Roses in the Valley - Self Deception Series 6 – Purity 1095

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's work of art that depicts roses in the foreground of a range of mountains and a blazing sun that casts its magnificent light over the valley comes to us from our man in the UK, Philip Han, who shared this drawing that I have taken the liberty of calling Roses in the Valley via Facebook Messenger back on July 7th. Philip takes his inspiration from photos that he has seen and reported that this work took 8 hours to complete. I assured Philip that it was great, not bad for a day's work at all, and promised him I would be sharing his work on the blog. I shared Philip's drawing this Saturday morning to fulfill that promise and because Philip's work inspires me to focus on the beauty that surrounds us even if we are in the— in a valley. Philip has shared previously that his art and faith in Christ have been pivotal in overcoming struggles with grief and depression, and I encourage him to keep using his artistic talents because they give God glory and they give others pleasures and hope. While we never want to encourage anyone to live in some forced Christian bliss state that denies reality, we do encourage an attitude of gratitude and a perspective that seeks to see the Lord's goodness in every situation. Unfortunately, this positive Christian mindset or worldview is not typical even amongst believers, and, and a big part of our quote-unquote ministry is to encourage Christians to renew the mind with the truth of God's word and of who we are in Christ, to develop the perspective and lifestyle of walking in the spirit. At the latest Celebrate Freedom growth group meeting, I asked the members to check in by telling us what was going on in their lives and to share something that you have victory or freedom in. I love how our group has encouraged one another to keep it real by being honest about what struggles or problems we may be facing. But the idea behind our group, Christian Recovery and Discipleship Growth Group, is transformation. And one of the key points that I have laid out as what we are trying to accomplish is changing our narratives. Based on one of the Four Habits of Joy-Filled People, through these check-ins I have tried to have members change their stories by: 1) honestly reporting the circumstances of their lives, and 2) focusing on the positive aspect of their lives even in the midst of their current struggles. I am subtly trying to encourage our group members to see the roses in the valley. And to, as Corsi and Warner say in The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People on storytelling, develop a positive narrative of how to act like our best selves when facing upsetting emotions. I have also encouraged the other three habits of caring— of calming, sorry, appreciation, and attacking toxic thoughts. And through our efforts in the community that we have created, We have seen the fruit of peace and joy grow as we have received stirring testimonies from some of the group members. However, as always, we are a work— we are all a work in progress. And this week my heart broke a little because, uh, a few of our group members are not only struggling with difficult circumstances currently, but they also failed to struggle to see the truth of some good things in their lives with with one questioning their self-worth as a parent and another who was at a complete loss over what their victory or freedom was in. Um, I get that, of course. When things aren't great in our lives, there is a tendency to take the blame and condemn ourselves. And when we aren't being our best selves, we struggle to see any freedom or victory here. Of course, these negative attitudes are due to a negative perspective which is based on a limited or negative focus, if not from believing outright lies. And that brings us to our current series on self-deception, where we have decided to investigate some of the ways we deceive ourselves by walking through step 2, deception versus truth, of the Steps to Freedom in Christ, to see what ways we may have been deceived by the world and ourselves, and in what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves. So we present the fifth way you can be deceived by the world today. And the fifth point is believing that I can sin and suffer no negative consequences. Uh, the scripture reference for this point, uh, is, uh, Hebrews 3:12-13. And the word of God says, uh, from the New Living Translation: Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving. Turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day while it is still today, so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. Okay, here comes the boom. Uh, noetic counseling, or biblical counseling, seeks to bring the light of God's truth into a counselee's life by confronting them with how their thoughts and behaviors are contradicting what the Word of God says, and to point out some hard truths of a counselee's life as the root issue to their problems. Hebrews 3:12-13 tells us to be careful to make sure that our hearts are not evil and unbelieving and to not be deceived by sin. One principle that we can draw from Scripture is that when we choose to sin, we choose to suffer. So if we are suffering, we need to look at our current, our situation, uh, to see where our sin is. The word of God is clear that we all sin, some blatantly by disobeying what God's word says, breaking commandments, or failing to do