Oh The Places You Will Go! -The Path of Discipleship – Purity 669

 Oh The Places You Will Go! -The Path of Discipleship – Purity 669

Purity 669 03/03/2022   Purity 669 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a blazing sun over a pathway that leads to an unnamed building in an undisclosed city in the country of Romania comes to us from a friend who answered the call of the Lord to the mission field. My friend was blessed by the Lord’s provision to raise nearly 20 thousand dollars to pay for missionary efforts that have begun in Romania but will take them to various countries throughout the world over the next year. 

The call from God on their life will have them distributing Bibles and sharing the love of God through ministering to others’ needs for the next year. On this journey even though they have a schedule of where they will go and a general idea of what they will do, the specific plan that God has for their individual journey and purpose is unknown, undisclosed, and to be determined but they went any way. 

Well it’s Thursday, and as you may know today is the day that I love to share pictures of various kinds of pathways as a symbolic representation for the path of Christian Discipleship and as an encouragement to all who see or hear these messages to make a decision to answer the call of God to get on their own personal pathway of Christian Discipleship.   

My pathways have led me to different countries and different “missions” over the years with the latest being called to lead a Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course once a week via zoom for Freedom in Christ Ministries. 

My pathway of faith has also led me to Starpoint Church in Clifton Park where I spent the evening last night praising the Lord in song and hearing an empowering message from Pastor Roscoe Lily based on Hebrews 12:1-3 that encouraged us to “run the race God has set before us” and to enter into this season of Lent with an intention to “strip off every weight that slows us down” by confronting the sin in our lives that “so easily trips us up.”    

The worship was exuberant and I loved the fact that the leadership at Starpoint Church has crafted their recent messages to remind us about how “God loves sinners like me”  but has balanced it with the truth that even though God meets us where we are at, He also calls us to repentance and to experience the peace and joy that come from turning from our sins and living out the life that God has for us when we trust Him to help us.  

God loved a sinner like me, but He didn’t want me to stay in my sins and when I decided to trust in Him to help me live according to His ways, my life was transformed, and it is still being transformed as I have learned that this pathway of Christian Discipleship simply doesn’t end. When you follow God, you don’t know where you are going to end up but if you are faithful to listen to and obey His guidance, the destination is always good. 

There were no ashes at last night’s Ash Wednesday worship service. Instead of marking our heads, the church leadership invited everyone to open their hearts and to “rise from the ashes” by encouraging them to confront the sin in their lives and to commit themselves to using the next 40 days of the season of Lent to draw closer to God.

The church also distributed a daily devotional resource to all the people in attendance and encouraged the church body to be unified by choosing to use it for a their time of personal prayer over the next 40 days. This gesture was encouraging because it demonstrates that even though we all have our own lives and different challenges, we are not alone.

As Hebrews 12:1 told us, we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, those Christians that have gone into eternity before us and those that gathered together in worship last night, all of which can each personally testify of the reality of and goodness of God in their lives.  

So let me encourage you that there are others who believe and there are others who have a heart to follow the Lord.  . The body of Christ in heaven and on earth should be an encouragement to us that we are never alone in our faith.  God has called us all individually, and corporately, to represent Him on the earth and to use our very lives to share His love with others.  

So whether it’s to some distant country like Romania or if it is just to places in your local community, keep walking and talking with God and let others know that they are not alone.

Let others know that there is a God who cares about them and who has made a way for them, through Jesus Christ, to know His love and forgiveness.

Go on that personal “mission” to share the love of God with others and to let that love motivate you to let go of the things that slow you down on your personal pathway that will take you to the peace, love, and joy that God wants you to know, right here and right now.

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

This morning’s meditation verse is :

Romans 10:17 (NLT2)
¹⁷  So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

Today’s Bible verse tells us where faith comes from.

If you ever ask me where my faith came from, I can tell you that there was a definitive moment in my life where I “once believed”.  On March 19^th, 2010, I heard a message the told me the “Good News about Christ” in a way that I never quite understood before.  

I always thought that even though Christ died for our sins, we still had to earn our way into the kingdom of heaven, that even though I had been “confirmed’ in the church of my youth, I had the impression that  there was still a clear and present danger that my behavior could send me to hell.   

