally needy, lacking a sense of intrinsic value, and who do not learn the skills necessary for forming healthy, adult relationships never learn healthy interdependence. Typically, they...
    • —Have difficulty speaking the truth
    • —Rarely ask for what they want or set personal relational boundaries
    • —Become codependent adults who are addicted to unhealthy relationships because they never learned anything different
    • —Desperately need to finish what they began in infancy—to grow up emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually so they can mature relationally

The Bible refers to immature grown-ups by using the analogy of infants feeding on milk instead of on solid food....

"Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness." (Hebrews 5:12-13)

Unequally Yoked

Question: "What difference does it make if I date and marry someone who doesn't share my faith if we truly love each other?"

Answer: A new house has the best chance of enduring if it is built on a solid foundation. When you're "equally yoked" with someone who shares your faith, you have a greater sense of unity, cohesiveness, and oneness on which to build your lives together.

  • Being "yoked" to someone means you are joined together and, therefore, either going the same direction or struggling against one another and going nowhere.
  • Picture two different animals yoked together to pull a wagon or a cart. If they are unequally yoked, one will try to pull the other in the direction it wants to go while the other wants to go in another direction... or doesn't want to move at all!
  • A constant conflict persists because the two do not share the same goals, purposes, objectives, and intentions.

In an unequally yoked relationship, the unbeliever will not have a genuine relationship with the Lord, and, as a result, the believer will not experience the full joy of God's blessing within that marriage. Being of the same mind and spirit is essential to spiritual oneness and growth....

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14).


Biblical Counseling Keys: Dating: Secrets to Great Relating When Dating.

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

 

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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