Destruction or Abundance – A Mindful of Christ
Encouragement - Purity 1201
Purity 1201 11/17/2023 Purity 1201 Podcast
Purity 1201 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the silhouettes or trees and a rustic
barn in the foreground of a sky painted by the fading light of sunset comes to
us from yours truly as I captured this scene at the “end of the Road” last
weekend in the farmlands just off of Waite Rd in Easton NY.
Well, It’s Saturday and I am back at my countryside
home with my wife TammyLyn for the weekend and yes – we are reunited and it
does feel so good – as we will spend the day today on another hike somewhere in
the Saratoga or Adirondack areas of the “real upstate NY”– or as I call it “
The Great White North” and possibly go to see the new Nativity inspired – Christmas
Story Musical, “Journey to Bethlehem later today. I’m not sure exactly where the day will take us,
but I hope to we hope to continue to experience the fullness of joy that we
continually find in our God-centered marriage.
However, as happy as I am in my marriage to TammyLyn
and look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I recognize that for
many November of 2023 has brought some real challenges in the form of
disappointments, failures, broken relationships, and death. I also recognize that this transitioning time
from autumn to winter, and the movement into the holiday season can bring with
it memories of previous losses or the ways things used to be but will be no
more. Quite a few of my friends are
suffering this year, and some are experiencing the anniversaries of losses and
painful changes, that are over or not quite a year old.
For those of us who are content or happy right now,
we should be grateful but also be aware and sensitive to those who are
suffering by offering our presence, prayers, help, or understanding to those
whose problems, pain, or losses make it difficult to be thankful.
We have to walk the fine line listening and be
present with those whose pain is great and knowing when to offer an encouraging
word that could help them to rise out of the depths of despair. We have to try to be aware of the “time of
the season” and respond appropriately.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NKJV) tells us
1 To everything there is
a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born, And a
time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill, And a time
to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, And a time
to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from
embracing;
6 A time to gain, And a time
to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear, And a time
to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
8 A time to love, And a time
to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.
So, we have to try to be wise and discerning in terms
of the help we give because any one of these situations could be playing out in
the lives of the people we encounter this week.
While silence may be the appropriate response to much of what you run into this week, I both exercise that option and not practice it by sharing an encouraging word from Lauren Roskilly of Mindful of Christ.net who shared this “Word for Wednesday” that teaches us that the spiritual forces of darkness may play a part in your suffering and that we are not helpless against our negative thoughts or emotions and that we can choose by faith to respond rather than react to the enemy’s attacks or the negative circumstances of our lives to experience the life of peace that God wants us to live, regardless of the “times of the season.” Lauren shares:
“John 10:10 (NLT2)
10 The thief’s purpose is to
steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying
life.
Destruction
or abundance?
Whenever
you come across any thought, situation, person, or experience that takes away,
ruins, or eliminates your faith, peace and joy and takes you away from Christ
and His plans for your life then know that that thought, situation, person, or
experience is from the devil & his minions. He is the one that wants to
ruin you and your relationship with the Triune God.
God
intends and promises you abundance, in mind, spirit and soul. You CAN know His
peace.
Note
that God doesn’t promise we won’t have to deal with the devil’s schemes, we
will, but He does promise us His comfort and strength to deal with them. And
that abundance includes the fruit of the Spirit; peace, love, joy, patience,
kindness gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
Notice
how you respond and react to each thought, situation, person, or experience.
You can choose destruction and lack, or you can choose to stand against the
devil and choose the peaceful and abundant life that God has for you.
When
a thought, situation, person, or experience occurs, ask yourself, “Is this from
God or will it steal, kill, or destroy my faith or growth with Christ?”
What
will you choose?
-Lauren
Roskilly, Mindful of Christ (https://mindfulofchrist.net/)
– Word for Wednesday 11/15/23 ”
Thank You, Lauren.
Her words expose the enemy’s strategies to drive us into despair and
destruction and unfortunately, he doesn’t take it easy on those who are already
suffering loss, pain, or heartbreak. So whether
you are just feeling low in general or have some very real and present problems
and heartaches, remember to take every thought captive to the obedience of
Christ – just because you feel down doesn’t mean we stop doing what is right –
and choose to remember that the Lord is with you and choose to spend time in
His presence to receive the comfort, wisdom, or strength you need to help you
to endure or to change your perspective by focusing on the good that is present
in your life right now and the God who will never leave you or forsake you in
any time or season.
When we keep walking and talking with God, we can
overcome anything and we remember to submit to God, and resist the devil, we
can experience the peace that goes beyond all understanding and beyond our
current circumstances.
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google
search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Church, Communion of the
Saints.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (ESV)
1 Now concerning spiritual
gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
2 You know that when you were
pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.
