Gratitude for Others - 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 2 – Purity 1058
Purity 1058 06/02/2023 Purity 1058 Podcast
Purity 1058 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo
of a view “Along the River” that features bright orange flowers in the
foreground, and a mirror like reflection of the green trees and the blue sky
above on the surface of what is presumably the Hiawassee River, somewhere near
Murphy NC, comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this oasis like scene
yesterday on social media.
Well it’s
Friday, thank God, and although I have things to do today. I am appreciating
the oasis like splendor of my last official day of this Memorial Week vacation that
will provide me with the time to get them done.
As I have walked through this week that has been a combination of rest,
work, and learning, I have come to the conclusion that “time off” is an
illusion as even in the most laid back circumstances there are inherent needs
and responsibilities that need to be addressed if we seek to maintain any semblance
of balance and peace.
While we are
free to choose to “do nothing”, we are not free of the consequences of “doing
nothing” as the impermanent nature of this world requires that we be diligent
in paying attention to the things and systems that surround us that need regular
maintenance and care to operate as they should. As much as I was rejoicing over
the silence that I found in Nemorod cabin just a few days ago, noting the lack
of the sounds of lawn mowers, I am facing the fact that I will break the
silence around my house down by the River today as I will choose to mow my own
lawn, preferring to keep my lawn short and my chore less taxing but more
frequent, rather then letting the grass grow thick and long making the mowing
more challenging.
I also will
be choosing to get an oil change even though the mileage isn’t quite to the
limit yet because I would rather do it now rather than trying to sneak it in
after work some day next week.
Yeah, time
off is an illusion to some extent because we are called to be good stewards to
what the Lord has provided us with, and we experience negative consequences
when we don’t “do what is right.” This
principle extends to our homes and things, and even our bodies. If we overindulge our flesh with too much
food or too much rest, we begin to suffer under the weight of our own bodies or
from the weakness that results from a lack of physical exercise. So even though it was my “week off” and I
made some compromises on my food choices in the spirit of “vacation”, I have continued my normal exercise routine
and have righted the ship of my food choices knowing that the occasional indulgence
may be allowed, it isn’t wise, and it shouldn’t be repeated for long. So no
more ice cream (why does a half gallon cost less than 2 pints?) and no more
large buckets of popcorn at the movies, for a while anyway.
And
similarly, we don’t really get any time off from our relationships either. When
we avoid people, or take people for granted, there are negative consequences –
we feel alone, the enemy comes in to encourage our isolation by causing us to
think on the negative aspects of other people, and we feel even more anxiety
over reconnecting because we haven’t been exercising our social skills that may
require patience and forgiveness.
So today I
am encouraging myself and whoever gets this far in the message to be grateful
for the other people in our lives. I
know some people right now who are grieving the loss of loved ones. I know some
who are suffering medical problems – some quite sudden and traumatic. I know
some people who are struggling to make ends meet because of a lack of work or a
sudden change of employment status. And
while all of these people’s problems are different and highly personal, I
believe all of them could benefit through the care and concern of others.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NKJV) tells us.
9 Two are better than
one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will
lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he
has no one to help him up.
11 Again, if two lie down
together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered
by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
We are called to love one another, and
Solomon points out how we greatly benefit from having others walking with us
through life to help us. And so we
should be grateful for the people in our lives and seek to form wholesome and
godly relationships with others in our lives, based on our mutual faith in
Christ, if we find ourselves alone. Easier
said then done I know, but God calls us to be loving, bold, and courageous so
don’t give up hope of finding good relationships and don’t stop giving yourself
to others who may need a friend like you.
Anyway, that brings us to our current
series where I am walking through the 28 Day Joy Challenge, (https://4habits.org/) which is based on Dr. Marcus Warner
& Chris Coursey’s latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People.
You can sign
up for the 28 Day Joy Challenge for free and purchase a variety of books from
Warner and Coursey on topic of Joy, by going to https://4habits.org/.
So let’s
jump into Day 2!
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Day 2:
Gratitude Jumpstarts our Joy!
Welcome to Day 2 of the 28 Days to Joy Challenge!
Today’s Encouragement:
Just as with practicing a sport or instrument, we don’t start out as experts. The goal of this journey is not perfection, but rather to gain awareness and grow over time. If any of these exercises don’t come naturally or easily to you, that is okay. As you practice, you will grow!
Today’s Practice: Exercise 2
Today we will learn to use gratitude to jumpstart our joy.
- How This Exercise Will Benefit You:
Gratitude jumpstarts our joy and activates the joy switch in our
brains. Spending time remembering the things we are grateful for retrains our
brains to focus on life’s blessings versus life’s problems. The more we
practice gratitude, the more we remember, see, and anticipate good things in
life.
- Exercise Steps:
Identify a person you feel thankful for today and write out
specific reasons and examples of why you appreciate this person. Then, take
this skill to the next level and tell them how much you appreciate them. (If
they are unavailable, practice with someone else.)
Have
fun with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice!
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I reviewed
Day 2’s instructions last night to prepare myself for what I would be in for
this morning, because I do intend to actually practice what they instruct and
report on my experiences with them.
I had
thought of a few people that I could be grateful for a variety of reason but
when I sat down to do the practice this morning, I was moved to focus on my wife,
TammyLyn, and to be true to the instructions on actually writing out “specific
reasons and examples” of why I appreciate her.
