In this solo devotional episode of the MT for Christ 247 podcast, host M.t. Clark uses a sunrise photo shared by his brother M.J. Clark as a visual metaphor for new beginnings. He reflects on the significance of Thursdays— the day his Christian recovery journey began in 2015— and the first day of each month as moments to assess spiritual progress, confess failures, and recommit to surrendering to the Holy Spirit. Clark recounts his recent experience leading a Celebrate Freedom recovery meeting, highlighting the lesson on human powerlessness and the complementary emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s guiding power through quieting, belief transformation, and relational support. He shares a passage from The Chosen’s “Get Used to Different” student guide (chapter 36, “Don’t Let Me Go: Simon’s Story”), drawing parallels between Peter’s storm‑tossed doubts and believers’ need to cling to Jesus. The episode then moves to a meditation on Psalm 27:1, presented as a counseling reference on fear, followed by a brief exposition of Philippians 1 (verse 28) from Stephen F. Alford’s devotional, emphasizing that suffering for the gospel is a sign of salvation rather than defeat. Throughout, Clark invites listeners to practical resources: the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church in Clifton Park, NY (Wednesdays 6:30 pm), and online Freedom in Christ discipleship courses (ficm.org), including his own men’s class on Tuesdays. He concludes with a heartfelt prayer for forgiveness, guidance, and strength for the new month of August, urging listeners to empty themselves of hurts, habits, and pride, and to walk in the Spirit.
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Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 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. Today's photo of a mix of light and shadows pouring over the fairway in a winding pathway as the sun rises over a portion of a private golf course in Columbia County comes to us from M.j. Clark, who shared this photo on social media Friday, July 26th, while encouraging his friends to have a great weekend. Well, it's Thursday, and while it may be one day too early to wish you a great, a great weekend, I am using MJ's photo to encourage you to stay on or to get back on the path of Christian discipleship, as is my old habit, uh, for Thursdays. Thursday was the original day of the week, uh, that my Christian Recovery group met at my local church back in 2015 when my recovery journey started. And even though I have led Celebrate Freedom meetings and Freedom in Christ courses on different nights of the week since then, I still associate Thursdays with new beginnings and the decision to surrender to the Lord in his way of life. Today is also the first day of August. Since getting on the path of Christian discipleship, besides Thursdays, I also look at the first day of the month as a time to reflect on my progress with the previous month, to mark the passage of time over the year, to note the changes of the seasons, and to recommit myself to Christ's care and the leading of the Holy Spirit, especially if my periodic inventory shows that I have gone astray or lost focus. So today is a new month and a new, uh, a day of new beginnings. The victories and accomplishments of the past should be celebrated and continued, and our mistakes or failures can be confessed and left behind as we accept the Lord's forgiveness and ask him to guide and strengthen us for the month ahead. Last night at Celebrate Freedom, Scott Salvatore taught the powerless lesson, uh, but before he taught about how those looking for help with hurts, habits, and hangups had to come to the realization that they are powerless over their tendency to do the wrong thing and have to admit that their lives have become unmanageable to progress in their recoveries, I was unexpectedly thrust into the role of MC, uh, for the group as I had to lead worship guide our quieting time and introduce the group as one of our team members was feeling under the weather. In contrast to the admission of our powerlessness to fix ourselves that would be taught in a lesson, my introduction highlighted the power of God through the person of the Holy Spirit and how everything we try to do at Celebrate Freedom is intended to cause us to surrender to his leading and to walk in the Spirit by A) quieting. We practice resting in his presence. B) changing our beliefs by agreeing with what God's words and the Holy Spirit in us has to say about who we are in Christ and how we are supposed to live. And C) by forming connections within the group with the other group members to encourage each other in our recoveries and walk of faith. And connecting relationally to— with God, uh, by walking and talking with him. In our vulnerable state, where we are going to admit we couldn't fix ourselves and didn't want to stay stuck in our habit, uh, hurts or habits, I sought to encourage the group by letting them know that God would help them and he wouldn't let them go. As if to receive help with expressing this idea, I had a stirring in my spirit to pick up The Chosen's Get Used to Different student guide devotion— devotional that I had finished going through, uh, a couple of weeks ago, just to make sure, uh, I finished it, I think. And I was led to share the final entry