How to Find True Significance – An Encouragement from FICM’s Mark Eshelman - Purity 1198

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 view of Lake Moreau from the top of Spring Overlook Trailhead comes to us from yours truly as my wife and I went to enjoy God's creation, one another's company, and the stillness of His presence on a hike at Moreau Lake State Park this this past Saturday on Veterans Day. Well, it is Tuesday, and lately, as we draw nearer to Thanksgiving, I have been filled with thankfulness for my relationship with God and the wonderful, faithful people of God that he has put along the path of my life's journey as I seek to grow in my faith and into my purpose in God's kingdom. I have so many portraits of these people as I have either encountered them or remembered them recently that I could dedicate a blog post to the saints of my life to fill the rest of the month. And I might do that starting today, because if I were to try to share about the meaningful friendships that I have had— I've made in the body of Christ since coming to faith all at once, it wouldn't give a true picture of the mass of humanity, all those brothers and sisters in Christ that have passed through the life of someone who spent his time alone in a basement and his, his own personal darkness before coming to Christ. God has not only filled my life with his illuminating light of truth and love, but he also filled it with people. One of those people, even though we don't know each other too well, is Mark Eshelman. Mark is field staff and the Southwest Regional Director of Prayer for Freedom in Christ Ministries USA, but before that, Mark was the Northeast Regional Director of Prayer. Before going to California, Mark lived in New Jersey, and I made his acquaintance in San Antonio, Texas, at the Freedom in Christ Ministries practicum, where I completed my training to become a Community Freedom Ministry Associate. After that, I joined Mark for the online monthly prayer meetings he hosted. As I said, I don't know Mark too well, but my limited exposure to him, I know Mark to be a faithful man of God with a real heart for freedom ministry and encouraging others to live free in Christ. Upon learning that I podcasted my blog and these community freedom ministry classes I had taught at my local church in 2021, it was Mark who had— who was the first person to suggest that I become an online course facilitator for Freedom in Christ Ministries. A suggestion I took and have been blessed by. In 2024, I'll be leading another Freedom in Christ course for men online, and you can register today by going to the blog and clicking on a course. My course is on Monday night, and it's for men only, but there's other courses there to get you started. And I did that all in part because Mark encouraged me that I could do it. Thank you, Mark. But Mark hasn't stopped encouraging people to find or to expand their freedom in Christ. Mark continues serving FICM as field staff and the Southwest Regional Director of Prayer, and he also contributes occasionally to the, uh, the Freedom in Christ Ministry newsletter, a weekly encouragement. I recently was encouraged by a message Mark shared back in October of this year on true significance, and because it inspired me, I'm sharing it on the blog today. And Mark writes, how to find true significance. Significance is defined in the online dictionary as the quality of being worthy of attention or importance. There are several aspects of this that are worth discussing. How do feelings of insignificance and significance make us act? What is our true significance? How can we grow in significance? Let's look at each of these. Feelings of insignificance versus significance. It can be interesting to sit in meetings and look at how people relate to one another. Is someone besides the leader trying to be in charge? Does someone need to be right all the time? Does someone get angry when corrected or shown they are wrong? Does someone need the last word? Can people freely share their ideas without being attacked or put down? After literally thousands of technical work meetings, I have memories of all of the above events. To be honest, I have even played these roles myself. But finding freedom and significance in Christ has changed that for me. As some of you may know from Neil's writings, the three main aspects we lost in the fall are acceptance, security and significance. In Christ, these have been regained. But when we don't understand or believe that we are already significant, our behavior is very similar to the non-believers around us. Think about the meeting interactions discussed above. Again, true significance. One true significance— one true significance is actually defined by God. Um, or I'm sorry, I misread that. Um, it's our true significance is actually defined by God, not by how we feel or what we think of ourselves. If we are in Christ, we are already significant because we are the salt of the earth and the light of the light, a light on the hill, a branch attached to God's vine, a channel of his life, chosen and appointed to bear fruit. God's holy temple, a minister of reconciliation, God's workmanship. Believing these truths about ourselves will actually change the way we act. When we believe the significance of who we are, we act more gracefully. We don't need to be in charge. We don't need to prove we are right all the time. We don't need the last word. It changes us. I have seen this occur over a several-month process in my own life. It really does make a difference. Growing in significance. Beyond our initial significance in Christ, we can also grow in significance. It may be difficult to understand this at first. How can I grow in something that I already have? But life offers us many examples of this. I can play the guitar, but if I practice more and play in a group, I will get much better. I already do gardening, gardening, but if I read about soils and plant type needs, I will grow better tomatoes. In the same way, we grow in significance as we grow in godliness. We all know that we are a work in progress, but growth can occur as we apply what we already know. As it turns out, there is a biblical pattern which Paul explains in Colossians 1:9-10. Paul prays that the Colossians will progress as they gain knowledge of God's will, wisdom, and understanding. They are then encouraged to enact what has been understood to bring about fruit. When the fruit is formed, God gives us knowledge. In other words, to actually grow, we need to move away from an intellectually-based Christianity to one which includes the heart, soul, and actions. How does growth in godliness grow our significance? God trusts us with larger projects as we are faithful in the smaller ones. Do you remember the parable about the talents? It seems unfair that the one who invested and bore fruit should actually receive more, but that is exactly what Paul is saying. God invests in those who embrace and put to use the understanding they have. Yet, we need to remember how this actually works. It is not by personal effort alone. It is by letting God work and responding to His promptings. We are co-laborers, not just laborers in the Kingdom of God. Personally, I find that I need to relax in God's care and let Him work through me in order to actually accomplish anything. Many of us are action people who like to do things. But God's kingdom works differently. Growth and fruit appear as we abide, not as we strive. This is the picture Jesus gives us in John 15:5. We need to let God work and not just engage our physical, emotional, and mental capacities. As Jesus reminds us, "Apart from me you can do nothing." Nothing that will be significant in the end. And that was all from our good friend from FI— well, not, you know, like I said, I don't know Mark that well, but he is a friend in Christ, a brother in Christ. And that's from Mark Eshelman, field staff and Southwest Regional Director of Prayer of Freedom in Christ Ministries USA. Thanks, Mark, for this awesome encouragement. I have been blessed by encountering you on the path of Christian discipleship, and thank you for being one of the many saints of my life. 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 the church, or the communion of the saints. And today's verses are Ephesians 2:19-22 from the New Living Translation. The word of God says, so Now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners; you are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. Together we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, and the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling, in which God lives by his Spirit. Today's verses fall under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the church, or the communion of the saints. And the third point is: Together, Christians constitute God's household in which he lives by his Spirit. Today's verses remind us that God's kingdom isn't just some royal dictatorship. It's a family. And we are joined together through our blood brother, Jesus Christ. Now forgive that sketchy pun, but we are co-heirs with Christ, so he is not only our Lord and Savior, but he is also our brother. And because of his shed blood and the faith we have put in him, we are forgiven of all our sins, washed clean, and made righteous by the precious blood of Jesus. So blood brother isn't too far of a stretch, but admittedly I won't be trying to make that a thing. Blood brothers with Christ, because I am more than content enough to call him Lord, because it is through him that I was made a holy temple for the Lord where God lives by his Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in us, and so we live by the Spirit and we walk by the Spirit and enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit flowing through and out of the body of Christ. We are part of God's kingdom and members of his royal family. So let us rejoice and worship him in spirit and in truth. 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 Arthur Pink Anthology, which is a collection of A.W. Pink's tracks brought together in one book and dispersed here on the blog for your encouragement. Today we continue sharing from the second— well, the sixth track called Christian Fools, and it's a longer track, so we broke it up into 8 parts. And today we're sharing part number 2 of Christian Fools. If you want part 1, that was yesterday, but we share all that to encourage encourage you. And if you want to know what A.W. Pink has to say about Christian fools, you can check that out in the blog yesterday and today and for the next, you know, 6 blog posts, as we broke it up in 8 parts. As always, we encourage a lifestyle of Christian discipleship where we, where we meet all kinds of people and we, we gather together in a body in accordance corporate dwelling called the church. And we don't sit alone in the basement with our dark, dark desires anymore. We come out into the light and enjoy the fellowship of the saints that encourage us and drive us to find our purpose in Christ. And so we, we encourage you to, uh, to seek out your purpose and to know who you are in Christ and to become the person God created you to be. By living, uh, by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. And on the blog, we encourage that through our discipleship teachings that are all based on the Word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson of Freedom in Christ Ministries. The courses that we, we offer— Freedom in Christ, The Bondage Breaker, and Victory Over the Darkness— they're all on the blog and the podcast and our YouTube channel. And they're there to teach you about who you are in Christ, about the reality of the spiritual forces of darkness that oppose us, and about the Steps to Freedom in Christ, a prayerful repentant process that can help you to experience your freedom in Christ as you resolve all your personal and spiritual conflicts by coming to the Lord in prayer. It's a process that helped me and it continues to help me. And it helps me to encourage others to grow in their faith. And so we, we just point, you know, we can point to the people that we've come alongside of or who've come alongside us in this path, that it's not just me who knows this, other people know this too. And anyone who follows the Lord in spirit and in truth can tell you that there's an abundant life of transformed, joyful living available to you through your faith in Jesus Christ. But it's not just about, yeah, I believe for, you know, a church service on Sunday, and then I'm going to go about my business in the world of sin. Um, you know, part of coming to Christ is forsaking the world and drawing into what he has for us—his wisdom, his love, his presence. And so we do that, or we try to do that. We try to grow along the way. We do that by going, hey, you know what, I'm a little bothered in my spirit. I don't have peace. I'm upset. I'm anxious. I'm depressed. Why is that? Well, we look at what we're doing generally, what we're thinking about, or what we're engaged in. It's not of God. And when we recognize that we recognize it's drawing us into sin and confusion, um, we stop it and we change it. And the power to change all comes from agreeing with God's word and living in his presence. So we encourage a lifestyle of Christian discipleship because we've, we've discovered a measure of peace in it and a great freedom in it continually. So we encourage a daily spiritual practice of Bible study and prayer and just walking and talking with God. It doesn't have to be a complicated thing. We don't have to bow down necessarily to one individual person or something. The Lord's there for us to follow Him through His Word and His truth and His Spirit. And so we encourage that. Anyway, that's, that's enough for today, as we will go back to our regular day job every day that we're very thankful to have. Um, it provides for our needs and it helps people in some way. They can communicate. It's a telecommunications company. They need those. We need that internet to communicate and get information, uh, to share the gospel. So I'm gonna share our blogs and podcasts. So, uh, we're gonna go do that, but before we do, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for, for who you made us to be in Christ and for setting us free, for shining your light of truth and love into our lives and guiding us in the way we should go. And Lord, we just ask for you to do that again, and we ask you to do that for the people who may be listening or reading today's post. We thank you for our brother Mark Eshelman. You could bless him too while we're at it. Um, we just pray for you to come alongside them their prayer requests and their walk of faith. And Lord, as always, we ask 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, your kingdom, and your— our royal family, um, and to welcome other people to experience it, become part of it too. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.