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Friday, March 11, 2022

Contingency Plans for Disaster – His Truth & His Love – Purity 676


Contingency Plans for Disaster – His Truth & His Love  – Purity 676

Purity 676 03/11/2022  - Purity 676 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a view from the Royal Sonesta San Juan Beach Hotel comes to us from a friend who decided to take a break from the winter in upstate NY by visiting sunny Puerto Rico!  I especially like the wispy cloud formation they captured in this photo that could be said to resemble an angel or a dove to represent one of God’s messengers or the Holy Spirit Himself.  Looking at this scene, I’m pretty sure the message from God would be: You are blessed!  

Well, it’s Friday, and if you know you are blessed you should thank God for it because many of our friends and neighbors do not have this perspective and continually walk in the affliction of the world system and the enemy that fills them with anger, fear, depression, and anxiety.  

When we don’t recognize that there is a God, over and above all creation that is moving all things to fulfill His purposes, and just look at the world as a dangerous place that appears to be meaningless and is just falling apart, we are shaken by every passing circumstance and fail to see any reason for hope.    

Yesterday, circumstantially,  I had one of those “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad” days that just invites our anger, frustrations, and complaints but luckily I remembered my training in spiritual warfare and managed to take every thought captive and didn’t let the negative circumstances that I faced drag me too far down in the dumps before I corrected my course.  

Thursdays, the days I have done recovery ministry in the past and discipleship ministry currently, seemed to be the days that the enemy chooses to do some of his worst, or in his eyes best work, to distract people from their decision to trust in the Lord for their recovery or with their decision to follow Him.  

Through the years, Thursdays have been the days where people in my immediate circle have suffered illness, accidents, broken relationships, relapses, and, one time, even a murder in the family.  It is a world broken by sin after all, so I am not surprised when bad things happen in life but really wonder if there is something sinister happening when it impedes someone’s walk with the Lord.   

Thankfully, my day yesterday was mild compared to the things I have seen in the past but the preponderance of little annoyances, pressures, frustrations, and colossal blunders reminded me of the need to continue to put everything in context of who I am in Christ, to “give it to God”, and to keep going in the strength and the peace of the Lord.  

Yesterday I ran into problems I couldn’t fix, I but really wanted to!. I managed to stain my jacket with wet paint, and just when I was ready to call it a day I managed to lock my keys in my work truck and was stranded as the contingency plans at work failed.  

Thankfully, I have a spare set of keys and a son with a license and even though it was close, I managed to get home in time to facilitate the Freedom in Christ Men’s group that I lead on Thursday nights.  I also was blessed by my wife who decided to come down to comfort her husband after his relatively bad day.  

Life will invariably give us problems and the Lord has blessed us with minds to think of contingency plans to put in place when disaster strikes and, if we are prepared, we can handle them with a lot more grace than if we fail to learn from the calamities that have befallen us in the past.   

So the “spare key” and “son who can drive” contingency worked out pretty good.  I was inconvenienced but not defeated.   The “Christian Wife” contingency also really helped me to further remind me that I am not alone and that I am deeply loved and supported. 

But before these measures kicked in after the significant disaster of being stranded at work,  The Lord was with me to deal with those minor difficulties that attempted to steal my peace.  

As a tech, my job is to fix things and when I run into situations where I have to admit that I have to pass my jobs onto specialists that have the training and tools that are above my abilities,  I can get frustrated because a part of me knows “I can fix it!” I can do this!” Come, man!”   

But when I hear “that guy” I don’t hear peace and I don’t hear reason either. When “that guy” speaks, I see a man who wants to be valued for his performance and that is when I know I am in the dangerous territory of pride.  The “I can do it myself.” spirit is one of pride and can easily go into the realm of rebellion and when I see myself start to go that way. I go remind myself that I am not responsible to “fix” everything and my value doesn’t lie in the things I can do.  

At work, I am to fix what I can and pass off what I can’t to the specialists.  In my walk of faith,  I am to do my part and leave the rest up to God.  In short like my friend who decided to leave the winter behind for the sunny atmosphere of Puerto Rico,  I am to give myself a break.   

