Overwhelming Work? Never
Ending Grace- Purity 818
Purity 818 08/24/2022 Purity 818 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a view of the Grand Canyon comes to
us from a friend who visited there back in April while on an epic road trip
that took them throughout the Southwest and terminated in California. With
views like this we are not surprised that our friend fell in love with Arizona
as they were surprised to admit that “Arizona will apparently forever have a
piece of my heart now.”
I know that a canyon is perhaps not the best way to
visually represent “hump day” but I would imagine that those canyon walls sure
look like a mountain to the people at the bottom of it! Also it sort of visually represents how I
feel this morning as I contemplate the “mountain” of tasks that seem to be
surrounding me as I have decided to prepare for the ministry work I have committed
myself to in the upcoming weeks and months as summer will give way to “back to
school season”.
So this morning, I thought I would give a little
advice on what to do when we feel overwhelmed with work or have realized the
responsibilities that are involved with the promises or commitments we have
made. While my suggestions may be
adopted by anyone in general, I will be specific in saying that we will rely on
the Lord to help, strengthen, and guide us as we seek to climb out of the
valley of the things we agreed to or to keep going over the mountain of things
we have to do from “here to there”.
And I guess that’s where I will begin: at the
end.
Okay, so we are talking about stress, we got things
to do, we have limited time, and limited resources, and just thinking about it
all can cause us to freak out, to grow anxious or become depressed.
Unfortunately, in my experience I can attest to the
fact that the world, the flesh, and the devil seem to love to pile it on when
we may have over extended ourselves or have agreed to things that we didn’t
realize would entail what they entail.
So if the work itself wasn’t enough to deal with, we
will be distracted and led astray by our emotions or temptations to make decisions
that don’t help or can make matters worse by squandering more of our limited
resources. Ask me how I know!
So back to the end, while some of us may be on a
journey with no end in sight and with an uncertain destination, we can find a
measure of peace in doing what we can do for today and in making short term
goals to not only measure our progress but to motivate us with the fact that we
can accomplish some things in a short time even if it may take months or even
years to accomplish our long term goals.
So we contemplate our “ends” – What do we need to do,
and what can we do, by the end of the day? the end of the week, or the end of
the month?
Instead of growing anxious because of all the
situations and tasks that are on our plate, we divide and conquer it by being realistic
and intentional in assessing and prioritizing the things that need to be done
now versus the things that can be done later.
So what needs to be done today and what can wait?
Also in this assessment, we should also consider the
things we can complete and the things that will be an ongoing issue or require
a sustained effort to complete.
Once we get an idea of that, we can choose to take
on our work in various ways. We can
take on each task one by one and press in until their completion or we can
split our time and energy between tasks in equal or unequal measures to begin an
overall campaign of activity that will result in “everything” getting done
before crucial deadlines.
So yeah we have to know those deadlines – that’s the
end right and be diligent to meet them in a way that will not cause unbalance with
the rest of our lives.
A broad approach that takes everything in
consideration and balances your efforts in small increments over time is
preferable to leaving things to the last minute in terms of our peace, so avoid
the temptations to be lazy but at the same time be wise in knowing your limits
and be sure to get some rest when you need it.
This is all just general advice that anyone can take
but I wouldn’t be doing you any favors if I didn’t remind you that your
relationship with God is continuous and the Lord can help you in your efforts
to dig yourself out of the hole you are in or to climb over the mountain of
work you have to surmount.
Without God in our lives, we could probably manage
to get things done and we will have varying levels of success in performing our
tasks and in avoiding making dumb decisions that will hinder our progress but
when we walk and talk with Him in our “Everyday” lives we can benefit from His
presence, His wisdom, His strength, and His rest.
The very fact of our covenant relationship with the
Lord is a game changer. His grace is
enough and it liberates us. When we know
that no matter how we perform in this world that we are approved of and
accepted by God, we can watch the pressure and stress of the things that usually
cause us fits disappear.
The amazing thing about grace is that we can fail. Failure is an option. Quitting is an option. There really is no
case scenario with God. No matter how we
mess up God will still love us. We can even literally die of shame and embarrassment
of failing at our accomplishments and God would be there to welcome us into His
arms.
God knows our pain. God knows our struggles. God
knows our situations.
But He never leave us or forsake us in them and He
will be available to us to comfort us and to encourage us through the things we
need to do.
So as we plan, as we prioritize, and as we work to “get
‘er done”, we shouldn’t forget that we are not alone. God is with us and just
knowing that and being able to go to Him for comfort, guidance and strength
will give His power to persevere, overcome, or endure the things that this life
will bring to us.
Although, the things I have committed myself to and
the work that is involved in doing them can seem overwhelming when I look at
them, when I remember that God approves of me regardless of my performance and
that He is with me all the time, those tasks don’t seem so scary anymore.
I’ll either do a good job, or I won’t. I’ll either
get ‘er done or I will have to humble myself and admit that I took on more than
I was able. But even if I do less than
what I would have like, I won’t die and even if I do, God will still be with
me.
So don’t be afraid of the “Big Old Pile of work”
before you, Don’t be afraid of the opinions of others if you fail. God loves
you and you will never be rejected by Him when you put your faith in Jesus and
follow Him to the best of your abilities.
God encourages to stretch ourselves to do the
impossible, but He has already accepted us as we are.