Also by blogging, and podcasting this – I will be faithful in telling
her how much I appreciate her, but if for some reason she doesn’t read or here
this message, I will be seeing her tonight and will have my little notebook of
reason to present to her in person to let her know how much I appreciate
her.
Luckily, we
already “practice appreciation” for one another by letting each know how much
we love one another and how we appreciate the things we do and the people we
are to one another quite regularly. And there seems to be no limit on how much
we each appreciate reporting and hearing these things to one another.
But just
because we do this on the regular doesn’t mean that I am going to neglect doing
today’s Joy Challenge in earnest!
SO this is
straight from my scribbled notes (unedited -mostly)
TammyLyn,
I am
grateful for you because (this was actually added as I more or less wrote a
list) of your:
· Tenacity – You never gave up on me
when you felt you “needed me in your life” even though I was unsure, fearful,
and resistant to the idea, even though I felt drawn to you the moment I first
saw you.
· Faith – Your faith in Christ is
genuine and “the evidence” was there and real.
· Determination – While I think you
were prone to perseverance, endurance, and acceptance because “it was what it
was”, you increasingly seem to have become determined in pursuing the things
you need to accomplish and realizing your full potential.
· Care – You care for your kids, your
pets, your students, me, and others in countless selfless ways, putting the
needs of others above your own.
· Love – I have never felt loved for,
like the way I feel loved by TammyLyn – I feel joy in her presence as I feel
like I am the “sparkle in her eye” and she seems genuinely happy to be with me.
· Character – She may not be perfect,
but since I have known TammyLyn, she has done what is right and stood for
righteousness, isn’t ashamed of it, and will even suffer because of it at
times.
So that is
my cleaned up version of my notes. After
compiling the list, I am obviously very grateful for my wife, but I also
recognized that of the other people I had thought of as other possible people
to be grateful for in this practice – I noticed that they had the same
attributes. In varying degrees, the people I could think of to be grateful for
were also: tenacious, determined, caring, loving, and faithful people of character. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of
people I could think on that had these qualities are Christians as they reflect
the One they are called to follow: Jesus Christ.
And for
those of you out there that may be struggling to think of anyone you can be
grateful for let me suggest you make friends with Christians but also you
remind you of the friend you have in Jesus.
As much as
these joy exercises will lead us to try to increase our joy through the things
around us, let’s not forget that True Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, and it is
not contingent on positive circumstances.
TammyLyn
could change. She could become bitter and angry. She could lose her mental facilities
and forget who she is. She could and will someday die. So if my joy in life is
only based on her, I am setting myself up for real disappointment.
However, God
doesn’t change and our relationship to Him through our faith in Jesus Christ is
sealed for eternity. If I am worshipping
TammyLyn more than the Lord, I got something really wrong. I am worshipping the
“created” over the Creator. That’s Idolatry and that’s a sin.
While we
should be grateful for all the people, places, and things in our lives, we need
to remember that they have all been provided to us from a tenacious,
determined, caring, loving, God who defines what a righteous character is.
So thank God
for the people in your life, show them appreciation because they may not always
be who they are now or be present in your life, but remember that when you have
your faith in Christ, you are never alone and can be grateful for God.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity
than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s
website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This
morning’s meditation verses are:
Numbers 6:24-26 (NLT2)
24 ‘May the LORD bless you and protect you.
25 May the LORD smile on you and be gracious to
you.
26 May the LORD show you his favor and give you his
peace.’
Today’s verses are the “Priestly blessing” – delivered from God to Moses, to Aaron to be give the people of Israel a “special blessing” and it relates God loves for His people and when we speak it, it relates our selfless love for others.
Instead of asking for “what we can get”, this prayer selflessly directs the Lord to bless others with His grace, His favor, and His peace.
I love how the Lord arranged to put this before us on the day we are practicing gratitude and appreciation for other people in our lives! It’s as if He is giving these words to us to bless those we are grateful for, and really there is no “as if” about it. He did give us these words to bless those we are grateful for!
So thank God for the
people you are grateful for, and let them know about it too, and while you at
it, use this “priestly blessing” to prayer for them as well!
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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 continue sharing from The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)
A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit
6 - The Holy
Spirit During the Old Testament Ages
In
Relation to the Nation Israel
Let us next observe the relation of the Holy
Spirit unto the nation of Israel. A very striking and comprehensive statement
was made by Nehemiah, when he reviewed the Lord’s dealings with His people of
old: “Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them” (Neh. 9:20). He was,
until quenched, upon the members of the Sanhedrin (Num. 11:16, 17). He came
upon the judges (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 15:14), upon the kings (1 Sam. 11:6;
16:13), and the Prophets. But note it is a great mistake to say, as many have
done, that the Holy Spirit was never in any believer before Pentecost: Numbers
27:18, Nehemiah 9:30, 1 Peter 1:11 clearly prove otherwise. But alas, Israel
“rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit” (Isa. 63:10), as Stephen declared, “Ye do
always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51).
That the Holy Spirit
indwelt saints under the Legal economy is clear from many considerations: how
otherwise could they have been regenerated, had faith, been enabled to perform
works acceptable to God? The Spirit prompted true prayer, inspired spiritual
worship, produced His fruit in the lives of believers then (see Zech. 4:6) as
much as He does now. We have “the same
Spirit of faith” (2 Cor. 4:13) as they had. All the spiritual good which has
ever been wrought in and through men must be ascribed unto the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit was given to the Old Testament saints prospectively, as pardon of sin was given in view of the
satisfaction which Christ was to render unto God.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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
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)
For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ,
I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You
can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge
“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 Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).
