All is Lost, but All is Gained in the Kingdom - Purity 1365

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of a blurry view of the Hudson Athens Lighthouse under a sun-painted watercolor sky presumably comes to us from yours truly as I retrieve the scene from the depths of my iPhone's photo gallery that I, or possibly someone else, captured back on or around July 11th, 2015. My memory of this scene is a blank slate, but I could have— I could imagine I took it. Uh, it was so long ago and things were so different back in July of 2015. I was, I was still drinking back then, but I honestly don't know for sure if this photo was mine or whether or not I saved it from a Facebook friend or from somewhere else on the internet. So if this was actually your photo, let me know, and I will update the blog after the fact to give you the photo and memory credit you deserve. Anyway, it is Monday, and recently I've been contemplating how much of my past has been lost as I have continued to follow the Lord's call on my, uh, on my life, which began with a gospel radio message in the spring of 2010. Since being saved, I've left depression, anger, fear, and my addictions to alcohol, drugs, and sex behind. But although I, I am thrilled to be walking free in the newness of life that, uh, of, of life that Christ has given me, yesterday my ponderings had me consider other losses I have encountered since following Christ that haven't been been so wonderful to rejoice over. I've lost a marriage, friends, family members, a home, automobiles, and a host of other possessions since being moved from here to there. Um, and although some of the losses I've experienced weren't necessarily due to my faith specifically—time and circumstances will take things away from us all quite naturally regardless of our relationship with God— are marveled over the fact that I could say quite honestly that I have lost everything in a sense since coming to Christ. I have literally lost possessions or relationships or have had the, the way that I have held on to things dramatically change over the last 14 years to the point, um, that I have, um, that I, I thought to myself yesterday that my attitude differs from others that I know in a significant way. And pondering the future ahead of me, which promises to be a continuation of the rolling changes I have encountered thus far, I thought to myself that most other people are wondering how things will end up, whereas I'm just wondering how they will end. And in truth, I am not even concerned about the details because I put my trust in the Lord so much that I know that whatever changes or losses I will encounter along the way from here to eternity I'll be okay because of His presence in my life. So although my attitude may sound rather depressing, that all has been lost since coming to Christ, it's not because I have gained— it's not because I have gained the kingdom of heaven, and any losses that I have encountered or will encounter pale in comparison to the immense value of knowing Christ., and living in His presence. What I have lost or will lose in this life does not really matter because I know who I am in Christ and experience the fruit of the Spirit on a continual basis because I walk with Him. I have realized the truth of what Jesus told us in Matthew 5, well, Matthew 13:44-46 where He said, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for joy over it goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found the one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. While I didn't willingly sell or give away all the things that I have lost since coming to Christ, I would have now that I know that the peace that I have with God. And the only thing that puts a damper on the joy that I have been— I have being in his kingdom are the silly or selfish choices I make that disrupt what the Lord is trying to give me. Recently I've been off the rails with my self-control over food, and I've decided to fast for a while to crucify the flesh and to draw closer to the Lord spiritually. When we are not living right We lose our peace, but getting it back is just a matter of going back to God. I haven't felt the need to fast in a long time, but I know from experience that it is a spiritual discipline that has been given to us to utilize when we need to put first things first and to reestablish the flesh's proper pecking order in the lives of— in our lives of faith. We are to live in the spirit, not in the flesh. And when we lose that balance, we suffer from trying to satisfy the flesh because of— because its desires are insatiable and simply can't be satisfied through indulgences. So back to basics for a bit, to tell the flesh who's boss and draw close to God to receive his strength and to pull it back into its put it back in its proper place. With the changing from spring to summer, the flesh will demand to be satisfied as we celebrate the coming of the sun and the summertime and the ending of another school year. So you may already be feeling the pain of those celebrations and the losses and gains that accompany these transitions. Fasting may seem like an extreme option to utilize to regain control But the peace that comes from subduing the flesh and living in the Spirit is worth it. So be careful out there with the upcoming barbecues and graduation parties. And if you feel like the flesh is winning, don't look at it as a loss as much as it is an opportunity to trust in the Lord and win. With His help, win again. Yeah, that's it. That is it. We move along to today's Bible verse— verses. They come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Kruse. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on depression, and these verses are from Psalm 32:1, and we're sharing 1, 2, and 11. And so the Word of God says from the NIV, blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous. Sing, all you who are upright in heart. Today's verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the fourth point of our Counseling Reference Resource section on depression. And that fourth point is: The way out of depression caused by guilt is confession and seeking God's forgiveness. Today's verses tell us the great joy that is ours when we have our transgressions forgiven, uh, that the Lord doesn't hold them against us, and when we live by his truth. One of the keys that may not be clear in this passage that I would like to point out is in the phrase whose spirit is— whose spirit is— has no deceit, right? Is that what it said? Yeah, in— in whose spirit is no deceit. That's what it was. Um, I'd like to point that out because although we are forgiven of all our sins when we put our faith in Jesus, we are to live righteous and upright lives after the fact to be able to rejoice, be glad, and sing as Those things come to the righteous and those upright in heart. If we do not live by God's word and wisdom and continue to sin, we will be depressed because we are not living right and will suffer the pain of negative consequences and guilt and shame that comes with continued sin. We must have a relationship with the truth by stop lying to ourselves, to others, and to God, uh, and by obeying what he would have us do. So be sure to receive the forgiveness of the Lord for your transgressions, but also repent and live by the truth so you can continue to rejoice, be glad, and sing. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture from the New Testament, and today's chapter is Romans 8. And from Romans 8, he shares a portion of Romans 8:13, which says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. And Stephen Alford writes, farther up in the chapter, Paul writes, to be carnally minded is death, verse 6. The mind here is that inward principle of sin which is at enmity against God, the only source of life, the principle which cannot be subject to the law of God, or the principle which cannot be subject to the law of God or please him. The fruit or wages of this law or principle is death. If you live according to the flesh, you will die, verse 13. How solemn a truth is this! Nor does it apply to unbelievers here. On the contrary, its primary application is to the believer if he has the Spirit of Christ. The death is, of course, the physical death, the same death that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 11:30. Where he says, "For this reason many are living after the flesh, weak and sick among you, and many sleep." Also, the Apostle John in 1 John 5:16 speaks of sin leading to death. And, uh, Alfred ends by praying, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of death?" I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen. And you know, that's, um, that's the transition right there. Oh, you know, oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of death? That's the end of Romans 7. That leads to Romans 8, and the transition is that, you know, thank God through Jesus Christ. That's the one who delivers you from this body of death. And, um, No, I don't. It's, it's ironic is I, I don't, um, really plan these messages too much, but sometimes they really flow. And I didn't realize today's Alford's, uh, it's going to be all about the flesh because I've been giving into the flesh in terms of overeating, um, even though I, I am a confessed food addict and have had quite a bit of victory over in the last year, but the war wages on. Recently, basically I just sort of stopped tracking what I've eaten and started making bad choices in terms of what I, you know, know will pack on the pounds and gain some weight. So instead of trying to manage it little by little, I feel like the transgressions I've had lately are worthy of some real repentance in terms of and I'm trying to fast for a few days, um, you know, to, uh, right the ship, um, both in my body, my mind, and spirit. And as I look at, you know, what happened, I realized that, you know, one of the things I do on a normal basis with my prayer life is a stronghold buster, where I make a couple declarations about certain areas of my life that need correction and I need to be reminded of on a daily basis, one of which was my food plan. And I, you know, I don't know when exactly it happened. I have a Trapper Keeper that I keep all my prayers in, and my Stronghold Buster basically remained in the Trapper Keeper but not where I was accessing it, and I wasn't reading through it, I wasn't praying through it on a daily basis, wasn't really, you know, in terms of prayer, wasn't bringing that struggle to prayer. And guess what happened? You know, I fell off. If we're not being diligent to pray for help and the struggles we have, we're probably