Anticipation and The God Who Speaks - Purity 1531

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. Um, good morning. Today's photo of a bench where you can really get your feet wet comes to us from Fred Dimmick, who shared this lush green summer scene on social media back on June 12th, earlier this year. Well, it's Tuesday, and I intentionally set out this morning to share a photo that didn't display snow, frost, or landscapes on the colder side of harvest time. While we shouldn't let the cold, uh, conditions of late autumn and quickly approaching actual winter bring us down, there is nothing wrong with hoping for the greener pastures of spring and summer. Seasonal affective disorder is a thing, and while I haven't really been suffering from the wintertime blues, I wanted to add some contrast to the photos I've been serving up lately, which, although beautiful to me, have been sharing leaves-stripped trees and barren landscapes of semi-frozen tundra. And we are only in mid-December. Anyway, the practice of anticipation is one method of returning to joy that everyone who walks in the spirit should be familiar with. Warner and Hinman, in their book on developing emotional Resilience Building Bounds explained that anticipation is appreciating what you are looking forward to in the future. Is there anything in the future that you're looking forward to? Uh, this doesn't have to be life-changing, just something enjoyable. Anticipating good things coming our way is half the fun. Taking a few minutes to think about something you're looking forward to is a good way to practice appreciation. So although I'm looking forward to my Christmas and New Year's vacation that begins at quitting time on Friday afternoon, I'm also looking forward to the greener days of spring and summer beyond winter. And I'm looking forward to experiencing some greenery and sunshine during my midw— my midwinter vacation to Myrtle Beach that I have planned for February. All of these things are on the big side of things of appreciation, to appreciate, of course, so they must be planned. So there is great wisdom in looking ahead and planning experiences in the future where joy time is scheduled. If you don't plan for the things you want to do, you'll never do them. So anticipate your future and make some plans for some, for some things you can find joy in. On the smaller scale of anticipation, we can plan for small, smaller indulgences that give us joy, like planning get-togethers with friends or family, or going to new or old familiar places that could give us joy. This time of year, stress and depression are barking at your door and are looking to steal away your joy. And so we encourage you to look forward to the good things that you are planning for, or that will naturally arise like springtime, that you can hope for and find joy in, and to share them with someone else. Every week at Celebrate Freedom, I ask people to check in by telling us how they've been in the past week and to share something they are looking forward to. Because I know that when we are trying to leave our hurts, habits, and hangups behind, you need to look forward to the good things that await you in the future. We have new life in Christ, and we should not, not only enjoy the peace we have in the present moment, we should also anticipate the joy set before us when we make the conscious decision to keep on walking and talking with God and live as the new creation that he, God, made us to be. Um, when we come to faith in Jesus, God is with us and he will speak into our lives, guiding us to the new life he has for us. But we have to listen, uh, for his voice and to lead us in the way we should go. The In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today, um, yeah, uh, talks about hearing God's voice, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to remind us just how good it is to have a God who speaks to us. Dr. Carl Stanley writes, The God Who Speaks: God offers us the invaluable privilege of personal communication with him. Throughout human history, God has spoken to mankind in various ways. His prophets and apostles were moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim and write his words, but his ultimate expression came through the birth of his Son, Jesus. Through the Holy Spirit, the Lord still communicates to every Christian who listens with an open and receptive heart. Think about the wonder of having a God who speaks, not a distant deity who gives us, gives orders from heaven, but one who actually wants to converse with you. Why would the Lord of all creation choose to come to earth, die on a cross, and provide the Holy Spirit in order to communicate with us, with each of us? Um, well, and consider that God loves you and he desires an intimate relationship with you. That he longs for you to trust him and for your faith to grow strong as you see the fulfillment of his words. And he wants you to experience all he has planned for your life and will guide you to fulfill his purposes. In the busyness of the Christmas season, it's easy to take for granted this invaluable privilege of communication with the Lord. So Take time this week away from distractions so you can listen to the God who wants to talk with you. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley, and I say amen. Uh, what an excellent message for the week before Christmas. In the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas, and in the face of stress and possible depression over things lost, Stanley reminds us that when we are in Christ, we are never alone, and that the God of all creation still speaks to us today. But there is a condition that we must meet in order to hear the Lord. We have to be a Christian who listens with an open and receptive heart. We have to seek the Lord to listen to him and be receptive to what he has to say to us. God wants us to experience all he has planned for our lives, but we have to seek and listen to his guidance to find our way to it. So open your heart and mind and ask the Lord to speak to you. In prayer, through Bible study, at church, or just in a quiet and still moment, um, just to speak and listen to what he's— and what he's— what he says. I know that God still speaks to us, but I also know that we only hear him if we're willing to follow where his voice calls us. So ask the Lord to speak to you and be receptive to receive and accept what he has to say to you. He may call you to give up something, leave something behind, or to start something new and to go to an unknown place or experience. How can we know it's God's voice and not just our own thoughts? Well, God's voice will lead you to do something good, and it will never contradict the truth of Scripture. And when we decide to follow and do what the Lord is telling us to do, it always leads to peace, because regardless of the circumstances, we can rest and rejoice that we were obedient to his call. So ask the Lord to speak and listen to what he says. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on hope, and today's verses are Hebrews 16:19-20, uh, where the word of God says, we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Today's verses fall under the fifth point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on hope, and that fifth point is hope is an anchor for the soul. Today's Bible verses remind us that Jesus, our great high priest, is our sure hope and a steadfast anchor for our souls. A lot can change when you decide to put your faith in Jesus and make the decision to surrender your life to him as your Lord and Savior. When When you go from living in the world to living in God's kingdom, a lot can be shaken up. God's call on your life could lead to the loss of relationships that weren't really godly, and it could lead to a whole new way of living where nothing seems stable. But the wonderful thing about our faith is that we are never alone in the challenges of trying to live a Christian life. God is with us when we put our faith in Jesus, and he is the one person that we can count on to never leave us or forsake us, and is the source of our enduring hope and joy. Jesus and the hope he gives us is the anchor of our soul. 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. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 30. And where Adams shares a portion of Galatians 5:25, which says, "If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit." And J.E. Adams writes, "You were dead in trespasses and sins. You could not believe and be saved, but the Spirit gave you life to enable you to place your faith in Christ. You were as helpless as the cripple who could not walk, yet Christ commanded him to get up pick up his mat and go his way. Do you think that he want— was able to do this on his own? Of course not. That's why it was a miracle. It was also by a miracle that you, who were spiritually dead, were given life to believe. The power of the Holy Spirit exercised on your behalf, and it enabled you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. So too, Paul says, you are dependent upon him for all the spiritual growth you enjoy. Your good works are the fruit of the Spirit, so you must depend on— so you must depend not on your own abilities to please God, but call upon him to enable you by his Spirit to grow and live for him. The Spirit will not work miraculously to help you grow. You already have the life that he gives, but you must nurture it for growth by using his word. He will give you both the desire and the ability to please Christ. Fruit grows by his power at work in you, which further enables you to do those things that please him. Amen. And this is a very important principle about walk in the spirit, is that it's, uh, It's a cooperative effort between you and the Lord. The Lord has blessed you with the indwelling presence of his Spirit. But if we try to do things in our flesh, even though the Spirit's in us, uh, we won't have the results. Um, uh, the life in Christ is really about a surrendered life where we rely on what God tells us is true and living according to it and being empowered by God's Holy Spirit to do the good things that he has us to do. Whether it's sanctification or doing good works to share the gospel or help others. It has to be, you know, we're in the Spirit, so we should walk in the Spirit. That's why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Have you made Jesus your Lord and Savior? And are you trying to live a Christian life empowered by the Holy Spirit? We encourage you to try that, to do that. Because it makes all the difference. Uh, he leads you into the good life that he has for you, and it might not always be easy, but, um, you know, Jesus remains our steadfast hope at all times for our salvation and for things to get better. Um, God will help us to endure the trials and lead us through the fire. Um, when we start sowing those good seeds, uh, for a new life, they'll eventually grow. But we also have to deal with the bad seeds that we had planted before walking with Christ and rip those, rip those out and walk past those thorny bushes to the new life that God has for us that's fruitful and good. And when we decide to walk with God, he calls us and talks to us and moves us in the way we should go. And one of the things he did in my life was gave me a part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group that meets on Wednesday nights at Starpoint Church. And we meet tomorrow night for our Christmas meeting. So anyone listening to this is invited to come, uh, bring a gift and you can partake and, you know, sit in, uh, for our elephant, uh, white elephant gift exchange and our Christmas themes, uh, recovery discipleship meeting this week. Um, we meet in the K-3rd grade classroom at Starpoint Church, uh, tomorrow night, and, uh, everyone in the Upstate New York region is invited, or anyone who can get there, um, is welcome to come. Beyond that, well, we're wrapped up. Well, we didn't wrap it up, but basically we finished the 5th of 6 classes of Grace for the Holidays, an online teaching and support group that I'm doing. This information is still out there on the website, mtforchrist.com. If anyone wanted to join us for the last session next week, I'd allow it, but I'm basically not proactively promoting it because we're about to wrap it up. Um, beyond that though, we do, uh, encourage anyone and everyone to go to our playlist page on mt4christ.com or on our YouTube channel to find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes. Um, we have classes out there for The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and Celebrate Freedom Discipleship, among many other playlists that we offer— some of them ours, some of them from other Christian theologians or counselors, um, that are— that we think would be helpful for you. And, you know, I'm humbled because some of these teachings happened back in 2021 and people are still listening to them today. And so I'm glad they're out there, and I'm glad they encourage people. I've gotten amazing testimonies from people who got plugged into this material because of the podcast. Um, not that the material wasn't out there, but the Lord used it. And I've gotten some amazing testimonies, um, about people discovering this material, using material, um, to deepen their, their walk and, you know, teach it to others. So, uh, I'm very encouraged, uh, by it. That's why we do what we do. We don't expect huge results, but we do what we can, uh, for the kingdom to point people in the right direction. And, uh, we encourage people to keep on walking and talking with God. Speaking of which, uh, that leads us to the final question we ask: are you empty for Christ too? Are you making yourself available Are you trying to listen to the Lord? You know, part of what I said today was that we have to be open and receptive to hear what the Lord has to say to us, and that means that we would, you know, really consider being obedient to what he calls us to do, like living a sanctified life, giving up the sins of the past, stepping out in faith to do good works for his kingdom, telling others about the gospel. You can't do that on your own. You're going to need the Holy Spirit to help you. So, you know, make yourself available for him to lead you in those good works and empower you for them. And, uh, you know, if you're doing that, if you're living in the Spirit, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to listen, have that open and receptive heart, and ask God to speak to you or reveal himself to you. And, um, be ready, um, to step out in faith and, and lead, you know, go where he leads you. It's the way to live. It's the greatest secret on earth that joy and peace and, you know, love are all available in the Christian faith. Might not be— might not be too evident, uh, in the church gatherings you might attend, but this is life in the Spirit. This isn't about following a pastor. This isn't about joining a membership of a church. This is about following the Lord with the way you live your life every day, and we encourage you to try it out. Because we know that prayer works. And so we pray every day, um, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the joy set before us and the hope that we have in Christ, um, that even though we'd like sunnier days, uh, we're going to enjoy the Christmas season and the weather that comes with that and look for the good things and anticipate the good things that come. Um, because with you, Lord, there's fullness of joy, and, um, the joy of the Lord is our strength. So, Lord, we just, um, we just ask you to help us to, to follow you and the— your voice as you call us to, you know, to do whatever it is you have for us to do, Lord. Um, but we need your help for that, so we're asking for it today. And we're also asking for you to encourage or to bless anyone who's watching or reading today's lesson, Lord, that you, um, step into their lives and, uh, speak to them and lead them in the way they should go and to bless them in their prayer request. As we know, Lord, that we need your help and that we received it and we continue to receive it, and, um, we're still asking for it. So, um, we just want to do whatever it is you have for us to do, Lord, and we desperately need your help for that. So we're asking for that today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.