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Showing posts with label Powers of Darkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Powers of Darkness. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Laying Down The Weapons of Unforgiveness - Purity 830


Laying Down The Weapons of Unforgiveness - Purity 830

Purity 830 09/07/2022  Purity 830 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a “hump” of a pine tree’s silhouette in the light of a fiery sunset sky comes to us from a friend who captured this scene presumably near their home in Greenville NY and shared it on social media back on August 13th.  They also shared the following thoughts:

“One of the hardest things to purge is unforgiveness. We’re tempted to think that unforgiveness gives us power, when in reality it keeps us a victim.  Yet we keep clinging to our unforgiveness, convinced that doing so is fair.”  

Well, it’s Wednesday and I thought my friend’s tree was enough of a visual representation of “hump day” but I failed to remember their comments about unforgiveness which I feel are both accurate and somewhat timely.  

Last night, I kicked off another Freedom in Christ Course series of meetings on Zoom and did my best to encourage the participants to be diligent in following the course to the end to grow closer to God in their faith and to possibly share what they learn from the course with others.  

As my Facebook friend pointed out in their post, unforgiveness is one of the hardest things to purge but I know from my experience that it is not impossible to be set free from.  The Freedom in Christ Course and The Steps to Freedom in Christ specifically address unforgiveness by encouraging the participant to forgive from the heart.  

The bitterness and grudges from unforgiveness can make people feel powerful because they give the victim with an unforgiving heart the “weapons” of hate and rejection.  

“I don’t forgive you. I hate you. I reject you. You can’t be a part of my life. And I won’t be weak by forgetting about it or by forgiving you and allowing you to have peace with me!”  

That’s an extreme case of unforgiveness, of course, but these feeling of bitterness can even play a part in our “reconciled” relationships and the only thing that is required for these “weapons” of bitterness to be wield by the victim of unforgiveness is offense.  

Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who would bring up all the things you have done wrong to them the minute you have a disagreement?   

That’s not forgiving from the heart!  

But our society and modern culture stokes grudges and selfishness, unforgiveness is coping mechanism and a mechanism of control.  Unforgiveness soothes our hurting heart with bitterness which is poison but because of the sense of power or control it gives people feel justified in holding on to it.  The world would tell you to never forgive. That forgiveness is for the weak. The world raises the bar and not only commends unforgiveness, it would encourage seeking revenge.  Don’t get made get even.  

But God’s way isn’t that way.   

When Jesus was asked to teach His disciples to pray, His prayer included a petition to be forgiven by God but it also indicates that we would forgive too.

Matthew 6:12 (NKJV)
12  And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

The Apostle Paul in writing to the churches taught that forgiving is what Christians do:

Ephesians 4:32 (NKJV)
32  And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

And in that encouragement, Paul tells us why we should forgive, because we have been forgiven.  

I guess the problem people have with giving forgiveness is they haven’t received it and thus find it hard to give away.  

So if that’s you, you need to receive your forgiveness and peace with God by putting your faith in Jesus. 

Many people think we have to earn our place in God’s kingdom by some complicated measuring of our good deeds minus our bad deeds, but that is a lie and like any good lie it has been told, shared, and believed by most of the world.  

But that is not the truth.  

The reason Christ came and died and rose again was to bring  men to God by paying for their sins with their life. Jesus died so we could be forgiven.   We don’t have to do anything but receive the gift of forgiveness and new life by putting our faith in Him. 

So say a prayer that acknowledges your sins and that declares Jesus as your Lord and Savior.   

When you do that, you receive your forgiveness and once you receive it you can let go of the bitterness that makes you feel powerful and instead you can know the power of God’s love and you can share it by forgiving those who have trespassed against you.  

Forgiveness is setting yourself free of the bitterness, the hurt, and the hate that comes from holding on to our pain.  

We can forgive because God has forgiven us. 

So keep walking and talking with God and share the good news of the forgiveness that comes through faith in Christ alone that gives you the power to live a life of righteousness and freedom.    When we walk with Him, the Lord takes the pain away and gives us peace.

 

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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:

Isaiah 5:21 (NLT2)
21  What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.

