Because of You Purity 781

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 the setting sun peering over the top of a tree, the Skodak Creek, and State Route 9J comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene from the driveway of my river house back on April 5th. I split my time between my place down by the river and my countryside home where my wife and stepkids reside. When you split your time between homes, you have to be absolutely intentional about being a good steward to what the Lord has given you. Instead of doing things to maintain your home and property whenever you feel like it, you really have to keep the tasks of keeping your home in order at the forefront of your mind. Otherwise, what can be a simple task can become a grueling chore because you failed to take advantage of your opportunities when you had them. Because not only is your time and having the right supplies a factor in getting things done, but weather can also come into play. You can't mow the lawn if it's raining, and if it does rain, you know that the grass and unwanted weeds on your property will respond enthusiastically to being given the water of life. So I have learned to keep an eye on the skies and the grass beneath my feet because I want my chores to be less of a struggle. So yesterday, even though it was a hot Monday, I immediately took to the task of mowing the grass around my house down by the river. When I mow, I listen to music, and even though I initially chose a playlist that was a mix of contemporary music from 2021, I quickly decided against it and decided to make my chore a labor of love by changing my music selection to my Worship 5 playlist. Which is a collection of Christian worship music that contains some of the heart songs from my walk with the Lord. Those songs that were, you know, anthems during my journey of faith when I was walking through the darkness of my path and needed the Lord's presence and strength to lean on and to motivate me to keep fighting the good fight of faith when my circumstances were bleak. But we made it, brothers and sisters, we made it. And we are still going wherever the Lord leads us. So while I sweated under yesterday's afternoon sun and reduced the grass and weeds on my property to a reasonable height, I was again reminded of the journey that the Lord has led me through and the victory that is still implicit in the mere fact of the ground that I stand on at my, at my hard-fought-for home that just happens to have an inspiring view of the Skodak Creek and the Hudson River that it springs from directly across from my front door. This house is the gift that keeps on giving because all I have to do to be transported back to the joy of the Lord is to remember my exodus from my former life of bondage to this promised land. If you didn't know it, the first commandment from Christ was to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. You might wonder how it is you do that. For me, I get a small idea of what that is like when I contemplate all, all that I have walked through and the fact that through it all the Lord was with me in some, some very real and significant ways. While the cast of characters of my faith walk has gone through a lot of changes through the years, The one constant that has been with me through all the various phases of my journey has been God, in the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And as I marveled over all that the Lord has done in my life, I was in an emotional state of joy and sadness and love that was caused by the grief of the things lost, the sense of exhilaration over the victories won, and the deep sense of love and gratitude I have for the Lord. Phrases like "You don't know who I know" and "Because of you, Lord," in my mind punctuated the praise in my heart and my mind, resulting in a fierce love of— for the Lord that continues to make me resolute in my abject loyalty to follow wherever the Lord leads me, regardless of the circumstances. My faith isn't a set of ideological, ideological beliefs or principles of living that seemed like a nice thing to do or seemed right. My faith is a relationship with the Lord in the most real sense of the word. The Lord has been my Father, my Brother, and my Friend. We have walked through the fire together, and when there was no one else, he was there. He took me through the struggles and brought me to not only a good place, but to a new life. Through my relationship with God, I have been transformed, set free, and have prospered. I follow the Lord because He has been faithful when I didn't know what I was doing. He showed me the truth about life in general and the circumstances in my life in particular time and time again. He leads me in the way of peace and love. He leads me to want to do good and to be more like Jesus. I'm not following orders. I desire to follow the one who gave me life originally and the one who opened my eyes to his goodness and holiness. So every day I try to remember just how good God is and try to be faithful in encouraging others to get to know him. By reaching out to him and by seeking him. The Lord is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. But if we are consumed with this world or with our selfish desires, we are blind to the fact that he is there. Just like maintaining our houses, we have to maintain our