Freedom Day - 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther – Day 16
- Purity 1289
Purity 1289 03/02/2024 Purity 1289 Podcast
Purity 1289 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun setting on the horizon
between the silhouettes of leafless trees comes to us from yours truly as I
took this photo yesterday at the end of my walk down “Freedom Road”.
Well, It’s Saturday and it is my prayer that there
is something beautiful waiting for you at the “end of your walk” this weekend. Practicing
appreciation for the things in our daily lives as we “walk and talk with God”
is how we experience peace and joy on a continuous basis because we reap the
fruit of the Spirit when we “walk in the Spirit”.
The journey begins with our salvation through faith
in Jesus Christ and is fueled by spiritual disciplines, attaching relationally
with God, and living with an attitude of repentance.
One form of prayerful repentance that can help to establish
freedom in Christians’ lives is the Steps to Freedom in Christ and today is “Freedom
Day” as I am a trained encourager (a certified CFMA -Community Freedom Ministry
Associate) with Freedom in Christ Ministries and this morning I will be guiding
one of the students of the Freedom in Christ course through the Steps. So I am
praying for the Lord to move mightily this morning to help this man to resolve
his spiritual and personal conflict so He can leave behind the bondages and
pains of the past to walk further into the new life that God has for him.
Freedom in Christ Ministries states that ours is a
ministry of reconciliation as we merely attempt to encourage people to be reconciled
with God – to confess our failures, to ask forgiveness, to renounce the lies we
believed, to take away foothold and break strongholds that the enemy has in our
lives and to cast out the spiritual forces of darkness that seek to keep us
from being the people God created us to be and from experiencing the fruit of
the Spirit that should be a regular part of our lives. It is my prayer that
this ordinary Saturday in March of 2024 becomes this man’s “Freedom Day” – the day
he will always be able to point to as the day that He unpacked all the baggage
of his past and gave it to the Lord – the day he repented of his past and walked
free of it.
Today is as good a day as any to be set free as we
are in the season of Lent. And speaking of Lent…
It’s the sixteenth day of Lent and so we continue my
personal walkthrough of Gracia Grindal’s 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther
to observe and celebrate the Lenten season.
In this walkthrough Grindal’s devotional, it is our hope that we will get to know
Martin Luther a little better as we seek to draw closer to the Lord on our
journey to Resurrection Sunday – Easter.
And so we continue.
“Journey
Day 16
We
are to keep them (the Ten Commandments) incessantly before our eyes and
constantly in our memory and to practice them in all our works and ways. Each
of us is to make them a matter of daily practice in all circumstances, in all
activities and dealings, as if they were written everywhere we look, even
wherever we go or wherever we stand. Thus, both for ourselves at home and
abroad among our neighbors, we will find occasion enough to practice the Ten Commandments,
and no one need search far for them.
Biblical Wisdom
Keep
these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your
children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when
you lie down, and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as
an emblem on your forehead, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6: 6-9.
Silence for Meditation.
Questions to Ponder
· There
are many places in Scripture that tell us that the law is to be meditated on
day and night (e.g., Psalm 1: 1-2; Psalm 119:97; Joshua 1:8). What does that
mean to you?
That means that we are to be
obedient and live according to what the Word of God says. To do that we have to
meditate on the truth of scripture and apply its wisdom to our lives as we walk
through life. It means living a surrendered life of a disciple of Jesus Christ,
where you follow the Lord repent of your worldly ways and renew your mind to
have the mind of Christ, and to do that requires knowing and recalling what the
word of God says. It means regular Bible Study, memorization of scripture, and
prayer, as well.
· What
difference might it make to memorize the Ten Commandments and recite them
daily? Why not do it?
Memorizing the Ten Commandments and reciting them daily
is a spiritual practice that can make a huge difference in your walk as you
focus on God’s law to remind yourself of how you are supposed to live. I would
say that reading Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5 could be a regular part of a daily spiritual
practice. I can’t think of any reason
why one shouldn’t do this other than the fact that our “quiet time” with the
Lord – our daily spiritual practice is highly personal, and we choose what we
will do each morning with the Lord. To demand that someone do this every day is
legalism. If you decide that this is
something you want to do as part of your relationship with God so be it but our
relationship with God is up to the two of you to walk out freely.