Today’s verse reminds us of the ultimate dissatisfaction that comes from thinking that we are wise and clever independently of God.  

The problem is that no matter how smart we are or how much we study and learn, we don’t know everything.  God does. 

So we may become very skillful and wise on how to lead a successful life by the world’s standards but unless we come in line with the Lord’s wisdom, we are deceiving ourselves and one day will be exposed as fools.   

The way things work in the world and the way things work in God’s kingdom are different. So as today’s verse tells us if we think we are wise in our own eyes, by our own estimation, we eventually experience the sorrow of learning that we didn’t know it all.  

One of the greatest things about walking in the Spirit are those times when we think we are walking strong and “doing everything right”  only to discover that we are wrong about something or when we mess something up.  When we fail, our spiritual pride is put in it’s place, and even though those times can be very discouraging, we actually be encouraged because they demonstrate to us that we are not wise and we desperately need the Lord to help us.   

So seek the Lord and His wisdom and His presence. We can’t know everything and God doesn’t expect us to know everything. He just wants us to know and walk with 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 Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

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

Receive and Appropriate God’s Enabling Power

We now need to move beyond knowing we have access to God’s power into actually using it. Paul stressed the role of faith in appropriating God’s power, that is, the powerful work of his Spirit who indwells us. This kind of faith is based on the objective fact of Christ’s resurrection and exaltation over the powers of darkness. Wearing a magical charm or even a crucifix does not impart God’s power to Christians; nor should we expect God’s power through some magical use of Jesus’ name. God cannot be manipulated. His power is bestowed on his people through simple trust in him.

Prayer is one of the most natural expressions of trust in God. The apostle Paul modeled this activity throughout his letters. This kind of communication with God acknowledges his sovereignty and our dependence on him for all of life.

One distinct advantage of having a revised world view that gives credence to the real existence of evil spirits is the impact that it can have on our prayer life. If we live in something other than an entirely mechanistic universe, if there really is an ultimate reality who has revealed himself to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, if hordes of evil spirits do exist who constantly scheme and attack us seeking our destruction, then there is great reason to pray. God is there. He hears, he understands, and he wants to help us survive in the context of rampant supernatural hostility.

Perhaps the greatest service that Frank Peretti has rendered to the church in his fictional accounts This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness has been to lift the veil hiding the unseen world. He startles us with his vivid and grotesque depictions of the powers of darkness and forces us to consider afresh the real and pervasive hostility of this evil spiritual domain. Not only do Peretti’s heroes survive against this horrific backdrop of other-worldly evil, but they accomplish many remarkable things for the kingdom of God. Why? Because they pray. God hears and responds. One comes away from reading Peretti’s novels with a renewed incentive to pray because, if he is anywhere close to the truth in his fictional depictions, what else can one do but turn to God? God will fight for his people.

The Christian life is carried out in community, in dependence on other people. The apostle Paul especially stressed this point through his analogy of the church as the body of Christ. God has chosen to strengthen and build up individual Christians through their relationships with other Christians, particularly when the church assembles for worship and edification. God’s Spirit is active in different ways in different people with the ultimate goal of strengthening the entire group through what each individual member is divinely enabled to contribute. Active involvement in the ministry of a local church is therefore vital to receiving the enabling power of God to resist the attack of the forces of darkness.

Praying together with other Christians is essential if we are to appropriate God’s power. As we saw in the chapter on spiritual warfare, Paul regarded prayer as the essence of putting on the armor of God. Although we often think of deploying the armor of God in individualistic terms (that is, this is something I pray for myself in my private times of prayer), Paul presented it in corporate terms (that is, this is something we pray for other people while we are gathered together). We are responsible for arming our fellow believers with the power of God.

In preaching Paul’s “spiritual warfare” passage, I have sometimes entitled my message “Praying for the Healthy.” My goal has been to guide the content of small group prayer into prayers for each other, not just for those who are physically ill or who have some sort of problem (though that is a very important part). I want people to realize that Scripture teaches that we have a responsibility to prepare our brothers and sisters—even in the seemingly “good times”—to face demonic assault and come through unscathed. Prayers like:

Father, I pray for Tom. I ask that you will give him a fresh glimpse of all the resources that are his in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you will strengthen him in his innermost being with the power that your Spirit can supply in abundance. O Father, you are aware of the areas he is most vulnerable to Satan’s attack. Strengthen Tom and protect him with your grace to resist the devil’s solicitations to evil.

