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Showing posts with label 1Thessalonians. Show all posts

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Jesus Revolution – The Community of Faith – Lent with Bonhoeffer Day 22– Purity 994


Jesus Revolution – The Community of Faith – Lent with Bonhoeffer Day 22– Purity 994    

Purity 994 03/17/2023  Purity 994 Podcast

Purity 994 on YouTube: 



Good morning,

Today’s photo of a sunset, or sunrise, sky with the silhouette of tree tops in the foreground that looks like a painting, or one of those epic sky scenes from Gone with the Wind, comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this scene on social media on April 4th of 2021.  I decided to go back into the archives of my phone’s photo archives and discovered this shot of the sky because it is beautiful and I share it as an encouragement to consider the higher things of God as we come into the weekend and may be looking for something earth bound to give us pleasure.  

Last night, my wife and I went to see the movie, Jesus Revolution, and I was frankly surprised at how this film accurately portrayed Greg Laurie’s days of searching for truth by following hippies to a concert and how he tired to “expand his mind” and find meaning through drugs.  For some reason I didn’t expect that. I didn’t expect the film to be a “biopic” – a historical record of actual people and their actual lives – this was a true story.  And like many testimonies of people coming to Christ , it had its dark elements and hard truths that stem from the sins of our pre-Christ existence, from our not so easy  adjustment to our new lives in Christ, and the clashing and conflicts that can happen when men come together to “serve the Lord”.  

Because it was more biopic than a gospel presentation, I would say that it was more of a “regular movie” than a Christian film in terms of how some Christian movies are just,  - Let’s admit it -bad, overly sentimental, or heavy handed in presenting the gospel in either simplistic or an almost shaming manner.. Although the movie obviously includes Christian themes and messages, I would say that anyone could see this film to get an idea of what the Jesus Movement was about without necessarily walking out converted because it showed some things about Christianity in America that are still alive today that aren’t so appealing – like harsh unaccepting legalistic Christians, and “Charismatic kooks”.  Jesus Revolution’s balanced portrayal of the complexities that surround our “simple faith” present Laurie’s story in a way that could cause some to come to Christ or cause some to say “And that is why I am not a Christian!”

Jesus Revolution is worth the watch but don’t think that it will necessarily lift the Christian to new levels of faith or take the unbeliever to the throne of grace. And this points out the fact that God is the One who brings us home. He is the one who calls us to salvation and repentance.  The Jesus Revolution movie could be used by God to inspire us or to bring people to Christ but that will up to Him and not based on the talents of the actors or filmmakers. So if you haven’t seen it yet and want to “do something Christian” this weekend, go with an open heart and an open mind and buy a ticket to see Jesus Revolution and wait and see what God does with it in you.

Anyway, I “do something Christian” each morning by praying, reading the Bible, and by doing this blog and podcast, so let’s keep walking and talking with God by continuing our current series by walking into Day 22 of Lent and the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

As a reminder, and as we will say each day of this journey, we take this path to mark the season of Lent and to draw closer to God in anticipation of the celebration of Easter, knowing that if we take this journey of repentance seriously, we will not only see the days and seasons change, the Lord will use it to change us too. 

You can sign up to get this devotional yourself by going to the Biblegateway link on the blog ((https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/40-Day-Journey-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/today)) . 

Day 22

Bonhoeffer writes:

“The measure with which God gives the gift of visible community is varied.

Christians who live dispersed from one another are comforted by a brief visit of another Christian, a prayer together, and another Christian’s blessing.

Indeed, they are strengthened by letters written by the hand of other Christians.

Paul’s greetings in his letters written in his own hand were no doubt tokens of such community.

Others are given the gift on Sundays of the community of the worship service.

Still others have the privilege of living a Christian life in the community of their families.”

Biblical Wisdom

Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. 1 Thessalonians 4:9

Questions to Ponder

  • Why is Christian community so important for the life of faith?

M.T. Clark: Christian community is so important for the life of faith because we don’t know everything, we need one another, and we are called to love others as ourselves by Jesus Himself. 

The Bible is a big book and we need others to encourage us to read it and to help us to understand it and apply it to our lives. So we need to find a “faith community” that not only believes that the Bible is the inerrant word of God but regularly reads it and teaches from it. We need others to help us to understand what it means to be a Christian and encourage us to follow the Lord.  

We also need one another to encourage us to serve the Lord and do the good works that He created us to do. A community of faith comforts us by showing us we are not alone in this  thing and helps us to discover and live out our purpose in Christ.  And there is perhaps no better environment in which to learn to love others as ourselves as we are all called by the same Father and Spirit to be the fellowship of the Saints, regardless of our individual differences.   

