The Key That Unlocks The Fruit of the Spirit - Purity 621

The Key That Unlocks The Fruit of the Spirit -  Purity 621

Purity 621 01/06/2022  Purity 621 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of another absolutely stunning January sunset over the Hudson River comes to us from yours truly as I knew I just had to pull the car over to capture this sight from the shores of Castleton-On-the-Hudson NY because the light would soon be fading and this wonder would disappear over the horizon.  I am sharing a video I took of this scene on mt4christ.org today if you want to get another “live” view of what I was seeing.  

 Well it’s Thursday, and I normally share a photo of a pathway to encourage people to get on or to keep walking on the path of Christian Discipleship. Technically the Hudson River is a water pathway and I think today’s photo qualifies as a representation of a path to seek the Lord and signifies the wonder and the magnificence that one will experience when they decide to “pick up their cross” and follow Jesus. 

Today I am excited because this evening I will resume teaching Christian Discipleship as I will be hosting a Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course Men’s Group via Zoom!  The possible participants for tonight’s group span the east coast, hailing from as far north as Massachusetts and going as far south as Florida, with other states in between also possibly being represented.  

I say possible participants, because although several men have signed up for the course, they are only participants if they show up at tonight’s Zoom meeting.  I sent out an email this morning to remind and to encourage all the participants to attend tonight’s meeting, saying that a big part of our faith walk as Christians is “showing up”.  

If these men want to learn about and prayerfully experience their Freedom in Christ, it would help them a great deal to show up. Reading books or watching videos on our own can give understanding but I have learned that acts of faith and going into Christian communities to be vulnerable are things God uses to mature us in our faith.   

“Putting your money, where you mouth is” by investing your time and presence to pursue the Lord’s will for your life moves you closer to God and closer to the abundant life in the Spirit that He wants all His children to experience.   

Our friend in the UK, Philip Hand, recently sent me a poem that reflects my sentiments that it is through the Lord that we can find our freedom and that we can reflect God’s glory when we trust in Him and follow where He leads.   Philip’s poem reads:

 

The Key

Let go of your stress

the Lord is our rest.

His presence lifts our heads.

Sorrow and heartache flee,

his love is the key

to the cage that surrounds our hearts.

 

Wonderful is the one who’s crimson pierced hands

holds our lives in the safest of places.

 

The world will see

that we are free

 with the light of the Son on our faces.

-      Philip Hand

So, grab a hold of The Key, our Lord Jesus Christ, to unlock the mystery of life and to find out who you are in Christ, what your purpose in His kingdom is, and how to experience the fruit of the Spirit in your life on a continual basis.  

The peace, love, joy, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control that you are seeking is only found in one place: in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.  To experience it, we have to “pick up our cross” and follow Jesus.  When the Lord calls you to find meaning and purpose for your life, you still have to answer the call. You still have to show up.     

 

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Hebrews 3:14 (NLT2)
¹⁴  For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

Today’s verse speaks of the need for us to persevere in our faith walk and of the rewards to be had.   

One of the  parables of Christ’s refers to the sowing of seed and speaks of some seed that fell on rocky soil that sprang up but quickly wilted and died and others that fell among thorns and were choked out.  

These two types of seeds were explained to be people who heard the gospel and accepted it but who didn’t stay in the faith, pointing to, depending upon your view, either carnal Christians who are saved but aren’t fruitful or it points to false converts, people who say and possibly believe they are Christians but who will be turned away by Christ as someone He didn’t know on judgement day to be cast in the outer darkness of Hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  

Honestly, my interpretation of this parable agrees with what the word says: these seed die and are choked out, so I believe in the second view that people who seem to put their faith in Christ but who walk away from the church and are consumed by the things of this world more than the things of God are spiritually dead and will be lost as their loyalties to the things of this world or their love of themselves over their love for Christ will result in their eternal separation.  

With that said, I also believe that the Lord might not be done yet with some who we would think are unredeemable.  We don’t know how all our stories end yet so we should encourage people to believe in and follow Christ rather than declare that someone is reprobate and eternally lost.  

Knowing these spiritual realities, the author of Hebrews encourages us to be faithful to the end and to trust in the Lord like when we first believed to have the assurance that we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 

We don’t want to fall away or be corrupted by the world, the flesh, and the devil only to discover we really weren’t “in Christ”. 

