Tough Times and Food for Joy 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 12 – Purity 1068

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 trailside view of some redstone Rocky Mountain peaks under blue skies comes to us from Deeper Walk International's Nick Harang, who shared a bunch of scenes from his recent business trip to Colorado Springs on social media this past Monday. Well, it's Wednesday, and I thought that sharing Nick's photo was a great way to visually represent, uh, or remind us that it's hump day, and that even though we all have business to do, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't stop every once in a while to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us in God's creation and to appreciate where the Lord has brought us in life and what he has brought us through. Yesterday I decided to take care of some personal business as I arranged to get a physical and a new doctor closer to home, uh, because in the busyness of moving to Stuyvesant in 2020 and transitioning to a new life, I haven't been to see a doctor in 3 years. Since I moved a little further north and east, my old doctor was a little further away, and since I had been in relatively good health, I avoided avoided seeing them because I didn't think I had the need. But as time has passed and I am continually reminded of the health concerns of others, I was— I increasingly felt the conviction to resume my regular doctor visits and to get a doc, a local doctor, because I had a colonoscopy in 2020 that removed polyps, and I am supposed to get checked out regularly. Uh, yep, that's life. My prayers go out to my friend and brother in Christ Bob Griffin today, as Bob reported that he was having surgery yesterday to remove cancer from down below, and the recovery involves bags. Bob's report was a hopeful and positive one, but I can only imagine how strange, frustrating, and frightening um, it must be to have a surgery that results in a change to the basic physical processes of your life. So I pray for Bob in this situation, for his strength and healing, for the Lord's strength, that is, of course, for Bob. There we go. Just have to make a quick edit there. Thank you. Anyway, but as I stated, Bob's video message to his friends was positive. Bob's a Christian, and his message gave thanks to the Lord and his friends, uh, and to his friends' support— for his friends' support— for his— for his friends' support. Yeah, this is late breaking, guys. Um, uh, during this latest episode of his life, Bob is no stranger, um, to adversity. Uh, check out his previous testimony on the YouTube channel as I'm sharing a link to it today. If you want to put things in perspective and learn how the Lord's power— learn about the Lord's power to help us and to forgive and to heal. Undoubtedly, Bob's past time in the crucible of loss, suffering, and healing has increased his ability to walk through this battle with cancer with such patience, humility, and grace. The fact that trials are a regular part of life should teach us to develop our relationship with God to receive his strength and wisdom that will be much needed the next time we are in crisis. After my appointment yesterday, I decided to mow the lawn, but I failed to check the oil as I had done on previous, previous occasions, only to see virtually no change in the oil levels, giving me a false sense of security. I didn't even bother checking it, and even after I saw signs of smoke to clue me into the fact that the mower's engine was under duress, I ignored them because my experience told me the engine's fine because the oil level— the quote-unquote— the oil level never goes down. I figured I would be able to finish mowing and would be sure to check the oil next time, but there will be no next time. Shortly after noticing the smoke, the engine started to slow down and eventually died. And it failed to start again even after adding oil, as I think something seized up. I'm terrible with machines, lawn equipment in particular, and I had done something like this once before. So while it's possible that the mower is a total loss and beyond repair, I decided to get over it and pay the cost for my foolishness and left almost immediately to go purchase a new mower. In the past, I would have been beating myself up for my stupidity and may have even remained in condemnation and shame to the point that I would have quote-unquote not known what to do and would have chosen to do nothing for now and would have sought out a repair service to fix my mower. Quote-unquote someday. But I'm not the man I used to be. Because I— because of my walk with the Lord, I silence the voices of condemnation even when they are totally appropriate and seek to make things right sooner rather than later. As in now. Let's stop beating ourselves up and let's get this fixed now. So I ran to the store, bought a new Bought a new mower, drove home, put oil and gas in it, mowed the remainder of the lawn, and parked my new mower next to my old one and called it a day. The faith work we do to take every thought captive, to renew our minds, and to do what's right gives us increased capacity to deal with trials and to solve problems with a level of grace, maturity, and peace that we didn't have before. So keep walking and talking with God because the time spent— we spend in his presence learning his ways gives us the power to overcome and endure things that would have taken us into confusion, anger, or depression in the past. Um, let's see, sorry about that. Uh, anyway, uh, be it a loss of relationships, things falling apart, or health concerns, when we walk with the Lord, we don't walk alone. And we receive his strength and wisdom to see us through. And that brings us to our current series where I am walking through the 28-Day Joy Challenge because we are encouraging ourselves and others— you— to find peace in our lives by increasing our capacity for joy and by building our emotional resilience through simple practices of quieting and appreciation. Uh, the 28-Day Joy Challenge is based on Dr. Marcus Warner and Chris Corsi's latest book, The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People. And you can sign up to take it for free and purchase a variety of books from Warner and Kersey on the topic of joy by going to 4habits.org. So let's jump into Day 12, which will direct us to remember a meal with others that gave us joy. And so the 28-Day Joy Challenge says, Day 12: Food for Joy. Welcome to the Day 12— to Day 12 of the 28 Days to Joy Challenge. Today's encouragement: We're glad you're here. We have been looking forward to sharing today's exercise with you. This is going to be fun. Today's practice, Exercise 12. Our practice today is remembering, remembering joy with others around a meal. How this exercise will benefit you: Eating a meal with loved ones brings a great deal of joy. Meals not only fill our bellies but also fill our cups with joy as we interact and share stories around the table. As we remember these moments, we recharge our joy for today. Exercise steps: Think about a time in your life when you shared a meal with people you love. This can be a holiday, birthday, or any gathering that is meaningful. Focus on what was special about this memory. Share your memory with another person. Have fun with this exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice. And that's from our good friends at 4habits.org. As I sat down to do today's joy challenge, I thought about my new life with my wife, Tammy Lynn, and her family. Tammy