In this episode of the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast, host M.t. Clark reflects on the transition from Thanksgiving to the Advent season, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing spiritual pursuits over holiday busyness. He shares a personal photograph of a snowy countryside scene and discusses the tension between spending time with his wife versus attending a movie about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, using the experience to illustrate the fleeting nature of time and the need for intentional choices. Clark introduces a devotional excerpt from Dr. Charles Stanley titled “Quieting Your Soul,” which highlights three Christ‑modeled practices: solitude, safeguarding time for God, and stillness, and connects these to Psalm 46:10 and a child‑like image of peace. He then presents biblical passages—Haggai 1:2‑4 (emphasizing putting God first) and Ephesians 5:2 (viewing Christ’s sacrificial love as a fragrant offering to God)—and offers commentary from J.E. Adams on the dual purpose of Jesus’ death. Throughout, Clark encourages listeners to return to basic spiritual disciplines such as Bible study and prayer, especially as Advent begins. He promotes several ministry initiatives: the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, an online men’s “Grace for the Holidays” group, upcoming Freedom in Christ men’s courses, and various podcast classes (The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, etc.). The episode concludes with a heartfelt prayer asking for God’s guidance during Advent and blessings for listeners. The overall message is a call to quiet the soul, prioritize God, and engage in community fellowship during the holiday season.
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Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am 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 watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a side yard view of a countryside landscape painted white with freshly fallen snow comes to us from yours truly as I captured the scene from my countryside home's living room window yesterday. Well, it's Black Friday, and while other Americans may be preparing to enter into the hustle and bustle of the first official day of holiday Christmas shopping, I will not be, as most of my shopping is done already. Thank you, internet. And instead, we'll seek to enjoy the day with spiritual pursuits. If the wifey is up to it, I would like to go see Bonhoeffer in the theaters today, but have mixed feelings, uh, about spending time with my wife at the movies, as I only get so much time with her. And as much as I want to see the biopic pic of the author of Discipleship, aka The Cost of Discipleship, part of me laments over the cost of watching a movie against, uh, the quality time, uh, that I could spend with my wife. Um, if yesterday's Thanksgiving holiday taught me anything, it reminded me of the brevity of the time we have together and the importance of the choices of how you spend your time. Uh, Thanksgiving came and went so, so quickly, it wasn't even funny. And here we go into the, into Christmas. Well, if Thanksgiving gave me pause to appreciate my relationship with God, how much more should I focus on it and keeping Christ in Christmas as the first day of Advent comes this Sunday. Advent is the 4-week season dedicated to reflective preparation for the arrival of Jesus Christ's nativity at Christmas time, as well as the anticipation of Christ's expected return in the second coming in the future. While Advent doesn't start until Sunday, I think I'm going to get an early jump on it by quieting my soul. Speaking of quieting our souls, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today, uh, addresses the topic, and I'm going to— and I'm sharing it on the blog today in anticipation of Advent and to encourage us all to practice the contemplative skills that Jesus modeled for us so well. Uh, Dr. Charles Stanley writes— what does he write? He writes, quieting your soul. Peace and comfort come when we regularly allot time to spend in our Heavenly Father's presence. It's always wise to reexamine our heart with regard to prayer. Let's look at the values Jesus modeled for us in his practice of setting apart time to spend with his Father. Solitude. Though Jesus was often surrounded by people, he also understood his own need for solitude. He would retreat from the crowds and even his disciples to speak to God alone. Safeguarded a time. No matter what else was going on, Jesus made it a point to protect periods of time so he could rest in the spirit, focus on his relationship with the Father, and build up his physical and emotional strength. Stillness. What does it mean to be still? Psalm 46:10 calls us to stillness with these words: Stop striving and know that I am God. To learn this perpetual inner peace, periodically stop everything you're doing and simply let your soul become aware of the Holy Spirit's presence. In today's reading, David described it as the state of a weaned child who had perfect rest and, and happy just, and happy just to be in his mother's arms. If you make these essentials a priority, you will reap tremendous benefits in your walk of faith. Doing so may seem challenging, but when you quiet your heart, you'll discover how much you need the peace of the Lord's presence. It is a priceless gift. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley, and, uh, I say amen. You know, the Thanksgiving holiday may have disrupted your normal quiet time with the Lord, as it has mine. And if that is the case, let me encourage you to go back to basics and use part of your time today or over the weekend to draw close to God in Bible study and prayer. As we move closer to Advent, let's quiet our minds, receive rest for our soul and enjoy moments of peace with God in his presence. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on giving, and today's verses are Haggai 1:2-4 from the New American Standard Bible. The word of God says Thus says the Lord of hosts, this people says, the time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled homes with this house while this house lies desolate? Today's verses fall under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on giving, and the 15th point is Put first things first. Don't put off giving until you have what you want. Today's Bible verses remind us to think again and to ask the Lord for the right time to give of ourselves to his work. The people of Israel didn't think the timing was right to build the temple. They were under opposition from pagan forces in the area and may have thought that there, there were other projects that needed priority in rebuilding the nation of Israel first. The walls of the city, perhaps. But God shamed them through the prophet Haggai, pointing out that the Israelites had spent the time to build their own houses, and now they should be, be just as concerned with putting God first and completing the work, good work, of rebuilding the temple. God should be first in the hierarchy of our priorities, and so we should give primacy to the giving and good works we can do to build his kingdom and give him glory. First things first. 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. We're on day 15, and, uh, today, uh, Adam shares from Ephesians 5:2, which says, walk in love in the same way that Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. And J.E. Adams writes, he died that we may— might have life, thereby showing the extent of his sacrificial love. But there is more. The verse goes on to say that his death was a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. There is more to the death of Jesus than our redemption. That his offering of himself was a fragrant sacrifice to God means it was pleasing to him. As self-centered people, there is a tendency for us to consider how Jesus's sacrifice relates to us, and nothing more. Your Savior's death to save you was also a pleasing, fragrant offering to God. When you show love to another by the giving of yourself, your time, your effort, your concern, you bless them. But it is also perhaps primarily an act honoring God, one that is well pleasing to him. When you express love to others, your loving act is a sacrifice to God. And, uh, Adam ends by sharing a portion of Romans 12:1, which says, present your bodies as a living, holy, pleasing sacrifices to God. And amen. Uh, yeah, we, we give worship to the Lord when we do good works. And, uh, so, and Jesus didn't just die for our sins. His, his good work on the cross was also a sacrifice to the Lord. And gave God glory. So it's not just all about us sometimes. It's, you know, it's all about God all the time. Um, it's his, it's his creation, it's his kingdom. And, um, we've been, we've been blessed to be welcomed into it because of our faith in Jesus Christ. And, um, you know, the Lord welcomes us into it deeper now by giving us the opportunity to give ourselves our time, our treasure, to build in his kingdom and to do good works in his name. And so we ask the question, um, have you fully surrendered to God? Um, have you made Jesus your Lord and Savior? And are you, are you doing good works for his kingdom? Um, you know, that's what it's all about. And, um, you know, when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, he'll ask you to start to live according to his ways and His ways were— was doing good works. And I've been blessed with the opportunity to do good works, uh, as the leader of the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. It's a Christian, uh, recovery and discipleship support group, and we meet on Wednesdays, um, 6:30 PM. We invite anyone in the Capital District of New York, uh, to come, uh, to Starpoint Church in Clifton Park at 6:30 on Wednesdays to join our Christian fellowship. Beyond that, we're also doing a support group for men online. Uh, it's an online teaching and support group called Grace for the Holidays, uh, that meets on Mondays at 6:30 PM. Um, you can go to mtforchrist.com to register for that event, uh, for men, and you can just go to our group coaching, uh, coaching page and register there. Um, beyond that, we're looking forward to the new year, um, where we'll be leading another Freedom in Christ men's course online for Freedom in Christ Ministries. You can go to ficm.org and look for the online courses to sign up for that. Beyond that, we encourage people to check out our playlist page, playlist page on our YouTube channel to find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes. We've shared classes such as The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course to encourage you, uh, to walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now that we ask the question, have you— are you empty for Christ too? And, uh, that's our little play on words that means we empty ourselves to be filled with the Lord's Holy Spirit and to guide us into his plan for our lives. So we invite you to, to do that. And if you're already doing that, we say keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, we encourage you to pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you so you can seek, you know, seek the Lord and find him. We know that prayer makes things happen. You know, the Lord makes things happen. He hears our voice and he's willing to help us. And so we pray every day. And so let's pray now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you for a very happy Thanksgiving. And Lord, thank you for the beginning of the Christmas season and Advent on Sunday. Um, Lord, help us to draw close to you and, uh, seek your will and to, uh, remember you as we, uh, draw close to Christmas. Lord, it's, uh, you've given us everything and we just want to give you glory by representing your kingdom, but we need your help with that, Lord. So we just pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go. And we also ask for you to bless anyone reading or listening today's message, um, and come alongside them, their prayer requests and their walk of faith too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
