Becoming Resilient Purity 932

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, at Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a waterfall over a large outcropping of rock with trees drawing close to get a drink under blue skies comes to us from Fred Dimmick, who captured this view on January 1st during his New Year's Day visit to Cliffside Lake in Highland, North Carolina. Being unfamiliar with the lay of the land around Cliffside Lake, it's hard to say, but based on the other photos Fred shared of his trip, it looks like— looks to me that Fred may have had to climb down into it to get this shot. But whether it required much or little effort to capture it, I appreciate it and thought it was a good visual representation of arriving at the first hump day of the new year as I am finally returning to work after an extended Christmas staycation, and for me it not only feels like I'm going uphill, but it feels like there is some rushing resistance to going in and resuming my regular work responsibilities. Well, it's Wednesday, and due to my vacation and some creative scheduling at work, it feels like a Monday because I have had a few irrational thoughts and temptations to not go in The flesh, or the devil, was suggesting I extend my vacation, call in sick, or just quit to remain in the peace of doing nothing. But while God has given us free will to choose our path, I know that any efforts to feel good again or to be happy that only involve creating pleasant circumstances and that ignores logic or our responsibilities is either selfish or the schemes of the enemy. And will usually lead to feelings of dissatisfaction, if not outright negative consequences. Sure, I could call in sick, but I'm not sick. That would be a lie, so we can't or shouldn't do that. Um, once we start living a lie, we open the door to the, uh, door to the enemy and disrupt our harmony with God. Disciples of Jesus follow the truth the way and the life. Lying and living dishonestly is the polar opposite of the way we should go, and not only goes against the Word of God, it is, it is in direct opposition to who we are in Christ. It's not only denying God's Word— lying and being dishonest denies our identity as adopted children of God's royal family. It is behavior most unbecoming of— for children of the king, and it leads to trouble. So let's not do that. Um, sure, I could use up more vacation time, but should I? I don't think so. The truth is, I think I've had too much time off. And unfortunately, because I was in vacation mode, I unwittingly took a vacation from one of the core disciplines of my daily spiritual practice, which I believe was a big reason, or at least a contributing factor, of why I seem to abandon my sense senses and overindulge in sweets and foods that I know pack on the pounds. So this morning, as much as the flesh and the devil tried to, tried to convince me to take one more day or to just quit, I am going back to work in more ways than one. Not only am I going back to my day job, I've already returned to my senses in terms of the foods I will consume and have started the practice that I allowed to go by the wayside over the last week. Yesterday I hadn't been— I realized I hadn't been praying in the mornings like I normally do. At my countryside home, my prayer closet is literally that, a closet. And while Tammy Lynn has made space for me there with a desk and enough space to pray, but this— but the setup is different. Than my place down by the river, and I let my morning prayer slip. What's so important about morning prayer? Well, besides drawing close to God to thank him for all that he does, my morning prayers also include a stronghold buster that sets my intention to be mindful of my health goals. So during my vacation, while I did manage to exercise in the cramped confines of the living room, I failed to pray like I normally do. And would just go straight to Bible study and blogging. The technological limitations of countryside made the overall process slower, so even though I didn't pray, I ended up finishing around the same time, or much later, than I normally do while at my place— what I normally do while at my place in Stuyvesant. So, I quickly adapted to not praying and didn't even realize I wasn't doing it, and the consequences of not setting my intention to break that stronghold resulted in compromise. So yesterday I was highly convicted about this vacation and decided to repent and resume my prayer life and to take the, the last day of my time off to do a mini retreat in my home. I spent the workday hours yesterday in my room fasting, praying, and reading and listening to John Eldredge's Resilient. I have had— I have his book on Kindle and and Audible. So after, after I uploaded yesterday's blog and podcast, I shut off my phone and started listening and reading through Resilient, highlighting the key points in the text on Kindle while I listened to Eldridge read through his work on Audible. The audiobook is actually an extended edition of the book and includes Eldridge, Eldridge leading you through the skills at the end of each chapter and in other places in, in later in the book. The skills are guided prayers and meditation sessions that draw you closer to the Lord. Eldred has developed an app, One Minute Pause, that can— you can download for free and use to make these skills a part of your faith walk. The app even includes a free program of these skills, 30 Days to Resilient. Where you can build your capacities of mental and emotional resilience through your faith with morning and evening pauses. So as I read through, highlighted, and listened to Resilient, I also paused at each skills session to go through the, the guided prayers and meditations. I started the retreat around 6:30 AM, and even though the audiobook is only 6 hours and 41 minutes, I didn't finish the book and the retreat until 4:30 PM or so. So I spent the whole day, about 10 hours, just being fed some really good teaching based on God's Word and in prayer. I only took a few breaks to fill my water bottle and use the bathroom and did a 20-minute cardio session in the afternoon as I drew close to the end. Chapter 9 is a longer chapter, and Eldredge in his audiobook suggests taking a break midway through, and I took his advice. So how was it? It was quite the experience. I highly recommend Resilient and would encourage everyone listening or reading this message to go out and get it. I am so on board with the skills that I'm learn— I, I— that I, that I learned that I downloaded, uh, the One Minute Pause app and started 30 Days to Resilient this morning. While I would still recommend Dr. Neil Anderson's Victory Over the Darkness, Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, and the Steps to Freedom in Christ for anyone new to the path of Christian discipleship, to learn the paradigm-shifting truths of the reality of the spiritual forces of darkness, who we are in Christ, and to establish our freedom in Christ by going through the steps first, I would recommend Resilient and suggest that its skills could be, you know, should be experienced