Storming the Gates and Prayer - Purity 1250

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 peak experience and a view of what I believe to be the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains in the distance comes from an unknown Facebook friend who shared this mountain view back on June 22nd, 2023. If this photo is yours, give us a heads up and I will give photo credit where photo credit is due by updating the blog after the fact. I spent 10 to 15 minutes looking at the, at the nature-loving usual suspects among my Facebook friends, and, uh, but this photographer is currently still at large. So if it's you, give me a heads up and I'll, I'll say, hey, this is your photo. Anyway, well, it's Wednesday, and although I can't tell you who took this photo, I can tell you that I appreciate their sharing it and though— and thought, that's what I did, I thought that it was more than adequate to visually represent our arrival at another hump day. Speaking of humps, I was sidelined yesterday with a medical condition that is causing pain and discomfort to an area that we want to remain in the shadows. And when I saw snow covering my car yesterday morning, I decided to stop ignoring it and seek medical attention to get it resolved. Although I can see— I can see it. I can't see it without the use of a mirror. Oh boy. I can't see it without the use of a mirror, and I don't want to look at it. I know what it is from a prior experience, and I know the treatment is No, the treatment is— that is required, um, is going under the knife or forceps or whatever instruments are used to surgically remove hemorrhoids. If memory serves me correctly, it's a quick, painful procedure, but yesterday I was ready to suffer the indignity and pain to try to get it removed. Unfortunately, my best-laid plans to storm the gates of a proctologist's office were shut down by the bureaucrat— bureaucratic miasma of our healthcare industry. I tried, I tried to bluff my way into an unknown doctor's office under the pretense of getting a referral from my general practitioner, but I couldn't get the office staff or the nurse to grease the wheels and was sent back to my family doctor who took a peek at the affected area to confirm my self-diagnosis and gave me the referral that I knew I needed but I wasn't able to get., an appointment until this morning. So I'll have at least 2 days off from work as I will attempt to get my condition looked at and removed today. But I have no degree of certainty of what will actually happen until my 9 AM appointment. I may have some false memories about my prior experience, but I believe that after I was seen and treated, uh, I believe that I was seen and treated in the same visit by the proctologist that I saw for this same condition in the early years of my recovery, either 2015 or 2016, when I learned about what can happen oh so suddenly in a small doctor's office. For those who don't know, surgery isn't just for the operating room at the big hospital. You would be amazed and possibly traumatized at what can be done in a small doctor's office. Google "test for chlamydia" urethral swab vasectomy procedure and hemorrhoid surgery procedure to get a small idea of some of the unimaginable things that can happen behind closed doors at the urologist or proctologist office. So pray for me as I am hoping to be subjected to the indignity and have a complete stranger rip things out of my nether regions. But I, I won't know until I get there. TMI, perhaps, but I have learned that it is best to be transparent in my walk of faith, even if it costs me a loss or someone else's negative opinion. I've learned just to tell the truth about what happens in my life because I never want to be accused of putting on some sort of act, that my faith life and my private life are not the same. Because I was so wary of phony or hypocritical Christians in my pre-Christ existence, the last thing I want to be accused of is being like them. As I say, if you don't like the hypocrites in the church, try not to be one. Hey, M.t. Clark, what about trying to storm the gates of the doctor's office? Weren't you lying? Actually, I wasn't. Now, while I never— I was never told to show up at the proctologist's office expecting to be seen immediately. I did call my general practitioner's office and was upfront, maybe a little bit graphic in describing my condition to the clerk on the phone, and I was told to call the proctologist's office directly, and if I needed anything from my family doctor, to call back. So I just took the next step. Why, why call and get shut down by some disembodied voice when you can just show up? And see them face-to-face to plead for mercy and care. So that's what I did. I figured with— I figured that with yesterday's snow, there might be some openings in the schedule and I could get the referral after the fact if I needed it, because it didn't seem required based on what I was told, and could get seen and treated all in one morning. You never know unless you try, and sometimes that proactive approach will work. The only thing that trying costs you is your time, maybe your dignity, as those who reject your attempts may attempt to shame you. But you are purposeful, and you don't care about the opinions of mere men. But when you are purposeful, yeah, when you are purposeful, and don't care about the opinions of mere men, there really is nothing to lose. So after a good bit of confusion by my impromptu visit, the system jumped in to assert its authority and to send me back to go without collecting my $200. But even after the runaround, there was a small hope that I might get into the proctologist after my peekaboo referral visit with my primary care provider, but even though I hoped there would be an available appointment in the afternoon, the best the receptionist could do was schedule me for this morning. At no point in my mad scheme was I dishonest. I reported what I was told accurately and merely tried to advocate for myself to get some expedited help. And that's what we have to do with our walk with God. We will invariably run into trials in this life, and so we should be honest with the Lord and go to Him in prayer to plead our case. We should be persistent in prayer to get the help we need. Sometimes our cries for help will be answered in sometimes miraculous fashion. Believe it or not, I have prayed for and seen healing come on a few occasions., as disease is halted in its tracks or pain or weakness has disappeared. So as crazy as it may sound to some, when you need help from God, ask Him for it. Granted, not all our prayers will be answered immediately or in the manner that we hope for, but they might, so ask. And likewise, accept your cup of suffering with patience if that is the hand you're dealt. I prayed for my bump to go away the day before. It didn't, and my prior experience has taught me that I need medical attention when this happens. So instead of persisting in prayer, I used what I learned previously, including storming the gates, which has worked before, to try to get the treatment I needed. In our lives, we trust the Lord, we pray, and we do as much as we can to try to resolve our own problems. If our prayers are answered immediately, great! If we can fix our own mess, great! But sometimes we'll have to do both. We'll pray and put forth continuous effort and possibly wait a long time before we receive what we need. But in the meantime, we don't lose faith, we don't stop trying, and we don't stop walking and talking with God. So whatever hump you have to get over today, Remember that you are not alone in your pain and struggles. The Lord is there to call on and to give you strength to help you to persevere even when your prayers aren't answered in the way you hope for. Today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on Comfort, and today's verses are Psalm 30: verses 4 and 5 from the New Living Translation. The word of God says, sing to the Lord, all you godly ones, praise his holy name, for his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning. Today's verses fall under the 20th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on comfort. 