  • What are the things that weaken community?

M.T. Clark:  In a word, sin weakens community.  When we are not coming together is a fellowship of forgiveness in love, we are missing the mark.  When we have hidden  or not so hidden sins in the body of Christ, it undermines the meaning of our gathering. If everything looks good on the surface but people are struggling and hurting in private and can’t seek the help they need because of church tradition or culture, that weakens community. Forming cliques weakens community. Gossip weakens community. Politics weakens community. Division weakens community. Hidden agendas weaken community. Authoritarian attitudes and egos weaken community.  Unfortunately, there are lots of things that weaken community and honestly, I don’t know if we will ever see a “perfect” church here on earth, but the way we get closer to one is by seeking heart focused discipleship were we are transparent and seeking individual sanctification as well as corporate harmony. We don’t only have to “be real” with God. We have to “be real” with each other.

  • What are the things that strengthen community?

M.T. Clark: Well, authenticity, vulnerability, accountability, and honesty on an individual level would certainly be a good start. But encouragement, empathy, and care would seal the deal. If we don’t have to worry about covering up our imperfections and know that the people we are in fellowship are being as real as we are, our faith community will be one of mutual support and love. Our faith community would be strong.

Psalm Fragment

Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 
Psalm 100:2-3

Journal Reflections

  • Write about how the gift of Christian community has been a blessing to you.

M.T. Clark: The church is where I learned how to become a Christian and where I was given the opportunity to grow into my identity and purpose in Christ.  The love and support I have received from men and women in the Christian community is staggering. The people I consider my best friends are all people I have met along the way in my journey of faith and from the various Christian communities that I have been blessed to be welcomed into ever since I put my faith in Jesus.

  • What kinds of Christian communities are you a part of?

M.T. Clark: Currently, I am in several. I have community with my local church, a small group from my local church, the men’s group I facilitate online, the community of volunteers at Freedom in Christ ministries,  a bible study, the Deeper Walk School of Prayer ministry cohort, and the community of people who listen or read my blog and podcast. I am greatly encouraged in my faith by all these communities.   So I recommend seeking community in various ways because technology gives us opportunities for community that we never had before.

  • Do you have a spiritual friend, someone with whom you can speak about faith, confide in, who encourages you, guides you and, if needed, corrects you and for whom you are the same? If so, reflect on that relationship and what it means to you. If not, could you build a friendship like that?

M.T. Clark: I do. My best friend is my wife and our relationship has God at the center of it and we have an open dialog to speak about everything that’s going on in our lives so as not to let anything to come between us.  I also have open forums to talk about my life in the small groups I am a part of and receive support through them.   These relationships mean a lot to me and are the reason why I tell Christians that they can’t “go it alone” -that we need each other.  The way you build relationships like this is by being vulnerable and honest and determining who is “real” in their commitment to follow Christ.  But we don’t have to find some “perfect people” to have these relationships, we just have to be open and honest and vulnerable on our side and meet people where they are at and encourage them with the truths and comforts in God’s word.

Prayer for Today

Lord, enable me to be a strength of my Christian communities, and faithful in my spiritual friendships.

M.T. Clark: In Jesus Name, I pray, Amen.

 

(40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.)

***As we are being provided with Bible verses from the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we will are taking a break from sharing a verse of the day from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”. We plan on resuming that normal installment of the blog following Easter.*** 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 A.W. Pink’s “The Sovereignty of God.”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’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 SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

By  ARTHUR W. PINK

CHAPTER TEN

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD HIS SOVEREIGNTY

 

What then ought to be our attitude toward the Supreme Sovereign? We reply,

 2. One of implicit obedience

A sight of God leads to a realization of our littleness and nothingness and issues in a sense of dependency and of casting ourselves upon God. Or, again; a view of the Divine Majesty promotes the spirit of godly fear and this, in turn, begets an obedient walk. Here then is the Divine antidote for the native evil of our hearts. Naturally, man is filled with a sense of his own importance, with his greatness and self-sufficiency; in a word, with pride and rebellion. But, as we remarked, the great corrective is to behold the Mighty God, for this alone will really humble him. Man will glory either in himself or in God. Man will live either to serve and please himself, or he will seek to serve and please the Lord. None can serve two masters.