But on that day in 2010, I heard a message using passages from the word of God that told me that it was “by grace” and “through faith” and by a “gift of God” that we are “saved” and that my salvation was not based on my “works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). To be saved, I just had to believe that what Christ did on the cross was enough to pay for my sins and that by placing my faith in Him, I was adopted into God’s family and given eternal life.  

So faith definitively comes through hearing that “Good News about Christ”. When we hear that Good News it delivers us from death to life and plants the seed of faith in our lives that can grow and cause us to discover who we are in Christ and that can move us from our former darkness into the Lord’s glorious light where we can know the meaning of life and move into the purpose that God has for us.

And the awesome thing about “hearing” that “Good News”, the word of God, is that it continues to have an effect on us beyond when we “first believed”. 

The word of God encourages us in our faith. It is through knowing, understanding, having faith in, and applying the word of God that we can grow in our faith.

Faith comes from hearing the word of God and hearing the word of God continues to mature our faith.

In terms of faith, we just can’t get enough of it, faith should grow, and we get it more of it through the word of God. So, if we think about it, that means we really can’t get of the word of God.  It’s a good word and it’s good for us.

That’s why I encourage people to seek the Lord in His word.  By praying according to the word of God, by studying the Bible and reading it out loud, and by hearing the word preached at church or through podcasts, we can water the seed of our faith and see abundant growth in our faith.  

So keep listening to the “Good News” of Christ and all the words that God has for you in the Bible, because those words begin our faith and cause our faith to grow and manifest into all the fruit of the Spirit.   

 

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 Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

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. Recovery Step #2: Look at Your Past Love Addictions

One effective way to confront codependent love relationships is by using the "written word." Spelling out your thoughts, feelings, and actions will actually distance them from you so that you can look at them. Putting your relationships on paper helps paint a more complete picture, which in turn enables you to gain insights and devise a recovery plan. Putting your life on paper is not easy, but until you are ready to take a close look at your love addiction, you cannot expect to change it.

Write down the history of your codependent love relationships. First ask the Spirit of God to bring to mind what you need to know and then to teach you what you need to do. He will give you both understanding and wisdom to know how to free yourself of the fettered addictions and how to live in His glorious freedom.

"He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers." (Proverbs 19:8)

Make a list of every person with whom you have had a codependent relationship. Think through your family and friends. Put each name at the top of a separate page and then answer the following questions for each relationship:

#1 Write out...

• —How did you meet and how were you attracted to this person?
• —How did you pursue and draw this person to you?
• —How did you feel and what did you fantasize about this person?

Conclude by answering...

• —How do you think God felt about your choices?
• —Realize that the Lord is ready to meet your deepest emotional needs. Yet, when we live with misplaced priorities, the Bible says we commit spiritual adultery....

"I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices." (Ezekiel 6:9)

#2 Write out...

• —How did the relationship progress through various stages (Fascination, Fantasy, Fog, Fear, Forsaking, Fixation, Frenzy)?
• —How did you feel in each stage?
• —How did you act during each stage?

Conclude by answering...

• —How did you fail to involve God in your life during each stage?
• —Realize how ready the Lord has been to intervene....

"When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering." (Isaiah 50:2-3)

#3 Write out...

• —How did you become preoccupied with the relationship?
• —How did you start neglecting yourself and start focusing on taking care of the other person?
• —How did you come to expect that person to meet all of your needs?

Conclude by answering...

• —How did you start neglecting God and when did you stop relying on Him?
• —Realize how ready the Lord has been to make you fruitful....

"I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?" (Jeremiah 2:21)

#4 Write out...

• —How has this relationship replicated your painful childhood experiences?
• —How were you mistreated in the relationship and how did you react?
• —How does the relationship impact you today?

Conclude by answering...

• —How is God replacing (or wanting to replace) your self-destructive, love-addicted patterns with constructive, healthy, holy patterns?
• —Realize how ready the Lord is to "re-parent" you in order to meet your deepest needs and heal your deepest hurts....

"Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me." (Psalm 27:10)

#5 Write out...

• —How have you experienced fear, envy, jealousy, abandonment, and anger in the relationship?
• —How did you assign a higher priority to this person than to everything else?
• —How have you made the person the focus of your thought life?

Conclude by answering...

• —How can you appropriate "the mind of Christ" in order to overcome destructive feelings and to live out of your resources in Christ?
• —Realize how ready the Lord has been to give you His thinking....

"We have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2:16)

#6 Write out...