from that devotional today on the blog to encourage us to surrender to the Lord's help. Um, and so we, we turn to The Chosen team's Get Used to Different student guide In chapter 36, the authors write, "Don't Let Me Go: Simon's Story." And the text says, "Don't let me go." The words of a man who had seen Jesus do impossible things, a man who had done impossible things himself in Jesus's name. "Don't let me go." The words of a man with such audacious faith that he climbed over the edge of a boat in the middle of a storm. A man who just a moment ago was doing the most impossible thing of all, walking on water to Jesus. Don't let me go. A man who, despite experiencing many different kinds of miracles, still found himself sinking as the waves of doubt and fear crashed over him. Don't let me go. Those are powerful and important words. The first scripture we shared in this book was from Isaiah 43. Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. It's not a question of if the waters around you will rise. They will. It's not a question of if the waters will sometimes overwhelm. They will. It's not a question of if You feel yourself sink. You'll feel yourself sinking at some point. You will. And like Simon Peter, your natural instinct will be to focus on rising waters and scary storms instead of Jesus. You'll be tempted to take your eyes off the one who called you out of the boat and onto those very waves. Bottom line, life can be really hard sometimes, and it will toss you around like a little boat in the middle of a raging storm. You will question. You will doubt. You will experience the kind of fear that threatens to pull you under the waves. But the real question is, what will you do when it happens? Don't let me go. The words of someone willing to trust Jesus. Don't let me go. The words of someone brave enough to climb over the edge of a boat in the middle of the storm because Jesus is the one Waiting in the waves. Don't let me go. Your words when you think you might be sinking. But this famous Bible story isn't just about Simon walking on the water. It's not about his bravery or even his faith. The story is about Jesus because he's the guy who walks on water and he will never let you go. And then the chosen team prompts us to pray. Jesus, don't let me go. Amen. Amen. It's a new month. Whether your July was a time of great victory and progress, or if you, like me, may have gone astray, failed, or fallen short in some ways, today is a new day. It's a new month. It's a Thursday, and it is another opportunity to surrender to God. To ask for his help. As we humbly admit that we need God's help and that we are powerless to fix ourselves, God will be faithful to not let us go and will come alongside us to help us and lead us into the life he has for us. So Jesus, don't let us go. Help us to lean on you and to keep walking. And talking with God. Today's Bible verse comes to us from A Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 27:1, and the word of the Lord says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Today's verse falls under the third point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on fear, and that third point is: The Lord is the believer's light. He need— he need not fear. And today's verse tells us that the Lord is our light and our salvation. He is the one who saves us, and he guides us by the light of his truth to lead us out of the darkness of our past and to strengthen us for our new lives in him, to take away all our fears. When God is on our side, we need not fear. When we are following his light, the way to the life he has for us is clear. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in his devotional, Stephen Alford, uh, prompts everyone to read a chapter of scripture in the morning and the evening. And today's chapter is Philippians 1, and from Philippians 1, he shares a portion of verse 28, which says, not in any way terrified by your adversaries. And Stephen Alford writes, in the first place, Paul introduces himself as the bondservant of Christ Jesus and prays that grace and peace would be the enjoyed portion of every believer at Philippi. Then he rejoices with the believers at the remembrance of them and, and admonishes them to go on still more and more in love, knowledge, and discernment. Verse 9. Concerning his own state, he says, the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. Verse 12. The things being suffering, bonds, imprisonment, and Praetorian guards. But he glories because the gospel is being preached there in Rome. And Stephen Alford continues to write, from his own experience then, he draws the illustration and application to force home the above verse. He says, in effect, do not be frightened by the adversaries, for we are not only called to believe but to suffer. And while suffering spells perdition to the enemies, it is a token of salvation to the believers. And Stephen Alfred ends by praying, no matter my circumstances, may I look for opportunities to further the gospel. Amen. Amen. And yes, uh, the word of God indicates we will suffer for our faith, as the world, the flesh, and the devil is against the gospel of Jesus Christ. Um, you know, it's— we're in, we're in a spiritual battle between the forces of good and evil, the spiritual forces of darkness and God's kingdom. And luckily, uh, the Lord has