In this mid‑week devotional, speaker M.t. Clark uses a photo of Mount Mazama’s crater to illustrate how a change in perspective and repentance can shrink big problems into mole‑hills. He shares a personal testimony of six weeks of victory over a food addiction, describing how he enlisted an accountability partner, logged meals in MyFitnessPal, and applied the principle that “knowing is half the battle.” Clark emphasizes the necessity of self‑control, citing Proverbs 25:28, and explains that without it a person is like a city without walls, vulnerable to compromise. He links self‑control to Christian discipleship, urging believers to enlist the body of Christ, join growth groups, and rely on the Holy Spirit for transformation, referencing A.W. Pink’s commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:18. Clark also mentions his participation in a Renovare book club and invites listeners to visit mtforchrist.org for further resources. The message concludes with a prayer for guidance, peace, and joy in the Christian walk.
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 bird's-eye view of the sun and clouds over a mountainous island surrounded by water comes to us from Chris Oswald, who shared this scene from his visit to Crater National Park in Oregon back on September 15th. Well, it's Wednesday, and I thought that the collapsed remnant of what was Mount M— Mazama in Oregon was an adequate way to visually represent our arrival at another midweek summit and to represent how a change in perspective and our continued efforts at repentance can make big problems smaller. Tonight, uh, the Celebrate Freedom Growth Group meets us at Star Point Church, and when we check in, I will be happy to announce that this week will mark 6 weeks of victory over my food addiction. As 39 days ago I was convicted in my heart to turn my struggle into a battle and to start fighting it in earnest. So I enlisted the help of Scott Salvador to be my accountability partner, started logging all my food intake into the MyFitnessPal app, and became more conscious of what my various food choices cost me. I am a child of the '80s, uh, which witnessed the resurgence and expansion of G.I. Joe into the cartoon realm. One of the segments of— in the G.I. Joe cartoon was to give kids practical advice on how to be aware of the consequences of their actions and to make good choices by presenting little life lessons that always ended with the proclamation that knowing was half the battle. In the last 39 days, I have been made aware of the caloric, carb, and fat costs of the food I eat. And now know what foods cost too much and should be avoided to keep me within the budget of my food plan. But knowing that really was only half the battle. Previously, I "knew" what foods to avoid, but I wasn't intentional about monitoring my food intake and staying within the limits that would result in my drawing nearer to a healthy lifestyle outside of the obesity zone. If I wanted success, I needed to be consistent in my efforts and log my performance and progress. So, I had to get serious and stay the course without cheat days, nights, or weekends. Another problem with my general desire to be healthy 40 days ago was that I was more or less going it alone, as the only people I was accountable to was me, myself, and I. I had a bad habit of giving myself grace to compromise on my convictions and fail at my food plan with my changing emotions or with periodic indulgences. I was a master of self-sabotage and didn't even really know it, or didn't let that continuous self-betrayal sting and cause me to see that I was my own worst enemy. I saw a GIF this morning reminding Christians that everything isn't Satan, and that some of our defeat is because of us, and that we should practice a little less rebuking and a little more repentance. It turns out that not everything is the enemy, and that the man in the mirror is often our own worst enemy. However, with a heartfelt experiential knowledge of the truth— heartfelt experiential knowledge of the truth— the conviction to lean on God's power to change, and enlisting the help of the body of Christ and the available technology of the day, we can overcome the flesh and make the mountain of our problems into molehills that we can trample and get over. The word of God encourages us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us, and when we surrender to fight our battles with zeal as part of an overall campaign of war to become the people God created us to be, we can see our problems become smaller as our victory will be a foregone conclusion that we approach a little more each day. The experts tell us that it takes 6 weeks of a continued action to form a habit. And I am right there with my efforts to conquer my food addiction. But as I have said in the past, when we decide to get freedom and victory over something, we have to make it— make, make— we have to make a decision that this will be forever. So now that my monitoring and healthy eating and reporting to my account— to my accountability partner is forming into a habit, and I'm making progress, I have to continue to make the daily decision to keep going in the direction I've been walking and not compromise or turn back to the way things were before. Victory and freedom over any hurt, habit, or hang-up is possible, but we have to believe it is possible and then demonstrate our belief with continued consistent actions to achieve and maintain it. The Word tells us the truth when it tells— when it says that God has given the Christian all we need for life and godliness. We just have to, quote unquote, know it and show it, because although knowing we have victory in Christ is half the battle, we still have to walk by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit and do what is right to achieve it. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on anger, hot temper. Um, today's verse is Proverbs 25:28. From the English Standard Version, the word of God says, a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Uh, today's verse falls under the 9th point of our Counseling Reference Guides resource section on anger. Uh, and that 9th point is simply control yourself. Today's verse is the first of 3 verses of scripture that our resource provides to encourage us to control ourselves. And rather than presenting them all at once, we are doing them one at a time, one day at a time. And today's verse is a pithy analogy for the disaster our lives can become when we fail to practice self-control. In ancient times, cities were protected by outer walls and gates that were guarded to keep out those who didn't agree with the policies of the city and who sought to kill, steal, and destroy the communities within. While some marauding invaders would trample cities through elaborate sieges or through the aggressive actions of storming the gates, often the easiest way to penetrate the city walls was by bribing the gatekeepers. Rather than starving out a city or expending energy battering the city defenses, devious men found that causing one person to compromise their allegiance to the city was an effective means to achieve victory. And this analogy of a city broken into and without walls, with walls toppled, is used by the Word of God to describe the state of a man when he fails to practice self-control. When we betray ourselves by compromising our convictions and giving into temptations by releasing the reins of self-control, we end up standing in the ruins of our best-laid plans because we relented and became our own worst enemies. So even though it is known as self-control, and there will be times when we will have to go it alone, list and enlist allies in our battles by drawing close into an accountability community with others in the body of Christ, where we can report any suspicious activity and fend off any breaches along our walls to keep compromise at bay. With a keen intention, relying on the Holy Spirit for strength and wisdom, and with the help of faithful brothers and sisters in Christ, we can watch the fruit of self-control grow and flourish in a life that is lived walking in the Spirit. 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 A.W. Pink's The Holy Spirit as we continue in Chapter 27, The Spirit Transforming. And today's section is on 2 Corinthians 3:18. Not to be a spoiler, but when a chapter is on just a Bible verse, 2 Corinthians 3:18, it made me curious as to what that verse is. So from the New King James Version, that verse is: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So A.W. Pink's going to write a whole chapter, well, a whole section from a chapter on that verse, but I figured I'd, you know, provide a little bit of a spoiler by saying, hey, what is that verse? Um, it made me curious, so I share it anyway. Um, it's in terms of the Spirit transforming, and as the verse indicates, it's from glory to glory. It's sort of a progressive victory transformation thing. It's sort of like a walk going from here to there. So that's, that's how we— that's how— that's what we recommend. That's why we call it the Path of Christian Discipleship, because it has to be walked out. And we discovered this path years ago, and, and that's a big, a big transformation in itself because generally religion is thought of as a belief system, and while we are to believe certain things in the Christian faith, we are to actually practice those things and walk those things out to show our beliefs by the way we live. And, you know, otherwise you're just— if you just believe things, um, in general and don't apply them to your life, it's— you might as well not believe them at all. If you don't show, um, your belief in how you live, how is anyone supposed to know you believe it? So as a Christian, we, we share the gospel, we encourage people to, you know, believe in and follow Jesus Christ. And most importantly, it's not just evangelistic. We also, you know, want to live according to our teacher. Jesus Christ is our teacher. We're the disciples, we're the students, and we apply those life, you know, his teachings to our lives. And the biggest truth, of course, is who he is, our Lord and Savior. And, um, you know, we spread that message of life. Um, in this, in this modern era, that's not exactly a popular message, uh, to believe in the word of God and to share it and live by it. But that's what the Lord Jesus, you know, encouraged us to do, to go out and make disciples of all nations and to teach everything that he taught. So it's the hard lessons of truth in the Bible, but they are they are good, and when we follow them, we develop self-control and experience peace and joy, all the other fruit of the Spirit. So that's what we, that's what we do. Recently I joined a Renovare book club, and the first book is a classic devotional from a Quaker, I guess, and just reading the introduction, I was I was, you know, really encouraged because it, you know, it's like I wrote this book, you know, it's at least some of the things the author says, you know, that a life of peace and joy in the Lord is attainable and possible for people. And, you know, that's the message behind this blog, just that Hey guys, did you know that the word of God is true? And when you actually follow and obey and obey the Lord, you know, your life is filled with joy and love. Um, I didn't know that, you know, before. I figured that the way to happiness was indulging every, every whim of my will and flesh, but that wasn't the case. But God's truth. God's ways are higher than our ways, and when we realize that and surrender to them, um, we enjoy the benefits of doing so. And not only that, we find meaning and purpose in our lives as we, uh, as we enter into God's kingdom right now. So that's what we're all about. And tonight we get to, uh, go to a Christian fellowship where we get to be real, talk about our lives and how we're fighting a good fight, and encourage other people to follow the Lord and, and, uh, you know, do what he would say. So looking forward to that. And, um, I think that's about it for today. So let's, uh, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for all that you do. We thank you for the people that may be reading or listening to today's message. We pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith and bless them. Um, and Lord, just we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and move our steps in the way we should go. Because all we want to do, Lord, is represent you in your kingdom. You've given us life and life more abundantly, and the more we follow you, the more we experience it. And even in the hard times, even in, in the midst of suffering, we can have peace and joy when we know that you're with us and you'll never leave us or forsake us, and that you're moving all things together for good. So, Lord, we just thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