• —How do you feel about the person and the relationship now?
• —How has your perspective changed?
• —How did things, people, and circumstances become factors in changing your perspective?

Conclude by answering...

• —How do you think God has been involved in changing your perspective?
• —Realize how ready the Lord is to complete His perfect plan for your life....

"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)

Biblical Counseling Keys: Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

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

It’s Follow the Leader, Not Let’s Make a Deal – Leaning into Lent – Purity 668

It’s Follow the Leader, Not Let’s Make a Deal – Leaning into Lent – Purity 668

Purity 668 03/01/2022   Puirty 668 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the majestic mountains near the Lake Louise Ski Resort near Banff in Alberta Canada comes to us from a friend’s recent family skiing vacation showing us that there are indeed blue skies and beauty to behold even in season of winter and in the greater white north country of Canada.

It’s Wednesday and I figured this was a good photo to share for its beauty and to represent “hump day” as we will ascend and overcome the mountain of mid-week by days end.

When I saw that my friend, who lives in Long Island, was sharing photos from a skiing vacation, I assumed that Lake Louise and Banff were somewhere relatively local in the States but my google map search revealed that my friend’s love of skiing took them way out west, as well as north, to another country, proving just how far we will go for the things we love.  

It's not only Wednesday  today, but also Ash Wednesday which should remind us of our Christian faith and the lengths that Christ went to express God’s love for us, as He came to earth, lived a sinless life, and died to pay for our sins and to reconcile us to God.  

I continually encourage others to be reconciled to the Lord by placing their faith in Jesus Christ because I know that it is through our relationship with God that we can experience true peace and can discover the meaning and purpose for our lives.  

Unfortunately, many gospel messages stress salvation and life after death in heaven above the relational aspects of our faith which results in a fundamental lack of understanding of what this thing called Christianity is all about. 

Getting a “ticket to heaven, the guarantee of eternal life through faith in Christ, is not the end of our relationship with God, it’s the beginning.  

When preachers push the primacy of “salvation at all costs”, they do a disservice to the very people they wish to usher into God’s kingdom and their short sighted messages could lead to “false converts” or to disillusioned and confused Christians who have a shaky assurance of their salvation but no idea of what to do next.   

Putting our faith in Jesus can be seen as a box to check off as the minimum requirement for eternal life and our faith can be reduced to a transaction rather than a relationship.

 “Okay, I put my faith in Jesus, you forgive me of my sins, and you let me into heaven when I die. Deal? Deal. Awesome. Thanks, I’ll see you in church, occasionally. Now back to doing me, but with my trusty ticket to heaven, thank you Jesus.”     

Okay that is not exactly how I thought when I first came to Christ, but it was pretty close. I saw faith as a relationship but as a transactional relationship.   Christ gives us eternal life and forgiveness of sins and we “have to do” the X,Y’s and Zs of the Christian faith like: 

·       Go to church

·       Stand up, sit down, kneel and follow the instructions and say the “expected things in church”  

·       Pray, or at least kneel and look like you are praying, or say you will pray for someone

·       Read the Bible (Am I expected to read all this?) 

·       Be Nice – at least try to be nice, smile and shake hands where appropriate

·       Do good deeds - Serve in the church or do good works – whoa we are on our way to sainthood for sure

·       Give Cash – Donate to charity, give to the church, or Tithe, “Oh that’s when you know you are serious, oh boy”. 

From a cursory examination of “church culture”,  that may seem that is all there is to the Christian life, and we just have to “do this stuff” to be a Christian.   However, as my snarky commentary for that checklist of Christian duties should have indicated, there is something missing here.

The thing that is wrong with this view of our Christian faith is the love of God. You can do all of the above and have your heart as cold and as hard as it was before you “said the words” “or prayed the prayer” that “sealed the deal” of your putting your faith in Jesus.  

Unfortunately, our exposure to the way of the world has taught us that transactions are the things that make the word go round.  We do x and we get y. And that spirit of materialism can be seen in our relationships with one another. Quid pro quo – you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours – or “happy wife, happy life” – shots fired! -  can easily be viewed as the Status quo of our relationships with one another.  So when we begin our relationship with God it can “become let’s make a deal” rather than “follow the leader”.   

