Breakthrough will Come - Purity 794
Purity 07/27/2022 Purity 794 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun situated between two groups of
clouds and framed more or less in the middle of this scene over the waters of
the Hudson River comes to us from yours truly as I captured this “answer to
prayer” on Monday while visiting Margaret and William See Riverview Park in
Stuyvesant NY with my wife.
The weather was milder on Monday afternoon because thunderstorms
had rolled through the area earlier in the day and because things had cleared
up I decided to take my wife for a short drive down river with the hopes of
finding a secluded spot where we could enjoy a view of the river and each other’s
company.
Our arrival at the Riverview park in Stuyvesant was
perfectly timed as we were alone, but a thick stand of clouds kept the sun
hidden from view causing me to say something like: “Okay God, we just need those
clouds out of the way” and shortly there after the sun came blazing through to
our delight.
Now you might say my “answered prayer” was just a
coincidence or merely a product of time and wind, but I know God is sovereign
and He directs our steps to put us in the right place at the right time. So I won’t
claim a miracle necessarily, but I won’t deny that Lord is active in the world
and providing things for us either.
God uses His providence to bring His will about on the
earth and to bless those who follow Him. God’s grace is His divine favor and it
is experienced throughout the lives of those He calls into His kingdom, thus we
keep walking and talking with God and see Him working all things together for good,
because we love Him and are called according to His purpose.
“Now Come on MT! The sun was going to come out anyway, it
was inevitable!” – you might say.
You’re right of course, I guess. But it doesn’t mean that
I can’t appreciate it coming out shortly after speaking to the One who created
it and who has set the course of the movements of time and space. And just because something that eventually
happens appears to have been inevitable doesn’t mean we knew it was coming or
that we didn’t desperately need it.
In the fall of 2019, the Church of the City’s song “God
turn it Around” was released at seeming just the right time in my life. I am sharing
a link to a lyric video of it on the blog if you want to hear it (https://youtu.be/-Gv8VDqc-os)
Featuring Jon Reddick, the song is a prayer for God’s help
and a declaration of the certainty of His working, right now, on the earth.
The lyrics say:
“I'm
praying, God come
And turn this thing around
God, turn it around
God, turn it around
God, turn it around
I'm
calling on the name
That changes everything, yes
God, turn it around
God, turn it around
God, turn it around
All
of my hope
Is in the name
The name of Jesus
Breakthrough will come
Come in the name
The name of Jesus”
(
In 2019, I needed “God, to turn it around” in
a major way. Overcome by personal and financial
difficulties, I was in a dry season of struggle and affliction and although I
had a vague plan of what I could do to be delivered to a new life, I had
absolutely no guarantees of if or when, I would be able to find a place to live
for my children and I in the wake a messy divorce.
Just like asking God to move those clouds the other day, from
October 2019 to June 22nd, 2020 I would go daily before the Lord in prayer and
worship, pleading to the Lord to “turn it around.” And through out those months,
weeks, and days, I saw the Lord moving things together for good time and time
again in such a manner that I know the Lord was directing my path. That song goes on to say:
“He
is up to something
God is doing something right now
He is
healing someone
He is saving someone
God is doing something, oh, right now
He is healing someone
He is saving someone
God is doing something right now (right now)
He is
moving mountains
Making a way for someone
God is doing something right now, right now”
(
And then, again,
“All
of my hope
Is in the name
The name of Jesus
Breakthrough will come
Come in the name
The name of Jesus”
(
Somebody might ask me,
Yeah? How do you know God was with you?
How do I know? Because I
wouldn’t leave Him alone! And His word
says, that He will never leave us or forsake us!
Also because, He had been
with me. That particular dark period of
my journey, was certainly not the beginning of our relationship together as I
had been saved in 2010 and been progressively led to surrender to His will for
my life ever since.
I had trusted the Lord to
help me before then and He was faithful to “turn things around” before in major
ways, mind you, but that stretch from 2019 to 2020 was the “Master’s class” of
overcoming, sort of a advanced degree program in patience, perseverance, hope,
faith, and trust that really has led to a life of abundant joy and peace. That is why when I sing that song, it’s not
just good feelings. That song was an anthem of victory and a prophecy of things
to come and I know that God is doing something still, right now,
God is saving someone. God
is healing someone, right now!
God is moving mountains,
God is making a way for someone, right now.
