Rejection and Beating the System – Wisdom from Dr. Neil Anderson - Purity 1214
Purity 1214 12/04/2023 Purity 1214 Podcast
Purity 1214 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of an “oversized” boat gliding over
the blue waters of Spencer Gulf that are reflecting the blue sky above comes to
us from Dave Baun Photography (https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography)
who shared this scene from his visit to
Cowell, South Australia back on August 11th.
Well, It’s Tuesday and I’ve been looking back to August
recently as I am rejoicing over the positive changes that I have made with my
health and how the decision to actually treat my food addiction as an addiction
has resulted in more than proverbial weights being lifted off of my
shoulders. I am in the best physical
shape of my life but at the same time, this year has challenged my resolve as I
was summarily deemed to be “rejected” by people I had idolized (there’s a mistake)
and for something I had put a lot of pride in obtaining (there’s another
mistake), and I had spent considerable time, effort, and money and worked hard
to accomplish (no regrets there – I gave it my all). But I have accepted the loss and am moving forward
to the “next things” that the Lord has in store for me.
The best analogy I can make in regard to my
disappointment is that “sometimes you can make all the shots during basketball tryouts
and still not make the team.” Oh well, I
have other responsibilities and commitments to take care of and instead of
lamenting over what could have been, we will thank the Lord for the lessons
learned and move forward to follow Him. The new year has me leading another Freedom in
Christ Course for Men Online for Freedom in Christ Ministries and am signed up for
a class to get additional “Discipleship Counseling” training with FICM. So, in spite of disappointments, I have a
hope and a future, for ministry and as always with Jesus as my Lord and Savior.
Rejection can sting though, and it can cause all
kinds of responses like anger, bitterness, depression, and for some of us it
can cause us to “press in” and work harder. While that last response is
admirable, it also has its inherent dangers as our desire to “beat the system”
may lead us to play a game we cannot win.
Freedom in Christ Ministries recently shared this
message from Dr. Neil Anderson via email that addresses how overachieving as a
response to rejection may not lead to victory and only lead us astray. I found Anderson’s words to be wise and am
sharing them on the blog today. Dr. Neil
Anderson writes:
"BEATING THE SYSTEM
Everyone who exalts himself shall be
humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11).
A small percentage of people defend
against rejection by buying into the dog-eat-dog system of the world and
learning to compete and scheme to get ahead of the pack. These are the movers
and shakers, people who earn acceptance and strive for significance through
their performance. They feel driven to get on top of every situation because
winning is their passport to acceptance. They are characterized by
perfectionism and emotional insulation, and they struggle with anxiety and
stress.
Spiritually, the beat-the-system
individual refuses to come under God's authority and has little fellowship with
God.
This person is committed to controlling
and manipulating people and circumstances for their own ends, so it is
difficult for them to yield control in their life to God.
In our churches, this person jockeys to be
chairman of the ruling board or the most influential member on a committee.
Their motivation is not to serve God in this position, however, but to control
their world because their self-worth is dependent on it. Beat-the-system
controllers are some of the most insecure people you will meet.
Sadly, the controlling individual's
defensive strategy only delays inevitable rejection. Eventually, their ability
to control their family, their employees, and their church diminishes, and they
are replaced by a younger, stronger controller. Some survive this mid-life
crisis, but many who make it to retirement don't enjoy much of it. Studies show
that high-powered executives live an average of nine months after they retire.
They base their lives in the world system they seek to conquer, but inevitably
the world claims its own.
"See to it that no one takes you captive
through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men,
according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to
Christ" (Colossians 2:8).
Gracious Lord, teach me to be in this
world but not of it. I choose Your kingdom to be my standard.
Neil Anderson”
Yes, Lord teach us all to choose Your
Kingdom to be our standard and to not place the approval of other men above You.
Help us to accomplish Your will for our lives and to not make idols out of the
things of this world that will one day prove not to be of You and will only
pass away. Help us to follow You into
your purposes and peace, always. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verses comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google
search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Church, Communion of the
Saints.
1 Kings 22:1-14 (NKJV)
1 Now three years passed
without war between Syria and Israel.
