Thoughts and Intentions – I’ve Got to Concentrate! – Purity 766

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 the fading light of sunset over the dark silhouette of roadside trees comes to us from a friend who has been looking to the skies as of late and captured this scene in their travels a couple of days ago. Well, it's Friday again, so thank God. And as the sun sets on another work week for most, it is my prayer that my friends reflect on their lives and connect with their Heavenly Father and seek the peace that comes from him, the peace that assures us that he is in control and that he can make a way where there seems to be no way. Last night I was blessed to host the concluding Zoom session of the Freedom in Christ course that I was facilitating and was reminded in the lesson that happiness comes from being content, or as the lesson puts it, from wanting what we have rather than believing that happiness is only attainable by getting something we don't have. As we have gotten— as we have gone through life, we may not have accomplished all of our dreams, or— and we may still have hope of accomplishing things on our bucket lists, but as last night's lesson taught, Happiness is available to us all right now by being content. Undoubtedly, uh, we currently possess things that we desired and hoped would make us happy. So what happened? Didn't getting the things you currently have make you happy? I would imagine they did, but over, over time, the satisfaction in getting those things seemed to wear off. Why? You probably took them for granted. Uh, you pro— you forgot what, what your life was, uh, like before you had them. And most likely you stopped being thankful for their presence in your life. There is also the possibility that you lost them, but we won't go there. I am trying to encourage you to be content after all. But guess what? Contentment doesn't just count our blessings in some myopic view where we ignore the bad by focusing on the good. Contentment is possible only when we honestly assess all the aspects of our lives and declare, because of Christ in our lives— if there is nothing else, Christians all have him— it is well with my soul because of Christ. It is well with my soul. It is. And I am content with my life. And I am happy— no, joyful— because of my relationship to God. I have peace with, peace with him, and I realize that he is the one who gives me acceptance, security, and significance. This peace and joy goes beyond, uh, understanding and overcome circumstances. But let's keep it real, guys. We have responsibilities in this life to God, to others, and to the things that he has provided us with, and we are to be good stewards of what he has entrusted us with— our relationships, our stuff, and what he has revealed to us. Yesterday I had the day off, quote unquote, from my day job, but I decided to be a responsible steward, steward, in a few areas of my life that needed attention. Although I have a relationship with the one who is perfect, Jesus, I am still a work in progress, and there is often a lot of work to do. With my life divided with work and ministry, where I disciple myself if no one else, and having time split between households, I have limited time to tend, tend to my property down by the river. So I have to be intentional to meet the regular needs of maintenance around my house. Among other things, I have to mow the lawn and tend to the things in my backyard. Previously, being annoyed with mowing around a certain bush in my backyard, I made the executive decision to remove the obstacle and went to work with a set of loppers to remove it from my path permanently. This final solution was invigorating as I took care of business and got rid of it. But did I? I know you may be thinking about roots here, and that is a concern, and I'm keeping an eye on this, that situation, in case that bush wants to come to life again. But like I said, I have limited time for yard work, and when I laid waste to that bush, I just, I just threw the branches into a brush pile near the burning barrel that the previous owners left on my property. So yesterday, with the threat of rain in the forecast, I decided I needed to go out and mow the lawn before it rained. But before it did, I decided that I would start a fire and throw all the brush into the burning barrel to be consumed. Since my frenzy to get rid of the bush, I forgot how big it was. And while I intended to mow the lawn after burning the bush, I never got around to it. Once the fire started, my concentration was focused on getting rid of all the brush on my property. I hate to admit it, but there is a little bit of Attention Deficit Disorder rolling around in my wheelhouse, and when I set off on projects around the house, my progress is somewhat chaotic as I get drawn into activity streams in which I did not originally intend to tread. My lack of concentration reminds me of the scene in the 1980 comedy Airplane! Where the main character is enlisted to land the plane, and while he is under stress and focusing on the task at hand, we are given a view of his thought life with an echoing voiceover in which we can hear him thinking, "I've got to concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. I've got to concentrate, concentrate. Hello? Hello? Hello? Echo, echo, echo." pinch-hitting for Pedro Barbon, Manny Mota, Mota, Mota. If you'd like to see it, a link to the clip is on the blog today. Anyway, once I started burning, burning the brush, I realized some of the pieces were huge, and so I got out my trusty loppers to try to make the process of burning the bush more manageable. While getting the loppers was absolutely necessary for the task at hand, Once I had them in my hands, I was drawn to use them to do more. At first, I took on the brush at hand. Once that was gone and the burning barrel was hot and the fire was raging, I took care of the small pile of brush on which the bush had been deposited. I not only took care of that pile, but I was ripping up the fresh weeds that were growing through it. All being consumed. After the— after that area was cleared, I remembered that I had another brush pile on my property that I had made when I first— after I first moved in. So I started burning