But instead of staying where we are, let’s follow the
Lord and see what we Can do with this
life. Let’s see where the Lord has to take us and let’s see what we can
accomplish when we walk with Him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Isaiah 40:29 (NLT2)
29 He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Today’s verse tells us that God gives power to the weak and
strength to the powerless.
And all the people said: Amen! – Through our faith in Jesus Christ,
we’ve got God on our side guys! We know His grace and it will be with us to
carry us wherever the Lord wants us to go.
Grace is God’s “divine, unmerited favor”. It doesn’t run out at salvation. As His adopted
children, God wants to know His love and His care for us. If we ask for His strength, we will receive
it.
While God’s power in us may not result in miraculous works or
signs and wonders, His strength can be called on to help us to accomplish
things we never thought we could or to endure trials and tribulations we would
never have thought we could survive.
God’s strength is in His presence and when we continually abide in
Him, we can cast out fear and have hope and joy as we walk through this
life. So if you are feeling weak powerless,
ask your Heavenly Father for His help and receive His strength.
______________________________________________________________________
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.
Discerning the Demonic
How
can a person detect the direct influence of evil spirits as opposed to it being
a societal influence or one’s own inclination toward doing evil?
In the Gospels and
Acts it appears that Christ, the apostles and ministers had little trouble
detecting the immediate work of evil spirits in the lives of demonized people.
Their physical conditions (unusual muscular strength, physical debilitation or
illness), bizarre behavior (like living among tombs), extreme reaction to
Christ or the use of his name and authority, and the direct response of the
demon using the person’s vocal apparatus in reply to Christ (or a follower of
Christ) appear to have been foremost among the evidences. Many would contend
that the same evidences of intense demonic influence can be seen in certain
people today. Some argue that people involved in Satanism and the occult open
the door to this kind of severe demonic control; in most instances such people
specifically seek communication with demons and the prince of evil.
Yet we should not
limit our perception of Satan’s activity to these more dramatic forms. We need
to be wary of too readily restricting the devil’s work exclusively to murderous
Satanic rituals, scenes similar to those in the The Exorcist, and witchcraft. Satan and his spirits can influence
people even if they do not experience voices in their heads and roam
graveyards. It is the broader activity of Satan and the principalities and
powers that the apostle Paul appeared to stress in his letters.
While Satan may often
work in a direct and immediate way in people, he also asserts his sway more
indirectly through exploiting “the world” and reinforcing the appetites of the
flesh (our inclination toward evil). Thus we need to speak of varying levels of
his influence.
First, as “the prince
of this world,” Satan attempts to exert his polluting influence on all aspects
of societal life and culture. When biblical ethics are portrayed in a negative
light in society, Satan has been successful in extending his evil influence on
a broad scale. For instance, when pilfering from one’s employer is
rationalized, Satan becomes victorious. When vengeance is regarded as the best
course of action against a person who wrongs us, Satan has successfully twisted
our moral conscience. In short, Satan can pervert societal morals, traditions
and customs. (The next chapter will develop this aspect of Satan’s activity in
more detail.)
Second, Satan works
in concert with an individual’s inclination toward evil (“flesh”). If a person
is naturally inclined toward anger and bitterness, in some way an evil spirit
may directly encourage that attitude. If the malice continues and intensifies,
demonic involvement in the person’s life may become more direct. This situation
is what Paul referred to as giving “a place” to the devil. In principle, it
appears that those who persistently and willfully continue in certain patterns
of sinfulness may experience increasing amounts of direct demonic influence.
Paul did not
speculate about how these powers precisely work their evil influence of
temptation. He merely said the powers do exert this kind of influence as his
way of motivating and preparing believers to face the impending trials.
During World War 2,
Oxford Medieval scholar C. S. Lewis wrote an imaginative account of a series of
letters, penned by an older seasoned demon to his younger inexperienced nephew.
In this little book, entitled The
Screwtape Letters, Lewis envisioned each of the powers of darkness as
having an assigned “patient” for whom the demon is given the responsibility of
using every possible means to direct the patient’s attention away from anything
that would lead that person toward God’s kingdom. Throughout the book Lewis
depicted the younger demon (Wormwood) as keeping careful track of everything in
his patient’s train of thinking and then working to influence the subject’s
thoughts in the areas the demon considered him to be the most vulnerable. In
describing the elder demon’s instructions to the younger, Lewis used such phrases
as: “make him think,” “fuddle him,” “tempt,” “keep everything hazy in his
mind,” “keep his mind off …,” “turn their gaze away from Him [God] toward
themselves,” and “let an insult or a woman’s body so fix his attention outward
…” The power of Lewis’s presentation is in his ability to balance the
“patient’s” free will with the compelling power of the incessant supernatural
temptation that vies with the ever-wooing, enabling and encouraging Spirit of
God. Lewis provokes his readers into thinking about Satan’s potential
involvement in the hour-to-hour mundane affairs and decisions of everyday life.
While Lewis’s account
moves far beyond the few insights given to us in Scripture, I do not think he
contradicts what we know about the work of the powers in Paul’s writings. I am
convinced that the apostle Paul would have gone far down the road with Lewis in
agreeing with him that the powers of darkness entice unbelievers and believers
alike. Lewis has served the Christian community well by heightening the awareness
of the demonic in a stirring way that calls for vigilance and dependence on the
Lord.[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), 187–189.
