Keeping Your Peace and the Power of Praise - Purity 1528

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a beautiful Lake Ontario sunset comes to us from Nicole Furch, who shared this tranquil vacation scene on social media back on October 29th, 2020. Full disclosure, I believe this is from Nicole Furch. I didn't note the photographer when I saved this to my phone, so if that's— if that is not the case and this memory is yours, give me a heads up and I'll photo credit you on the blog after the fact. But I'm pretty sure it's Nicole's. Anyway, it's Friday, thank God, and I share today's photo to welcome us to the weekend that begins at quitting time later today. While I'm not 100% sure the photo is Nicole's, I'm pretty sure it is because even though I haven't seen Nicole and her husband Greg in the flesh since before the year 2000, uh, wow, uh, I know in the year 2020 that they had, uh, a vacation on the shores of Lake Ontario because their photos from it gave me joy in the year of the pandemic because they, like me, didn't let the disease hysteria of that time get in the way of their living life. They carried on and did what they always did, and I praise the Lord for their enduring spirit. Anyway, shifting now to the present holiday season, I recently heard a friend confess of the increase of stress of the season and how it caused him to have to hold his tongue lest he allow his annoyances and snarky thoughts spill out onto the people closest to him. His family. He was successful in keeping the peace, but admitted that he had come close to letting his wife and children feel the sting of some, of some unkind rebukes and sarcastic comments. Though as much as I would like to gaze at today's photo and relax thinking of better weather days, I wanted to congratulate my friend for his wisdom and to encourage all of us to be peacemakers and to remember that the people um, in our lives are gifts from God and that we should lovingly serve them and put their needs above our own. What? Uh, oh yeah, I'm preaching to myself as much as to the choir here because I have been known to let my sarcastic vitriol, uh, cause relational difficulties in the past and am still working on loving others with Christ-like patience and kindness. I am admittedly pretty self-focused and understand that when I only think of myself and my needs, problems can arise. When we start to worry about my rights, my needs, and my wants, we can easily view others in enemy mode and lash out at them for blocking our goals, to use a few phrases from Dr. Jim Wilder and Dr. Neil Anderson. So I just wanted to remind us all to think before we speak in the next 12 days leading up to Christmas and to try to consider where others are coming from and what they need. These days before Christmas can be very stressful, and we need to watch what we say and seek to serve others to avoid relational disharmony. I recommend practicing quieting and appreciation to build up your emotional resilience. Check out Marcus Warner's On the Trail podcast episodes that I'm sharing on the blog today., so you can learn how to practice those things. But, uh, I also need to highlight, uh, the importance of practicing praise because of its power to change your attitudes and to call on the Lord's help. I was inspired, um, by Dr. David Jeremiah's, uh, Turning Point devotional for today, which addresses the power of praise, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to praise the Lord at all times because I know it can really help us to build up our faith and to empower us to walk in the Spirit. That, uh, David Jeremiah writes, the power of praise. And he shares Luke 2:20 from the New Living— by, uh, the Living Bible, uh, which says, then the shepherds went back again to their fields and flocks, praising God for the visit of the angels and because they had seen the child just as the angel had told them. And Dr. David Jeremiah writes, we awaken weary to face the pressures and problems, and we feel our spirits collapsing. What do we do? Try shouting the words of Psalm 106:1: "Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever." The simple act of making the decision to lift one's voice aloud and tell the air around you that you are praising God, well, that will help. A shout of praise can turn the tide of our day. That's what the shepherds did, though they weren't depressed when they did it. They were full of joy. They went back to their lowly assignments among the sheep, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen that night— the angels, the manger, the Christ child. Whatever your condition or disposition, praise the Lord right now. That was from Dr. David Jeremiah, but he also shares a comment from Stormy Omatarian, who said, one of the most wonderful things about God is that he lives in our praise. He inhabits the praises of his people. When we worship him, it's not like worshiping some cold and distant deity. He's a loving God who wants to be with us, and when we worship him, he is. And I say amen. You know, every week at Celebrate Freedom, we sing a song together as a group because praising the Lord has power. Not only does brain science confirm that the act of singing can increase our capacity capacity for joy and our emotional resilience, which confirms the truth of God's word that tells us repeatedly to sing. But when we sing or declare praises to the Lord, we enter into the Lord's presence, and he inhabits our praises. Beyond just declaring factual truths, the act of praise invites the Spirit of the Lord to join us, and our faith is empowered by him when we choose to give him praise at all times, but especially when our circumstances are not ideal. When the world or our bad decisions give us trials, the act of praising the Lord is blessed because we are declaring our faith in him even when everything is falling apart. The times when those who don't believe would tell us, like Job's wife, to curse God and die. When we are up to our necks in trouble and don't know when the problems we face will be resolved, our praises to God are heard. And he comes to give us the peace, joy, and strength to carry on. As awkward as it may seem, let me encourage you to praise the Lord loudly and enthusiastically as a private spiritual practice. Praising the Lord will not only increase your love for him and bless and confirm your faith, the Lord will also use your praises to strengthen you and to encourage you in the way you should go. So take time to praise the Lord each day, to remain in his presence, and to receive all that he has for you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on hope, and today's verse is 2 Corinthians 9:8 from the New Living