Thoughts and Intentions – I’ve Got to Concentrate! – Purity
766
Purity 766 06/24/2022 Purity 766 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the fading light
of sunset over the dark silhouette of roadside trees comes to us from a friend
who has been looking to the skies as of late and captured this scene in their
travels a couple of days ago.
Well, It’s Friday again, so thank
God!, and as the sun sets on another work week, for most, it is my prayer that my friends reflect on
their lives and connect with their heavenly Father and seek the peace that
comes from Him. The peace that assures
us that He is in control and that He can make a way where there seems to be no
way.
Last night, I was blessed to host
the concluding zoom session of the Freedom in Christ course that I was facilitating
and was reminded in the lesson that happiness comes from being content, or as
the lesson put it from “wanting what we have”, rather than believing that
happiness is only obtainable by getting something we don’t have”.
As we have gone through life, we
may not have accomplished all of our dreams and we may still have hope of
accomplishing things on our “bucket lists” but as last nights lesson taught,
happiness is available to us all, right now, by being content.
Undoubtedly, we currently possess
somethings that we desired and hoped would make us happy. So what happened?
Didn’t getting the things you currently have make you happy? I would imagine they
did but over time the satisfaction of getting those things seemed wear off.
Why? You probably took them for granted.
You forgot what you life was like before you had them. And most likely, you
stopped being thankful for their presence in your life. There is also the possibility that you lost
them but we won’t go there! I am trying
to encourage you to be content after all.
But guess what contentment doesn’t
just count our blessings in some myopic view where we ignore the bad by
focusing on the good. Contentment is
possible only when we honestly assess all the aspects of our lives and declare,
because of Christ in my life (if there is nothing else, Christians all have
Him), it is well with my soul!
It well with my soul! It is! and I
am content with my life and I am happy, no joyful, because of my relationship
to God I have peace with Him and I realize that He is the One who gives me
acceptance, security, and significance. This
peace and joy goes beyond understanding and overcomes circumstances.
But let’s keep it real guys, we
have responsibilities in this life to God, to others, and to the things that He
has provided us with. And we are to be
good stewards of what He has entrusted us with: our relationships, our stuff,
and what He has reveal to us.
Yesterday, I had the “day off”
from my day job but I decided to be a responsible steward in a few areas of my
life that needed attention.
Although I have a relationship with
the One who is perfect, Jesus, I am still a work in progress and there is often
a lot of work to do! With my life divided
with work and “ministry”- discipling myself if no one else, and having my time
split between households, I have limited time to tend to my property “down by
the River” so I have to be intentional to meet the regular needs of maintenance
around my house, among other things I have to mow the lawn and tend to things
in my backyard.
Previously, being annoyed with
mowing around a certain bush in my backyard I made the executive decision to
remove the obstacle and went to work with a set of loppers to remove it from my
path permanently. This final solution
was invigorating as I “took care of business” and got rid of it. But did I?
I know you may be thinking about
roots here, and that is a concern and I am keeping an eye on that situation, in
case this bush wants to come to life again, but like I said I have limited time fore yard work
and when I laid waste to that bush I just through the branches into a brush
pile near the “burning barrel” that the previous owners left on the
property. So yesterday, with the threat
of rain in the forecast I decided that I needed to go out and mow the lawn but
before I did I decided that I would start a fire and through all the brush in
the burning barrel to be consumed.
Since my frenzy to get rid of the
bush, I forgot how big it was. And while I intended to mow the lawn after
burning the brush, I never got around to it.
Once the fire started my concentration was focused on getting rid of all
the brush on my property. I hate to admit
it but there is a little bit of attention deficit disorder rolling around in my wheel house and when I
set off on projects around the house my progress is somewhat chaotic as I get
drawn into activity streams in which I did not originally intend to tread.
My lack of concentration reminds
my of the scene in the 1980 comedy Airplane, where the main character is
enlisted to land the plane and while he is under stress and focusing on the
task at hand we are given a view of his thought life with a echoing voice over
in which we can hear him thinking:
“I’ve got to concentrate
(concentrate…. Concentrate….)
