A Desire to Live with God and Abandoning the Self Life - Purity 1529

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or, uh, you can watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of the silhouette of a tree line set against a snow-covered field and the sun rising or setting on the horizon comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media back on February 8th, 2021. If this memory is yours, let us know and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. Well, it's Saturday and there is a full house here at Countryside as 3 of Tammy Lynn's 5 children spent the night here last night, filling up the bedrooms and living room for the night and causing me to ask the question, am I really going to do this? Am I really going to do the podcast today? Well, as long as I have some, uh, some place, some space to set up, uh, set up for Bible study and prayer with electricity and internet and relative privacy, I have all I need to check in and send my Christian encouragements to the world. Do I have to do this? No, but I enjoy it, and the blog has become a part of my daily spiritual practice 6 days a week. And if I can do it, I, I will choose to do so. My blogging is really just a form of journaling, so it's not so weird in terms of the spiritual practice. So if I'm able, I will do it no matter where I am in the world, as I have proven by doing it while on pilgrimages, vacations, and work trips in the past. As long as there is space where I can do it, I will, because I know it is a vital part of my relationship with God and it feeds my spirit.. And I know that if I really have a desire to follow the Lord with the way we, uh, we live our— we live life with the way we live and to accomplish our personal goals in life, we will think outside of the box and accept whatever circumstances we face to get it done. So I'm in the kitchen. I'm at the kitchen table this morning, uh, trying to be quiet and respectful to others needs for sleep and to do this, and, and to do this for two reasons. One, I need it. This is my life with the Lord, and this is what I do, and this is who I want to be. And two, uh, to continue to, to continue to give an encouraging example to others that they too can overcome their personal and spiritual conflicts, rise above the limitations that the world tries to put on you and live with God. You just have to want it and make a decision to do it. We have to make the decision to follow the Lord in spirit and in truth, come what may. Speaking of having a desire to live with God, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today speaks about true freedom and the paradoxical way we find it by submitting to God. So I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to keep on walking and talking with the Lord and to consider surrendering more of ourselves to him. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, Abandoning the self-life. True freedom is found only by submitting to God. Is there anything in your life that you're unwilling to surrender to God? Keeping such things from the Lord might give us a sense of independence, But by following self, we interfere with God's purpose for us. He wants every aspect of our life to be submitted to his will. Jonah mistook rebellion for freedom. Today's passage, Jonah 4:1-11, paints a vivid picture of the prophet sweltering in the sun and in the heat of his hatred. His blood boiled when God showed mercy to the Ninevites. I have good reason to be angry, even to the point of death, he ranted. Verse 9: God had used him to save more than 120,000 souls, but Jonah was angry because he desired their destruction. Freedom is not the same as autonomy. True freedom involves submitting to the Lord, which frees us from the yoke of sin and reconciles us to him. Jonah obeyed with his body but not with his heart. He resisted the Lord's every attempt to crack his pride. Believers have the right to choose self over submission, but the cost is high. Like the prophet, we may steep in emotional turmoil, or God might deny us ministry opportunities. Whatever the consequences, one thing is certain: autonomy will cause us to miss the blessing of intimacy with the Lord, and nothing is worth that. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley, and I say amen. I am by far— I am by far no means perfect and, uh, still find myself resisting giving up certain— some parts of my life to God. But his Holy Spirit burned within me to give me the desire to give up anything that goes against God's truth and plan for my life. My love for the Lord makes me want to give him everything, but I don't. And I often find myself in emotional turmoil knowing that my weaknesses are keeping me from experiencing the fullness of what God has for me, his purpose, and the blessing of intimacy with the Lord that Charles Stanley writes about. Just yesterday I was praying, or talking with God, and I told him that I understand now that if I just keep talking with him even more than I do now, he will bless me with the freedom he wants me to experience. While I didn't hear an audible voice, I got a sense that God confirmed what I was thinking was true. Scripture indicates I'm on the right track. Jesus told his disciples to abide in him, after all, and I believe that the Lord will give us the life of true freedom that he wants for us when we continually stay in his presence. Uh, so don't beat yourself up, uh, for your failures or weaknesses, but let's also not be prideful and refuse to give God more of ourselves. It's through surrendering to God's will that we find his way for our lives. So let's keep going and give more of ourselves. To him. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on hope. Today's verse is Ephesians 3:20. From the NIV, it says, God is able to immeasurably— to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Today's verse falls under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide resource section on hope. And that third point is: God is able to do more than we ask or imagine. Today's Bible verse tells us about the source from which we will be able to see amazing things happen. God. It is not us who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. It is God and his power that is at work within us that will help us to see the impossible done in our lives. I testify that my freedom from alcohol, drugs, and sexual addiction, uh, were only accomplished through the Lord's presence and power in my life. I may have played a part in my freedom, but it is God who supplied the power to do it. So submit to God, resist the world, the flesh, and the devil, and I know that his power will work in you to set you free. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Uh, today we continue sharing from, um, Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional, and, uh, we're on day 28 where Adams shares a portion of Colossians 1:10, which says, walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything. And J.E. Adams writes What Paul goes on to say is that the fruit of faith is every sort of good works. Works don't save, but they do give evidence of the reality of one's faith. To walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord is to do those things that honor him before others. The ability to do so involves growing in the knowledge of God. Knowledge was an important word to the Colossians who were being affected by Gnostic teaching. The Gnostic, or knowledgeable one, was wrapped up in vain discussions of things that were speculative and contrary to the gospel. Here Paul tells them, and you, that you are to become proficient in the true knowledge which issues in the fruit of good works. Speculation and arcane knowledge produce no such fruit. Rather, they confuse and lead one astray into a world of darkness and away from the path upon which the light of God is shining. Avoid every such thing. So focus upon knowledge that is spiritually productive. Then you will please him by your walk. Amen. Amen. And we have to agree with, uh, J.E. Adams, Christian counselor, um, no longer with us, but still sharing his knowledge through his old, his work. Um, and, uh, yeah, when we come into faith, we might seek special knowledge and power. Um, the Gnostic, uh, you know, the Gnostics wanted special, special knowledge and power, but ironically, the, uh, the seek— the seeking of special knowledge and power is, is the definition for the occult. And that's not a good thing. Yeah, we are, we are to seek the true knowledge of God, which is contained in the Bible. There's many other, you know, supposed gospels out there, like the Gospel of Judas, and, you know, to name one, and others, other, you know, spiritual material, you know, that that offer special knowledge and power. But, uh, as Adam says, that Gnostic stuff, um, that's not from the Lord leads to darkness. And, um, a lot of people enter into satanic forms of worship and religions, uh, you know, false religions, because they seek special knowledge. But they don't think God is enough. God and his word isn't enough. There's something else to be known. You know, people enter into occult stuff, alien stuff, and, uh, you know, all kinds of special weird teachings, uh, basically that lead you astray. So we're here to encourage you to, to know the word of God, to study that, and to, uh, to do what it says and ask Jesus to help you. Um, he'll give you the life of freedom that you need, and you don't need to seek it special knowledge or, uh, power from other sources. God gives you everything you need for life and godliness. And we know that when you follow him, he'll lead you into freedom. And that's why we always ask the question, um, have you, have you fully surrendered to God? Um, like we've confessed, we haven't surrendered fully to God, but we've given a lot of our lives to him and we want to give more. Um, because we know that, uh, his way is best for us and it leads to joy and peace. And, uh, the only thing that disrupts my peace is when I do foolish things like eat pounds of candy, um, which isn't good for our body. It might taste good, but, uh, ultimately it's not a good thing. Um, so we consider what's true and, uh, we make the decision to surrender those things to the Lord, and, um, we continually ask him for his help and press into his presence. We believe that he'll lead us into, into freedom and victory, but we have to choose it, and, uh, we have to rely on his power to accomplish it. Anyway, uh, one of the things that happens when you follow the Lord is he gives you a purpose. Uh, part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church on Wednesday evenings. It's a Christian recovery and discipleship group, and we invite anyone from upstate New York who can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday night to come join us. We talk about how to live a Christian life, and we can be there with you to offer support, to help you walk with the Lord, to be set free from, you know, any hurt or habit or hangup they have, to surrender to the Lord. He will help you. Beyond that, we are currently leading an online teaching and support group for men on Monday evenings at 6:30 PM. Uh, it's called Grace for the Holidays, as we are doing the, uh, Freedom in Christ course, Grace course, um, for the next couple weeks, right, right up to the Monday before Christmas. Um, so if you'd like to join us, you can go to mtforchrist.com and our group events page to sign up. Uh, you'll get access to all the teachings we've done thus far, and, uh, you'll be able to join us on the, on the next two Monday meetings if you choose to join us. Beyond that, we, we encourage anyone and everyone to find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. We have playlists for the Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and Celebrate Freedom discipleship course, among many others. Some of them— some of the playlists we share on YouTube are our work and other from other sources that have encouraged us in the past. Um, when you seek the Lord and his ways and his knowledge and his wisdom, you receive the power and knowledge you need. And as always, we, we end by asking, are you empty for Christ too? And that just means, have you made yourself available for God's power to work in your life, for his Holy Spirit to fill you and to move you in the way you should go? Um, if so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to, to pray and ask the Lord to reveal himself to you and to consider making Jesus your Lord and Savior. Because, uh, we need a Savior. We've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and Jesus is the only one who can save us. And, um, we know he will, and you pray for him. We know prayer works, and that's why we pray every day. Like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for the space you make for us to, to live in this world and to move, uh, within your presence and to, uh, enjoy it. Uh, Lord, we just pray for you to bless our day today. Um, we pray for you to go before us, show us the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go. Because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, and we need a lot of help with that. We also pray for you to bless anyone who's reading or watching or listening to today's message, that you'd come alongside their prayer request and their walk of faith, um, Lord, because, um, they need your help too. We all do, and we're asking for it today, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.