River of Dreams - 28 Days Joy Challenge – Day 1 – Purity 1057
Purity 1057 06/01/2023 Purity 1057 Podcast
Purity 1057 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s drawing
of canoe docked on a river that reflects the beauty of a multicolored sky comes
to us from “our man in the UK”, Philip Hand who shared his latest work of art
to me personally via FB messenger, reporting that he was inspired to put pencil
to paper to reproduce this scene that he saw in a photo that he spied on social
media. He also reported that he believes that God is helping him in his situations
as he shared that he has made a turn for the better mentally as of late as he seems
to be finding hope as he emerges from a persistent struggle with grief.
Philip’s
simple testimony shows us that “when all is lost” we can find hope by looking
to the beauty that surrounds us, to the good we can experience even in our
grief, and to our heavenly Father who provides all of it – our world, our
talents, our lives – and who reminds us and encourage us to look to His truth –
that where there is life there is hope and where there is faith in Christ – there
is everlasting life and hope that never fades away.
Well it’s Thursday
and I share Philip’s drawing, which I have taken the liberty of calling – “The River
of Dreams”, because of its artistic beauty and because its “water pathway” visually
represents a pathway to hope, a pathway to dream for more in this life and I
know the only pathway that leads to meaning and purpose is the One that Jesus
set before us – The pathway of Christian discipleship – and so I encourage all
who read or hear this message to get on or to stay on that path that leads to
the abundant life that Jesus calls to – a life of walking in the Spirit.
Today is a beginning
of a new month and I have decided to be intentional about promoting and cultivating
the fruit of Joy this month, corporately and personally, by beginning a new
series of sorts on developing our capacity for joy by sharing and taking part
in 4habits.org’s “28 Day Joy Challenge” . (https://4habits.org/)
which is based on Dr. Marcus Warner & Chris Coursey’s latest book, The Four
Habits of Joy-Filled People.
You can sign
up for the 28 Day Joy Challenge for free and purchase a variety of books from Warner
and Coursey on topic of Joy, by going to https://4habits.org/.
As for the 28
Day Joy Series on the blog– I haven’t looked ahead too far but what I intend to
do is to actually “do the practices” that the 28 Day Joy Challenge instructs
and to share my experiences with them.
So for day
1: The 28 Day Joy Challenge instructs:
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“Today
starts the beginning of your journey toward a more joy-filled life.
Today’s Encouragement:
“I've noticed some really great shifts since I started practicing last summer—changes in life-long ways of responding to things! These are TANGIBLE differences.” – Cindy
Growing joy takes time and
practice, but growing joy doesn’t have to be boring. We can have fun while we
practice exercises that make joy the default setting for life and
relationships!
Today’s Practice: Exercise 1
For today’s exercise we focus on
calming our mind and quieting our body.
- How
This Exercise Will Benefit You:
Learning to rest charges our batteries for more joy. Calming is about quieting our bodies from upsetting emotions, and deep breathing is a proven method for calming our bodies. Even if quieting doesn’t feel easy at first, with practice we can get to the point where quieting feels natural. Let’s practice!
-
Exercise Steps:
Find a comfortable position and
practice Box Breathing. Count to four with a deep breath in and hold to the
count of four. Then exhale to the count of four and pause for a count of four.
Continue this sequence for three minutes. Notice how your body feels when you
are finished.” (https://4habits.org/)
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Well, as I have set aside time in the mornings
for prayer, I jumped into today’s challenge by setting a timer on my phone and playing
some “sleep music” on the Abide App called “soothing Relaxation” – its free –
which just happens to be perfectly designed to go with the 4 second cadence of
box breathing.
So, I set the
timer – breathed in 4 seconds, held it 4 seconds, and exhaled 4 seconds, held
it 4 seconds and repeated the process with my eyes closed.
To be honest,
counting 4 seconds is a little mentally distracting for me and that is why I
will use this “Sleep music” to breathe by – otherwise when I practice “box
breathing” I try not to focus on the time and just take deep breaths and try to
remember to hold it in between exhaling and inhaling.
And so I just
focused on my breath and relaxed until I decided to peak to see where I
was. I was surprised to discover that I
had unknowingly “crushed” the 3 minute goal for Day 1’s challenge as my timer
revealed it was 3 minutes and 49 seconds, which inspired me to continue on for
a full 5 minutes.
And to
answer the challenge’s query, I can report that I noticed that my body was very
relaxed after this simple quieting practice.
Spoiler
alert: One of the 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People is Calming (Learning to quiet
the mind), and box-breathing is a simple practice we all can do to do that.
It’s a new
month, so take the 28 Day Joy Challenge, and see where it takes you.
I myself only
blog 6 days a week (skipping Sundays) – so My 28 Day Joy Challenge will end on
July 3rd, and I can’t think of a better way of going into the Fourth
of July holiday to celebrate our nation’s independence and our own personal
freedom than by being filled with Joy!eis
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity
than my simple apologetic will provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s
website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This
morning’s meditation verses are:
Ephesians
2:10 (NLT2)
10 For we are God’s
masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good
things he planned for us long ago.
