The
Key That Unlocks The Fruit of the Spirit - Purity 621
Purity
621 01/06/2022 Purity 621 Podcast
Good
morning,
Today’s photo of another absolutely
stunning January sunset over the Hudson River comes to us from yours truly as I
knew I just had to pull the car over to capture this sight from the shores of
Castleton-On-the-Hudson NY because the light would soon be fading and this
wonder would disappear over the horizon.
I am sharing a video I took of this scene on mt4christ.org today if you
want to get another “live” view of what I was seeing.
Well it’s Thursday, and I normally share a photo of a pathway to encourage people to get on or to keep walking on the path of Christian Discipleship. Technically the Hudson River is a water pathway and I think today’s photo qualifies as a representation of a path to seek the Lord and signifies the wonder and the magnificence that one will experience when they decide to “pick up their cross” and follow Jesus.
Today I am excited because this evening I
will resume teaching Christian Discipleship as I will be hosting a Freedom in
Christ Discipleship Course Men’s Group via Zoom! The possible participants for tonight’s group
span the east coast, hailing from as far north as Massachusetts and going as
far south as Florida, with other states in between also possibly being represented.
I say possible participants, because although
several men have signed up for the course, they are only participants if they
show up at tonight’s Zoom meeting. I
sent out an email this morning to remind and to encourage all the participants
to attend tonight’s meeting, saying that a big part of our faith walk as
Christians is “showing up”.
If these men want to learn about and
prayerfully experience their Freedom in Christ, it would help them a great deal
to show up. Reading books or watching videos on our own can give understanding but
I have learned that acts of faith and going into Christian communities to be
vulnerable are things God uses to mature us in our faith.
“Putting your money, where you mouth is” by
investing your time and presence to pursue the Lord’s will for your life moves
you closer to God and closer to the abundant life in the Spirit that He wants
all His children to experience.
Our friend in the UK, Philip Hand, recently
sent me a poem that reflects my sentiments that it is through the Lord that we
can find our freedom and that we can reflect God’s glory when we trust in Him
and follow where He leads. Philip’s
poem reads:
The Key
Let go of your
stress
the Lord is our
rest.
His presence
lifts our heads.
Sorrow and
heartache flee,
his love is the
key
to the cage that
surrounds our hearts.
Wonderful is the
one who’s crimson pierced hands
holds our lives
in the safest of places.
The world will
see
that we are free
with the light of the Son on our faces.
-
Philip Hand
So, grab a hold of The Key, our Lord Jesus
Christ, to unlock the mystery of life and to find out who you are in Christ,
what your purpose in His kingdom is, and how to experience the fruit of the
Spirit in your life on a continual basis.
The peace, love, joy, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control that you are seeking is
only found in one place: in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. To experience it, we have to “pick up our
cross” and follow Jesus. When the Lord
calls you to find meaning and purpose for your life, you still have to answer
the call. You still have to show up.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Hebrews 3:14
(NLT2)
14 For if we are faithful to
the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share
in all that belongs to Christ.
Today’s verse speaks of the
need for us to persevere in our faith walk and of the rewards to be had.
One of the parables of Christ’s refers to the sowing of
seed and speaks of some seed that fell on rocky soil that sprang up but quickly
wilted and died and others that fell among thorns and were choked out.
These two types of seeds
were explained to be people who heard the gospel and accepted it but who didn’t
stay in the faith, pointing to, depending upon your view, either carnal
Christians who are saved but aren’t fruitful or it points to false converts,
people who say and possibly believe they are Christians but who will be turned
away by Christ as someone He didn’t know on judgement day to be cast in the outer
darkness of Hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Honestly, my interpretation
of this parable agrees with what the word says: these seed die and are choked
out, so I believe in the second view that people who seem to put their faith in
Christ but who walk away from the church and are consumed by the things of this
world more than the things of God are spiritually dead and will be lost as
their loyalties to the things of this world or their love of themselves over
their love for Christ will result in their eternal separation.
With that said, I also
believe that the Lord might not be done yet with some who we would think are unredeemable. We don’t know how all our stories end yet so
we should encourage people to believe in and follow Christ rather than declare that
someone is reprobate and eternally lost.
Knowing these spiritual
realities, the author of Hebrews encourages us to be faithful to the end and to
trust in the Lord like when we first believed to have the assurance that we
will share in all that belongs to Christ.
We don’t want to fall away
or be corrupted by the world, the flesh, and the devil only to discover we
really weren’t “in Christ”.
The key to being faithful to
the end is to be faithful today and set the intention to be faithful tomorrow.
Our faith is supposed to be a daily spiritual practice and if we keep showing
up to connect with God through our spiritual disciplines of gratitude, prayer,
Bible study, kindness, and service we will know that “Wow, I really am a
Christian!” and we can trust the Lord with our lives and be assured that we
will share in all of the things that Christ has for us, both here and now and
in His eternal Kingdom.