Father, you know Sheila’s desire to make the gospel known at her workplace. We anticipate Satan’s rage at her plans to communicate this message of deliverance and redemption. Impart to her boldness, just as you did for the apostle Paul, that you can work through her to overcome the obstacles that the evil one will place in her way.

Paul modeled such prayers throughout his epistles, particularly in Ephesians, where he was especially concerned about the matter of spiritual warfare. We will do well to follow his example.[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/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

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 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)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 213–215.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

On the Road Again - Purity 829

On the Road Again - Purity 829

Purity 829 09/06/2022  Purity 829 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the blazing sun and a blue cumulus cloud filled sky over Waite Rd in Easton NY comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while out walking the dog back on August 13th.  

Well, it is the Tuesday after Labor Day and for many it is “back to school time” and I for one am super excited at the prospect of the new season because tonight I begin facilitating the Freedom in Christ Discipleship Course for a new group of participants on Zoom this evening!  So as I enter into a new season of encouraging others on the path of Christian Discipleship, I couldn’t help but share a photo that visually represents the fact that we are “on the road again” to help others to experience, maintain, or deepen their freedom in Christ!    

I am by far not a country fan but when I consider the fact that the Lord has brought me to a place where I can regularly encourage others to discover the abundant life of meaning and purpose that He has for them I almost want to sing that Willie Nelson Classic who’s lyrics say that we are:   

“On the road again

Like a band of gypsies, we go down the highway

We're the best of friends

Insisting that the world be turnin' our way

And our way

 

Is on the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is makin' music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again”

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/willienelson/ontheroadagain.html)

But seriously,  while the participants to tonight’s course and I are not the “best of friends”, in fact with a couple of exceptions we are complete strangers,  and while we won’t be literally heading out to “make music”,  I know that if they are faithful to follow the road that the Freedom in Christ course and the Lord would have them travel they have the potential to experience a sense of freedom and victory that may cause them to all want to sing a hearty round of “Free Bird” like they never have before except they will be forced to change the lyrics to:   “Lord knows I CAN change! Lord, help me, I CAN change!!”  

Because our way is not “on the road again to make music with our friends”, our way is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.  Our way is Jesus Christ and I know that if we are just faithful in our pursuit to follow Him there is absolutely nothing and no one that can stop us from being the people that God created us to be…. except us.    

If we believe and follow Him, our faith in Jesus Christ and His word will reveal to us the truth of who we are in Christ and will help these men to resolve their personal and spiritual conflicts to experience their freedom like they never imagined they could.  

Christ is the answer. Christ is the way. I know this personally simply because I followed Him and experienced the new life that He has given me. As far as I am concerned, I don’t have a choice but to give Him honor and glory by telling others about what I have come to know.

Regardless of my day job, this is my purpose in life: to encourage others to seek the Lord and to follow Jesus.  The life I love is to encourage people to know that God is alive and He will help them to know the truth that will set them free. 

So, if need encouragement and aren’t enrolled in tonight’s course, check out the teachings I have on the podcast and YouTube and start following the road that will lead you to your freedom in Christ where you will leave behind the troubles of your past and find the peace, joy, and love that comes from walking and talking with God.

 

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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 3:12 (NLT2)
12  The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.”

Today’s verse encourages us to do what is right with the assurance that the Lord is open to our prayers when we do, and His face is turned against those who do evil.  

Here the Apostle Peter explains a spiritual reality of prayer and our relationship with God.  While God’s unconditional love for us caused Him to send Christ to die for us so that we could have peace with Him and a new life,  it doesn’t mean that our relationship with God is unaffected by our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors.  

Here scripture tells us that if we do evil, the Lord turns away from us.  If we do what is right the Lord’s ears are open to our prayers, indicating He is listening and may be receptive to answering our petitions of prayer.   

