In this solo Christmas‑Eve podcast episode, M.t. Clark opens with a personal photograph of his dog Harley and explains why he recorded the message early to keep his daily blog/podcast schedule despite family holiday gatherings. He recounts a recent dental visit that sparked a depressive episode, linking the physical decay of teeth and gums to broader feelings of hopelessness, holiday stress, and the high suicide rate among dental professionals. Clark interprets this mood shift as a possible spiritual attack, specifically a "spirit of suicide," and publicly renounces it in Jesus’ name, emphasizing the authority believers have over demonic forces. He then shifts to practical advice: practicing gratitude, monitoring thoughts, and using Scripture to combat negative mental narratives, citing Joyce Meyer on thought management. Clark references a David Jeremiah Christmas‑Eve devotional that highlights modern holiday stress (citing an American Heart Association survey) and draws parallels to the fears of biblical figures at the first Christmas. He presents Proverbs 8:13 as the day’s meditation verse, discussing humility versus pride. The episode continues with a reading from J.E. Adams’ 365‑day devotional (Day 36) focusing on Moses’ choice to pursue eternal treasure over earthly power, reinforcing the theme of keeping an eternal perspective. Clark promotes his Celebrate Freedom support group and upcoming online discipleship meetings, mentions his life‑coaching practice, and lists free resources (podcasts, courses) available on his website. The broadcast concludes with a heartfelt prayer for peace, joy, and spiritual surrender, urging listeners to empty themselves of Christ and to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
Chapters
Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 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, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of my canine pal Harley walking toward the Tree of Life, quote unquote, at the end of the gravel farmland pathway that I call Freedom Road comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene back on November 9th, commenting at the time that it could be one of the last times in 2024 that me and Harley would go to the clearing at the end of the road. And it— I think it was, uh, anyway, well, it's, it's Tuesday, December 24th, or at least it will be, uh, when this message goes public. You see, I usually produce my blog early in the morning each new day, but my wife's children will have stayed over the over the evening of the 23rd to be at the house on the morning of Christmas Eve to open their presents before going to their father's house on Christmas Day. So I decided to plan ahead and to produce a Christmas Eve message beforehand to do my best to keep the 24/7 spirit of the blog and podcast alive and to avoid any frustrations or disappointments on my part. I like speaking about the Lord, and I also like to maintain peace, so I thought producing a short message the before it's due was the best way to meet my needs and to not be a bother to others in the house. Um, yesterday, or today, the 23rd, uh, I had a dentist appointment and was serviced by a very friendly dental hygienist who shared with me some details of their holiday plans and the news that I should use an electric toothbrush and undergo treatments for my gums. Uh, the dentist also gave me the news, um, that one of my teeth could use a filling. So I'll have some dental appointments in 2025 to look forward to. I'm not afraid of the dentist or anything, but I noticed while I was sitting in the dentist chair, I started to get depressed. Um, maybe I anticipated the fact that I would have to come back for work, but honestly, uh, I think I was depressed about the dual depressive factors of the decay and breakdown of the human body and the disappointments of the holiday season and human relationships. The dental hygienist's frankness about the relational annoyances and frustrations of family holiday gatherings and the inability to reverse some of the effects of gum disease just bummed me out. And I started to wonder whether or not the degenerative effects of dentistry contributed to the high rate of suicide among dental practitioners. As I had negative thoughts about life on Earth, gums and teeth falling apart, and the dissatisfaction of human relationships. I felt the familiar tones of hopelessness of my former life and my depressive demeanor, and I began to wonder if I wasn't under spiritual attack by that spirit of suicide. I shook it off and got out of there, but the brief episode of woe is life and woe is me reminded me of just how dangerous the holidays, the winter months, dashed expectations, bad reports, relational difficulties, and real loss and grief can be, can be to our mental health if we are not aware of how our thoughts can drive our emotions up or down, and that there are very sinister spirits that are sling, uh, slinging their fiery darts in our direction in hopes of stealing, killing, and destroying our holiday fun, if not our lives. When you take these things into perspective, we have to be thinking about what we're thinking about, as Joyce Meyer says, and to make a plan to keep our mental narrative balanced by the good news of who we are in Christ. At Celebrate Freedom, I remind the participants each week to practice gratitude, to build up their emotional resilience, and to attack toxic or negative thoughts with positive truths from scriptures or from the stories of their lives. Uh, the truth is that if we want peace, we can have it by walking in the Spirit. It is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, after all. But we have to remember to do that and to know how to quiet our minds and know how not to engage every thought that passes through our head— headspace. Spiritual warfare is a reality, and good mental and health Mental and spiritual health can be maintained when we know that every thought we might have, we have, might not be our own. There are such things as familiar spirits, which are localized demons that are assigned