So keep walking and talking
with God. It’s the recipe for faithfulness and leads to the peace and joy that
comes from knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are His children.
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 to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from Chapter 3.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private
study and to support his work.
Doctrinal Affirmation
·
I recognize that there is only one true
and living God who exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is worthy of
all honor, praise, and glory as the One who made all things and holds all
things together. (See Exodus 20:2-3; Colossians 1:16, 17.)
·
I recognize that Jesus Christ is the
Messiah, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. I believe that He came
to destroy the works of the devil, and that He disarmed the rulers and
authorities and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them. (See
John 1:1, 14; Colossians 2:15; 1 John 3:8.)
·
I believe that God demonstrated His own
love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. I believe
that He has delivered me from the domain of darkness and transferred me to His
kingdom, and in Him I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (See Romans
5:8; Col. 1:13, 14.)
·
I believe that I am now a child of God
and that I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies. I believe that I was saved
by the grace of God through faith, and that it was a gift and not a result of
any works on my part. (See Ephesians 2:6, 8, 9; 1 John 3:1-3.)
·
I choose to be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of His might. I put no confidence in the flesh, for the weapons of
warfare are not of the flesh but are divinely powerful for the destruction of
strongholds. I put on the full armor of God. I resolve to stand firm in my
faith and resist the evil one. (See 2 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesians 6:10-20;
Philippians 3:3.)
·
I believe that apart from Christ I can
do nothing, so I declare my complete dependence on Him. I choose to abide in
Christ in order to bear much fruit and glorify my Father. I announce to Satan
that Jesus is my Lord. I reject any and all counterfeit gifts or works of Satan
in my life. (See John 15:5, 8; 1 Corinthians 12:3.)
·
I believe that the truth will set me free
and that Jesus is the truth. If He sets me free, I will be free indeed. I
recognize that walking in the light is the only path of true fellowship with
God and man. Therefore, I stand against all of Satan’s deception by taking
every thought captive in obedience to Christ. I declare that the Bible is the
only authoritative standard for truth and life. (See John 8:32,36; 14:6; 2
Corinthians 10:5; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 John 1:3-7.)
·
I choose to present my body to God as a
living and holy sacrifice and the members of my body as instruments of
righteousness. I choose to renew my mind by the living Word of God in order
that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. I put
off the old self with its evil practices and put on the new self. I declare
myself to be a new creation in Christ. (See Romans 6:13; 12:1, 2; 2 Corinthians
5:17; Colossians 3:9, 10.)
·
By faith, I choose to be filled with the
Spirit so that I can be guided into all truth. I choose to walk by the Spirit
so that I will not carry out the desires of the flesh. (See John 16:13;
Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 5:18.)
·
I renounce all selfish goals and choose
the ultimate goal of love. I choose to obey the two greatest commandments: to
love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love my
neighbor as myself. (See Matthew 22:37-39; 1 Timothy 1:5.)
·
I believe that the Lord Jesus has all
authority in heaven and on earth, and He is the head over all rule and
authority. I am complete in Him. I believe that Satan and his demons are
subject to me in Christ since I am a member of Christ’s body. Therefore, I obey
the command to submit to God and resist the devil, and I command Satan in the
name of Jesus Christ to leave my presence. (See Matthew 28:18; Ephesians
1:19-23; Colossians 2:10; James 4:7.)
There is no way that we can instantly renew our minds. Defense
mechanisms and flesh patterns have been learned over time and they have to be
unlearned, which will take time. The purpose in this Step is to identify the
ways you have been deceived and expose unhealthy ways of thinking and
believing. It reveals where you need to grow. You are not hopeless, and you
don’t need someone else to do your thinking and believing for you. Such lies
have been played over and over again in people’s minds. You must assume
responsibility for choosing the truth, regardless of how your emotions feel.
Suppose there is a dirt road leading to your house in the country.
If you continually drive over that road the same exact way, ruts will be formed
over time. The sun will dry those ruts and make them hard as concrete. The
easiest thing is to allow the car to drift along in those ruts. It will be a
rough ride compared to the smooth ride that you could have on the surface right
beside the ruts. You will immediately feel the resistance on the wheel to
return to the ruts in the road when you only make a half-hearted effort to
steer out of them.
If you want to get out of the rut, you will have to be totally
committed and willing to make deliberate choices. In the same way, if you no
longer want to be controlled by the strongholds or “rut thinking” that the
world, the flesh and the devil has put in your mind over years, you need to be
committed to breaking those strongholds and make deliberate choices based on
the truth of God’s Word. You choose; you don’t passively let your old patterns
of thinking decide. You take every thought captive in obedience to Christ and
choose His truth. This is how we renew our minds—by knowing and choosing the
truth, and by letting the Word of Christ richly dwell within us. (See Romans
12:2; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 3:16.)
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
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