Translation. The word of God says, and God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Today's verse falls under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on hope, And that second point is God's grace is sufficient for every need. Today's Bible verse emphasizes the fact that the Lord is a provider. God provides everything we need. Notice I didn't say everything we want. Our flesh could desire all kinds of things that are not necessary and may be sinful. So we should be mindful of what we are asking, uh, for the Lord to provide us with. And although we can pray for super blessings, we should recognize when the Lord gives us what we need and praise him for the simple ways he provides for us. God does help us, and when we recognize all that he provides us with, we will see that we lack for no good thing when we follow the Lord and are greatly blessed by his provision. As always, we encourage everyone to go to M.t. Clark.com, where we always share insights and and, you know, insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 27, uh, where Adams shares a portion of 1 Thessalonians 4:1, which says, you ought to walk and please God even as you are walking. And J.E. Adams writes, throughout the letter, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to continue to do well what they were, were already doing, but not to think that they have arrived. They were walking according to what they had learned from the apostle in 3 weeks. That was commendable, but lest they become satisfied when praised for the growth and outworking of their faith, he insists that they have much more to learn. They have further to go in attaining to a great level of spiritual understanding and practice. Have you been tempted to think that you have reached a point where you can settle down in satisfaction with your Christian walk? If so, think again. Read 1 Thessalonians and see how well they were doing, yet Paul would not have them become satisfied with their present attainments. If you are growing, continue to grow. Progress. Good. But then pursue even more righteousness. When it's God's way of living and thinking, you can never get enough. And I say amen. Yeah, um, our, our, our faith is a walk, it's not a sit. And, uh, we're to grow in our faith and spirituality, uh, our relationship with the Lord, um, as we go. We are finite earthly beings, and God is infinite in His wisdom and love. And we're never going to attain to, you know, a complete understanding of God or complete wisdom in the way we walk through this world. So we should continually seek the Lord and His wisdom and His ways, and He'll build us up in our faith. And as we go, we understand, we— wow, we know a lot. About God and a way to live. But as we go, we'll learn, wow, I didn't know that, or, you know, I still struggle in these areas to live like God would live. I still struggle to keep my peace. And that's why we encourage people to get on the path of Christian discipleship, to start that learning and growing process. And that's why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? And, you know, we recommend a life in the Spirit because it makes things better. It brings you closer to the Lord, and that's the best thing you can do, is to draw close to Him, His love and His wisdom and His strength, and to receive from Him everything He has for you. When you draw close to the Lord, He gives you hope and a purpose. And part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group on Wednesday nights at Starpoint Church. Like I said, we sing a song every week. So if you want to join us in singing, you know, and you're in Upstate New York, we invite you to come out for our support group that's Christian Recovery and Discipleship. We focus on walking with the Lord and getting set free from those hurts, habits, and hangups that keep you stuck and keep you separated from God and make you, you know, a less than the person than God wanted you to be. So we invite anyone and everyone to come out for this next meeting next week, or Wednesday, and then we're taking a break for the holidays. So just give you a heads up, uh, we're gonna have a holiday party next week and you're invited to come. Uh, let's see. And, uh, also we're, we're currently doing a series called Grace for the Holidays, an online teaching and support group for men on Monday nights at 6:30. Uh, it's online if you want to be a part of our group. For the last 2 weeks, uh, we're, we're leaving the door open. You just have to go to mtforchrist.com, go to our group events teaching page, and and register, and, uh, we'll hook you up with all the previous, uh, videos, uh, so you can, you know, get all that wisdom. And, uh, you know, we can enjoy your fellowship for the last two weeks, um, these next two Mondays before Christmas. Uh, beyond that, we encourage everyone to go to our, our YouTube playlist page or to go to mtfortights.com and find our YouTube playlist page. Um, and, uh, you know, we, we direct you there because we have teachings there that can you know, help you find or increase your freedom in Christ. We have teachings on The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. Um, so we encourage you to check those out because, uh, we discovered this material, you know, that, that really is based on the Word of God and draws out the wisdom of God's Word, uh, really helped us in our life. And so we taught it and, and we still learn from it, quite frankly. Anyway, that's everything for today. We do encourage, you know, we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? And that just means, are you making yourself available for the Holy Spirit to come into your life and to guide your path and to make a change? If so, we say keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray for the Lord to reveal himself and for you to make Jesus your Lord and Savior, because that, that'll make the difference. We know prayer works, and that's why we're a prayer minister and a life coach, and, uh, that's why we pray every day. So we, uh, so we'll pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you that it's Friday. Lord, we just pray for you to direct our path today through work until we can get to our countryside home. God willing. We just pray for you to help us, Lord. Lord, we also pray for anyone listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests, no matter what, a life of faith. And we just pray for you to help them, Lord, because, uh, Lord, we just want to represent you in your kingdom. We want to learn to live in your ways, but we need a lot of help with that. So we're praying and asking for it today. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.