Lent 2025 – Prayer of Repentance – Repenting of Rebellion - Purity 1607

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I am M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. There it is. Uh, today's photo, the setting sun blazing its light over the grasslands and prayerfully what will be the last remnants of snow just off of Freedom Road, comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene during a walk down my favorite byway last week. Well, it's, it's Saturday, and with the first full week of Lent ending tomorrow, I am here to report that my commitment to my intention to do a Lenten supper fast, eating on Sundays and religious feast days only, has been temporarily dismantled, as I was lured into temptation and compromise on Thursday by workplace hospitality. Free scones, muffins, and cookies. Oh my. And the rebellious spirit of my flesh and mind that has since Thursday's debacle has declared my stepson's birthday yesterday— happy birthday, Benjamin— to be a feast day of its very own. And since the party continues today at our countryside home, I've decided to begin fasting again after St. Patrick's Day, proving once again that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. However, fasting is a personal decision after all, So you can make up your mind, your own rules, and give yourself grace to make exception as needed. But at the same time, too much rationalization and compromise could defeat the purpose behind fasting in the first place: to draw close to God, to depend on him only. If we seek comfort from or relieve ourselves with the things of this world, uh, we are subtly telling God that we need more than him to sustain us. Refusing to abstain from material things is telling the spiritual things, God, that they don't matter and that they don't— they can't really meet our needs. And whether we realize it or not, when we make this admission, we are admitting that we are addicted to the things we can't give up. My food addiction complicates this dilemma because the truth is that I do need food to live. So obviously I will need to eat to live. But I don't necessarily have to live to eat, meaning I don't have to get my pleasure and comfort, or maybe even my identity— are you a foodie?— from the things I eat. Also, there is a difference between eating a healthy diet and eating junk food, and there is a difference between eating and overeating. My failure on Thursday wasn't triggered by a need to eat nutritious food. It was triggered by the almost irresistible combination of the present, free, tasty, timely, and socially acceptable junk food. In my head, I knew those foods weren't good for me or my physical, mental, or spiritual goals, but the food was present. Oh, come on, the food is right here, ready for the taking. Free— there's no financial cost to me. It would be economically wise to eat this free food. Tasty— whether it's sweet, salty, or savory, the food looks tasty, so let's eat. Timely: it's here for a limited time only, and I would normally never do this, so it looks like now is the time to eat. And socially acceptable: the food was brought by a gracious host for the group. Others are eating, it would be rude to refuse this hospitality and socially awkward not to join the others. Few or many that are eating too. Also, it is a lonely road to travel when you fast, so let's stop being so extreme and join the others in the eating world. Now, while these may all seem like logical considerations, the truth is that they are only compelling if we are tempted. If our mind is set on saying no to something, none of these good reasons would lead us astray. But if we are unsure, weak, or vulnerable in our resolve to resist the devil, he can lead us into temptation and sin. While the original concept of Jesus saying, let your yes be yes and your no be no, has to do with the making of vows, it can also apply to our besetting sins, meaning we have to make the commitment to let our no be no all the time when it comes to the things we are giving up. If we want to be free. If we are less than 100% committed to saying no all the time for the rest of time and leaning on the Lord for help, we will be vulnerable to the world's, the flesh's, and the devil's temptations. If we are less than 100% committed to our freedom, the enemy and our rebellious spirit of the old man will work together to cause us to sin. Speaking of the spirit of rebellion, recently we've been walking through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, and today's prayers, uh, to increase our freedom addresses the area of rebellion. And, um, so we're, we're going to offer commentary here on the podcast, of course, but, uh, if you want, we are also making these prayers available via a PDF download on the blog today. And so we continue with The Steps to Freedom in Christ and Dr. Neil Anderson, who writes Rebellion Versus Submission. We live in a rebellious age. Many people only obey laws and authorities when it is convenient for them. There is a general lack of respect for those in government, and Christians are often as guilty as the rest of society in fostering a critical, rebellious spirit. Certainly, we are not expected to agree with our leaders' policies that are in violation of Scripture, but we are to honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. God