From “Freeze Mode” to “Freedom Mode” - Purity 1328

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 snow-covered field with a blazing sun-peaked treeline horizon comes to us from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this peaceful scene on social media on or around January 25th, 2021. Well, it's hump day again, and while I usually try to share a mountain scene on Wednesdays, there was something about the way the fencing framed that snowfield and the sun capped that tree line that I decided that it fit the bill for visually representing our arrival at another work week midpoint and gave me a sense of peace. Plus, using it allowed me to share what I had borrowed and never used 3 years ago when I was in the habit of scouring social media daily looking for photos my friends shared that gave glory to God by highlighting the beauty of his creation. Obviously, I'm still in the habit of pointing my friends toward the Lord by sharing a photo 6 days a week, but I don't scour Facebook as much as I used to. In part because back in January of 2021, I was still on the lookout for the possibility of finding a Christian wife and used social media to assess possible candidates to fill that role. Thankfully, the Lord knew that it wasn't good for this man to be alone and was moving all things together for good. As He put it in my heart to begin a new community freedom ministry at my local church and to podcast it. And those steps of faith would be used by Him in the months ahead to introduce me to the Christian woman that I had been looking for to be my wife. Although admittedly, God had to open my eyes to see it. But when He showed me that Tammy Lynn was the one and there can be no other, I didn't hesitate making her my girlfriend and then fiancée 2 weeks later. And finally my beloved wife on January 1st, 2022. Amazingly, Tammy Lynn and my whirlwind romance is only one story that I could tell of the good things that happened in my life after I decided to put my faith in Jesus and to earnestly follow him as his disciple. But it's not— it's one that will never cease to give me joy, and I will share it continually as evidence and an encouragement for others who are looking for love to get right with God and to trust him to lead you where you should go. I trusted the Lord and he has led me to freedom over the darkness of my past and into a new abundant life of hope, joy, and peace, despite not everything being perfect in my life. Um, I blog and podcast continually to tell others that all these things—freedom, peace, growth, love, and joy—are possible with God. And all you have to do to experience them in life is to pick up your cross and follow Jesus. That phrase, pick up your cross, can mean different things to, to different people, and that's okay. We are all individuals with unique situations, but the following Jesus thing is the thing that matters, as he will call us to, he will call us to repent and be sanctified through him. And I truly believe that anybody can experience the life they always wanted but never thought they could have by surrendering to God and following him. One man that desperately wanted to be— wanted to experience, uh, peace but didn't think it was possible is my good friend Rafael Guardo. Uh, life and circumstances did a number on Rafe, uh, to the point that he had thought he paid thousands of dollars of his own money just to have his brain scanned. His depressive, manic, anxious, and condemning thoughts, and the mental freezing up they would cause, had him convinced that there was something physically wrong with him. And when the results were in, while there were no tumors or lesions present, they indicated that his moods and mental processes were very much like that of a deer caught in the headlights. And that he seemed to be unnaturally locked in fear, or the freeze response. Now, don't get me wrong on— no, don't get me going on brain scans, though, because in my research I've discovered that the results of such scans are not only subjective in terms of how they can be interpreted, they can also be manipulated. For instance, brain scans of supposed— of the— of a supposed addicted brain look awfully similar to a brain scan of someone holding their breath, meaning that we can change our results with just a little effort. With the insight of biofeedback, you similarly can lower your blood sugar— blood pressure by calming yourself down with deep breathing exercises. But anyway, even though Rafe had medical results that told him, "Oh yeah, something isn't right in your brain," The Lord put it in his heart, on his heart, to hope for the possibility of healing or change, and he decided to put his trust in God by enrolling in the Freedom in Christ course this winter. And through the process of simply learning the truth about who he is in Christ, having the insights of the mental battle of the mind revealed to him, and going through the prayerful repentance process of the Steps to Freedom in Christ, Rafe was able to resolve personal and spiritual conflicts of the past and to find a new measure of peace, hope, and joy by experiencing his freedom in Christ. Now, Rafe will tell you that he is still a work in progress, but he now has a firm foundation from where he can walk through life without freezing up. He sees, uh, the thought streams of the past for what they were. Lies that were the result of demonic oppression or just false beliefs that the stress of past traumas caused him to believe about himself. But now he sees himself as God sees him, and he knows that experiencing peace in life lies in choosing to believe the truth of what God says about him rather than the negative self-talk that caused him to freeze up and plagued him continually throughout his life. Raif knows that walking and talking with God through regular spiritual disciplines of Bible study and prayer is part of his pathway to peace, and he has been earnest in trying to be faithful to follow it. Yesterday I shared Raif's prayers and Bible verses for his children, but he also shared with me a daily prayer that he composed from the things he learned in the Freedom in Christ course that I want to to share today. And I call it Rafe's Prayer, but you could also call it the Freedom in Christ Daily Prayer by Rafael Guardado. And Rafe prays: Dear gracious Heavenly Father, I worship you and praise you, for there is none like you, and you are the only all-powerful and wise God. You are kind, compassionate, full of mercy, and loving in all your ways. I love you and thank you that I am united with Christ and spiritually alive in him. Thank you for the gift of your Son and his everlasting sacrificial love. To you, I am worthy— I am worth the death of Jesus Christ. That's how much you love me. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever separate me from your love. Thank you for drawing me and calling me to follow you. Thank you for choosing me before the foundations of the earth. I choose not to love the world, and I crucify the flesh and all its passions. I believe and embrace the truth of who you say I am. I am a new creation in Christ. I was spiritually dead, but now I am alive in Jesus. I was a sinner saved by grace, but now, because of my position in Christ, I am a saint, a holy one empowered by grace and truth. I thank you for the life I have in Christ, and I ask you to fill me to overflowing with your Holy Spirit so that I may live my life free from the power of sin. I choose to believe the truth, and I refuse to be discouraged. You are the God of all hope, and I am confident that you will meet my every need according to your riches in glory. I will seek to live by your word and believe the truth. I express with confidence that I can live a responsible life through Christ who strengthens me. The same power which rose Jesus from the dead dwells in me. I trust you to complete the work that you started in me. I now take my stand against Satan and command him and all his evil spirits to depart from me now. I renounce all the lies of the enemy and false beliefs about myself. When temptation comes, I will submit to You. Resist the devil and he will flee from me. I am a child of God and the evil one cannot touch me. I will ignore his condemnation and accusations against me because there is no condemnation in Christ. I declare my dependence upon God Almighty. With him all things are possible. I put on the whole armor of God, the shoes of the gospel, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit. I submit my body as a living sacrifice and renew my mind by your living word of God, in order that I may prove that the will of God is good, acceptable, and perfect. I remind myself that you are in control and reign above all things. Therefore, I put my confidence and complete trust in you. Thank you, Father God, that I have a future and a hope both now and for all eternity. Thank you that in Christ I am accepted, significant, safe, and secure in you. I honor you as my sovereign Lord. I acknowledge that you are always present with me. You promised never to leave me or forsake me because you live in me. I am one with Christ and Christ is one with me. Use me, Lord, to bring your light and love to someone today. Lead and guide me by your Holy Spirit. May I be your hands and feet today to touch this hurting world. Praise you, God, for this brand new day. Your mercies are new and fresh. Thank you for your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Thank you for the gift of the fruit of the Spirit. May it reign in my heart and mind and flow through my life to others. I praise you and pray all these things in the mighty and In the precious name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As I said yesterday, when we teach, we often learn from our students as much as— as much, if not more, than we impart to them. Rafe has reminded me that this following Jesus thing is the thing that matters. It's the thing that can take us from freeze mode to freedom mode. And no matter what hurts, habits, or hangups we bring with us, when we put our faith in Jesus, we can experience a new and eternal life of peace, hope, and joy, and be free of all the bondages of the past that kept us stuck when we choose to believe God's truth about us and walk in his ways. So pray Rafe's prayer and believe what it says about who you are in Christ. Because the power of God works by your faith in him and choosing to follow where he leads. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on death and eternal life, and today's passage is from John chapter 11, verses 17 through 26, from the New Living Translation. The word of God says When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had been already been in his grave for 4 days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. 'But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.' Jesus told her, 'Your brother will rise again.' 'Yes,' Martha said, 'he will rise when everyone else rises at the last day.' Jesus told her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never, ever die.' Do you believe this, Martha? Today's verses fall under the 10th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on death and eternal life. That 10th point is: Jesus comforted Mary and Martha after Lazarus died. He is the resurrection and the life. Today's verses are a continuing theme in my faith walk, as I was a dead man walking before Jesus called me out of the grave. And I often point to this very passage to beg the question: Do you believe this about who Jesus is and about His power to raise others to a new life of freedom, peace, and joy when they simply believe and agree to walk with Him? The good news is we have eternal life. Although we may die, we will live with God forever. But we should also understand that we have the life of Christ, the Holy Spirit, living in us now., and we can experience the joy of our resurrected lives, like Lazarus did, here in the world of the living. 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 According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allford, and in his devotional. Alford directs us to read a chapter of scripture from the New Testament, and today's chapter is John 20. And from John 20, Jesus shares— well, Stephen Alford shares, um, from verse 16, where Jesus said, said, well, where Jesus said to her, Mary, And that's the verse. Jesus said to her, "Mary." Anyway, Alford writes, early in this gospel, the Lord Jesus had given expression to these words: "He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name." John 10:2-3. The Lord Jesus had just opened the door or way to the Father by his death and resurrection, he now stood before one of his puzzled and confused sheep. Jesus said to her, 'Mary.' He called his own sheep by name, and the sheep knew his voice and followed him. It is grand to know that he has my name carved on the very palms of his hands. And Stephen Alford ends with praying, May I ever be ready to hear my name called and reply, "Master." Amen. Amen. Yeah, that's, you know, it's a small little section of scripture there. Jesus said to her, "Mary," you know, because she didn't recognize the resurrected Christ. She, in her grief, and you know, because Jesus was a little bit different after being resurrected, Mary Magdalene didn't, didn't recognize him. And they said, "Where is he? Where is he?" And that picture of the resurrection is really a picture of us who knew about Jesus but didn't know Jesus before we came to Jesus. Like my testimony of being in a liturgical church with Jesus all over the place, but I misunderstood the gospel to mean I had to be a good person. I had to be a good boy to go to heaven. And I wasn't a good boy. I wasn't a good man. And I figured I was a big sinner. And, you know, I was convinced of that. And I really had to hope for Mary, the Virgin Mary, to pray for me at the now and in the hour of my death, because I didn't know I was going to be saved. I thought I would, you know, had to earn it. It was only after I realized the gospel wasn't about my, my performance. It was about God's grace and the free gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. That doesn't have to be earned. That is a free gift. That I was able to see the resurrected Christ for who he was, not a dead man, suffering dead man on a cross, somebody who's risen to life that proved he was God. And proved that we could be resurrected through him and given a new life that not only, you know, is there for us when we die, but it's here for us now when we realize it, and that we can be changed through the power of faith and, you know, and the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Uh, I had tried to change my life several times before coming to God. A lot of self-improvement programs and diet plans and exercise programs and attempts to change the formula of my experimentation with drugs and alcohol, and they all failed. You know, I could be good for a time or a season, but then it would fall away and I would go into darkness even more than I was before. It was only because of the light of Jesus in my life that I realized I didn't have to earn it. That I was already set free and I just had to believe it to receive it. Was I able to walk free of drugs and alcohol and sexual immorality and most of the throes of food addiction? Still battling that one, you know, but I have like a measure of victory over it in that I can see when I go astray pretty easily. Like, okay, you stop trying there and you You decided to treat yourself and comfort yourself with these foods, and now you feel sick because you ate too much or you ate things that just don't sit well with your body. And, um, you know, it might take a week or so or a few days for me to realize the error of my ways, but it's pretty apparent. And, um, all I have to do to find victory again is to go back to the Lord. Remind myself who I am and ask him to help me, ask him to forgive me and help me and lead me again. And so after my vacations, dalliances with the things of the world in terms of food, um, I got 2 more days. I got 2 days of victory behind me since Monday, so today will be day 3, back on track. And I'm hoping that this time, you know, I won't veer off that I'm free and I can live it. One of the things in my food plan and the recent victory I had was I upped the ante on accountability by tracking with a food app and by utilizing someone to basically tell them I was on track. And that was good for a season, and that was good for sustained victory and a new breakthrough. But walking forward, I'm gonna try to walk, you know, try to walk a little free without those constraints. I mean those guidelines, you know, of accountability. Now if you need them, you should utilize them, but I want to try to walk free like I did from sexual immorality, where I walked free just by leaning on the Lord, not by checking in with someone every day to say, "I haven't fallen into sin again." which we need. But as we grow, we should try to grow. But if you need those boundaries and those protections to keep your eyes straight and keep your path straight, utilize them. I've just gone far enough in my walk that I want to try to trust in the Lord more instead of trusting my accountability partner to be there. Which, you know, not for nothing, they're there sometimes and give an encouraging word most of the times, but occasionally I would check in and not get an encouraging word, and it seemed like I was all alone. And so if I was counting on my accountability partner to build me up, you know, he's only human, and there might be a lack there. So we should utilize the— utilize you know, the tools of recovery, accountability, to help us. But ultimately, we should, should be yearning to lean on Jesus and the Holy Spirit to guide us, to change our hearts so there isn't an issue that we need to, you know, guard ourselves from. I'm leaning towards that, and the Lord's been doing amazing work in my heart and mind lately in terms of shutting the door on secular entertainment a little bit. I now watch Hallmark movies with my wife and enjoy them. I think he's changed my heart and my life. I think my wife loves it, so it's okay, you know. It's just like the harshness of the macabre, the violent, or the sexually explicit just sort of doesn't sit well with me anymore. So, you know, we'll let that change us, and I'm hoping the food thing you know, you know, the falls into food, ice cream, and things of the like basically all revealed to me that those things really aren't quote-unquote good food. When we change the way we think, we can really change the way we live. So we're gonna do it. We got 2 more, 2 days of victory where, you know, there's not any doubt, even though I didn't track it necessarily every calorie and every carb in my food app. I know now what is within acceptable limits without the food app. So I might utilize it. It's probably a good idea to do that just to track my progress. But when you can just do it without it, there's another measure of freedom available to you. So we press in and we press on. And a lot of it just comes from knowing it's possible. After hearing the testimony of Freedom in Christ, Rafe started to believe, "Wow, this could really— this thing really changed this guy's life. It's really changed people's lives. It could maybe change me." And it did. And like I said, he's still new in his freedom in Christ and he's He probably wouldn't declare himself to be completely healed and brand new or anything, or he would, but he's walking in it and he's experiencing a freedom and a peace that he's never— he hasn't known before. And his testimony is not unique. Several of the men that have gone through this Freedom in Christ course, when they apply these teachings to their lives and choose to believe the truth and walk in them daily, they They come away changed when they surrender everything in the Freedom in Christ course and the Steps to Freedom in Christ. They are— they leave their past behind. And it happened to me, and I'm telling you, it can happen to you. So if you want to check out our discipleship teachings, they're on the YouTube channel. Look up Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, or the Freedom in Christ course on the M.t. for Christ 247 podcast or the M.t. for Christ 247 YouTube channel and you'll find them there. And if you email me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com, I can even send you the materials I handed out for those classes via email free of charge. So that's our ministry, one of encouragement and freedom, because we've experienced it and we want to tell people that they can experience it too. So let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for the freedom you've given us and for the, the joy we've seen in other people that have come to know it too. Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom as we walk across this earth. And Lord, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading the message today, that you come alongside them, their prayer request, and their walk of faith, because we all need your help, Lord, and we're asking for it today. Um, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.