In this devotional, speaker M.t. Clark shares a personal account of a difficult day marked by bad weather, frustrating work, and distressing news, which led to a cascade of negative thoughts. He explains that such mental spirals are not merely personal failures but are influenced by spiritual forces of darkness, describing how the enemy exploits hopes, love, performance, and aging to foster fear, anxiety, and hopelessness. Clark introduces the "Scoreboard" metaphor, asserting that while the world may seem chaotic, Christ’s victory is the ultimate, unchanging scoreboard for believers. He urges listeners to shift focus from worldly troubles to their identity in Christ, reciting a comprehensive list of "Who I Am in Christ" affirmations that reinforce acceptance, redemption, and divine purpose. The message also references A.W. Pink’s teaching on the sovereignty of God and the Holy Spirit, and concludes with a prayer asking for spiritual sight, joy, and perseverance through darkness. Throughout, Clark encourages the audience to walk in faith, keep talking with God, and remember the everlasting goodness found in Christ.
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 spectacular sunset sky over Port Noarlunga in South Australia comes to us from Dave Bowen Photography, as Dave shared this brighter shot from halfway down the winding staircase that takes you to the beach below on social media earlier today. Yesterday I shared a moodier sunset from the same location that Dave had captured because it seemed to be appropriate in the face of a couple of bad reports I received over the weekend. Little did I know that sullen disposition would turn into a real case of the Mondays as my workday was accompanied by a mild but unrelenting snowstorm, challenging circumstances and negative emotions of fear, anxiety, frustration, and condemnation that painted everything black. The weather wasn't good, work was somewhat frustrating, the news I had gotten over the weekend wasn't good, and I got a new report in the early morning hours that someone else in my life had suffered an unexplained fall and needed to be admitted in the hospital. With all of these things, it's difficult to remain positive, but it is even more difficult when your thoughts go negative. Nothing works, everything breaks, what's the use? I hate this. Why can't anything work? I'll never be used by the Lord. What's the point? Everyone lies. I can't say anything. Don't they realize what they are doing? Don't they know what they have done? No one will accept me. Nothing changes. Everything changes. Nothing stays the same. Things just keep getting worse. Everyone hates me. There is nothing good in my life. It's not safe. I'm gonna get hurt. I'm gonna go off the road. Someone is going to hit me. There is no time. I'll never get out of this. Why do I bother? While I can't recall the exact content of my thoughts yesterday, some of those might have gone through my mind. Don't get me wrong, this didn't all happen at once. For the most part, I remained positive, careful, and on task. No, yesterday seemed to be a progressive campaign of negative mental chatter. Which was sent by the spiritual forces of darkness. Um, as a facilitator of the Freedom in Christ course for Freedom in Christ Ministries, I understand the fact that because of the unseen spiritual realities of existence, all of our thoughts aren't necessarily our own. And when our outlook on life becomes dark and focused on the world, ourselves, and the negative aspects of our lives it is safe to assume that we are being influenced by the deceiver and the accuser of the brethren, Satan, and the demonic forces of darkness who only seek to kill, steal, and destroy our peace. Sometimes we will see our negative train of thoughts and ask, "Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I thinking about this? Why would I want to feel this way?" Well, the simple answer to those questions is that we aren't, or at least we are not driving that train of thought. The enemy is tempting us to get on board, and because those negative aspects of life are there and are pressing, we buy the ticket and are taken for a ride to condemnation, anger, fear, worry, or depression. Ironically, the enemy can even use our hopes against us. If we, if we are hoping for good outcomes, the enemy will be there to remind us that nothing good happens to us, or will accuse us to convince us of why we are not worthy of good things. The enemy can even use our love for others to drag us down. In contemplating the traumas and tragedies of our friends and loved ones, of our friends and loved ones, we can fa— we can question God's goodness and come away depressed. When we consider our family and friends who don't know the Lord or who are locked into a lifestyle of worldliness or sin, we can fear for their immortal souls and doubt that they will ever come to faith. The enemy can use our performance against us as well. No one does anything perfectly. Our work for ourselves, our employers, or for God's kingdom will always, will always be subject to judgment, criticism, and second-guessing. The enemy loves to let us know when we are failing, or when we come— we could have done things better, or even how or how even the good things we do won't matter. With each passing day, the enemy can point to our advancing years and attempt to convince us of the futility of our efforts and our lives themselves as we slowly age, slowly age, and can be tempted to consider if our lives have meaning or purpose at all. Uh, this maelstrom of this existential laments and considerations can be daunting when we fail to remember who we are in Christ. Because the suffering of the world is a clear and present reality that we deal with every day, the enemy can steal our joy by getting