Running on a Heart of Gratitude - Purity 1477

Welcome to the MT4Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of the Tree of Life, alive with the colors of fall and the clear green pasture lands of the right-of-way just off of Freedom Road, comes to us from yours truly as I decided to take a photo for from a different perspective than I normally do while on my walk back to my countryside home Friday afternoon. Well, it's Tuesday, October 15th, the Ides of October, and although yesterday's federal holiday was spent recovering from my poor food choices over the weekend— it turns out that junk food can really make you feel like junk— I am grateful for another lesson in the school of hard knocks of food addiction. That is why we don't do that. And I'm still rejoicing over the joy I had Friday and Saturday as I was in full appreciation mode over the autumn season, the pleasant weather, and just the fact that my life is good. Um, I have a lot to be thankful for, and I realize that when I take a moment to thank God for the good things in my life, the fruit of the Spirit of peace, joy, and love just abound. And when I focus on my blessings and my relationship with God, it just motivates me to keep following the Lord into the life he has for me. I don't always know where this journey will lead me, but I have come to discover that even when I have to go through trials or am challenged to change, I always come through the other side wiser or more mature than I was before, and that causes me to give thanks. One of my biggest struggles before experiencing my freedom in Christ was a condemning or guilt-laden spirit where I just condemned myself myself for my failures and agreed with Satan's implanted thoughts that I was evil, criminal-minded, or just plain old no good. But since I've been set free in Christ and have been walking in the Spirit, I know there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That's me. And I spend far less time beating myself up and spend a lot more time thanking God for his mercy, mercy, grace, and love. You could say that my life is running on a heart of gratitude as I practice giving thanks to the Lord and reaffirming my identity in Christ nearly every day. When I focus on God and my life in Christ, I have peace, and it motivates me to follow him all the more. Um, yesterday's In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, uh, devotional, um, addressed having a heart of gratitude, and I'm sharing it on the blog today to remind us all to be faithful to the practice of giving thanks. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, a heart of gratitude. We can be thankful because the blessings we have through Jesus far outweigh life's difficulties. The Bible says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. That might seem easy when life is going well, but when it's not, expressing gratitude can be difficult. It is interesting to note that this instruction to give the Lord, uh, to thank the Lord in all things was written by Paul, the apostle whose loyalty to Christ earned him severe persecution. You might wonder how he was able to be grateful to God. The answer is that Paul knew his riches in Christ far outweighed any earthly discomfort. Consider the blessings he so valued, which are available to all believers. First, we are invited to have a personal relationship with the one true God. Second, the Father, uh, loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love. Third, he sent his Son to die as payment for our sins so we could spend eternity with him. And the list of blessings keeps going. God adopts believers as his children and seals them with his Spirit. He has a plan for each of his followers and bestows special gifts and empowerment to make it happen. He promises to meet every need through his limitless resources and provides his word and indwelling spirit to guide us. No wonder Paul was grateful. Count his blessings as your own and let God know how appreciative you are. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley. I say amen. This is why the practice of giving thanks or gratitude is a fundamental practice and an absolute necessity for the disciples of Jesus Christ. Not only is gratitude the most appropriate response for the believer— we should thank God and give him praise— but it also empowers us to live a good, holy, and righteous life. When we grab a hold of all the things that God has done for us and allow them to define who we are, We become able to walk away from our sin and live according to who we now— we are now in Christ. And this is the gift that keeps on giving. As we give thanks to God, we come in power— we become empowered to live right. And every day we walk in his ways becomes one more thing to thank him for. We give, we give thanks, uh, rejoice, walk right, and give thanks, and repeat. So give thanks to the Lord our God today so you can have peace and joy and walk in victory today and be able to thank him once again tomorrow. Today's Bible verses come to us from The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John J. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on forgiving others, and today's verses are 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 from the New International Version, um, the word of God says, anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes. Today's verses fall under the 14th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on forgiving others. And that, uh, the 14th point is when we forgive others, we outwit Satan. And yeah, so there, um, today's verses teach us to forgive and to outwit the father of lies. Forgiveness lies at the heart of our faith. Jesus came to earth, lived a righteous life, was crucified, died, and was resurrected so that we may have peace with God and be forgiven of all our sins. God sent Jesus to die for us so we could be forgiven, and because we have received our forgiveness, we should in turn forgive others who sin against us. Jesus included this principle when his disciples asked him how we should pray. Matthew 16:12 says, and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us. So we are to forgive others. It's a commandment, and when we don't obey it, like any other unrepented sin, it gives the enemy permission to be part of our lives. An unforgiving heart allows the enemy to sow seeds of bitterness, malice, and anger, and to tempt us to be unloving, if not hateful, or even violent towards those who have offended us. So to outwit the enemy, we are to forgive others. When we forgive, we reflect the Lord's wisdom and love. And we— and when we dedicate our lives to do God's will and his will only, the enemy is prevented from being able to deceive us or lead us into temptation. So forgive because we are commanded to. Forgive to undo the works of the devil. And forgive to set your heart and mind free to walk in the fullness of a life that God has for you. 