It’s YOUR DAY – For Those in Christ: You are a Saint! - Purity 1187

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 large boulder of rock entrenched on the side of a hill surrounded by pine trees with their autumn deciduous friends in the background comes to us from yours truly as I stopped for a moment to capture this enchanted forest in the early moments of my exploration of the High Falls Gorge Nature Experience in Wilmington, New York on Saturday, October 28th. Well, it's Wednesday, and I thought that this mini mountain of a rock was an adequate visual representation of our arrival at the midpoint of another work week. So happy Hump Day to all you saints out there. Uh, that's right, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am talking to you. As the apostles never addressed their epistles to the sinners in Rome, Ephesus, or Colossae, etc., we should not think think of ourselves as sinners saved by grace, although that is admittedly who we were and what happened. But since we have been filled with the Holy Spirit and given new life in Christ, we should embrace our new identity in Christ as saints. Saints is the word that, that is used to describe members of the church, those who were called by God to be adopted into his royal family. Since we put our faith in Jesus, we are forgiven, we are saved, we are children of God, we are citizens of heaven, members of a royal priesthood, and saints. So as today is All Saints' Day, consider today to be your day and remember the life that has been given to you in Christ and rejoice. While some traditions consider saints to be the all-star team of faithful Christians of the past, The Bible tells us that all who belong to God through their faith in Christ, the bride of Christ, the church, are saints. Just like our salvation, we don't have to do anything to become saints or to earn sainthood other than trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Don't get me wrong, I will certainly encourage you to pursue holiness and sanctification through repentance and renewing your mind with the word of God to become more and more like Jesus. But as for sainthood, you are already there, my friends. But of course, that doesn't mean you can't grow in righteousness and maturity to better reflect your new identity as a saint. So rejoice, saints! You didn't have to earn that title, but you can show the love you have for what the Lord has given you by sharing your faith and life in Christ through the way you live your life. You can tell people all day long that you are a saint, but it's probably better to take the humble road and let your life in Christ convince others that you have been changed by the Lord and walk the walk as well as talk the talk of a saint. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Groes. This morning's meditation verse comes to us from the section on Blame Shifting. Um, and today's verse is Proverbs 19:3 from the New King James Version. The Word of God says, "The foolishness of a man twists his way, and his heart frets against the Lord." Today's verse falls under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on Blame Shifting. And that second point is: some try to blame God. Today's verse testifies to how your own— our own sinful and selfish desires warp our walk through life, and how we tend to audaciously blame the Lord in our hearts for making us experience the suffering that our actions cause us. Okay, I have to admit I needed some help to glean the meaning from today's Bible verse. While I understand how my foolishness as a man has twisted my way from, uh, from experience, I didn't quite get how my heart frets against the Lord. Fret? Uh, the definition for fret, if you didn't know, is to be constantly or visibly worried or anxious, according to Oxford Languages. But how does one fret against the Lord? What do you mean? But before I went to Oxford to try to discern what the second half of this verse was trying to tell us, I decided to consult an easier, more user-friendly version of the Bible, the NLT, the New Living Translation, to see if I could get the meaning from it. While I am in many ways a child at heart, or just childish at times, I discovered that the NLT, which is appropriate for youth and those new to scripture, helps me, a Bible college graduate, uh, it helps me, um, to quickly discern the meaning of some of the more poetic passages in the New King James Version, although that is the one I prefer mostly. Anyway, the NLT presents Proverbs 19:3 3 as people ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. Angry, that's what fret against means. And I love the NLT, the way the NLT just sort of simplifies both portions of this verse to make the meaning ultra clear. I ruin my life by my own foolishness and then get angry at God. That was my pre-life, pre-Christ's life of struggle and strife. And not for nothing, that verse remains true for Christians who decide to go their own way rather than following Jesus and choosing to walk in the Spirit and do things according to God's Word. So, with the NLT making this clear, I can see how this verse is associated with blame shifting. We screw up our lives doing things our own way, and we blame God for making, making me this way. But now that we know the truth of who Christ is, let's not do that. Let's not twist our way with our own foolishness and fret against God in our hearts. Instead, let's acknowledge our old ways as foolishness and choose to accept responsibility for what we do and choose to do things according to the wisdom of the Lord. 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 A.W. Pink's The Arthur Pink Anthology, a collection of A.W. Pink's tracts brought together in one book and dispersed here on the blog for your encouragement. Um, and basically today we continue sharing from the Arthur Ink— Arthur Pink Anthology, uh, the first tract, which is, uh, based on 1 John 2:2, and we're continuing the second part of that track. Those tracks are a little lengthy, so we are— we take our liberty in breaking them up for easy dispersal or distribution for your reading enjoyment. I think the limit was 4 paragraphs I tried to draw on this, so there's 2 parts to this one, and then we'll start a new track tomorrow. And the next one I looked ahead, unlike yesterday, I looked ahead and I see that the next one I broke up into 5 parts. So, well, maybe I'll put part 2 of 2 on that so we know— there we go— that there's no more tomorrow. So I don't know who follows the blog, but if you do, you know, I want to try to make it as user-friendly as possible. If you're reading the, you know, reading all the way through it to get to those resources, you know, I owe it to you to make it as as clear as possible. And, you know, not for nothing, the history of the blog, I've shared books upon books upon books. So if you don't have a library of Christian material, you can literally go through my, through the blog, you know, through the blog and go from message to message and read entire books. Don't tell anyone, basically, because, you know, copyright. That's why we choose ancient saints like Arthur Pink, who won't object too much if his material is shared. You know, I'd hate to have to undo everything I've done by sharing, you know, and don't tell anyone, it's for your, you know, you get to share a little bit, it's called free use, you know, it's all good, it's not a sin. We're just trying to encourage people, you know, walking walk in the Lord, they got to be equipped, you know. So anyway, I'm not— I don't feel guilty about it, I swear. No, not at all. And as I put on each little thing, I basically tell you to go out and purchase the books for yourself. So there you go. If you feel guilty, you feel guilty, not me. Anyway, I have a big library at home. So anyway, that's enough of that. I made a decision today. This is a blog, you know, podcast exclusive, to increase my training in the Steps to Freedom in Christ by joining the Advanced Encourager training that'll begin next year. So my Thursday nights will be open for a short time, and then beginning in 2024, from 8 to 10, I'll be on Central Time getting encouraged online if I'm accepted. To, you know, get more equipped in discipleship counseling, the process of leading people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, and to take on special considerations with that. I have a decent amount of experience with leading people through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, but I love the mission of Freedom in Christ Ministries, and when I'm given an opportunity to take a class or learn and I think it's worthwhile, I'll go for it. I won't necessarily sign up for everything, or at least that's what I say. We'll see, we'll see, we'll see, because I, you know, not for nothing, in terms of, you know, gaining my freedom in Christ, the Lord has really given me a abundant freedom in Christ, freedom from drugs, alcohol, sexual addiction. Now we're taking on the food addiction. And not for nothing, today we weigh in an all-time low of 209 pounds. It was actually 208.2, but, uh, and then 208.6. So we're rounding up just to keep it real and not to disappoint ourselves next week in case we go over that. But, um, the Lord has, um, has moved me to repentance in all the areas of my life where things had gone astray. Our sins is basically missing the mark. And I hate to say it, you know, the big indictment for Christians who don't feel free, who don't feel victorious, is a lack of repentance, a lack of awareness, lack of, lack of discipleship, quite frankly. Are you following the Lord? Are you applying His teachings to your life? Are you looking at the man in the mirror and seeing what needs to change? And are you taking steps to trust the Lord to help you to do that? And don't get me wrong, you know, we might not be ready for the changes that we know we need to make. We might be fighting the strongholds of the enemy that tell us that change is impossible. Our experience tells us that we, we've tried and failed so many times, so how can we have victory? And if I get victory, maybe I'm just going to lose it, and what will be the point? Um, you know, when it's, when it's done in the flesh, those, those are real problems. Um, but when it's done in the Spirit, I think the Lord will, the Lord will give you a victory that you won't lose. He does that with our faith in terms of making us saints, that no one takes away our salvation when we have it. And, you know, no one— now, you know, as I understand substance abuse and addictive behaviors very well, I understand that people relapse and people can fall back into the things they they were set free from. But when the, the word of God says, when the Lord sets you free, you're free indeed. And you don't always have to struggle with things according to that, to that principle, um, that you'd be free from it and you walk away from it. I used to smoke. I don't smoke anymore. You know, I used to do drugs. I don't do those anymore. I used to drink. I I don't do that anymore. I used to be in sexual immorality. I don't do that anymore. I'm not. And why? Because I put my faith in Christ. I saw the truth of how those things weren't what he had for my life, and I've continued to walk in it, and I haven't looked back. And if I fall down, I get up and I keep going towards his freedom. And so when it's a matter of I still struggle with anxiety, fear, or depression, like maybe for a moment. That's not the— that's not those emotions that come and go and that the Lord uses to direct our path. Those negative emotions don't define my life anymore like they used to. And, you know, we— oh, I always go back to who I am in Christ, what He's done for me. When we stand on the foundation of what the Lord's done for us as saints, or Oh brother, you know, nothing can get us down. The fact that we'll never die and that we'll go, you know, should our bodies fail and we die, we are with the Lord forever. Um, that should erase all fear from your mind. And so I pray that the saints out there, not the sinner saved by grace, because that's who you were, but who you are is a saint. And when you embrace your identity in Christ, you can realize the freedom that he has for you. And all you got to do is, as I say, keep walking and talking with God and pray, pray for him to help you, as I do every day. And the joy when you walk in the Spirit, the joy, the peace, the love, it all comes. Just keep going, you know, don't stop. The Lord's got us for eternity, so we're going to walk with him. So just continue in that pathway. A Christian life is possible. It doesn't have to be some weird cultural political thing. It's a relationship with the Lord, and it's highly personal, and it spills over in all your relationships. So let it— let the Lord's work be done in you and in your life, and, you know, live it anyway. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you so much for the freedom that you've given us. Thank you for making me a saint. Thank you for making all my friends who put their faith in Jesus saints too. Um, Lord, we pray for them today. We pray for all the saints. We pray for them to know that they're saints, to know who they are in Christ, and to know that they've been set free if they simply follow you and experience it. Um, Lord, um, we just pray for the people listening today, that they'd be blessed and that you come alongside them in their prayer request and their walk of faith, because Lord, we all need your help. And me most of all. So Lord, I just pray for you to go before me today. Open my eyes to the things that I need to see and lead my steps in the way I should go. Don't let me get too prideful or think too highly of myself, and don't let me go so low that I forget who I am in Christ. Help me to stay in that, in that peace where you live. Let me remember your presence is with me everywhere as I have your Holy Spirit in me. Um, Lord, thank you for the gift of my salvation, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and encourage me and strengthen me. And, uh, we just pray for you to go before us today to lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you and your kingdom because of the life and the love that you've given to us. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.