Action Plan For Freedom – Wisdom from Dr. Charles Stanley - Purity 1268

Action Plan For Freedom – Wisdom from Dr. Charles Stanley - Purity 1268

Purity 1268 02/07/2024 Purity 1268 Podcast

Purity 1268 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a view of a blue skies over green mountain majesty that seems to stretch on forever comes to us from Fred Dimmick who spent the last day of January hiking up the Appalachian Trail via Wayah Gap to summit on Wayah Bald in the Nantahala National Forest near Franklin North Carolina.

Well, it’s Wednesday and I share Fred’s photo to visually represent our arrival at another “hump day” and to encourage my friends to “look higher” to pursue the upward call of God on their lives and to take the path of Christian Discipleship into new heights of freedom and victory in their lives.  

I was surprised yesterday to discover that I forgot I had the day off from work. My shifted tour at my day job has me working this Saturday and as I started to head into work at the normal time, my phone buzzed me a reminder that I had the day off! So I turned the car around and went back to River house where I proceeded to use the time off to clean up my PC, send out a bunch of overdue or timely emails, and rest.  I also was blessed with the opportunity to disciple and encourage one of the participants from my Freedom in Christ Course and spent the evening hours giving my testimony and encouraging men in a friend’s online Conqueror Series Support group!  

So it was a day off from the day job, but it was filled with “kingdom work” and it impressed upon me all the more to continue to walk towards formally becoming a Christian life coach, albeit in a part-time capacity for the time being. I’m already doing the work so I might as well begin to proactively offer it to those who need it and are looking for it.

People in the body of Christ need to know who they are in Christ, and they need to learn how to “walk in the Spirit”. While I am far from perfect I have made significant progress along the path, and I feel I owe it to God to help others to know Him more and to show them the way to seek and follow Him into the abundant life of freedom that He has for them.   Not only is freedom possible, but I can also instruct people to follow the way I found it and support them while they find it for themselves.  

As if a sign from God, one of the guys from the Freedom in Christ course reached out and asked for a meeting to ask for “accountability” without fully knowing what he wanted to be accountable to or for.  So in our discussions, I laid out an action plan to transform his life by introducing a holistic plan that would simultaneously minister to his body, mind, and spirit.  This man has been diagnosed manic depressive, so this is an experiment of sorts. He will remain on his medications as he is now, but we are going to introduce him to the “path of Christian Discipleship” and be his guide along the way for 21 days.  His action plan will include prayer, bible study, a healthy diet, exercise, meditation, quieting, appreciation, resting, and checking in daily to report his progress.  His plan will challenge Him to reach out to the Lord for help and to follow Him with the way he lives his life.  And I know that if this man is true to seek the Lord, he will find Him, and if he is true to follow Him, God will lead him into a peace that goes beyond the limitations of a diagnosis and into a peace that goes beyond understanding. 

It's never too late to follow the Lord or to make a resolution and commitment to God to change. When we lean on Him, God will help us.  I am going to share some words of wisdom from the late Dr. Charles Stanley that I received last month in the mail from in touch ministries about making a new start that I found to be encouraging and may cause you to renew your broken New Year’s resolution or to follow the Lord into a new life. 

Stanley’s message states:

What's your outlook on beginning a new year? Some people think making New Year's resolutions is foolish. And it's true that many are quickly forgotten or abandoned, but that doesn't mean the whole practice is a waste of time. It's a way of setting your course in the right direction for the coming months. If you don't make plans for improvement, the only alternative is to drift along doing the same things you've done before, whether or not they're fruitful.

As the old year transitions to the new, take some time to evaluate your life… Try asking yourself the following questions: what did I achieve last year? Have they done anything that will outlive me or have eternal significance? Did I spend my time, energy, and resources accomplishing what I wanted or what God desired? Have I grown in my relationship with Christ? These questions relate to the most important aspect of your life and the key to anything you hope to experience in the future. Let's consider Paul's example in Philippians 3: 7-16.

