So, We’re Doing This Now
- Purity 798
Purity 798 08/01/2022 Purity 798 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a sunset on Seneca Lake spied through a
window of trees comes to us from my sister in law, Katt, who recently shared this
pic on social media encouraging her friends to check out the facilities at
Seneca Lake Resorts in Romulus NY.
Well the sun has set on the month of July 2022 and there
is no going back, but rather than lament about the July’s passing, I am here to
encourage all my friends to rejoice over the possibility of new beginnings.
As I have often said in the past, scripture repeatedly
indicates that we are to be forward thinking when it comes to our faith walk
through life. Although I am happy to report that I managed to go to four new
spots for swimming in the month of July, I am looking forward to doing more
with the month of August than just relaxing in the sun.
The great thing about our lives is that when we realize
that we have wandered off course a bit in our focus and direction with our
goals, we can stop and start again.
The Holy Spirit lives in us and if we are sensitive to His
leadings, He will lead us into all truth, but sometimes the truth hurts.
Sometimes the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we have ceased to move forward
into what He has for us and because of our lack of attention or our self-indulgences
we have sabotaged our progress by seeking comfort, purpose, or entertainment
from things of this world rather than the things of God.
We can go on in our own way and ignore His still quiet
voice but the further we go the more we will tend to suffer the consequences
until we realize that although we haven’t gone far off course, we stopped
making progress with the things we were moving towards because we were distracted
or because the going got a little tough and we decided to give ourselves a
break. We may have even decided that we were happy with where we had made it to
and decided it was “good enough” and we would just stay put where we were.
Unfortunately, the world, the flesh, and the devil will
come against us in subtle ways and as time goes on we start to slip, and we fail
to maintain our position that was “good enough” and lose the progress that we
have made.
As Christians, we are in a battle. The Lord has a purpose
for us and the world system, the spiritual forces of darkness, and our flesh
all oppose it because the Lord’s purpose involves us humbling ourselves before
God and serving Him and others rather than exclusively pleasing ourselves.
The world, the enemy, and our flesh work on us to consider
the question: “What about me?” and encourages us to set aside the abundant life
of meaning and purpose that the Lord has for us for a life of idleness and selfishness
that the world system promotes. The problem
with the “What about Me?” answers to happiness is that they fail to satisfy us
and go against the counsel of the Word of God.
The insidious nature of the world, the flesh, and the devil
is that they constantly tempt us to seek satisfaction independent of God with
substances, relationships, or methods that have been proven to fail but they
continue to push them anyway.
Christ came to give us rest but He did state that His burden
was light. The world, the flesh, and the devil say that even a light burden is
too heavy and advocate for selfishness and no burdens, but the answers they
push are bondage and are even more burdensome that the Lord’s, who simply asks
us to abide in the peace that He has for us and to rely on His wisdom and ways
to guide us.
So our Christian walk can tend to be a continual pattern
of making progress and realizing the joy and peace of the Lord in the
simplicity of being obedient to His ways but then the three headed monster
tries to deceive us and tempt us to go back to the world’s ways that are easy
and offer immediate gratification.
In the beginning of our walk with God, this can be a “sinning and confessing” cycle but if we are
diligent in returning to the Lord and go to Him for strength and guidance, we
can break that cycle and have victory over those besetting sins and experience
our freedom in Christ.
But even if we have experienced our freedom in Christ,
that doesn’t mean that the enemy, the world system, or our flesh are done
trying to prevent our realizing our purpose in Christ.
With the Lord nothing is impossible, but the enemy will
lie to us and tell us that there is a limit on what we can do, that “we are
only human”, or that “others can do those things, but we can’t accomplish that”
or “it’s just too hard.”
The enemy, the flesh, and the world system which, can
included our family and friends, will tell us that we have done enough, that we
are too busy, or that we should rest. These
influences will actually lie to us and tell us that we are “doing well” or “looking
good” when we are actually losing ground.
When we stop, or take a rest, at best we are no longer
making progress, at worst we are going in the wrong direction.
So what do you do?
You stop and you make a new beginning. And what better day to make a new start than the
first day of a new month.
I don’t know about you, but I want to leave August in a
better place than where I start it. I
have decided to repent and to remember that the Lord’s ways are sufficient and
that everything the world, the flesh, and the devil would choose for me to do
would result in something less than what the Lord wants for me.
The world’s entertainments leave you empty. The flesh is
ignorant and satisfying its lusts leads to pain. And the devil seeks to destroy us.