relationship with the Lord by being intentional in seeking his presence, wisdom, strength, and love. God gives good gifts to those who ask. But the best gift we can receive from God, from the Lord, is the continual presence we can enjoy when we seek him. Before you start asking for special spiritual gifts of signs and wonders, make sure you are enjoying the wonderful present of his presence. And make sure you take the Lord with you wherever you go by checking in with him in prayer and conversation. And by living according to what He would have us do. Throughout my day, I'll catch myself thinking about cutting corners to do things quicker, but in each instance, I will stop myself and be convicted that we do things by the book. We do what is right, even if it takes more time or if it isn't easy. By considering the Lord's ways and agreeing with that, my path is one that has no regrets. And usually leads to my safety and good things. Who knew? God did, of course. Because of you, Lord, my life is good. Because of you, Lord, I am safe. Because of you, Lord, I have peace. Because of you, Lord, I have victory. Because of you, Lord, I have freedom. Because of you, Lord, I can love. This is all because of you, Lord. So keep walking and talking with God, my friends. The further you go with God, the more you will know that there is really no other way to go but his. The life he has for you may have its challenges, but it is the best life we can hope for because he directs us to be the person we always wanted to be. He leads us into a life with a good purpose of knowing and sharing His love and wisdom. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Deuteronomy 8:18, and it says, Lord, uh, well, well, it says, remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful. In order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath. Today's Bible verse speaks of the power that the Lord gives his people to fulfill their purpose. In our own strength and reasoning, we are limited, but God is all-powerful and all-knowing. When we remember the Lord, we receive the power to be successful in life because he has made a covenant with those he calls that includes unconditional promises of blessings and life everlasting. We don't earn our place in God's Kingdom because we are mighty or smart. It is because of His grace that we inherit a place in His Kingdom, and as adopted children of God, we receive a portion of His power and authority that is based on our identity in Him. We are ambassador of God's Kingdom. And we can accomplish much for God's kingdom when we remember the Lord. In Christ, we are given a new and eternal life. That is instant success. And no matter what circumstances we may face in this world, that success cannot be taken away from us. But the Lord also gives us power when we remember the Lord and walk in His ways to accomplish personal sanctification and other good works to impact others for His glory. So remember the Lord and live through his power. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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 Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and today we have a short section basically starting chapter 7, which is entitled The Defeat of the Powers at the Cross. And, uh, it's a very— like I said, a very small section on the ultimate sovereignty of the Creator. And so if you want to read that very small section from chapter 7, because the next section was somewhat long, uh, we try to be intentional about what we share, um, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll see it at the bottom of today's blog post. So there you go. And, and that's a key you know, the ultimate sovereignty of the Lord. The Lord is in charge. We can do what we want. We only have one life to live. We can do whatever we want in that one life, but ultimately, you know, even though we have free will and we can make choices and do things, we can't choose when we die. We can't— well, I guess we could, you know, I But we certainly can't choose what happens after that. Um, the Lord chooses. And, uh, when we, when we make our, uh, Jesus our Lord and Savior, the Lord is really choosing us to be in his kingdom. You know, he gives us that divine insight to, to know the truth of who Christ is and to, and to, you know, draw us to him. And, uh, when we make that decision, we're really just you know, bowing to his will for our ultimate good. And he calls us into that ultimate good and ultimate life. And when we walk with him, that's, you know, that defines our life. Um, you know, that's why we encourage people to, uh, to follow the Lord every day of their lives. Um, not to be some religious zealot, uh, or some weirdo, but to, uh you know, to meet our higher purpose and to be who God created us to be, uh, you know, to, to follow him. So we encourage that. Obviously, we share our teachings on, uh, the Victory Over the Darkness, the Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ that are on the podcast and our YouTube channel. And we obviously revere the word of God. We study it daily, or almost daily. You know, I guess try to get a little bit of the word every day, but sometimes it might not happen, but that's a pretty rare occasion. But anyway, nobody's perfect, I guess is the point. But if you enjoy the Bible and would like to be part of a Bible