Irreverence begets disobedience. Said the haughty monarch of Egypt “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord; neither will I let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2). To Pharaoh, the God of the Hebrews was merely a god, one among many, a powerless entity who needed not to be feared or served. How sadly mistaken he was, and how bitterly he had to pay for his mistake he soon discovered; but what we are here seeking to emphasize is that Pharaoh’s defiant spirit was the fruit of irreverence, and this irreverence was the consequence of his ignorance of the majesty and authority of the Divine Being.

Now if irreverence begets disobedience, true reverence will produce and promote obedience. To realize that the Holy Scriptures are a revelation from the Most High, communicating to us His mind and defining for us His will, is the first step toward practical godliness. To recognize that the Bible is God’s Word, and that its precepts are the precepts of the Almighty, will lead us to see what an awful thing it is to despise and ignore them. To receive the Bible as addressed to our own souls, given to us by the Creator Himself, will cause us to cry with the Psalmist, “Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies … Order my steps in Thy Word” (Psa. 119:36, 133). Once the sovereignty of the Author of the Word is apprehended it will not longer be a matter of picking and choosing from the precepts and statutes of that Word, selecting those which met with our approval; but it will be seen that nothing less than an unqualified and whole-hearted submission becomes the creature.

What ought to be our attitude toward the Sovereignty of God?[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/@MT4Christ247

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 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] Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 192–193.

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Safety Plan – Steps to Follow to Live – Purity 680


 
 Safety Plan – Steps to Follow to Live  – Purity 680

Purity 680 03/16/2022  Purity 680 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo a natural tunnel, or arch, formed by a dusty outcropping of rock underneath a cumulus cloud filled sky of blue comes to us from a friend who recently headed to the southwest where they captured this sight at the Valley of Fire State Park in Las Vegas Nevada a few days ago.  

Well, It’s Wednesday and if I am ever at a loss to find photos that can represent the midweek summit of “hump day”  remind me to revisit this friend’s FB page from March of 2022 as their southwest hiking adventures highlight a plethora of rocky peaks and valleys.  Peaks and Valleys can be an appropriate metaphor to employ to describe the changing nature of our journey in life, with its various ups and downs in all the different aspects of our lives. 

As beautiful as mountain ranges can be, we would rather avoid radical ups and downs in our emotional lives.  While we certainly can enjoy the heights of joy, the resultant coming back to earth could be a considered to be a let down and even though we haven’t strayed from the base line of normalcy, the shift can make it seem like we have entered into the depths of depression.

If we aren’t careful to recognize our true “altitude” of our current state, and make the proper adjustments to our attitude that may be necessary, circumstantial disappointments can drag us down and keep us down in negative states of mind. 

Yesterday, in my hands-on-training as a psychiatric technician for the Mobile Crisis Assessment Team of Columbia Greene County, I witnessed first hand how a simple disappointment in one’s day could quickly turn into a problem of global proportions in one’s mind and can cause us to become discontented with every aspect of our lives and push us to thoughts of self-destruction.  

Our team was called out to assess an individual who has reportedly been depressed and who has repeatedly attempted suicide in the last few weeks.  With the reported symptoms, it was a wonder to me how this person had seemingly fell through the cracks of the mental health system and had not been hospitalized already.   So our team was quickly dispatched to this person’s location to do a mental health assessment, which I expected would lead to this person’s admittance to a psychiatric facility.   

However, as mental health professionals we don’t just take things at face value and have to not only see if the reality of the situation matches what is being reported, we also have to attempt to explore all the possibilities for a person’s individual treatment.  People are unique individuals so when we make an assessment we need to take in account all the factors of their individual situations to offer the best care.   There are no “cookie cutter” solutions that work for everyone when it to comes to mental health and we need to assist the individual to develop a plan that will work for them.    

When a client has thoughts of suicide, or even has attempted suicide, we don’t just immediately lock them up in an institution.  Mental health professionals have to assess the risks to the client’s safety and make the best determination based on the client’s unique circumstances.  

Yesterday, although the reports indicated a dire situation, I learned that it was best to not make any assumptions in the future because we discovered that a hospital admission wasn’t necessary in this case.  My co-workers and I discovered that this latest episode of suicidal intent stemmed from a disappointment in the client’s day and after they dialoged with my colleague for a few minutes it was clear that the client was not currently wanting to commit suicide and was able to develop and to commit to a “safety plan” that they could implement if thoughts of suicide recurred.  The client also had a support network in place where they lived that could help them to implement their safety plan if the need should arise.  

