Sinner – Saint Paradox - I Can’t Dance…Do You Love Me? – Purity 654

Sinner – Saint Paradox  - I Can’t Dance…Do You Love Me? –  Purity 654

Purity 654 02/14/2022  Purity 654 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a glimmering sunrise at Hillsboro Beach, Florida comes to us from my personal photo archives and was taken 10 days after Valentine’s Day in 2015.   A lot has changed in my life since that time and I share it today because I find myself in a very reflective mood as I had a pretty eventful weekend and luckily decided last week to take today off from work.  

Last Monday I decided to take off today because I realized that it was not only going to be “Super Bowl Monday” but it was also going to be the first Valentine’s Day that my wife TammyLyn and I would celebrate as a couple!  

In case you are wondering, enjoying Valentine’s Day in my wife’s company and the love we share is the focus today.  While I did stay up to see the game last night and 10pm is late for me, Super Bowl Monday will not be the recuperative holiday for me as it was in the past. 

I don’t drink anymore so it will not be a day of hangovers, or continued day drinking, as it had been in my past when I was in bondage to my many addictions.  But I have to admit that the end of the NFL football season is still somewhat of an event and a milestone each year for me as I see it as somewhat of a seasonal marker for our nearing “mid-winter”, as President’s Day is next week and after that our hopes for spring arriving are not so distant, or unrealistic, anymore!   As we go through what can be challenging winters in upstate NY, every milestone we can reach that brings us closer to the season of green is to be considered a victory and should be celebrated!

But today, beyond seasonal milestones, I am thanking God in heaven above for the gift of His love that has not only empowered me to leave the darkness of my past behind but for staying with me and guiding me to help me to find the love of my life here on earth in my wife, TammyLyn!

My wife and I were brought together through our seeking to serve and know God more and I know that God brought TammyLyn into my life as a partner for life and as an expression of His love for both of us.  Valentine’s Day is the holiday where we remember the love in our life and I am filled with joy at the prospect of just spending the day with TammyLyn in each other’s presence. 

And of course if we are to celebrate love today, we have to remember that God is love and how He showed His love for all of us in Jesus Christ.  

1 John 4:7-11 (NKJV)
⁷  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
⁸  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
⁹  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
¹⁰  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
¹¹  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Yeah, God showed His love for us all by sending Jesus to pay for our sins and by giving eternal life to those who put their faith in Him.  And Jesus’s simple commandments tell us that we are to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.  

God wants us to have a love relationship with Him and share the love He pours into us with the people in our lives.    

The problem with this possible “love connection” with God, isn’t God. It’s us.  Like Peter in Luke 5, when he got the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, we think we are not worthy because we are sinful men and when we think about the holiness of God we wonder if there is any way that God could possibly love us.  

My mind goes to strange places sometimes and this morning I thought about that Contour’s R&B Hit “Do you love me..(Now that I can Dance).  

When we think of God, we think we have to earn His love by being good or holy. We wrongly get the idea that our performance will be the only thing that will make us right with Him and that we have to make Him love us. 

But the thing is that we don’t have to “really move”, or “really groove”, we don’t have to “mash potatoes” (whatever that is), or “do the twist” to make God love us. 

Our confusion about the whole “sinner/saint paradox” can drive us away from God when we think we have to earn His love. But God is love, He loves sinners like you and me, and wants us to know His love and the new eternal life He offers us in Christ.   

And I know, you may be saying did: “M.T. Clark, a vocal advocate for knowing that we are saints and for experiencing our freedom in Christ just call himself, and me, a sinner?  

Yes, we are saints who sin.  We sinned before Christ and because we are not perfect like Christ, we will sin after we make Him our Lord and Savior, after He gives us a new and everlasting spiritual life and our new identity as saints.   

This saint/sinner paradox reminds me of the scene in the film, “Chinatown” where Jack Nicholson slaps Faye Dunaway repeatedly demanding the truth until she shamefully has to admit that due to an incestuous encounter with her father, “her sister” was in fact “her daughter”!, proving that two seemingly contradictory things can be simultaneously true. 

