Epic Journey: Walking by Faith – Purity 465
Purity 465 07/08/2021 Purity 465 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo of a tree lined forest trail comes to us from our friend
who is systematically exploring the Catskill Mountains this summer. This scene
lies somewhere along our friends’ path which went up the Mink Hollow Trail to the
Devil’s Path to summit on Plateau Mountain and then descended via the Warren
Creek Trail to Notch Inn Road for their very first traverse in the mountains.
It was an experience that they described as “epic”!
It’s Thursday and I share photos of pathways today as a not-so-subtle
reminder that I teach a discipleship class this evening at Rock Solid Church in
Hudson NY and wish to encourage other believers to take the pathway of
Christian Discipleship to discover their own epic journey of faith.
I love today’s photo because it highlights the possible fear and
uncertainty of taking a path that others have obviously travelled but is still
a mystery to you. Taking a hike into the
wilderness, even on established trails, has a certain degree of mystery and
danger. Even if we research our trip
and read the accounts of others who have gone there, we really don’t know what
our trip will be like.
We don’t know if the weather will unexpectedly change.
We don’t really know the difficulty of the path and we won’t know if we will
have the strength and skill required to be successful until we actually get out
there and do it.
We don’t know if we will injure ourselves or get lost out there and die.
It happens.
Also, when we are deep in the woods and far from the safety of
civilization, we don’t know if we will encounter some sort of malicious
predator, animal, or let’s face it, possibly human. I’ve seen Deliverance and
enough Friday the 13th movies to be ready to run or to fight in the
woods!
So if you’re hiking this summer, prepare for the eventualities, let
people know where you are going, and be safe.
Similarly, the pathway of Christian Discipleship, or living by faith, or
walking in the Spirit, is also an uncertain path that others have traveled
before but will be uniquely personal as you seek to trade your ways of living
for the ways of the Lord.
The good news is that we don’t have to travel this walk of faith alone. Other
members of the body of Christ at your local church can help you to learn about
what a Christian life entails and can walk with you as you go. When we come to faith in Christ, we can have
a lot of misconceptions about what living as a Christian means and we can have
some wrong notions about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as we most likely have
never studied the word of God.
The Bible acts as our guidebook to a life of faith and teaches us the
history of God’s interactions with mankind and how it was shaped by His love
for us and resulted in Jesus fulfilling His plan to reconcile and redeem all
who believe in Christ.
When we place our faith in Christ our epic journey begins as we receive
the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth and to guide
us to find and fulfill the purpose that the Lord has prepared for us.
Unfortunately, most people have been deceived and don’t understand that
our faith is purposeful. We have been called out of darkness for a reason. The
Lord calls and it is up to us to answer by seeking His will for our lives and
working to overcome obstacles, break bondages, and do the good works that He
has prepared for us.
The epic journey of Christian Discipleship leads to a life of freedom, victory, peace, and joy even in the midst of opposition and negative circumstances. The Lord provides us with all we need to live out His plan for our lives. The question is: Will you brave the uncertainties of the path less travelled and follow Him?
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
1 John 5:15 (NKJV)
15 And if we know that He hears us,
whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Today’s verse speaks about the certainty of making petitions
to the Lord in prayer.
This can be a difficult verse for those new to Christ and
who want all the best things in life.
The implication is that we will get anything we ask for in prayer. I know from personal experience that it is
not as simple as that.
I have laid hands on people and prayed for their healing
only to have them continue to suffer and eventually die. I have prayed for the
publication of a Christian book that I transcribed and “co-authored” only to
have my work remain unpublished. I have
prayed for and have had dreams about having a particular woman become my new
Christian wife only to find rejection.
While all those requests seem pretty righteous and in line
with Christianity, I have also prayed for things that were selfish and not so
Christian. I have prayed to win the lottery, more than once. In my suffering, I
have prayed to die. In my pain, I have
prayed for others to suffer and die.
The point is that we as humans have limited wisdom and when
we don’t receive what we pray for there is a reason why. While we can say prayers are not answered
because there is sin in our lives or that we are praying for the wrong things,
we should remember that God is sovereign and that our requests must be made “in
His Name” or according to His will.
This verse may be challenged as being untrue because people
have prayed for things that didn’t happen, but I would point out the first
phrase that comes before the promise of prayer fulfillment.
