Focusing on What You Do Have! Lie Down and Just Breathe 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 15 – Purity 10

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 light of the setting sun pouring through a massive cloud formation over Hallett Cove in South Australia comes to us from Dave Bond Photography, who shared this heavenly scene back on April 17th, commenting at the time, "Since I was stuck in the car for last night's sunset, Here's one from not long ago. Well, I don't know what the sun— the sunset that Dave missed may have been like, but I love the fact that he decided to get over whatever disappointment he may have felt by sharing what he was able to capture previously. Rather than lamenting over his missed opportunity, Dave focused on what he did accomplish and shared a photo that may have otherwise been put aside unseen. Just like how this photo highlights how something good, the sunlight, overcomes something we could consider to be not so good, that huge cloud formation is rather dark and foreboding. Dave's decision to share this photo, something good, overcame the something bad of Dave's missed opportunity. Well, it's Saturday, and even though the local forecast in my neck of the woods states a 90% chance of shower for today, something we could see as bad. I, like our friend Dave, I'm going to focus on the something good of a couple days off of work and the presence of my beloved wife that I do have, and not let what could be disappointing circumstances of the weather steal my peace or temper the joy I can have over all the things I have been blessed with that are unaffected by the current or forecasted atmospheric conditions. While a trip to a local beach to go swimming doesn't seem to be in the offering today, there are options out there— museums, art galleries, malls— for indoor activities if we feel the overwhelming urge to do something. Or we could decide to rest and rejoice over the humble comforts of home and recharge our batteries by quote-unquote doing nothing. At this early hour, I don't know if we will be— if we will do something or nothing with our day, but regardless of where the day takes us, I can already report that the day has been a success because of the things I do have and did do this morning. As I am always selling or encouraging all who read or hear these messages, I stress the importance of a daily spiritual practice. A time of prayer, meditation, and Bible study with the Lord that can give you peace and joy every single day. I have already prayed, read a chapter of the Bible. I usually do two, but I am in the New Testament now and I don't want to skim through the teachings and life of Jesus too quickly. And I've reminded myself of who I am by reading, proclaiming, and meditating on the Who I Am in Christ list and the over Covers Covenant, and I practiced a little bit of gratitude, so I am feeling pretty good as I have grounded myself in the truth of who God is, what he has provided, and who he has made me to be. I also gained a measure of peace with a few minutes of quieting and focusing on my breath. And that brings us to our current series where I am walking through the 28-day joy challenge because we are encouraging ourselves and others, you, to find peace in our lives by increasing our capacity for joy and by building our emotional resilience through simple practices of quieting and appreciation. The 28-Day Joy Challenge is based on Dr. Marcus Warner and Chris Corsi's latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People, and you can sign up to take it for free and purchase a variety of books from Warner and Corsi on the topic of joy by going to 4habits.org. So let's jump into Day 15, which will direct us to kick back, relax, and just breathe. And the 28 Days to Joy Challenge says, Day 15, just breathe. Welcome to Day 15 of the 28 Days to Joy Challenge. Today's encouragement: the first few times you practice calming your mind and body, it is not unusual to have racing thoughts and increased anxiety because you are not used to being still. Hang in there. It will get easier with practice as you figure out what works for your mind and body to be more peaceful. Today's practice, Exercise 15. Today we will practice breathing and noticing what helps us more effective— effectively quiet and rest. How this exercise will benefit you: One overlooked aspect of growing more joy is resting. Resting grows our capacity, so we increase our, our joy levels. Exercise steps: For this practice, grab a book and find a quiet spot where you can lie down. Place the book on your stomach and breathe deeply in a way that makes the book rise and fall. Try to rest and breathe for 3 to 5 minutes. You can even play relaxing music if you like. Notice how it feels to quiet your body and breathe deeply. Have fun with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice. That's from our friends at 4habits.org. Anyway, um, when I read today's joy practice instructions, I was taken aback a little, uh, taken back a little, uh, as I had to decide how exactly I was going to do this. In fact, I