In this devotional monologue, M.t. Clark shares a series of reflections aimed at encouraging believers to align their daily habits with their new identity in Christ. He opens with a photo of a white horse in Kosovo, recounting a missionary friend’s year‑long bike‑mission that illustrated God’s provision throughout a grueling 100‑mile ride. Clark then pivots to his own recent three‑day experiment of disciplining his body and mind: choosing wholesome food, exercising, and limiting secular entertainment in favor of Christian media and preparation for a discipleship presentation. He describes a breakthrough in internalizing the biblical principle of guarding one’s eyes, likening the process to “putting the toys away” – abandoning childish habits that no longer fit a regenerated life. Using the metaphor of out‑growing toys, he urges listeners to recognize that their former comforts can become spiritual obstacles, and to replace them with practices that nurture character, generosity, and spiritual growth. Clark cites 2 Corinthians 9:10 as a reminder of God’s provision and the resulting harvest of generosity, and points listeners to resources on mtforchrist.org, including Clinton Arnold’s Powers of Darkness (chapter 10), Neil Anderson’s Freedom in Christ teachings, and a weekly Bible study with Arthur and Susanna Zinkati. He also shares his personal sobriety journey dating back to 2015, emphasizing that his freedom comes from Christ rather than traditional AA structures. The talk concludes with a prayer for discernment, intentionality, and reliance on God’s guidance.
Chapters
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 white horse underneath the blazing sun on a hillside somewhere in Kosovo comes to us from a friend who is currently taking a year to be part of a traveling Christian mission trip. They shared this pic, among many others, back on July 7th, documenting their group's recent adventure. Commenting, we biked across Kosovo. It was an experience for sure. Several sore bottoms and close to 100 miles biked. We made it to the village of Brod, the place God appointed us towards. During this time, I learned so much about the provision of God. Whenever we wondered if we would have a place to spend the night after all day of biking, pushing our bikes, we would stop and ask God and he always had something for us. God showed up over and over again throughout our day in that village. Sometimes we just need to stop and recognize all the details we missed through the mundaneness of life. He is in every single moment. Let's stop for a moment and ponder all the wonderful things he has gifted us with. I couldn't agree more with my friend, and part of our purpose for doing this blog and podcast is to serve as an encouraging word for others to recognize the presence of God in their lives and to seek to know his will for our lives and to follow where he leads us. As he edits the text, well, it's Wednesday, and I thought my friend's typical horse sighting, quote unquote, served as an adequate visual representation of Pump Day, and their words were a good encouragement to lead us through the midpoint of the first work week of August. I, for one, am loving the decision I made to make a fresh new start with the 8th month of the year by deciding to focus on my physical and spiritual health by watching what I put my body in terms of food and what I put in my mind and soul in terms of what I put put before my eyes. Over the last 3 days, I've remained on plan with my food choices and exercise regimen and have avoided seeking entertainment from secular sources, and then instead have been focusing on preparing for my weekly discipleship group presentation tomorrow and viewing only material that would edify my spirit— Christian material that I was interested in, but had left unattended, as I was under the false impression that I wasn't really relaxing if I was only watching Christian material. The advice to be careful about what we put before our eyes is a pretty basic tenet of Christian discipleship, but I really think I might be in the midst of a breakthrough here, because even though I knew that it was better to only view or put my focus upon things that would build me up, particularly Christian material, than it was to watch junk from the secular world. I am realizing that, uh, that knowledge was sort of hypothetical. Uh, this knowledge that it was better to watch or focus on Christian material was a mental construct that didn't penetrate to my heart, but I think that it is now. I think it's time to get rid of the shoulds and just do what is best for my body, for my mind, and for my soul, and for my spirit. When we come into this Christian walk of faith, there is an encouragement from the world and from ourselves to draw back, to not be so extreme, and to go back to the things we have always liked to find comfort, solace, and relaxation in. And believe me, I think for those new in Christ, it is wise to go slow in this walk at first because we need the time to renew our mind by the word of God and to let the truth of who we are in Christ be accepted and applied to our life. But in truth, here is one of those startling realizations of our faith: we are not who we used to be anymore. We are new creations in Christ, and as much as we enjoyed certain hobbies and forms of entertainment in the past, they may not be best for us anymore. As we walk out our faith, we are maturing, and we may discover that not only are we growing out of our former childish ways that we've learned from the world system. We may