And that’s what a paradox is – a situation like our Christian identity where we are truly born again adopted children of God,  saints, who unfortunately will sin by either the things we do or the things we fail to do.  Unfortunately this paradox can really confuse us.

Our guilt, shame, and the devil is there to slap us around with his temptations, accusations, and condemnations that tell us we are a sinner and God can’t love us.  

But Christ is there to tell us, like the woman caught in adultery, that we are truly are forgiven, we are not condemned, we are new creations, and He encourages us to experience the peace and joy of being a saint by “sinning no more”.  

This sinner/saint paradox can drive us absolutely batty and may make us want to smack ourselves!

But we don’t have to slap ourselves or dance to earn God’s love, and as James 1 indicates, we shouldn’t doubt the love of God, and the forgiveness and sainthood we receive when we put our faith in Jesus, because if we do doubt we will tend to be double minded and be unstable in all our ways.   

Christ wants us to know the love of God and to give us rest.      

In 2015 when I took today’s photo, I was a Christian but man did I have a lot of the sinful habits in my life that made me feel unworthy. But even though I was living in sinful patterns; I knew that God’s word was true and told me that I was forgiven and was a new creation.   Because of my continual failures and dark ways, I rejoiced over my salvation because I knew I “couldn’t dance” and earn my place in God’s kingdom.      

But I didn’t need to dance. I just needed to abide in Christ to know His presence and love and to walk with Him.   So I walked.  I rejoiced that I was “just a sinner saved by grace” all through the wild days of my mad existence as a double minded unstable carnal Christian.  

At the time I took today’s photo, I had been living this tumultuous life of a Christian living in the condemnation of a life of the flesh for about 5 years. But I kept walking and talking with God and about a month after I took this photo,  I walked into a Christian recovery program and put down the booze and the condemnation that came with it for good.  

God gives us His love and encourages us to walk toward Him. Our relationship with Him isn’t based on our performance, but God does encourage us to walk like His Son Jesus Christ walked, because He knows of the peace, love, and joy that we can experience when we walk in the Spirit.  

I used to identify myself as a sinner saved by grace (and I am one) but when I did that, I made the mistake of identifying with my sin more than with the new creation that God made me to be, a saint, when I put my faith in Christ.  

And when I realized that my identity as a saint, who admittedly sins, was not just a theological concept but was a spiritual and existential reality that I could live in, I decided to believe it and live it out.   

And I can tell you that, when I started identifying myself with who I am in Christ, the chains of “the sinner” were loosened and I was able to break free and walk away from them.  

I am still far from being perfect, but I am experiencing a victorious life of freedom from many of my past sins and habits because I have drawn closer to the One who is perfect and identify with God more than the things that would separate me from Him.

So as we celebrate the love we have today on Valentine’s Day, remember that God is love and that His love for you and the gift of salvation and a new life in Christ are free.  He loves you just the way you are, but He would encourage you to stop slapping yourself around and instead agree to embrace the new life He has for you.   

The greatest love of all can be happening to you.  When you accept God’s love, you can learn to love yourself and then take the love God has given you to love the other people in your life.

Today’s Bible verses come to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Psalm 38:9 (NLT2)
⁹  You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh.

Today’s Bible verses tells us that God knows what we long for and that He hears us as we lament and walk through life.     

Part of the problem we can have with our experiencing the love of God is that we may have idea that God is somehow distant or uncaring.

But the truth is that God is all knowing and that He is love.  God’s love is demonstrated through the advent of Christ on the earth to reconcile us to Him.  

As our Creator, God made us. He knows us inside and out!  His omniscience is testified about in His word and today’s verse indicates that He knows the desire of our hearts!  

He knows us! He loves us! And as today’s verse tells us He even hears our every sigh!

So as today is Valentine’s and the enemy may seek to torment those of us who don’t have a perfect romantic love relationship in our lives, let me remind you and encourage you that God’s love is the greatest love of all and that you can receive comfort from it always and have the assurance that, no matter what, God will never leave you or forsake you.  