going to mess up. You know, I didn't realize I was doing things in my own strength. But now that I've fallen, I've realized that I wasn't going to the Lord in prayer with this concern. Maybe I thought I had mastered it and could do it on my own. But yeah, stronghold busting is a method for overcoming those, you know, those sins that you can't get over, you know, with constant application of prayer and faith and you know, you're setting your intention, you can make progress and you can overcome things you never thought you could. But when you go back to the way you think, you know, if you walk away from these practices, you can struggle again and, you know, fall right back into what you've done, you know, back into the sin-confess cycle. So, you know, to be carnally minded is death. And, you know, if you live by the flesh, you'll die. And what Alford is pointing out here is like, well, yeah, spiritually you're alive in Christ, but what's— what dies is— I mean, he's pointing to a physical death. Like, well, he lived, you know, an unhealthy lifestyle and ended up dying, whereas he could have lived many more years and given glory to the Lord and served his kingdom. But he gave into the flesh and, you know, ate himself to death. Um, you know, quite frankly, you know, my cholesterol, my weight, you know, all these different issues, that's the sin leading to death apparently. Um, you know, the sin of the flesh. And, you know, when we look at sin in a broader, a broader, a broader context of doing what is right, we have to realize the body is part of that. Romans 12:1 says to make your bodies, you know, a living sacrifice for the Lord. So that's— that has to do with our flesh. And if we're carrying extra weight or, you know, not taking care of ourselves, being good stewards to our bodies, we sin, you know, um, we're sinning against ourselves. We're, we're living according to the flesh and that could lead to our death quite suddenly or over, you know, slowly over time. Granted, we're all going to die physically, but we don't have to suffer necessarily by the wrong choices we make. And, you know, there is great hope, you know, when we live according to the truth. Wow, I shouldn't be doing this. Wow, this isn't right. Wow, it's actually causing me pain. When we wake up to these realizations We can, we can turn things around. I know I have turned things around dramatically last year when I took my food addiction to my recovery group and, you know, was accountable to it. You know, 40 pounds came off, and we want to keep those 40 pounds off, and we want to keep going to be healthier, healthy in our body as well as our spirit. And recently I haven't been doing that, so I confess. But I don't want to just confess, I also want to live by the truth. And you know, it's one thing to confess and be forgiven, and then it's like, okay, now what? Well, I'm gonna go right back to doing what I've been doing. No, you should repent. And so I'm gonna fast to really, you know, really put the put the emphasis on the flesh, like, I know what you're doing, uh, and I want it to stop. So we're going to repent with some fasting. And when I fast, um, it's not like, oh, fast from, you know, fast from a meal, or fast from, you know, certain things. Now basically, I, I will be drinking water And that's it. If we're gonna fast, we're gonna fast, and that'll really put the flesh on the cross, if you will, and it'll be good. So we're gonna do that, and we'll be reporting on that, I would imagine, over the next few days. My wife's birthday is Saturday. So I'm thinking I'll fast until then, and then we'll have a little feasty, and then maybe we'll do some more fasting after that. But that's the plan. Tammy Lynn's birthday is Saturday the 8th, and I'll take her out to dinner, and maybe I'll have a sensible meal, or maybe I'll go hog wild. I don't know. I don't think I'll go hog wild. But I'm hoping, you know, what will that be, 5 days? 5 full-day fasts. We'll see what that looks like come Saturday, and we'll give Tammy Lynn a nice birthday dinner somewhere, or a birthday lunch, and, you know, make right choices going forward. So that's my life, and the other part of my life is I have to work. So we should pray and get, get there. So let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we repent of our sins of the flesh, and we're asking for your strength to guide us in the days ahead with this fast. We dedicated our bodies to you, and we surrender our eating to you, and we hope you'll help us. Well, we have faith that you'll give us the strength to do that. Um, Lord, we also pray for anyone who's listening today, that you come alongside them and their walk of faith and our prayer requests, uh, to bless them, Lord, because we all need your help if we want to live this life by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the only way it works, is with your help. And when we do things on our own, we, we fail. So We've discovered that once again, and we need your help once again. So we're praying, uh, Lord, so please go before us today, open our eyes to the things you need us to see or would like us to see, uh, and to guide us in the way we should go. We're leaning on you and asking for your help and your forgiveness as we go forward, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.