2 Then it came to pass, in
the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went down to visit
the king of Israel.
3 And the king of Israel said
to his servants, "Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, but we
hesitate to take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?"
4 So he said to Jehoshaphat,
"Will you go with me to fight at Ramoth Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to
the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your
people, my horses as your horses."
5 Also Jehoshaphat said to
the king of Israel, "Please inquire for the word of the LORD today."
6 Then the king of Israel
gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them,
"Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?" So
they said, "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of
the king."
7 And Jehoshaphat said,
"Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?"
8 So the king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of
Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD;
but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but
evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say such things!"
9 Then the king of Israel
called an officer and said, "Bring Micaiah the son of Imlah quickly!"
10 The king of Israel and
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on
his throne, at a threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and
all the prophets prophesied before them.
11 Now Zedekiah the son of
Chenaanah had made horns of iron for himself; and he said, "Thus says the LORD: 'With these you shall gore the
Syrians until they are destroyed.' "
12 And all the prophets
prophesied so, saying, "Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the LORD will deliver it into the
king's hand."
13 Then the messenger who
had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, "Now listen, the words of
the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like
the word of one of them, and speak encouragement."
14 And Micaiah said, "As
the LORD lives, whatever the LORD says to me, that I will
speak."
Today’s
verses fall under the sixteenth point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Church, Communion of the Saints.
16. God’s office bearers must say all and only that which he requires of them, even when they are under great pressure to do otherwise
Today’s verses set the stage for a dramatic moment regarding prophecy and the reality of the fact that God may use the spiritual forces of darkness to accomplish His will on earth. For Micaiah went on to say:
1 Kings 22:19-23 (NKJV)
19 Then Micaiah said,
"Therefore hear the word of the LORD:
I saw the LORD sitting on His
throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His
left.
20 And the LORD said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go
up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and
another spoke in that manner.
21 Then a spirit came forward
and stood before the LORD, and
said, 'I will persuade him.'
22 The LORD said to him, 'In what way?' So he
said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.'
And the LORD said, 'You shall
persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.'
23 Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth
of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD
has declared disaster against you."
That’s a tough message to share – that King Ahab’s hopes for victory will fail and that demons are speaking through your trusted advisors, but Micaiah eventually shared it regardless of the pressure on him to say otherwise.
And so we too must share the gospel of grace that declares
Jesus as the ONLY WAY to peace with God and that calls sin for what it is. But let’s remember to say all and only what
the Lord would have us say and to hold off on sharing our personal opinion if
it does not come from God’s Spriit. We
want to speak the truth and we want to do so in love but sometimes we are
charged to bring conviction and should speak the hard truths that others need
to hear. So follow the Lord and listen
to His voice to make sure you say all and only what He calls you to speak.
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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 are sharing from “God is in the Manger-
Reflections on Advent and Christmas” – By Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for less than $10 at many sites.
God is in the Manger – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
ADVENT WEEK TWO - MYSTERY
DAY
THREE
The Wonder
of All Wonders
God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but
he does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the
way that people want to prescribe for him; rather, his way is beyond all
comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof.
Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety
anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he
confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our
piety—that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the
humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he
does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and
makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the
lowly.… God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right
in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one
would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the
neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.
That … is the unrecognized mystery of this world:
Jesus Christ. That this Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, was himself the Lord
of glory: that was the mystery of God. It was a mystery because God became
poor, low, lowly, and weak out of love for humankind, because God became a
human being like us, so that we would become divine, and because he came to us
so that we would come to him. God as the one who becomes low for our sakes, God
in Jesus of Nazareth—that is the secret, hidden wisdom … that “no eye has seen
nor ear heard nor the human heart conceived” (1 Cor. 2:9).… That is the depth
of the Deity, whom we worship as mystery and comprehend as mystery.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
None of the rulers of this age understood this;
for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is
written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God
has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the
Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
1 Corinthians 2:8–10[1]
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Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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These teachings are also available on the
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), 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)
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the
Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas, ed. Jana Riess,
trans. O. C. Dean Jr., First edition. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2010), 22–23.