Lynn and I just went out to eat at La Fiesta in Clifton Park Saturday night, and that experience is one that gave me joy because of my wife's company. The great Mexican food and the loud, upbeat, party-like restaurant environment. But while that meal was a fun one, the music in the restaurant was so loud that we didn't really speak to one another. So, when I thought about a meal with others that was meaningful, um, I thought of the past two Thanksgiving meals that I've had at my in-laws, uh, particularly the first one we celebrated together in 2021. Tammy Lynn and my wor— and my whirlwind friendship, dating, and engagement, and marriage all happened in the space of less than a year back in 2021 to 2022. Thanksgiving 2021 was my first big holiday that I did with my soon-to-be in-laws, and I remember that while I felt a little awkward at times at my soon-to-be brother-in-law Steve's mammoth Thanksgiving celebration, I had a real sense of love and acceptance. The food and family fellowship was good. Tammy Lynn was by my side throughout the day, and I really felt that I was home during the meal. And after the couple's cornhole tournament, I really felt that I was welcomed to be part of the family. Recalling this meal and our wedding reception meal on January 1st, 2022, I get a real sense of belonging and relational joy. Breaking bread with loved ones reminds us of where we come from— came from, where we've gone, and the love that we've been given. And so what about you? Think back to a time you enjoyed a meal with others that was meaningful and appreciate the joy you had then and the joy today and and recalling it. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Jeremiah 32:27, and the word of God says, I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? Today's verse reminds us that there is nothing too hard for the Lord, and thus there is nothing too hard for us to go through when we live in His presence. In my experience, there is only one way to overcome trials, and that is to go through them. While we can avoid much heartache and suffering through good planning, diligence, discipline, and righteous living, we can't avoid all suffering, pain, or trials. And while some problems can be overcome quickly with some decisive actions, sometimes we find that we are in for the long haul, as life will give us trials that are difficult to navigate and seasons of suffering that have no end in sight. So what do we do? If you guessed we remain faithful and keep walking and talking with God, you guessed right. While we may be in a, in a long season of suffering, let me assure you that it is better to go through them with God than without him. He gives you strength, wisdom, and peace that goes beyond our understanding. And because there is nothing too hard for for God to do, we can have hope that he will help us through every trial. So trust in the Lord in good seasons and in bad. 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, and, uh, today The section is called Signs in Relation to the Pentecostal Movement. So I haven't read that research, or well, that resource, so I'm not sure where he goes with that. Uh, makes me intrigued. Um, so, um, you should— if you're interested, you can check that out and see what he has to say, because the Pentecostal movement can be when, you know, could be— it could refer to when the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and the original apostles Or I could talk about the Pentecostal movement historically. So I haven't read enough of it to get a grasp. I just copy and paste these resources for our enjoyment and don't always get a chance to review them, or hardly ever actually. But I share those resources and my insights basically to encourage people in their walk, to give you some encouragement that you can actually live a life of faith by following the Holy Spirit, reading God's Word, and, you know, doing what is right according to it. As I stated, you don't want to go through trials without the Lord because, you know, he'll be, he'll be with you when no one else will be. He'll be there when you're all alone. He'll give you the strength and to overcome and to do things that you could never imagine doing and suffering things you never thought you'd have to suffer. But you're not alone. The Lord is with you, and when you come into a community of faith, you know, brothers and sisters in Christ will be with you too. So we never recommend, you know, going alone. As much as we walk this walk out by ourselves, we need one another. To remind us of who we are in Christ and to support one another and to get the help, you know, and to provide us with help sometimes when we need it. Sometimes it is just you and the Lord, but, uh, you know, sometimes people will help you, especially if you let them know. You have to let people know what you're going through, and you, you know, you don't want to isolate yourself. So we encourage you to keep on walking and talking with God. We encourage Bible study. Thus, we share our Bible study on our podcast and YouTube channel called Bible Study with the Zinkatis. If you want to join a Bible study, you can join ours, but I would recommend maybe joining one where you can actually sit down with people and, uh, or starting one and inviting people into your home to talk about the things of the Lord so you guys can, you know, encourage each other as you go. You know, sometimes our families don't work out and we'll have to find a spiritual family of faith to give us what we need. And so we encourage you to check that out. Tonight we'll be doing a growth group called Celebrate Freedom at Star Point Church. If you need a church family and you're in the Capital District, you can come on down 6:30 to 8:30, Star Point Church, and I'll be there and I'll be talking about Action, taking action. So we— anyone who happened to be local and hear this message, come on over. You don't even have to register, but we'd prefer it if you did. But anyway, you just show up and we'll get you there. But that's probably few and far between, but we offer it all the same because we know and we encourage that if you need help, go to a Celebrate Recovery type of ministry. Go to a local church and, you know, make some friends and be vulnerable and step out in faith. You know, you have a lot to learn, and you can learn from the people at a church. You can learn about the Word of God, and you can learn about relationships together. So we encourage that. As much as we were a loner in the past, I'm not alone anymore. Um, so, and speaking of which, if I don't want to be unemployed, I have to go join my co-workers soon. So, uh, let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us. Lord, we just pray for you to bless anyone who's listening. Um, today we pray for Bob Griffin for healing and strength. Um, as he recovers from his surgery. And we pray for the other people out there who are suffering loss of relationships, loss of jobs, and, and suffering, um, medical issues just like Bob, or different from Bob, um, but no, not easier necessarily. Everything is different, uh, and we all need your help, uh, Lord. So please, we ask for you to come alongside us, our walks our prayer requests, uh, and to move us in the way you want us to go, uh, as we go forward today. Open our eyes to the things you want us to see and arrange for our steps to be blessed by you as you move us into your purposes, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom, Lord. And, uh, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.