A Tour Guide’s Tips for Walking in the Spirit & God’s Response - Purity 1167

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of a westward-facing view of the Chicago River and the Batten Court— Corridor Memorial Bridge underneath blue skies comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene on Saturday as my wife, Tammy Lynn, and I treated ourselves to a one-day urban adventure in the Windy City. With the spiritual pilgrimage that was the Deeper Walk Breakthrough Conference in Hobart, Indiana behind us, I planned to make the most of our short time in the Midwest by preemptively booking what I forgot was a 5-hour Chicago in a Day food, history, and architecture walking tour. We had a most excellent adventure Saturday as our tour guide Dash, who reminded both my wife and I of a youthful Robin Williams, led a group of us from the Chicago Theatre to places all over the Windy City to be stunned by Chicago's architectural works of art, its rich history, and some of the staples of its local cuisine, ending the ride with a dinner of Chicago deep dish pizza. While I am no stranger to big cities, Chicago was a brand new experience, and I was extremely glad that we had a guide who knew the lay of the land, because after we parked our rental car in a garage on North Wabash Avenue, I was practically paralyzed as the hustle and bustle of the city's pedestrian traffic and a complete sense of the unfamiliar came over me, to the point that I had to give up, give up any idea of seeing some of the city before our tour and escape to the interior of the Chicago Chick-fil-A, which was literally yards away from where our tour was to begin. On my own, I managed to go about 3 city blocks before freaking out and returning to the Chicago Theatre. But by day's end, a lot more— I was a lot more confident about making my way in the urban jungle because of the lessons I learned from someone who knew their way. Looking at maps and reading books about Chicago could give you a lot of information about the city and prove to be helpful, but sometimes you benefit a lot more Following and learning from someone who has been there and done that. And that is a principle that I have discovered applies to our walk of faith as much as it applies to making our way in the terra firma. Without faithful men and women to help us, help show us the way to walk out a lifestyle of Christian discipleship, many of us would have undoubtedly given up and gone back to the familiar confines of the shadows of secular life and never discovered the majesty, freedom, and victory of living in God's light. Before this latest adventure on the path of Christian discipleship, which took me from New York to Indiana and Illinois and deeper into my walk with God with solid Christian teaching, Christian fellowship, and the mere experience of actual— actually going, I I discussed some of the aspects of how a life of walking in the Spirit works with the men's discussion group at the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group meeting on Wednesday night. Wednesday's lesson was on the reality of relapse in recovery and the remedy of replacing bad habits with a regular routine of spiritual practice as the prescription for success. Celebrate Recovery's lesson and our experiences have taught those of us in the group with with Sustained Freedom and Victory, the importance of replacing our bad habits with good habits of faith. And our leader, Scott, invited those of us with years of freedom and a regular quiet time to speak on what it was like and how it has helped us. While my comments offered up the standard Christian discipleship encouragement to read the Bible and pray every day, I tried to describe how there seems to be certain experiential cause and effect dynamics to our walk with God that move us into maturity and to experiences, experiences where the manifest presence and influence of God's help seems stunningly evident. While I explained that our walk with God is by no means reduced to a simple recipe or a religious formula that can be utilized to give us certain results, I did speak of the phenomenon of how the Lord seems to use our stepping out in faith to bless us and to move us deeper into His love and purposes. Just like how my Chicago tour guide Dash showed our group how to make our way around the Windy City's downtown Loop with confidence, my purpose for doing this blog, podcast, and other ministry work is to instruct, encourage, and to show Christians to be confident in their relationship with God and to receive the benefits of a life lived in his presence. And just as Dash showed our group how we could make our way through the city at a slow pace by walking through the city streets and tunnels, or at a quicker pace by using the help of Chicago's elevated subway transit system, I tried to explain that our progress along the path of Christian discipleship can be a combination of a slow methodical walk that utilizes daily spiritual disciplines and quantum leaps of situational blessings or revelatory paradigm shifts, both of which fall under the category of stepping out in faith. In Christian discipleship, or walking in the Spirit, we gain confidence and wisdom both through a cumulative collecting of knowing God more over time and through major shifts of momentous moments that become mile markers of our maturity, our core memories or anchor memories that will bless us with growth and give us something to hold on to during the days when we are suffering trials or when we seem like we are walking in circles. I have experienced that the daily spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study set a daily foundation for a lifestyle of faith. They remind us each morning that, "Oh yeah, I am really, I really am a Christian and I am living it." This is what we do. We connect to God with His Word, by talking to Him in prayer, and by agreeing with what He says about who we are in Christ. These daily disciplines are an act of faith in themselves, and they increase our knowledge of and intimacy with God and cement our identity. Our identity in Christ. In the midst