So this is a “prayer principle” for sure. If you want your prayers to be heard, you should do what’s right.  But this verse reveals much more than that. It points to our relationship with God and how the harmony of that relationship can be positively or negatively affected by our “doing what is right”.   

In my immaturity as a new believer, I thought that now that I was forgiven after I put my faith in Christ, I wrongly assumed that what ever I did, if I sinned, it didn’t matter!

And that’s partially true, when I put my faith in Christ, genuinely, God’s forgiveness is unconditional.  I am forgiven for my past, present, and future sins. Nothing I can do can separate me for the love of God, I am His warts and all.  

But when I am not acting like a child of God, I separate myself from who I am in Christ and from a harmonious relationship with God.  It’s been said that the most miserable person is a Christian who is locked in sin, because they are not only acting out of character but they are denying God’s power and truth by giving them to the sin that they have been set free from.   

So a Christian should avoid the misery and endeavor to “do what’s right”. When we start living a righteous life based on God’s word, we not only avoid the negative consequences of sinful choices, we also establish and maintain our harmony with God where He is listening to our prayers and possibly granting them.  

So do what is right and pray to know the peace of a harmonious relationship with God and the joy that comes from knowing that God Himself is listening to you.

______________________________________________________________________

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 Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

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

Know Who You Are in Christ

Christians have truly been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and have been made members of Christ’s kingdom. The person who has come to know Christ has also been forgiven, acquitted by God of all guilt, reconciled to God, and will experience no condemnation either now or after death. All of these things—and so many more—are true of Christians, but they are so often disbelieved in practice.

Many Christians have a difficult time internalizing their forgiveness, and their new freedom and liberty in Christ. At my church I have found this difficulty to be true in my ministry to new Christians. Nevertheless, the simple meaning of Christ’s work on the cross and the nature of new life in Christ bring refreshing experiences of freedom and release. These experiences often result in times of joyous tears as the weight of guilt and Satan’s exploitation are broken. Satan surely wants to deceive Christians into believing lies about themselves—“God cannot really forgive you for that,” “you will never be able to overcome that habit,” “you couldn’t possibly ever love that person,” and on and on. Christ has broken the power of Satan and evil over his people. Not only are they capable of change, but also Christ calls them to change.

In his classes and seminars on spiritual conflicts and counseling, my colleague at Talbot School of Theology, Dr. Neil Anderson, regularly encounters Christians struggling with problems often related to some kind of demonic influence. Almost invariably, he finds that for Christians facing direct demonic opposition, they have a profoundly inadequate understanding of who they are in Christ. Based upon Paul’s teaching that Christians are called to appropriate God’s power and resist the devil, Anderson helps these troubled Christians discover who they really are in terms of their new nature and new life in Christ. As a caring facilitator, Anderson prepares them to deal with the hostile influence of the powers through their own volition and their own appropriation of the power and authority available to them in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is hard to fathom, but Christ wants us to think of ourselves as so closely united to him that we can consider ourselves as having already died to sin and having been resurrected and exalted. We share in his authority over the principalities and powers. Not only that, we are his dearly loved adopted children whom he has made his heirs!

We cannot forget that our new identity as Christians is not only individual but also corporate. We have been joined to fellow Christians in the solidarity of a corporate body. Christ has created the church as the primary vehicle for his grace to resist and overcome the powers of darkness.[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/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

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 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)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 212–213.

Monday, September 5, 2022

You Get One Choice - Purity 828


You Get One Choice - Purity 828

Purity 828 09/05/2022  Purity 828 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a kayaker paddling into the sunrise light of a new day, on what I presume to be the waters of Greenwich Bay, comes to us from a friend who shared this scene from their daybreak paddle session on Saturday morning.  

Happy Labor Day everyone. As I saw on a billboard ad on I787 on Saturday, I wish everyone an enjoyable “honest day off”.  Say what you will about labor unions, but if you have the day off you can thank the labor movement in the 19th century for literally fighting and dying for worker’s rights.  

According to History.com, “in the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages.

People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.” ( https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/labor-day-1).