Now don’t get it twisted, we are to the follow the Lord, but we are not to do so as someone who is “just following orders” -  That dynamic is just another expression of quid pro quo but with a military bent, don’t get me started with “onward Christian soldiers” – Jesus isn’t a drill sergeant.  

Our relationship with God is not supposed to be based on the benefits, although we are greatly benefited from our relationship with Him.

Our relationship with God is supposed to be a love relationship.  John 3:16 which leads many to accept Christ says that it because of God’s love that He gave His only begotten Son so that we could live.  

He offers us eternal life a relationship with Him out of love.  We are to not look at our love relationships with a transactional view. We are to enjoy the love and let that motivate us to grow in our relationship with our loved One.  

If we are just going through the motions of our faith because “that’s the deal”, it’s no wonder that we are failing to experience the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.  

Our love relationship with the Lord should cause us to want to know Him more and seek to please Him out of our love for Him not out of some perceived obligation.  

So as we take a step into the season lent today, I encourage you to examine your faith and the “things you do for God” and the reasons why you do them.  

Why do you do them?  Do you have joy and peace in your relationship with God? Are you trying to “put forth a good image as a Christian” or are you acting out of a heart’s desire to be conformed to the image of Christ where your love for the Lord causes you to want to be like Him?

Our faith isn’t a list requirements and duties to perform.  Our faith is supposed to be a dynamic interaction with God that draws us to change the status quo of our lives as we seek to understand His ways and apply them to our lives.   

The heart has to lead us to follow the Lord otherwise we are just marching to a drummer we would rather not listen to.

Just like my friend was willing to go to “O Canada” because of his love for skiing, there is no lengths we wouldn’t go through to be with the one we love.  

So keep walking and talking with God, and remind yourself of the love that poured out for you to be reconciled to Him and respond in love to seek the Lord and experience the joy and peace that comes from being in a love relationship with Him that encompasses all the aspects of your life and would cause you to go the great lengths to become closer to Him.   

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

This morning’s meditation verse is :

Hebrews 13:5 (NLT2)
⁵  Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

Today’s Bible verse encourages us to be content with what we have and to understand that God is with us regardless of our circumstances.   

Okay, for whatever reason the NLT Bible Promise Book for Men, left off the “Don’t love money” portion of today’s verse but I included it to be thorough and to include that advice that is so counterintuitive to the world system.  

The love of money is understandable. Money provides comfort and a sense of security. The idea is that the more money we have the more easily it will be to “be satisfied” but the truth is that even the richest people can lack a sense of satisfaction as the love of money generally causes a preoccupation of it that results in the pursuit of more of it. 

So don’t love money. Follow the wisdom in today’s verse and be satisfied with what you have. 

The Freedom in Christ course that I facilitate for Freedom in Christ ministries boldly teaches that “happiness comes from wanting what we have” meaning that happiness isn’t about having what you want, it’s about wanting what you have because as long as we are focused on what we don’t have  or what we can’t do we will be unhappy.  But when we appreciate what we already have, we will be happy all of our lives.    

Of course the thing that will give us great peace and joy is knowing that the One who makes all things and controls all things approves of you.  When we put our faith in Jesus, God approves of us and will never abandon us.    

Our peace with the Lord tells us that “it is well with our souls” so rest in the peace of the Lord and appreciate what you have and be satisfied with where the Lord has you in life. When you know you are accepted, significant, and secure as a member of God’s royal family, you should be satisfied and be assured that God will never fail you.    

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 Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

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.

C. Recovery Step #1: Confront Your Own Codependency

Codependency does not flow from an unchangeable personality flaw or some genetic fluke. A codependent relationship is rooted in immaturity, a fact that should give great hope to those caught in its addictive cycle. While change is never easy, growing up is always within the grasp of anyone who desires to move from immaturity to maturity.

Any of us can move from codependency to a healthy, mutual give-and-take in our relationships. The key to change is motivation. What kind of motivation? When your pain in the relationship is greater than your fear of abandonment, the motivation for change is powerful. Moving away from the pain of codependency then becomes a matter of choice and commitment. If you feel that the relationship you are in is more a curse than a blessing—when it brings more death to your soul than life—this is motivation for change.

"I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you... may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him." (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

• Confront the Fact That You Are Codependent.
• —Admit the truth to yourself. Before you can be free from the grasp of codependency, you must be honest with yourself about your emotional addiction to another person.
• —Admit the truth to someone else. Identify the beliefs and behaviors that have perpetuated your emotional addiction and share them with an objective, trusted friend.
• —Admit the truth to God. Realize that your emotional addiction is a serious sin in the eyes of God. Choose now to confess it to Him.