I’ve got to concentrate
(concentrate…. Concentrate….)
Hello! (...hello! ...hello!) Echo!
(...echo! ...echo!)
Pinch hitting... for Pedro
Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota...!
(https://youtu.be/CahNAauFgys)
a link to the clip is on the blog
today.
Anyway, once I started burning the
brush, I realized some of the pieces were huge and so I got my trusty loppers
to try to make the process of burning the brush more manageable. While getting the loppers was absolutely necessary
for the task at hand, once I had them in my hands I was drawn to use them to do
more.
At first I took on the bush at
hand. Once that was gone, and the burning barrel was as hot and the fire was raging, I took care of the
small pile of brush on which the bush had been deposited. I not only took care
of that pile but I was ripping up all the fresh weeds that growing through it,
all being consumed. After that ara was cleared, I remembered that I had another
brush pile on my property that I made after I first moved in, so I started
burning that stuff. Eventually both
piles were gone, but I had those loppers in my hands and the next thing I knew
I was going all over my property cutting off branches and trimming trees to
remove anything else that might impeded my progress while mowing the lawn.
But the process of doing all of
this tired me out. In the end I decided
the grass wasn’t that long and could wait a while before it needs to be
mowed. Not only that this latest round
of “lopping” resulted in a new huge brush pile that will have to be burned another
day. I decide that I had enough of
outside and I would go in and “relax”.
But did I? Not I was full blown A.D.D at that point and
because I had temporarily misplaced an item in my bedroom, I found myself
cleaning our my closet and reorganizing my massive collection of books and making
the decision to donate some I no longer had need of or interest in.
After I made great progress there
I had realized I hadn’t prepared for my Zoom meeting and finally sat down to
review last night’s lesson. Exhausted by
my efforts, I actually took a nap and got up just in time, fully refreshed, to
start the meeting.
Might seem like a chaotic bunch of
activity may make you think that I had lost peace in this storm of activity,
but that wasn’t the case at all. Even
though, admittedly the day was a little crazy,
I had an enduring sense of peace though out it all.
As I burned the brush, the flames
in the burning barrel reminded me of the fires of hell and I was very content
that didn’t have to worry that would not
be my ultimate destiny as I had feared before coming to Christ.
I also thought God as a consuming
fire and the work of the Holy Spirit to help us burn up all that didn’t matter.
I had thought to use this illustration of how that whatever problems we have,
bad habits, or besting sins we suffer from, if we give them to the Lord there
is nothing that His Holy Spirit can’t consume and overcome.
I thought about how while I was
feeding the fire I had to step back at times and wait for the fire to do its
work and how this was analogous of how while we do have to be intentional to
work on our problems that we also have to allow the Lord to do His work in
us. We can strive and accomplish much in
our own strength but when we are partnered with the Lord, He can give us permanent
solutions. The Lord will consume whatever
we surrender to His Holy Fire.
In cleaning my room, I faced my own
mortality and had to come to peace with the fact that I may not have time to
read all of the books I have collected and that some of them no longer applied
to or were meaningful to my life’s journey any more and that they could be let
go of. “I’m never going to read this.”
So I let it go. I’m still working on that but I like the fact that I now
know where everything is in my room and because my time is so precious I won’t have
to waste some of it looking things I have lost track of.
I hope you can see how even in the
midst of chaotic household chores, there was a continuous contemplation and
connect with my Lord. And even though,
there was a lot of dealing with things that “were not as they should be” I was
never discontent, not really. I wanted
to put things in order because I am extremely grateful for having them. I love
them. I love my house and I love my things. But I love the God that provided me
with this life where I can enjoy them most of all.
When I think about my life in the
context of God where my intention is to be the person God created me to be, I
have peace. I have joy. I have happiness because I am content. I want the
things I have already and look forward to what the Lord has for me today.
You know I love the fact that the
Lord knows our thoughts and hearts and I love the spiritual reality that exists
where we are connected to Him through prayer and how our thinking of or talking
to him simply is perhaps the purest form of prayer. Hebrews
4:12 speaks of the word of God and how it seems to be “reading us as we read it”
but the scripture says more than that.
