The Elephant in the Room - Your Wound - Purity 1366

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of a baby elephant on the shores of a small pond comes to us from yours truly as I captured this wild scene while on vacation in the safe confines of Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park back on February 20th earlier this year. Well, it's Tuesday, and as I am in continuous motion from one thing to the next because of work, ministry, or my second marriage blended family two-household existence, I sometimes forget and am amazed at the sheer adventure that I live now because I have decided to follow Jesus. Our new life in Christ is not just something to be believed, but is truly meant to be lived. And if the word boredom describes your walk of faith, I would have to admonish you that you are not doing it right. But hey, Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. So please do not take that as a criticism, because I mean it as an encouragement for you to take as an invitation to seek the Lord and to do something to to help you to discover the new abundant life that you have available to you when Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Of course, discovering the new life in Christ may cause you some discomfort as you have not— as you not only have to look at the man in the mirror and get real with God, but you have to deal with the elephant in the room. You may have to deal with the elephant in the room of your unresolved spiritual and personal conflicts from the past. Otherwise known as your wound or wounds, plural, because in this broken world, um, this world broken by sin with our propensity to do things our own way based on our limited understanding, we will undoubtedly suffer at the hands of others or by our own sinful and selfish choices. Hurt people hurt people, after all, and there's no shortage of pain in this world. But the good news is that we know the Healer and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who can bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free. Last night I attended a Wild at Heart book study men's group where the topic of the evening was the wound, and where I had the privilege of witnessing some very brave Christian men decide to be real and deal with the elephants in their living rooms. That would seldom normally be talked about. John Eldredge's book informs us that a core need for a man's development is to be affirmed in their masculinity by other men, traditionally their father, and to be assured that they have what it takes, that they are seen as significant and capable as men. When men don't receive this affirmation or are specifically told in subtle or not so subtle ways that they don't have what it takes, They suffer a wound to their hearts as men, which will cause them to respond in a number of healthy or unhealthy ways, depending on the agreements or vows they make in response to their wounds. Eldridge is— Eldridge uses the example of Teddy Roosevelt as someone who responded to his lack of affirmation to go out and seek his male initiation through his own efforts. With good results, as Roosevelt was known for his act of heroism in the face of danger and his ability to lead men and his country through difficult times. So the wound could cause us to do good things when we see it as wrong and when we pursue righteousness, but more often than not, the wound will limit us in ways, um, driving us to addictions or to be emotionally unavailable. And all the self-help efforts in the world will fall short, short in dealing with the heart of the issue. But that's where Jesus comes in. He cures the brokenhearted after all. And when we surrender to his lordship, grieve our wound by taking it to him with all honesty, freely receive his love and forgive others or ourselves as we have been forgiven, our hearts can be healed of the pain of the past, and a new life emerges from the ashes of broken— of our brokenness. Last night I shared a bunch of my testimony to show that God can save us, heal us, and set us free, and I was really encouraged by how the other men in the group opened up and shared stories from their lives about the pains they had suffered and learned from. In a couple of hours, a group of relative strangers became a band of brothers in a sense, as we took the opportunity before us to be vulnerable with one another and to encourage one another to face our wounds and to continue in this journey of faith and wholeness. If you have an elephant in your room that you've been ignoring, I recommend taking it to God, talking to God, and asking him for the healing that he can bring. I would recommend Neil Anderson's The Steps to Freedom in Christ as the means to prayerful repentance and cleaning out your house spiritually. But Eldredge's Wild at Heart book for men and Captivating for the ladies has also been known to help people to take their wounds to God and be healed, showing us that it really doesn't really matter what method you use to get right with God and to receive your healing. It only matters that you seek the Lord and ask Jesus to help you to forgive, receive forgiveness, and to heal. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on depression, and today's verses are all of Psalm 42, verses 1 through 11. From the New American Standard Bible, the Word of God says: As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been food day and night, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with a voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. O my God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and his song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Today's verses fall under the 5th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on depression, and that 5th point is: Put your hope in God when you are downcast. Today's verses deserve a larger commentary than I have time for this morning, but I would point to the highlighted verse, verse 5, in this psalm to impress upon those who may be suffering from depression to hope in God. As he is the eternal one that does not change, that is truly good, and who would call you to know who you are in Christ and to be set free. Stop looking at the world and all its pain and brokenness. Hope in God and look to him because he transcends this world and offers us a life of joy and peace in his presence that never ends. So seek the Lord and hope in God. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today, um, we're continuing to share from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And part of Alford's testimony, uh, Devotional is prompting us to read a chapter of Scripture, and today's chapter is Romans, Romans 9. And from Romans 9, he shares a portion of verse 17, which says, for the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show my power in you, that my name may be declared in all the earth. And Stephen Alford writes, God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. God's purposes must be fulfilled, and He sometimes uses the very vessels of wrath to accomplish His great plans. The apostle Paul illustrates this fact in referring to Pharaoh. Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath, one who did not fear God, but even so God used him to accomplish His His designs. For through Pharaoh God demonstrated His power, thus making known His name throughout all the earth. If God can use a vessel such as Pharaoh, how much more can He use a vessel sanctified and ready for the Master's use? And Alfred ends his devotional by praying, Make me a sanctified and ready vessel. Lord. Amen. Amen. Sanctified and ready vessel. Last night's men's group, um, you know, the discussion started a little, a little uncertain, um, as they often do with, you know, a group presentation or a group gathering. You know, no one wants to speak. And so after the first person spoke, I jumped in with my testimony to encourage other people to open up. And sure enough, it worked. And it wasn't, you know, I didn't share just once. Of course, I can, you know, I have an ongoing testimony to share what's happened to me. And I use the small group to do that, to encourage people, you know, basically that you can really overcome the pains of your past. And possibly the pains of your present by going to the Lord and trusting in him and dealing with the wound that you've suffered in life. It was very encouraging to have a bunch of men open up like they did last night. So that's what we try to do is draw people in. If you're bored with your faith, like I said, you're missing something. You're not pursuing the Lord, you're not seeking the Lord, you're not serving the Lord. Because I barely get a moment's rest myself. As this week I have the Wild at Heart men's book study last night. There's a marriage study tonight for me and my wife, Tammy Lynn. Wednesdays I do the recovery ministry and Thursday I'm meeting a client for Christian life coaching. And so there you go. And so I'll be ready for the weekend for sure. But, you know, it's— and those are all, you know, in the evenings, all those activities in the evenings, because I have a real life. I have, you know, a real job, unfortunately, that I have to go to that, you know, thankfully pays my bills and, you know, keeps this train running, you know, takes care of my needs and my wants. And I'm thankful for it. So, you know, it's not just the spiritual things in life we have to do. You know, we have to take care of our responsibilities and take care of our needs. And our job is to do that. And, you know, we can, we can live out part of our purpose at at our jobs by encouraging others and being an example for the kingdom. So I may not do that perfectly, but everybody at work knows I'm a Christian. Yeah, for sure. Sometimes I'm ostracized because of it, but that's as real as I can get, you know, because that's I wasn't like this before, you know, this wasn't me. I was silent and I had secret sins and standoffish, angry, depressed, anxious, and tried to keep it all under wraps. Didn't hide it, you know, didn't share any of that. That was all for my torment and in secret to be alleviated with addictions. But after Jesus came in, he took me out of the darkness and healed everything. And he's continued to work on me with this whole food addiction thing. Had great victory over it last year and, you know, I've been struggling with it this year. And now I'm— I was called to fast. This is day 2 of the fast and in case you're counting, and yes, I did not eat yesterday. I did have a Bang Energy drink that was sitting in my, in my truck, and I did drink that, but that's zero calories. The only issue with that, I guess, is the caffeine, but true to the fast, no food, and I'll be true to the fast again, and you know, It's just, I feel so great after one day of not eating, it's not even funny. If you've never fasted as a spiritual discipline, I highly recommend it because it gives you such clarity in your body and mind and spirit when you just take a break from stuffing your face. Not that you have to, I mean, just the mere act of, you know, allowing your body to rest. It gives you such clarity, and I'm walking in it. And I was going to write all about that, but I didn't. I wrote about what happened last night mostly. I never know what I'm going to write until I sit down to do it. There's a vast amount of things I could write about because I'm constantly reading things and getting things from the Kingdom. Getting things from God to share and encourage, because it's all good news. So that's what we do here, and we'll continue to do it. But as I said, I do have that day job to go to, so we should pray and move along. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do, uh, for us in Christ. Uh, thank you for setting us free and healing our hearts. And Lord, we, uh, We pray for anyone who's listening, uh, or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and their prayer request, their walk of faith. Lord, help them to experience their freedom and their healing, Lord, because we know you're capable and we just need to ask for your help to receive it. And that's what we're doing today. We're asking for your help and your strength, Lord. Today is another day. Your mercies are new every morning, and we We need to be filled, um, with your Holy Spirit to guide us through the day. So 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 we need a lot of 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.