In this devotional podcast, M.t. Clark opens with a description of a winter landscape photo and invites listeners to identify its location. He then notes that Thursday, May 5, 2022, marks both America’s National Day of Prayer and Cinco de Mayo. Clark provides a brief historical overview of Cinco de Mayo, explaining that it commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla—a symbolic Mexican victory against a larger French force. He draws a parallel between that small, seemingly impossible triumph and the Christian’s daily battle against sin, arguing that the enemy’s lie that certain sins are “impossible” to overcome is false. Clark emphasizes the need for disciplined spiritual practices, likening Christian growth to military training. He then outlines the origins of the National Day of Prayer (a 1952 congressional resolution) and its purpose of encouraging personal repentance and intercession for the nation. He connects this observance to his own mission of urging continual repentance and prayer as foundations for discipleship. Using Isaiah 29:19, Matthew 5:3, and Matthew 25:41, he reflects on humility, joy, and the consequences of rejecting Christ, urging listeners to find joy in the Lord regardless of material circumstances. Clark promotes his website mtforchrist.org, where he shares excerpts from John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life and other theological resources, as well as his YouTube channel, podcast, and weekly Bible studies. The episode concludes with an extended intercessory prayer for America’s leaders, families, and listeners, asking for spiritual renewal, healing, and guidance.
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 snow and ice covered road running alongside an icicle covered outcropping of rock and, and an ice-glazed forest underneath a blazing sun and a clear blue sky comes to us from a friend who captured the scene from an undisclosed location in upstate New York back on March 31st. If you are the photographer and care to enlighten us of this photo's location and your identity, we are curious to know both, as our short investigation of the usual suspect proved fruitless in revealing its origins. Well, it's Thursday, America's National Day of Prayer and Cinco de Mayo. I'm sharing links regarding both the National Day of Prayer and Cinco de Mayo on the blog today for anyone curious to find out what those things are about in detail, but in brief, both these things happening today can encourage us while we keep on walking and talking with God on the path of Christian discipleship. According to history.com, Cinco de Mayo, while a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. In my observations, it also seems to be a day where people with no Mexican heritage celebrate the Mexican culture by eating Mexican food and drinking Mexican alcoholic beverages like margaritas and Corona beer. From where I am sitting, uh, the 5th of May resembles a Mexican St. Patrick's Day, where the holiday's meaning may be overshadowed by the excess of the celebration itself. Anyway, the holiday Cinco de Mayo, while not Mexican Independence Day like many people wrongly assume, is a celebration of a single Mexican victory, the Battle of Puebla, that happened on May 5th, 1862, where a severely outnumbered Mexican militia dealt an invading French force a surprising loss. Uh, although not a major strategic win in the overall war against the French, the success at the battle Battle of Puebla on May 5th represented a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government and bolstered the resistance movement. But it wasn't until 1867, and thanks in part to support from the United States, that France finally withdrew from Mexico. So what does this have to do with Christian discipleship? Not much, but it can inspire us. That small victory on May the 5th Inspired a nation to fight for their independence against what may have seemed like impossible odds. And in our daily war against sin and the ways of the world, we may feel that there is no point in trying to defeat a besetting sin or to overcome worldly habits that separate us from a close relationship with the Lord. One of the biggest lies the enemy, the flesh, and the world tries to tell Christians is that some things are just impossible. Or that they are just impossible for us personally. While some people can overcome sinful and unhealthy— sinful or unhealthy lifestyle choices, this oppressive force of the world, the flesh, and the devil will try to convince us that for us it's just— is impossible. That is a lie. Our faith in Christ has freed us from sin and death and has given us the power to overcome. But we have to make the daily decision to follow the Lord and resist the dark influences that would keep us or try to drag us back into bondage. Just like a military force will have to train and discipline and to be disciplined to be victorious, Christians need to be trained in the things of the Lord and be disciplined in our spiritual practices to achieve victory over our former worldly ways and to maintain our freedom in Christ. Which brings us to the National Day of Prayer. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance on the first, uh, first Thursday of May inviting people to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Our daily— our— well, And this is from the National Day of Prayer. Our task force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families. The task force represents a Judeo-Christian expression of the national observance based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence of— for the God of the— for the God of the Bible, end quote. This observance was obviously created by men and women who had deep faith that God hears prayer and will bless them. My purpose here on the blog and podcast is similar to that of the National Day of Prayer, and that I too try to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer. But it is my conviction that repentance and prayer form the foundation for a lifestyle of Christian discipleship that is lived out not just one day but all days of the year. As I have learned and experienced the fact that the fruit of the Spirit that are mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, that of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control, grow in our lives when we walk in the Spirit. I applaud the efforts of the National Day of Prayer to inspire people to intercede for America's leaders and families, and pray that our prayers this year will cause more people in our society to turn to God, make Jesus their Lord and Savior, and make the decision to be authentic in their Christian faith by choosing to adopt the mentality of a disciple, to make the daily decision to practice the disciplines of our faith and to apply the wisdom of God's Word to all the areas of their lives. So, pray for the leaders and families in our nation today, but also choose to fight the good fight of faith against what may seem like impossible odds by choosing to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil on a daily campaign that starts with setting the intention to keep walking and talking with God, leads to successive victories and increasing freedom in Christ, and ends in glory for the one who created the world and, and who invites us to be with him forever. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Isaiah 29:19, and it says, the humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Today's Bible verse points to our relationship with God and how our humbleness is rewarded with joy, and that comes regardless of our earthly resources or circumstances. A parallel verse to this sentiment can be seen in Matthew 5:3, where Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. How can the poor be How can the poor be blessed or rejoice? I mean, the poor, or the poor in spirit for that matter, are bumming. They got nothing. Shouldn't they take Job's— Job's wife's advice in Job 2:9, which says, curse God and die? No. And why? Because what we see here on earth is not all there is. While we could look at this world as a hostile environment, and if we are poor, we could decide to curse curse the God who made it when we fall, when we fail to have the abundance that some of our neighbors enjoy. That would be really unwise. If we think the suffering on this— if we think the suffering of this world is bad, the weeping and gnashing of teeth that comes from the— to those who choose to be separated from the Lord is a whole lot worse, because the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, mentioned in Matthew 25:41, and for those who reject the free gift of life through faith in Christ, never goes out. That's why those who may be poor but who humble themselves and make Jesus the Lord of their lives can have joy from the Lord and rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, because they know that the Lord is with them always and that the kingdom of heaven is theirs. With that knowledge and a close personal relationship with God, our circumstances, no matter how meager they may be, cannot keep us from experiencing the joy that the Lord has for those who walk in the Spirit and who will one day experience the ultimate glory of heaven itself when they see God face to face. Through faith in Christ, we are rich in mercy and in grace, and with those commodities, we can afford what we need here on Earth and store our treasures to be fully realized in heaven. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.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 John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and today, um, John's sections are, uh, if they Persecuted me, they will persecute you. To become a Christian was to risk your life. How to waste 40 years and thousands of lives. And what about you? So if you want to see what John Piper is saying in those various sections, go to mtforchrist.org to view that resource excerpt at the bottom of today's blog post. Well, it's Thursday, it's a busy day, and I'm running a little late, so we're We're going to cut to the chase. We do encourage people to check out our discipleship, uh, teachings on YouTube, the Empty for Christ 24/7 podcast, and the blog, um, to help you grow in your faith. And we also encourage you to check out our Bible studies that we do once a week. We did just release, uh, an old Bible study on, uh, on YouTube, uh, for the first time, uh, with our, uh our video from the Zoom session. So if you want to check that out, I, uh, was uploaded yesterday. Um, so we encourage you to go in your faith. So let's, let's encourage you with some prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for all that you do, and we pray for our nation today. We pray for our leaders and the families of this great nation of America to turn to you, Lord, and to see the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to make Jesus Christ their personal Lord and Savior. Lord, with that prayer answered, we know you can change lives and you can change a culture, you can change the world, because your world turned— you know, the entrance of Jesus in the world turned the world upside down. Um, before that, people were worshiping a multitude of gods and the Roman and Greek god system. And guess what? Those, those are old statues that that don't get a lot of play these days because you changed it. The calendar itself points to the glory of God. It's 2022 years since a man named Jesus Christ made an indelible impact on our world. And Lord, we know your power moves today as well as it did way back when. And Lord, we just pray for the faith, uh, that, that the joy that comes through the faith in Jesus Christ can be experienced by more people and impact lives as, as they seek to follow you on a daily basis. So that's our prayer for, for the nation today and for our— for everyone listening to this message. Uh, Lord, we pray for the people who are listening for this message, that they be blessed. Uh, if they need healing or special, um, favor and, and circumstances, Lord, we pray for you to give it to them because they're on the path that follows you. And we know you help those who, who, who follow you and humble themselves, uh, no, and we help ourselves by following you, you know. Um, so we thank you, Lord, for their faithfulness, and, uh, we thank you for your faithfulness, Lord. We, we pray, uh, that you go before us today to establish us and to put us on the right path, uh, reveal to us the things we need to see and open our eyes to the purpose that that we're to meet today, uh, to represent your kingdom here on Earth. Uh, Lord, we thank you, we love you, and we praise your holy name. And all these things we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
