Being Your “Self” and Raising the Dead - Purity 943

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 poolside palm trees overlooking the rooftops of buildings in the valley below at sunset comes to us from a friend who captured the scene at the Pura Vida Resort and Spa in Carrizal, Costa Rica while, uh, while at a corporate retreat. Uh, our friend seems to be making the most of the trip as he has enjoyed hot tub dips during the breaks, has captured shots of parrots in the wild, and went ziplining through the jungle along the coast of the Gulf of Nicoya this past weekend. While ziplining, someone caught a photo of him literally upside down which he changed to his pro, uh, Facebook profile, uh, pic with the caption, be yourself no matter what position life puts you in. Corporate retreats in Costa Rica. Yeah, some guys have it rough. Well, it's Tuesday, and for many of us it will be the end of an extended weekend while the rest of us had our case of the Mondays yesterday. Although it is back to work, it doesn't have to be met with depression or disdain. In fact, as much as I joke about ending my friends' trip to Costa Rica, I want to point out what I believe is the most important thing about what our friend's comment and experience can teach us. Um, while there is definitely some wisdom in our friend's sentiment, uh, that no matter what position life puts you in, be yourself, let's qualify that by saying that let's be our best self, or what I would say is the person God created us to be. While we shouldn't deny our feelings, when I think of being, uh, of people advising others, uh, to be theirselves, uh, I, I somehow get the impression that we are not encouraging one another to be depressed, petty, angry, or selfish people. Our best self, the person God created us to be, is, is to be the self that displays the fruit of the Spirit: peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control. Although I am sure there are many a wild child who would dispute that and claim their rights to be who they are, which would, would include their tendencies to be angry and selfish—those responses that come when myself isn't getting everything that I want. The impression I get from my friend's sharing from his trip was that he was not only indulging in his selfish in his selfish desires, but was experiencing and sharing joy with others by appreciating the beauty of God's creation where he was, and by taking advantage, uh, of the opportunities, uh, to relax and explore where the Lord brought him. He was also tagged in a video where co-workers were dancing, which indicates to me that others appreciated his zeal for life and enjoying the retreat. Our positive attitudes are the— perhaps the best thing we can take with us through life. Whether we are traveling to distant places, places throughout the world, or if we are just going back to our regular 9-to-5 jobs, our ability to experience joy and our ability to return to joy demonstrates our spiritual maturity. No matter what position life puts us in, those of us in Christ have infinite reasons to be joyful and to face each day with gratitude and a sense of contentment and wonder. When we stay in those places—joy, gratitude, contentment, and wonder—we are like who we are. We best represent who we are in Christ. Paul's final advice to the Thessalonians demonstrates that These attributes are supposed to define who we are as Christians. Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul tells us to always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. So remember who you are in Christ and let the truth of your new identity as God's beloved son or daughter fuel your day and fill you with the abundant joy and peace that defines yourself no matter what position life puts you in. Today's Bible verses come to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are Ephesians 1:19-20, and they say, I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in— believe him. This This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Today's verses encourage us to understand the power that God provides to those who believe in him, and it encourages us to put— not to put a limit on what God can do in our lives. While many an enthusiastic, Spirit-filled Christian can make bold claims about raising the dead through our faith, Resurrecting miracles are not common. Miracles by definition are rare, although raising the dead is possible with God. So if you are in a situation where you feel the Lord is inviting you to pray to raise the dead, go for it, but be willing to accept bitter disappointment. Hey, that's our faith. We hope for the best and pray for good things, but we accept God's will and the fact that we don't perfectly know it. In 2019, a woman in California lost a toddler, and despite her pastor's and her church's belief in raising the dead, the child did not rise despite their undoubting faith and prayers that lasted for a week. So we have to realize that the vast majority of the time, dead is dead. Having lost an infant child myself, I can understand praying for resurrection. I wasn't the Christian I am today, but when my son Holden died, I prayed and called out to God to not let him go, right up until the emergency room doctor had to tell me what was quite obvious. My son was cold and had stopped breathing long before we got him to the hospital. My son was dead. But I did pray. Man, did I pray. But then you accept it. I can't imagine persisting in prayer for over a week, and I don't recommend it. What? Where's my faith? Don't I believe that we have the same power that raised Christ from the dead? I do. But because I believe, I also accept that God's will will be done, not mine. Also, hello, we are Christian. Dead isn't dead. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Should we really be praying to bring people back from God's kingdom? For his purposes, yes. To give God him glory, yes, sure. But otherwise, we have to realize that the dead person, if in Christ, is in a better place than we are. Um, that was something I didn't understand fully when my son died. Nobody wants anyone to die, okay? But despite our pain, we should accept God's will. He calls everyone into eternity. And remember the good state that departing Christians go to. We should grieve, but stand in faith by thanking God for the love we had and for bringing our loved ones into his presence. This is one of those hard truths of Christianity that we struggle with and that can be misapplied, so tread lightly and meditate meditate upon these things. Yesterday I saw a Facebook, uh, saw a Facebook friend share a picture of David Bowie with the caption, "Rest in peace, dear one." I get it, you loved his music and his artistry, but he has been dead for a while, and regardless of his final destination, Mr. Bowie is not resting. Anyone who dies is either experiencing joy and new life in heaven in God's presence or experiencing torment in hell until the final judgment, the second death. But in either, either case, nobody is resting. So can we give rest in peace a rest? Anyway, enough about the dead who live elsewhere currently. This passage does, does speak of God's power, and Paul's words encourage us, encourage us that it is a mighty, it is a mighty power without limits. Except God's will, of course. So what does it mean for us? It means we can overcome. It means we can have victory over the personal struggles of our lives because we are free from sin. It means we can have peace even in the face of death because we know the truth concerning the afterlife. God's power is mighty, but besides the rare miracle, it can be applied to our lives. By faith, by believing, to transform us. So pray at all times and surrender against the impossible, you know, let's see, and I guess don't surrender was what it was supposed to be. Uh, don't surrender against the impossible situations in your life. God is with you, and if you keep walking and talking with God, you may discover that his path will take you over and above what you think is possible. Well, as always, I invite you to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian— Christian— 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, and we're in chapter 4 The Sovereignty of God and Salvation. So if you want to see where we continue sharing from that, uh, work, uh, go to mt4christ.org and you'll see it at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage people to walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, to discover who you are in Christ, and to experience your freedom in Christ. If you don't know what that is, we, we offer our discipleship classes on the podcast and on our YouTube channel. The classes are entitled Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all based on the work of Dr. Neil Anderson of Freedom in Christ Ministries, and we encourage you to check them out and to really enter into your faith. And, you know, this is where we— the rubber meets the road in our faith, where we actually apply apply our beliefs to our life situations. And while we can pray for the dead, we might not— we might not be able to raise a corpse. However, in our lives, if we believe, if we trust in the Lord, there's many things that we might feel trapped in that we can escape from. Ask me how I know. My addictions to drugs, alcohol, and sexual— sex have been taken care of. They've been cured. They've been, you know, overcome. God heals us, and if we walk with him, we can have victory. And, you know, adages of once an addict, always an addict and all that have some truth to them. However, what seems impossible for man is possible with God. And I'm going to continue to walk in my victory and claim that every day. And but the thing is, I'm not just claiming that. I'm not dwelling on those things of the past. You know, when you get a cut and it's healed, you don't worry about the cut even if you have a scar. You know, it's something that's healed and it doesn't concern you any longer. And, you know, you can talk about it and what it was like and tell other people to be careful not to get cut and how you healed, but you don't dwell on the cut anymore. You keep walking in your healing, and you might even point to it and say, "God was good and healed me," you know, so, and thus we can overcome things. And how does this happen? Well, it happens on the path of Christian discipleship, where we examine our lives, we examine the word of God, and we try to come in alignment with what God says. And that's not just following rules and scripture verses. This is connecting relationally with God through prayer, talking and literally walking and talking with God, um, to hear what he says in his word and you know, through our spirit. So we encourage a life of Christian discipleship for those reasons, because I don't think many Christians, quote-unquote Christians, are experiencing it. And so we— the mission of mtforchrist.org is to empty ourselves for what Christ has for us and let him fill us with our Holy Spirit. So we encourage that, and we also obviously encourage studying the word of God. We do a Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Kati, that's available as well. Um, well, it's Tuesday and I'm pretty sure most of us have to work. Um, if not, God bless retirement, or, you know, God bless you and your whatever situation keeps you from working. Um, but let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you so much for who you made us to be in Christ. Um, that's the self we want to be, the person you made us to be, Lord. And so we pray for your help and guidance today to be that person, um, to be the person who walks in peace and the power of the Holy Spirit and has a joy that just abounds, um, and wonder and gratitude and contentment. And, um, Lord, we just, um, we pray for anyone who's listening today that they would be blessed that you would come alongside them in their prayer request and that you would help them in their walk. Lord, we pray for you, for you as always to go before us today and set things up for us with those Divine appointments. And let us recognize how blessed we are as we go about our day and experience them. And, um, you know, open our eyes to see it. Let us see what you want us to see. Let us see what's out there. And guide us into what you would have us do. And give us patience and power and self-control where we need it, and wisdom. Oh Lord, give us wisdom where we need it today, because we need you, Lord. We knew we need you every day of our lives, and, uh, we want, we want to be in your presence. So help us as we go about our day today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.