The labor movement fought to give workers protections, benefits, and living wages. and one of the results of their efforts is the “working man’s holiday” that we celebrate today. So enjoy the day off and if you should happen to see workers on strike or trying to organize a union, I suggest you support their efforts.

As much as people seem to complain about corporate greed, there some times seems to be a lack of support for unions who try to make them provide a living wage for their employees.  Even today some of the people who have the most challenging jobs struggle to make a living because there is no union to represent their interests.  

I work for a Fortune 500 company and the wages and benefits that I have are the result of my union’s history of successfully negotiating for its members when the company who annually makes BILLION dollar profits would have given us less.    

Unfortunately, in this world broken by sin and corrupted by the love of money, sometimes you need someone to fight for you or you need to band together with others to demand what you need to live.  

But the One who really gives us life, and was willing to die to give us what we need is Jesus Christ.  The unions might help provide what we need in this life but only God and faith in Jesus Christ will give you good conditions when you go into eternity.  

And before I got on my union rant, I was musing over the fact that in this life, it may appear that we have a plethora of choices of where we will work, who we will love, or what we will do with the time that we aren’t working to support our families, but at the end of each day it becomes clear that in reality we only have one choice: the thing we decide to do.  

Because it was Labor Day weekend and we are faced with the clear and present danger of summer drawing to a close, even though we have the days off there can be some pressure to “do something” or make the most of these last days before school starts.

Yesterday my wife and I were faced with the uncommon situation of being “kid free” on a Sunday after church and she decided to leave the planning for what we would do with our Sunday afternoon up to me. 

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so we home and I decided to walk the dog and use the short stroll to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of the day.  

When I think of summer I think of swimming and so I pondered going to a relatively nearby swimming spot we had gone to that actually allowed the adults to go into the water above their waists! The day was sunny so I felt that would be appropriate and because it was Labor Day Sunday I felt a real pull of urgency to “make summer memories!”  

But because of my wife’s hectic August schedule and stress of working in Hell’s kitchen, I really missed being with her and because we were going to be alone for a few hours, I decided to just spend the day with her in our countryside home.  

When we first got together as a couple, I told my then girlfriend that one thing I learned about relationships was that often the couple will run here and there going on dates or doing activities and either don’t know how or are comfortable just being in each other’s presence. So in the beginning, instead of trying to excite or impress one another by going to places of “dates”, we stayed at our countryside home and just talked and enjoyed each other’s presence. 

And I think this is a good test for couples. Can you stand to be with one another when there is no where to go and nothing to do? Are your temperaments in sync that you can just enjoy being together? Can you rest in each other’s company?

And on the flip side, are you independent and secure enough to allow each other time to yourselves to be alone, without clingy codependency?  

I believe that most of the relationship problems people suffer from today are caused by selfishness and the failure to establish the intimacy that comes from being at peace in each other’s presence.     

So I only really had one choice yesterday so I decided no to chase after a vague sense of fulfillment  that I would have possibly gotten by going swimming and instead chose to rest in the presence of the one I love and this morning I know I chose wisely.   

So in life, we get one choice. We can consider all the options but in the end it will come down to what you actually choose to do. Yesterday, I chose love and I have no regrets.  

And that’s the thing too. No matter what we choose. Live your life without regrets. You get one shot at this life so might as well do what you want and see how it goes rather than having to wonder “what if”.  

But of course, from some one who made a lot of bad decisions and suffered for them, let me encourage you to ask the Lord to help guide you.  Sometimes we need someone stronger than us to fight for us. Sometimes we need to band with others to make a way.  

Through Jesus Christ, the Lord has fought for us and won and it is only up to us to answer the call on our life to follow Him and join with others who have done the same.  Ultimately, we get one chance at this and so I would encourage you to keep walking and talking with God and allow Him to show you the power of His provision, the depths of His love and the peace of His presence.   Choose love, Choose the Lord Jesus, and Live.

 

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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 encourages husbands to honor their wives and to treat them with understanding with the encouragement that if they do so their prayers would not be hindered. 

