The One Who Never Changes Changes You - Purity 1447

Welcome to the MT for Christ 247 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. Uh, to see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or follow us on YouTube. Um, good morning. Today's photo of a single tree under a cloudless September blue sky displaying the transition from summer to autumn in its foliage comes to us from yours truly as I captured this pleasant pathway scene back on September 17th, 2019 while working in the area of Nadler Road in Perth, New York. Well, it's Tuesday and while much has changed since I was working in the western outskirts of the Schenectady Garage's turf, this morning I am celebrating the one who doesn't change and the lifestyle he has given me that has similarly been constant regardless of the fluctuating seasons and the persistent winds of change. God is the one thing in life that doesn't change. He is referred to in Scripture as a rock and as an anchor because he is the one person we can count on. Psalm 18:1-2 tells us, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my strength in whom I trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. God is our rock, fortress, and deliverer. In him alone we are saved, kept safe, and set free. As for anchor, God's word and promises are to be trusted. Hebrews 6:17-19 tells us, God also bound himself with an oath so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God's inner sanctuary. God doesn't change, so his oath and promises can be trusted and can fill us with hope. The promise of God's presence in our lives is the source of our comfort, hope, and joy. Knowing that God will never leave us or forsake us should provide us with peace and a great sense of his love for us. While there have been seismic changes in my life since the 2019 September day that is featured in today's photo, and while I can't even recall what I was doing out near Amsterdam, New York on the day in question, because of my relationship with the Lord, I could be pretty certain that that day began with some form of a daily spiritual practice, because that is how I learned to live with the one who never changes, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to be able to draw strength, peace, wisdom, and love from the Rock since my earliest days of my new life in Christ. After I got born again in 2010, I wanted to live as a real Christian, and early on I tried to be obedient to the simple instruction to pray and read the Bible every day. And while I can't testify to exactly when these simple practices became a daily habit, I know that by the time 2019 rolled around, I was faithful to these disciplines because by that point in my timeline, I had experienced measures of freedom and growth that were a product of my relationship with God and my efforts to live with and for him. When you do something every day, you don't have to wonder whether or not you did it. And while I am not claiming perfection, because I have been— because I have been— while I'm not claiming perfection, because I have been pursuing the Lord and his righteousness earnestly, the days, uh, the days I am in his word or going to him in prayer far outnumber any days where I may have missed my quiet time with him. And regardless of whether or not I formally sat down to pray and read the Bible, because I have a conversational relationship with the one who never changes, I know that we were together in some sense in those days of old, way, uh, one way or the other. The ironic thing about reflecting on the one who never changes and on the spiritual practices that have been constant through the years is that while God didn't change and the practices were pretty constant, I didn't stay the same. God used his word, our time together, and my efforts to be more like him to change the person I am. Romans 12:1-2 encourages us to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. When we submit to God, spend time with him, and renew our minds with his word and presence, he transforms us. While I have been struggling over the last few, uh, month or so with injuries, illness, and the lack of attention to my goals, I've been faithful in trying to follow the Lord. And even though my progress has been stalled, I have a measure of peace this morning because I realize that transformation takes time and that God can use the difficulties of my walk to draw me closer to him and can cause me to rely on him to make the changes that I've been trying to do in my own strength. If I stay with him and follow his lead, he will make the barely perceptible changes to my heart and mind that add up to new levels of freedom, maturity, and joy. As I have been writing this, as I was writing this, I was dialing back the blog to see if I had any entries from 2019 to draw from to see what I may have been doing back then. But the only entry I had in 2019 was one declaring a Happy New Year. There were no other entries for that year because that was the year of waiting for for my divorce to finalize. But as it turns out, almost a year after I took today's photo, which highlights a slow transition to the autumn season, on September 18th, 2020, I began sharing my Purity Daily Facebook encouragements on the blog, showing me that even though I don't have any archival evidence to support the fact that I was walking and talking with God in September of 2019, the one who never changes, was working behind the scenes to slowly make some major transitions in my heart, mind, and life. So let's spend, spend time with God today and stay the course with him, because even though we may not— may be a long way from where we want to be, if we continue on with the one who never changes faithfully, He will make a way where there was no way and transform us into the people he created us to be.

And that's all right there.

Anyway, um, today's Bible verses come to us from A Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Crews. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on the forgiveness of sins, and today's verses are from John 4, and verses 13 and 14 are highlighted. Where the word of God says, Jesus answered and said to her, whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. Today's verses fall under the 21st point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on the forgiveness of sins, and the 20th First point is the Samaritan woman, an adulteress, was saved by Jesus.