Today’s verse tells us the purpose behind our lives and specifically why God would choose to save us through our faith in Jesus Christ.
The previous verses tell us that our salvation isn’t because of anything we have done, it is because of God’s grace alone, and our faith in Jesus Christ along that we are saved – our salvation is a free gift from God.
So why would God give us the gift of the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life in His kingdom? As today’s verse tells us, God did it so we could do “the good things He planned for us long ago.” That’s our purpose: to do good things for and to represent God’s kingdom – to give Him glory and to something good in a world corrupted by evil.
So, if you don’t know what
you should do with your new life in Christ, ask the Lord for guidance and
follow Him into the good things He has prepared just for you to do, and do it
with joy, knowing that this pleasing to your Heavenly Father and that this is
your purpose in life and was made just for you to do.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)
A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit
6 - The Holy
Spirit During the Old Testament Ages
In
Relation to Creation
Let us first consider, though very briefly,
the work of the Spirit in connection with the old or material creation. Before
the worlds were framed by the Word of God, and things which are seen were made
out of things which do not appear (Heb. 11:3), when the whole mass of inanimate
matter lay in one undistinguished chaos, “without form and void,” we are told
that, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). There
are other passages which ascribe the work of creation (in common with the
Father and the Son), to His immediate agency. For example, we are told, “by His
Spirit He hath garnished the heavens” (Job 26:13). Job was moved to confess,
“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me
life” (33:4). “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou
renewest the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:30).
In Relation to Adam
Let us next contemplate the Holy Spirit in
relation to Adam. As so much darkness now surrounds this subject, we must enter
into it in greater detail. Three things were required to render man fit unto
that life to God for which he was made. First,
an ability to discern the mind and wisdom of God with respect unto all the duty
and obedience that God requires of him; as also for to know the nature and
properties of God, as to believe Him the only proper object of all acts and
duties of religious obedience, and an all-sufficient satisfaction and reward in
this world, and to eternity. Secondly,
a free, uncontrolled, unentangled, disposition to every duty of the law of his
creation for living unto God. Thirdly,
an ability of mind and will, with a readiness of compliance in his affections,
for a regular performance of all duties and abstinence from all sin. These
things belonged unto the integrity of his nature, with the uprightness of the
state and condition wherein he was made. And all these things were the peculiar
effects of the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit.
“Thus Adam may be
said to have had the Spirit of God in his innocence. He had Him in these
peculiar effects of His power and goodness, and he had Him according to the
tenor of that covenant, whereby it was possible that he should utterly lose
Him, as accordingly it came to pass. He had Him not by especial inhabitation,
for the whole world was then the temple of God. In the Covenant of Grace, founded
in the Person and on the mediation of Christ, it is otherwise. On whomsoever
the Spirit of God is bestowed for the renovation of the image of God in him, He
abides with him forever” (J. Owen, 1680).
The three things
mentioned above by that eminent Puritan constituted the principal part of that
“image of God” wherein man was created by the Spirit. Proof of this is seen in
the fact that at regeneration the Holy Spirit restores those abilities in the
souls of God’s elect: “And hath put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of
Him that created him” (Col. 3:10): that is, the spiritual knowledge which man
lost at the Fall is, potentially, restored at the new birth; but it could not
be restored or “renewed” if man had never possessed it!
The “knowledge” with
which the Holy Spirit endowed Adam was great indeed. Clear exemplification of
this is seen in Genesis 2:19. Still, more conclusive evidence is found in
Genesis 2:21–23: God put Adam into a deep sleep, took a rib out of his side,
formed it into a woman, and then set her before him. On sight of her Adam said,
“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” He knew who she was and her origin, and forthwith gave her a suitable name; and he could only
have known all this by the Spirit of revelation and understanding.
That Adam was,
originally, made a partaker of the Holy Spirit is quite evident to the writer
from Genesis 2:7, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life.” If those words were
interpreted in the light of the Analogy of Faith, they can mean nothing less
than that the Triune God imparted the Holy Spirit unto the first man. In
Ezekiel 37 we have a vivid parabolic picture of the regenerating of spiritual
Israel. There we are told, “Prophesy unto the Wind, prophesy, son of man, and
say to the Wind, Thus saith the LORD God, Come from the four winds, O Breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live. So I prophesied as He
commanded me, and the Breath came unto them, and they lived” (vv. 9, 10).
Again, we find the Savior, after His resurrection, “Breathed on them (the
Apostles), and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22): that
was the counterpart of Genesis 2:7: the one the original gift, the other the
restoration of what was lost.
Rightly has it been
said that “The doctrine that man was originally, though mutably, replenished
with the Spirit, may be termed the deep fundamental thought of the Scripture
doctrine of man. If the first and second Adam are so related that the first man
was the analogue or figure of the second, as all admit on the authority of
Scripture (Rom. 5:12–14), it is clear that, unless the first man possessed the
Spirit, the last man, the Healer or Restorer of the forfeited inheritance,
would not have been the medium of giving the Spirit, who was withdrawn on
account of sin, and who could be restored only on account of the everlasting
righteousness which Christ (Rom. 8:10) brought in” (G. Smeaton, 1880).[1]
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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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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).
