You Can’t “Be with God”. – Lies of the Enemy #36 – Purity 1048

You Can’t “Be with God”.  – Lies of the Enemy #36 – Purity 1048

Purity 1048 05/20/2023 Purity 1048 Podcast

Purity 1048 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of sunrise from the vantage point of the Panther Top Tower in Murphy NC comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this scene on social media back on May 12^th with the following prose: 

“Fire in the sky

From the morning sun

As whippoorwills sing

The day’s begun”

Well It’s Saturday and while I am happy the day has begun, because I have to work today, I am looking forward to the end of my shift because I will be headed north to join my wife at our countryside home to celebrate the 18^th birthday of her son Jakob with a barbeque.  Although the local forecast is calling for showers today, you can’t rain on my parade because, as long as the Lord wills it, rain or shine I will be in the company of the one I love.    

And this is how you know that you are in a love relationship, you find peace in the other person’s presence no matter what the circumstances are.  It doesn’t matter if it rains or it’s sunny and it doesn’t really matter what you are doing, when you love someone you long for and enjoy their company.  A love relationship’s “quality time” is not necessarily based on the things you do or the places you go to as much as it has to do with being with the other person.

Early on in my relationship with TammyLyn, we recognized that often couples worry about what plans they could make, what things they could do, or what places they could go and are busy trying to “make one another happy” by creating circumstances for happiness and when those activities stop they don’t know what to do with one another.  But we agreed that true intimacy, true love was found in just being at peace in one another’s presence. So early on we took some time to grow closer together by just being with one another, talking, looking in one another’s eyes, embracing, and just “hanging out”.  We tried to establish being comfortable with one another by just “doing nothing” and “hanging out” and I think we have benefitted from it because now whether we are “just hanging out”, or working on something together, or going out to explore and enjoy God’s creation or the things men have built, we are “together in it” because we know one another and focus on that aspect – we aren’t striving to accomplish “some thing to make us happy” because we already have peace being with one another.    

Likewise our relationship with God shouldn’t necessarily “doing everything right” to “make God happy” where we feel good if we are doing everything we think we should to please God and where we feel condemned when we mess up, step out of line, or make a mistake.   We are not in a relationship based on performance. God has sought our love and presence by revealing the truth of Jesus to us and He has fully accepted us the moment we put our faith in Christ.  However, most Christians forget about God’s grace the moment they receive it and quickly make their walk of faith about “doing everything right”  where they judge their relationship with God on the things they do – I’m not praying, I’m not reading my Bible, My attitude isn’t right, I should give more, I should do more. I got to clean up my act.  I have to learn more.    

Now don’t get it twisted because, I usually define the path of Christian Discipleship by some of the things listed here as they are “disciplines of our faith”.  But a love relationship isn’t about discipline, it’s about being in love and acting in love.  It’s not about getting approval or acceptance; you already have it. Its about being at peace in God’s presence.  Prayer, Bible Study, serving, giving and living for God are not things we do to earn the love of God, they are the things we do because we already have it and desire “to be with Him”  and “to be together in” whatever it is you are doing.  Whether you are just hanging out, working, or going somewhere or doing something “fun”, no matter the circumstances or outcomes, when we are “with God”, we already have what we need: peace in His presence.  

And that brings us to our current series the “Lies of the Enemy”, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as “first person” statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. 

So today’s big lie is:

Lie #36:  You Can’t “Be with God”.                

This lie of the enemy is the foundation of “religion” where the only relationship you have with “god” is by trying to please him through performance, where the foundation of one’s faith is little more than following rules and often degenerates on looking good on the outside but having little or no changes on the inside, perhaps other than the puffing up of one’s pride if one is able to “do everything right” or the establishment of a double life as secret sin and shame are stewing just below the surface of what would look like a “normal Christian life”.

Church sex and financial scandals and abuses testify to the fact that things were actually not “okay” when it seemed everything was good, righteous, and holy.   Although the people involved in these scandals seemed to be walking with God, it turns out that they were putting on a show as large portions of their lives were not spent “being with God.” because their attitudes and behaviors in some areas demonstrated that they chose to not follow the full counsel of God and twisted things to have their will be done rather than His.

