Carpe Diem apud Deum – Seize the Day with God
Purity 502 08/20/2021 Purity 502 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo of a setting sun blazing through the dissipating rain clouds
over the parking lot of Walmart in Hudson NY comes to us from yours truly as I
jumped out of my car to capture it on the way home last night. I had initially wanted to crop this photo to
just highlight the sky but realized that a part of its beauty comes from the
sun’s reflection in the parking lot asphalt.
I like to think of the fact that even asphalt can reflect the beauty of
the sun as a metaphor for how the power of God can be reflected in each one of
us.
Upon further review of this spur of the moment photo, I realized I also
captured a seagull on top of parking lot lamp post, which could remind us of
the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence in our lives. What we see, He sees and if we open our
spiritual eyes He will lead us into all truth.
The whole scene and the fact that I seized the moment to capture it is
indicative of “walking in the Spirit”.
If I had been focused on “just getting home”, I could have missed this
or decide just to move along. But I knew
that the scene was worthwhile, and I thought that I should enjoy what God was
presenting to me and that I could also share its beauty with my friends.
And that’s what “walking in the Spirit”
is all about: living our lives in the presence of the Lord and seizing
opportunities to enjoy Him and to share Him with others.
I have testified of my failures at being a “prophet” with the fact that
I had dreams that I took to be prophetic only to learn that the dreams didn’t
become reality, much to my embarrassment.
Although I have given up the idea of being the next Elijah, I still try
to be sensitive to the intuitions I get and consider following them. Although I have made mistakes and have
jumped to conclusions in the past based on my desires, it doesn’t mean that God
doesn’t want to lead us into His will
and the good things that He has prepared for us.
On Monday, I shared how I had overwhelming feelings to “seize the day”
and arranged to enjoy the good weather at a friend’s swimming pool after
work. I really felt that summer might be
slipping away, and I had to move to grab the opportunity to enjoy it. So I did.
I felt a little foolish about it, but I really enjoyed it. And considering, how the weather did a
complete 180 in the following days, with miserable overcast and humid conditions, I am entertaining the idea that my “intuition”
to seize the day may have been heaven sent.
Summer in upstate NY is a tenuous thing and history has shown me it can
be here one day and gone the next, and just when we think the season it is gone
it will come roaring back in September or October.
I’m not a meteorologist and I don’t watch the news, so I don’t know what
the future holds in terms of the weather, but I do know that on Monday I had a
strong intuition to grab a hold of an opportunity to enjoy the season and I
took it. The whole time I was filled
with joy and gratitude.
So, keep your eyes open, look for the things that God wants you to
see. Listen to the still quiet voice or
those strong intuitions to do something good or spontaneous. One fruit of the Spirit is joy, and the only
way we will experience it is if we “seize the day with God.”
So thank God its Friday! And go get whatever it is that the Lord has for
you today, this weekend, and every day, by walking and talking with God.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Mark 12:24
(NKJV)
24 Jesus answered and said to
them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you
do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?
Today’s verse contains
the words for Jesus, Himself, who tells us of the importance of knowing the
Scriptures and the power of God.
Jesus was
addressing the Sadducees who were asking hypothetical spiritual questions that
they thought were compelling but only revealed their ignorance. We say there is no such thing as a dumb
question because seeking knowledge is a good thing, but the word of God tells
us to study to show ourselves approved by “rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Scripture also tells us that if we want wisdom to ask God for it. While we can receive words of knowledge and
intuitions in our spirit from the Lord for wisdom and guidance on occasion, the
best way to gain wisdom is by studying the word of God.
The Holy Spirit
loves to bring us revelations that will edify and enlighten us in our search to
know God and to do His will and the “language” He speaks is the “word of God”. So we should really answer the call to study
the Bible and even pray for the Lord to give us a heart to study and to
understand what His word says.
The word of God
is powerful and can transform our minds and open our eyes to ultimate reality,
a reality in which we all live under a transcendent, powerful, and loving God
who has made all of creation for His purposes and who invites us to know Him
and to discover our part in His divine drama.
When we
meditate on the word of God and the fantastic things that it tells us about the
Lord and the ways that He has interacted with mankind, we get a small idea of
the power of God. When we receive that revelation of God and come into relationship
with Him by placing our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we come into harmony
with Him and experience the blessings of a life filled with meaning, purpose,
and the fruit of the Spirit.
So endeavor to
know the Lord by studying His word and by understanding the immense power and
love that He has for us to experience.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, continuing in Chapter 12.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support his work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
Defensiveness
Is Defenseless
No matter how well you live your life, somebody won’t
like it. How should we respond to those who can’t or won’t accept us? Should we
be defensive? There are two reasons you never need to respond defensively to
the world’s critical, negative evaluation of you.
First, if you are in the wrong, you
don’t have a defense. If you are criticized for saying something out
of order or doing something wrong and if the criticism is valid, any defensiveness
on your part would be a rationalization at best and a lie at worst. You must
simply respond, “You’re right; I was wrong,” and then take steps to
improve your character and change your behavior.
Second, if you are right, you don’t need
a defense. Peter encouraged us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who,
“while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He
uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges
righteously” (1 Peter
2:21-23). If you are in the right, you don’t need to defend yourself. The
Righteous Judge, who knows who you are and what you have done, will exonerate
you.
In the beginning of my pastoral
ministry I was responsible for several volunteers in the youth ministry of our
church, including a woman named Alice. Alice was a fine Christian who had been
placed in charge of a girls’ program at the church. Unfortunately, although
gifted in many areas, Alice didn’t have the administrative skills to do the
job. She struggled with her ministry, feeling frustrated and out of place.
Because things weren’t going well, Alice must have thought she needed a
scapegoat, so she picked me. “I need to see you,” she fumed at me one
day. So we set up an appointment.
When we sat down together, she laid a
sheet of paper on the table. “Neil, I have listed all your good points and
all your bad points.” I glanced at her paper and saw two columns. One
point was listed in the good column, and the bad points went all the way to the
bottom of the sheet and over to the other side. I invited her to read the good
point first and then read every bad point on the list.
The part of me made of earth wanted to
respond defensively to each of her accusations. The part of me made of the
Spirit kept saying, “Keep your mouth shut, Anderson.” So I just sat
and listened attentively until she had emptied both barrels.
Finally I said, “Alice, it must
have taken a lot of courage to come in and share that list with me. What do you
suggest I do?”
My question took her completely off
guard and she began to cry. “Oh, Neil, it’s not you; it’s me,” she
sobbed. Well, that wasn’t completely right either. There was a kernel of truth
in each of the criticisms she had leveled at me. If I had defended myself on
any of those points, however, Alice would have been even more determined to
convince me that I was not yet qualified to be a member of the Trinity. As it
turned out, my openness to her criticism prepared the way for us to discuss her
frustration with her ministry. Two weeks later she resigned from the girls’
program, and now she is having a great time serving the Lord in a ministry that
fits her gifts.
If you can learn not to be defensive
when someone exposes your character defects or attacks your performance, you
may have an opportunity to turn the situation around and minister to that
person. Christians who put down others are hurting people. Mature Christians
don’t behave that way because they know believers are not supposed to do that.
You are not obligated to respond to
rejection by beating the system, giving in to the system or rebelling against
the system. The world’s system for determining your value as a person is not what
determines your value. Peter wrote, “And coming to Him as to a living
stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God” (1 Peter 2:4).
Your allegiance is to Christ your Lord, not to the world.
Paul said, “See to it that no one
takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the
tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather
than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). The
world’s system is very influential, but you don’t need to respond to that
system because you are not of this world. You are in the world, but
you are not of the world (see John 17:14-16).
You are in Christ. If you find yourself responding to rejection defensively,
turn your attention to those things that will build you up and establish you in
your faith.
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
—————————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). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts,
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Email me
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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