20. God's favor lasts a lifetime. He turns weeping into rejoicing. Today's verses simultaneously tell us of the joy we should have in our relationship with the Lord, which is appropriately celebrated with singing and praise, and the harsh reality that we may need to suffer times of correction or loss on this mortal coil as we learn to follow where the Lord wants us to go. When you live most of your life doing things your way, independent of God, the transition to a life of walking in the Spirit can be a painful one, as you are guided to reject your worldly ways and free yourself from fleshly or selfish desires and bondages to walk into freedom and a life of righteousness. In that transition, you may lose some things. Uh, You may lose some things too, from material possessions, relationships, or even your naïveté about what was actually important in life. You may weep over the heartbreak from losing the life that you once knew before you realize the joy of the new life that you've been given. But when you find it, you will sing and you will praise the Lord as the mourning is turned to dancing and the laments are exchanged for songs of thanksgiving. Keep walking and talking with God, and you will get there. 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 According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Allford. A Collection of Devotional Journals from 1940 and '41. And as I mentioned before, this little resource, this devotional, prompts you to read a chapter of Scripture from the New Testament. And today's, today's chapter is Matthew 10. So if you need a Bible study and don't know what to do, read Matthew 10 today. But Alford shares from Matthew 10, verses 19 and 20, which say, do not worry Worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Matthew 10:19-20. And Alford writes, personally, I feel that in these two verses is a principle that should always operate in public speaking. By that, I mean that the inference here is not exclusively for the servant of the Lord who is delivered up. Notice also, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth," from Jeremiah 1:9. "The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his words was on my tongue," 2 Samuel 23:2. And, "I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say," in Exodus 4:12. These are just a few of the many instances where the above principle obviously operates. And Offer concludes his thoughts with the prayer, I guess: Speak in living echoes of your tone. So yeah, that's his private thoughts, and we get them publicly. And you know what he's drawing here is, you know, the Lord says that don't worry what you should speak, you know, but basically the Holy Spirit will speak through you at the appropriate time. And Alfred shares other scriptures from the Old Testament that, you know, basically shows that the Lord will give you words to speak, and we should listen for them. So, and that comes from a deep relationship with the Lord, you know. So that's why we, that's why we do the blog, is to encourage a lifestyle of Christian discipleship where you get to become attuned to the Lord's voice. In your life. When you're coming before the Lord every morning with a spiritual daily practice that includes thanksgiving and includes Bible study and prayer, you get to hear that, you know, that voice, the Lord's voice becomes clear. You get impressions of what you should do. The Word of God gets brought to your attention. You know, when that happens, I believe that's the Holy Spirit, you know, giving you a word. When suddenly scripture comes to mind, you know, that's the language of the Lord, is the Word of God. And, you know, when we're walking about our daily existence and we get insights into scripture and promptings to do good things that we, you know, let's face it, normally wouldn't do, That's the Holy Spirit operating in our lives, and it's not just in times of great distress, you know, that he'll guide you. So listen, you know, keep on walking and talking with God and listen for his voice, and he can speak through you into the lives of other people and into your own life to encourage you. So anyway, as I said, I have a doctor's appointment this morning at 9:00 a.m. So I'll be going there and hoping for treatment. Quite the paradox, but I want to be well and I want to be healed. And so we, we face it, you know, we, we shouldn't ignore the, uh, the pressing problems in our lives. And sometimes we know what to do, we know what the right thing is to do, but we selfishly say we don't have enough time, or we have other problems that we want to worry about, or you know, frankly, we're afraid or don't want to do it. And from experience, I've learned that we should try to avoid avoiding things. We should face things head-on and do it proactively as much as we can. You know, we run into trials and problems, and in my experience, I've learned that it's best to deal with them as they come almost immediately. Don't put anything on the back burner because something else is coming down the road. And, you know, if you want a whole pile of mess, just do nothing. Whereas if we face one problem head-on and take care of what's in front of us, we'll be, we'll be prepared for the next thing. And when we walk with the Lord, he'll prepare us for those things and, you know, give us wisdom to overcome. So whatever you're facing this hump day, You know, do it with, you know, with confidence. Do not fear. Trust in the Lord. And, you know, use everything you have, everything the Lord's given you, and your intellect, your experience, to do what's right and to get 'er done. Anyway, that's it for today's message. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for our relatively good health, and for all the blessings you've given us in life. Um, Lord, we just thank you so much for the new life you've given us and the, the favor that's been poured out in our lives, and the fact that we've known what love is, and we've got to experience your love and guidance through this, this life. Lord, we pray for anybody out there who's listening or reading today's message we pray for you to give them guidance and to bless them as well, um, and come alongside their prayer request because we all need your help. And, uh, Lord, as we pray for you to go before me today, Lord, we pray for you to set a path that'll lead to healing and, um, good things. Uh, we pray for strength, uh, and your favor in all things. And then As always, we pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom. And, um, we're definitely going to need your help with that. So, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.