God’s love has carried me through the toughest trials of my life, and I know that in the darkest days of my soul that He heard my every sigh, wiped away every one of my tears, and gave me hope.

So whether you are actively enjoying the benefits of loving relationships in your life or not, remember that God loves for you is real and powerful and when you abide in it you can feel it and the peace and joy of having Him forever in your life.    

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 to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we conclude sharing from Chapter 8.   

 As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18, “I pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Jesus has met your needs for acceptance, security, and significance. Read the following list aloud, morning and evening, for the next few weeks. Think about what you are reading and let the truth of who you are in Christ renew your mind. This is your inheritance in Christ.

IN CHRIST

I renounce the lie that I am rejected, unloved, or shameful.

In Christ I am accepted.

God says:

·       I am God’s child. (John 1:12)

·       I am Christ’s friend. (John 15:5)

·       I have been justified. (Romans 5:1)

·       I am united with the Lord and I am one spirit with Him. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

·       I have been bought with a price: I belong to God. (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20)

·       I am a member of Christ’s body. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

·       I am a saint, a holy one. (Ephesians 1:1)

·       I have been adopted as God’s child. (Ephesians 1:5)

·       I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18)

·       I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. (Colossians 1:14)

·       I am complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10)

·       I renounce the lie that I am guilty, unprotected, alone, or abandoned.

In Christ I am secure.

God says:

·       I am free from condemnation. (Romans 8:1, 2)

·       I am assured that all things work together for good. (Romans 8:28)

·       I am free from any condemning charges against me. (Romans 8:31-34)

·       I cannot be separated from the love of God. (Romans 8:35-39)

·       I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22)

·       I am confident that the good work God has begun in me will be perfected. (Philippians 1:6)

·       I am a citizen of heaven. (Philippians 3:20)

·       I am hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

·       I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)

·       I can find grace and mercy to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

·       I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. (1 John 5:18)

I renounce the lie that I am worthless, inadequate, helpless, or hopeless.

In Christ I am significant.

God says:

·       I am the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (Matthew 5:13, 14)

·       I am a branch of the true vine, Jesus, a channel of His life. (John 15:1,5)

·       I have been chosen and appointed by God to bear fruit. (John 15:16)

·       I am a personal, Spirit-empowered witness of Christ’s. (Acts 1:8)

·       I am a temple of God. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

·       I am a minister of reconciliation for God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

·       I am God’s coworker. (2 Corinthians 6:1)

·       I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. (Ephesians 2:6)

·       I am God’s workmanship, created for good works. (Ephesians 2:10)

·       I may approach God with freedom and confidence. (Ephesians 3:12)

·       I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Philippians 4:13)

I am not the great “I Am,” but by the grace of God I am what I am.

(See Exodus 3:14; John 8:24, 28, 58; 1 Corinthians 15:10.)

CHAPTER EIGHT:

OVERCOMING ANCESTRAL SINS

148. Luke 6:40

149. Exodus 20:4-6157

 ---------------------------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

Stop. Everybody look, What’s Going Down? – The Steps to Freedom in Christ – Purity 653

 Stop. Everybody look, What’s Going Down? – The Steps to Freedom in Christ –  Purity 653

Purity 653 02/12/2022  Purity 653 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a morning view from the Thacher State Park Overlook comes to us from yours truly as I was once again called to work in the higher elevations of Berne NY yesterday but stopped for a few minutes on the way up to appreciate the opportunity I had to see things from a higher perspective.

One of the things I encourage Christians to do in their walk of faith is to occasionally stop and look around at where they are literally to appreciate God’s creation and to appreciate where they are on the journey of their lives and in their relationship with their heavenly Father.  I’ve discovered that when you do that you tend to find the peace and the purpose that the Lord wants you to find and you tend to enjoy and appreciate your life more.

As I thought about taking time to “smell the roses” and to do periodic check ins with our life’s progress, I thought of the Buffalo Springfield song “For what it’s worth” and its lyrics that say:

“I think it's time we stop

Children, what's that sound?

Everybody look, what's going down?”