called us out of the darkness by revealing the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he's led us to put our faith in Jesus and to trust him and to follow him. The Lord calls us to follow him with the way we live, and in that following, we will, you know, suffer the bad opinions of men and sometimes real, real hard times of persecution. But we need not, we may not fear, for God, God protects us and guides us, and he gives us eternal life. So no matter what happens, we will be with the Lord. And even if we suffer, as long as we're answering the call and, and sharing the gospel, we can rejoice in our sufferings that we're doing what we're called to do by the Lord, and we're giving him glory in our efforts to share the truth. And so have you fully surrendered to God? Today's Thursday, so it's a day of new beginnings, as I say. As I— like I stated, that's the day I originally went into recovery, and it really was a big change in my life. You know, there was coming to Jesus, and then there was walking away from my sin. And as much as I could, you know, try to learn and get to know the Lord, um, in some ways on my own by reading the Bible and studying, there were some things I needed help for. You know, I needed help in my understanding of how God can help me to, to walk away from my sin. And I needed people who have been there and done that to show me the way. And luckily there was, you know, faithful men and women of God, um, who were willing to help me. And now it's my— I, I consider it my duty to help others to understand this life of faith and to understand that you can be set free and that some things, you know, that you've been caught in all your life, you can walk away from. Because although it might have been impossible for you to get free on your own You know, nothing is impossible with God, and he will help you. You know, his will for our life is our sanctification, and he's certainly going to support us in those efforts. He'll empower and strengthen us to do so. So when we take the word of God and do something with it by believing it and applying it to our lives and, you know, leaning into and trusting the Lord and connecting to him relationally, um, we can overcome. So, and speaking of overcoming, we lead the Celebrate Freedom support group to help people do that. We're in the upstate, uh, in the upstate of New York, um, in the Capital District, in Starpoint Church in Clifton Park. We meet on Wednesday nights at 6:30. Um, you're welcome to go. Uh, you can find our support group by going to Starpoint Church's website and looking under support groups for Celebrate Freedom, and you can register to let us know you're coming, or you can just show up next, next Wednesday at 6:30. Um, beyond that, we encourage people to find their freedom in Christ through, uh, courses, online discipleship courses available through Freedom in Christ Ministries. That's, uh, the website is ficm.org. Right now there's an offering of different courses available for the fall, um, that are going to begin in September, and they're open for registration now. So you should go to ficm.org see what courses are available, select one, and join it. Um, I myself am leading a Freedom in Christ course for men on Tuesday nights at 6:30. So if you know a man— if you're a man or you know a man who needs to know their freedom in Christ, you can direct them to join my class, and, and I would do my best to encourage them and possibly lead them through the steps to freedom in Christ. To be set free from their personal and spiritual conflicts. Um, let's see. And we always ask, are you empty for Christ too? If so, keep on walking and talking with God. And if not, put your faith in Jesus Christ, pick up your cross, and follow him. When we empty ourselves of our, of our hurts, habits, and hang-ups, and our pride, and allow the Holy Spirit to come into us and guide us, um, you know, there's nothing that we can't do. And that's what our blog and podcast is all about, is simply encouraging people to put their faith in Jesus and to follow him, to find the meaning and purpose for their lives in Christ. And so we shall pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you've done for us, Lord. We, we ask for your forgiveness for the failures of the past month in July., and we lay them at your feet, Lord. We accept your forgiveness, and we ask you to lead us in the way we should go this month in August. Um, Lord, we pray for anyone who's watching or listening or reading the message today, that you bless them, their prayer request, and their walk of faith. And we pray for you to encourage them through the power of the Holy Spirit to follow you, Lord, into what you have for them. And Lord, while you're at it, you can help us too. Uh, we need your help. Um, we're not perfect and we occasionally step off the path. Uh, when we're weak, you're strong. And so we're asking for your strength today. We're asking for you to open our eyes, to show us the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way that we should go, and give us the strength and wisdom to do so. Lord, because we need your help and we just want to represent your kingdom, uh, to be more and more like you. And we need your, your help, strength, and guidance to, to lead us in the way we should go. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