established all governing authorities and requires us to be submissive. Rebelling against God and the authorities he has set up is a very serious sin because it gives Satan an opportunity to attack. God requires more, however, than just the outward appearance of submission. He wants us to sincerely submit from the heart to those in authority. It is for your spiritual protection that you live under the authority of God and those he has placed over you. The Bible makes it clear that we have two main responsibilities for those in authority over us: to pray for them, and to submit to them. To commit yourself to the godly lifestyle, pray the following prayer aloud from your heart. And so we pray this prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, you have said in the Bible that rebellion is the same thing as witchcraft and as bad as idolatry. I know I have not always been submissive, but instead I have rebelled in my heart against you and against those who have placed in— you have placed in authority over me. I pray that you would show me all the ways I have been rebellious. I choose now to adopt a submissive spirit and a servant's heart. In Jesus' precious name, amen. And so we pray that prayer. This is a form of listening prayer, so we, we pray that prayer and we listen. And Anderson continues with the teaching. Being under authority is clearly an act of faith. By submitting, you are trusting God to work through the— through his established lines of authority, even when they are harsh or unkind or tell you to do something you don't want to do. There may be times when those over you abuse their authority and break the laws that are ordained by God for the protection of innocent people. In those cases, you will need to seek help from a higher authority for your protection. The laws in your state may require that such abuse be reported to the police or other governmental agency. If there is continuing abuse—physical, mental, emotional, or sexual—where you live, you may need further counseling help to deal with that, to help deal with that situation. If authorities abuse their position by requesting you to break God's law or compromise your commitment to him, then you need to obey God rather than man. Be careful though. Don't assume that an authority is violating God's word just because he or she tells you to do something you don't like. We all need to adopt a humble, submissive spirit to one another in the fear of Christ. In addition, however, God has set up specific lines of authority to protect us and to give order to our daily lives. As— let's see— as you prayerfully look over the next list, allow the Lord to show you any specific ways in which you have been rebellious to authority. Then, using the prayer Prayer of Confession that follows the lit— the list specifically confess whatever the Lord brings to your mind. And here, as you're listening to the Lord for, you know, all the ways you might rebel, they give you a list to go through. And the first item on the list is civil government, including traffic laws, tax laws, attitudes toward government officials. And so you would think about what are the ways I've been rebellious against civil government. And, you know, well, I don't always obey the traffic laws, so I'm breaking that. Also, I have pretty lousy attitudes towards politicians and, you know, our leaders, or maybe our governor or president. And so you would admit those things and you'd make a little list basically of the ways you do that. And then you would consider the next bullet point for parents, your stepparents, or your legal guardians. In what ways were you rebellious against them? You know, I didn't always follow their rules. I went out after curfew. I disobeyed what they said. There's probably lots of ways you disobeyed your parents, stepparents, or guardians. So you make a list about that, and then you consider your education, your, the teachers, coaches, and school officials you were under. What ways were you rebellious to them? And you know, this, this process— now you might not been in school for years and years and years, but this process is the process of repentance. So if you've never repented of your rebellion against these things, uh, this is what we're doing today to get rid of that, um, you know, the sins of rebellion. So, uh, you'd write it down no matter how long ago if you never confessed it. And then also your employers. Ways where you're rebellious at work, past and present. Um, you know, what did you not do what you're supposed to? Did you maybe steal from your employer? Um, did you talk about your, your supervisor behind their back? You know, all these ways are things you could confess in areas of rebellion. Then we move along to the next slide. Um, that says husbands or wife. So if you have a spouse, take a moment and ask the Lord, um, basically about how you respect— rebelled against your, your spouse. If you're a husband, you should ask the Lord if your lack of love for your wife could be fostering a rebellious spirit within her, and if so, confess that. So you write down how you've been rebellious toward your spouse. And then they show you church leaders, you know, in what ways have you been rebellious against church leaders? Did you talk about the pastor's sermon and how he should preach on certain things