Well, I don’t preplan these messages and when I speak about spending some quality time with my wife and a Bible verse comes up that tells me to honor my wife and to treat her with understanding, I have to believe I am “tracking with the Spirit”!

Here is some simple biblical advice to husbands to meet the responsibility of their marriage covenants, to honor your wife and treat her with understanding. 

And according to today’s verse, when husbands fail to do that not only do we suffer for neglecting or taking our wives for granted,  we also disrupt our relationship with the Lord to the extent that our prayers could be hindered.  

Amazingly, of all the various teachings I have heard about prayer, I don’t recall any of them ever telling husbands to honor their wives and to treat them with understanding to get your prayers answered!  But here it is,   Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.”  

So the bottom line here is that the Lord has entrusted us, men and women, with our spouses and when we fail to honor, love, or respect them, we sin.  We don’t do what we “know” is right.   And sin will hinder our relationship with the Lord and the answer of our prayers.  

So let’s remember to honor our spouses and treat them as they should. The love they bring to our lives may just be the answer to our prayers we need without knowing it.

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________

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 Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

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

Reflect on Where the Powers May Influence You

Ask God for discernment to help you determine where the powers might be effectively working their deceptive and ungodly control over an area of your life.

Direct Influence: Have you ever participated in any occultic activities or in the direct worship of Satan? Many credible Christian writers and counselors can point to involvements in popular witchcraft and sorcery, channeling, the heavy-metal culture, parapsychology (including ESP, clairvoyance, telepathy, etc.), the cults and an assortment of other activities as an entry into the more direct and immediate forms of satanic involvement in life. For those who come from non-Western cultures, involvement in tribal religions, worshiping household gods, and various magical and mystical practices could provide an opportunity for the powers to gain a significant foothold. What are your own past, or present, involvements?

The Flesh: As I have already pointed out, the powers not only work in the more dramatic forms (like the occult), but also in the more subtle, but equally effective, ways. They take advantage of our inner tendency to disobey God; that is, they exploit what seems to come natural to us. Remember, Paul associated behavior like lying, excessive anger, stealing and dirty talk with the activity of the devil. What aspects of your own behavior are you struggling with at this moment?

The World: Carefully assess where “the world system” might be influencing your values and behavior in a negative way. Is public opinion and peer pressure determining your moral choices? Is there a tradition in your church (“we have always done it this way”) that may be hindering its responsiveness to the Spirit for more effective ministry in a climate of change? Does your inherited economic philosophy prevent you from giving sacrificially of your financial and time resources for the mission of the church? These questions are merely suggestive of many similar questions we should honestly put to ourselves about the degree of influence the “structures” may be having on us and our fellow believers.

No doubt some might accuse me of “seeing a demon under every bush.” This criticism is fine to the extent that I reflect Paul’s view of the pervasive nature of the influence of the powers of darkness over many areas of life. We need to take more seriously Paul’s emphasis on the variety of ways the powers of darkness operate (methodeiai—Eph 6:11). This certainly does not mean that exorcism, prayers for “binding” and direct authoritative denunciations of the devil are appropriate responses in all instances where his activity is perceived. Paul emphasized a “resistance” model of response based on one’s relationship with Christ.

The net result of exposing the extent of demonic activity in the affairs of day-to-day life should force us to a deeper dependence on the power of God.[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/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

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 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)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 211–212.

Saturday, September 3, 2022

The Balance of Walking and Resting - Purity 827


The Balance of Walking and Resting - Purity 827

Purity 827 09/03/2022  Purity 827 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the sun shining high above and sparkling on the waters of Portsmouth Harbor in the United Kingdom comes to us from a pastor friend who enjoys paddling and praying as he enjoys the glory of God’s creation while being active noting that his aquatic hobby was “perfect way to end the day” as we sail into :Labor Day Weekend.  Brits don’t celebrate Labor day so all the more reason to make the most of a Friday afternoon by heading out paddling I guess.  

Well, we don’t have to paddle to make it to the weekend any longer, we made it! And as much as yesterday’s post was about taking care of unfinished business, and I encourage that if you are able to put somethings in order over the weekend, but let’s face it not only is it Saturday today, it’s Labor Day weekend in the States and a lot of people and business have checked out and won’t be doing anything until Tuesday, so I just wanted to say that it is perfectly fine to just take a deep breath and “let it go” for the weekend and rest! Big exhale…. And breathe in… Ahh. 

