From Darkness to Light – A Mindful of Christ Message of Hope and Power Purity 1180

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 a solitary figure walking towards a dark doorway illuminated by daylight like Jesus emerging from the tomb comes to us from Lauren Roskillie and mindfulofchrist.net, whose testimony of overcoming several hurts, habits, and hang-ups through her faith in Jesus Christ as an inspiration to all who are making their way out of the darkness of their pre-Christ existence into the new life that is available to all who put their faith in Jesus. Well, it's Tuesday, and as I had— I was burning the midnight oil last night getting what needed to be done, uh, for today, tomorrow, and Thursday finished, I have decided to highlight Lauren's work this morning on the blog and podcast because I am preparing to lead a brother in Christ through this first half of the Steps to Freedom in Christ this evening and just finished a lightning-quick run through the steps for myself this morning to clean house of any heaviness I might have been carrying before we sit down to lead our friend through the steps and into possible enemy territory. So I feel great spiritually but am admittedly a little tired and I thought I would share mindfulofchrist.net's Lauren Roskill's latest blog post encouragement and original poem she penned and shared with all of her ministry supporters this week. So we begin with Darkness to Light, a poem by Lauren Roskill. The darkness is there where there is no light. Those who are walking in it can be blind. Without sight. They go and they stumble, and their hearts may be hardened by indulging in impurities. With their world, their worlds can be darkened trying to fulfill their lives with any deceitful desire. Make new the attitude of the mind and stub out the flames of the fire. Don't let the enemy have a foothold. Repent and sin no longer. Accept Jesus, the light of the world. Then in every moment we can become stronger. The light can dawn out of the dark, and the shadows will run from it. Everything exposed by the light will become visible. So let's be filled with the Spirit. Let's throw up our hands and worship him, turn from our wrongs, put ourselves right. Except God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, and wrap ourselves in light. I love Lauren's poetic call for repentance because I know there is life to be found in the light of Jesus. And now, from Mindful in Christ, uh, word— uh, mindfulinchrist.net's, uh, Word for Wednesday, um, from last week, we present Lauren's message based on Acts 4:13, a verse that I just happened to read this morning part of my normal Bible study. So I think we are on point with sharing this, as it seems Lauren and I are tracking with the Spirit. Anyway, Acts 4:13 from the New Living Translation says, the members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. And Lauren writes, have you accepted Jesus as your Lord, as your Savior? If so, then not only have you been with Jesus, but Jesus is living inside of you. The fact— that fact can give you the boldness that you need to share the good news of Jesus to those around you. Peter and John were in front of the council because in Jesus's name the lame man back in chapter 3 was healed. They then went on to teach about Jesus, and at least 5,000 people gave their life to Christ. Wow! They did this through the authority and power of Jesus Christ. They didn't have any qualifications or training. They simply followed and obeyed Jesus. And you can too. So go and heal the sick, James 5:15, and go and share the good news of Jesus. Mark 16:15. As the Lord guides you, you have Jesus's authority, power, and boldness in you. Who can you share the gospel with this week? Lauren Short's encouragement points out that we are given authority to do the work God has for us to do. So whether or not you are given miraculous powers, the light of the gospel that every disciple of Jesus Christ carries has the power to heal the sick. Eternal life through Christ cures our terminal disease of death, and the power of repentance that he grants to believers through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can cast out demons and transform lives. So share the gospel and walk in the power Jesus Christ has given all believers by sharing his word, wisdom, and love and applying it to your life and the lives of those around you. 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 bitterness, resentment, and hate. And today's verses are Proverbs 26:24-26 from the NIV. The Word of God says, enemies disguise themselves with their lips but in their hearts they harbor deceit. Though their speech is charming, do not believe them, for seven abominations fill their hearts. Their malice may be concealed by deception, but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. Today's verses fall under the 9th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on bitterness, resentment, and hate. That 9th point is: The way of a malicious man is deceitful. Today's verses warn us to be wise and discerning when it comes to believing the things we hear, because enemies disguise their deceitful words with charming speech. And while their malice can be concealed with deception, their wickedness will be exposed in the light of the assembly of those who know the truth. The way that federal agents are trained to spot counterfeit currency is not to study the techniques of forgers, but to study and familiarize themselves with the real McCoy. They don't look at funny money. They study and learn to know the real thing by sight, smell, and touch. They experience the authenticity of paper currency by examining it and handling the real thing. They are trained to have an experiential knowledge of what real money is, so when a counterfeit bill gets mixed in with the real ones, They stand out like a sore thumb. And so we should familiarize, familiarize ourselves with the truth of God's Word and His Holy Spirit, so when someone tries to deceive us, we can see that although they have framed their lies in a pretty package, they are not the truth. So know the truth. That will set you free. And walk in the truth with the way you live your life by knowing Jesus, the living Word of God. When you know Him, you will spot the false because it will contradict what He said and stick out like a sore thumb and be exposed for the counterfeit that it is. As always, I invite all to go to M.t. Clark.