behind his back? Did you just— did you disobey by, you know, refusing to help the church? Um, you know, what ways have you been rebellious towards your church leaders? And then finally, there's God. What ways have you been rebellious against God? Pretty sure all of us could admit that we haven't followed everything he's asked us to do. And so we would think about that specifically and basically make a list of the ways we've been rebellious against God. And then the instructions continue: for each way in which the Spirit of God brings to your mind that you, that you have been rebellious, use the following prayer to specifically confess that sin. And so, um, the prayer goes as follows. So you take your list and say, Lord, I confess that I've been rebellious toward— and so you'd say the government or whatever for that first one— by, you know, breaking those traffic laws, talking about politicians badly, having a rebellious spirit, whatever specific things you were rebellious toward the government, uh, there. And then you finish the prayer. Thank you for forgiving my rebellion. I choose now to be submissive and obedient to your word. By the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that all ground gained by evil spirits in my life due to my rebellion would be canceled. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. And if you can see the verbiage there, this is definitely spiritual warfare. Um, why are we confessing all these things? Get rid of any possible demonic oppression. Or interference in our lives, and to have a clean slate before the Lord. And so for this prayer, basically, you would use it for civil governments, your parents, your school officials, your, you know, your, your employers, your spouse, your church leaders, and God. So you run each one of those items basically through this prayer list, and after your Done, you're done, because that's, that's, that's it basically. After you, you know, after you've done every area, you could basically say a free-form prayer like, Lord, thank you for leading me into repentance and all the ways I rebelled against you. I thank you for your forgiveness. In Jesus' name, amen. Surprisingly, there wasn't a concluding prayer in this version of the Steps to Freedom in Christ, but You know, you can just make it, make yourself. And, you know, beyond that, I say amen. As disciples of Jesus in the season of Lent, let's submit to God and resist the devil and all our rebellious ways. If we fail in our attentions like I did, let's, let's not give up or go into despair. Let's look at how we compromised and see what our failure reveals. Mine reveals that I need to be prepared for sudden appearances of food and to be steadfast in letting my no be no. And I need to ask the Lord to help me to change my mind and heart in this area and to see the lies of the enemy and his world system for what they are— lies that lead to sin, causing pain, guilt, and shame. We may fall down, but we can get back up. We may stray from the path, but we can get back on it. We may rebel, but we can submit. I pray that these prayers from Dr. Neil Anderson will help you on your walk. Amen. Then we move along to today's Bible verses. Today's meditation verses come from the section on loving and serving others, and, uh, um, and, and basically that's from John G. Cruis's Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling book, of course. Uh, and today's verse is Matthew 7:12. Which says, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of what is taught in the Law and the Prophets. Today's verse falls under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide and Resource section on loving and serving others, and that 15th point is follow the, the Golden Rule. And yeah, today's Bible verse, uh, presents the Golden Rule: do to others as you would have them do to you. Treat others as you would like to be treated. As selfish human beings who are brought up in a world with a dog-eat-dog mentality, we may struggle mightily in the areas of care and compassion for others. We can be so obsessed with getting our own needs and wants met that we can be totally oblivious or indifferent to the needs of others. God knows this about us, so he sends Jesus to show us a different way., and because he is wise and all-knowing, he speaks to us in a way we can understand by putting the, the thing that matters to us most at the center of the simple but profound teaching. While the suggestion to do good to others could be a matter of debate, Jesus silences those questions by putting it in a context that we can understand ourselves. To, uh, do good to others as you would have them do to you. We would want others to be kind and gracious to us, so we in turn should be kind and gracious to others. So, you know, pretty basic. Anyway, as always, we encourage you to go to mtforchrist.com where we always share insights and, um, um, yeah. We share resources, insights from prominent Christian theologians and, uh, theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Day by Day Along the Way. It's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 106. Let's see, and where J.E. Adams writes Well, he shares from 1 Thessalonians 3:12 first, which says, may the Lord make you— your love increase and abound. And then J.E. Adams writes, how much do you love