Walking in Truth – The Walk of Freedom - Purity 638
Purity
638 01/26/2022 Purity 638 Podcast
Good
morning,
Well it’s Wednesday and normally I would share a
photo of a Mountain or a Hill to symbolize the fact that we had made it to the “hump”
of mid-week and the truth is that I had a particular photo in mind to share but
decided that I couldn’t share it because to do so would be dishonest or would
simply not be too cool.
Through my community service volunteer work for
the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention I made many FB “friends” for the
purpose of promoting the Columbia-Greene Out of the Darkness Walk which I was
the walk chair in 2018 and 2019. So I
made friends with people and organizations I didn’t even know for the purpose
of getting the word out. I also joined a bunch of local community groups for
the purpose of promoting the AFSP’s work.
But since 2020, I feel I have been called to
focus my efforts at helping my fellow man by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ
and by encouraging Christians to experience and maintain their freedom in
Christ. I still fully support the efforts
of the AFSP but after a couple of years of no longer serving as an active
volunteer for the organization I decided recently to reduce the number of FB
friends I had because many of those “friendships” that I had made in the recent
past had no interactions to speak of.
So this morning, I realized that photo I was
thinking of using this morning from June of 2021 was from someone that I had
unfriended. Awkward. So do I use the photo and say it was from a
former friend or former acquaintance?
Do I re-friend them so I can claim “friendship” again? What if they find out that I unfriended them,
will they be mad? Will the loss of our social media acquaintanceship cause them
to be depressed? Will my mass friending
of people in 2018 & 2019 be seen as the Machiavellian scheme of event
promotion that it was? Was it?
Who knew that social media friendships with
people you don’t really know could be so complicated?
Anyway, rather than use a former acquaintance’s
photo, it wasn’t that great anyway, really it wasn’t, shots fired. I decided to use my own and not regret the
means that I used for good in the past no more than I may employ those means
for good in the future. As for the lost
friends, I must have unfriended close to 200 people or things in the past year
and as much as I think I may be so important I think maybe one or two of those
people have re-friended me, without comment.
Anyway, all of this commentary surrounds my
intention to share the message that the principle of truth in our faith walk is
the guiding principle that is what should direct our path and determine our
actions that will lead to our ultimate liberation from negative mind states that
will keep us in the bondage of oppression or confusion.
Could I share a photo from a “friend” who was no
longer a “friend? No.
Should I re-friend them for the sole purpose of
using their photo? No that doesn’t feel
honest, so no.
As varied and complicated as this simple
situation could be, the truth and the intention to live honestly, directs me
out of the confusion.
And it is this principle that is at the core of
the life of a Christian Disciple. We seek to speak the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ in love and to represent Him by living honestly.
Yesterday, I confessed how I had fallen short of
living according to my intentions to avoid sugar and foods high in carbohydrates
and how that failure had started to lead to secretive and self-deceptive
patterns of behavior.
Instead of being honest about my failure, a part
of me wanted to cover it up or to “just move on” and “give myself a break” but
luckily I saw the inherent danger of beginning what would have been a double
life of acting one way and presenting myself as acting in another way by trying
to represent someone who says they care about being honest but then living with
secrets.
Well today, I am happy to report that I had a
single day of success in staying within the parameters of my eating plan and it
was possible because I decided to be honest and to be committed to my
intentions. I decided that if I failed
I would tell my wife. She loves and accepts
me for who I am and I confessed to her that in the past I would keep a part of
myself away from previous partners to the point where I could claim that they
didn’t really know the real me.
I would hide my feelings and actions from others
in the past because I wanted to avoid their anger or disappointment, but I wasn’t
honest. I didn’t care about their anger
or disappointment, I just cared about doing what I wanted all the time and
would rather hide the thoughts and behaviors that may upset them rather than
stopping or changing those behaviors.
That way of living kept me isolated from everyone
else. I was living a double life where
only me, myself, and I had any idea about what I was doing or what I was all
about.
But in my new life in Christ, I am called to live
in truth, knowing that God loves me, forgives me, and wants me to enjoy a life
free from secrets and lies.
So I have exposed my tendency to sneak food or
keep my thoughts and feelings hidden in order that I can live in the joy of the
freedom that comes from knowing you have nothing left to hide.
A weight has been lifted off of my soul knowing
that my new marriage will be a place where everything is revealed openly and that
we will support each other in being the people that we always wanted to be and
who God empowers us to be when we decide to live in the truth of who we are in
Christ rather than the darkness of secrets and lies.
So to be blunt, stop lying. A Christian has no business in living a life
of deception. If you have secrets reveal
them and decide to live in truth to have peace and to experience the joy of
freedom that comes when all the cards are on the table and you have nothing
left to hide.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Psalm 28:7 (NLT2)
7 The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my
heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of
thanksgiving.
Today’s verse speaks of the feelings of protection and strength that comes from trusting the Lord and how we are filled with joy and thanksgiving when we realize that we have His help.
God calls us to salvation by calling us to place our faith in Jesus Christ which is without a doubt the “ultimate” help he can give us. Forgiveness of sin and a new eternal life in His kingdom is some big time help.
But as amazing as it may sound, God wants to help us with more than just these eternal matters. He wants us to trust Him on a daily basis to receive His protection and strength.
The Bible is filled with encouragement to live a righteous life. There are verses telling us what to do and what we shouldn’t do. The question is: will we trust God and apply His wisdom to our lives?
Today’s verse indicates that we are to trust God with our whole hearts and when we do that we will be filled with joy and thanksgiving. God is encouraging us to live according to His ways and today’s verse indicates that we will experience a sense of His protection and strength that will have experiential results to the point we will burst out in singing His praises.
Our Christian lives are not to be drudgery, they are to be infused with joy when we realize that God is trustworthy and good. So trust Him and follow Him to know the life that God wants you to experience, a life filled with joy and thanksgiving.
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 start sharing from Chapter 6.
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.
CHAPTER
SIX - OVERCOMING PRIDE
In the northern reaches of Canada, the
story is told of two geese and a turtle that developed a deep friendship. As
the nights became shorter and cooler, the geese started talking about flying
south for the winter. One evening as the three animals huddled together, the
geese wondered openly about their friend the turtle.
“We’re sure going to miss you,” said one
goose. “Since you can’t walk south for the winter, what are you going to do?”
“I have an idea,” said the turtle. “Why
don’t we find a sturdy stick that the two of you can hold in your mouths. I
will hold on to the stick in the middle with my powerful teeth. Then when you
fly south for the winter, I will fly with you.”
“Do you think you are strong enough to
hold on for that long?” asked the other goose.
“Sure, I’m very strong,” said the
turtle.
Several weeks later, somewhere over
Montana, a farmer looked up and saw the most incredible thing he had ever seen.
He rushed into the house to tell his wife. When she ran outside and saw two
geese flying overhead with a stick in their mouths and a turtle hanging between
them, she cried out, “What an incredible idea! Who thought of that?”
Knowing it was his idea, the turtle
couldn’t resist saying, “I did!” And down went the turtle.
THE UGLY FIVE-LETTER WORD
Pride is a killer. It comes before a
fall. Pride is a five-letter word with I in the middle. Pride says, “It was my
idea, and I can do it by my strength and resources.” Pride is the origin of
evil. Scripture says of Satan, “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to
heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the
mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be
thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.”118 Hell is where
we say, “My will be done.” Heaven is where we say, “Thy will be done.”
Notice the connection between pride and
spiritual warfare in the following two passages:
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore
it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit
therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:6, 7).
All of you clothe yourselves with
humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace
to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that
He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because
He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the
devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist
him (1 Peter 5:5-9).
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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