Hebrews
4:12-13 (NKJV)
12 For the word of God is
living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13 And there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of
Him to whom we must give account.
John
1 calls Jesus the word of God. As often as Hebrews 4:12 is quoted it, verse 13
doesn’t get mentioned. But in that verse we see the Word is personalized. “No
creature is hidden from His sight. A ll
things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give
account. That’s Christ! That’s God. He sees us. He sees our thoughts and
intents of our hearts!
So keep walking, talking, and thinking about God. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, He never leaves you or forsakes you and He longs for you to pursue His Truth and live the abundant life where you can know peace, joy, love, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self-control by directing your thoughts and intentions in the way He would have you go. God bless you.
(forgive the typos today, and everyday- running late)
______________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verse comes to us
from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s
meditation verse is:
John 17:23 (NLT2)
23 I
am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the
world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
Today’s Bible verse speaks of the spiritual reality that
we are united with Christ and that He prays for us to be in unity with one
another so that the world will see that Christ was sent here for them and that He
is the Lord and Savior that everyone desperately needs.
This section of scripture is a prayer from Jesus to the
Father where He prays for us to know we are secure in His love and that we be
united so that others will know Him.
When the church is operating properly there is unity and
joy. When brothers and sisters in Christ come together in unity they can
accomplish much for good and be a witness to the goodness of God here on the
earth.
Christians united in “missions” foreign or domestic can
help communities solve earthly problems through providing help in the areas of
construction, medicine, and technology.
They can also just provide care by addressing immediate needs of food,
water, and shelter. They can provide
emotional care and concern. And they can give the most valuable help with the
presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to provide people with the way to
make peace with God, through faith in Jesus Christ, and obtain a new and
eternal life.
But when the church doesn’t act properly, we give our faith
a bad name. Church abuses and power plays and disunity gives non believers reasons
to avoid the church.
So it is Christs prayer to the father that live and unity
and His teaching on being reconciled to our brothers and sisters and on
forgiveness, provide us with the means to have unity. We need to forgive one another and agree with
one another about the importance of our faith to help the world to be united to
answer Christ’s prayer.
So minister to one another, forgive one another, and
encourage one in our faith to create the harmony of unity that will testify to
the world that Jesus really can save and transform the lives of the ones who
put their faith in Him.
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.
The Night Hag and Other Evil Spirits
The Old
Testament also ascribes names to some evil spirits. Lilith (translated “Night
Hag” by the RSV) is a demon who will inhabit Edom after it experiences God’s
desolating judgment (Is 34:14). Although this is the only time Lilith is
mentioned in the Old Testament, she was a well-known evil spirit in
Mesopotamia. She also figured prominently in later noncanonical Jewish texts,
as, for example, in a Jewish targum, which records the following prayer: “May
the Lord bless you in all your deeds and protect you from the demons of the
night [Lilith] and from anything that frightens and from demons of evening and
morning, from evil spirits and phantoms.”2 Lilith also makes her
appearance on some of the Aramaic incantation bowls. One bowl reads, “Bound is
the bewitching Lilith who haunts the house of Zakoy.”
In Isaiah 34:14, the spooky and
terrifying place of desolation is portrayed as being inhabited by wild animals
and other demonic spirits. This passage speaks of Edom becoming a den for
jackals and an enclosure for hyenas. It then goes on to say “demons” (daimonia), “phantoms” and “goat
spirits,” as well as Lilith, will haunt this place.
In a similar way the Isaianic prophecy of
the desolation of Babylon predicts that it will become a haunt for “goat
spirits” and other sorts of demons (Is 13:21). As in Isaiah 34:14, the Greek
Old Testament uses the word daimonia
(“demons”) to translate some of the Hebrew words here for wild animals. There
was a strong connection between wild animals and evil spirits throughout
antiquity. The “goat demon” was thought to be in the form of a shaggy he-goat
In the Old Testament Levitical law the goat
demons also appear. Israel was prohibited from offering sacrifices to goat
idols. The law states: “They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to
the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves” (Lev 17:7a). Rehoboam
violated this statute when he set up “high places” and “appointed his own
priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made” (2
Chron 11:15). In both of these instances demonic involvement in pagan cults is
reaffirmed.