First, Paul had one desire that superseded all others.

In Philippians 3:7-8 (NASB) Paul wrote:
⁷  …whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…

That's a challenging standard, isn't it? Are our career, family, financial, material, or social goals more important to you than gaining deeper knowledge of, and intimacy with, your Savior? There's nothing wrong with pursuing other things, but they need to take second place to your relationship with the Lord. That means you have to make time to spend with Him, in His word and prayer.

Second, Paul had a primary goal in life.

In Philippians 3:10 (NASB) Paul writes:
¹⁰  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

This wasn't just a superficial familiarity. Paul wanted to know Christ personally and experientially by:

1.   Joyful, daily surrender to his resurrection power,

2.   Suffering for righteousness as he did, and

3.   Being continually conformed to Christ by putting sin to death in his life.

Is knowing God better honestly your primary goal? Most Christians would like to say yes, but the way they invest their time and effort indicates otherwise. The desire may be there, but the action is not, there is no “follow through” . No one ever drifts into fulfilling a goal. Without expending effort, you have a wish, not a goal, and no progress is made without a plan to fulfill it.

Third, Paul wholeheartedly pursued his goal.

In Philippians 3:13-14 (NASB) Paul says
¹³  …. forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul uses the imagery of a race. To make forward progress, you can't carry baggage from the past. Former accomplishments trip you up with pride, while failures and regret drag you down. Instead, run unencumbered, stretching forward with all your might to reach the finish line.

Did Paul succeed in achieving his goal? Listen to his last recorded words in

2 Timothy 4:7-8 (NASB) where he wrote:
⁷  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; ⁸  in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness…

Wouldn't you like to finish life like this, setting a goal for eternal value that you pursued with all your heart from year to year? It's possible. And it's never too late to begin. Ask God for a fresh start. Relinquish any old baggage. And let this new year spur you on to know the Lord above all else.”

You have to love Charles Stanley. He had a heart for God and sought to encourage the body of Christ to let go of the past and to press into the future with a determination to follow the Lord with the way we live.  I read this message an hour after crafting an action plan for a man who wants to know freedom and peace and I believe it was given to me to encourage myself to step onto new ground and to encourage you to do the same.  

So it might by seven days into February and in the middle of another work week, but if the Lord is calling you to resolve to follow Him, it’s a wonderful place to start.

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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 verse comes from the section on Communication, Gossip, and Lying.

John 8:44 (NIV2011)
⁴⁴  You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Today’s verse falls under the ninth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Communication, Gossip, and Lying.

9.     All lying is of the devil, the father of all lies.

Today’s verse reminds us of who we are like when we lie – the devil. So if you pride yourself on being a grifter or someone who can pull the wool over the eyes of the unsuspecting or trusting people of this world, take a good look into the mirror of God’s word and see that your lying ways don’t represent the kingdom of God. They are demonically inspired and come from the father of lies, Satan.  

Once again, I consider the first rule of Christian Discipleship to be always to tell the truth, or more simply: stop lying.  Our lies kill our integrity and murder people’s trust when our deception is discovered. So stop working for evil, stop lying, and start telling the truth in all your dealings to represent God’s kingdom.

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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: MATTHEW 28

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth.” – Matthew 28:18

These are the words of the risen Christ. They are the words of the One who could say, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev. 1:18).

       • “All authority.” This comprehends every power and principality.

       • “Given to Me.” The exalted and ever-living Savior.

       • “In heaven and on earth.” The angels and millions of heavenly hosts are not only to see the demonstration of that power, but also the thousands of people upon earth.

Therefore, says the risen Lord, “All authority has been given to Me … Go” (Matt. 28:18-19). In other words, “I have the power, I will impart the power. You, Go.”

Teach me daily how to appropriate this power.
Amen.^[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 YouTube 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

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^[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).