others? And your love— is your love increasing and freely abounding, or is it stifled by sinning, sinful self-centeredness? Paul's desire for the church at Thessalonica was one No, no small one. He wanted the best for them, as God also wants the best for you, fellow believer. But are you willing to settle for too little, for mediocrity, when God has so much more for you to— for you instead? The ability to love others as you should, as you should, is yours for the asking. Notice, God is the one who makes love to increase and abound. Therefore, you should seek it from him, but don't expect it to come without effort on your part. When you ask, he will surely give you opportunities to learn how to express love that you must not neglect. But don't expect God to send the answer to your prayer in a package delivered by an angelic UPS delivery truck. It comes gradually as it increases day by day. Many want to move from point 0 to point 100 all, all in one jump. If you are at so low a point, you will have to spend time catching up. But as your love for others increases, it does so at a greater pace as time goes by. Today is the day to begin forward movement. Toward the 100% mark. Amen. We grow little by little, bit by bit, and with the Lord, he, he can, he can move you mightily and do things suddenly. Um, but the disciple's path, uh, will require us to, uh, to take our time. That's okay. God's got all the time in the world for us, and we follow him, he'll cause us to, uh, to grow. That's why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? We encourage a lifestyle of Christian discipleship because, uh, the Lord's led us out of the dark into the light, and he showed us a hope and a future, uh, that's right now. And we encourage everyone out there to just, to, in the season of Lent, to draw close to the Lord. Um, he'll give you, he'll give you a purpose. And part of my purpose is to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. We meet on Wednesdays in Clifton Park at 6:30. So if you're in Upstate New York and can get to Clifton Park on a Wednesday, we invite you to join us. But if you can't make it, there's good news. All the teachings that we do at Celebrate Freedom are now being put in a YouTube series called Christian Recovery Celebrate Freedom with M.t. Clark, and we encourage you to check that out and to to share it with others, as we'll be sharing that season until we're, we're done later in June. Beyond that, we have other teachings on our, on our YouTube channel and our mtcforchrist.com webpage, basically, that lists all our YouTube channel playlists. And we encourage you to check those out because we believe they'll help you to find or increase your freedom in Christ. So We encourage you to check that out today as well. Beyond that, we're planning on doing a, uh, the Grace Course, an online Zoom meeting, uh, basically that will begin on Tuesday, April 1st from 6:30 to 8:30, where we'll be discussing, uh, Steve Goss's The Grace Course. And, uh, we give you access to the videos. If you're interested in joining our online discussion group, go to mt4grace.com, find the group coaching event page, and register today. Beyond that, if you appreciate what we're trying to do here at the Empty for Christ, uh, Community Freedom Ministry, um, we would love and appreciate your support. You can go to emptyforchrist.com to donate to our ministry today. And we always end by asking the same question twice, uh, just in a different way. And we ask, are you empty for Christ too? And yeah, what does that mean? Well, it means have you fully surrendered to God? Are you making yourself available for the Holy Spirit to move through your life? If so, say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, well, we encourage you to pray because we know if you seek the Lord, you'll find him. And if you— and if you pray, he'll answer those prayers, um, one way or the other. And, uh, he wants you to come into his kingdom. So seek him and you will find him. Um, but when you, when you get on that path, you might need help, and that's why you maintain your prayer life with the Lord. And that's why I pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you so much for all that you do for us, Lord. We thank you for helping us struggle through the recent Zoom updates to their package that changed the way things are recorded, uh, that we're struggling with this morning. And we're gonna have to take a look and see how this looks, um, Lord. And we'll have to adjust as our path is always going forward and things change, and we need to make adjustments continually. And not just the technology, but to our walk of life and how we want to be increasingly set free um, from the things that bind us. So Lord, we're asking for your help today. Lead us in another day of victory and freedom, um, to take whatever challenges that come, um, and ask for your help to meet them. And Lord, we just pray for the Freedom appointment we'll be leading this morning, that you help us, uh, lead the participant to a place of freedom and peace. Um, we're going to need your help on this one, Lord, so we're asking right now. And, uh, Lord, we pray for anyone listening, reading, or watching today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests as well. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.