Let Go, Let God – A Mindful of Christ Encouraging Word
- Purity 1188
Purity 1188 11/02/2023 Purity 1188 Podcast
Purity 1188 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo is a view of the sun surrounded by
clouds in a pleasant blue sky that comes to us from yours truly as I took this
quick pic from my car while sitting in my car yesterday at the end of the workday.
The first day of November was a wild weather day in
the 518 yesterday as several of the northern areas saw a light dusting of snow –
yup, even though I didn’t say the dread S-word two days prior on the blog - the
“prophecy” – even though I said I didn’t want to see it until December – came to
pass. I don’t watch the weather, so I
don’t know if it was expected or not but when I wrote about not wanting snow a
couple of days ago – maybe that was the Holy Spirit giving me a heads up? I don’t
know but in the 518 you have expected the unexpected and deal with the weather
that we get.
Of course, we are not always prepared to face
unexpected trials or when situations that are going bad naturally get worse. In my walk I see people overcome addictions
and problems and I also see people who suffer and don’t seem to learn from
it.
This morning I received some not-so-surprising news
that caused me alarm and concern. It's
not so surprising when people who are not doing what they should get worse, and
their precarious situations get more precarious because of their failure to act
and do what’s right.
While “doing nothing” is always an option, it's
usually not the best option, and if you choose to take that option continually
problems tend to get worse. So I was thrown off my normal routine this
morning to express my concern and offer advice to “do what’s right” again. And the process has drained me….
So I am choosing to “do nothing” in terms of writing
any more than this admission this morning and am once again going to share from
my friend in the UK, Lauren Roskilly’s blog on MindfulinChrist.net (https://mindfulofchrist.net/)
– whose “Word for Wednesday”, yesterday, is once again oddly appropriate for my
current situation. So I thank Lauren for her faithfulness to the body of Christ
as we turn to her encouraging words, reminding us to “Let go and Let God”.
Lauren writes:
(https://mindfulofchrist.net/let-go-let-god/)
Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not
lean on your own understanding.
This well-known verse is easy to remember but how do you
actively apply this to your life?
We can know in our minds that we are to trust the Lord, but do
you fully trust Him in your heart of hearts? I mean, in EVERY part of your
life.
Sometimes we, as humans, want to understand and find sense or
logic in a situation, I know I can be prone to this too!
But there are things that we won’t ever understand as much as we
try to.
Perhaps you’ve been waiting for an answer to prayer for years or
decades, perhaps you’re waiting for healing, or perhaps the suffering in your
life or the world around you is beyond your comprehension and understanding.
Or perhaps there’s a situation or even a person you are trying
to be ‘in control’ of. Yes, you have responsibilities but you don’t have to
take everything on yourself!
Whatever it is that you are currently battling. Maybe, the Lord
is telling you to let it go, just wait, sit with Him, and trust him. Maybe
you’re not meant to know the answers either now or ever whilst you’re on this
Earth.
God is the one thing in this universe that never changes and is
consistent. Including His love and plans for you!
So, whatever is bugging you, whatever it is you need to let go
of it, give it to the Lord and trust that He’s got not only this world but YOU
in His hands.
Joyce Meyer’s famous phrase “Let go, let God” is helpful here.
But how do you “let go?”
This is when the Serenity prayer comes in handy!
Here is the concise version:
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.”
Pray it, repeat it, meditate on it and this verse.
Whatever it is you are struggling to understand right now, give
it to God and trust Him with it.
What do you need to let go of and trust God with today?”
What indeed! The Lord knows and I surrender it all
to Him. Thank You, Lauren!
To receive more encouragement from Lauren Roskilly -
to be encouraged and to find courses and Lauren’s books, like “Christian Based Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy”, “Breaking Chains”, and “Indestructible Faith” that can
help you to overcome your “hurts, habits, and hang-ups” go to https://mindfulofchrist.net/)
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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 Blame Shifting.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NKJV)
1 "Judge not, that you
be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you
judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured
back to you.
3 And why do you look at the
speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your
brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is
in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the
plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from
your brother's eye.
Today’s
verses fall under the third and final point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Blame Shifting.
3. Do not judge others while you fail to acknowledge your own sin.
Today’s verses, again oddly appropriate, remind us to not judge others as we will be judged by the measure we judge them. So sorry this is not “do not judge”, like so many out there misuse it. Jesus is telling us not to be so “self-righteous: to judge others by a high standard when we have issues in our own lives.
Sure some people aren’t doing what is right and they are suffering for it, and it makes us angry and make us want to “tell them what for!” But we don’t always do things right, all the time, either. Thus Jesus’ advice to take out the log in our own eye before dealing with the speck in our neighbors.
This is a call to personal responsibility and sanctification. Jesus is in essence telling us to be concerned with our own sins before attempting to help people with others. Jesus is telling us not to be a busy body with others before we get busy cleaning up our own act. Essentially he is calling us to be compassionate. By convicting us of our sins, Jesus is trying to elicit a loving response to our neighbor, which is not always easy why.
So before we start pointing out the sin in others and blame them for all the wrong they do, should pause and reflect on all the things we fail to do perfectly so we can share the truth in love and help them rather than just chastising and judging them.
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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 – 2
Another Gospel – Part
1 of 5
Satan is not an initiator
but an imitator. God has an only begotten Son—the Lord Jesus, so has Satan—“the
son of Perdition” (2 Thess. 2:3). There is a Holy Trinity, and there is
likewise a Trinity of Evil (Rev. 20:10). Do we read of the “children of God,”
so also we read of “the children of the wicked one” (Matthew 13:38). Does God
work in the former both to will and to do of His good pleasure, then we are
told that Satan is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience” (Eph 2:2). Is there a “mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16), so
also is there a “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess 2:7). Are we told that God by
His angels “seals” His servants in their foreheads (Rev 7:3), so also we learn
that Satan by his agents sets a mark in the foreheads of his devotees (Rev.
13:16). Are we told that “the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God” (1 Cor. 2:10), then Satan also provides his “deep things” (Greek—Rev.
2:24). Did Christ perform miracles, so also can Satan (2 Thess. 2:9). Is Christ
seated upon a throne, so is Satan (Greek—Rev. 2:13). Has Christ a Church, then
Satan has his “synagogue” (Rev 2:9). Is Christ the Light of the world, then so
is Satan himself “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Did
Christ appoint “apostles,” then Satan has his apostles, too (2 Cor. 11:13). And
this leads us to consider: “The Gospel of Satan.”
Satan is the
arch-counterfeiter. The Devil is now busy at work in the same field in which
the Lord sowed the good seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat
by another plant, the tares, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance.
In a word, by a process of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the Work of
Christ. Therefore, as Christ has a Gospel, Satan has a gospel too; the latter
being a clever counterfeit of the former. So closely does the gospel of Satan
resemble that which it parodies, multitudes of the unsaved are deceived by it.—
It is to this gospel
of Satan the apostle refers when he says to the Galatians, “I marvel that ye
are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and
would pervert the Gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6, 7). This false gospel was being
heralded even in the days of the apostle, and a most awful curse was called
down upon those who preached it. The apostle continues, “But though we, or an
angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed.” By the help of God we shall now
endeavor to expound, or rather, expose this false gospel.
The gospel of Satan
is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It
does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to
set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters
the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great
“brotherhood.” It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve
and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to the best
that is within—It aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial
habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be
needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has no time
or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the principles of
self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live for the good of
others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the carnal mind and is
popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man
is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses
and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.[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