Going Nowhere without God – Wisdom from Dr. Neil Anderson - Purity 1239

Going Nowhere without God – Wisdom from Dr. Neil Anderson - Purity 1239

Purity 1239 01/04/2024 Purity 1239 Podcast

Purity 1239 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a driveway’s pathway and view of a calm partially frozen pond and the barely visible snow-capped peaks of mountains in the distance comes to us from yours truly as I decided to capture this scene before taking one last look and walk around the grounds of my Adirondack retreat on New Year’s Day. 

Well, it’s Thursday and although this photo may be lacking a bit on majestic beauty don’t let it fool you, sometimes our photos don’t do justice in reflecting the beauty that we can encounter on even gray overcast days.  There can be beauty in silence and stillness and sometimes the “big picture” of things near and far and how they all display the wonder of God’s creation can’t be captured on film, or whatever you call digital phone photography.  Sometimes you have to be there, go there, or live it to know a place and the beauty it holds.   

Likewise, on the path of Christian Discipleship – the beauty of one’s relationship with God and the joy of discovering the joys of living in harmony with His wisdom for our lives is only known by doing it. Similarly, knowing what the Bible says intellectually or factually is a whole lot different from knowing it experientially, when the Holy Spirit reveals to you the depth of it wisdom in revelatory moments of eureka or when you put its wisdom to the test by actually doing what it says and experiencing the results for yourself.  I can tell you to read the Bible, but I can’t read it for you.  I can even quote what the Bible says but just like a photograph may fail to convey the experience of beauty, I may not be able to transfer to you just how much a certain passage of scripture changed my understanding or impacted my heart.  

Often when people put their faith in Jesus, they decide that they will now “work on” changing their lives.  Each new year droves of people will speak an intention to change in some way, but more often than not, they don’t end up “keeping the change” because their hearts or minds weren’t changed at a fundamental level – they didn’t “faith” in their new life – and they went back to what they “really believed”.   They pridefully thought they could change in their own strength, but their strength gave out or they gave into the flesh that said the new life was too hard or that it wasn’t what they really wanted.  

That’s why we have to go to God to be transformed and we have to form that deep personal attachment to Him, because faith is not just about “doing everything right” by following rules. Our faith is in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and their “Way”.  Our faith is to be a relationship where we recognize that God loves us, cares about us, and tells us the things He does to help us.  God doesn’t tell us to obey His word to “correct us” in a traditional sense, He gives us His word because He loves us and knows that if we follow Him we will discover our best lives, but that comes not by our will power, but by believing in Him, trusting Him, and experiencing the joy of discovering just how true and good His teachings are.   God doesn’t want us to be self-sufficient, He wants us to depend on Him.  

I am currently re-reading Dr. Neil Anderson’s Discipling Counseling, and I have to share the following passage that deals with our pride and what it, the world, and the devil say about change and how those contrasts with what God says. Anderson writes:

“After Jesus fed the 5,000, He sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee while He went up to the mountain to pray. In the middle of the sea, the disciples encountered a storm: “Seeing them straining at the oars, … He came to them, walking on the sea; and He intended to pass by them” (Mark 6:48).

I believe the Lord intends to pass by the self-sufficient.

Go ahead and row against the storms of life. He will let you row until your arms fall off, but those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

The only answer the world has for those who are caught in the storms of life is “Row harder, or give in to the pressure and learn to live at sea!”

The devil says, “You can do it by yourself; but if you need a little extra power, I can arrange that for a small price.”

Pride says, “I think I can get out of this by myself. All it requires is a lot of hard work, human ingenuity and maybe a little luck.”

God says, “I won’t interfere with your plans. If you want to try to save yourself, solve your own problems or meet your own needs, you have My permission.

But you won’t be able to because in the final analysis, you absolutely need Me, and you necessarily need each other.”

Fallen humanity is on a sinking ship that is going nowhere without God.” (Anderson, Dr. Neil T.. Discipleship Counseling (p. 295). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)

So stop working so hard, we are going nowhere without God. We can’t save ourselves so why would we think we could change ourselves in any worthwhile way, without Him.  You can be the most physically fit, intellectually smart, kind and caring person you want to be, – but without God -,  all your accomplishments go to nothing, and your pride will send you straight to hell.  We need God, period.  He determines our destiny, here on earth and in heaven. So ask Him to save you and to help you to change. He is good and faithful to do both when you keep on walking and talking with Him.