· Read
Romans 13: 8-10 and Matthew 22: 36-40. What is the relationship between the Ten
Commandments and love?
Romans
13:8-10 (NKJV)
8 Owe no one anything except
to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You
shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You
shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You
shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all
summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself." 10 Love
does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the
law.
Matthew
22:36-40 (NKJV)
36 "Teacher, which is
the great commandment in the law?"
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This
is the first and great commandment. 39
And the second is like
it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
As these passages of scripture shows us the basis of the Ten Commandments
is encompassed in Jesus’ commandments to love God and loving our neighbors as
ourselves. Obeying the Ten Commandments
is an expression of love for God and our neighbors. That is the relationship
between the commandments and love.
Psalm Fragment
With
my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord. I will keep your statutes. I cry to
you; save me, that I may observe your decrees. I rise before dawn and cry for
help; I put my hope in your words. Psalm 119: 1:45-147.
Journal Reflections
· Meditate
in writing on whether the commandments are true guides to your own life.
While I don’t meditate and recite the Ten Commandments
daily, and maybe I should, I would say that they are true guides for my life as
I try to live as a disciple of Jesus every day and obey the principles of
loving God and my neighbors as myself that the Commandments contain.
· Write
about what you have learned so far about God from Luther's writings on the
commandments and the biblical passages that have accompanied them.
I have
learned that the Ten Commandments were a big part of Luther’s catechism from which
this 40 Day Journey gets its content and sees how fundamental they are to living
a Christian life.
· Make
a list of any changes you want to make after having meditated on the
commandments. How will you start to make these changes?
I am convicted to include the Ten Commandments in my
daily spiritual practice and to honor God’s law by placing them somewhere on
the walls of my home to be reminded of their wisdom and call on my life. I will
use my resources to decide how to put them into a word document, print them
out, and include them in my daily practice materials and either design them as
a wall hanging or find one and place it in frame for display in my home. I had
a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of my room in my old home before my
divorce in 2018 and will restore it or hang a new one this week.
Prayers for the Life of Faith
Pray
that you might always live by these words and that those around you may as
well.
Lord, Help me to live by the Ten Commandments always
and help others around me to be convicted to do so as well.
Prayer For Today
Dear
Lord Jesus, teach me your way that I may not depart from it today and forever.
Forgive me when I fail and restore me to your grace and love daily.
Amen.
(Gracia M. Grindal. 40-day
Journey With Martin Luther. Kindle Edition.)
(We encourage you to purchase Grindal’s book and
take the 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther for yourself by purchasing Grindal’s
book wherever books are sold. You can find it online at many different sites
and purchase it new, used – paper or electronic for less than $15.00).
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verses come to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late
author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Contentment, Coveting
& and Priorities.
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV2011)
5 Keep your lives free from
the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Today’s
verse fall under the third point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Contentment,
Coveting, and Priorities.
3. Keep free from the love of money and be content.
Today’s
verse states clearly that we should keep our lives free of the love of money
and to be content with what we have because of our enduring relationship with
the Lord.
God
provides us with everything we need for life and godliness and so we should realize
that and abhor excessive greed and learn to be satisfied with what we have
already.
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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.
MORNING READING: LUKE 5
“Launch out into the deep.” – Luke
5:4
Here is a message to my heart. The Lord bids me “launch
out into the deep.” There is too much shallow fishing these days. He calls for
deepwater fishing. It is true that deepwater fishing requires far more effort,
skill, resource, and courage. And because of this, the Devil would gladly
discourage me. But the Lord says, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch
men” (Luke 5:10).
In essence, my Savior is saying to me, “Fear not about the
extra effort. My strength is sufficient for you. Fear not about the needed
skill. Have I not promised to make you a fisher of men? Fear not about
resources; I am able to supply all your need. Fear not, take courage, for
though you might begin to sink, My hand will be outstretched to save; though
the Storm should violently blow, I shall still it; though the angry waves beat
into the ship, fear not. I shall speak peace to them and there shall be a calm.
But launch out!”
I shall launch out, Lord, knowing
that You
are sufficient to supply and strong to save![1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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These teachings are also available on the
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
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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
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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,
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
[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).