Okay, in order to maintain our peace and purpose on the Christian path of discipleship, we need to try to establish balance. While the path requires discipline, this walk isn’t just some legalistic attempt to do everything right every single minute of every single day.  Because of God’s grace, the truth is that we don’t have to work for our approval or acceptance. God loves us and accepts us for who we are.  However, He does invite us to follow Him into all He has for us so our faith isn’t stationary.

So another paradox of our Christian Faith, is as shown in Mathew 6, is that walking or our (burden to follow) and resting.   

Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)
28  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Christ didn’t want us to “labor” to be approved. Putting faith in Jesus, gives us salvation! We can rest in the assurance that in Him we have new life.  

Christ also wants us to rest from the burdens that the world, the flesh, and the devil have put on us.  

The burden we have to bear, which is comparatively “Easy” and “light”, is in living out who we are in Christ and by forsaking the ways of the world.   The reason Christ could say the business of repentance, turning to His ways, is “easy” or “light” is because our victories are won by faith, by believing what God’s word says about us in Christ and living according to our new identity in Christ, we can overcome.  

The paradox of repentance of course is that, yes, we are in a battle or a struggle to leave old patterns behind that will require discipline and a concerted effort to change, but the battle is won not by the sweat of our brow but by the mental, emotional, and spiritual acceptance of the spiritual reality that we are new creations in Christ.    

The renewing of our mind with the word of God, our volitionally setting our wills on living out our new lives in Christ, and our mental and behavioral decision to say no to our old ways of thinking and acting to live out who we are, are all a part of the transformation process – that makes what has already happened to us spiritually a living and breathing reality. 

In this life of faith the Lord will bring new insights into how we live to show us areas that we have overlooked that He invites us to change to lessen the burden that the world, the flesh, and the devil are bringing to our experience.  The Lord’s goal for us is to be sanctified and to enjoy the abundant life He has for us. His word encourages us to drop every weight that is holding us down.  

So as we go on this victory parade of increasing freedom, we will discover that there are new challenges to face and victories to win.  But we have to address the challenges in a balanced way. We need to persist but not burn out.  

As much as I am geared up about the latest challenge in my life to resolve the last remaining problem from my divorce, I have to be patient and realize that this could be a long process before things are finished. So instead of keeping it at the forefront of my mind and stressing over it, I have to recognize when to “let it go” but at the same time be determined to not quit.  

Balance, right?  I am formally, and may still be to some extent,  a person who goes to exteremes.

Oh, Let’s get this taken care of?  Okay, LET”S FIGHT! TO THE DEATH! NOW! NOW! NOW!

Oh let it go? Okay, no problem, let’s just quit. I didn’t want to do it anyway.    

As you can see, there has to be an “in between”.  We need to stay true to our convictions to resolve our conflicts or change our behaviors but at the same time be able to have peace and not so much peace that we decide to give up the cause and remain in bondage to the things we overcome.   

So examine your situation and see what you can do, and whether or not it is a time to press in or it is a time to rest.  This fluctuation between walking and resting is a key the path that leads to progress and victory.  We work at it and give ourselves periods of rest to maintain our peace and to eventually accomplish what we set out to do.  And every step of the way from here to there, we stay in the presence of the Lord to receive His love, comfort, guidance, and strength.  

Our Christian life isn’t just a set of battles to be won or a list of things to accomplish. Our Christian life is a relationship with God where we abide in His presence and seek to please Him and ourselves by accepting His wisdom and will for our lives.   

So it’s Saturday and Labor Day weekend. You know your situation better than I do but some basic options for the next couple of days are:  take care of business, enjoy the last blast of summer before school starts, or just rest.   Of course, you could come up with a balance of all three but I will only suggest you keep walking and talking with God and work that out for yourselves.  

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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:

James 5:16 (NLT2)
16  Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

Today’s verse encourages us to confess our sins to one another and to pray to be healed with the assurance that the earnest prayers of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.    