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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 Comfort.

John 10:14-15 (ESV)
¹⁴  I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
¹⁵  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

 Today’s verses are the second of three passages of scripture that fall under the 10th point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Comfort.

10. Jesus, the good shepherd, died for his sheep; he knows, leads, and protects each one; he gives us eternal security.

Today’s verses remind us that God – Jesus – the Good Shepherd KNOWS US and if we are really His we know Him.  God is all-knowing – He created everything and moves things forward through time and space according to His sovereign will. So He knows when we were born and when we will die. He knows our thoughts and our heart’s intentions. He knows who has trusted in Jesus and who will be saved and spend eternity in His kingdom.  

But this passage also says that His own know Him too.  If you truly know God, you love Him and you seek to know Him more. Christ says those who love Him obey His commandments – so they know what the word of God says, and they respect the author of scripture enough to value what it says and to apply it to their lives. 

So be encouraged that The Lord knows you, cares about you, and loves you but be inspired to show Him that you know Him and love Him too by reflecting His light and love with the way you live.

 

 

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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

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY

JANUARY 4

For Everything There Is a Season

For those who find and give thanks to God in their earthly fortune, God will give them times in which to remember that all things on earth are only temporary, and that it is good to set one’s heart on eternity.… All things have their time, and the main thing is to stay in step with God and not always be hurrying a few steps ahead or falling behind. To want everything all at once is to be overanxious. “For everything there is a season … to weep, and … to laugh; … to embrace, and … to refrain from embracing; … to tear, and … to sew …” (Eccl. 3:1a, 4a, 5b, 7a), “and God seeks out what has gone by” (3:15b). Yet this last part must mean that nothing past is lost, that with us God again seeks out the past that belongs to us. So when the longing for something past overtakes us—and this happens at completely unpredictable times—then we can know that this is only one of the many “times” that God makes available to us. And then we should not proceed on our own but seek out the past once again with God.

Dear Mother, I want you to know that I am constantly thinking of you and Father every day, and that I thank God for all that you are to me and the whole family. I know you’ve always lived for us and haven’t lived a life of your own.… Thank you for all the love that has come to me in my cell from you during the past year, and has made every day easier for me. I think these hard years have brought us closer together than ever we were before. My wish for you and Father and Maria and for us all is that the New Year may bring us at least an occasional glimmer of light, and that we may once more have the opportunity of being together. May God keep you both well.

Birthday letter to Bonhoeffer’s mother

from prison, December 28, 1944

For everything there is a season, and a time for

every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8^[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 YouTube 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

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^[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), 86–87.

 

All the More - Purity 866

All the More - Purity 866

Purity 866 10/19/2022  Purity 866 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the shadows of trees stretching over the plains that lead to the autumn decorated hump of Willard Mountain in the distance under a blue sky with a cloud formation that in my imagination looks like Godzilla reaching out towards us comes from yours truly as I stopped long enough to capture this scene as I drove back up Watie Road on my way back to Riverhouse on Sunday.  I took this photo to capture those autumn colors on the mountain and was going to crop out the rest to highlight that feature but now that I see all that is going on in this photo I decided to leave it as is.   

Well, it’s Wednesday again and I share today's photo because of that hump of Willard mountain adequately represents the midpoint of another work week but I love that this photo has shown me that sometimes there's more than meets the eye, that sometimes we think we know what we're looking for only to discover that God has so much more for us.

Last night I facilitated the freedom in Christ course again and shared with the participants a photo of myself from 2017 where I was tabling for the recovery ministry I was doing at the time and it showed me smiling and wearing a Celebrate Freedom T-shirt and what must have been at least an additional 30 pounds of me. 