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 Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture, and today's chapter is 2 John 1, um, and from that chapter he shares portions of verses 10 and 11 which say, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. And Stephen Alford writes, the heretics that John writes about in these verses were those who deliberately went about teaching antichrist doctrines. The greeting was not the formal greeting of today, but one of identification and brotherhood. And the apostle warns the elect lady, who was probably the owner of a rest house, not to identify herself with heresy by seeking God's blessing upon the heretics. This, however, in no way cuts across the believer's privilege to make known the truth wherever there is the opportunity. The Lord says, if anyone or the church opens the door, I will come in. And Stephen Alford ends by praying, protect your truth in my heart, Lord, that it might not— it might never mingle with the enemy's lies. Amen. Amen. And, uh, we have to be very careful because we want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to share the truth. Encourage people to seek the Lord and follow him. And we have to be very careful we don't affirm people when they, when they come in with some mixed message of who God is. Unfortunately, the New Age and false religions are all over the place, and because of difficulties in the body of Christ or the traditions of the church, people have walked away from the faith in droves and are seeking spiritual answers. Unfortunately, they're looking for love in all the wrong places and, you know, adapt pantheistic or, or, you know, different religious beliefs to try to, you know, deal with the spiritual problems they have in life. Problem is, um, they're listening to the doctrines of demons, where if it isn't Christ, it's Antichrist. And even though it might sound nice and peaceful and kind, um, those messages that don't include Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior and the Redeemer are messages that will lead you right to hell. So we have to, we have to be very careful. Um, I myself know more than, more than most, uh, the allure of false religion. As you know, during a difficult time in my life, I turned towards, you know, Eastern mysticism and Buddhist teachings basically to try to give me comfort. You know, to give me control over my suffering. And there was a measure of peace there, but there was also a great deal of, of lies, as it talked about a world system or cosmological view of the afterlife that just was totally anti-Christ, totally went against what the Bible says about what happens when we die. And So you have to be very careful not to, not to try to bless people who seem spiritual but who are actually, you know, sowing the lies of the enemy. So you have to be very, very careful of that. And, uh, you know, we have to follow the one true God. And so we ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Have you made a profession of faith and and started reading the Bible to know what, you know, the truth is. Um, we, we encourage you to do that because when we, when we seek the Lord, he will reveal himself to us. And the, the truth is to be found in God's word and God's word only. So we, we point people to the Bible and the life that Christ has for us. Um, we know what— when that happens, um, you find peace, you find the forgiveness of your sins, and you find a new life in Christ. It's better than anything else out there. You know, it's our purpose to find the Lord, and he leads you to it. And when you find him, he, he often changes you. Um, he causes you to repent, and he might even cause you to do ministry. And in my case, one of the things I've been blessed with is the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church. It's a Christian recovery and discipleship group that meets on Wednesday evenings at 6:30. We invite anyone in Upstate New York who can get to Clifton Park to join us on Wednesday evenings in the K-3rd grade classroom for support and fellowship. And for anybody who's not in Upstate New York, we recommend, or, you know, that you find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. And we have— you'd find those on our playlist page. We have teachings for the Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, the, uh, the Victory Over the Darkness, and our very own free, uh, Celebrate Freedom discipleship course. So we recommend those because, you know, we don't know these things, we'll never be able to experience them. And so when we find the truth, the truth will set us free. And, uh, we offer the, you know, these playlists as a way to get in touch with the Lord and find, find out what, what his life for you would mean. And, um, so we point you to that. And we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? Have you made yourself available for the Holy Spirit to come on in and make changes to your life, to guide you in the way you should go? Uh, if so, that's great. We say keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we suggest you pray. And we pray every day, so let's do that right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all you've done for us. Lord, thank you for your mercy and grace, the forgiveness of sins and the life everlasting that we found through faith in Jesus Christ. And, uh, Lord, we, we pray for anyone who's listening or reading or watching today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, and, uh, to encourage them to follow you. Um, Lord, because we all need your help, and we're asking for that today as well. And, uh, we just pray for you to go before us, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us in the way we should go, and, uh, help us, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.