discover that they are increasing— they are increasingly becoming alien to us as we realize that these things we are into really have no part in our new life. Just as a young adult may have some grief over having to leave their toys behind as they are called to grow up and take on new responsibilities, but know that they are growing— that their growing up is right and to remain in their childish ways would be dysfunctional, Christians may have to mourn the loss of seemingly harmless things that subtly deny or oppose the truth of God's Word, knowing that the Lord has better things for us to do and see. As he edits it again. Just like the young adult may go back to their toys only to discover that the thrill is gone and don't seem to find the same enjoyment in them because they are too old, uh, the Christian may increasingly discover that the Holy Spirit is making them more sensitive or discerning, and the secular things they enjoyed in the past somehow no longer seem worthwhile or may even seem wrong in some way. Who we are is not what we do. Our character defines who we are, and it drives what we will do. For the Christians, uh, we have a new life given to us by God, and the Holy Spirit is calling us to increasingly have the character of Christ. So as we walk out our faith, the Christian needn't fear that they are losing their identity when they begin to walk away from the things they always watched or did. Those shows, programs, or hobbies that we did before coming to Christ did not make us who we are. God made us, and by his grace he has called us to life everlasting and to be the people we always wanted to be but who, who never dared to dream we could be. When we go back to those old childish ways of seeking entertainment, it's like we are choosing to be children again. Not only that, it is a subtle way of turning away from God. In essence, when we turn to the world for our comfort, relaxation, and entertainment, it is subtly saying that we— that who we were before coming to Christ was just fine and we don't want to grow up. The same goes for food. I have studied and learned some hard truths about the things I used to eat and have made some considerable progress with my health because I have eliminated certain foods foods from my diet completely. But oh, there are some foods that I know are not healthy for me and my, and my health goals that I have gone back to to feel good. And surprise, most of those are sweet things I enjoyed as a child. So instead of doing what I know is good, I choose to go back to things from my childhood that seem harmless, but that are actually sabotaging my progress and are opposed to my health goals. Secular entertainment contradicts the Word of God and who I want to be in terms of my character. And junk foods contradict the order that God created, um, in that if I indulge in junk, my body will suffer. This might seem radical, but all truth is God's truth. So although there might not be a book on nutrition in the Bible or scientific studies and observations of God's created order can reveal to us God's truth on nutrition. I won't list anything here, but health experts will tell you to avoid certain foods or avoid exceeding certain levels of nutrition. Because these principles are based on observations from God's created order, when we ignore and violate the principles for proper nutrition, one could say that we are denying God's truth on nutrition, and we suffer the negative consequences for our nutritional sins. The breakthrough that I am talking about here is a paradigm shift where we no longer turn a blind eye to how we, we are doing what we are doing opposes the principles of God's truth and instead align our behaviors to stay within God's wisdom. The idea of, of only doing what is healthy and spiritually edifying is incredibly simple. But I think it is something that we find just as easy to dismiss as the world, the flesh, the devil, and our past have taught us and actively encourage us to compromise what is best for what we have always known or for what we have always done. The problem with those last two things is that as Christians, we are no longer the people that we have always been. Uh, we are new creations. So, let's keep walking and talking with God, and let's renew our minds with God's word. But let's also challenge the things we do, and question whether we are living like a child of God, or like the unredeemed children of wrath we once were, who simply didn't know any better, or did, but was powerless to change. As Christians, we don't so much have to change. We are new creations. We just have to be who we are now. So the next time we feel like doing what we have always done, decide if that lines up with who you are now in Christ. Instead of mentally agreeing that your old ways aren't the best, know in your heart that they really don't have a place in your new life. Say goodbye to your childish ways and put the toys away. Those things belong to someone who is dead and gone. And instead of living like a ghost of your former self, who is always— who was always depressed, guilty, guilty, angry, anxious, or sad, leave those things behind and walk into the new life God has given you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible, Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is 2 Corinthians 9:10, and it says, "For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you." Today's verse speaks about the Lord's provision for the Christian. As my missionary friend marveled over how the Lord provided for their team in Kosovo to Today's verse