The photo had come up in my Facebook memories from five years ago and when I saw it II was shocked and marveled over how I had freedom over alcohol and drugs in 2017  and was obviously motivated and happy with my freedom enough to go out and table for my frecministry but I recall all the things I didn't know that I needed freedom from that I hadn't achieved yet. When I saw the photo I had laughed at it and said wow I really needed more freedom, you know? There was more freedom to be had and I didn’t even know it.   

I shared it with these participants last night to demonstrate that our freedom and our walk with Christ is a progressive thing. That the freedom that they may experience through the freedom in Christ course can be significant but that doesn't mean that the freedom they achieve is the only freedom that they can have. I shared the photo to encourage them that after they finished the course they should continue with the life of Christian discipleship to discover all the things that the Lord has for them.

In 2017, I had many things that I was in bondage to that I didn't quite realize at the time but that the Lord made me aware of and gave me the power to overcome in the years that followed. But I never would have known this freedom and victory that I have today if I had just stayed content to stay in recovery ministry and  claim that victory and only speak about that. If I had stayed complacent and stopped walking with the Lord and stopped examining my life I would have not known the great freedom and victory that I have today. And as I walk with the Lord today in 2022 I know that there's other things that I I can work on that I can overcome.  

As I've said in the past, after I realized that the Lord was willing to do the impossible in my life I asked “What's next Lord?” as I've continued to walk in the spirit I realized that there are no limits to what the Lord can do and I stopped trying to figure out what was the next thing a long time ago and just continue to do what I do day-to-day and remain open for the Lord to lead me in whatever direction he chooses.

Now just to be clear here I don't get an audible word from the Lord. Although sometimes the promptings in my spirit sure sounds like God, I can't claim that everything I “felt I was to do” was the Lord’s direct commands to me.  

The truth is that walking in the Spirit can be a process of trial and error because allthough we have the Spirit of God living in us, we also have ideas and dreams of our own that we have carried with us from our Pre-Christ existence or that the world and society values that influence us and we may think that we can discern God’s will perfectly only to discover that things don’t work out like we thought they would, that the things we decide to “do for the Lord” may not have been divinely inspired because they weren’t successful.    

But our failures are part of this path of Christian Discipleship, so rather than worrying about whether or not the “callings” we get are divinely inspired or not, I would advise others to “give it a try, and see what happens” rather than not doing something and be left always wondering “what if”.  When we step out in faith and try new things or take on challenges that we struggle with, the Lord can use the process to make us grow into the people He wants us to be: people who live by faith in the power of The Holy Spirit rather than people who have it all figured out and only do what is safe.   

Right now there are lies that we are believing, still, that we need to stop believing.  Like “I don’t have faith like ____” or “Overcoming X isn’t the same as overcoming Y” or The Lord blessed them with freedom and victory but He hasn’t blessed me”  or “You have to eat”  or “I only eat the food I like” or “I only do the things I like and that make me happy”

Now, if any of those statements ring a bell or confound you or even anger you, we might have found an area where there is more freedom to be had.  

I know a person who is constantly making “I can’t” or “I don’t” statements that are subtly defining their lives.  I can’t really go into detail about what this person is all about but I if I wanted I could give you a very long list of all the things they:

Don’t do

Can’t do

Don’t Like

Won’t do

Won’t Try

In my perception of this person, I just see a whole lot of resistance and I don’t see any joy.  I see someone who looks to other people or circumstances to make them happy and surprisingly as much as that seems to be the only thing that occupies their minds: what pleases them, some how they are continually in a state of discontent.  And once you think of applying a solution to “their problem” that has worked in the past, they shoot it down as “something they don’t want today” or “don’t feel like” today.  And instead of telling us, what will satisfy them, they hem and haw, expecting others to figure out, somehow magically, what will make them happy, what they “feel like” today.  

This person, and people like them, are slaves to their circumstantial happiness because they are in bondage to their preferences and the resistance they put up to new things and their utter failure to take personal responsibility for themselves.  