This is an extreme example however and as much as it may be popular to go after the “mighty who have fallen” I would choose to go after those whose “simple faith” sneers at the idea of “being with God” as something extreme and our as artificial as the “seeming faith” of those who have fallen in to sin.  

These “regular Christians”  are wary of any claims of intimacy of God and treat the subject as “hocus pocus” and reduce their relationship with God to “just being good people”.   They “just believe”. They don’t pray. They never read the Bible (Why would I? I’m not the priest). They give sparingly.  They never serve. Their church attendance can vary.  These “believers” could go to church a couple of times a year or could go to “the building” once a week or even every day but that’s as far as they will go with their intimacy with God.   God apparently lives in the church building so that’s where you can “be in His presence” but the moment you step beyond the threshold of the local cathedral or sanctuary, you are no longer with God as “normal resumes.”   Regular Christians like this honestly don’t even understand what someone is talking about when someone mentions their “relationship with God”. How can you have a relationship with someone who is invisible? Impossible! I’m pretty sure those people are cuckoo!”

Now before anyone gets upset. I have to admit that I lived most of my life with similar attitudes.  My liturgical church tradition was a religion not a relationship. We went to church; we weren’t the church. That’s crazy how can we be a building! Church was for Sundays and the occasion weird non-Sunday Holiday like Ash Wednesday, Not every day. 

You can’t be with God.  You can’t have a relationship with Him. He’s in heaven.   

OF course that all changed back in 2010. I was so far from God it wasn’t even funny; I had basically stopped believing in “a God” and had adopted a spiritual philosophy that denied the Creator as a mystical unseen impersonal force that was too mysterious to know, Karma.  I was wrong of course but many “regular Christians” still believe this lie – of an impersonal God, a distant God, or a Super-Mysterious God that you can’t know, that you can’t have a relationship with, that you can’t “be with”.   

God is alive and well and is available to those who seek Him.  But if you believe the lie that “You can’t be with God”, you will never even try to have relationship with Him.  

God revealed Himself to Abraham, Moses, the nation of Israel, and to all of us through His divine interventions, His word, and the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. We can know Him and when we put our faith in Jesus we can “be with Him”.   

Jesus is also known as Our Immanuel – which means “God with Us”.  So don’t believe the lie that you can’t “be with God”.   God gave us His word and His Son and the Holy Spirit to believers so we could be with Him.  SO when we treat our Christian faith as a set rules or empty disciplines to appease an unseen entity, we deny and fail to receive the fullness of God’s love.   

We can “be with God” but it does require our interest and desire to know Him.  Contemplative prayer or listening prayer is heralded as one way that you can know God’s presence. Googling “being with God” turned up several books on the subject, in the fact. Liberating Prayer by Dr. Neil T. Anderson is good book on prayer but reading the book won’t do much good unless you decided to actually pray and to do it as a means to “be with God” rather than by trying to do something.  

My basic instruction for “being with God” is to “seek Him” and to do so in whatever ways the Lord guides you to – whether through prayer, Bible study, thinking about God, listening to sermons, reading Christian books, or by serving His will in some way – all of these “activities” as long as they are done from a heart that wants to know and connect with God can be means to be with Him.   Give it a try because I assure you that when you seek Him, you will find Him.

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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:

Psalm 23:1-3 (NKJV)
¹  The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²  He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
³  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.

 

Today’s verses were offered by our resource under the heading: when you feel burned out in your job…. And direct us to focus on the peace that we have when we stop the striving (I shall not want) and rest (lie down in green pastures) in the Lord’s peace. When we do this we will be renewed (He restores my soul) and gives us a direction for the future (He leads me in path of righteousness).  

Notice this dichotomy of rest and walking -  God leads us to lie down but also to get up and walk in righteousness.  To be restored and to “not want” we need to follow the Lord’s lead and live with and for Him.  