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 The Holy Spirit by A.W. Pink, and we continue sharing from chapter 31 on the Spirit endowing. And today's section, which I broke up into two parts so it'll be shared this morning and tomorrow, is the practice, practice of gifts in the church meetings. So if you want to know whether or not you should practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit that you have in the church meeting or not, you can see what A.W. Pink has to say about that by going to mtforchrist.org and finding that resource at the end of today's blog post. Somehow I'm doubtful that A.W. Pink's gonna encourage you to share your gifts in the church meeting. He sort of come down on the side of cessationist yesterday, or at least that what it seemed to be. So it was a short section yesterday, but yeah, so if you're expecting, "Yeah, go for it," I don't know if that's going to be in there, but you should probably check that out for yourself if you're curious, and you'll find that resource at the end of today's blog post. Also, at the end of today's blog post, you'll find an encouragement that says join our Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ series of discipleship classes via the M.t. for Christ 247 podcast. Those works are based on the Word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson, and they're available to listen to or to quote-unquote watch on YouTube. They're audio recordings, um, set the video basically. And by searching for those, you know, there you can learn all about who you are in Christ, the spiritual forces of darkness, and how to resolve personal and spiritual conflicts by going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. And that's today's mission. After my day job, I'll be meeting with a brother in Christ to lead him through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. 1 through 3, as we're going to break it up into 2 sessions. Is this, uh, it's, it's something that's helpful and needful for this person, and it's going to help me as well because it'll be part of my certification process to become a certified prayer minister with Deeper Walk International as I'm going through their schooling. Currently. So, so yeah, yesterday everything's coming to a head as, uh, as we draw closer to the end of the year and the completion of our studies, um, as we are doing a growth group ministry on Wednesday nights and we have certification to get done. And part of that's the appointment we have this afternoon. So, you know, Tuesday night we got a Freedom appointment Wednesday we're hosting a growth group, uh, recovery/discipleship growth group, Celebrate Freedom at Star Point Church. Thursday night we have our cohort, and so there's, you know, schoolwork needed to be done for that. And because of my busy schedule, really had no time, you know, had to have everything done last night to be ready for the next 3 days, after which I'll be ready to rest. But, you know, if that wasn't enough, when you go into the Steps to Freedom in Christ appointment, the Freedom appointment, as the encourager, you should, you know, come correct and have been gone through these steps yourself. So this morning I did a sort of a lightning round of the Steps to Freedom in Christ to break any ties that would bind me to the enemy or any bitterness in my heart. In terms of unforgiveness or any sins that have gone by the wayside, um, you know, since the last time I took the steps, which has been a while, I think. I usually do them before the last Freedom, you know, after the last Freedom appointment. So last go-around on that was, uh, in the spring where I led a Freedom in Christ class. That was this year. Yeah, um, uh, Freedom in Christ class for FICM online. I believe I did something this year. Yeah, I think so. Maybe. I don't know. I'll have to check the calendar. Anyway, I apologize for not remembering clearly, but yeah, as a Community of Freedom ministry associate, that's what I do. And yesterday I finished reading Thriving Through the End Times by Dr. Neil Anderson. I couldn't recommend it more highly. As I stated in the blog the other day, it's great work. And I would put it right up there, you know, as one of the 3 books of Neil Anderson you should definitely read is Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Thriving Through the End Times. The Freedom in Christ course is more or less a compilation of Victory and Bondage Breaker. So you sort of get both in one, but I like to be a little more thorough. So we recommend those works as well, and we obviously recommend Lauren Ross Killey's mindfulofchrist.net. She's got a teaching on Christian-based cognitive therapy, you know, basically. So it's all about renewing your mind, right, your thoughts, cognitive therapy. Therapy. And if it's Christian, that means you agree with the truth of what the Word says about you and who you are in Christ. So Lauren's got her— she does workshops and she has studies and she has everything. And if I had time, I probably would partake of some, but I have read some of her work and fully support what she does. She's in the UK. So maybe I can visit her when I go to Europe someday, but until then, until then we just support her work from afar. So basically, if we're fighting the good fight against the spiritual forces of darkness and encouraging people to find their freedom in Christ, doesn't really matter on the techniques. Whether it's Freedom in Christ Ministries or Deeper Walk International or Mindful of Christ, if they're pointing to Jesus and the truth of his word and standing in faith and agreeing with it, we're on the same side. And so we need more people like Laura Ross Killey and these ministries that focus on delivering people to the freedom in Christ they should have. Something that's so, you know, not only lacking in the world but lacking in the church today. So we do that one person at a time, you know, or many at once through classes, or through sharing the gospel and encouraging people to walk in their faith. That's what we do. I couldn't be more proud to be part of Freedom in Christ Ministries after reading Neil's book. As he put it, Freedom in Christ Ministries' core values at the end, and just sort of agrees with what, you know, what we believe and why we believe it, what our mission is to show people who they are and to help them resolve their spiritual conflicts through the Steps to Freedom. So that's it for today. I gotta— I have some time, but I'm gonna upload this and maybe lay down for a few minutes before I have to run out the door. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your Kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for the faithful men and women of God you put in our paths, including Lauren Ross Killey of mindfulofchrist.net, and of course Dr. Neil Anderson and the people at Deeper Walk International, the people at our local churches that we've, that we've frequented, and anyone who's listening to this message or reading this message today. So Lord, we pray for all these people and we pray for you to come alongside them and their ministries and their walks of faith and to bless their prayer requests. And Lord, we pray for you to go before us today. We want us— I want you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see, especially spiritually, uh, as we, as we move into a Freedom appointment later today, um, but for the day today as well, um, we appreciate your guidance, um, to show us what we need to know and show us the way we should go, because we desperately need your help and guidance to, uh, to do, to do what you would have us do, Lord. Because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom and to share the gospel with other people so they can experience your love for themselves as well. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.