So let’s begin again. Although we have been walking and
talking with God, let’s walk in the direction that leads to progress and to new
victories or to the goals that we were hoping for but somehow stopped actively
pursuing somewhere along the way.
Let’s do something new, let’s pick one thing or one area
in our lives that we can accomplish or make progress in over the next 31 days and
let’s go after it with intensity and purpose. Let’s pick one thing and either “get
‘er done” and bring us closer to getting ‘er done.”
God doesn’t want us to stagnate in life and say “that’s
good enough” God wants us to grow and progress
personally and to show and share His love with others.
The adage “nobody’s
perfect” is often used to excuse our lack of progress but instead of wallowing in
our imperfections, let’s rejoice over them because they provide us with lots of
things that we can make progress in! We
will never be perfect like Jesus but let’s follow Him and lean on the Lord’s
strength and guidance to leave where we are behind for better things.
So pick something, anything, and make a plan that you can
start working on today and let the Lord know that you need His help to
accomplish it. God is faithful and He
will lead us into new things when we trust in Him. Tell the world, the flesh, the devil that you
are going to make a change in your life and that you have had enough of their
lies.
And declare with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit:
So, We are Doing This NOW!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
13 I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Today’s verse is the truth for all Christians and only needs to be applied and pursued to be realized in our walk.
In Christ we have been given victory over sin and death. We are new creations in Christ. And so, as today’s verse confirms, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Context is king when we look at the Bible of course so I want to keep it real and remind us all that the Apostle Paul referred to both enduring through suffering and accomplishing mighty things for the kingdom of God through Christ who strengthens us. He kept it real. He knew what it was like to be abased and what it was like to be abound.
So this is good news, no matter what we are facing we can make it. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
That means remaining faithful to our cause and to living according the God’s wisdom and ways.
In Christ, we can do all things and what that is exactly depends on your walk with the Lord and where he has put you. So follow Him and see where this month takes you and see what you can accomplish when you walk with Him.
______________________________________________________________________
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 Clinton E. Arnold’s
“Powers of Darkness”
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private
study and to support his work. This resource is available on many
websites for less than $20.00.
The Connection of the False Teaching with the
Powers
Apart
from Ephesians, there are more references to the principalities and powers in
Colossians than in any of Paul’s other letters. Paul used a wide variety of
terms in referring to these powers: “thrones,” “dominions,” “principalities,”
“authorities,” “elemental spirits” and “angels” (RSV). While a few scholars
have tried to make a case for interpreting some of these powers as good angels,
especially those referred to in Colossians 1:16, the broader context of the
letter paints them in a rather dark light. The same “principalities” (archai) and “authorities” (exousiai) spoken of in Colossians 1:16
are pictured as defeated enemies in 2:15 over which Christ is the head (2:10).
It is most likely that Paul intended all of his references to the spirit-powers
in Colossians to be understood as the evil powers of darkness.
According to Paul’s
analysis, the religious “philosophy” menacing the church at Colossae could
ultimately be attributed to the inspiration of “elemental spirits” (stoicheia). In Colossians 2:8, Paul
states: “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty
deceit [1] according to human tradition, [2] according to the elemental spirits
of the universe, and not according to Christ” (RSV).
In the first part of
the verse, Paul indicts the obvious human involvement that propagates this
erroneous teaching, which human tradition imparts. In the second part of the
verse, he points to the true origin of the teaching in a personal, spiritual
sense; that is, the evil “elemental spirits” inspire this teaching. He thus
connects this false teaching with demonic involvement in much the same way that
he characterized pagan religions in general as demonic in 1 Corinthians
10:20–21. A similar situation is envisioned in 1 Timothy 4:1, where believers are
warned against demon-instigated teaching: “The Spirit clearly says that in
later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things
taught by demons.” Those purveying this teaching are described as “hypocritical
liars,” implying that they claim to be Christians, but are actually Satan’s
advocates.
The false teaching at
Colossae is dangerous precisely because the supernatural opponents, whom Christ
died to defeat, inspire it. For this reason Paul can later say, “If with Christ
you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you
still belonged to the world?” (Col 2:20 RSV). Through union with Christ and by
appropriating his resources, believers can resist the diverse evil influences
of Satan and his powers. For the Colossians the perverse influence was
especially felt through the rival teaching passed on by people within the
context of the church.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" 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.
These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class
materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via
her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 )
and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness:
Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove,
IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 141–142.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.