Wait…. Unless It’s Time to GO! – Saved and Being Saved - Purity 567
Purity 567 11/04/2021 Purity 567
Good morning
Today’s photo of a tree lined path on the campus of SUNY Oswego was shared
on the university’s FB page on October 29th, to celebrate what they
called “a fall foliage Friday”, stating that it took longer for the leaves to
change by the lake this year but that the wait was worth it.
Change takes time and just like the leaves on the trees near Lake
Ontario took longer than expected to turn to the hues and shades of Autumn this
year, sometimes it takes longer than we expect to progress down the path of
Christian discipleship into the maturity that is marked by the presence of the
fruit of the Spirit.
One of the common laments of people outside of the faith or even one
echoed by those in the body of Christ is that they want a deeper relationship with
God, but they feel they need to clean up their act first or they have a plan to
“be more spiritual” at some unforeseen time in the future, like retirement,
maybe, or just before death!
When we hear this as disciples of Jesus Christ, we should encourage the “seeker”
or “carnal Christian” by telling them, or reminding them, that God accepts us
as we are , warts and all, and that the power to “clean up their act” or to “be
more spiritual” comes from establishing a relationship with God, by making
Jesus their Lord and Savior, and by trusting Him to work the change in them by
cooperating with the Lord through learning about His ways for living and by changing
our minds to agree that His ways are not only right and good but are the best
way we can live our lives.
Today is Thursday, and although today’s photo was shared by SUNY Oswego
to highlight the leaves on the trees, I share it because it also features a
pathway. I share pictures of pathways on Thursdays to encourage my friends to step
into a deeper relationship with God by choosing to renew their minds with the wisdom
of God’s word and to take a series of “steps of faith” by choosing to live
according to that wisdom day by day on what I metaphorically refer to as the
path of Christian discipleship.
Making a change or taking a trip may take a time of planning and preparation,
but if we don’t set a date or take that first step we will never change, we
will never get to our desired destination.
Although we may understand our
need or desire to “go there” we may be waiting for the right moment or for
something to push us toward progress. If that describes you, let me encourage
you with:
2 Corinthians 6:2 (NLT2)
2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On
the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the
“right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.
So if you need to step into faith, say a
simple prayer to make Jesus your Lord and Savior.
And if you are “already a Christian”, you can be encouraged by this verse too
because our salvation is a continuous process of progress as the New Testament
describes our spiritual state in terms of having been saved by faith (Eph 2:8-9)
and being saved (1:Cor 1:18; 2 Cor 2:15) and that we “shall… be saved” (Rom 5:9).
Just because we have made a profession of
faith in Christ doesn’t mean our journey has ended. God’s relationship lasts for all of eternity, so
God’s not done with us. He wants us to enjoy
our new life in Christ and live an abundant life.
But to experience the peace, love, joy, goodness,
kindness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control, that define the fruit of
the Spirit, in our lives we have to come into harmony with the God who saved us
by learning and living by His ways and coming into communion with His presence
on a regular and continuous basis.
The three tenses of salvation described in
the New Testament point to a life of progress. As we “walk in the Spirit” down
the path of Christian discipleship, we discover that, while our eternal salvation
remains unchanged from the first day we put our faith in Jesus, we are “being
saved” from all the things that caused us to suffer in our lives before, and
after Christ’.
We are being saved from drunkenness. We are
being saved from bitterness. We are being saved from anger. We are being saved
from envy. We are being saved from lust. We are being saved from unforgiveness.
We are being saved from vulgarity. We are being saved from fear and
anxiety. We are being saved from depression.
We are being saved from low self-esteem.
So as you can see, although Christians can
have a deep abiding peace in the assurance of their eternal life as adopted members
of God’s royal family, they could still have a lot of things that the Lord
desires for them to be “saved” from.
Well, how do you get “saved” from all that
junk, MT? you may ask.
The way you get “saved” from all those
things is the same way you “got saved” and were given the forgiveness of sin
and eternal life, by faith.