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

• Confront the Consequences of Your Codependency.
• —Accept responsibility for how your past experiences and reactions have hurt your adult relationships (such as your becoming manipulative, controlling, possessive, or angry).
• —Accept responsibility for the pain you have caused yourself because of your codependency (such as your becoming jealous, envious, selfish, or obsessive).
• —Accept responsibility for the ways in which your codependency has weakened your relationship with God (such as a loss of quantity time, quality time, and intimacy with the Lord).

"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)

• Confront Your Painful Emotions.
• —Understand that you will have pain no matter what you choose. If you leave the codependent relationship, you will hurt, but if you stay, you will hurt. However, the only hope for future healing is leaving the codependent lifestyle.
• —Understand that when the intensity of the relationship diminishes you will experience emotional "withdrawal" from the exhilarating highs.
• —Understand that you will need the support of others to get you through the initial pain of withdrawal and to help you avoid anesthetizing your pain with a "secondary addiction."

"Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel." (Proverbs 27:9)

• Confront Your "Secondary Addictions."
• —Recognize that, in an effort to numb the emotional pain of the relationship, codependency often leads to other addictions, such as a chemical dependency, sexual addiction, compulsive eating, or excessive spending.
• —Recognize your "secondary addictions"; then seek counseling and spiritual support to overcome them.
• —Recognize that recovery from a "secondary addiction" is dependent on recovery from your primary addiction.

"The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out." (Proverbs 18:15)

• Confront Your Current Codependent Relationship.
• —Acknowledge your codependent role in the relationship and cease relating through codependent patterns.
• —Acknowledge your destructive behaviors. (Write them down.) Then replace them with constructive behaviors. (Write them down.)
• —Acknowledge the natural pain of emotional withdrawal (common to the healing of addictions) and focus on God's supernatural purpose (conforming you to the character of Christ).

"Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." (Romans 8:29)

• Confront Your Codependent Focus.
• —Stop focusing on what the other person is doing and start focusing on what you need to do in order to become emotionally healthy.
• —Stop focusing on the other person's problems and start focusing on solving your own problems (those resulting from your neglect of people and projects in your life).
• —Stop focusing on trying to change the other person and start focusing on changing yourself.

"The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." (Proverbs 14:8)

• Confront Your Codependent Conflicts.
• —Do not allow yourself to become trapped in heated arguments or to become emotionally hooked by the bad behavior of the other person. Instead, say to yourself several times, I will not argue—and then disengage from the conflict. Decide ahead of time that, when agitation begins, you will distance yourself.
• —Do not defend yourself when you are unjustly blamed.... Instead, say only once, "I'm sorry you feel that way.... That doesn't reflect my heart."
• —Do not be afraid to leave if the conflict continues. State, "I will be gone for a while." Then calmly walk away.

"Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels." (2 Timothy 2:23)

• Confront Your Codependent Responses.
• —Remind yourself 'that "problem people" have the right to choose wrong. Don't react to their problem behavior—they are independent of you.
• —Remind yourself not to return insult for insult—refuse to raise your voice.
• —Remind yourself that your Christlike role is to respond with respect—even when others are disrespectful.

"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.... But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." (1 Peter 3:9, 15-16)

• Confront What You Need to Leave in Order to Receive.
• —Leave your childhood and your dependent thinking. (I can't live without you.) Then enter into healthy adulthood. (I want you in my life, but if something were to happen, I could still live without you.) That is reality.
• —Leave your immature need to be dependent on someone else and embrace your mature need to be dependent on the Lord, who will make you whole within yourself.
• —Leave your fantasy relationships (thinking, You are my "all-in-all") and instead nurture several balanced relationships of healthy give-and-take.

"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." (Proverbs 27:6)

• Confront Your Need to Build Mature Non-codependent Relationships.
• —Establish several interdependent relationships—not just one exclusive relationship. You need mature relationships in which your codependency issues can be resolved and your needs can be met in healthy ways.
• —Establish emotionally balanced relationships without being needy of the extreme highs and lows of codependent relationships.
• —Establish personal boundaries in all of your relationships, saying no when you need to say no and holding to your no.