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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  

2 - The Personality of the Holy Spirit

If we were asked to state in a comprehensive form what constitutes (according to our views of Scripture) the blessedness of the Lord’s people on earth, after His work of grace is begun in their souls, we would not hesitate to say that it must be wholly made up of the personal knowledge of and communion with the glorious Trinity in their Persons in the Godhead—for as the church is chosen to be everlastingly holy and everlastingly happy, in uninterrupted communion with God in glory when this life is ended, the anticipation of it now by faith must form the purest source of all present joy. But this communion with God in the Trinity of His Persons cannot be enjoyed without a clear apprehension of Him. We must know under Divine teaching God in the Trinity of His Persons, and we must also know from the same source the special and personal acts of grace by which each glorious Person in the Godhead has condescended to make Himself known unto His people before we can be said to personally enjoy communion with each and all.

We offer no apology, then, for devoting a separate chapter to the consideration of the personality of the Holy Spirit, for unless we have a right conception of His glorious being, it is impossible that we should entertain right thoughts about Him, and therefore impossible for us to render to Him that homage, love, confidence, and submission, which are His due. To the Christian who is given to realize that he owes to the personal operations of the Spirit every Divine influence exercised upon him from the first moment of regeneration until the final consummation in glory, it cannot be a matter of little importance for him to aspire after the fullest apprehension of Him that his finite faculties are capable of—yea, he will consider no effort too great to obtain spiritual views of Him to whose Divine grace and power the effectual means of his salvation through Christ are to be ascribed. To those who are strangers to the operations of the blessed Spirit in the heart, the theme of this chapter is likely to be a matter of unconcern, and its details wearisome.^[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 You Tube 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)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“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

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^[1] Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).

Happiness is Somewhere Out There! – Lies of the Enemy #30– Purity 1042

Happiness is Somewhere Out There!  – Lies of the Enemy #30– Purity 1042

Purity 1042 05/13/2023 Purity 1042 Podcast

Purity 1042 on YouTube:

Good morning,

Today’s photo of “Morning at Cherokee Lake” comes to us from Fred Dimmick who shared this scene on social media back on April 18^th.  I love the boardwalk pathway and the perfect tranquil reflection of the surrounding landscape on the surface of the lake, and all under a cloudless blue sky! Fred’s photo makes me want to get out there and see something!

Well, it’s Saturday and while I have been working outdoors, digging ditches, literally, this week the tranquility of Fred’s photo encourages me to spend some time appreciating God’s creation, albeit with some balance.   We only have so many hours on the weekends, and we have to be wise when we plan things and count the costs. We have to ask ourselves what exactly it is we are looking for, or trying to accomplish, and to consider how much time and effort accomplishing it will take, and whether there is a simpler way to meet our needs that won’t cost us everything.   

For example, last year my wife and I and some friends went on a “white water rafting trip” on the Hudson River.  If you have never gone, I would highly recommend giving it a try. It was fun!  However, before you book your trip with a rafting company, you need to count the costs.  The rafting trip required financial costs, more or less 8 hours of you day, and some physical costs to your body (from rowing, being jostled around in the rapids, from swimming (you’ve got to get out of the boat – brothers and sister – as far as I am concerned -for the full experience), and from being out in the elements for most of the day. While you will have your evening free after the trip, you may be “spent” from the experience.   

Similarly, we, like Fred, can go to nearby nature trails, state parks, lakes, or mountains to get out in God’s creation to experience the glory of the great outdoors but we are wise to figure out the “drive time”  and assess the lay of the land to accurately determine the time and physical costs for our excursions – long hikes cost more than short hikes, mountain hikes cost more than hikes on relatively flat terrain.  

And all of these considerations are being mentioned today because each of us have different likes and dislikes and different capacities and as I seek to encourage people to “do something” to fully appreciate their lives, and to find peace and joy in the process, I also want people to be wise and discerning and to seek to know themselves and their limitations because if they aren’t their attempts to find peace and joy can turn into frustration, angst, and bitterness.  

The sense of peace we will experience will be within us no matter where we go, so it’s good to remember that wherever we go, we take ourselves with us and we should seek to accurately assess what we can handle and what we can’t.   If our journey of life turns into some desperate pursuit of finding peace “somewhere out there”, invariably we will come to the conclusion that “there is nothing out there” in some sense, unless we are also connected to the Creator.  There is nothing inherently meaningful or fulfilling out in the middle of the woods, next to a lake, or on the top of a mountain unless the experience brings you to a place where you thank God for what He has made and the life He has given us.  