It’s the weekend again, so we should all have some time to stop, look around, and see what’s going down in our lives and take some time to reflect on where we have been, where we want to go, and to possibly consider making some changes in the way we live or to resolve some unfinished business in our pasts.

Socrates is quoted as saying that  “the unexamined life is not worth living” and while I would undoubtedly disagree with some of his conclusions in regard to his theology (he did live before Christ after all) I would agree with the sentiment behind that quote and the idea of questioning the status quo and utilizing our reason to logically think through our problems.   

The advent of Christ on earth certainly questioned the status quo and causes all people to “stop” and “look around” and make a decision in regard to who Jesus is. 

C.S. Lewis, echoing other Christians before him, famously addressed the question of Jesus Christ and logically determined that we could conclude that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord, meaning He was a conscious fraud, a deluded person who thought He was God, or was indeed who He said He was. 

While some could question the soundness of Lewis’s propositional ponderings with this three tiered conclusion by questioning Biblical inerrancy and objective reality, I would push for the end of the philosophical debate and echo Christ’s question in John 11:26 when He was basically  telling one of His disciples that He God (I am the resurrection and the life): where He asks: Do You believe this?    

Obviously for me, yes I do believe this.  I believe that the Bible is true, and Christ actually asked this question and is the Son of God, and God the Son.  

After having answered Christ in the affirmative, I had to wrestle with the logical conclusions to my answer but eventually agreed that I, therefore, should follow Jesus  by living according to His teachings, as imperfectly as I can, and endeavor to share the good news about Him and encourage people to experience the difference a life of faith can make in their lives.  

So although it is the weekend and I do plan on taking some time to get some rest and enjoy my life by spending time with my wife at our countryside home, I also am taking time to be true to the call on my life to make Christ known and help others to know their freedom in Christ. 

I have an appointment to lead someone through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, which are a set of prayers, declarations, and renunciations that help people to resolved personal and spiritual conflicts that cause them to suffer emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 

The good thing about the process is that it doesn’t depend on me! I merely encourage the person seeking help, the inquirer, to seek the Lord in prayer to reveal the issues that are weighing on their hearts and to let God help them to find peace through confessing and repenting of their sins and by accepting forgiveness and forgiving others who have harmed them.   

The Steps to Freedom in Christ has scientifically been verified to help people to improve in areas of mental health (https://www.ficm.org/about-us/research/) and I have personally experienced great benefits to my mental and spiritual health by going  through them.  Here is a pdf of the Steps if you would like to learn about the process or if you would like to pray through them individually: Steps to Freedom in Christ PDF   . The Lord could use them and your faith in Him to overcome.  

When we take the time to stop and look around we can enjoy our lives more. When we come into relationship with God through our faith in Jesus Christ and ask God to help us, we can find freedom, purpose, and peace in our lives.   

So this weekend, enjoy the free will that God has given you to enjoy your life in what ever way you choose but I would recommend you stop and look around and try to answer the question of who Jesus is to you and then follow the logical conclusions, if you believe that He is Lord, by seeking to know Him more and to find the peace and joy that come from following Him.

God is alive and well. He sent Christ to set us free. So experience the true joy and freedom of life by having peace with the One who made all things by putting your faith in the One who lived and died for you.  

 

Today’s Bible verse comes  to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Psalm 32:8 (NLT2)
⁸  The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.

Today’s Bible verses points to the simple truth that the best pathway of life is the one that is determined by the guidance of the Lord and that when we are in Christ we have the assurance of His continual presence, advice, and protection.        

Have you ever wondered why there is a Bible?  The Bible is God’s word to His people that tells us the truth about Him, His interactions with mankind, reveals His plan to reconcile us to Him, and tells us of how history will play out.    

In the Bible God gives us “in the beginning” and tells us of a new heaven and a new earth that will appear in the future. And in the pages in between Genesis and Revelation, God gives us the history His people and the coming of Jesus and tells of how He died for the forgiveness of our sins and how we can have peace with God by putting our faith in Him.  The Epistles in the New Testament, which are letters to us, the church, tell us about who we are in Christ and how we are to live our lives.  