But there is great news here! There is lots of freedom to be won here! If they were so inclined, the Lord could lead them to cast fears and anxiety, the Lord could shift their focus off of themselves to consider Him and others, and the Lord could reveal to them that life is not all about pleasing ourselves.   

So what do you do with somebody like this? 

You try to encourage them to seek the Lord and to examine their lives according to what He says is true and to be open minded to consider all the things that He would lead them into.   And you pray for them. 

People like this are blinded by the lies of this world and trapped in a perspective that considers only themselves. They have mirror vision – where they only see themselves – and they rarely let anyone else into their frame. 

I think we all suffer from this to some extent, so none of us gets off this hook.  But the remedy to this self-centered ideation is to consider the Big Picture that the Lord reveals to us and to realize that what the Lord has for us is more than our personal preferences and likes. The Lord has much more than we could ever imagine, but we won’t know it unless we pursue His truth and His presence.  

So that’s why I say, keep walking and talking with God, because He will tell you what you need to know and He will invite you to follow Him where you should go.   

We currently don’t know all the lies we are believing. We don’t know all that we can be “free from” or all that we can be “free to” but if we keep seeking the Lord and His will for our lives, one day we will be able to look back and marvel over how far we have come and how much the Lord has given us. So keep going and see and experience, all “the more” that the Lord has in store for you. 

 

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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

Romans 15:5-7 (NLT2)
⁵  May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
⁶  Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁷  Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

Today’s Bible verses encourages us who follow the Lord into the complete harmony that followers of Jesus Christ can know when we join together to give Him praise and glory and accept each other as Christ has accepted each of us.   

One of the biggest challenges of the Christian Walk is being discerning with what the Lord has revealed to us and how we are to interact with others now that we “know the TRUTH”.  

Because we are in Christ, we are sensitive to the Lord’s will for our lives to be sanctified and to repent of sin and worldliness.  But while we can have this conviction in our lives, other Christians or our friends and family may not have received the same message and in order to maintain harmony and unity in the body of Christ, we may have to learn to use that conviction to transform us and be accepting of our brothers and sisters in Christ who don’t seem to be there just yet, and we have to be even more careful with God’s Truth with our unsaved loved ones.  

I haven’t been discerning and in my zeal to share the gospel I have said some pretty harsh things that were true but somehow didn’t lead people to Christ or a deeper relationship with God.   It turns out I am not the Holy Spirit and I have learned that His job is not my job and, while I will speak the truth in love when I feel His leading, I have learned to get out of His way.  

When we gather as a church, I am not to judge my brother by their supposed sins and offer unsolicited advice on how they can be grow.  As today’s verse says, we are to come together and accept one another in peace as Christ has accepted us and should concern ourselves with giving God praise and glory.   That’s what the corporate gathering is for to praise the Lord and to encourage one another to keep in the faith.  

So, accept others, warts and all, encourage them to follow the Lord, and let The Holy Spirit do His work but be ready in case He calls you into service to help someone in their walk.  

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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 Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

Chapter Six

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5

On the “Extraordinary” of Christian Life

The Visible Church-Community

The other possibility, of course, is that salt loses its taste, that it stops being salt. It ceases to be effective. Then it really is no longer good for anything except to be thrown away. That is the special distinction of salt. Everything has to be salted. But salt that has lost its taste can never again be salty. Everything, even the most spoiled stuff, can be saved by salt. Only salt which has lost its saltiness is hopelessly spoiled. That is the other reality of salt. That is the threatening judgment which hangs over the disciples’ community. The earth is supposed to be saved by the community. But the community that has stopped being what it is will be hopelessly lost. The call of Jesus Christ means being salt of the earth or being destroyed. It means following Christ or—the call itself will destroy the one called. There is no second opportunity to be saved. There cannot be such a salvation.