and could be considered for possible integration for one's spiritual practice. While I'm new to the material and realize that not— realize that every Christian path is different, I would say that Resilient needs to become part of the library of anyone who is serious about following the Lord. While the skills— prayerful meditations— may not be for everybody, you're free to choose that for yourselves. The material in the book, which addresses the trauma of COVID of the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible dangers that face the body of Christ in its wake make Resilient more than worthy of purchase— for purchase. Simply stated, I believe Resilient is necessary reading for the church in the 21st century. As compelling as the implications that our recent and current events may mean in terms of prophecy and the return of Jesus Christ, Eldredge's book should be read simply, um, because of the fundamental truths it contains regarding the ability for the Lord to empower us and to make us resilient in these days and times. So it's back to work and back to reality, but I go back with a renewed sense of hope and the assurance that the path of Christian discipleship is the way to go. Um, in these days and times, we need to be resilient, to be able to withstand and recover quickly from difficult conditions. And when we keep walking and talking with God, we receive the strength, guidance, and love to be just that. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's verses are 2 Timothy 2:3-4, and they say, endure suffering along with me as good— as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for they then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. Today's verses encourage us to endure suffering as good Christian— so as a good Christian soldier, and indicates that we should We shouldn't get tied up in the concerns of this world, but seek to please the one who enlisted us. Yup, we're in the— we're in the army now, Christian soldiers. But before you look to put a weapon on somebody, uh, realize that our battles involve enemies that are not flesh and blood, and that most of the fighting we will have to do will be on the battlegrounds of our hearts and minds. And the Apostle Paul gets it. He knows that resisting the flesh, the enemy, and this world system isn't easy. It will involve suffering that simply will have— we will have to endure. Endure. Uh, the world will increasingly hate us for following Christ. But even though the world will reject you, keep in mind that this world is temporary, and we have been drafted into an eternal kingdom by the highest authority and power that exists. God. So listen to Paul and don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life and seek only to march to God's calling and to please him. 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 Sovereignty of God as we continue in chapter 1. Where Pink discusses that God is sovereign in the exercise of his love. So if you want to see what Pink has to say about that, go to MT for Christ and you'll be able to see those 3 paragraphs at the end of today's blog post. So that's that. And as, as it is, I am going back to work today. So we encourage you, like they said, to go out and get resilient. But if you haven't been through the, the Freedom in Christ material that that's contained in Dr. Neil Anderson's, I would recommend that first. We got to know who we are in Christ, and we have to be set free in Christ before, you know, any of these things can really take hold. I mean, I suppose you could go any which way but loose, but, um, you know, I wouldn't be serving Freedom in Christ Ministries if I didn't, if I didn't think that that material, um, you know, was very important to discover. Yeah, so that's why. And so, as you may know, we contain— we have those teachings available to you on our podcast and our blog. Well, not really on the blog, but on our podcast and our YouTube channel. So we recommend that: Victory Over the Darkness, Bondage Breaker: Freedom in Christ, and The Steps to Freedom in Christ. Christ. You know, go through those first and, you know, get set free. And, and after that, you can check out Resilient. Um, I wouldn't do it the other way around, um, as my recommendation. Um, I think that Resilient, um, might not be everybody's cup of tea, quite frankly. Um, I, I know some people aren't— you know, if, if you're not set free, you're not going to be very, very open to prayerful meditations. You know, the enemy interference that you receive without being free would, you know, make meditation practice, you know, prayer and meditation type of sessions probably unbearable. So let's get free, you know, let's get free first. Make sure the enemy's not chatting away in your head, and then you can enjoy the silence and fill it with God's word and prayerful considerations of coming into his presence. So that's, that's why I make the recommendation the way I do. You got to walk before you can run, you know. And I would say that resilience, you know, can re-establish your relationship with God if you walked away, and, you know, teaches some fundamental truths. But I think, you know, it's, it's, it's it's not the beginning. It's the second step to a life of freedom, is to be resilient. However, the book was so excellent, I would recommend it, you know, without the practices. I would recommend it. You know, it's sort of two aspects to that book, but I would highly recommend it after you get set after you get set free and know who you are in Christ. First things first. And as we're going to be running out the door for work any minute, uh, let's make prayer the first thing we do and the last thing we do, um, right now. So I recommend you check out our teachings on, on YouTube and, uh, you know, YouTube and our podcast. And always read the word of God. We have a Bible study for that too, as you may know, um, Bible study with the Sincatis. Anyway, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you so much for everything you do for us. We thank you for the job that we have that we're going into today. We're going to be responsible and do the best job we can do, um, as your good soldier. Um, or we just want to represent you wherever we go in the earth. So we just pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to what we need to see, and lead us in the way we should go in, in today's work. Um, and Lord, of course, as always, we pray for anyone who's listening or, or, or reading, uh, this message. Lord, we just pray for you to bless them, uh, and, uh, come alongside them in their prayer requests. And, uh, you know, go with them today too. Um, help them in their walk, Lord, because we need your help, we need your strength. The retreat showed me that more than anything, that you're the source of our strength and our joy. And, uh, you know, when we draw close to you, Lord, we receive from you. So thank you so much, um, for your help and your strength and your guidance, because we need it every day. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all of these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.