the good we should do— not being thankful, not being forgiving, choosing to not seek the Lord and find our purpose in his kingdom. So if a person says they are, uh bad parent, for example, instead of consoling them immediately with positive affirmations to the contrary, the Nothetic counselor would ask why they would say that. If the counselee reveals that their assessment is honest because they are not doing what they should, the counselor advises them to change their behavior. If they aren't spending enough time with the kids, they are told to do so. The house is a mess, they are told to clean it. If their depressed state is due to the consequences of poor decisions from isolating themselves or from failing to be active or proactive to solve and avoid problems, they are encouraged to stop making bad decisions, to engage with others relationally, and to do something to change the negative circumstances that they are in. Their inactivity has led to. Uh, persisting in sin, doing or believing what is wrong, or not doing or believing what is right according to God's word, naturally leads to negative consequences. So recognize the sin of what you are believing, not believing, or doing, or not doing, and confess your faults before the Lord and commit to surrendering to his wisdom and will for your life. This wisdom comes from the very beginnings of God's Word. The fall of man resulted from not properly believing and obeying the Lord. After the fall, God counseled Cain about his anger and depression in Genesis 4:6-7, where he said, "Why are you so angry?" the Lord asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, Then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master. You are accepted if you do what is right. So let's do that. We subdue sin and can be its master when we believe what God's word says, apply it to our lives, and do what is right. When we can't see the roses in the valley, We have failed to believe what God says about us or have failed to do what God has said, and the world is seen as a hostile, evil place, in part because we failed to follow the Lord in spirit and in truth. So do what is right, believe what is right, and choose to do that continuously. Yes, the world can be hard, but Christ has overcome the world, and when we put our faith in him And follow His example, we can overcome it too. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crewe. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on adultery. While our resource only shares Proverbs 9:17-18, I have made the executive decision to share the whole passage on the woman called folly to provide the complete context. And so the word of God says in Proverbs 9:13-18, the woman follow— the woman folly is loud, she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, she takes a seat on the high places of the town, calling to those who pass by who are going straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. And to him who lacks sense she says, 'Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. Today's verse falls under the 15th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on adultery, number 15: Stolen water is sweet, but dot dot dot. Yeah, the stolen water is sweet, but it leads to death and hell. Uh, adultery and all sexual sin, any sin outside of a marriage between one man and one woman, uh, can be exciting and pleasurable. Otherwise we would never do it, and the porn industry would not be the multi-billion dollar industry that it is. Human trafficking would also not exist if mankind did not have a desire to do what is desperately wicked. People who preach sexual liberation have no idea of the depths of depravity that the desire for stolen water or forbidden fruit can inflame. As someone who formerly acted on most of my desires to gratify my sexual desires on my own, if not with a willing partner, I know all too well how all-consuming sexual addiction can be. And when we give ourselves away to the lust of the flesh, a part of us dies. Side as we lose our innocence and disregard the wise counsel of God to reserve sex for the expression of love and pleasure under a marriage covenant. So, resist the seductive man or woman and seek purity, uh, of the purity of God's sexual ethics. Putting our sex lives within the borders of God's provisions for sex is an essential part of walking in the Spirit. Rather than experiencing the deadening effects of guilt, shame, and condemnation of the enemy over sexual sin, when we obey the Lord with this intimate part of our lives, we experience the life-giving fruit of the Spirit of love, peace, and joy. As always, I invite all to go to M.t. Clark.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 sharing from A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit, and we conclude chapter 13, which is on the Spirit convicting, uh, with the final section on the means of the Spirit convicting— the use of the law. And I haven't read this, the section, but, uh, yeah, the Holy Spirit convicts us, uh, with the word of God, with the law. And, uh, he want— you know As I walk in the Spirit, I get lots of, uh, lots of promptings to do what is right. And it goes along, you know, it goes beyond— it goes beyond the Ten Commandments to simple things, you know, just to do what you should, to do what is good. And, you know, that you know what is good and do it, um, goes beyond the law, you know, sometimes. And, uh, I haven't regretted it. I don't feel like I'm under the legalistic, uh, you