The intent of a safety plan is to help clients to lower their imminent risk of suicidal behavior. It provides people with a specific and prioritized set of coping strategies which can be used in the event of a suicidal crisis, or should suicidal thoughts emerge.  The safety plan is based on the client’s individual situation and their ability to implement the plan.  The safety plan gives people alternatives to the negative thoughts of suicide and guides them into thoughts and behaviors that give them peace.  

I was able to observe that our job at Mobile Crisis was to help people to recognize when they are in crisis and to get them the help they need that is appropriate for their individual situation. We develop a plan for each person with compassion that they can utilize to avoid crisis and keep them safe.   

As mental health workers, we meet people where they are and develop a plan for them that works to give them peace.   We try to help people to think of things they can do or things they can think about instead of dwelling on thoughts of harming themselves.  Because of our fickle nature, somethings that give us peace one day may fail to bring us peace the next day, so we usually develop a list of things they can do or think about in those moments of crisis because their first option may not work.  Our purpose is to give them lots of alternatives so they can understand that suicide is not their only option and they can find more than one way to find peace.  

Before going out on our call I discovered yesterday that one of the options we can offer to clients, if welcomed and appropriate, “If they are into that”  is the option of their faith.

Even in this day and age, mental health agencies can still recognize that faith in God and spiritual practices like prayer can give people a measure of peace.  We have to be wise and discerning of course but if we determine that “faith in God” will bring someone peace we should incorporate it in their safety plan.    

As a Christian this was a big relief for me, while I understand my role is to bring peace to everyone I encounter in my job at Mobile Crisis regardless of their beliefs, in whatever way I can, I thankful that, if appropriate, I could encourage people to pursue their faith and find peace with God.  

Today’s March 16th, - 3/16, and in some circles today is called “John 3:16 Day”. I’m not sure where I stand with these “fun with number days” like “Pie day” or even with historical observances like “the ides of March”, but I can definitely get behind days where we point to the good news of Jesus Christ.   

John 3:16 (NLT2)
16  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

If you need “the safety plan” that accounts for the crisis of life and death, I offer you the safety and peace that comes to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ.   Christ came to earth to let us know that there is a God who loves us. Jesus came to die for our sins to give us peace with God  and He was raised to life to show us that Jesus is God and that when we put our faith in Him we are given eternal life through Him, in Him,  and with Him.  

Christ said

John 14:27 (NKJV)
27  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

So accept the peace that Christ offers you, every day.  Let not your heart be troubled and don’t be afraid.  Christ not only gives us the way to eternal life. He also taught us to live according to His ways that would give us peace here and now.  

So trust in Jesus always as your Lord and Savior and keep walking and talking with God.  Jesus gave us His peace forever but in order to experience it we have to keep remembering Him and who we are in Christ a part of our “safety plan”.  When the circumstances of life might threaten to bring us into fear, anger, or sadness, remember the peace the Lord has given you and live.  

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If you are interested in taking an online course with Freedom in Christ Ministries below you will find the course options for our Spring Session. The classes will meet for 1.5-2 hours once a week for 12 weeks starting the first full week of April. Our prayer is that you will be able to set aside time for one of these wonderful courses. They truly are life changing!

 

Spring registration is now open! We are offering these times.

1.     Women’s Group, Starting Wednesday, April 6 at 10:00 AM EDT.

2.     Women’s Group, Starting Friday, April 8 at 10:30 AM EDT.

3.     Men’s Group, Starting Tuesday, April 5 at 7:00 PM EDT.

4.     Men's Group, Starting Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 PM EDT.

5.     CO-ED SPANISH SPEAKING Group, Starting Tuesday, April 5 at 7:00 PM EDT.

6.     CO-ED Group, Starting Thursday, April 7 at 7:00 PM EDT.

 

If you are interested in taking the Freedom in Christ Course, please click the Sign-up Form link below to register for your desired course time.

Sign-up Form

 

We encourage you to order your books now through the FICM online Bookstore at Freedominchrist.com. You will need the Freedom in Christ Course Participant’s Guide and The Steps to Freedom in Christ booklet. 

 

For the SPANISH participant's book click here. For the SPANISH Steps to Freedom click here or search SPG004-1 in the bookstore search bar.

                       

All materials and shipping should cost you no more than $25.

 

Once registration has closed, you will receive an introduction email confirming your course time and giving you additional information about your instructor and how the course works.

  

Sign up and order your books today! Class registration will close on Sunday, March 27

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

This morning’s meditation verse is :

1 Thessalonians 3:8 (NLT2)
8  It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.

Today’s Bible verse speaks of the regenerative powers that come from our identity in Christ and the certainty of living a life of faith.     