Jesus’ call promises the community of disciples not only the invisible efficacy of salt, but the visible shine of light. “You are the light”—again, not: “you should be the light”! The call itself has made them light. It cannot be any other way. They are a light which is seen. If it were different, then the call would not be revealed in them. What an impossible, senseless goal it would be for Jesus’ disciples, for these disciples, to want to become the light of the world! They have already been made into light by the call, in discipleship. Again, not “you have the light,” but “you are it!” The light is not something given to you as for example your preaching, but you yourselves are it. He who speaks directly of himself by saying, “I am the Light,” says directly to his disciples, “You are the light in your whole lives, as long as you remain faithful to the call. Because you are the light, you can stay hidden no longer, even if you wanted to. Light shines, and the city on the hill cannot be hidden.”^[58] It simply cannot. It is visible far into the countryside, no matter whether it is a strong city, a guarded fortress, or a crumbling ruin. This city on the hill—what Israelite would not be reminded of Jerusalem, the city built on high!—is the community of disciples. With all this, the followers of Jesus are no longer faced with a decision. The only decision possible for them has already been made. Now they have to be what they are, or they are not following Jesus. The followers are the visible community of faith; their discipleship is a visible act which separates them from the world—or it is not discipleship. And discipleship is as visible as light in the night, as a mountain in the flatland.

To flee into invisibility is to deny the call. Any community of Jesus which wants to be invisible is no longer a community that follows him. “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand”—there is that other possibility, that the light will be shaded intentionally, that it is extinguished under the basket, that the call is denied. The bushel basket, under which the visible community hides its light, can be fear of human beings just as much as it can be intentional conformity with the world for some arbitrary purposes, whether it be missionary purposes or whether it arises from misguided love for people! But it may also be—and that is even more dangerous—a so-called Reformation theology, which even dares to call itself theologia crucis [theology of the cross] and whose signature is that it prefers a “humble” invisibility in the form of total conformity to the world over “Pharisaic” visibility.^[62] In that case the identifying mark of the community ceases to be an extraordinary visibility. Instead, it is identified by its fitness to function within the justitia civilis. Here the criterion for Christianity is considered to be that the light should not shine. But Jesus says, “Let your light shine before the Gentiles.” In any case, it is the light of Jesus’ call which is shining. But what sort of a light is it in which those followers of Jesus, those disciples of the Beatitudes, are to shine? What sort of light should come from that place, to which only the disciples have a claim? What do the invisibility and hiddenness of Jesus’ cross, under which the disciples stand, have in common with the light which is to shine? Shouldn’t it follow from the hiddenness of the cross that the disciples should likewise be hidden, and not stand in the light? It is an evil sophistry which uses the cross of Jesus to derive from it the church’s call to conformation to the world. Does not a simple listener recognize quite clearly that precisely at the cross something extraordinary has become visible? Or is that all nothing but justitia civilis? Is the cross conformation to the world? To the shock of everyone else, is the cross not something which became outrageously visible in the complete darkness? Is it not visible enough that Christ is rejected and must suffer, that his life ends outside the city gates on the hill of shame? Is that invisibility?

The good works of the disciples should be seen in this light. “Not you, but your good works should be seen,” says Jesus. What are these good works which can be seen in this light? They can be no other works than those Jesus himself created in the disciples when he called them, when he made them the light of the world under his cross—poverty, being strangers, meekness, peacemaking, and finally being persecuted and rejected, and in all of them the one work: bearing the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is that strange light which shines there, by which alone all these good works of the disciples can be seen. Nowhere does it say that God becomes visible, but that the “good works” will be seen, and that the people will praise God for these works. The cross becomes visible, and the works of the cross become visible. The want and renunciation of the blessed become visible. But human beings can never be praised for the cross and for such a faith-community, only God can be praised. If the good works were all sorts of human virtues, then the disciples, not the Father, would be praised for them. As it is, there is nothing to praise in the disciple who bears the cross, or in the faith-community whose light so shines, which stands visibly on the mountain—only the Father in heaven can be praised for their “good works.” That is why they see the cross and the community of the cross, and have faith in God. There, then, shines the light of the resurrection.^[1]

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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

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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^[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 112–114.