have to honestly confess I had a moment's temptation to pretend we did it, or to alter the instructions. Let's, let's not say we did. Anyway, but no. You see, the instructions tell you to lie down, and while I could easily do that on my bedroom floor or in my bed at River House, things at my countryside home are a little different. I do my prayer, Bible study, meditation, and blog in the cramped confines of the office space that Tammy Lynn arranged for me to have in the small room off of the master bedroom that served as her closet before I came along. While I guess it would have been physically possible to lie down on the floor— I have done it before— its current state is a little overcrowded. And so, I was left wondering if I was actually going to do today's practice as instructed or not. I contemplated just slipping into bed again next to Tammy Lynn for the 5 minutes of focused prostrated breathing, but feared that I may disturb her sleep or end up falling asleep with her. I contem— I contemplated using the couch in the living room, but that area of the house is seldom used and is sometimes a way station for the things being organized or waiting to be given away, and there are two, two child gates stacked one on top of the other, um, to keep the pets out of that room and, and off the furniture. And I didn't know what the state of the living room was. A quick check later revealed it was quite occupado with some stuff, and I didn't want to deal with the child gates to gain access anyway. So, but, but because I want, want to be true to the 28 Day Joy Challenge by actually doing the practices, I decided to just grab a pillow and my phone as a timer and lay down on the kitchen floor to get 'er done, and that's what I did. Although I initially wondered whether I would be able to get any peace lying on the kitchen floor, I just followed the instructions. I grabbed a book, The Joy Switch by Chris Corsi, as a matter of fact, put it on my stomach, and just focused on my breath and the book going up and down with my rhythmic respirations. I, I remember losing focus once with some distracting thought that I can't recall, but after that I just relaxed and just breathed. My mind was clear, my body was relaxed as I kept my attention on my breathing. It was a peaceful, easy feeling for sure, but after a time I wondered, "How long has it been?" and checked my phone to discover that I had elapsed the 5-minute mark by 17 seconds. I felt good over successfully completing today's challenge and even contemplated, uh, contemplated pushing it into extra innings by lying back and doing a few more minutes, but decided against it because I wasn't too comfortable on the kitchen floor. But I feared that I might fall asleep all the same. Plus, I hadn't done my Bible study yet and wanted to get back to Jesus' teaching on the Sermon on the Mount where I had paused yesterday. But what can I say? Today's joy practice of just breathing was a success, and I was glad for the 5 minutes of peace. So what about you? Are you actually going to lie down and just focus on your breath like the instructions tell you. It may seem silly, but there is no benefit to just understanding that focusing on the breath or taking deep breaths can help you to relax, give you peace, and increase your capacity so you can increase your joy levels. To realize those benefits, you actually have to do the exercises. So let me encourage you to actually do what the instructions tell you to do and be diligent to complete the 28-day do— Joy Challenge, because the work you do today may very well help you to establish the habits of being a joy-filled person and give you an enduring sense of peace and joy that stays with you regardless of which way the wind blows with the weather or the circumstances of your life. This morning's meditation verses are, uh, well, today's Bible verses come to you from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men, and this morning's meditation verses are Matthew 7:7-8, and the Word of God says, "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened." Today's verses are the words of Jesus that encourages us to be persistent in our relationship with the Lord. By assuring us that if we believe and keep seeking the Lord's will for our lives by asking, seeking— hello— and knocking, we will receive, find, and have everything we need opened up for us. Hey, a quick walking in the spirit report. As I have indicated in the past, my blog isn't really planned out in advance too much, and I often find it interesting of how the content of the message and the things that come up from the various resources I share just seem to naturally flow together. As I shared above, my personal Bible study has led me through the entire Old Testament and has me in the beginning of the New Testament. Even though I didn't mention it yesterday, I studied Matthew 6, and yesterday's verse of the day from the NLT Promise Book for Men was Matthew 6:33, where Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be given to us. And today I studied Matthew 7, and today's verses are