"Let us... go on to maturity." (Hebrews 6:1)

Biblical Counseling Keys: Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

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

All the Feels – Surrendering our Hearts to God and Living in Hope – Purity 667

All the Feels – Surrendering our Hearts to God and Living in Hope – Purity 667

Purity 667 03/01/2022  Purity 667 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the pier at Ballast Point Park in Tampa Florida comes to us from yours truly as my wife and I made a “point” to see one last site before we got on the plane back home last Thursday. It’s a simple photo but I like the way that although the pier was “warped” by the wind and the waves, it still stands strong and leads to the “house” at the end of the pier.     

Well it is March 1^st, and I don’t know about you, but I take great delight as we begin a new month that will prayerfully lead us from winter to spring and will take us from the white hues of winter to the vibrant greens of spring as we move towards and beyond St. Patrick’s Day on the 17^th.  No matter what we may encounter from now until the first day of spring on the 20^th in terms of weather, I will be “keeping the faith” that spring is coming!

Our trip to Tampa was a great relief to our bodies, minds, and spirits and from the first day we were there I was significantly affected by the increased sunshine and was positively marveling over the vibrant almost surreal blue skies and the vibrant greens of the vegetation we saw in Florida.

I felt so happy at our change in latitude it was almost traumatic as it seemed that we had been rescued and delivered to the promised land after enduring through, an admittedly mild but, still somewhat relatively dark and dismal season of winter days.   The winter has been mild and pleasant really for the most part but the stark contrast of the Florida sunshine showed us the glory of the sunshine that we have been missing.

The transition had a joy that was akin to salvation and while I could remember those bright days with despair now that they are gone now and \ we are back in the great white north, I will choose to use them to fuel my hope for seeing that sunshine return to transform our winter wonderland into the lush green beautiful landscape that we are used to in the spring and summers seasons.      

Similarly, in the spiritual realm we can periodically lose the joy of our salvation and our walk, as we plod through life and deal with difficult situations and people.  The blessings of God may seem less evident at times and there can be periods where our prayers seem to go unanswered and where instead of feeling like we have God’s favor we feel that we are being punished for our faith.   

The good news is that God will never leave us or forsake us, but the bad news is that  indicates that when we feel God is distant from us, we may have wandered away from Him, have forgotten who we are in Christ, or failed to seek His presence.   

When I was an emotional wreck over the joy of the Florida sunshine on that first day in Tampa, I could have forgotten about the One who created it. I could have given glory to the great state of Florida, but I didn’t. The reason that I was so overcome by the goodness of my circumstances was because I constantly seek the Lord’s presence and try to live my life in the context of God.  

The sun was nice, and the skies were a brilliant blue but the joy of it was exponentially more because I remembered how long it had been since I was on vacation, I remembered the difficult days that I had walked through in recent years to come to this place. I remembered the joy of being set free of the darkness of my past. I remembered the joy of meeting the woman who would become my wife and how we passionately fell in love with one another with God at the center of our relationship. And I stood in awe of how not only was I standing in a “good place”, but I was also standing there with her as my wife, and in the company God over it all! 

The moments of my life are filled with peace and joy because I walk with the Lord moment to moment and after walking with Him for so long my memories of my life are an ongoing testimony of the goodness of God and His presence in my life through every twist and turn. 

As I have walked with the Lord and left behind the sinful ways of the world, the Lord not only transferred me from death to life and changed my character, He has also changed my heart of stone to heart of flesh that has made me sensitive to experience the rich tapestry of emotions for what they are: a response to what God has provided and what He is revealing to us as we walk with Him.   

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, a traditional day to return to the Lord as we enter the season that leads up the to celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. While I am known not to be too big on the traditions of men, any season that calls us to seek the Lord and draw close to Him in prayer and repentance is something I can support because I encourage Christians to draw close to, to seek, and to follow the Lord 24/7. 

But even when we intended to follow the Lord and are pretty faithful to pursuing His will for our lives, we still need reminders of how good God is and to be thankful for all that He has done.

When we wake up to our state of “spiritual staleness”, that can naturally happen even to the most faithful disciple, we discover that God didn’t go anywhere.  He is still on the throne. He still loves us, and He is still available to us.    