Many times on solo nature hikes, I have reached “my limit” -where I get to the point that my appreciation for the “stillness” and the beauty of the great outdoors dissipates, and I begin to get frustrated and become more concerned with whether or not I should press on ahead or turn around and leave than with the “awe and wonder” of the wilderness.   When I get to that point, I know I have overextended myself and usually make a determined effort to just leave – I am no longer appreciating the woods so “times up” – it's time to go back to civilization and find rest somewhere else – usually back in the comforts of home.  

I  don’t know if I’m adequately expressing this experience of discovery and dissatisfaction, but this is where you come to the realization that – there is “nothing out there” – anywhere really – at home – on the road – anywhere that will fulfill us in and of themselves. This experience is simultaneously discovering our own limitations but also the limitations of “people, places, or things” to completely satisfy us. 

The “answers” to peace and joy don’t lie “out there” by themselves. The answers to peace and joy are found by relating all of our experiences to God. He is the only One with us – all the time – and when we aren’t relating to Him moment to moment – the world becomes lonely, disappointing, or even hostile to us.  God is our ever present companion and the only One who can give us the enduring experience of peace, safety, acceptance, security, and significance. 

U2’s Bono just turned 63 (we are all getting old – our rockers will increasingly be found in rockers – as in rocking chairs) and I remember U2’s 1987 song “I still haven’t found what I am looking for” where Bono sang about “climbing the highest mountains” and “running through the fields” and having other fleshly, and even spiritual experiences, only to find himself still searching.   Although the song’s lyric confesses to believing in “the Kingdom Come” and being set “free” and “believing it” – the fact that singer is “still running” makes believe that they are looking for “something out there” when they should stop and consider the fact that we are all invariably running to an eternal existence with or without God.

Our wilderness discontentment experiences, and desperate searching “out there” testifies to the inability of nature or other worthwhile experiences to provide meaning and purpose and to the fact that we have looked to created things rather than the Creator for guidance and peace.    

And this may be the longest meandering segway ever but, this brings us to our current series the “Lies of the Enemy”, which is an examination of some of the common lies, sometimes sneakily whispered into our minds as “first person” statements, that the enemy tells us to cause us to doubt our faith, lose our peace, cause division, or influence us to not follow the Lord with the way we live our lives. 

So today’s big lie is:

Lie #30:  Happiness is Somewhere Out There!     

This Lie is trumpeted everywhere! Happiness is something out there and many will offer that they have not only found “it” they have it for sale.  The travel industry will book you trips to all the “happy places” on the earth.  Restaurants promise to take you to a “happy place” with their culinary delights.   The sex industry will give you all kinds of options for finding the “happy place” of sexual release.   Dating apps even promise to bring you to the “happy place” of finding relationships.   Spas and salons will provide you with treatments that will give you “peace”.    The entertainment and sports industries will make you happy by giving you dramas to get lost in or to give you something to cheer for.  

 

But as I tried to express above, all the “things out there” – while admittedly they can provide us with pleasure and happy experiences – we were never meant to invest ourselves in them to find our ultimate fulfillment.  True fulfillment – peace and joy – come from a relationship with the Creator, not with temporary experiences or created things.  

 

Isaiah 26:3-4 (NLT2)  speaking of God, says
³  You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
⁴  Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

 

Our temporary experience will give us temporary peace. But the Lord offers perfect peace for eternity.  And the Way we can enter into a relationship to know God’s eternal peace is through Jesus.  He said in:  

 

John 14:27 (NLT2)
²⁷  “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

 

His teaching and His very life were given to and for us so we would have peace.  Jesus acknowledges the difficulties of living in this world but assures us of that through Him we can over come it.   He said:

John 16:33 (NLT2)
³³  I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

 

We are not to try to find our peace – or happy place – in the world. We are to find our peace in Him.  

 

So while I encourage you to enjoy your life and to get “out there:” this weekend to do something, make sure that you understand your limits and that the peace that endures forever is found in Christ alone.  So don’t believe the lie that “happiness is somewhere out there!” just waiting to be found because no matter how much you search in this world, unless you are looking towards the Creator and consider His Way for peace, you’ll will not only never find “what you are looking for” you will discover that you were running away from the only One that could give it to you.    