You go to the Lord with your problem and you
ask Him to “save” you from it and then you learn what His word says about your
issue and about who you are as some one who is “in Christ” and then you
believe, have faith in, what the word says rather than what your experience has
told you, or is telling you, about you and your issue.
When we have faith in what God’s word about
us and our problems, we are given the power to walk into the person God has
made us to be and away from the negative mind states and sins that have us
locked in bondage.
It’s a new day, It’s a new life. Today is
the day of salvation. So keep walking and talking with God and ask Him to help
you to renew your mind and give you the strength to walk into all you ever
wanted to be.
It turns out all we needed to change was the
power of God Himself! That’s all! But when we place our faith in Jesus and
continue to trust Lord by living according to His wisdom with our words,
thoughts, and actions, we get to activate the power that the Lord has already poured
into us.
We need the power of God to be transformed
but the good news is that He is ready to unleash it into the lives of those who
are done waiting, or are sick and tired of being “sick and tired”, and who
decided to “go there”. So take that first step, or take a new step with vigor, into
the life of hope and abundance that the Lord wants you to have.
Today’s Bible verse is
drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Proverbs 17:22 (NLT2)
22 A cheerful heart is good
medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.
Today’s verse highlights the importance
of our attitudes in our walk of faith.
If we truly understand our position in
Christ, that we have been set free of the power of sin and death, we should
rejoice. And as I pointed out above,
because our salvation is a continuous process of progress, we should rejoice
continuously. These spiritual realities
should give us a cheerful heart and that according to today’s verse is good
medicine.
My education in Christian counseling
has taught me that our emotions are fluid and can be greatly affected by the
content of our thoughts. I have also learned that humans have the power to
direct their thoughts. We can choose
what we think about.
These facts should show us that God
made us with the ability to choose our experience of life by making wise choices
in terms of what we think about or by what we focus on.
The old “glass is half full” or the “glass
is half empty” perception is a matter of perspective, but it is also a matter
of choice.
If we have seen the glass as “half
empty” all our lives, it may be hard to think of the glass as half full. But
the truth is that it is both half empty and half full. So we have the right to
live “in the truth” of “a glass half full existence” by simply choosing to
renew our minds to that view.
Unlike my example of the glass half
full, the Bible is a book that is the revelation of God to His people to show
them what is right and how to live. The Bible is proven as the true supernatural
revelation that it is by its reliability, by its wisdom, by its historical
accuracy, and by its fulfilled prophecies.
So the Bible is true and what it says about life and who we are in
Christ is true.
So we have the choice to think about
the truth of the word of God and how it relates to us on a continuing basis. When we focus on all the blessings and
promises that God speaks of with relation to who we are in Christ, we can have
a cheerful heart.
Now the choice remains up to us. Yes
there are very real things wrong with the world and possibly in our immediate experience
and if we focus on those negative things our spirits will be broken and our
strength will be sapped.
But God has saved us, and He gives us
the power to renew our minds to have a cheerful heart.
And I don’t know about you, but I have
had enough of the poison that comes from the world and from my old ways of
doing things. Instead, let’s choose to
take the good medicine that comes from God by choosing to think about what God
says about us as His children and by letting that truth naturally cause us to
rejoice and have a cheerful heart.
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:
G. How to End a Dating Relationship
Six years! Louis finds it hard to believe that after six years, he
and Maria are still dating. A chance meeting at the dog park opens the
door to idle chitchat—both are newcomers to town and both own beagles. Soon
their visits to the dog park are no longer by happenstance—they're planned.
After all, responsible dog owners provide opportunities for plenty of exercise,
right?
Ironically, they share four classes together in the fall and chalk it up to
fate. Maria, the pretty girl with the beagle, is now the perfect homework
buddy. Not only do they go to every football game, they even attend the same
church. He teaches her how to shoot a basketball. She teaches him how to bake
an amazing chocolate cake. His parents love Maria, and Maria's parents love
Louis. A match made in heaven, right?
