Gifts of Appreciation and Love – 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther – Day 15 - Purity 1288
Purity 1288 03/01/2024 Purity 1288 Podcast
Purity 1288 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of roadside setting sun over the
Hudson River comes to us from yours truly as I just had to pull over to capture
this scene on my way home from work yesterday in Castleton NY,
Well, It’s Friday, thank God, and as I share this
photo from a moment when I truly appreciated the shining sun and the fact that
my commute makes moments like this possible, I encourage you to regularly practice
appreciation and gratitude as part of your walk on the path of Christian Discipleship. If you are in Christ, you have received a new
life but if you don’t remain grounded in an attitude of gratitude based on your
new identity in Christ and take times to appreciate all that the Lord has done
and is doing in your life, you could miss the abundant life of peace and joy
that Jesus came to give you.
Beyond the essential practice of thanking and
appreciating God, which would help you in being obedient to Jesus’ commandment
to love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, and mind, we should let the
love and joy we have received from God be passed along to the other people in
our lives, to fulfill Christ’s second
great commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Our family, friends, and neighbors have been sovereignly
placed in our lives by the Lord and while some of our relationships may be
challenging, we shouldn’t take our good relationships for granted and
periodically do something special to show our thanks and appreciation, or to
offer help, to those we love.
This week I sent a surprise gift of appreciation to Julaine
Kammrath because she has been graciously teaching me how to be a more effective
prayer minister and counselor. She has sacrificed her time and shared her
wisdom with me for several weeks of Immanuel Prayer training and I felt moved
to spontaneously send her a book I thought that she would enjoy. She received the book yesterday and texted me her thanks and I felt great because
I really wanted to show my appreciation for what she has done for me and for our
friendship.
I also sent a book to someone I love, who shall
remain nameless, who is going through a major trauma, and who hasn’t been
exactly wise in how they reacted to the losses they have faced. I sent them June Hunt’s “How to Handle Your
Emotions” to encourage them to press into their faith and to process the
complex emotions of what they are going through according to the Lord’s
wisdom. I was nervous about how that
little gift was going to be received because this person isn’t the most faithful
Christian but was pleasantly surprised to receive their thanks and genuine
appreciation for the book and was able to offer my best advice on how to apply
the books wisdom and to take proactive steps to help move them through their
current crisis with dignity and hope.
I have received so much from the Lord and the body
of Christ through the years and now I encourage others to follow the Lord to
get what I got – a new abundant life of freedom, peace, and joy – that comes
from following the Lord – and my giving these gifts of appreciation and love is
part of that process.
When we surrender to God’s will for our lives and
live according to the ways of Jesus, we thrive because we come into harmony
with God and His love flows through us.
Well it’s the season of Lent, and there is no better
time to draw close to God than right now, and speaking of Lent…
It’s the fifteenth day of Lent and so we continue my
personal walkthrough of Gracia Grindal’s 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther
to observe and celebrate the Lenten season.
In this walkthrough Grindal’s devotional, it is our hope that we will get to know
Martin Luther a little better as we seek to draw closer to the Lord on our
journey to Resurrection Sunday – Easter.
And so we continue.
“Journey
Day 15
Now,
as we said before, these words, (the Ten Commandments), contain both a wrathful
threat and a friendly promise, not only to terrify and warn us but also to
attract and allure us, so that we will receive and regard God's Word as
seriously as he does.
For
God declares how important the commandments are to him and how strictly he will
watch over them, namely that he will fearfully and terribly punish all who
despise and transgress his commandments; and again, how richly he will regard,
bless, and bestow all good things on those who prize them and gladly act and
live in accordance with them.
Thus
he demands that all our actions proceed from a heart that fears God, looks to
him alone, and because of this fear avoids all that is contrary to his will,
lest he be moved to wrath. Conversely, he demands that our actions proceed from
a heart that trust in him alone and for his sake does all that he asks of us,
because he reveals himself as a kind father and offers us every grace and
blessing.
Biblical Wisdom
Do
not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not
to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass
away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until
all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these
commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of
heaven; But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5: 17-19.
Silence for Meditation.
Questions to Ponder
· Are
the commandments a cause of terror, a means of grace, or both? Explain.
The Ten
Commandments are both a cause of terror and a means of grace because they
convict us of our sins, cause us to fear God’s wrath, and show us our inadequacy to save ourselves
causing us to put our faith in Jesus to receive our forgiveness and peace with
God.
· Is it
possible to have a heart that “trusts” in God alone? If so, how is such a heart
developed and nurtured? If not, why not?
I have to believe that it is possible to have a
heart that trusts in God alone. Christ was fully man and He trusted in God alone
and as God has called us to put our faith in Jesus and to become more like Him
I have to believe that such a heart can be developed and nurtured in us and the
way that we do so is by abiding in Christ and to progressively surrender to
living like Him. Luckily, God blesses
our efforts to be more like Christ and the further we come to know and love God
the more our hearts are changed to trust God alone.