reminds us that God will provide, but the text indicates that although the Lord may provide for our material needs, the real harvest and increase in resources will be in us. As we walk out our faith, growth happens in our character. When we realize that the Lord will provide, uh, for our material needs and we recognize all that He has done for us, we become generous. So show and share the love of God in you by giving what you have received to others. Uh, this morning, as always, I encourage all to go to mtforchrist.org where we share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, uh, concluding, uh, chapter 10. And today's sections are called Christ Alone Is Sufficient and Appropriating the Resources in Christ. So if you want to learn how Christ is sufficient or how you can appropriate the resources in Christ, go to mtforchrist.org and check out that resource at the end of today's blog post. As always, we're here to encourage your Christian faith and to challenge the way you live to be aligned with the Word of God and what he would have to have you do. Um, and we encourage that. We encourage that by sharing our discipleship teachings that we've done that are on the blog and, well, on the podcast and the YouTube channel for Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. Those are all based on the Word of God and the work of Dr. Neil Anderson, who heads Freedom in Christ Ministries. So we encourage you to check those out. We also encourage the study of God's Word. That's why we do a Bible study each week with Arthur and Susanna Zinkati, and those are also available for your listening and edification enjoyment on, on the blog and the— well, on the blog, the podcast, and the YouTube channel as we share Arthur's outlines once a week, along with links to the podcast and our YouTube videos for the all the messages from 2022. So if you want to enjoy that instead of enjoying some secular entertainment, they're there for your enjoyment. I'm heavily convicted, and actually I'm feeling great after these 3 days of focused, you know, just doing what I should do, really just going to work and, and sticking to my health plan, which I'm pretty faithful to anyway during the week. But today I just wanted to say that it's like you can feel the momentum when you start walking the way you're supposed to walk. And I intended to blog about what I'm speaking about right now, but you know, that's the way that things go. But yeah, I want to take what I did yesterday good and add that to today, and then I want to take today and add it to yesterday. And basically we string our victories together. I was victorious yesterday, so Lord help me, you know, to be victorious again today. And then we can add that one to one more day of victory. You know, that's, that's it. We do things one day at a time, but it is, it is progress, you know. Um, they're not disjointed. The things that we do yesterday can impact the things we do today, and You know, the things we do today can be added to the continuous victories we have from yesterday. If I were to keep count, you know, going back in terms of my sobriety, I'd go all the way back to 2015. I'm not sure how many days that is, but it's a lot. And so in that area of my life, I've had continuous victory because of my faith in Christ. I don't go to meetings, okay. You know, I don't have a sponsor. You know, I did in the past, but the Lord, you know, he sets you free. And if you're tied to, you know, if you're in recovery and you're tied to a meeting every week, then God bless you because you're there to encourage others. But you have to wonder about your freedom, you know. That's why we push Christian Recovery. It's not AA, it's not, you know, some disembodied diet. It's Christ that saves us and sets us free. He's the healer and he gives you new life. And so we're trying to have victory in our nutritional and health lives and in terms of what we put in our minds. I'm no spring chicken and I want to use the time I have to be edified and to, you know, help others. So that's really the goal. Watching Star Wars or Marvel movies really won't do that. And don't get me wrong, there's always room for entertainment, but for me, I'm highly entertained by the things that I want to read and watch that are Christian in nature. And don't get me wrong, most of it's study material that I'm interested in. Quite frankly, I think some Christian movies are just sort of terrible, but they are good, you know, that's the thing. You know, I'm a little angsty from my past, but Christian movies are usually wholesome and good, and part of me still doesn't want to relate that to me, but God has made me a child of God by faith and in reality. So, um, let's line up with that. Let's deny that old bad person, you know, that we used to be, because we're new in Christ. Okay, that's it for today. I'm gonna pray and get us out of here. Uh, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. You're the only one who can get us out of here, Lord. Uh, we give that to you. Um, you'll take us into your kingdom someday, or you'll come back to earth. But in the meantime, we want to lean on you and your wisdom and ways and your presence in our life to guide us. So Lord, we pray for the people listening today that they'd be blessed in their walk and that they would be intentional about following the path that you lay before them. Um, Lord, so we need your help to open our eyes to see what we need to see and to do the things you need us to do. Lord, we thank you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