As Maria absorbs each page of the latest bridal magazine, Louis cannot
ignore his unrest. The more she talks about "someday," the more
uneasy Louis becomes. Why did I wait so long? His heart rehearses the
truth: It's not you....I just don't love you like that. Sure, she's been
his awesome friend—they've gone through so much together—but she's not someone
he loves enough to marry. Why did I lead her on? How can I end this
relationship without destroying her? Louis knows he will break the heart
that trusted him so completely. Every memory seems to include each other. Every
framed photo and scrapbook traces their steps together.
The new reality will take time—from us and we...to just I
and me. Doing the right thing isn't always easy, and hearing the truth
can be hard. But when truth demands a different path, the courage to accept its
course must follow. As necessary and painful as breakups sometimes are, they
require time to heal, permission to cry, and faith enough to see a future
hope....
"Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths." (Psalm 25:4)
An old, popular song repeats this all-too-true refrain: "Breaking up is
hard to do." Often only one person realizes that the dating relationship
isn't working—that the interaction has become more harmful than healthy. At
this point, a breakup can be best for both people—even if only temporary. But
in breaking up, we need to remember Paul's admonition in Ephesians 4:15
about "speaking the truth in love."
|
The Breakup |
|
|
If You Are Initiating the Breakup... |
If You Are the Recipient of the Breakup... |
|
• Be honest and direct. Don't lie about the reasons. The
other person might try to fix any phantom, made-up causes. |
• Listen, but don't take everything that is said
literally. Look at the big picture. Evaluate the validity of the reasons
given. |
|
• Don't prolong the agony. Don't dangle hopes of
reconciliation if you honestly don't see it happening. |
• Don't plead, beg, or grovel, but accept the breakup. Ask
direct, honest questions. You may need to re-evaluate how to conduct yourself
in future dating relationships. |
|
• Pray and think through what you will say. Don't use
cliches like, "It's not about you, it's about me." But don't blame
the other person either. |
• Don't threaten or raise your voice. Listen and think
through what is being said before you respond. |
|
• Keep it as short and unemotional as possible. Sincerely
apologize for any pain that might result from the failed relationship. |
• Take time to think and pray before saying or doing
anything. If you have offended the other person, offer a sincere apology, and
ask for forgiveness. |
|
• Restrain your curiosity to check up on the other person
if you have no intention of trying to reconcile. |
• Restrain your desire to talk about the other person.
This serves no purpose but to prolong any pain from the parting. |
|
• Pray for your ex-dating partner and ask for wisdom,
understanding, and discernment in choosing future dating partners |
• If you've been wronged, forgive, and release the person
to the Lord. Pray and ask the Lord to bless the person. Pray that
the Lord will use the breakup to
draw you closer to Him and teach you valuable insights. |
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity... a
time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing." (Ecclesiastes 3:1,
5)
Possible Opening
Lines When a Breakup Appears Necessary
- "It's
become apparent to me that our relationship is not heading toward
marriage...."
- "I'm
not comfortable with the different directions in which we are
heading...."
- "We
really are not challenging each other to grow spiritually...."
- "Our
relationship isn't encouraging either of us to be the best that we can
be...."
- "We
don't seem to be bringing out the best in each other...."
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus." (Philippians
3:13-14)
Saying "No" to a Dating Invitation
Question: "What do I do when I
receive an invitation to date a person I'm not drawn to...someone who says,
'The Lord told me to date
you'...or 'The Lord told me to
marry you'? I don't want to hurt the person's feelings, but I also don't want
to go against God."
Answer: If you aren't
drawn to someone who wants to date you, you aren't going against God by saying no.
If He wanted you to date a particular person, He would have told you as well as
the other person. To the one who is claiming God's leading when you do not
sense it, you could reply:
- "Thank
you for the honor of your invitation.
- "I
really do believe in listening to the Lord,
and He hasn't told me the same thing. Therefore, I must say no.
- "It
may be that He is preparing you to approach someone else. But I know I am
not that person.
- "As
long as you seek His will, He will guide you to the right person."
This may seem harsh, but it is not harsh when you can avoid misleading
someone. Honesty is always the best policy.
"An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells
lies." (Proverbs
12:17)
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.