of a regular process of these disciplines, we can have times where it seems like we are just going through the motions, and we can have times where we see something about God, our relationship, the world, or ourselves that we have never seen before that raises our awareness or maturity. Also, the regular practice of living our daily lives according to God's principles for living, which include things like telling the truth, doing what is right, being a good steward to our relationships, our possessions, our bodies, helping and doing good works for others, um, praying for help and guidance or strength for ourselves or others, and encouraging others in or sharing our faith, can also be used by the Lord to move us along the path of personal maturity and growth. With each problem, decision, and situation we face in life, we are given the choice to do things God's way or our way. When we choose His way, generally it works out. While we may not experience what we think we will experience and may actually suffer when we do things God's way, we will at least have the personal peace and no regrets knowing we were trying to be faithful to do things His way. Occasionally our faithfulness will be rewarded in surprising ways, sometimes as sudden blessings or as a result of a long period of waiting on the LORD for things to move. The simple point I try to make by telling people to keep seeking the LORD or to keep walking and talking with God is that when we stay connected to the LORD relationally and keep choosing His ways over ours, a life that is surrounded by the fruit of the Spirit results. If we do the things the Lord puts on our hearts to do and keep following Him, our lives are transformed into what God originally intended them— for them to be: a living and loving relationship with our Creator, where we increasingly become the people He created us to be and perform the task He intended for us to do. So in my case, did I really have to go to Indiana for the Deeper Walk Conference? While I could have just stayed home and watched the livestream to get the instruction, um, if I did stay home, I would not have had the experience of meeting so many of my faithful friends and heroes in person. I would not have seen or experienced the beautiful things I encountered at the conference or on our tour in Chicago. Because I chose to go, or stepped out in faith, I believe I received much more by going than I would have if I did not go. While I cannot claim I was especially rewarded for going on this latest spiritual pilgrimage, I can tell you this: Yesterday, while at the airport on the way back from said spiritual pilgrimage, I received a call from the real estate agent who was handling the sale of my old marital home. You know, the one that should have been sold in 2020 and required a lawsuit to get listed? That home? Well, yesterday the realtor called to inform me that we have two cash offers on the house. So although I can't claim that the offers came because I went to the Deeper Walk conference, I find it interesting that such a blessing would come right after I stepped out in faith. I also find it interesting that a couple of hours after receiving this good news, the realtor contacted me again. To tell me that each potential buyer unasked increased the amount of their cash offers. After receiving the second good news, the news that tells me, tells even a skeptic like me, that it looks like this long difficult episode surrounding my divorce in 2019 will finally be over, perhaps by year's end, I texted the real estate agent back that I walk in the Spirit, brother, and that is definitely a God thing. While I do not know exactly all the details of how our relationship with God works and have given up in trying to predict what things will come to pass and choose to just trust God, I can tell you that making the decision to follow the Lord and to obey what He puts on your heart can be used by the Lord to transform your life and to bless you in amazing ways. So as we begin another work week today or tomorrow, depending on whether you have the day off today or not— thank you, Christopher Columbus or indigenous people for the day off— let me encourage you to get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship by doing the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and just doing what is right according to God's word. When we follow God's guidance and step out in faith, we grow and experience the life that God has for us and discover just how good, loving, and faithful He is. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Assurance of Salvation. Today's verses are 1 John 4:13-16. From the New Living Translation. And the Word of God says, 'And God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live in Him and He in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.' We know how much God loves us. We have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who love— live in love live in God, and God lives in them. Today's verses fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Assurance of Salvation, and that third point is: We know that we live in Him and rely on the love God has for us. Today's verses assure us that our relationship with God could not be any closer, and when we confess that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world, we can know how much God loves us. God loves us and will never leave us or forsake those who put, put their faith in Jesus, and He seals our love relationship by coming to live in us, literally, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit, and we choose— and when we choose to listen and to follow his guidance, the truth of his presence in us becomes evident because his presence and power in us increasingly reveals the truth and leads, leads us into God's purpose for our lives, to be a vessel and agent for his life. Our relationship with God includes faith and acting on faith. By believing God is with us and believing the truth of His word, we are moved to act, to trust, to learn, to obey. And when we do that, we are assured of the reality of our relationship and thus are assured that we are children of God, are saved, and will live with Him and for Him forever. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we continue sharing from chapter 28, The Spirit Preserving, and today's section is How the Spirit Preserves. So if you want to know how the Holy Spirit preserves us, go to mt4christ.org and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. Also in today's blog, you also find a link for that Chicago tour. So if you're ever there, I highly recommend it, although it was a 5-hour walk, so might not be for everybody. But, but I got to see a whole lot of the city. And I got to sample some of Chicago's regular cuisine of Chicago-style hot dog, Italian meat sandwich, and the Chicago deep dish pizza, all of which were pretty good, although they did destroy my food plan for the day, so we don't beat ourselves up, and we don't consider that a relapse, really. That was sort of a planned diversion long before I agreed to going to recovery for my food addiction. So, you know, we have to have grace for ourselves, but we don't live in Chicago every day. So we're back on track after yesterday's day of travel, based on track, back on track for our food plan and living in victory over our food addiction. And that's, that's, that's a, you know, compelling thing about recovery is you have to define what exactly you're recovering from and how, you know, one of the— what are the standards for that? You know, we might have to start our recovery with reducing instead of eliminating the thing we're trying to get rid of to wean us off of whatever we're doing. So there has to be some grace, but at the same time, we shouldn't have so much grace for ourselves that we stay locked in bondage. It's a personal decision, and it should definitely be taken to the Lord. And, you know, there should be some grace in it. You know, if we condemn people for their failures, it's unlikely they'll want to walk with us, and they may just walk away and never experience their victory or freedom. I think keeping people in our, you know, in relationship with us is probably more important, and letting them know how faithful and forgiving forgiving God can be by accepting people as they are. So if someone's disappointed in my failure over the weekend with the food plan, I'm sorry, but you're supposed to put your faith in Jesus, not me. And I am— I'm taking it to the cross myself. So I like where I am in my life right now, and I want to keep going where God's leading us. So, but I would say there is, you know, there's mercy and there's grace in this walk too. So you should experience that because I could have condemned myself for not knowing my way around Chicago city streets, but I'd never been there before. And, you know, I may have been able to navigate, you know, New York City pretty well because I had had several working tours there, but I'd never been to Chicago. I know what cities are like, but I didn't know the ins and outs of where I'm going, and was quickly reduced to a paralyzed state by the hustle and bustle and the fact that I was sort of responsible for my wife's safety and her experience there. So we want to show people the way, But if we don't know the way, we should probably learn it first. And luckily in my walk, many faithful Christians came alongside me to help me and teach me everything I needed to know about the Lord and the lesson that, you know, this is your walk. I can teach you so much, but after this, you have to decide how you're going to walk and where you're going to go. All I can say is seek the Lord. It's pretty general instruction, but the Lord will guide you. He'll show you the things you need to change. And He'll show you the things to pursue. You got to be faithful, believe in Christ, and keep going. That's probably the best instruction, is just to keep going on this path. Because if I had ever given up, oh boy, it would have been a different life. I think this is the life that God wanted me to experience, one where I feel freedom and joy instead of bondage and fear. So anyway, today is— I am free from work, but I think the regular routine is going to come back quick. Because I knew I had this trip, I sort of prepared, you know, the outlines for my messages over the last week, but all those prepared outlines are now done and I'll have to prepare for the next week. I'll also have to prepare for ministry on Wednesday night as I'll be leading the Freedom and Celebrate Freedom group again. And I have to start prayer ministry for my, for my schooling with Deeper Walk. So a lot to come, um, but, uh, it's, it's, it's work I, I want to do. And, uh, that's the thing, we don't look at our lives— if we look at our lives of faith as a chore instead of a journey, we might not enjoy it. So go easy on yourself and enjoy your day today and, uh, you know, follow where the Lord leads you every day. Well, I don't have to work today. Thank you, Christopher Columbus or indigenous people. But I will be working to play catch-up, and then I'll be returning to Riverside with my Riverside home. Down in Stuyvesant as my weekend officially ends today. Anyway, let's pray because that's what we do. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do for us. We, we just pray for anyone who might be listening to today's message or reading today's message, that they be blessed, that you come alongside them and their prayer request. And Lord, that you would, um, guide them in the way they should go. Lord, uh, we also ask that of ourselves. We need to know what you would have us do, so open our eyes to the things you want us to see. Help us to accomplish the things you would have us accomplish today, and, um, help us to walk in peace and joy every step of the way. And Lord, we need your help to do that. We could walk through this world in fear, but with you, we have a faithful guide who can give us confidence no matter what we face. And we just thank you for that, Lord. Lord, so we, uh, we pray for you to go before us today and, uh, to help and guide us as always. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.