Matthew 7:7 and 8, which tells us, uh, which, which tells us again to seek the Lord. Um, some would say that this confluence of my personal Bible study with the randomly selected verses from our devotional resource and the continuity of the message of these subsequent verses would indicate that we are tracking with the Spirit. Just saying, when these little coincidences happen, we should be encouraged and know that because our Sovereign God is moving all things towards His purposes, we just might be doing something right, as it seems that God is bringing common themes together to get our attention and to let us know that He is with us and we appear to be with Him. We stress seeking the Lord on this blog. In fact, my wife's podcast, which is currently on hiatus because of her schooling to become certified as a special education teacher, is called Ask, Seek, and Knock, and so is the Facebook community that she created where we share our encouragements. But the reason we stress asking, seeking, and knocking is because we have discovered the truth of these verses. When we ask, when we seek, when we knock, we have received, found, and had doors open to us in amazing ways. I do not point people to the path of Christian discipleship because we should all be good little boys and girls and do what is right. I mean, we should, but the reason we do what is right is because of our interactive relationship with the living God. We are in relationship with God. There is asking and receiving, seeking and finding. We ask and He answers. He leads and we follow. And notice above that I did not say that He will give you everything you want, but did say that we will receive, find, and have everything we need opened up for us when we are persistent in following Him. So be persistent 'Ask, seek, knock, and do it again.' Um, 'Do it again.' I just— I don't know, uh, you know, that, that soundbite from The Wall, Pink Floyd's The Wall, 'Do it again,' um, sort of was there, but doesn't really read out in the text, but you get that on the podcast. Anyway, I don't know if you're into rock and roll, um, and wait— oh, '70s, uh, late '70s rock and roller. Yeah, anyway, um, so be persistent. Ask, seek, and knock, and do it again, and wait and see what the Lord will do in your life when you love him and trust him enough to seek him and follow where he leads. 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 Holy Spirit as we continue sharing from chapter 9, which is on the work of the Spirit. And today's section is on the Spirit's operation in the non-elect. So, so what, the Holy Spirit works in the non-elect? Isn't that like a contradiction in terms, a total paradox? Um, I don't know, I guess you're gonna have to go to m.t. for christ.org and see what A.W. Pink has to say about that. But yeah, God is sovereign. His Holy Spirit is God, and you know, that's the three persons of the Trinity, and God's over and above all things, including the non-elect. So if you don't think God's affecting all things in some way, you have a short view of who God is. So that's why we share resources like A.W. Pink's work and other Christian theologians and counselors because they've done the work of study and examining the Word of God and reality and, you know, basically how it all works together. And I share these resources to, you know, help educate us because, you know, you don't get understanding and wisdom by osmosis. You actually have to seek it out. And, you know, some people have done the hard work for for us, and we can benefit greatly when we ask, seek, and knock, and, you know, by reading Christian books that are based on the Word of God to explain different points of theology and doctrine. And, you know, what are those things? You know, it sounds very academic. Well, they're just descriptions of how life works, how God works, and it's certainly something we should know and study. You know, debating different points of doctrine probably has little or no value sometimes, but understanding it and how it affects your life, yeah, that could be pretty meaningful. So that's why we do what we do, because we, you know, not for nothing, but, you know, I really had to figure out how to live as a Christian, when you want to be an authentic Christian and actually follow the Lord, you don't have many examples in the world. And even if you do, you still have to do it yourself. You still have to practice your faith and step out in faith, and you do stuff. Yeah, they read the— they wrote the book and they told you, you know, what you should do, and you can understand that but you're probably going to have to practice it to really benefit from it. You know, you're probably going to have to develop your own relationship with the Lord to benefit from the advice someone else is giving you. So that's what we encourage. We encourage a daily spiritual practice so you can develop that relationship, practice your faith, and, you know, and reap the benefits of being connected to the God of all creation. The one who loved us enough to send his Son to die for us and to empower us to, to do