study, we share our Bible study with the Sincatis once a week on our YouTube channel and our podcast and the outline on the blog. So those are available for your edification as well. You know, it took me a long time to learn everything I know about the Lord, but you know, like I said, part— you know, it's not just knowing things about God, it's knowing God and walking with him. Um, that's, that's something you can't really learn from a book. Um, um, you know, you can know, know who God is through his word, but trusting in him and following him, that happens in the real world, you know, in terms of how we act and what we do. And, you know, the way his wisdom impacts what we, you know, what we do in life. When we listen to the Lord, when we trust the Lord's instructions and follow them, you know, we're living, you know, with him. And we'll know he's with us. From, from his presence and from the things that happen in our lives when we, when we walk in his ways. So it's an experiential reality, um, that of, of the spiritual reality that's happened. You know, it's, it's in the real world, but like I said, you can be blind to it. Most of us are. We are all born blind to it, and only when we, you know, are drawn by the Lord and enter into this world of God's kingdom? Do we understand just how good God is and how awesome he is? So we encourage that, obviously. Today is Tuesday. I got the good news yesterday that I'll be facilitating a Freedom in Christ course in the fall. For those interested, I am I am, uh, choosing to, to change things up, uh, for the fall. And, and instead of doing my traditional night of Thursday discipleship, um, we're gonna choose to step out in faith and try something new by doing it on Tuesdays. So it'll start on September 6th, the day after Labor Day. We start class and And, uh, as I said before when I taught this class in the fall of 2021, I'll say it again, you know, if you join this course, we'll, we'll, we'll take you from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. And, you know, you get to go back to school to deal with your personal and spiritual conflicts, and you'll have something to really be thankful for on Thanksgiving—your freedom in Christ. So, you know, talk about, talk about something you can learn and take into the holiday season. You know, you want the joy of the Lord, you know, join in, join into the Freedom in Christ course. As far as I know, it's going to be a men's course. That was the indication. That's what I've been selected to do. And I'm in agreement with that. But I did leave the door open. For the leadership at FICM. I said, well, you know, basically yes, I assumed it was going to be a men's course, but, um, whatever they think is best. So we'll see how that plays out. I'll leave that up to leadership. But as far as I know, it's going to be a men's course. So all you guys out there, um, you know, are certainly in, in, into it. Um, and, uh, I look forward to it because, you know, I have my day job, but you know, this is my passion, to share the freedom that we have in Christ, um, to share that knowledge and to teach people and to encourage people in their walk of faith to be closer to God and to, uh, you know, to, to understand what the abundant life in Christ is all about by, by overcoming your personal and spiritual conflicts and, uh, experiencing your freedom, uh, in Christ. Because guess what, not a lot of people know it. So we share that. And, uh, yeah, so that's good news. Just thought I'd share. Um, that's all I got to say about that, I guess. Um, so anyway, let's pray for today. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for all the good things you've done through all the years, um, that we walk together. We thank you for, uh, the people that, that are following you, Lord. We thank you for the people that might be listening to this podcast. We pray for their, uh, for their prayer requests, Lord, that you come alongside them. We have, you know, several friends and family that are going through issues right now in terms of loss of employment, in terms of physical diseases and, you know, surgeries and, and everything, Lord. So there's a lot of hurt and there's a lot of pain and we're calling for your help and we know that you're in charge and you're directing things, but we just want you to know that we are making an official request for your help and we pray that you'll honor them and come in and make it. And so far things are looking good, so we'll be encouraged by that, but reiterate, you know, we're praying for these things that you know that are on our heart and our minds. And we know you know the intents and thoughts of our hearts, so, um, we're praying for our friends even though we don't know their intents and thoughts. So you know them, and we ask for you to help them. Lord, we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the beauty of this world and the beauty of our relationship with you, and And Lord, lead us into the things you want us to do. That's all we can ask. Help us to be faithful, to follow you, and help us to, help us to enter into all the good that you have for us today. Lord, we pray for you to go before us to keep us safe and to lead us into those things and to bring us back to our loved ones today. We thank you, we praise you, we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.