Our lives can be pretty good as we keep on keeping on in our walk of faith but when we come to these new seasons of refreshing, we can see that we have been carrying burdens on our souls that we weren’t meant to carry.   When we wake up and surrender to the Lord once again, we discover that His burden is light and that the cloud we were walking under was of our own making as we tried to push our own agenda in our lives, or we tried to do things in our own strength and ended up walking alone as we went our own way.   

But now it’s time to go back home and to enter His rest once again. It’s a new month, It’s a new day, and even though we may have some more grey days before we see the vibrant greens of spring, we can walk in hope because we know that the Lord is with us and that every step forward on the path of Christian discipleship is a step closer to where the Lord is leading us and is a step we can someday recall as a time when the Lord came beside us on our journey from here to there.  

So keep walking and talking with God. Lay your burdens down and pick your head up as you don’t want to miss a thing as you get to see the goodness of God in the world of the living as He takes you further into a life where the fruit of the Spirit grows, and peace and joy abound.

  

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

This morning’s meditation verses are:

Luke 12:31-32 (NLT2)
³¹  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
³²  “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.

Today’s Bible verses provide “the instruction” for our Christian life and the assurance to follow it.    

As I have shared in the past, if there was one thing I would tell Christians to do to experience their freedom in Christ and the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, it is to “seek the Lord”.  

To ‘seek the kingdom of God above all else” can seem to be a cryptic or mysterious instruction but as today’s verses indicate the result of following that instruction is receiving “everything you need” and that we need not fear pursuing it because God, our heavenly Father, is happy to give it to us.    

Now hear this: this is not the prosperity gospel! Following the Lord and seeking the Kingdom of God will not give you “everything you want”. The promise in these verses is that you will receive everything you need. 

And as someone who has sought the kingdom of God by trying to learn as much as I can about God, His wisdom and His ways, and by trying to shape my life to live according to what I learned, I can tell you that the journey can be challenging as we need to discover just what it is that we “need” and how that understanding can be hard to come by as our minds need to be renewed to understand that some of the things that we “want” are not good for us or simply are not a part of God’s plan for our lives.  

I recently marveled over my journey and how some of my prayers for “good things” didn’t come true and I am not talking about just receiving riches or other material things.

I prayed prayers for healing. I prayed prayers for people to come to Christ. I prayed prayers for relationships to be strengthened. I prayed prayers for churches to succeed. I prayed prayers for ministries to succeed. I prayed prayers for revival.  All of these “good” prayers didn’t come to pass. And now I have come to understand that God knows three things that we don’t.

God knows our situations perfectly. God knows what we need. And God knows His plan.   

While we certainly can know our situations pretty well and have an idea about what we think we need, we don’t have perfect knowledge and we certainly don’t know God’s plan.   

So we are to trust God and to “seek His kingdom” to take us where His will will be done.   We can do that by following Him and seeing where His sovereign plan will take us.  

I had no idea of where God was going to take me since I started walking with Him over ten years ago, but I can tell you that it has all led to good and I have consistently received everything I needed along the way even though I may have thought otherwise as I walked it out.  

God knows everything perfectly. He has a plan, and He assures us that if we seek His kingdom will receive everything we need.  So trust Him and seek the kingdom of God above all else.

 

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 Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

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.

B. Key Passage to Read and Reread

Notice two thoughts in this passage that seem to be in opposition to one another.

"If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load." (Galatians 6:1-5)

Does Scripture Contradict Itself?

Verse 2 says, "Carry each other's burdens," and verse 5 says, "Each one should carry his own load." Since these two clear-cut directives seem contradictory to each other, which one is true? When you carefully analyze what is being said, there is no contradiction.

• Verse 1—Gently encourage another person to change from negative behavior, but beware of your own temptation.
• Verse 2—The Greek word for "burden" is baros, which means "weight," implying a load or something that is pressing heavily. When you help carry what is too heavy for someone else to bear alone, your caring response fulfills the law of Christ.
• Verse 5—The Greek word for "load" is phortion, which means "something carried." Clearly, when you carry what others should carry, you are not wise. You are not called by God to relieve others of their rightful responsibilities.

Conclusion: Those who are codependent try to get their needs met by carrying loads that others should be carrying. To move out of a codependent relationship, both individuals need to quit trying to be the other person's "all-in-all" and instead encourage each other to take responsibility for their own lives and to live dependency on the strength of God.

Biblical Counseling Keys: Codependency: Balancing an Unbalanced Relationship.

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship