Just Breathe… and Follow Him - Purity 939

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 an ascending boardwalk bridge bathed in sunlight underneath a clear blue sky comes to us from a friend who shared this scene from Port A back on May 7th, 2022 with a simple caption: Ah, just breathe. Well, it's Thursday again, and as is my habit, um, I share my friend's photo as a visual representation of the path of Christian discipleship, and I share her sentiment to encourage anyone who would hear or read this message to pause and rest in the moment and to consider drawing closer to God with the way you live your life. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to a life of peace and joy is the tendency for us to think of our relationship with the Lord as being separate from the rest of our lives. Our society and even our church culture can paint the picture that God is to be enjoyed in the four walls of the church and, and to be left there to be visited, uh, once a week or on special occasions. The belief that there has to be a separation of church and the rest of our lives seeks to put God in a box but invariably keeps the ones who hold such a view in a double-minded worldview and limited in their faith and in experiencing the fruit of the Spirit from growing in their lives. Such a categorization and division of the holy and secular would have us serving two masters, and unfortunately, the time spent in each realm would reveal that we might relate to the world more than we do to God. So how do we resolve this? Do we pack up our stuff and camp out in the church's front lawn and/or let the pastor know that we are officially drawing closer to God, so we will be setting up house in whatever space they can provide us within the church? While those ideas would certainly show where our— where your heart is, a better idea would be to welcome the Lord to move in with you and to ask him to go with you as you walk through life. The good news is that you won't be disrupting God. Uh, he's omnipresent, everywhere at once, so he doesn't even have to pack a bag to be your traveling companion through life. The truth is that if you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, his Holy Spirit lives in you already, and he will be happy to pour out into all the aspects of your life. Now, the idea of going on some spiritual journey might be a little scary to some, as we don't know what that is like, or because we fear what the Lord will have us do. Or we could fear that following the unseen God is just crazy. To that, I would echo the Lord's sentiments from His word in Joshua 1:9, where God said, "Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid." 'Nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.' And in Deuteronomy 31:6, where Moses encouraged, 'Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.' And in case you're one of those 'that was written to the nation of Israel' guys, Here is a verse directly concerning us, the church, Christians. 2 Timothy 1:7, where Paul, uh, writing about Christians, said, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." It is the same God from the Old to New Testament, and his word encourages that God is with us wherever we go. So let's talk to him. God will never leave us or forsake us, so let's draw on his presence, strength, and guidance to lead us. And God's Spirit lives in us to give us the power to overcome our fears, to love like he loves, and he assures us that following him can be done with a sound mind. So just breathe and follow him. I'm sharing a link from openbible.info. Info's list of "Do Not Fear" verses on the blog today to encourage you and to assure you that you need not fear developing your relationship with the Lord. He will teach you through His Word and His presence if you just stop, take a breath, and decide to follow wherever He leads you. Don't worry, He will most likely lead you to a body of Bible-believing Christians where you can grow and discover His purpose for your life. Uh, if you're local to the Capital District, I'm sharing the link, uh, to this week's prayer event, uh, Pray Together, where 4 Capital District churches are coming together to pray, um, pray for various things. Tonight will be— well, yesterday we prayed about our lost loved ones, our lost neighbors, our lost colleagues, and our cities, basically for people to come to the Lord. Um, if you want to find out what we're praying about tonight, go to the link and discover, uh, which church we're going to— the church at Newton Road, uh, tonight. Um, and, uh, you can consider this my invitation to come and see what the Lord may do in this event and to possibly join one of the 4 churches represented there. Um, if you're not local and you're in for a deeper walk with God and to experience your freedom in I'm sharing a link to Freedom in Christ Ministries where you can boldly step out and, uh, join an online class. Um, I will be leading the Freedom in Christ course for men on Tuesday nights, but there are many to choose from, and I know that any one of them can help you in further developing your relationship with God. Classes begin near the end of the month, so sign up today. Whether you can make it to the local prayer event, sign up for a class, or, or not, let me encourage you to just breathe and make the daily decision to keep walking and talking with God and to discover the life of abundant peace and peace and joy and the other fruit of the Spirit that he has for you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Ephesians 3:19, and it says, May you experience the love of Christ, though, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Today's verse encourages us that we are made complete when we experience God's love that provides us with all the fullness of life, even though it may be too great to understand. I remember a worship song that considered the question of God's amazing love. There are others, but Chris Tomlin's Amazing Love states: I'm forgiven because you were forsaken. I'm accepted, you were condemned. I am alive and well, your spirit is within me because you died and rose again. Amazing love. How can it be that you, my King, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true. It's my joy to honor you. In all I do, I honor you. Uh, it's difficult to understand why God would send his Son to die for us, but he did, and, and he did it because of his love for us. And when we know God's love and make Jesus our Lord and Savior, it fills the empty, the empty, the empty space of our lives that only God was meant to fill. God's love gives us the fullness of life. And so I echo Paul's prayer that even though you may not be able to fully understand it, I pray that you experience the love of Christ and allow him to give you the fullness of life and the power that only comes from God. 