The phrase “if we know that He hears us” indicates the Lord understands
and agrees with our request with His perfect knowledge and will. The Lord will undoubtedly “hear” requests
that align with His purposes and if He “hears” a prayer that does, we can “know
that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
So, the word of God is true. We just have to “know” that God
hears us, and we must ask in faith and with the knowledge of who He is. Also
we must understand that we don’t know the future course of human history and must
trust that our requests, made with limited knowledge, may either be misguided
or that they will be answered in God’s timing.
The key is that we are to trust the Lord. We don’t know if
our prayers are in line with God’s will or not but the more that we trust and
follow Him, we will have a deeper faith that will accept all the things that He
brings to us, and we will rejoice when we see our prayers become manifest according
to His will and in His perfect timing.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, continuing in Chapter 6.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support his work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
God
Loves You No Matter What You Do
God wants us to do good, of course. The apostle John
wrote: "I write this to you so that you will not sin." John continues
by reminding us that God has already made provision for our failures so that
His love continues constant in spite of what we do: "But if anybody does
sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the
Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1, 2,
NIV).
One reason we doubt God's love is that
we have an adversary who uses every little offense to accuse us of being
good-for-nothings. Your advocate, Jesus Christ, however, is more powerful than
your adversary. He has canceled the debt of your past, present and future sins.
No matter what you do or how you fail, God will still love you because the love
of God is not dependent upon its object; it is dependent upon His character.
Because He loves you, He will discipline you in order that you "may share
His holiness" (Hebrews 12:10).
When our children were small, a young
couple who baby-sat them gave them each a hamster. They named their hamsters
after the couple. Karl's was Johnny and Heidi's was Patty.
One night I came home from work and my
wife, Joanne, met me at the door. "You'd better go talk to Karl," she
said solemnly.
"What's the matter?"
"I think Karl threw Johnny this
afternoon."
I went to Karl and asked him point
blank, "Did you throw Johnny this afternoon?"
"No," he answered firmly.
"Yes he did, yes he did,"
Heidi accused, as only a big sister can. They argued back and forth, but Karl
would not admit to throwing his hamster.
Unfortunately for poor Karl, there was
an eyewitness that afternoon. When I asked Heidi's friend if Karl had thrown
the hamster, she said yes.
Again I confronted Karl, this time
with one of those oversized plastic whiffle bats that make a lot of noise on a
child's behind without inflicting any damage. "Karl, throwing Johnny is
not that big a deal. But you need to be honest with me. Did you throw
Johnny?"
"No." Whack!
"Karl, tell me the truth. Did you
throw Johnny?"
"No." Whack!
No matter how much I threatened, Karl
wouldn't confess. I was frustrated and finally I gave up.
A couple of days later Joanne met me
at the door again. "You'd better go talk to Karl."
"What's wrong this time?"
"Johnny died."
I found Karl in the backyard mourning
over his little hamster, which was stretched out on a small piece of cloth. We
talked about death and dying, then buried Johnny and went to the pet store to
buy a new hamster. While I was there, I also got sucked into buying a tweety
bird!
I thought the incident had ended, but
the next day Joanne met me at the door again.
"Now what's the problem?" I
sighed.
"Karl dug up Johnny."
I again found Karl in the backyard
mourning over the stiff, dirt-encrusted hamster lying on a piece of cloth.
"Karl, I think the problem is
that we didn't give Johnny a Christian funeral."
So I made a little cross out of two
sticks, and Karl and I talked about death and dying some more. Then we buried
Johnny again and placed the cross on top of the little grave. "Karl, I
think you need to pray now," I said.
"No, Dad. You pray."
"Karl, Johnny was your hamster. I
think you need to pray."
Finally, he agreed. This was his
prayer: "Dear Jesus, help me not to throw my new hamster."
What I couldn't coax out of him with a
plastic bat, God worked out in his heart.
Why did Karl lie to me? He thought if
he admitted to throwing his pet, I wouldn't love him. He was willing to lie so
he could hold on to my love and respect, which he feared he would lose if he
admitted his misbehavior.
I reached down and wrapped my arms
around my little son. "Karl, I want you to know something. No matter what
you do in life, I'm always going to love you. You can be honest with me and
tell me the truth. I may not approve of everything you do, but I'm always going
to love you."
What I expressed to Karl that day is a
small reflection of the love God has for you. He says to you, "I want you
to know something. No matter what you do in life, I'm always going to love you.
You can be honest with Me and tell Me the truth. I may not approve of
everything you do, but I'm always going to love you."
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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Email me
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