that stuff. Eventually both piles were gone, but I had those loppers in my hands, and the next thing I knew, I was going all over my property cutting off branches and trimming trees to remove anything else that might impede my progress while mowing the lawn. Um, but the process of doing all of this tired me out. In the end, I decided the grass wasn't that long and could wait a while before it needs to be mowed. Not only that, uh, this latest round of lopping resulted in a new huge brush pile that will have to be burned another day. I decided that I had enough of outside and I would go in and relax. But did I? Not, uh, no, no, no, it didn't. I was full— I was in full-blown ADD at that, that point. And, uh, because I had temporarily misplaced an item in my bedroom, I found myself cleaning out my closet and reorganizing my massive collection of books and making the decision to donate some of some I no longer had need of or interest in. After I made great progress there, I, I had realized I hadn't prepared for my Zoom meeting. Finally sat down to review last night's lesson. Exhausted by my efforts, I actually took a nap and got up just in time, fully refreshed, to start the meeting. It might seem like a chaotic bunch of activity, And it might make you think that I had lost peace in the storm of that activity, but that wasn't the case at all. Even though admittedly the day was a little crazy, I had an enduring sense of peace throughout it all. As I burned the bush, the flames in the burning barrel reminded me of the fires of hell, and I was very content that I didn't have to worry that would be my ultimate destiny as I had feared before coming to Christ. I also thought about God as a consuming fire and the work of the Holy Spirit to help us burn up all that didn't matter. I had thought to use this illustration of how that whatever problems we have, bad habits, or, or besetting sins we suffer from, if we give them to the Lord, there is nothing that His Holy Spirit can't consume and overcome. I thought about how while I was feeding the fire, I had to step back at times and wait for the fire to do its work. And how this is— was analogous of how while we do— while we do have to be intentional to work on our problems, that we also have to allow the Lord to do his work in us. We can strive and accomplish much in our own strength, but when we are partnered with the Lord, he can give us permanent solutions. The Lord will consume whatever we surrender to his holy fire. In cleaning my room, I faced my own mortality. And had to come to peace with the fact that I may not have time to read all of the books I've collected, that some of them no longer applied to or were meaningful to my life's journey anymore, and that they could be let go of. I'm never going to read this, so I let it go. I'm still working on that, but I like the fact that I now know where everything is in my room, and because my time is so precious, I won't have to waste some of it looking for things I have lost track of. I hope you can see how even in the midst of chaotic household chores, there was a continuous contemplation and connection with my Lord. And even though there was a lot of dealing with things that were not as they should be, I was never discontent, not really. I wanted to put things in order because I am extremely grateful for having them. I love them. I love my house. I love my things. But I love the God that provided me with this life where I can enjoy them most of all. When I think about my life in the context of God, where my intention is to be the person God created me to be, I have peace. I have joy. I have happiness because I am content. I want the things I already have. And look forward to what the Lord has for me today. You know, I love the fact that the Lord knows our thoughts and hearts. I love the, the spiritual reality that exists where we are connected to him through prayer and how our thinking of or talking to him simply is perhaps the purest form of prayer. Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the word of God and how it seems to be reading us as we read it. But the scripture says more than that. Hebrews 4:12-13 says, for the word of the Lord is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the divisions of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. John 1 tells, you know, calls Jesus the Word of God. As often as Hebrews 4:12 is quoted, verse 13 doesn't get mentioned as much. But in that verse we see the word is personalized. No creature is hidden from his sight. All things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. That's Christ. That's God. He sees us. He sees the— he sees our thoughts and the intents of our hearts. So keep walking, talking, and thinking about God. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he never leaves you or forsakes you, and he longs for you to pursue his truth and live the abundant life where you can know peace, joy, love, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, and self-control by directing your thoughts and intentions in the way he would have you go. God bless you. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is John 17:23, and it says, I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that they— that the world will know that you sent me, that you love them as much as you love me. Today's Bible verse speaks of the spiritual reality that we are united with Christ, that he prays for us to be in unity with one another so that the world will see that Christ was sent here for them and that he is the Lord and Savior that everyone desperately needs. This section of scripture is a prayer from Jesus to the Father where he prays for us to know we are secure in his love and that we, and that we would be united so that others will know him. When the church is operating properly, there is unity and joy. When brothers and sisters in Christ come together in unity, they can accomplish much for good and be a witness to the goodness of God here on the earth. Christians united in missions— quote-unquote missions— foreign or domestic, can help communities solve earthly problems through providing help in the areas of construction, medicine, and technology. They can also just provide care by addressing