Purity 431 05/29/2021 Purity 431 Podcast
Good morning.
My friend pulled a Snake
Plissken, as he “escaped from New York” and he might be pleased to know that
the forecasted weather for Memorial Day in his old neck of the woods calls for
rain and temperatures 15 cooler than at his new home. While I’m sure they are not looking back in
anger, as the old Oasis song goes, I’m sure they are pleased with the new oasis
they found for themselves.
Our lives are meant to
be enjoyed and sometimes we have to move where we are or change how we think to
find a better place.
Yesterday, I discovered that
an acquaintance that had grown up in my local community, was a couple of years
older, and had worked with me during my recent moonlighting season of life
suddenly passed away. It was quite a
shock to hear of their death as I had just seen them while out on a shopping
excursion a couple of weeks ago and we had greeted one another.
This was the second sudden
death this year of someone, I guess you would say, that was from the “neighborhood”
of my school district growing up, both of which died not making it to even
their mid-50’s. In both cases, they leave behind friends and family that
testified of their goodness and love.
While these loses shock
us, after you turn forty and continue to age the chances of sudden death
increases and the accompanying shock decreases as we see these early losses of
life are within the realm of possibility. These sudden unexpected losses can
and do happen. We don’t know if we will live to see our retirement. And considering
sudden deaths like that of my acquaintance, we don’t know if we will live to see
tomorrow.
Memorial Day and the deaths
of those around us causes us to remember the brevity and value of life. So as we are moved to remember the departed
this weekend, I would encourage you to appreciate the life that you have and
the friends and family that you have to enjoy while you live.
Death is a scary thing.
But we must remember that Christ came and died for us to take away death’s
sting. It is through faith in Christ
alone that man can be saved from the wrath of God. So if you value your life, let God know that
you appreciate what He has given you. Recognize what He did for you in sending
Christ to save us. Place your faith in Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior and live.
We all see death as a
loss or a waste but if we put our faith in Christ nothing is lost, nothing is
wasted. For Christ said:
John 11:25-26
(NKJV)
25 … “I
am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he
shall live.
26 And
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
After another death in “the neighborhood”, I must seriously
ask you: Do you believe this?
If you can’t believe the testimony of one whose life has been
transformed though faith in Christ, I ask you to consider the words of Christ
Himself.
He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father (God) except through Him (John 14:6).
A new and eternal life is Christ’s gift to all of those who
believe in Him.
As you contemplate the loss of life this Memorial Day,
contemplate the life that is promised by Christ and choose to take the gift
that He paid so dearly for.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
2 Chronicles 19:3 (NKJV)
3 Nevertheless good things are
found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and
have prepared your heart to seek God.”
Today’s verse chronicles
the leadership of King Jehoshaphat who turned the spiritual tide of the nation
of Judah from darkness to light as this section of scripture describes his
efforts to turn the people back to worshiping the one true God, The God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Here the seer,
or prophet, Jehu encourages King Jehoshaphat that the Lord recognizes the
goodness in his heart as proven by his attempts to stop idol worship and his
desire to seek the Lord.
While scripture
indicates that no man is righteous in himself, the Lord does call it good when
we seek to repent of our foolish ways and seek Him.
If there is a
heart attitude that I would encourage Christians to take on the disciple’s path
of life it would be to foster a desire to continually seek the Lord. We are to seek His presence in prayer and
throughout our day by talking to Him. We are to seek Him through the study of
His word to know His wisdom. We are to examine our lives and turn from our selfish
ways and seek to align our conduct according to His ways.
My first book,
Fire on the Mountain, which chronicles the preaching of Pastor Robert
Engelhardt, has the underlying theme to continuously seek the Lord. The theme of
seeking the Lord is put into practice through Fire on the Mountain’s accompanying
Study guide that provides the reader with suggested “Faith Exercises” to
facilitate the discipled life and to lead to an experiential knowledge of the
Lord to deepen one’s faith. Those resources are unpublished currently but are
available upon request by emailing me at mt4christ247@gmail.com.
The reason why
I push seeking the Lord is because I did, and He has revealed Himself to me in
ways that cast all doubts of His truth aside.
The Lord encourages us to seek Him.
Jeremiah
29:13 (NKJV) says
13 And you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart.
The Lord calls
us to seek Him and tells us that if we do we will find Him. This verse is true.
So seek the Lord and keep on seeking Him. He is infinite Truth and Love. There
is always more that we can learn from Him.
I invite all to mt4christ.org where I always share
insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters
in Christ with their walk.
Today, in continuing recognition of mental health awareness month, we continue
to share from Dr. June Hunt’s “Suicide Prevention: Hope When Life Seems Hopeless
“.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $5.00:
J. How to Connect with Compassion
Tragically, those who take their lives fail to move from destructive to
productive thinking. They fail to realize that now is not forever. They
fail to see that suicide is a permanent reaction to a temporary problem.
One fact about life as we know it is that it is constantly changing …
people and circumstances are constantly changing. Just as the seasons of the
year change, the seasons of life change. … Now is not forever! … Now is
not forever! … In His time, God can and will change your circumstances
and—if you let Him—He will change your heart. Like David, you can one day say
…
“To you, O Lord,
I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy …. You turned my wailing into
dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may
sing to you and not be silent. O Lord
my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:8, 11–12)
Reasonable Responses to Suicidal Statements
When first responding to suicidal statements, don’t counter—instead, connect.
Don’t focus on countering with your points, but rather connecting with the
person. Then, through the relationship, you “earn the right” to be
heard.
- “There
is nothing left in life I care about. It’s pointless to go on living.”
“I know your present pain is overshadowing everything dear to you right
now. Tell me, please, what you have cared about up to now that has made
life meaningful for you. Are there other things you could care about if
your pain were not so great?” - “I
can’t face the future. The only thing to do is just escape it all.”
“I hear your desperation, and I know the future can sometimes seem
impossible to bear. Tell me what the future holds that you think you can’t
face. And talk to me about some of the fearful challenges you have already
faced and conquered that seemed insurmountable at the time.” - “Things
will never change. Death would be better than this.”
“I definitely agree with you that there are things in everyone’s life that
will never change. But that doesn’t mean we can’t figure out a way to
change the degree of their impact on us. Would you be willing for us to
talk about the things in your life that you want to change and then
explore ways to diminish their control over your life?” - “I may
as well end it all. I don’t matter anyway.”
“You certainly matter a lot to me, and it hurts my heart that you feel so
defeated and down on yourself.
What would it take to make you feel valuable—to let
you know that your life has meaning?”
- “It
won’t really hurt anyone else. Actually, I’ll be doing everyone a favor.”
“Well, I’m already hurting just knowing you are hurting so badly. It is
heartbreaking to me that you feel so uncared for that you actually think
no one would be hurt by your death and that you would be doing everyone a
favor. What has caused you to come to such a drastic conclusion? What
could the people who love you have done that you would feel this way about
them?” - “I’ve
done all that can be done. There is only one thing left to do.”
“I can hear your discouragement in your voice, and I am sorry. Please tell
me what you are referring to and what you have hoped to accomplish by your
efforts. Maybe between the two of us we can come up with another way of
looking at it and hopefully gain a new perspective.” - “Soon
it will be all over, and then I will have peace!”
“You sound really tired and exhausted and just ready to give up. Would you
share with me what it is that has worn you out and robbed you of your
peace? What does the peace you are wanting look like to you? How did you
attain peace in the past, and how did you come to lose it?” - “I
can’t go on living like this. Life is hopeless.”
“You sound like you have really come to the end of your resources and are
in desperate need of a drastic change in your life. What is making life
seem so unbearable? What has led you to conclude that life is hopeless?
What would have to happen for you to have hope?” - “I’m
too depressed to go on.”
“I know life seems hopeless right now and you don’t feel like you have the
strength to keep on keeping on. If I could, I’d pour my own strength into
you but I can’t. All I can do is remind you that each day you work to get
better will bring you another day closer to conquering the mountain you
are climbing. And I can be here as a constant reminder that you are not
alone and that you are loved more than words can ever express. Together
with the Lord, we can and we will meet this challenge. We will experience ‘the
goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living’” (Psalm 27:13).
- “Everyone
will understand. I have suffered long enough.”
“I understand your wanting the suffering to stop. I have no doubt that
everyone who loves you hates to see you suffer and would take it from you
if they could. But taking your life will bring suffering to them, and I
know you don’t want to do that.” - “Everyone
has given up on me, so I’m giving up on me!”
“I realize you feel that you cannot change, and it seems easier to just
give up than to keep on trying. But I know everyone hasn’t given up on you
because I haven’t given up on you. I’m sure there are others who feel the
same as I feel about you. You may not yet be the person you want to be,
but you can become that person by taking just one step at a time. Let’s
look for a possible step you can take today.”
Unless hopeless words are replaced with hopeful words and those who feel
disconnected from others feel reconnected … those who have lost hope will
come to the conclusion that death is the only possible solution to their
problems. This is a lie! Satan is the father of lies and the author of such
fatal thinking. Ultimately, suicide is a deliberate choice to believe the
enemy’s twisted reasoning: that taking your own life is the most reasonable way
out. Jesus said of Satan …
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to
the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native
language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
Biblical Counseling Keys – Biblical Counseling Keys – Biblical Counseling Keys:
Suicide Prevention: Hope When Life Seems Hopeless.
—————————-more
tomorrow————————
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154) and Google podcasts (https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL210NGNocmlzdDI0Ny9mZWVkLnhtbA%3D%3D
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
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