When we put our faith in Christ we are immediately given a new and eternal spiritual life as the Holy Spirit comes to live in and with us.  

But even though we put our faith in Christ, we are still left in this world broken by sin and it is very easy to doubt that anything has changed.  The enemy whispers in our ears that nothing happened and that we are still the same miserable hopeless sinner that we have always been.  Our own feelings and even our friends and neighbors may deny that anything new has happened to us.   

But if we stand on the word of God we can agree with the truth of scripture to confirm our new lives and identity in Christ. 

Romans 10:9 (NLT2)
9  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Verses like Romans 10:9 and others like it affirm the truth of our new life and who we are in Christ. The who I am in Christ list (https://www.ficm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/who-i-am-in-christ05.pdf) developed by Dr. Neil Anderson is based on the word of God and can be used to remind us of some of the great and precious promises we have received when we put our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  

When we remember who we are in Christ and actually decide to live as a Christian in this world, we can experience the reality of the new life we have been given. 

As today’s verse tells us when we stand firm in the Lord and know it, in our minds, in our hearts, and in our experience, that knowledge of the fact of who we are in Christ and the assurance of our salvation and our entrance into God’s royal family, it gives us a realization of the new life that we already have.  When we stand firm in the Lord, we come alive.  

So live out the new life you have been given by standing firm in the Lord and in the power of His might.  

   

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 Overeating: Freedom from Food Fixation.  

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.

D. What Is Night Eating Disorder?

The clock strikes 8:00 p.m. … and the feeding frenzy begins.

Multitudes of people around the globe, including 6 million Americans, struggle with Night Eating Disorder. Strugglers find themselves agitated, restless, bored … and before they know it they’ve consumed massive amounts of high-carb, high-calorie “comfort food.” And for many, when the clock strikes midnight, they’re back at it again … raiding the refrigerator into the wee hours of the morning … craving comfort food to fill the hole in their hearts. At times we all need comfort, but when no one is near to provide comfort, we can look to food to be that friend. However, God never intended food to fill our hearts. We crave the comfort of friends, but when our relationship hole stays empty, we can find ourselves lamenting …

“This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit.”

(Lamentations 1:16)

     Night Eating Disorder (Night Eating Syndrome) is a condition characterized by huge caloric intake during the after-dinner hours.

     Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is a disorder that affects more than 33% of “morbidly obese” people—those 100 pounds or more overweight.

     Night Eating Syndrome often involves insomnia because feelings of guilt, anxiety, and disgust can also hinder sleep.

But … what is one step in the recovery process? Rather than focusing at night on gorging, the Psalms speak of meditating on the promises of God.…

“My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises.”

(Psalm 119:148)

E. What Is Bulimia?

In the Greco-Roman era, lifestyles of the opulent included lavish feasts, unabashed indulgences, and orgies. One common practice was vomiting after overindulging in food and alcohol. Today the practice of “bingeing and purging” still occurs—a pattern characteristic of bulimia.

Bulimics binge on tangible food to fill their emotional emptiness and then purge to rid themselves of guilt, while God invites them to “feast” on intangible food that produces life and light.…

“They feast on the abundance of your [the Lord’s] house; you [God] give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.”

(Psalm 36:8–9)

     Bulimia comes from a Greek word meaning “great hunger.” The constant and abnormal appetite of a bulimic is an emotional hunger that no amount of food can fill. They binge in an effort to fill their inner needs and then purge to get rid of the guilt for eating too much, as well as to maintain or lose more weight.11

   Bulimia is a psychological eating disorder characterized by repeated or sporadic “binge and purge” episodes.

   Bingeing is an unrestrained consumption of large amounts of food in any setting in a short amount of time.

   Purging may be done by the intentional vomiting of food or by the use of laxatives and diuretics.

   Rumination or rumination syndrome is sometimes a part of bulimia and is the unforced regurgitation, chewing, and re-swallowing of food, like a cow chews its cud.

Tragically, unless the downward spiral of their disorder is reversed and the lies they believe are replaced with truth, those suffering with bulimia fit the description of the ungodly given in Scripture.…

“Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”

(Philippians 3:19)

Overeating vs. Bulimia

Question: “What’s the difference between overeating and bulimia?”

Answer: While both eat food to excess, an overeater may have little concern about being overweight, while the bulimic is consumed with body image and self-loathing.

Just as Job began to despise himself, bulimics despise their bodies and are frequently filled with bitterness.…

“I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.”

(Job 10:1)[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] June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Overeating: Freedom from Food Fixation (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 4–6.