· How
might a community of faith help us to know that the law is kind and God is a
kind father, as Luther says?
The community of faith can help us to know that the
law is kind and God is a kind Father by teaching from the whole counsel of God’s
word that clearly teaches that God is love and by demonstrating the love of God
through providing acommunity of love and fellowship.
Psalm Fragment
O Lord,
who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk
blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart, who do
not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a
reproach against their neighbors. Psalm 15: 1-3.
Journal Reflections
· Do
you experience God's law primarily as a “wrathful threat” or a “friendly
promise”? Explain.
I would say that I formerly thought of God’s law as
a wrathful threat but since I have put my faith in Jesus and have the assurance
of my salvation, I now look at it as a friendly promise. God’s commandments
will convict us of sin, but Jesus pays the cost and when we put our faith in
Him we no longer need to fear the punishment of the wrath of God, instead we
can see that the law reflects God’s love for us as breaking the Ten
Commandments always results in suffering. God doesn’t want us to suffer and so
His love causes Him to teach us how to live wisely and purely.
· Meditate
in writing on how you imagine God to be. What are your primary images of God?
How do these images shape your faith and your life in the world?
I don’t have enough time or wisdom to write sufficiently
on how I imagine God, so I point to the word of God and its descriptions of God
as a Loving, Just, and Holy Father to shape my relationship with Him and to
guide my life in the world. I spend the
days of my life now in a continuous dialog with God where I express my thanks
and love for Him and ask for His guidance as I walk through this world. Like a smitten child, I confess my love to
God throughout the day because I imagine Him to be wise and kind.
· Meditate
on whether you “receive and regard God's word as seriously as he does.” Does
your meditation suggest any changes you might need to make?
It’s not possible to take God’s word as seriously as
He does because if I did I would live according to it perfectly, which I don’t.
I am continually trying to apply the wisdom of God’s word to my life. I do take
it seriously, but I am sure it wouldn’t take long to show me the many ways in
which I fall short of following it perfectly. Yes, my meditation on this fact
does cause me to contemplate many changes I need to make to be more like Jesus –
being a good steward to my body, finances, and relationships being one, and
finding my purpose for God’s kingdom in the future, being another.
Prayers for the Life of Faith
Pray
that you and others in your community will try to live as God has commanded so
that life will flourish, and you may walk blamelessly in the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Lord, I pray that I and others in my community will
try to live as You commanded so that our lives with flourish and that we may
walk blamelessly in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer For Today
Dear
Lord Jesus, you claimed to be the fulfillment of the law and to give me life.
Make my heart pure and obedient to you.
Amen.
(Gracia M. Grindal. 40-day
Journey With Martin Luther. Kindle Edition.)
(We encourage you to purchase Grindal’s book and
take the 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther for yourself by purchasing Grindal’s
book wherever books are sold. You can find it online at many different sites
and purchase it new, used – paper or electronic for less than $15.00).
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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 come 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 Contentment, Coveting
& and Priorities.
1 Timothy 6:7-10 (NASB)
7 For we have brought nothing
into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
8 If we have food and
covering, with these we shall be content.
9 But those who want to get
rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires
which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a
root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from
the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Today’s
verses fall under the second point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Contentment,
Coveting, and Priorities.
2. Learn contentment, for love of money brings misery.
Today’s
verse warns us of the love of money being the root of all sorts of evil and
tells us that if we have the bare necessities of life we should be content.
One
of the most eye-opening experiences we can have as Christians is going into the
economically depressed areas of the world in missionary service. Going into the mission field challenges our
Western ideas of what the “bare necessities” are and can show us that it is
possible to be quite happy with next to nothing materially. Today’s verses tell us to be content with food
and covering as those two things are really all we need materially to survive.
However,
being in survival mode would not bring us joy if we don’t have the hope and
love of the Lord in our lives. Meeting
just food and shelter needs would not satisfy if we were striving for
circumstantial happiness but when we have peace with God and the assurance of
life with Him forever, those two things and the abundance of joy we have in the
Lord is more than enough to make us content.
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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 “According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A
Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase Olford’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for less than $10 at many sites.
EVENING READING: LUKE 4
“I must preach.” – Luke 4:43
These were the words of the perfect preacher, the Lord Jesus
Christ. His very heart burned with a holy passion for souls. “I must preach,”
it was imperative. His great love compelled Him. His holy ministry was
characterized by His devotedness to His ministry. He was to seek and to save.
Therefore:
•
He must be about His Father's business
(Luke 2:49).
•
He must preach (Luke 4:43).
•
He must go through Samaria (John 4:4).
•
He must be lifted up (John 12:32).
The apostle Paul burned with the same spiritual zeal. He
therefore could say, “Necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not
preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). And, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1).
Create this passion within my soul, O
Lord.[1]
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tomorrow------------------------
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“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,
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and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional
Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).