his will on the, on the earth and to be with him for all eternity. You talk about, you know, this is the long game, you know, if you're in it to win it. I mean, we're, you know, really, we got, we got two choices. We can follow the Lord or not. We can live with him forever or not. And, uh, I don't know about you, but scripture indicates that the, the other option of not being with the Lord is— are not good ones. Um, so let's do what is right and do what is good, love our Heavenly Father for what he's done for us, and, uh, align ourselves with his will and see where he'll take us. From my experience, he takes you— he may run you through the fire, but he'll, uh you'll survive. And even if you don't survive on this earth, you last forever in eternity with him. So there's nothing to lose and everything to gain, you know. Life and godliness, as they say, is, is here for those who follow. So we encourage that. We also encourage, you know, those who don't know and need some help and might actually do what they say, we offer our discipleship classes that we taught on the podcast: For Freedom in Christ, The Bondage Breaker, and Victory Over the Darkness. They're all resources from Dr. Neil Anderson and they're all based on the Word of God. We found them extremely helpful in our walk to experience our freedom in Christ, and thus we became became a certified Freedom Ministry Associate with Freedom in Christ Ministries to, you know, be trained and educated to teach that material because the Steps to Freedom in Christ really made a big difference in my life by casting out those, those voices that can be so distracting. Some of those might not be yours, but when we renew our mind, renounce the things, the and cancel any permission that the enemy may have in our lives by repenting and, you know, casting them out. Things can change in a major way. If you're not experiencing transformation, you have to understand, you have to ask yourself why. How are you not following the Lord? What's left in your life that, you know, might be a foothold to the enemy? You know, what are you doing that you shouldn't be? Or what are you doing, what are you not doing that you should be? Because yes indeed, guys, sin is not just doing what is wrong. Sin is failing to do what is right. So great, you know, you can, you know, and thus the, you know, thus the reality of the fact that, you know, all men sin, even Christians. But the thing is, we're forgiven and we're given the power to overcome sin progressively. And be led into the good things that we fail to do when we follow the Lord. So we'll never be perfect this side of heaven, but we can progress in our sanctification and our purpose when we follow the Lord. So, so renew your mind with the word of God and seek, seek, ask, and knock with the Lord, you know, what the Lord wants you to know and do. Because He'll give it to you. That's the thing. We're not just figuring this out on our own. The Lord's given us His Word for wisdom and His Spirit to guide us as we go. So, um, that's that. Like I said, the Word is His wisdom, and we encourage Bible study. We do it on our blog and podcast and our YouTube channel, basically through— by doing a little Bible study called Bible Study with the Sincatis. Where Arthur and Susanna Sincani meet with us to discuss whatever topic the Holy Spirit brings to Arthur on a weekly basis. And we look at Scripture and what that has to say about it, because that's our final authority, is the Word of God, and, you know, our standard for living. So it's best to know it and try to understand it and apply it to our lives. Anyway, this is a long message, so I think we'll just wrap it up. It is the weekend, and although it's raining, I want to get to it to enjoy it. Not that I don't enjoy this. I wouldn't do it otherwise. It's not something to be approved by God for. This is— this, this blog and podcast encourage me, and I hope it— if it encourages even one person, that's why I do it. And with me, it encourages at least, at least, at least one. That's me. So we're going to continue. And, uh, we encourage you to, to follow the Lord and seek out his will for your life. As we pray, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for all that you do in this, uh, do for us, what you've done for us, and how you are in control and are working all things together for your purposes and for the good of those who love, love you and are called according to your purpose. Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, Lord, that they'd be blessed, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and guide them in the way they should go. Uh, Lord, we pray that for us too, because, uh, we need to know what you want, and we want to do your will because we know it's what's— what's— that's the right thing to do. Um, so open our eyes to the things you want us to see today and guide our steps and the things you would have us do, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom on the earth. And encourage others to find you and follow you. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.