know some legalistic force to obey everything, as much as I am under the care of a loving God who wants me to go in the way I should go. And when I do that, I feel blessed. So that's why we do the podcast and the blog, to encourage other people to surrender to the Lord, the Lord's will for their life, by getting on the path of Christian discipleship, to live live in the spirit rather than in the flesh. There's, there's negative consequences for sins. And, you know, I tried to point out today that our sins even, you know, falls to the simple things— what we choose to believe and don't believe. When we fail to believe God's word is true, that's a sin. And when we don't apply it to our lives, that's a sin. And when we disobey God's word, that's obviously a sin. So it's, it's not just a matter of actions or, you know, violations of a law. It's, it's really how we, how we, how we walk through this world. Um, you know, when we don't believe God, trust in God, and, you know, walk through life being thankful and forgiving and loving, um, you know, we're not walking the way we should go. So, so we encourage that, and we encourage you to develop your, your relationship with the Lord through a daily spiritual practice. That's the secret. We come to, you know, we've come to believe that a life that includes daily Bible study and prayer and reflection and actively walking in the Spirit and trying to do God's will on earth is the key to receiving the fruit of the Spirit: peace, love, joy, goodness, kindness. And gentleness, faithfulness, patience, and self-control. It's, it's in the word of God. The, the secret is to do it and to pursue God every day, to increase your knowledge and understanding of the word and its application to your life. So we, we recommend that. I sort of have everything upside down today because we are throwing a curveball, but I'm focusing on the roses on the— in the valley because although I had arranged, you know, I had the good fortune of having someone volunteer to take my Saturday work shift, the forces of the, you know, the needs of business had something else to say about that. So even though I worked on Wednesday and was scheduled to have today off, I've been forced to work overtime today. So I had to work I have to work Saturday anyway, but the rose in the valley is that, you know, at least I get to earn overtime from it instead of just working straight time. I'd rather have the day off at the beach with my wife, but the needs of business dictate that I work. I'm the low man on the totem pole and I must go in. So I could be angry about it, or I could see the, see the rose in the valley that, hey, the extra money will be good. And, um, you know, and we, we obey the authorities of our, of the people over us, and that's my employer. They provide, um, the financial, the financial means for my, uh, needs, and, uh, we have to obey what they say. Unfortunately, we have a union to represent us, but There's been agreements made. I'm in the utility business, so when there's storm trouble or damage or increased troubles out there, we have to, you know, provide people with service. So we have to, you know, we are under a contract that says we recognize that there will be an increased need at time for us to work, and we'll have to release our freedom. To serve that responsibility. So I get to serve that today. So I'm sort of backwards and upside down. I spent extra time with the Lord today because I work out 5 days a week, and, you know, I felt like working out, but I don't have to. So the part of the program I'm on is to take proper rest for your muscles to relax and grow, I guess. I don't know how it works. I just obey it. And so even though I didn't utilize, you know, have a time of exercise today, I spent all of it in prayer and creating this message. And now I have extra time, but that time is just sort of going to be used in getting ready for work. So let's wrap it up by praying. And so let's do that. Yeah. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you for all that you do, um, you know, that for who you made us in Christ, how you set us free, how you provided for us all the days of our lives, and how you've loved us in so many ways. And Lord, thank you for showing us the truth of that, because we can focus on the darkness in the valley, but you have given us your magnificent light to empower our vision. Of what really matters in life, and that your presence is with us at all times, but we have to look for it and seek you. Thank you for showing us this. And Lord, we thank you for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you would come alongside them and give them that vision too, and to come alongside their prayer request and to, uh, to bless them in their walk. Lord, and we of course pray for you to go before us today. Um, you're sovereign and there was a purpose in working today, but we would like you to move it along as quickly as possible, uh, to get to, uh, the good part of the day where I get to go see my wife at the end of the work day. So that's a little personal prayer today. Um, so we just pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to see the good things around us. Things, see the things we need to see, and lead our steps in the way we should go. Because all we want to do, Lord, is represent you and your kingdom here on earth. So we— and we need as much help as possible for you to, you know, have us do that. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.