And I know that He’s not
done with me, or you, either.
God’s presence in my life
has been the One Constant that I could stand on in the last 12 years and it is
why I can say without blinking: All of my hope is in the name, the name of
Jesus!
When you are going through
problems, through simple intellectual reasoning, we can surmise that “this too
shall pass”, these things won’t last forever…. But if all you are hoping for is
a change that will be merely the product of the changes that come through time
and space, that is one lonely road to travel.
As I prepare for tomorrow’s,
Grace Course meeting in which the topic is overcoming fears, I am more and more
convinced that I must seek to impress upon the group the fact of God’s grace,
obviously, but also will endeavor to emphasize the Lord’s presence in their
lives.
We can logically conclude
that somethings are inevitable, but when you are walking and talking with God
through the days of your lives, we can walk through the valleys of darkness
with hope, expectancy, and joy.
When we are going with the
Lord, we can be sure that “Breakthroughs will come, come in the name, the name of
Jesus.”
So if you haven’t already,
develop your daily spiritual practice of prayer, Bible study, and applying the
wisdom of God’s word to your life. But remember, these disciplines are not just
ways to learn or “be a good Christian” – I don’t think I would claim to be good
at anything – but they are simply the means to communicate with the Lord and to
develop your love relationship with Him – that the goal. The transformation in our lives comes from
loving God and becoming more like Jesus because we love Him and want to be like
Him, not because we “have to” or “ought to” or “should”.
The Lord invites us to
everlasting life and to walk in His ways out of His love for us. Our break
throughs come when all of our hope is in Him and we decide to follow Him to
where He leads us.
Earlier summer, I went to
the River Rock Music Festival in Maine, and frankly I was enthused to go at
first, but shortly before committing to go, I was driving home and was
worshipping the Lord in song and “got” the impression that I was “supposed to
go.” So my attitude changed about it. I
was going… but I didn’t really know why.
But the first day there,
Jon Reddick came out on stage – just him and a keyboard really. The crowd either didn’t know him or wasn’t
really impressed by him, I guess. But me?
I went to the front of the stage, and was right there as he sang “God turn it
around” and I was overcome by the Holy Spirit’s presence and my remembrance of
all that the Lord has “turned around in my life” and I knew beyond a shadow of
a doubt that I was right where I was supposed to be, as I rejoiced and
marveled at the absolute goodness and love of God.
So, don’t just wait for
the inevitable, go out and pursue it. But don’t do it alone, Be bold and courageous,
because if you are walking and talking with God, he will go before you and he
will go behind you. And he will be there every step of the way as you put all of
your hope in Him.
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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:
Matthew 7:21 (NLT2)
21 “Not everyone who calls
out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who
actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.
Today’s verse are Christ’s words of warning to be sure that we are in the faith by doing the Father’s will for our lives.
Nominal Christians are “Christians” in name only. That means that they say they are a Christian but don’t necessarily have any fruit in their lives to prove they are a disciple of Jesus Christ. A nominal Christian lives their lives much like their unsaved neighbors and generally don’t pray, read the Bible, have regular church attendance, or do anything for the church or Christian causes. That varies of course, even nominals know they have to show up at church occasionally, give to charity, or be self-righteous in some way if they want to be able to continue to claim that they are Christians.
If they worry about their faith at all, nominals are interested in “what the minimum requirements of faith are” or what they “have to do” to be a Christian. Nominals are into appearances and rules but have no idea what a “relationship with God is like”
They look at this verse and say: “Okay, I have to do God’s will to enter heaven. Tell me exactly what I have to do to be right with God to go to heaven.” They get out their pen and they get ready to make a list.
The rich young ruler asked the same question – to which Jesus said to sell everything He had and to follow Him.
As enthusiastic as the young man may have seemed to be into “being right with God”, those instructions sent him running to the exit.
Give God everything and Follow Him, or as today’s verse says – “actually do the will of the Father”.
I hope it is clear that God isn’t looking to have us “do stuff” to be right with Him. That’s religion. That’s a works based salvation and that’s the opposite of being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
We are to “be” God’s children and seek to do His will. That’s about a relationship. We can’t buy our relationship. Through faith in Jesus, God gives it to us.
So what God wants us to “do” is to “be” who we are, His children. A child who loves his parents will do their “will” by representing the family’s values with the way they live their life. That’s calls us to do.