The key to being faithful to the end is to be faithful today and set the intention to be faithful tomorrow. Our faith is supposed to be a daily spiritual practice and if we keep showing up to connect with God through our spiritual disciplines of gratitude, prayer, Bible study, kindness, and service we will know that “Wow, I really am a Christian!” and we can trust the Lord with our lives and be assured that we will share in all of the things that Christ has for us, both here and now and in His eternal Kingdom. 

So keep walking and talking with God. It’s the recipe for faithfulness and leads to the peace and joy that comes from knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are His children.   

 

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. 

Today we continue to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from Chapter 3.   

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

Doctrinal Affirmation

·       I recognize that there is only one true and living God who exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is worthy of all honor, praise, and glory as the One who made all things and holds all things together. (See Exodus 20:2-3; Colossians 1:16, 17.)

·       I recognize that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. I believe that He came to destroy the works of the devil, and that He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them. (See John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8.)

·       I believe that God demonstrated His own love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. I believe that He has delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to His kingdom, and in Him I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (See Romans 5:8; Col. 1:13, 14.)

·       I believe that I am now a child of God and that I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I believe that I was saved by the grace of God through faith, and that it was a gift and not a result of any works on my part. (See Ephesians 2:6, 8, 9; 1 John 3:1-3.)

·       I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. I put no confidence in the flesh, for the weapons of warfare are not of the flesh but are divinely powerful for the destruction of strongholds. I put on the full armor of God. I resolve to stand firm in my faith and resist the evil one. (See 2 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:3.)

·       I believe that apart from Christ I can do nothing, so I declare my complete dependence on Him. I choose to abide in Christ in order to bear much fruit and glorify my Father. I announce to Satan that Jesus is my Lord. I reject any and all counterfeit gifts or works of Satan in my life. (See John 15:5, 8; 1 Corinthians 12:3.)

·       I believe that the truth will set me free and that Jesus is the truth. If He sets me free, I will be free indeed. I recognize that walking in the light is the only path of true fellowship with God and man. Therefore, I stand against all of Satan’s deception by taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ. I declare that the Bible is the only authoritative standard for truth and life. (See John 8:32,36; 14:6; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 John 1:3-7.)

·       I choose to present my body to God as a living and holy sacrifice and the members of my body as instruments of righteousness. I choose to renew my mind by the living Word of God in order that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. I put off the old self with its evil practices and put on the new self. I declare myself to be a new creation in Christ. (See Romans 6:13; 12:1, 2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:9, 10.)

·       By faith, I choose to be filled with the Spirit so that I can be guided into all truth. I choose to walk by the Spirit so that I will not carry out the desires of the flesh. (See John 16:13; Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18.)

·       I renounce all selfish goals and choose the ultimate goal of love. I choose to obey the two greatest commandments: to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. (See Matthew 22:37-39; 1 Timothy 1:5.)

·       I believe that the Lord Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, and He is the head over all rule and authority. I am complete in Him. I believe that Satan and his demons are subject to me in Christ since I am a member of Christ’s body. Therefore, I obey the command to submit to God and resist the devil, and I command Satan in the name of Jesus Christ to leave my presence. (See Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:19-23; Colossians 2:10; James 4:7.)

There is no way that we can instantly renew our minds. Defense mechanisms and flesh patterns have been learned over time and they have to be unlearned, which will take time. The purpose in this Step is to identify the ways you have been deceived and expose unhealthy ways of thinking and believing. It reveals where you need to grow. You are not hopeless, and you don’t need someone else to do your thinking and believing for you. Such lies have been played over and over again in people’s minds. You must assume responsibility for choosing the truth, regardless of how your emotions feel.

Suppose there is a dirt road leading to your house in the country. If you continually drive over that road the same exact way, ruts will be formed over time. The sun will dry those ruts and make them hard as concrete. The easiest thing is to allow the car to drift along in those ruts. It will be a rough ride compared to the smooth ride that you could have on the surface right beside the ruts. You will immediately feel the resistance on the wheel to return to the ruts in the road when you only make a half-hearted effort to steer out of them.

If you want to get out of the rut, you will have to be totally committed and willing to make deliberate choices. In the same way, if you no longer want to be controlled by the strongholds or “rut thinking” that the world, the flesh and the devil has put in your mind over years, you need to be committed to breaking those strongholds and make deliberate choices based on the truth of God’s Word. You choose; you don’t passively let your old patterns of thinking decide. You take every thought captive in obedience to Christ and choose His truth. This is how we renew our minds—by knowing and choosing the truth, and by letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within us. (See Romans 12:2; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:16.)

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

 

Join our “Victory over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship