Cabrini – Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - 40 Day
Journey with Martin Luther – Day 21 - Purity 1294
Purity 1294 03/08/2024 Purity 1294 Podcast
Purity 1294 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a sunset on the horizon that paints
the soft red clouds comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this scene
on social media on or around April 23, 2021. I continue to clean out my phone’s
photo archive closet and if this photo is yours give me a heads up and I will
update the blog to give you the photo credit you deserve.
Anyway it is Friday, Thank God and I am looking
forward to the end of the day today because I will be reunited with my beloved
wifey, TammyLyn, and we have plans to go to Saratoga tonight to see Cabrini, a biopic
of Frances Xavier Cabrini – the first U.S. citizen to be canonized by the
Catholic Church, Cabrini was an Italian-American Catholic religious sister and
saint. She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a
religious institute that was a major support to her fellow Italian immigrants
to the United States. Cabrini originally had a heart to be a missionary to China,
but the Lord through Pope Leo XIII sent her to America to care for the growing and
impoverished Italian immigrant population there. Despite many difficulties, Cabrini and the
sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus went on to found 67 missionary institutions
to serve the sick and the poor and nine years after her death in 1917 the
sisters realized Cabrini’s goal of becoming missionaries in China. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Xavier_Cabrini)
I can’t wait to see this incredible women’s story on the big screen and to be inspired
by it. To be remembered for our faith in
Jesus and service to God’s kingdom is what I consider to be the ultimate goal
in life.
So let’s be like Cabrini and draw close to the Lord
in this season of Lent and see where He leads us.
It’s the twenty-first 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 of 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 21
I
believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father in eternity, and
also a true human being, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. He has redeemed
me, a lost and condemned human being. He has purchased and freed me from all
sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but
with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. He has
done all this in order that I may belong to him, live under him in his kingdom,
and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he
is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly
true.
Let
this be the summary of this article, that the little word Lord simply means the
same as Redeemer, that is, he who has brought us back from the devil to God,
from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and keeps us there... Indeed,
the entire gospel that we preach depends on the proper understanding of this
article. Upon it all our salvation and blessedness are based, and it is so rich
and broad that we can never learn it fully.
Biblical Wisdom
What
then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He
who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not
with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies. Who is it to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who
died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed
intercedes for us. Romans 8:31-33.
Silence for Meditation.
Questions to Ponder
· Why
did God have to go to such lengths to save us? Was the death of Christ
necessary? If yes, why? If not, why not?
It was because of His love for us that God went to
such lengths to save us (John 3:16). Yes,
Jesus had to die for us. Scripture
explains this in:
2
Corinthians 5:14-15, 21 (NKJV) where the Apostle Paul wrote:
14 For the love of Christ
compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those
who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them
and rose again. … 21 For
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
And speaking of our suffering for our faith the Apostle Peter
wrote in:
1 Peter 2:21-25 (NKJV)
21 For to this you were
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you
should follow His steps:
22 "Who committed no
sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
23 who, when He was reviled,
did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously;
24 who Himself bore our sins
in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were like sheep
going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
God demanded a sacrifice to atone for
our sins and Christ being fully God and fully Man died so we could live with
and for God forever.
For more on this, I am also sharing a link to Got Questions.org’s
answer to the question: “Why did Jesus have to die?” on the blog as well: (https://www.gotquestions.org/why-Jesus-die.html)
· People
prize their independence. Does that make it difficult to say “I belong to
Christ”?
Yes it does! Our selfishness and demanding our
independence are what will separate vast multitudes from God and send them to
perdition. We can’t save ourselves and living independently of God is the
pathway to perdition or will cause Christians to fail to live the abundant life
that God intends for them to have.
· When
do we start to “live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in eternal
righteousness, innocence, and blessedness”? Now, in this life? In the next
life? Both now and then? Explain.
Eternal
life starts the moment you put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and our
purpose in life as Christians is to fulfill the Great Commission – to go and
make disciples – to teach to others everything that Jesus taught so they can
experience His wisdom and be saved by His love. We serve the kingdom now on
earth and will continue to do that in heaven or when Jesus returns to rule and
reign here before bringing a new heaven and new earth for eternity. It’s an amazing mystery to consider, we will
live forever and be with God!
Psalm Fragment
Blessed
be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Our God is a God of
salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death. Psalm 68:19-20
Journal Reflections
· Write
on what it means for you to have a Lord, or Redeemer, in your own life.
I write a blog 6 days a week to try to express the
joy and gratitude that I have to have a Lord and a Redeemer in Jesus Christ! Having
a Lord and Redeemer means everything to me. It means life. It means love. It
means freedom. It means purpose. God rescued
me from myself, sin, death, and the grave. It means everything.
· Do
you remember a time when you felt as though Christ had snatched you from death
and brought you back to God, or from sin to righteousness? If so, write about
the experience. If not, can you imagine such an experience?
Oh, I do remember when I felt that Christ snatched
me from death and brought me back to God.
It’s my entire journey from March 2010 – celebrating my rescue and new
life in Christ and bringing me from a life of sin to increasing righteousness,
freedom, and joy. See my blog for more,
lol.
· If
someone asked you what is “the entire gospel”, how would you answer?
Put your faith in Jesus to be forgiven and to
receive eternal life and then follow Him and serve His kingdom. Have peace with
God through faith in Jesus and live.
Prayers for the Life of Faith
Thank
God for the great gift of Jesus for you and pray that you and others you know
will come to understand more deeply and fully the depths of this gift.
Lord, Thank You for the great gift of Jesus for ME,
for ME!!, Thank You Lord! I pray that I
and others will come to understand more deeply and fully the depths of this gift!
Thank You, God, Thank You, Jesus, Thank You Holy Spirit! Amen.
Prayer For Today
Lord
Jesus, I thank you that you have, through great suffering and sacrifice, redeemed
me from death, sin, and the power of the devil. Keep your grace ever before me
today as I live and work in your world.
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.
Mark 4:1-20 (NIV2011)
1 Again Jesus began to teach
by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a
boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore
at the water’s edge. 2 He
taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his
seed. 4 As he was scattering
the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it
did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants
were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
7 Other seed fell among
thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.
8 Still other seed fell on
good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some
sixty, some a hundred times.” 9 Then
Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” 10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the
others around him asked him about the parables. 11
He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been
given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables
12 so that, “ ‘they may be
ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
13 Then Jesus said to them,
“Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the
path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes
away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others,
like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they
last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word,
they quickly fall away.
18 Still others, like seed
sown among thorns, hear the word;
19 but the worries of this
life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and
choke the word, making it unfruitful.
20 Others, like seed sown
on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some
sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Today’s
verses fall under the eighth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Contentment,
Coveting, and Priorities.
8. Do not allow the deceitfulness of wealth to crowd out the
Word.
Today’s
verses tell the parable of the sowing of the seed and share the scary indication
that the world and the deceitfulness of wealth can stop us from being the
people God created us to be or could imply that it keeps us out of God’s kingdom
all together. So forsake the world and follow
Jesus, false converts believed they are saved but are not, some of which are
undoubtedly worshiping wealth instead of God and will one day discover a great
disappointment when they see they failed to do what God had for them to do or are
turned away as someone God never knew.
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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: LUKE 10
“Many prophets and kings have desired
to see what you
see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and
have not heard it.” – Luke 10:24
O Lord, I do bow in deep heart gratitude, when I consider
Your grace which has made me a “seer” and a “hearer” of things, which prophets
and kings have desired to look into but have failed.
I adore and worship You for the fact that You have in
infinite love, revealed Your Father to me, and that now through the knowledge
of God, I possess eternal life.
I do pray, Lord, that You would be pleased to continue to
reveal the glories of the Father, as I read and meditate upon Your Word. For
the sake of Your name and glory.
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
[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).