There is really so much to say about this short verse. 

First, why do we have to confess our sins to each other since we have been forgiven of our sins by putting out faith in Jesus?  

Well, that’s why we keep reading, the verse tells us to do that and to pray, so that we may be healed.  

And of course there is two ways to go with that!

We could be “healed” of our sin, meaning our confession and prayer could lead to genuine repentance and victory as we are set on a course to never repeat the sins we have committed.  This is a possibility. We are not condemned to continue in our sins. Romans 8 confirms that we have been set free of the power of sin and it really is up to us to believe that and live according to it. We can be “healed” of our sins, specifically and progressively.  Believe this.  Don’t worry after you have victory over one set of sins, you will discover others work on.  

We could also be “healed” physically as some diseases are a physical consequence of our sin or a chastisement from the Lord for sinning.  

The sin of addiction to alcohol, aka drunkenness, has the physical consequences of hangovers. If we confess our sin and pray for healing, we could receive the strength and motivation to stop drinking and be “healed” of our addiction and all the aches and pains that come from it.  

Also if God is allowing disease to come into our life, granted in ways we don’t understand, and we confess, pray, and repent, God can allow healing to come into our life. 

On this note, God is our creator and His sovereign will is done in our lives. No one gets sick and dies on God’s watch without His approval.  Why does medicine work for some and not for others?  I don’t know but God does. So because of God’s role as Creator and His sovereign will, all healing comes from Him. So pray for healing.  

Did you know according to Crossexamined.org, 75% of doctors believe in miracles?  It’s because they have seen things that defy science that they can’t explain. So if you get sick confess your sins and pray.  If nothing else, you will receive a guilt free conscience and peace as you face your health crisis.

And that’s where the “righteous person” has great power, in their harmonious relationship with God.  Not for nothing, but as I have become a Christian and continue to keep short accounts with God by confessing my sins periodically and stay in constant communication with God through prayer, and walking and talking with God, some pretty amazing things have happened in my life.  

So while we may not receive everything we want in prayer, when we live a righteousness life of faith in Jesus Christ, we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living and wonderful results from our life of faithfulness.  

So don’t look for some “righteous person” to pray for you, become that righteous person by confessing your sins to others and by praying to God to be healed.

 

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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 Clinton E. Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”

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

Conclusion: Contending with the Powers

In the last three chapters we have examined the reality of the powers of darkness and seen how they operate. It now remains to consider how to respond to these hostile opponents. Frequently Christians have turned to the Gospels for learning how to detect demonic influence and how to deal with it (based on the exorcism accounts). I have attempted to show that the apostle Paul’s letters also speak to this issue in a relevant manner. Here is a suggestive summary of the relevance of Paul’s teaching on the powers of darkness stated in a prescriptive way for the church today.

Re-evaluate Your Own World View in Light of Scripture

Many evangelicals remain skeptical about the actual existence of the powers of evil. For some an overly narrow theological tradition or an atmosphere of doubt in their churches perpetuate disbelief. For everyone the skepticism can be traced to the constraints of our rationalistic post-Enlightenment age.

Although my own early theological nurture and training was not in a church (or a theological tradition) that denied the real existence of the powers or their work in day-to-day experience, my secular education, the influence of my peers, the media and many other sources have had their effect on my views in this area. It has taken a concerted effort on my part to rethink reality apart from the world view I inherited from society.

What is your perception of reality? Does it include the conviction that evil spirits are working behind the scenes to promote evil, or do you think of evil in purely abstract terms? To what extent do you see the powers of darkness at work in prompting lust? In influencing thoughts? In sickness? In church strife? In the exploitation of the poor? In civil unrest and war?

Having opened the door to sensing the reality of the demonic and seeing its influence on many levels, we need to sharpen our sense of discernment. We need to avoid the “swing of the pendulum syndrome”—that is, the tendency to move to the opposite extreme. We should seek a balanced approach to life and ministry. For instance, not every sickness can be attributable to direct demonic attack; it may represent merely the natural constraint of possessing a decaying body that is heading for eventual physical death.[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/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured

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 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)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 210–211.