Purity 279 12/01/2020
Good morning!
Today’s photo comes a friend who captured this stunning shot of the
heavenlies as they were going over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge between Columbia
and Greene Counties of upstate NY.
I chose this pic because sometimes in life we just have to look to God.
Recently, my brother, his fiancé and their family were stricken with Covid-19
had relatively mild symptoms and overcame it. I did pray for healing and God
delivered. As we drew into Thanksgiving
week, my mother and father became ill and cancelled their plans to host Thanksgiving,
making this the first time ever that they didn’t host and at least have some of
their sons present to celebrate.
The day after Thanksgiving, we heard the news that Mom and Dad were
positive for Covid-19 but we weren’t overly concerned, assuming like many do,
that they would just get over it in a few days or a week. Over the weekend though my mother’s breathing
became a concern, and my father took her to the hospital where she was admitted
and is currently receiving plasma transfusion to combat the “COVID pneumonia”, mom’s
words.
As part of my daily spiritual practice, I pray. I pray prayers of
thanksgiving, wisdom, and guidance. I
also pray for my friends who are in need. Be it financial problems, grieving,
or medical issues, I pray for those I am aware that need it. When I see a need for prayer on social media,
I immediately pray a short prayer and comment that I am praying or just put up
an emoji of the “prayer hands”.
So if you ever see one of my comments, you can be assured that I said a
prayer. It might not have been a prayer monologue, but I bring your concern to
the Lord and ask for His assistance in Jesus’ name.
So when my parents got sick, I prayed for them, of course. Until they
are well, I will continue to pray.
But yesterday, my brother who is a NY State Trooper texted that he had
just spoken to our mother and she sounded horrible and that we should text her and
“pray”.
If my brother is asking for prayer, you know it is pretty serious. So I took to social media to ask for prayer and
have been overwhelmed by the care, concern, and prayers of my many friends. Thank you for your prayers.
This latest episode reminds me of the importance of my faith and the
importance of my community of friends. When
we are in need, we need to voice it. We need to go to God in prayer, but we
also need to let others into our experience to know what’s going on in our lives
and to petition the Lord with their prayers too.
God has a will that is difficult to grasp. He has set up the world in a
way that has cycles that come regardless of human efforts. He creates seasons of planting and
harvest. One may say that God’s plan
will come to pass regardless of our efforts.
However, just as the season of planting and harvest will come no matter
what, only when we till the soil, plant
a seed, water, and care for it will we experience the fruit that is a product
of a miracle of life, that is solely God’s doing, but can be utilized for our
good through our cooperative efforts with Him.
So cooperate with God. Walk and talk with Him. Say a prayer.
Plant a seed, hope, and accept what the Lord brings.
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This morning’s
meditation verse was:
1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
4 You are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in
the world.
For those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ, we are the children of God and at the moment we said “Yes” to Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit was given to us and brought our spirit to life.
This is a spiritual reality that is hard to understand. However if you have come to Christ, the Holy Spirit can and will communicate God’s will for your life, if you seek it.
The three ways He communicates to us is conscience, communion, and intuition.
Conscience – after coming to Christ, sinning just isn’t as fun as it used to be. He convicts your heart when you do things that are in opposition to the new life in Christ that you have. He encourages you and gives you the power to change, if you seek it.
Communion – He begins to change your heart. The word of God, the meaning of what Christ has done for you, the glory of who God is, and the fact that He is with you becomes something you can experience. He is communing with you when you worship Him, or when a Bible verse hits home. Sometimes you get a feeling of “electricity” or “gooseflesh” when you consider spiritual matters or worship Him. Some would blow this off, but I assure you that these are tactile manifestations of the Holy Spirit, telling you that He is with you.
Intuition – The Holy Spirit leads you into all truth
and His way of life. Sometimes you just
know what to do. Sometimes you can tell something isn’t right with someone.
Sometimes you get a feeling to do something good or say something encouraging,
or pray for someone… You know that’s not you, right?
Before coming to Christ, all I cared about was myself. My intuitions and schemes were never good – they only sought my selfish pleasures. Now I go on mission trips, or volunteer, or speak in public!! – That’s where He has brought me.
So He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world, That’s the Holy Spirit!.
If you don’t understand what I am saying, make Christ your savior and Lord and follow where the Holy Spirit leads you. I’ve done lots of things that the Holy Spirit has lead me to do and as different and varied as all those things may have been I can tell you that they all had one thing in common: I never regretted a single one of them.
Our faith in Christ is supposed to be lived, not just believed. Experience the power of your faith by surrendering those things you regret for the things that God has for you.
Today we continue to share from Anderson & Baumchen’s Finding Hope
Again, where they discuss overcoming barriers to knowing God
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Anderson’s books for your own private study and to
support his work:
Overcoming
Barriers to Knowing God
From Distance to Intimacy
We can intellectually know all about our heavenly Father
and not really know Him at all. In the same way, we can know all about Abraham
Lincoln. He was the sixteenth president of the United States of America. He
knew a lot of Scripture, and quoted it frequently. John Wilkes Booth shot
President Lincoln in April 1865. We know these and many more facts about
Abraham Lincoln; but we have never met him, nor do we know him personally.
Paul knew all about God from an Old
Testament perspective. He was taught by the best. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a
Pharisee who kept the law and was found blameless until Christ struck him down
on the Damascus road. Reflecting on his past self-righteousness, Paul wrote:
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss
for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view
of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may
gain Christ (Phil.
3:7, 8).
Paul no longer just knew about
God. Now he knew Him. He realized that he was a child of the King, and
that he was in a love relationship with his heavenly Father.
From
Rebellion to Obedience
All born-again children of God have established a
relationship with their heavenly Father, but many are not living in harmony
with Him. Let us explain. When we were born physically, we had a relationship
with our earthly fathers. Could we do anything that would change the fact that
we were related? What if we ran away? Would we still be related to our fathers?
What if they kicked us out of the house? Nothing would change the fact that we
are blood related. It is a biological fact.
But could we do some things that would
cause us to no longer live in harmony with our earthly fathers? Sure—and we
probably discovered almost every way by the time we were five years old.
Although living in harmony with our fathers has nothing to do with our blood
relationship, it has everything to do with trusting and obeying.
This was true even of Jesus,
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He
suffered" (Hebrews
5:8). We also learned to trust and obey our earthly fathers, or chances are
the relationship we had with them was not very personal, and we really didn't
know them very well other than as taskmasters or absentee parents.
Now that we are children of God, is
there anything we can do that would change the fact that we are related to our
heavenly Father? The answer is the same, and for the same reason. We are blood
related.
You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from
your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious
blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. for you have
been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is,
through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:18,
19, 23).
Scripture also says that nothing can
separate us from the love of God (see Romans 8:35), and
no one can snatch us out of the Father's hand (see John 10:28). Our
eternal life is not dependent on our ability to hold on to Him in our strength;
it is primarily dependent upon His ability to hold on to us. The Lord said,
"I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).
Not only that, but "You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of
promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance" (Ephes. 1:13, 14).
From
Defeat to Victory
Although theologians disagree on the question of eternal
security, there is no dispute about the fact that living out of harmony with
God damages the quality of our life in Christ. We can be related to our
heavenly Father as His children, but our relationship with Him will not be very
personal or intimate if we don't learn to trust and obey Him, and our knowledge
of Him will be very shallow. Although our destiny may not be at stake, our
daily victory is.
If two people are going to get personal
and close, they must resolve any conflicts that are going on between them. You
may desire to know your neighbor better, but you won't be able to if you have
offended each other. You would have to first forgive and seek forgiveness
before you would have any chance of drawing closer.
The same holds true in our relationship
with God. You will not be able to relate personally to God and get to know Him
better until you get right with Him. Even your ability to read the Bible and
understand truth will be hampered until you have resolved personal and
spiritual conflicts that affect your relationship with God and people.
Remember, the great commandment is to love the Lord your God with your total
being, and your neighbor as yourself.
Paul also teaches that these conflicts
must be resolved before we can understand God's Word. "I gave you milk to
drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.
Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since
there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not
walking like mere men?" (1 Cor. 3:2, 3,
emphasis added). We have observed this happening around the world. Christians
try to read their Bibles, but it doesn't make any sense. They try to pray, but
it is like talking to the wall. They hear a message at church, but it goes in
one ear and out the other.
A missionary was seeing her
psychiatrist, psychologist and pastor once a week just to hold her life
together. The next step would be hospitalization. I talked with her one Friday
afternoon, and two and a half months later, I received this letter.
I've
been wanting to write to you for some time, but I've waited this long to
confirm to myself that this is truly "for reals" (as my four-year-old
daughter says). I'd like to share an entry from my journal which I wrote two
days after our meeting.
"Since Friday afternoon I have felt like a different
person. The fits of rage and anger are gone. My spirit is so calm and full of
joy. I wake up singing praise to God in my heart.
"That edge of tension and irritation is gone. I feel so
free. The Bible has been really exciting and stimulating and more
understandable than ever before. There was nothing "dramatic" that
happened during the session on Friday, yet I know in the deepest part of my
being that something has changed. I am no longer bound by accusations, doubts,
and thoughts of suicide or murder, or other harm that comes straight from hell
into my head. There is a serenity in my mind and spirit, a clarity of
consciousness that is profound.
"I've been set free!
"I'm excited and expectant about my future now. I know
that I'll be growing spiritually again, and will be developing in other ways as
well. I look forward happily to the discovery of the person God has created and
redeemed me to be, as well as the transformation of my marriage.
"It is so wonderful to have joy after so long a
darkness."
It's been two and a half months since I wrote that, and I'm
firmly convinced of the significant benefits of finding freedom in Christ. I've
been in therapy for several months, and while I was making progress, there is
no comparison with the steps I'm able to make now. My ability to "process"
things has increased many-fold. Not only is my spirit more serene, my head is
actually clearer! It's easier to make connections and integrate things now. It
seems like everything is easier to understand now.
My relationship with God has changed significantly. For
eight years I felt that He was distant from me. Shortly before I met you, I was
desperately crying out to Him to set me free—to release me from this bondage I
was in. I wanted so badly to meet with Him again, to know His presence was with
me again. I needed to know Him as friend, as companion, not as the distant
authority figure He had become in my mind and experience. Since that day two
and a half months ago, I have seen my trust in Him grow; I've seen my ability
to be honest with Him increase greatly. I really have been experiencing that
spiritual growth I'd anticipated in my journal. It's great!
This good woman had all the symptoms of
severe depression and was being treated accordingly. Her thoughts went from
scrambled to clear. She could now mentally process issues that she was unable
to process before. Her feelings toward God went from the right side of Diagram
4.1, showing the false attributes of God, to the left side, which are the true
attributes of God.
Her perception of God not only changed,
but it was also God Himself who granted the repentance and brought the change.
It is not enough to know the Word of God; we need the life of Christ to change.
I had the privilege of encouraging her as she worked through the Steps to
Freedom in Christ.
The discipleship counseling process
that helped resolve this missionary's relationship with God can help you
resolve the issues that are critical between yourself and God. Let's examine
these issues.
Finding Hope Again: Overcoming Depression.
------------------------------more tomorrow--------------------------
God bless
you all!