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 from sharing, uh, continue sharing from A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God, and today we continue in chapter 3 The Sovereignty of God in Administration, and it's on Section 3. It says, "God governs the children of men." So if you don't think God's the boss of you, you might want to go to mtforchrist.org and check out what A.W. Pink has to say about how God is— governs the children of men. Um, so yeah, anyway, um, yeah, um, in regards to the prayer event last night, I'm continually encouraged by what's happening at these events. Um, it's a simple prayer meeting. Pastors get up and they guide the, guide the people that gather to, to pray in certain areas, and, uh We just sit in silent prayer for a few minutes to go to the Lord in prayer. And a lot's happening. As much as I'm petitioning the Lord, I'm getting things from God. A lot seems to be happening in the spirit realm in my life right now, and there seems to be great hope, um, you know, for something new. And we'll see what happens. Um, we don't know what that is, and unfortunately that's just the way it goes when you walk in the Spirit. You don't always know where you're going, but we know we're following the Lord and we know that he'll lead us to good things. So whether it's a lot or a little, um, everything I hope for or something in between, I'm encouraged that the Lord has really brought me to this place of prayer at the beginning of the year as I've been doing the One Minute Pause apps, 30 Days of Resilience, in the mornings and afternoons and just drawing close to the Lord in prayer and listening and considering him and inviting him to speak and to bless me or whatever, um, I really feel like I'm being, being led somewhere new. And so we're, we're, we're, we're greatly encouraged, and I encourage you to, you know, follow the Lord and to pray. Praying doesn't have to be so much about asking the Lord for things and you know, as it might be to just breathe and listen. So I encourage you to, you know, draw close to the Lord in prayer, Bible study, to get to know him more, and to follow him wherever he leads, and to step out in faith. Faith— your faith grows the more you step out. You do something, you take one step closer to God, he takes a step closer to you. As I heard someone this describe it once before, he might take 2 steps closer to you. He's all around you, so, you know, the analogies sort of break down. But this life in Christ is the life we were all meant to live. And sorry about diversity and everything. God made one way for mankind to have peace with the Lord, and we're all supposed to find Jesus and follow him. And so we are— when we discover our faith in Christ and who we are in Christ, we realize how blessed we are. That amazing love has been poured out for us, and we don't know why we are the ones whose eyes were open to it, but we thank the Lord for that. And we speak of it wherever we go and try to represent his kingdom wherever he calls us. You know, one of the prophets said You know, "Lord, send me." And if you say that, he may send you. So be ready and don't be afraid because he'll lead you to good places. Ask me how I know. It's been a, you know, it's not always been an easy journey. It's been difficult, but it was the right one, the one to follow the Lord. When you follow the Lord, you really have no regrets. Because you're doing what you were called to do, to, to follow the one who made you, to try to speak his truth and share his truth. That's, that's the, the purpose for our lives. And there's many different ways you can do that, many different missions that the Lord has for all of us. And, uh, every— I would say no, no two walks are the same. So discover your walk with God and follow him. So that's, that's it. That might be a little short today, short and sweet, as I sit and wait to see what the Lord has to do. So much to do in the next month, I think, will be quite telling in terms of direction and whatnot. As I begin this Freedom in Christ course on the 31st, I begin the deeper walk prayer ministry cohort next week, a week from today. Oh boy. And we'll see if there's anything else out there that the Lord has. But I got a word from my doctor yesterday during a CDL, a CDL examination, to, you know, that indicated I should press into the, the health goals that I have as well. That I'm not, you know, sometimes we don't view ourselves in truth. We remember who we were more than who we are. And God's done a mighty work in all of us. A great part of our victory and our freedom is realizing the work has been done and that we need to start living according to what God has said about us. And about what, you know, living in the, uh, the victory that he's given us. So I'm greatly encouraged, and I hope anyone listening to this message will be encouraged as well. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you've done in our lives. Lord, we thank you for whatever opportunities you have on the horizon. We thank you for the opportunity of this day. To give you praise and, and glory, uh, and, and the simple ways we try to point people to you. Lord, we pray for anyone listening or reading this message today, Lord, that they, they would be blessed. We pray for you to come alongside their prayer request. Lord, we give you praise for what happened in Bob Griffin's life as he's given— he's been— he was given a positive report in regards to his diagnosis. Of cancer and prognosis of treatment, um, that it's— that seems positive. And so we're going to continue to pray for Bob and, um, and, uh, know that, um, regardless, you'll be with us of outcomes. And so we just pray for— on Bob's half, for his healing, Lord, that you're really doing a mighty work, it seems, in his life. And we You're always doing a mighty work though. Um, so we, we thank you for that. We pray for, uh, Fred Dimmick, uh, as well, who's, who's apparently out and walking about after his appendicitis, uh, uh, surgery. So, um, we pray for Fred's healing, and we also pray for my father's healing. But I'm pretty sure, you know, uh, you know, there's many good things that are happening medically, um, here. Now granted Doctors weren't involved, but, uh, we know you're the healer, so we'll take that. And we thank you for that. And we pray for anyone else out there who has medical concerns. Um, or we just, we just thank you. We thank you to use this prayer event to bring revival to the Capitol District. As all those people come together to pray, uh, let their prayers be answered and let their faith be, you know, come alive, uh, more than it, than it was, uh, when we began the event. And let their lives go on to touch other lives, to bring people to, to Jesus. Um, I thank you for all that that's going on. And Lord, as always, we pray for you to go before us today, uh, open our eyes to the things that you want us to see, and lead our paths into the things that you want us to do. Lord, all we want to do is represent you here on the earth. And so we say, Lord God, we love you, we thank you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.