The Bible is a history book and book of future prophecies, but it is also a guidebook for Christian living.    

God gave us His word to teach us about Him and about how we should live. 

And today’s verse assures us that the Lord will guide us in the best pathway for our lives and that He will advise us and look out for us. The Lord will be with us always and His word helps us to understand the way we should walk on the pathways of our lives.  

As Christians, we are not just to ‘believe”, we are to follow Christ. When we actually do that by knowing the word of God and applying its wisdom to our lives, we will continually learn that the word of God is true and that the Lord really will guide us on the best pathway for our lives. 

So keep walking and talking with God and see how “it’s getting better all the time: when we are faithful to answer His call, hear His wisdom, and pick up our crosses and follow 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 to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from Chapter 8.  

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL CLEANSING

Home/Apartment/Room

After removing and destroying all objects of false worship, pray this prayer aloud in every room:

Heavenly Father, I acknowledge that You are the Lord of heaven and earth. In Your sovereign power and love, You have entrusted me with many things. Thank You for this place to live. I claim my home as a place of spiritual safety for me and my family and ask for Your protection from all the attacks of the enemy. As a child of God, raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places, I command every evil spirit claiming ground in this place, based on the activities of past or present occupants, including me and my family, to leave and never return. I renounce all demonic assignments directed against this place. I ask You, Heavenly Father, to post Your holy angels around this place to guard it from any and all attempts of the enemy to enter and disturb Your purposes for me and my family. I thank You, Lord, for doing this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 Amen.

PRAYER FOR LIVING IN A NON-CHRISTIAN ENVIRONMENT

After removing and destroying all objects of false worship from your possession, pray this aloud in the place where you live:

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for a place to live and to be renewed by sleep. I ask You to set aside my room (or portion of this room) as a place of spiritual safety for me. I renounce any allegiance given to false gods or spirits by other occupants. I renounce any claim to this room (space) by Satan based on the activities of past or present occupants, including me. On the basis of my position as a child of God and joint-heir with Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, I command all evil spirits to leave this place and never return. I ask You, Heavenly Father, to station Your holy angels to protect me while I live here. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray. 

Amen.

 ---------------------------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

The Peace Before Us – Wise Choices about People, Places, and Things – Purity 652

The Peace Before Us – Wise Choices about People, Places, and Things –  Purity 652

Purity 652 02/11/2022   Purity 652 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo a felled tree and hiking trails in the foreground of a simple but spectacular view of Hume Lake in California comes to us from a friend’s family vacation back in August of 2021.  As we are in the heart of winter in my neck of the woods, I felt a yearning to share something that was green as a reminder that the seasons change and that there is always great hope to be found in looking ahead if we have the right perspective and we are grounded in the peace that comes with a secure relationship with the Lord.    

It's Friday and, for most of us, we can once again rejoice that we have progressed to the end of another work week. If nothing else, we can find hope in the assurance that with each passing hour of our workday today, we are one hour closer to the weekend where we have the freedom to choose what we will do with the life that God has given us. 

This weekend we can choose to travel, to stay home, to fill our weekend with activities, to accomplish tasks for the care and maintenance of our relationships or homes, or we can choose to just to rest and relax.     Whatever we choose will define how our weekends will go, so it’s important to think about the time ahead and how we will utilize it.  

Our life experiences have taught us what we enjoy and what pleases us. Our experience has also taught us the people, places, and things that frustrate, annoy, and take away our peace.  A wise evaluation of our experiences will teach us to fill our lives with the people, places, and things that bring us peace and joy and to avoid the people, places and things that don’t.  

We are not prisoners to our pasts and need not be held captive to places, people, and things that cause us to lose our peace. God has given us free will to pursue the abundant life that He has for us and thus it is our responsibility to make changes to experience it. 

To have peace we may have to make some hard choices to stop doing the things we are doing, to stop going to the places that we are going to, and to end relationships with people who are toxic.  