3 Therefore I want you to
understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is
accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5 and there are varieties of
service, but the same Lord;
6 and there are varieties of
activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
7 To each is given the manifestation
of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given through
the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge
according to the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the
same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 to another the working of
miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between
spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of
tongues.
11 All these are empowered by
one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Today’s
verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the fifth point
of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Church, Communion of the
Saints.
5. Gifts of the Spirit differ. Each member must use his or her gifts to serve others.
Today’s verses encourage us that we don’t all have to be the same. There are different gifts that the Lord has for us that can be used for God’s glory and for good of the body of Christ. So you be you and I’ll be me and let’s both consider the gifts that the Lord has given us and rejoice in the fact that He knows us and loves us for who we are and allows us to ‘be ourselves” in the way that we follow and serve His kingdom.
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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 are sharing from A. W. Pink’s – The Arthur
Pink Anthology - a collection of A.W.
Pink’s tracts brought together in one book and dispersed here on the blog for
your encouragement.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for free as a PDF at many sites, but printed copies of collections of A.W.
Pink’s books are available for purchase wherever Christian books are sold.
The Arthur Pink Anthology – 6
Christian Fools –
Part 5 of 8
And listen again! If
God’s truth is to be presented proportionately and effectively then each truth
of God’s Word must be presented separately. If I am speaking upon the humanity
of Christ, if I am seeking to emphasize the reality of His manhood, how that He
was made like unto His brethren in all things, how that He was tempted in all
points as they were—sin excepted—I would not bring into my sermon a reference
to His Godhood; and if you were to hear me preach the next twelve Sunday nights
on the manhood of Christ and never refer to His Deity in those sermons, I hope
none of you brethren would be so foolish as to draw the conclusion, Oh dear me,
Brother Pink no longer believes in the Godhood of our Savior.
Again, if I am
preaching on the wrath of God, the holy hatred of God for sin and His vengeance
upon it, I would be weakening my sermon to bring in at the close a reference to
His tenderness, mercy and love, for in my judgment that would be to blunt the point
of the special truth I was seeking to press on the unconverted. And, in the
same way, if I am pressing on the unconverted their need, their duty and
importance of seeking the Lord, calling upon, coming to and believing on Him
for themselves, I would not bring in or explain the work of the Holy Spirit in
conversion.
Each truth needs to
be presented separately that it may have its clear outline presented to the
heart and to the mind. And after all, my friends, we are not saved by believing
in the Spirit, we are saved by believing in Christ. We are not saved by believing
in the work of the Spirit within us (no man was ever saved by believing that);
we are saved by trusting in the work of Christ outside of us. O may God help us
to maintain the balance of truth. There is something more in this Book,
brethren and sisters, beside election, particular redemption and the new birth.
They are there, and I would not say one word to weaken or to repudiate them,
but that is not all that is in this Book. There is a human side. There is man’s
responsibility. There is the sinner’s repentance. There is the sinner’s
believing in Christ. There is the pressing of the gospel upon the unsaved; and
I want to tell you frankly that is a church does not evangelize it will
fossilize: and, if I am not much mistaken, that is what happened to some of the
Strict Baptist Churches in Australia. Numbers of them that once had a healthy
existence are now no more; and some others are already dead but they are not
yet buried; and I believe one of the main reasons for that is this—they failed
at the vital point of evangelism. If a church does not evangelize it will
fossilize. That is God’s method of perpetuating His work and of maintaining His
churches. God uses means, and the means that the Holy Spirit uses in His work
is the preaching of the gospel to the unconverted, to every creature. True, the
preaching will avail nothing without the Spirit’s blessing and application.
True, no sinner will or can believe until God has quickened him. Yet he ought
to, and is commanded to.
Now I meant, if time
had allowed me, to come back again to the text and give you a few striking
examples of where many have failed in holding the balance of God’s truth. Take
for example the Unitarians. I have met numbers of Unitarians who believe this Book
is God’s word, and believe that they can prove their creed from this Book. They
appeal to such Scriptures as Deuteronomy 6:4—“The Lord our God is one Lord.”
Their creed is the unity of God and they argue that if there be three divine
persons there must be three Gods; they cannot harmonize them, they cannot
reconcile three persons with one God; so what do they do? Well, they hold fast
to the one and they let go the other. They say the two won’t mix—either God is
one or else He is three; He cannot be both. When they come to the Person of
Christ they emphasize such passages as—“He grew in wisdom.” Well, they say, if
He was a divine person, how could He grow in wisdom? They emphasize such
passages as “He prayed,” and they say it is an absurdity to think of God
praying to God. They say, He died—how could God die? No, He cannot be divine:
He is a good man; He is a holy man; He is a perfect man; and because they
cannot reconcile the two classes of Scriptures they believe the one and reject
the other. And Christ says to them, Ye are fools because ye are slow of heart
to believe all.[1]
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), 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)
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