to certain areas. And after today's experience, my quick descent into depressive territory, and considering the atmosphere of a dental office— pain and fear are common there— and the statistic statistics on depression and suicide among dentists. You can see a link that I'm sharing on the blog. I decided to renounce the negative thoughts and to cast out the spirit of suicide in Jesus' name to be on the safe side, and I immediately felt better. So just keep in mind that as children of God, we have the authority over the spiritual forces of darkness and can use it to command the enemy to leave if we are feeling afflicted. But beyond the demonic, we just might have to be smart about what our thoughts dwell on and make a plan to change what we are thinking if our affect goes south. We may have a distant— we may have to distance ourselves from difficult situations and people, even if they are family, if they violate our boundaries and lead us into old familiar patterns of dysfunction. So even though it's Christmas and things should be merry and bright today, I recognize that there are possible threats to our mental health today and tomorrow, and we should be diligent in making a plan for peace as we celebrate the Prince of Peace's incarnation. Um, speaking of holiday peace, I peeked ahead to see the Turning Point, uh, with the Dr. David Jeremiah devotional for Christmas Eve, and I'm sharing it on the blog today because it admits that Christmas can be a tough time in our modern age, but Jeremiah encourages us to keep our peace by putting things into perspective, by reflecting on the first Christmas and how that had its stresses too. David Jeremiah writes, "Holiday Peace," and he shares Philippians 4:6, which says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known To God. And David Jeremiah writes, a 2023 survey reported by the American Heart Association noted that out of 1,000 respondents, 63% said that— said the Christmas holidays are more stressful than the April tax season, and 51% reported that it takes weeks to recover from the holidays, especially for mothers. The very first Christmas was simpler than our modern commercialized version and therefore less stressful, we would think. But there was fear and stress associated with the first Christmas as well. Zechariah was fearful about the announcement of his son John the Baptist's birth. Mary was fearful about becoming the unwed mother of Jesus. And the shepherds outside Bethlehem were fearful when a host of angels announced Jesus' birth. In each case, it was the fear of the unknown that resulted in their unrest. If you have concerns or fears this Christmas season, commit them to God in prayer. Be anxious for nothing by receiving his peace. That was from David Jeremiah. And he also shares a, a quote from an unknown author that says, courage is fear that has said its prayers. Amen. Um, today's Bible verse Oh well, let's see. I say amen. I'm sorry, before the Bible verse, I say amen. You know, David Jeremiah helps us to get a little per— a bit of perspective about our modern problems by helping us to think about how much harder, harder life must have been for the people who were around for the first Christmas. While suffering will always be a part of the human condition until Jesus comes back, we should realize how blessed we are by our modern conveniences and the fact that we have access to the Bible, and there's plenitude of multiple, uh, Christian resources to educate and encourage us to know God more and to live the Christian life. But as I stated, we do have to be diligent to know what we believe, why we believe it, and how it can be applied to our lives in such a way to give us peace regardless of our circumstances. So keep walking and talking with God, make a plan, and have yourself A Merry Christmas. Now, today's Bible verse comes to us from The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crewe. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on humility and pride, and today's verse is Proverbs 8:13, which says, The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil; pride and arrogance in the way of evil, and perverted speech I hate. And today's verse is the first of 5 passages of Scripture that fall under the first point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on humility/pride. And that first point is: Trusting in the God of hope will bring you yet more joy and peace and hope. Uh, joy, peace, and hope. I don't know if that's the right— is that right? I'm going to check it real quick, guys. No, it's humility is a virtue most pleasing to God. Pride is a grievous sin in his sight is actually the first point. I apologize, I didn't catch that edit. Anyway, we move along. It's about pride, not hope. Hope was the last section. Today's Bible verse makes it clear that pride, arrogance, and perverted speech are hated by wisdom. Which is in verse 1, that speaks out. And that to fear, or to have reverence for the Lord, is to hate evil. I know this is strong speech, but God is holy, and the wisdom of the Old Testament is given to us to teach us right from wrong and to lead us away from, away from the darkness of the common ways of the world. Although we may be able to accomplish great feats and may feel that we have the freedom to say and do whatever we wish, The word of the Lord is given to us to humble us and to remind us that we don't have the power of life and death, and that we should fear the one who does, uh, who does, and seek his wisdom and understanding with humility. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where you can always find Christian insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors, uh, to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk. They're in the blog, and, uh, you can also find out about our life coaching practice. Um, but let's— uh, we are sharing those insights still, and today we're currently— we're sharing— we're continuing to share from Day by Day Along the Way by J.E. Adams. And, uh, it's a 365-day devotional, and we're on day 36, where Adams shares a portion of Hebrews 11:26, which says he was looking ahead to the reward And J.E. Adams writes, Moses had an opportunity to become the next pharaoh of Egypt with the riches, fame, and power that it involved, but he sought greater riches, the heavenly blessings of God. He was willing to endure mistreatment because he was looking ahead. That is the key to walking well on your heavenly journey. Keeping the eyes of your heart fixed upon the ultimate goal makes the endurance of present suffering and trials possible. Indeed, it is not only the glories of heaven that should dazzle you, but even more so the appearing of the glory of your great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He outshines all the treasures of heaven that you lay up. He is the ultimate treasure. Moses recognized that sin has its pleasures, but he walked away from them. Why? Because he realized that they are but short-lived. While the heavenly treasures are eternal. It is the comparison of the short-term and long-term results of the choices that you make that will encourage you to live the Christian life acceptably. Too frequently, we cling to the short term. Walking in the way is not merely a matter of looking at one's feet, but also seeing what lies ahead. Amen. What a great message by, um, J.E. Adams telling us that Christ is our treasure. And he points to Moses, who had a good place, but he looked towards ultimate reality. And in ultimate reality, he realized that the God of the Hebrews was the real God, not the Egyptian gods, that it was God's people that he had to be a part of. And when he came to that truth, he tried to help the Hebrews, But he did it in his own strength and, you know, ended up in the wilderness until one day God called him to be the deliverer of Israel, um, through the burning bush. And, um, that's the thing, we got to keep the ultimate thing, the, the main thing, um, what happens in eternity as, you know, the utmost importance. And, uh, we have to align ourselves with God's will for our life by following Jesus. And, um, you know, being— becoming part of that kingdom, uh, through faith in Jesus Christ. So that's why we always ask the question: have you fully surrendered to God? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? And are you just— are you now walking with him? Are you, you know, keeping the main thing the main thing by following Jesus and encouraging other people to do so as well? Um, I try to do that. The best I can. And what I found is the pathway to peace. Peace in the moment, peace for eternity. And with that, the Lord's also brought me a purpose to share the message of Jesus Christ and to love one another, right? And part of that purpose is where I serve at Celebrate Freedom, the support group for Christian recovery and discipleship at Starpoint Church. We're on break for the holidays, but we'll be reconvening on Wednesday, January 8th at 6:30 PM, uh, to— so we invite anybody in the Capital District to come out and join us. And, um, as it turns out, we're, we're stepping out in faith by offering the same, the same meeting, same material online, uh, for anybody who can't make it to our, our weekly meeting. We're, we're doing it, um, online, um, January 6th, Mondays, and we're telling people to go to mtforchrist.com, our group coaching event page to register now. There is a fee, you know, if you break it up over the 25 weeks, it's not that, you know, not that significant. But there it is, there. We do encourage someone to register, otherwise we'll be doing this and, you know, keeping it in the files for people who are interested later. But yeah, we're going to record all the sessions, so they'll be available for anybody and everyone who's willing to, you know, pray pay for the production cost basically for me to do it, my time and, you know, my effort. But I really, I'm looking forward to it. It's been a labor of love that's on my heart. It'll be something I'm doing in 2025, and I invite people to join, join me and, you know, see what that'll be like. Anyway, that's what we're doing in 2025. It is Christmas Eve and we're looking forward to that, but You know, if you don't want to be part of those things, we offer our podcasts for free on our YouTube playlist page. The Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, and our very own Celebrate Freedom discipleship course are all available for free. And we believe that if you listen to those, they can help you to find or increase your freedom in Christ. So Yeah, there's that. Beyond that, we always ask the question, are you empty for Christ too? And that's a clever play on words. My initials sound like empty. And really what it means is, have you fully surrendered to God? You know, um, are you making yourself available for the Holy Spirit to come in and fill you and to guide you in the way you should go? If so, we say great, keep on walking and talking with God. If not, we encourage you to pray. To pray for the Lord to reveal himself to you and to move you to, uh, make Jesus your Lord and Savior, because we've learned that that is the pathway to peace regardless of, uh, what happens around us. So, um, we know prayer works, and that's why we pray every day, like today. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much that it's Christmas Eve, and we just pray for all of us, Lord, that you lead us in the way we should go today to, um, to experience the joy of, of your coming. And the fact that, you know what, you're not coming, you're already here. Um, you're here with us everywhere. And what we're waiting for is for Jesus to come back and, um, to guide us today. So Lord, we just pray for you to open our eyes today, lead us in the way we should go. We also pray for you to bless anyone who's reading or listening or watching today's message. They bless them, their prayer requests, and their walk faith, because all we want to do is follow you, Lord, and we need a lot of help with that. And, um, Lord, we say, Jesus, come soon. Um, but we also say, Lord, we thank you, we love you, we praise you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