immediate needs of food, water, and shelter. They can provide emotional care and concern, and they can give the most valuable help with the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To provide people with a way to make peace with God through faith in Jesus and obtain a new and eternal life. But when the church doesn't act properly, we give our faith a bad name. Church abuses and power plays and disunity gives non-believers reasons to avoid the church. So it is, it is Christ's prayer to the Father that we live in unity. And his teaching— and his teaching on being reconciled to our brothers and sisters— oh boy— and his teachings on being reconciled to our brothers and sisters and on forgiveness provide us with a means to have unity. We need to forgive one another and agree with one another about the importance of our faith to help the world to be united, to answer Christ's prayer. So minister one to one another, forgive one another, and encourage one another in our faith to create the harmony of unity that will testify to the world that Jesus really can save and transform the lives of the ones who put their faith in him. 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 chapter 4 of Clinton Arnold's Powers of Darkness, and today's sections— and I kid you not— are on the Nighthag and other evil spirits, as well as witches, mediums, and spiritists. And I don't know about you, but if, you know, if you're not interested in knowing who the Nighthag is, uh, I guess we're a little more different than, uh, than I thought. Um, I don't know, I have a penchant for, you know, curiosity about the things of the occult and the powers of darkness. Thus I'm sharing this resource. And this particular chapter is on Judaism and their beliefs about the powers of darkness. And we share that information not only for your interest but also for your education. So you have an idea, you know, to open your spiritual eyes to see, you possibly, or be aware of, you know, the possibilities of the influence of the powers of darkness here in our world. And then, well, why do we present that? Do we, do we want you to be afraid of the powers of darkness? Not at all. But we, you know, when you have an enemy, you want to know about them so you can defend yourself against them. And the good thing is we have our victory in Christ, so we need not fear. The nighthag or evil, other evil spirits, but can rejoice in the fact that we, uh, have total security in Christ. So, but we do share that, um, like I said, is, is interesting, and it's, uh, you know, meant to be informative, uh, to, uh, you know, give you an idea what, what, um, first century, uh, people thought, uh, about the spiritual realm and and how that spiritual reality really hasn't changed all that much. There's still spiritual forces of darkness, and if you doubt it, look at all the evil in the world. Sometimes the things we see are just absolutely sinister, and we can sort of tell that's a little bit more than the evil that men do. Yeah, and so we fight, we defend, and we stand. For who we are in Christ, because we're directed to put on the full armor of God. And if you look at those pieces of armor, it's really just an analogy for who we are in Christ, to stand in our faith, to stand in our identity in Christ. And because that has all the protective power we need, and the word of God is the offensive power that we have to, to, uh, to, to resist the enemy and defeat him. So that's what we do here. We encourage that, and so we teach about it too. You know, we, we share our podcast from all our classes that we did back in 2021 for Picture of the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Spirit and Freedom in Christ. So if you want to check those out, go to the, uh, the blog or the YouTube channel we have to, uh, to check those out. We also obviously revere the word of God. Um, so we share our Bible study that we have once a week with Arthur and Suzanne Zaccotti. So if you want to be part of a Bible study, uh, tune in and listen, either watch or listen to us on YouTube or the podcast. It's Friday, so we're going to thank God even though we have to work, and we have to work tomorrow. Um, but, but I'm content, um, with who I am in Christ. I'm content with the things I have and While things might be better in some areas, we can work towards those, but we're going to be content for what we have today. And guess what? Because of it, we're going to have joy, we're going to have peace, we're going to have happiness, um, because we're going to focus and be thankful for what the Lord has done in our lives. And, uh, we're gonna— we're not just gonna focus on the good. We realize we have problems and concerns that we have to deal with, but you know, there's nothing that you and God can't handle when we walk together in unity. So do that. Let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you for the blessings of this life, but we thank you most of all for the knowledge of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and for the spiritual life you've given us since we decided to put our faith in him. Lord, we pray for all the people listening today, Lord, that they would, uh, be content and know that you are with them. And Lord, we pray for you to come come alongside them in their walk of faith and to come alongside them in their prayer request. Lord, we pray for you to, to answer their prayers and to lead them into the things you have for them to do. Lord, we pray for all of us that you go before us today to protect and guide us, to open our eyes to the things we need to see and to the good works that you have prepared for us to walk into. Lord, help us to be the best person that we can be. You know, we might not be the best in our field of expertise, or, or, or, you know, the best, you know, father, mother, sister, or brother, uh, that we, we can be. But we know what— that, you know, when we follow you and let you transform our character, that we can be more and more like Christ. And even though we're not perfect, we're in progress— process to— and making progress um, the more we walk after your example. And so, Lord, we just pray for you to be with us today. We thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.