Grand Theft Donkey or a Mission From God Purity 823

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 fiery sunset over a river pathway comes to us from an anonymous friend who shared this scene on social media on or around June 21, 2021. The details behind the scene have been lost to time, or at least from my memory, but the sheer beauty that was captured demanded to be released from the confines of my phone's photo archive. But if the photographer would like to share their identity or the location of their photo, contact me and I will update this post, or I will change the photo and text if I'm stepping out of bounds again. Uh, just like the disciples sent to take a pair of donkeys for Christ to ride into Jerusalem on, I felt the Lord had need of it and will seek forgiveness from any offended party if necessary, because I know that Because of God's grace and my faith in Jesus Christ, I am secure in the forgiveness of the Lord. I might offend people, but I know I am good with God. In truth, God made all things, so they sort of belong to him. I'm just trying to use what he made to give him some glory. Uh, while I am not necessarily encouraging others to be reckless by asking for forgiveness rather than permission with a grace covering, um, sometimes we have to take risks. And be bold rather than cower in fear of what others may say. And not for nothing, uh, Christ didn't exactly tell the disciples to ask pretty please with sugar on top when they procured those donkeys. Matthew 21:1-3 says, now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them. In essence, Christ told the disciples to get 'er done. No seeking of permission here. Not only that, his wording sort of indicates not to take no for an answer. If anyone says anything to you, say the Lord has need of them, and they will immediately send them. Of course, this was the Lord's will. The donkeys would be part of fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah. Matthew 21:4-5 tells us, tells us, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt. The foal of a donkey. So Jesus knew that nothing would stand in their way, or at least would not successfully stand in their way. And although the disciples may have been doubtful, Matthew 21:6 tells us, so the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded. The disciples got it done, and the rest is Palm Sunday history. So be bold and courageous. But also be prepared to discover that we don't have the perfect knowledge of Jesus, and all the things that we think that would be good for God and us will probably not fulfill prophecy and not— it may not necessarily be God's will. You may run into resistance, you may be rejected, you may fail and be humbled. But guess what? You never know until you try, and a large part of living by faith and walking in the Spirit is in deciding to act on what we believe to be God's will for us without being sure. When we step out in faith, we may fail or we may succeed, but we will never know and we will never grow unless we try to follow what we believe to be God's guidance. As someone who has run into a fair amount of walls when I thought I could see around the next corner, let me encourage you to go for it, or to do it afraid. Because whether it is the lady or the tiger on the other side of the door of faith that you choose to walk through, it will be used by God as part of your journey. Either we will rejoice of the good things we discover through our acts of faith, or we will be humbled and reminded of just how much we don't know, and how much we desperately need the Lord in our life. That's walking in the spirit. No matter what we encounter, God is with us and we— and we'll use our successes or our trials and errors to bring us closer to him. So keep walking and talking with God and follow those intuitions and promptings to do something you wouldn't normally think to do. Yesterday I had a service call to an older gentleman., who had health problems and had difficulty navigating the stairs to his upstairs apartment, so he threw down his keys. When I got inside and asked about the trouble he was having with his phone service, I got a long list of complaints about his physical well-being. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but when customers start telling you their life story or problems, you usually want to get about your business and get out of there. And I did. But while I was in my van, uh, waiting on the phone with tech support to fix his problems, I got a feeling to talk to this man about the Lord. And at first I'm like, sure, Lord, uh, that guy? Oh brother. Um, but after I finally got his problem fixed and was back in his apartment to tell him I was done, I looked around and noticed a Bible and some Our Daily Bread devotionals. So after I wrapped up my spiel about the phone service being fixed, I mentioned his Bible, and we proceeded to have a conversation about God in which this man told me even more of his story. It turns out this man— I'll call him John— was 79 years old and is a Vietnam veteran. John always lived fast. He liked to smoke and drink and actually owned two hot rods in his youth. But about 16 years ago, during a routine checkup, it was discovered that he had a tumor in his heart. His health problems caused him to settle down and downsize. He sold his house and his hot rods and moved to the more manageable apartment that I found him in. His tumor was taken care of by surgery, but when that happened, John decided that beyond medical expertise, he quote-unquote needed help. Because he knew if he died, he wouldn't be going to a good place. So he sought the Lord, and he found the help he needed at a nearby church. John still smokes, but he stopped drinking, and now all his old friends complain that he, quote unquote, found religion. But even though John recently suffered a stroke and other aches and pains, he testified that he has peace, and because of his turning to God and putting his faith in Jesus Christ, he knows that he will be with the Lord when he dies and won't be going to the bad place. So I told John that I don't normally talk about God to all my customers, but that when I was sitting in the van, the Lord told me to talk to him. And so I encouraged John and told him that even though he is suffering and alone a lot of the time, that I believe that the Lord sent me to tell him that God was with him and he wasn't alone. John thanked me and I wished him a good day. And as I walked back to my van, I felt the Holy Spirit come over me as, and as I was greatly encouraged by being bold enough to step out in faith to encourage this man I had never met. Um, this is walking in the Spirit. We do what the Lord puts on our hearts even if we, uh, we feel it's awkward and we aren't sure of what will happen. For every misstep or offense we may encounter, uh, there will be times like yesterday when we can know that we stepped into God's will for our lives, to know him and to make him known. So be bold, be courageous, take what the Lord has need of and bring it to where he tells you to go. We can always apologize if we get it wrong, But honestly, because of Christ, we are forgiven, so even if we mess up, it's okay. And amazingly, even our blunders will be used to make us rely on him more and grow into the people he wants us to be. So grab that donkey and let's go! Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 145:18, and it says, "The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth." Today's verse reminds us that the Lord is near to all who call upon him and that sincerity matters. God knows us. He knows our hearts. He knows our minds, and he knows who are his children. For us in the New Testament era, today's verse describes our status as God's adopted children when we put our faith in Christ. When we call upon the Lord and call upon him in truth, meaning when we sincerely put our faith and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God is not only near to us, his Holy Spirit— the Holy Spirit— comes to indwell us. You can't get any closer to God than that, right? Wrong. You can get closer to God. Yes, the Holy Spirit is with everyone who puts their faith in Christ, but we, but we can— we, we are brought closer to God, uh, when we surrender to his will for our lives and decide to live for him. If you doubt that, take a look around the folks who identify as Christians. While all of us are in Christ, some of us may have more spiritual maturity than others. Some call on the Lord all day long but haven't answered the call to follow him in repentance. So let's be real, let's be true, and be sure to call on the Lord to know his presence, but to also be true to the call that he puts on our lives to follow him. As always, I encourage all— I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org, where I always share insights and prom— uh insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and we're in chapter 15 where he's discussing, uh, the powers and, uh, the systems of governments, uh, in the world and how they may influence one another. And today's section, um, uh, let's see, Clinton Arnold examines the, the work of Walter Wink, who wrote, I believe, 3 different books all about the possibilities that the, you know, governmental agencies are the powers that are affected by the enemy. But I think it's all— well, read Clinton Arnold's commentary on that, you'll see what it's all about. So if you want to check that out, go to mt4christ.org and you'll see what Clinton Arnold has to say about Walter Weng's work. And, uh, and the powers of darkness. As always, we encourage you to walk in the Spirit. As we've described today, this is the life of, of faith for a Christian, to, you know, turn to the true north of the Bible and follow Christ and God's will for our lives. And to do that, it requires a mind that's turned to God and a heart that's turned to God. And, uh, so we, we need to learn things. We have to know what the word says about us and about what we should do in this life. And, um, we offer our encouragements through our classes that we did in 2021, uh, that we podcasted for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all available on the podcast and our YouTube channel, M.t. For Christ 247. Um, so check those out. As always, we also encourage people to study the word of God, the Bible itself, by reading a little bit every day. Well, our daily bread is a good devotion. I usually tell people to read the, the word itself. And, uh, you know, if you're new to the Bible, to start in the New Testament, read all about all four gospels about Jesus, read the book of Acts and all the epistles, and then read Revelation. And, uh, take your time. Ask the Holy Spirit, you know, what you're trying to tell us with this book, and how can I be more like Christ. And, uh, you know, with that, you're— with the word of God as your guidance, you know, um, you can't go far wrong. Like I said, when you put your faith in Christ, you're forgiven, so you're allowed to make mistakes. And, uh, you know, try to live according to his glory, of course. Um, so that's that. Let's see, is there anything else? Nope, I don't think so. Um, yeah, no, I, uh, I'm looking forward to next week when I start my classes for Freedom in Christ and the Bonhoeffer class. Sort of terrified of the Bonhoeffer classes, it's a new venture, but, uh, it's exciting. Um, I just want to be able to get ahead of it. We'll see how that works out. So, but you'll get to see the fruit because I plan on podcasting it and putting it on the YouTube channel. So my success or my failure will be on display for all to see. And, you know, as long as what I do points to a life of discipleship to Christ and, you know, to doing the Lord's will, I really feel I can't fail too badly. Um, so, so we're gonna walk and step out in faith and do that new thing. And, um, you know, that's our life. We, we step out in the faith and we leave the results up to God. And we try to be true, uh, you know, stay with your Christian character, you know, and do what needs to be done, endure what you have to endure, and keep going. Um, God will— God is with us, so he's going to direct our path. We make mistakes, there's ways out of them, but it may take some time to get out of them. You know, sometimes our, you know, sometimes our struggles can seem like they have no end in sight, and there might not be an end. But with the Lord, we can walk through whatever we have to endure with peace and joy. We have to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ. In fact, that was supposed to be today's message, but it went sideways. Um, you know, basically I, I was, I was marveling over how we have to constantly remind ourselves of who we are in Christ and that we're forgiven, and then how we have these continuing revelations on this walk of how we have to remember things and remember them again or learn them again. Um, so this, this journey never gets boring. Um, so that's why I encourage people to keep going. And keep walking, talking with God. And so let's do that with prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you so much for, uh, everything you're doing in our lives and for those calls that you make to us, um, that we don't hang up on, that we, uh, sometimes hear clearly and answer and, and get blessed by walking in faith. To what you would have us do. Um, so Lord, we, we pray, um, for the people listening, whoever might be listening. We, we pray that you bless them, um, and that you'll come alongside their prayer request and help them through whatever they're going through. Or we just pray for their— your divine favor, your grace to be poured out in their life and to, um, to encourage them as they go. Lord, we thank you for all that you do. And Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today. Lord, we need your help. We need help, um, every day. And we're asking for your help today. So open our eyes to see the things you want us to see, and, um, you know, open our hearts to, to embrace what you have for us, and guide our steps so we go in the right direction. And, uh, help us to, to do the things you would have us do to best represent your kingdom today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.