So whatever you may be facing in your life, remind yourself that your worth is determined by God, not by your performance.  He has determined that you were valuable enough to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you so you could live with Him forever. 

If bad things come your way, remind yourself that in Christ you are loved and accepted, significant and secure, and that nothing can change that.   

So take a break, thank God it’s Friday, and keep walking and talking with God through the workday today and into the weekend beyond.   No matter what happens God is with you and if you follow His wisdom and ways He will lead you to know peace even when it seems that only bad things are happening, and the world is falling apart.  

The truth is that lie – that only bad things are happening, and the world is falling apart -  isn’t true.  God has it all under control and when we walk with Him we can see that there are many good things happening all around us and He can help us to navigate the ups and downs of life with the assurance of His love and the peace and joy that comes to being in a covenant relationship with Him. 

 

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

This morning’s meditation verse is :

James 5:7 (NLT2)
7  Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.

Today’s verse speaks of the need to be patient and assures us of the Lord’s return.   

Yup Jesus is coming back.  The book of Revelation tells us that.  And it tells us of a new heaven and a new earth that the Lord will create for His people. 

So we can agree to disagree with the History Channel’s show “The Universe” that explains how eventually the universe will just go dark as all the stars burn out and all life is extinguished.  That show fails to recognize the Creator, God, may have a different plan for His creation, a plan that was revealed through His Son, Jesus Christ.  

Jesus Christ coming to earth was a game changer. His life, death, and resurrection showed us that He was God in the flesh. He confirmed the truth of The Old Testament and the Messianic prophecies.  His life and the beginning of the church were documented in the New Testament and just when you may have thought that it was just a collection of historical accounts and letters on Christian doctrine and living, the book of Revelation shows us that the Lord had something to tell us about the future as well.  

The good news of Revelation is that those who stand with God through their faith in Jesus Christ will stand forever.   

But what are we supposed to do until then?  

We live and share the eternal life that the Lord gave us. We also share the hope that we have in Christ’s eventual return.  

When will it come? 

We don’t know and it doesn’t really matter.  In Christ we have the assurance of our eternal life in His kingdom.  Regardless of when we are called into eternity or when Jesus comes for us, we can experience the peace and joy and patience that comes when we walk in the Spirit and let the fruit of the Spirit grow in our lives.   

So walk with God and share His love if you do that patience will definitely grow in your life. 

Just like a farmer has to trust that the seeds he plants will grow, we have to trust that the Lord has sowed His life in us and that we can see the fruit of the Spirit grow as we follow Him and that our eternal lives will one day grow out of our physical deaths or will come in a blink of an eye if Christ should come for us before we die.   

The good news is that God wins, and He is sharing His victory with us today and forever more. So be patient and wait on the Lord.

 

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 sharing from June Hunt’s Envy & Jealousy: Taming the Terrible Twins.

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 his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $5.00.

III.  CAUSEs

A.  Surface Causes

     Envy

   desire for selfish gain

   comparison

   emphasis on personal rights

   unrealistic expectations

     Jealousy

   lack of trust

   low self-image

   guilt

   fear of loss

“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

(Proverbs 14:30)

B.  Situational Setups

     Envy           

   affluence (money)

   achievement (honors, awards)

   appearance (looks, clothes, etc.)

   abilities (talents)

   advancement (promotions)

   activities (trips, social invitations)

     Jealousy

   sibling rivalry

   friendships

   marriage relationships

   adult parent/child relationships

   competitive work environment

   legalistic church environment

“I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor.”

(Ecclesiastes 4:4)

C.  Root Cause

Wrong Belief:

For Envy:

“I have a right to have what others have because I need to feel more significant.”

For Jealousy:

“I have a right to keep whatever I have to fulfill my need for significance.”

Right Belief:

I will trust God and choose to be content regardless of what I have or do not have. He will fulfill my need for significance through His life lived within me.

“I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:11–13)[1]

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

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Envy & Jealousy: Taming the Terrible Twins (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 6–7.

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