Witches, Mediums and Spiritists
Occultic practices
were common among the neighbors of Israel, and they proved to be a great
temptation to God’s people. Consequently we find numerous commands and
admonitions throughout the Old Testament, warning Israel to stay away from
every form of magical practice. The Torah specifically says, “Do not practice
divination or sorcery” (Lev 19:26). In the Torah the most comprehensive list of
occultic prohibitions is given:
Let no one
be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who
practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or
casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone
who does these things is detestable to the Lord,
and because of these detestable practices the Lord
your God will drive out those nations before you. (Deut 18:10–12)
Throughout
the Old Testament these kinds of occultic practices are often catalogued,
either in a list of prohibitions or in a historical narrative where the sins of
a key figure are mentioned.
Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah, was
guilty in the eyes of the chronicler for breaking the occult prohibitions of
the Torah. He worshiped the Canaanite gods, practiced astrology or a form of
astral religion (“bowed down to all the starry host and worshiped them”),
“sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced
sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists” (2
Chron 33:1–6). The chronicler concludes, “He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord provoking him to anger.”
Likewise, Hoshea, the last king of the
northern kingdom, led Israel away from God to pursue the worship of foreign
gods and engage in occultic practices, including astrology. The text says they
set up sacred stones and Asherah poles, they worshiped idols, they imitated the
nations around them, they bowed down to all the starry hosts, they worshiped
Baal, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters in the fire, and they
practiced divination and sorcery. The biblical writer interprets their action as
selling “themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.” As a result, the Lord was
“very angry with Israel,” removing them from his presence (2 Kings 17:7–23).
In the Old Testament none of these occult
practices are ever described in any detail. Instead, they are usually mentioned
in a list and condemned. There was a clear assumption on the part of the
various Old Testament writers that the readers would know precisely what was
being referred to.
In Old Testament history burning children
in a fire as part of pagan worship was something that occurred on more than one
occasion (see Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; Mic 6:7). Outside of the Old Testament,
however, there is little information that describes the practice of child
sacrifice.
As we have seen from the accounts about
Manasseh and Hoshea, astrology was widely practiced during their times.
Biblical writers describe it as “bowing down to the starry hosts.” We would be
remiss to think they viewed the stars merely as material objects. Throughout
the history of the ancient Near East, the stars were deified and thought to
represent various gods and goddesses. In fact, the book of Amos actually names
two Assyrian astral deities that Israel worshiped: “Sakkuth your king and
Kaiwan your star god” (Amos 5:26). Jeremiah mentions the worship of Ishtar, the
“Queen of Heaven” (Jer 7:18; 44:17–19). Then, as well as in the later
Greco-Roman forms of astrology, the stars were believed to control the
unfolding of history. The law expressly prohibited Israel from worshiping the
stars (Deut 4:19), in spite of the fact that this was the common practice of
all the other nations around Israel.
In the ancient Near East many forms of
divination were practiced. One of the most popular forms was liver inspection
(hepatoscopy). Perhaps, because the liver was the seat of the blood, and thus
the center of life, it was especially important in popular belief as an object
that could help determine the future. Another well-known form of divination was
necromancy, the conjuring of the dead, of which King Saul was culpable when he
visited the witch at Endor (1 Sam 28:3–25). Since divination was closely
associated with magic in all its forms, biblical writers roundly condemned it
(see Lev 19:26, 31).
Magic, witchcraft and sorcery have played
a part in every society in the history of religion. The main features are
always the same. Of special significance for our topic is the fact that these
practices were based on a firm belief in the realm of good and evil spirits.
Those who practiced magic believed the supernatural beings could be manipulated
to bring positive benefit or harm. For the covenant people of God these
practices were regarded as evil and detestable to the Lord.[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,
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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), 57–60.