us to focus on these circumstances rather than on the one who is above them all and who is guiding them all for good. The enemy wants us to have tunnel vision. Where we focus on the negative aspects of our lives to the exclusion of the overwhelming positive aspects of our lives. As I— after I suffered through my no good terrible day, I realized that I had been drawn into this tunnel of frustration and hopelessness when in reality I have an amazing life that is surrounded by good things. Circumstantially, I'm blessed with a job that provides, a home, a wife who loves me, a collection of possessions that work for the most part, relatively good health, friends, a loving family, pets, food and water. Those things didn't go away just because some snow fell on a Monday and some bad things have happened to some of the people I care about. Anyone could be grateful for these things, for these blessings, but when we focus on the negative aspects of our lives, we can feel like we don't have anything good at all. As awesome as these things are and should be remembered to keep us grounded in reality and grateful, they are all subject to things to change, and we could lose them all in any minute. Yikes! What are you trying to do, M.t. Clark? I was just starting to feel better. Well, I want you to find the peace and joy that, that goes beyond the good circumstances of our lives by pointing to the ultimate good that comes through faith in Christ alone. The one unshakable and unchanging thing we can hold on to in life is God. He is only— he is the only one that we know who will never leave us or forsake us, and who gives us a new life and an enduring hope. If nothing else good should come on this earth, we know that because of our faith in Christ, we will overcome. In Christ, we have the ultimate victory that is never lost. In sports circles, sometimes a team that is thoroughly beaten will make a good play, and out of their frustration will boast and try to rub it in their opponents' faces. But even though the eventual victors have been shown up momentarily, the mature ones will remind their nemesis of their imminent victory by simply saying, "Scoreboard!" In Christ, we have won. We have all we need for life and godliness. Although there may be suffering here on earth, we are victorious. For the Christian, our scoreboard is Jesus. He has won the victory and given it to us. Although the enemy will try to convince us that he will never stop ruling this world and cause— and causing mayhem, those of us in Christ can look to Jesus, our scoreboard, and know that beyond the chaos of this mad world, a kingdom is coming. The victory has already been won, and when we focus on Jesus and on who we are in Christ, our tunnel vision is shown to be spiritual blindness. And the light of God's goodness opens up the heavens as we just, we see just how big God is and how deep, how wide, and how high His love goes. So if your train of thoughts take you into a dark place, remember to turn on the light and remind yourself of who you are in Christ and of the victory that we have in, with us every day. God is with us, so rather than dwelling on the negative reports from a mad world, keep walking and talking to him to know the peace and joy that go beyond the circumstances that surround us. In Christ, we live forever, and when we walk by faith, we are anchored to the victory that Christ has won. So keep walking and talking with God, and remind yourself that every day is a good day when we— you are alive and well in his kingdom. Today we'll skip the Bible verse of the day and read from the Who I Am in Christ list because we need to know this and live this every day. Who I am in Christ: I am accepted in Christ. I am God's child. I am Christ's friend. I have been justified. I am united with the Lord and one with him in spirit. I have been bought with a price. I belong to God. I am a member of Christ's body. I am a saint. I have been adopted as God's child. I have direct access to God through the Holy Spirit. I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins. I am complete in Christ. I am secure in Christ. I am free forever from condemnation. I am assured that all things work together for good. I am free from the condemning charges against me. I cannot be separated from the love of God. I have been established, anointed, and sealed by God. I am a citizen of heaven. I am hidden with Christ in God. I can find grace and mercy to help me in time of need. I am born of God and the evil one cannot touch me. I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. I am confident that the good work God has begun in me will be perfected. I am significant in Christ. I am the salt and light of the earth. I'm a branch of the true vine, a channel to his life. I've been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. I am a personal witness of Christ. I am God's temple. I am a minister of reconciliation. I am God's coworker. I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. I am God's workmanship. I may approach God with freedom and confidence, and I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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 Sovereignty of God in Chapter 4, Under the Sovereignty of God and the Holy Spirit in Salvation, and where that continues. We're short on time, so I'm going to pray and that'll be it. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, lead us into the things you want us to do. And Lord, we pray for everyone who's listening or reading the message today, that they be blessed and that they remember who they are in Christ so they can walk through the tunnel of darkness of this world and go into your magnificent light to find your goodness, mercy, and love. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