 

 

 

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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 verse is :

1 Peter 3:7 (NLT2)
⁷  In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

 

Today’s verse reminds husbands to treat their wives with honor and understanding that she is our equal partner in God’s gift of new life and that failure to do so may hinder our prayers.   

 

Well, just in time for Mother’s Day, the Lord provides us with a verse to honor our sisters in Christ. Women are our equal partners in our new lives in Christ and when we treat them as second class citizens of the kingdom of God, we apparently will disrupt the effectiveness of our prayer lives as a spiritual consequence.  

 

Men and women are different. They have different strengths and weaknesses, but the Lord loves them both and wants them to honor and respect one another as equal partners in God’s kingdom.  While men are given the spiritual authority in marriage, they are not to abuse it.   Instead the word of God instructs us to love our wives as ourselves and to give them honor.

 

 

 

  

 

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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  “Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality” By June Hunt.

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and to support her work.  This resource is available online for $7.99 (https://june-hunt.myshopify.com/collections/keys-for-living/products/keys-for-living-on-satan-demons-satanism_ ).

Satan, Demons & Satanism

A Sinister Reality

by June Hunt

IV.    Steps To Solution

E.  Claim Your Victory in Christ

Christ’s victory over Satan is complete, final and irrevocable. Because Christ lives in you, His victory has become your victory. There is no power over Satan apart from Christ because He is the only one who has been and can be victorious over your adversary. Claim and appropriate His victory as your own, and then walk in that victory on a daily basis.

•     Commit your entire life to Christ as Lord.	Fully rely on Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, your will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
•     Confess your involvement with Satan.	Recognize and renounce each evil practice. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
•     Confront Satan as a liar.	Refuse to believe any thought that Satan puts into your mind. “He [Satan] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
•     Command Satan to leave you.	Base your command on the authority given you in Christ. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
•     Cleanse your home.	Destroy all satanic and occultic paraphernalia. “Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22)
•     Conform your thinking to God’s thinking.	Transform your mind by memorizing Scripture. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
•     Concede your own weakness.	You cannot resist evil in your own strength … you must rely on the indwelling power of Christ. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)
•     Clothe yourself with the armor of God.	Learn God’s way of protecting yourself against the devil’s schemes. “Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.” (Ephesians 6:13)

Q “For several years, I have been having perverse sexual dreams. I feel dirty when I wake up, but I can’t seem to do anything about them. Although I recently became a Christian, our family was heavily involved in witchcraft and satanism. What can I do to stop having these nightmares?”

Recurring sexual nightmares can certainly be rooted in the occult or in satanic rituals. Because your family was heavily involved in witchcraft and satanism, your first line of defense is to enter into spiritual warfare against these powers. If satanic oppression is the cause of an involuntary, immoral dream invading your life, through prayer it can be overcome. Claim your position as a child of God by thanking Him for loving you and saving you. Speak audibly, for Satan cannot read your thoughts. Then, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and through the power of His blood, renounce and reject any influence of the occult or any evil presence attacking you.

“They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus] and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11)

Pray …

Lord Jesus, Thank You for saving me and adopting me into Your family. I acknowledge that Your blood was the payment price that purchased the full forgiveness of my sins. My testimony is that I truly am a child of God. Right now, I take the authority that is mine in Christ and renounce any satanic, demonic power that was or is coming against me. When I sleep, I ask that the helmet of salvation protect my mind. May the breastplate of righteousness deflect any flaming arrows from the evil one. Put a hedge of protection around my mind and purify my dreams, and may God get the glory. In the powerful name of Jesus, I pray. 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 You Tube 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)

For those who require the assistance of a Deeper Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

“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

 

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^[1] June Hunt, Biblical Counseling Keys on Satan, Demons & Satanism: A Sinister Reality (Dallas, TX: Hope For The Heart, 2008), 16–18.

Followers Called to Peace – Lent with Bonhoeffer Day 14 – Purity 986

Followers Called to Peace – Lent with Bonhoeffer Day 14 – Purity 986    

Purity 986 03/09/2023 Purity 986 Podcast

Purity 986 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of Hays Rd in East Greenbush in the afternoon hours past sunset comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while driving back to my river side home on Sunday.   I had enjoyed a day of worshiping the Lord at church and spending time with my wife at my brother in laws house for our church’s “growth group” and even though the day was late I had a peaceful easy feeling during the entire drive back and  got the enjoy the setting sun along the way.  But in this photo the sun is virtually gone although its glory can still be seen on the horizon. Even though I was coming quick to State Route 9J that borders the Hudson River and the light of day was present, by the time I got there the glowing orb of the sun would be off to the west and not accompany me on the way south. I know this photo may not be spectacular but I like the wat that roadway, the trees and the clouds above create a tunnel effect giving one the impression that there is light at the end of the tunnel on the horizon and even though the scene may seem foreboding, we can fix our eyes on that light and be assured that we are headed in the right direction.  

Well, It’s Thursday again and as is my habit I share this photo also as a visual reminder to get on or stay on the path of Christian Discipleship, which can lead us through foreboding landscapes and season on this earth but is guaranteed to lead to the light of glory and for our ultimate good if we simply choose to walk it out and seek the Lord’s presence and guidance along the way.   

So let me encourage you to keep on walking and talking with God as you go through this life because when we realize that He made us for a purpose and that  purpose is to walk with Him and follow His lead we can rest assured that He is taking us to the place that’s the best.

So let’s follow His lead from here to there as we continue our walk through the season of Lent with our current series: the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as we find ourselves walking into Day 14. So I guess we are “two weeks” in on our journey of repentance and I for one am I enjoying where the Lord is taking me as I have surrendered to the study and just take each day as it comes, considering what is presented and answering the questions and prompts as I feel led.

As a reminder, and as we will say each day of this journey, we take this path to mark the season of Lent and to draw closer to God in anticipation for the celebration of Easter, knowing that if we take this journey of repentance seriously, the Lord will use it to change us too. 

You can sign up to get this devotional yourself by going to the Biblegateway link on the blog ((https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/40-Day-Journey-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/today)) . 

Day 14

Bonhoeffer writes:

“Jesus’ followers are called to peace.

When Jesus called them, they found their peace. Jesus is their peace.

Now they are not only to have peace, but they are to make peace.

To do this they renounce violence and strife. Those things never help the cause of Christ.

Christ’s kingdom is a realm of peace, and those in Christ’s community greet each other with a greeting of peace.

Jesus’ disciples maintain peace by choosing to suffer instead of causing others to suffer.

They preserve community when others destroy it.

They renounce self-assertion and are silent in the face of hatred and injustice. That is how they overcome evil with good. That is how they are makers of divine peace in a world of hatred and war.”

Biblical Wisdom

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

Questions to Ponder

• What impact would it have on our culture of violence if individual Christians and churches were to “renounce violence and strife” as a mark of true discipleship?

M.T. Clark: If every person and church who claimed to be Christian renounced violence and strife as a mark of true discipleship, it would have a major impact on our culture of violence. To renounce violence and strife in the entertainment industry alone would cause a shift, as “blood sports”, action or horror movies and music that glorifies violence would lose a good percentage of their patrons.  The military would lose all their “Christian soldier” recruits. Domestic violence would be reported and repented of. Verbal abuse and harsh speech would be replaced with listening and a gentle answer.   If the vast amount of people who claim a relationship with Jesus were be disciples, the world would see Christ in us and perhaps see the light and come into His kingdom.  What a wonderful world it could be and will be when Christ, the Prince of Peace comes again to rule and reign.

• How might being “silent in the face of hatred and injustice” be compatible with non-violent resistance to evil?

M.T. Clark: The two terms seem synonymous. Demonstrating non-violent resistance to evil might be compatible to being “silent in the face of hatred and injustice” in some aspects but to REALLY be silent like Christ was is almost unimaginable as He spoke not a word and the implication to Bonhoeffer’s words lead us to believe that we would sacrifice our rights to maintain peace and submit and suffer like Christ did to keep the peace. Ironically, Bonhoeffer himself was involved in a plot to kill Hitler which demonstrates that even Christians can seek to devise their own ways to overcome evil that fly in the face of the idea of non-violent resistance.   Even in our attempts to “be nonviolent” we take the stance of proclaiming our rights in the face of injustice as if to say “Can’t you see what they are doing to me?!?” which falls short of being silent.  Loving your enemies and surrendering to injustice are counter intuitive to our sense of self preservation and dignity and it is difficult to remove our will from the idea of overcoming evil with silent suffering.  

• Why can violence never help the cause of Christ’s kingdom?

M.T. Clark: Violence can never help the cause of Christ because His kingdom is a kingdom of peace. As much as we think it would be wise to just “kill the evil people”, we have to realize that God’s will would be not to break His commandment to not murder. Situational ethics don’t over ride God’s laws and while we can be forgiven, we shouldn’t take that as license to have the ends justify the means. Jesus said to turn the other cheek not to fight fire with fire. And for that reason, we have to believe that even “well intentioned” violence can never help the cause of Christ’s kingdom.    

Psalm Fragment

Which of you desires life,
   and covets many days to enjoy good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
   and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil, and do good;
   seek peace, and pursue it. Psalm 34:12-14

Journal Reflections

• Have you ever thought deeply on the fact that your call to follow Jesus is a call to peace? Reflect in your journal on how that realization makes you feel. Any actions suggest themselves?

M.T. Clark: I struggle with the idea of “total peace” and suffering in silence and surrendering our rights in the face of injustice. So yes I have though dteeply about following Jesus’s call to peace.   I am currently involved with a legal squabble in an attempt to cause the other party to do what they agreed to do in a contract.  Because they won’t obey the terms of the agreement, I am calling on the authority of the state to help my cause.  Overall, I believe that when the duties contracted are performed both parties will find a measure of peace and mutual benefit but that peace apparently requires a battle of sorts.   I had remained silent for a few years on this matter but there is no indication the other party will willingly do what they are contracted to do, so in the name of the ultimate peace that we both could enjoy when this business is completed I am in the midst of a struggle and I am paying for it. The realization that I am called to peace makes this all the more difficult but I have prayed about it and I felt compelled to do this “hard thing” to bring us all to a place of peace. Lord help us all to get there.  

• Think of any people with whom you are in conflict or tension. Reflect on what might happen if the next time you met them you greeted them with a “greeting of peace.”

M.T. Clark: OOF, I am pretty sure it would not be accepted as my opponent is not a Christian and is known for their pettiness, anger, and bitterness. This stance by my opponent necessitated the legal action. But I will certainly greet them with a “greeting of peace” the next time I need to speak to them and see how it goes.

• What experiences of peacemaking have you had? Reflect on what it felt like to be a peacemaker.

M.T. Clark: As a CFMA for Freedom in Christ Ministries, I lead people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ in which they seek to have peace with God through prayer, confession, renunciation, and forgiveness.  So in a way I encourage people to be at peace and the Lord has been faithful in the process to bring those who ask for it the peace they long for.  It feels wonderful to be used by the Lord to be a part of that process.  

Intercessions

Pray for all politicians and government leaders that they might “renounce violence and strife” and embrace peacemaking as a priority at all levels of government.

M.T. Clark: Lord God,  

We pray for all politicians and government leaders to “renounce violence and Strife” and embrace peacemaking as a priority at all levels of government. In these days there is much division in the ranks of leadership and we pray for you to move all sides of our governmental systems to stand for what is right according to your word and come together to establish peace that you would bless.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer for Today

God of peace, you give me peace, now teach me to be a peacemaker.

M.T. Clark: In Jesus Name, I pray, Amen.

 

(40-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Copyright © 2007 Augsburg Books, imprint of Augsburg Fortress.)

***As we are being provided with Bible verses from the 40 Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we will are taking a break from sharing a verse of the day from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”. We plan on resuming that normal installment of the blog following Easter.*** 

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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 A.W. Pink’s “The Sovereignty of God.”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

By  ARTHUR W. PINK

CHAPTER NINE

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND PRAYER

“If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us” (1 John 5:14).

Throughout this book it has been our chief aim to exalt the Creator and abase the creature. The well-nigh universal tendency now, is to magnify man and dishonor and degrade God. On every hand it will be found that, when spiritual things are under discussion, the human side and element is pressed and stressed, and the Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is relegated to the background. This holds true of very much of the modern teaching about prayer. In the great majority of the books written and in the sermons preached upon prayer the human element fills the scene almost entirely: it is the conditions which we must meet, the promises we must “claim,” the things we must do in order to get our requests granted; and God’s claims, God’s rights, God’s glory are disregarded.

As a fair example of what is being given out today we subjoin a brief editorial which appeared recently in one of the leading religious weeklies entitled “Prayer, or Fate?”

“God in His sovereignty has ordained that human destinies may be changed and moulded by the will of man. This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men pray. Someone has strikingly expressed it this way: ‘There are certain things that will happen in a man’s life whether he prays or not. There are other things that will happen if he prays; and will not happen if he does not pray.’ A Christian worker was impressed by these sentences as he entered a business office and he prayed that the Lord would open the way to speak to some one about Christ, reflecting that things would be changed because he prayed. Then his mind turned to other things and the prayer was forgotten. The opportunity came to speak to the business man upon whom he was calling, but he did not grasp it, and was on his way out when he remembered his prayer of a half hour before, and God’s answer. He promptly returned and had a talk with the business man, who, though a church-member, had never in his life been asked whether he was saved. Let us give ourselves to prayer, and open the way for God to change things. Let us beware lest we become virtual fatalists by failing to exercise our God-given wills in praying.”

The above illustrates what is being taught on the subject of prayer, and the deplorable thing is that scarcely a voice is lifted in protest. To say that “human destinies may be changed and moulded by the will of man” is rank infidelity—that is the only proper term for it. Should any one challenge this classification, we would ask them whether they can find an infidel anywhere who would dissent from such a statement, and we are confident that such an one could not be found. To say that “God has ordained that human destinies may be changed and moulded by the will of man” is absolutely untrue. “Human destiny” is settled not by “the will of man, but by the will of God. That which determines human destiny is whether or not a man has been born again, for it is written, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And as to whose will, whether God’s or man’s, is responsible for the new birth is settled, unequivocally, by John 1:13—“Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but OF GOD.” To say that “human destiny” may be changed by the will of man is to make the creature’s will supreme, and that is, virtually, to dethrone God. But what saith the Scriptures? Let the Book answer: “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory?” (1 Sam. 2:6–8).

Turning back to the Editorial here under review, we are next told, “This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men pray.” Almost everywhere we go today one comes across a motto-card bearing the inscription “Prayer Changes Things.” As to what these words are designed to signify is evident from the current literature on prayer—we are to persuade God to change His purpose. Concerning this we shall have more to say below.

Again, the Editor tells us, “Some one has strikingly expressed it this way: ‘There are certain things that will happen in a man’s life whether he prays or not. There are other things that will happen if he prays, and will not happen if he does not pray’.” That things happen whether a man prays or not is exemplified daily in the lives of the unregenerate, most of whom never pray at all. That ‘other things will happen if he prays’ is in need of qualification. If a believer prays in faith and asks for those things which are according to God’s will he will most certainly obtain that for which he has asked. Again, that other things will happen if he prays is also true in respect to the subjective benefits derived from prayer: God will become more real to him and His promises more precious. That other things ‘will not happen if he does not pray’ is true so far as his own life is concerned—a prayerless life means a life lived out of communion with God and all that is involved by this. But to affirm that God will not and cannot bring to pass His eternal purpose unless we pray is utterly erroneous, for the same God who has decreed the end has also decreed that His end shall be reached through His appointed means, and one of these is prayer. The God who has determined to grant a blessing also gives a spirit of supplication which first seeks the blessing.

The example cited in the above Editorial of the Christian Worker and the business man is a very unhappy one to say the least, for according to the terms of the illustration the Christian worker’s prayer was not answered by God at all, inasmuch as, apparently, the way was not opened to speak to the business man about his soul. But on leaving the office and recalling his prayer the Christian workers (perhaps in the energy of the flesh) determined to answer the prayer for himself, and instead of leaving the Lord to “open the way” for him, took matters into his own hand.^[1]

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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 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

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^[1] Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 175–177.