She received living water.

Today's Bible verses are the words of Jesus encouraging us to drink deep of the life that he has for us, because if we take what he has for us, we will experience a new everlasting life. A life in the Spirit is supposed to be defined by new things, a new life where God gives us a new identity and a new purpose for living. If you aren't experiencing the adventure that everlasting life in Christ leads to, let me encourage you to drink deep of the waters that Jesus has for you to drink. His word, his spirit, and his purpose for your life should cause your life to spring forth with hope, peace, and joy. So seek him and drink deep of his spirit.

To find it.

As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with our walk, with their walk. And today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. In Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of Scripture. Today's chapter is Hebrews 2, and from Hebrews 2, he shares a portion of it 18, which says, "He is able to aid those who are tempted." And Stephen Alford writes, "The Darby translation renders this verse, 'He is able to help those that are being tempted.'" He is able to help, for he himself has suffered being tempted. Verse 18: "He was moreover tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin." Concerning temptation, James says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

James 1:13-14.

He is able to aid, for no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man.

'But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.' 1 Corinthians 10:13.

And Alfred ends by praying, 'Thank you, Lord, for knowing temptation and guiding me through its snares. Amen.' And, uh, yeah, um, God can— you know, when our own desires get in the way, that's when we go astray. When we follow the Lord and, you know, what he would have us do when we connect with him on a daily basis and, you know, set our intention of following him earnestly and the way he wants us to live our lives, we can find the power through his Spirit to resist temptation and to have him change us by spending time in his Word and with him in prayer. And reviewing our life and seeking to be more like Jesus, God can use the process of our relationship with him to change our hearts and minds to make temptations not a thing, you know, basically, or they won't have the teeth that they currently have, that our hearts will change, our heart's desires will change.

So we don't want the things that were, you know, no good and sinful. Um, you know, it's a slow process, but when we spend the daily time with God and setting our intentions of following him, you know, and submitting to his will for our lives, he works within us to give us a new heart and a new mind. Gives us the mind of Christ, and he gives us a heart of flesh that, you know, experiences life at a different level. We get to experience joy over the very simple things, the blessings that he's given us in life. And he'll lead us into all righteousness when we walk in the Spirit.

And so we ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? When you do that, things change. You know, you have to— you know, you don't have to, but I highly recommend spending some time with God every day in prayer and Bible study and, you know, seeking, you know, wisdom from, uh, Christian resources.

And, you know, in terms of applying it to your life and looking at your life and seeing what doesn't match up with the Christian life and getting rid of it. And, uh, that's the surrender. We say, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm going to follow your will and your will only, Lord. Help me. And we take that word of God and we apply it to us and, and pay attention to what it says about us and start living according to it. And while we do that, we find freedom and victory. And we usually find ourselves leaving a ministry like I did, um, as I was blessed to, uh, be able to lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which meets on Wednesdays. Um, we'll be meeting again tomorrow night at 6:30 PM for anyone in the Capital District who wants Christian recovery and discipleship. Well, we can, uh, we can help you. We can teach you how to walk in the Spirit and let the Lord work with you to change you and help you.

Um, and if you're not local to the Capital District, we, we provide our, our series of teachings and playlists on the YouTube channel, um, that will help you to find or increase your freedom in Christ. We have several different playlists on our, uh, on our website page.

Basically, you could pull it up at mtforchrist.com, or you can search it out in the YouTube channel. But basically, we have a page on our M.t. Clark page which highlights all our playlists. So if you want to find them, playlists for like the Bondage Breaker, Victory Over the Darkness, Freedom in Christ, or Celebrate Freedom Discipleship course, you could just go to emptyforchrist.com. You know, these resources were very helpful for me, and that's why I eventually taught them and, you know, share them to encourage other people to walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, and when you do that, we ask the question, you know, are you empty for Christ too?

Um, if you are, that's great. Just keep on walking and talking with God.

God will make a way where there is no way, and he'll change you when you didn't even realize it. Um, so, uh, we encourage you to, uh, to do that and to walk in faith. And one of the things we do, live a lifestyle of faith, is pray. So we'll do that right now.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom.

Lord, we thank you for all that you do for us, Lord. Um, well, we just pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you come alongside them and bless them, help them. Lord, we, um, we're still praying for your healing as we're not 100% yet, um, to go back to work. But Lord, we're faithful, uh, that we're sure that you'll be faithful to complete it and move us. Um, So we're praying for that, Lord. We're praying for that sooner rather than later. We're praying for you to move us to do your will and your will only today. Um, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.