One of the traps that we can fall into as Christians, or just people who are “trying to do the right thing”, s that we can believe we are locked into dysfunctional relationships and patterns of behavior that cause us pain because “it is too hard to change” or “they are my _______ (friend, family, problem)“.  Instead of advocating for our freedom and peace, we choose to stay tied to the things and people that will prevent us from knowing peace.  

Codependent relationships, addictions, and cyclic patterns of circumstantial pleasure and pain can be walked away from, or we can establish boundaries in our lives to minimize or eliminate their negative effects progressively.

But we have to examine our lives to see the patterns that take away our peace and know what steps we can make to start to move away from the things the cause pain and suffering and move towards the things that give us joy.   

As someone who encourages others to find their freedom in Christ, I know that we don’t have to be alone in our struggles to figure this thing call life out.  Last night, I was testifying to the facts of God’s omnipresence and love for His people, and how that if we simply and ask Him to guide and help us and follow the wisdom of His ways,  how God will strengthen and empower us to claim the peace and abundant life that He wants us to have.   

In the 6 weeks of the current course I am leading, I have seen the men start to make the daily choice to ground themselves in the truth of who they are in Christ and to walk away from the negative mind states and dysfunctional behaviors they were in bondage too.   They are discovering that their freedom and victory is not based on hard work but will be a product of believing what God says about them and by slowly changing their thoughts and actions to align with God’s ways rather than the world’s ways.  

Some of them are in a real battle and are at the point where they know what they need to do but feel powerless to do it.  Instead of telling them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and use their will power to effect change, I am encouraging them to pray to God to help them becoming willing to follow Him. I am asking them to lean on the Lord to motivate and strengthen them by slowly believing that God will help them and trusting that the spiritual practices that surround seeking the Lord will have a positive impact on their lives.    

So, just like we can look at today’s photo and know that “green seasons” will come again, I am trying to encourage these men that experiencing the fruit of the Spirit in their lives is an evitable outcome if they begin walking in the Spirit by seeking God’s presence, accepting their identity in Christ,  and by applying the Lord’s wisdom to their lives.   

They have the decision before them to choose not to look to their pasts, to choose to look beyond their present circumstances, and to believe that if they begin making small changes now to trust the Lord and make wise choices they will experience victories in their battles and discover a level of peace, joy, and freedom that they could never know on their own.   

So look forward to the end of the workday today, look ahead to the weekend and make the choice to walk towards the things that bring you peace and to avoid or walk away from the patterns of behaviors, places, or people that take it away. 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace and if we follow Him, we will receive His peace. So keep walking and talking with God, He is there to help us and to show us the light of His way that will lead us out of the darkness of our past and bring us to a place of peace where we can live continually.    

Today’s Bible verses come to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verses are:

2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (NLT2)
⁸  Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
⁹  So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.

Today’s Bible verses point to eternal nature of God that gives us the assurance of our everlasting relationship with Him and how our purpose in life is grounded in Him.   

This section of scripture is dealing with the fact that Lord is with us always and will be there for us on the other side of this life. Knowing this should fill us with confidence because if we have the realization that we live forever, we will realize that death loses its sting when we know that whether we live or die, we will be with God.

We don’t have to be afraid of death!

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was working two jobs and saw the fear in people’s lives as they frantically tried to find masks at my part time job at  Walmart.   It was a strange time and I remember how I stood in wonder at the weird sights of people in all types of get ups that were designed to protect them from the killer virus that was “all around us”. 

I was in a transitional stage of my life, having recently divorced and having to work to  get the money to get a new place to live, so I didn’t have the luxury of being consumed by fear. I had to work.  But beyond my needs and desires for a new home, the thing that gave me peace was my faith in Jesus Christ and passages of scripture like today’s verses that tell us that whether we live or die, God has us!

We are safe in Christ.

So I was given great confidence that if God wanted me to get sick and die, I would get sick and die, and at the end of the day my struggles on earth would be over and I would have the joy of eternal life in His kingdom.  

But this assurance didn’t give me a death wish.  It empowered me to live, because I knew that I had the ultimate protection from God and whatever happened to me would be ordained by Him.  