We learn from our brother, Jesus, how to be a Christian and out of the love we have for the Father, we seek to do His will by being a Christian in all our ways.
So don’t be a stranger, or be a Christian in name only, show the Lord that you know that you are His by surrendering to His will by living like Christ taught us.
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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.
Slavery to the Elemental Spirits (Galatians)
The
novel teaching threatening the church at Galatia struck at the heart of the
gospel (Gal 1:6–9). Evidently some zealous persons from Judea were teaching the
Galatian Christians that they must be circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic
regulations (and perform other legal requirements) in order to be saved. In
Paul’s eyes, this requirement compromised the true nature of the gospel
message, which is that salvation is given without performing any works of the
law, a salvation by grace alone.
Paul also spoke of
the Galatians “observing special days and months and seasons and years” (Gal
4:10). While Paul had no problem with Christians having personal convictions on
such matters (Rom 14:5), he objected to these observances (including
circumcision) being viewed as religious obligations, as part of the necessary
response to the gospel message. In Paul’s mind, to turn to circumcision and
legal observances was tantamount to returning to slavery—a slavery to the
principalities and powers (stoicheia;
Gal 4:9)!
For Paul both Jews
and Gentiles were in bondage to the powers of darkness prior to conversion. He
explained that unredeemed Jews are slaves to the elemental spirits of the
universe (Gal 4:3). These hostile forces apparently exploit the law and use it
as a tool to hold unbelieving Judaism in captivity. God’s redemption through
Christ brings freedom—freedom from the law and freedom from servitude to the powers
(Gal 4:3–5).
Likewise, prior to
their conversion, the Gentiles “were slaves to those who by nature are not
gods” (Gal 4:8). At one time they thought they were worshiping real gods and
goddesses in their pagan worship, but they were soon to find out that these
were mere idols—tools of the devil and his powers of darkness. The Galatians
had appeared to have turned their backs on their pagan gods, but they were now
tempted to add Jewish legal requirements to the pure gospel of Christ, which
Paul had taught them. In Paul’s mind this would be trading one form of slavery
to the powers for another.
According to F. F.
Bruce, Paul was making the point that, “the stoicheia
… not only regulated the Jewish way of life under law; they also regulated the
pagan way of life in the service of gods that were no gods.… For all the basic
differences between Judaism and paganism, both involved subjection to the same
elemental forces.” He adds, “for those who did not live in the good of
Christian freedom the stoicheia
[‘elementary spirits’] were ‘principalities and powers’, keeping the souls of
men in bondage.” The gospel is truly a message of freedom. Any form of legalism
as a principle of Christian life is contrary to the gospel.
Both pagan religion
and the Jewish law surface here as two systems that Satan and his powers
exploit to hold the unbeliever in captivity and re-enslave the believer. As
such, they function as two aspects of the world, or “the present evil age,” and
illustrate how the powers operate in conjunction with the world.
Surprisingly, even
something that is inherently good—the law—can be perverted by Satan and used to
accomplish his own purposes. This evil influence came to the Galatians in the
form of a new teaching propagated by people who appeared to them as credible
and credentialed. On the surface the new teaching probably looked true and
appealing to the Galatians. We might generalize from this that the influence of
the powers comes in subtle ways. Only spiritual discernment can detect it One
lesson to be learned from the situation of the Galatians as well as the
Corinthians is the importance for every believer to be rooted deeply in sound
doctrine, especially Christology. Satan consistently seeks to have us believe a
lie about Christ and his redemptive work.
In light of these
instances of satanically inspired false teaching, it is not surprising that at
the end of his life Paul warned Timothy, “The Spirit clearly says that in later
times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things
taught by demons” (1 Tim 4:1). He was increasingly aware of this subtle, yet
effective, method of Satan for bringing about the demise of the church.
Paul described those
who bring such false teachings as having fallen into “the trap of the devil,
who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Tim 2:26). This statement gives
helpful insight into the character of false teachers. They are, in essence,
Satan’s instruments. Satan and his powers work through these human agencies to
deceive the church and lead it astray. All is not bleak, however. There is hope
even for those who are the emissaries of Satan. God may still “grant them
repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 2:25). This could
happen if they listen with an open heart to the leadership of the church. Paul
urged the leadership to have an attitude of gentleness as they work with such
people, always with an eye toward their repentance.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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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), 131–133.