In this devotional podcast, M.t. Clark welcomes listeners on All Saints’ Day, using a photo of a lone flower that survived a lawnmower cut as a metaphor for hope and resurrection. He declares that every believer is a saint, called to live in gratitude and to recognize God’s mercy that transforms sinners into redeemed children of God. Clark shares a personal testimony sparked by Micah Tyler’s song “What Mercy Did for Me,” describing how God’s grace rescued him from darkness, healed his sins, and gave him a new purpose. He promotes the “Freedom in Christ” Zoom course, which focuses on renewing the mind, breaking spiritual strongholds, and living in the liberty Christ provides. The episode includes a meditation on Psalm 33:18 (NLT), emphasizing that the Lord watches over those who fear Him and rely on His unfailing love, and urges listeners to shift from fear to awe‑filled reverence. Clark highlights several discipleship resources—Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship, teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson, and a weekly Bible study with the Sincottis—inviting the audience to engage with his website, podcasts, and YouTube channel for further growth. The message concludes with an extended prayer for gratitude, guidance, healing, and the spread of God’s light, reinforcing the central theme that God’s mercy can revive broken lives just as the flower rose again.
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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 solitary flower in full bloom declaring new life after it was mercilessly mowed down comes to us from yours truly as I took the time to document this object lesson of hope and determination that I witnessed on my property down by the river on Sunday afternoon. Well, it may be the second day of the work week, but it's the first day of a new month in which everyone in our country will be called to give thanks. And it just happens to also be the day when the body of Christ is called to remember the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ that have gone before us, and for us to give thanks to God that we will be in that number when the saints go marching in. Happy Saints Day! Happy All Saints Day! That's right, all saints, as in every man, woman, and child who has ever bowed the knee in humble surrender and made Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of their lives. And while anyone could read this message, I have to believe that that's you and me. Um, we may have been sinners saved by grace when we heard the call to repent and trust in Jesus, and we will always be less than Jesus' sinless perfection, but after we placed our faith in Jesus, we were adopted into God's royal family and should thus claim and declare our identity as saints. While yesterday's Halloween celebrations unwittingly gave homage to the spiritual forces of darkness, today, along with every other day, is a day that we should celebrate the fact that all the people that of all the people in the world, the Creator of the universe chose us to know the truth about life and death, sin and forgiveness, heaven and hell, and called us to life through faith in His Son. This morning during my workout, Micah Tyler's "What Mercy Did for Me" came on, and I have to tell you, the words penetrated to my heart as I remembered once again that I was once lost in darkness, when the Lord called me to know his love and his light and to experience a new life in him. The chorus to that song says, Lord, you found me, you healed me, you called me from the grave, you gave me your real love, I thank you, Jesus. I walked— you washed my sins away, oh, now I'm living like I'm forgiven. You came and set me free. That's what your mercy did for me. God's mercy and grace gave me forgiveness, love, and a new life filled with meaning and purpose. And the gift of his mercy and grace continues to shape and transform my life and the lives of others that I encounter as I keep on walking and talking with God. Tonight I host the Freedom in Christ course on Zoom, and the lesson is all about renewing the mind and breaking strongholds. Lesson that reminds Christians that Christ came to set us free and to destroy the works of the enemy. It's a sad truth that many Christians have great joy at their salvation but stay locked in chains by believing the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil, uh, that have been set up in their minds. The Course teaches that just because we believed in the lies in the past Believe lies in the past doesn't mean we have to live according to them now that we are in Christ. God has given us the Holy Spirit and his word to use to overcome all the strongholds in our lives that have given the enemy a foothold and kept us from living the life of freedom and victory that they— that the Lord called us— has called us to. Just like the flower in today's photo that was dead, cut off mercilessly by my lawnmower, we can grow into the life God has for us. Because there was life in that plant unseen in the dirt, it was able to rise above its brokenness and fulfill its purpose to give God glory for the life he had given it by rising up and blooming, by reaching for the light of the sun. We too can rise up if, and if we abide in the light of the Son of God and the truth of his word, we can grow out of our brokenness and give God the glory for the life he has put in us. That's what his mercy can do for all of us. So keep on reaching out for the Lord. That's right, keep on walking and talking with God because he has transformed us from sinners into saints, and all we have to do is believe it to receive it by living it. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is Psalm 33:18, and it says, "But the Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love." Today's Bible verse reminds us that the Lord watches out for those who fear him and rely on his unfailing love. And as a reminder, we should fear the Lord. You know, we should. His righteousness and holiness calls us to repentance, and if we don't make peace with him, there will be hell to pay. But if we put our faith in Jesus, we don't have to be afraid of him anymore, and our fear should be changed into an awe and respect that causes us to obey him and to rely on his unfailing love. And this is a huge step that we have to make sure that we steak, uh, after we put our faith in Jesus. We have to develop our love relationship with God. We have to interact with him relationally. We do that by thanking him continually for the life he has given us, for all he has provided for us, and for all that he is and all he has done. Today's the first day of November, the month we celebrate Thanksgiving. So if you aren't already practicing gratitude and appreciation for the Lord, give it a try. When we live a life of thankfulness to God, our love for him grows, and we can get past any false beliefs we may have had about him as an angry judge, and we can see him as just, holy, good, and, and loving, uh, the Heavenly Father that made a way to save us when we didn't when he didn't have to. Start the practice of relying on God's unfailing love today by respecting him enough to give him your thanks and praise, and by letting him know that you love him for what he has done for you and for who he is. I love you, Lord, is probably the most appropriate thing we can say to the one who made us and who saved us. God is good, and if you know it, you should remind yourself by relying on that love that never fails. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship, and today we conclude the section on the enemy and the extraordinary from Matthew 5. So if you you want to see how Bonhoeffer ends that section of his exposition of Matthew 5, go to mt4christ.org and you'll see that at the end of today's blog post. As always, we encourage people to follow the Christian life, basically to walk on the path of Christian discipleship, and we do that by encouraging people to check out our discipleship classes that we put on the podcast and our YouTube channel. Um, there's teachings on Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ, which are all based on the Word of God and the teachings of Dr. Neil Anderson. So if you want to grow in your faith, we suggest you check those out. And if you wanted to, you can contact me at mtforchrist247@gmail.com to receive the class materials. For those things via email for free. They're just Word docs, so, you know, no big deal. Also, we encourage you to, you know, study the Bible. Today we had a short Bible study. Isaiah 20 isn't very long at all. We just do one chapter a day, um, in that, you know, in two books of the Bible, um, basically, uh, every day. As a devotional practice to stay in the Word and to renew our mind. So we encourage people to do Bible study. There are— well, if you look hard enough on our website, emptyforchrist.org, you'd be able to find a Bible reading plan. But I would probably suggest just Googling Bible reading plan, and you'll find all kinds of resources out there to help you develop a study. Where you can renew your mind by the Word of God and, you know, grow in your faith. It's through the Word that our minds can get changed and we can break those mental strongholds. So we encourage that. And the way we encourage Bible study, between— other than just saying it, is that we share a Bible study each week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti that we do. It's called Bible Study with the Sincottis. So if you If you don't have a Bible study at your local church and want to listen in to what we have to say, you know, just go to, uh, the podcast or the, uh, the YouTube channel and search Bible Study with the Zinkanis, and you'll find the entire archive of our studies, which started back in 2021, I believe, in April. So that's quite a few studies. And, uh, you know, it's a topical study, so it's not a walkthrough any one particular book. It sort of jumps all over to different things, but, you know, we discuss the different topics all in light of the Word of God. There are a couple expositional teachings of the many, but there's— they are few. But we encourage you to check those out as well. Well, it is Tuesday. We have to go to work. I feel like I'm forgetting something because I have extra time today, but I think it was just because of the length of my Bible study was shorter than usual. Um, so, but, uh, let's, let's use that time, uh, and just pray for, for a new day. Uh, Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for a new day, a new life, and a new month. Uh, Lord, I don't know what happened last month, but we got a new start, uh, with November. And as Thanksgiving is just 23 days away, um, you know, let's start a, uh, remind us to be thankful. Um, let's, let's thank God for you, Lord. Uh, you know, um, so, so Lord, we just, uh, we, and we, and we thank you, Lord, for all the people in our lives, including the people that listen or read to our, uh, read our message. Um, Lord, we're just humbled that anyone would take the time to, to read it or to check it out. And so we just pray for those people today, Lord, whoever they are, that you would bless them and that you would walk alongside them and guide them and look out for them, as today's Bible verse told us you do when we rely on your unfailing love. So, Lord, teach them to rely on you. And Lord, we pray for the the people who are on our list today who need healing. Um, you know who they are. And, uh, Lord, we pray, we pray to come alongside the prayer requests, the people listening today as well. Uh, Lord, we pray for you to grant them your mercy and grace in their current situations, Lord, to lead them in the way they should go and with hope. Um, so Um, Lord, and as always, we, we pray that, um, you go before us today. Lord, we need your guidance, protection, and you need— we need us to— you to set things up. And you're the sovereign God of all creation, so you're the one to come to. We pray for you to go before us. We pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see. And we pray for you to guide us in the way we should go. Uh, Lord, all we want to do is represent you as we walk on this earth and to share the light of your truth, uh, with as many people, uh, as we can. So Lord, we just pray for you to, to bless us all. And, uh, Lord, we love you, we thank you, and we praise you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