So knowing this on a daily basis fills me with love for the Lord. He’s forgiven me all the mistakes I have made in life and assures me of my place in His kingdom forever. How can I not love God?   

So as an expression of my love for Him, I seek to please Him.

As today’s verse says, pleasing Him is my goal.  Whether I’m in this body or away from it in eternity, my eternal purpose is to do the will of the One who gave me life and redeemed me all of all my sins.  

My goal is to please Him, and God is so good that He knows that when we seek to please Him we end up receiving the abundant life that He wants us to have.  

That’s called a win – win situation, and that’s why we call our faith a “victorious Christian life.”    

So be assured that the Lord has you in the palm of His hand for all eternity and make your goal to please 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 to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s . “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from Chapter 8.   

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private study and to support his work.

MAINTAINING YOUR FREEDOM

Experiencing your freedom in Christ is exciting, but what you have gained must be maintained. You have won an important battle, but the war goes on. To maintain your freedom in Christ and grow in the grace of God, you must continue renewing your mind to the truth of God’s word. If you become aware of lies you have believed, renounce them and choose the truth. If more painful memories surface, then forgive those who hurt you and renounce any sinful part you played. Many people choose to go through The Steps to Freedom in Christ again to make sure they have dealt with all their issues. Sometimes new issues will surface. Some go through The Steps again as a periodic “house cleaning.”

After going through The Steps, people sometimes have thoughts like nothing has really changed. You’re the same person you always were. It didn’t work. In most cases you should just ignore those thoughts. We are not called to dispel the darkness; we are called to turn on the light. You don’t get rid of negative thoughts by rebuking everyone; you get rid of them by repenting and choosing the truth.

I encourage you to read Victory Over the Darkness (Bethany House, 2000) and The Bondage Breaker (Harvest House, 2000). To continue growing in the grace of God:

1.    Get rid of or destroy any cult or occult objects in your home (See Acts 19:18-20).

2.    Get involved in a small group ministry where you can be a real person, and be part of a church where God’s truth is taught with kindness and grace.

3.    Read and meditate on the truth of God’s Word each day.

4.    Don’t let your mind be passive, especially concerning what you watch and listen to (music, TV, etc.). Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

5.    Be open and honest with God in prayer. (See Liberating Prayer, Harvest House, 2012).

DAILY PRAYER AND DECLARATION

Dear Heavenly Father,

I praise You and honor You as my Lord and Savior. You are in control of all things. I thank You that You are always with me and will never leave me nor forsake me. You are the only all-powerful and only wise God. You are kind and loving in all Your ways. I love You and thank You that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in Him. I choose not to love the world or the things in the world, and I crucify the flesh and all its passions.

Thank You for the life I now have in Christ. I ask You to fill me with the Holy Spirit so I can be guided by You and not carry out the desires of the flesh. I declare my total dependence upon You, and I take my stand against Satan and all his lying ways. I choose to believe the truth of God’s Word despite what my feelings may say. I refuse to be discouraged; You are the God of all hope. Nothing is too difficult for You. I am confident that You will supply all my needs as I seek to live according to Your Word. I thank You that I can be content and live a responsible life through Christ who strengthens me.

I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me. I choose to put on the full armor of God so I may be able to stand firm against all the devil’s schemes. I submit my body as a living and holy sacrifice to You, and I choose to renew my mind by Your living Word. By so doing I will be able to prove that Your will is good, acceptable, and perfect for me. In the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

BEDTIME PRAYER

Thank You, Lord, that You have brought me into Your family and have blessed me with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Thank You for this time of renewal and refreshment through sleep. I accept it as one of Your blessings for Your children and I trust You to guard my mind and my body during my sleep.

As I have thought about You and Your truth during the day, I choose to let those good thoughts continue in my mind while I am asleep. I commit myself to You for Your protection against every attempt of Satan and his demons to attack me during sleep. Guard my mind from nightmares. I renounce all fear and cast every anxiety upon You, Lord. I commit myself to You as my rock, my fortress, and my strong tower. May Your peace be upon this place of rest. In the strong name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

 

 ---------------------------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

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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