When Love Comes to Town – Company on the Path – Purity 561
Purity 561 10/28/2021 Purity 561 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo somewhere along the Zim Smith Trail near the Shenantaha
Creek Park in Malta NY comes to us from a friend’s hike last weekend. I am
happy to report that this particular friend doesn’t just walk the trails where
Fall has fallen but also is no stranger to the path of Christian discipleship.
In their travels on the spiritual path that seeks to do the will of God, they
made a commitment to the Lord and to themselves that they wouldn’t compromise
in the area of dating. They prayed for a faithful Christian man to come along
beside them and were determined to not settle for anything less even if it
meant that they would have to suffer in loneliness.
Instead of worrying about whether or not their prayer for a Christian mate
would be answered or not they pressed in and sought to deepen their faith. That’s where I got to know them. There is a saying in spiritual circles that says,
“when the student is ready the teacher will appear”.
So after our one and only meeting, this “student” saw a teacher in me
and chose to step out in faith and approached me, a perfect stranger, to be
discipled. Over the last 12 weeks or so,
I have encouraged them through the Victory Over the Darkness Discipleship Class
material that I taught in the spring and the interactions between us with that
material as a backdrop has made us both grow in our faith and together as good
friends as we have shared our testimonies of a life of struggle before and
after coming to faith in Jesus Christ.
In the course of those 12 weeks, I grew in my maturity and confirmed
that TammyLyn Seguin, who had been my friend for several months, was the mighty
woman of God that I would walk with through the rest of the days of my life as
my wife. We are engaged and will marry on January 1st, Lord willing.
My friend rejoiced over our good news and as happy as I was for myself
and TammyLyn, part of me was saddened that I had left my friend alone on the “singles”
path of Christian Discipleship.
However, much to my surprise and delight, I received news from my friend
and fellow traveler on the path of Christian discipleship, they met someone. They
also shared that they had been changed by the process of discipleship that they
have walked out over the last several weeks and had started to “think outside
of the box” in many ways including who they would consider as a suitable
mate. Instead of looking on the outside
for attractive qualities of a mate, they seriously began to consider the
importance of faith and character as what they wanted in their mate and had
been praying for the Lord to bring someone like that in their lives for quite
some time.
But even though they had been praying for a “Christian husband”, I think
the Lord needed to transform the way my friend thought about who would fill
that role.
The word says that the Lord will give us the desires of our heart, but I
know that sometimes the Lord has to work on our hearts to be more in line with
the way He sees things.
The Holy Spirit reveals to us all truth and when we walk in the Spirit
like my friend has been doing like at no other time in their life, the Holy
Spirit will show you what really matters and will give us revelations to show
us the truth behind how wrong we were in the ways we thought things “had to be”.
Having walked in loneliness along the Christian disciple’s path myself
for quite some time through seasons of suffering that I wouldn’t wish on my
worst enemy, I was hesitant to offer my friend any hope in regards to finding “a
soul mate” but instead doggedly encouraged them to develop their relationship with
the Lord and to find peace and joy in that relationship and in the progress
they made along the way.
To be honest, I never I thought I would find a Christian woman to
fulfill my desires for a life mate, and no offense fellas, I really, really doubted
that my sister in Christ would actually find a Christian man to be hers. No offense to the world, but man oh man,
even within the “church” there is a shocking lack of authentic mature Christian
faith and that’s why my mission in life is to teach the reality of, and the benefits
of, a discipled life of walking in the Spirit, the application of our Christian
faith to all the areas of our lives.
So imagine my surprise to hear that my friend, my sister in Christ, who
chose the hard road of Christian discipleship, has found someone. As a skeptic I am wary to believe she has
found a faithful Christian man, but as
someone who knows her and trusts her judgment I am thanking God for bringing
someone into her life that she may be able to walk out the rest of her days
with as she continuous to seek and do the Lord’s will for her life.
Yeah, its Thursday, and I share today’s photo of a pathway to encourage
people to step on to the path of Christian discipleship, and to remind people
that I am teaching a Freedom in Christ class tonight at Rock Solid Church in
Hudson.
But today I also rejoice because I have another testimony to share now
of how the path of Christian discipleship, if walked out faithfully has the
power to deepen your faith, change the way you think to be more in line with
the will of God, and comes with benefits that simply do not end. When you humble yourself and follow the Lord
He will lift you up and as you continue to walk towards Him, he will give you company
to join you in your travels.
So keep walking and talking with God. You may not always know “where all
this is going” but, man, I can tell you with full assurance that it leads to something
good!
Today’s Bible verses
are drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verses
are:
Psalm 42:7-8 (NLT2)
7 I hear the tumult of the
raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me, and
through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
Today’s verse reminds us of the
unfailing love of God and encourages us to sing His songs and pray to the Lord
even in the worst circumstances.
The “tumult of the raging seas as your
waves and surging tides sweep over me” doesn’t sound like a good thing. Raging seas are destructive and whether these
waves are figurative or real, they don’t describe a peaceful state. And amazingly,
the psalmist seems to know that God’s sovereign hand is behind the things, good
and bad, that happen in life.
But what is his response to those “raging
seas” and “surging tides” that are sweeping over him?
He remembers the unfailing love that
the Lord pours out upon him, and he sings!
And He recognizes that singing the Lord’s songs is a spiritual practice akin
to prayer.
Did you know that singing is a form of
prayer? Apparently, according to the word of God, it is! It makes sense. Our hearts, minds, and voices are lifted up
in praising and worshiping the Lord in song. That’s a spiritual form of
communication. That’s prayer.
And if you have ever had a “song stuck
in your head”, we may even have a glimpse into how we can “pray without ceasing”. Beyond our formal sessions of prayer in the
morning, our turning to the Lord throughout the day in a continuous
dialog, our songs of praise to the Lord
are another way that we can keep “walking and talking” with God.
I teach that singing to the Lord is a:
–
gateway to a deeper relationship with God
–
a form of prayer
–
a weapon for spiritual warfare
–
an invitation to the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit
–
a means to gaining an experiential or heart understanding of
spiritual truth
So remember the unfailing love of God and
you will be moved to sing “His songs” and pray to the One who gives you life.
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 sharing from June Hunt’s Dating:
Secrets to Great Relating When Dating
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase June 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:
IV. Steps to Solution
A man in a dating relationship who says, “I can’t live without her….
I have to be with her,” is also saying his whole identity is tied up in
this woman. What happens if she suddenly dies? If his identity is totally
wrapped up in her, then he’s left not knowing who he is apart from her. He’s
left without his own identity.
You are not to lose your identity in someone else. You can be joined to
another and still be a separate person. One is a whole number….You are one
person because you are complete in Jesus Christ and His love is complete in
you….
“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them
and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is
love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is
made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment:
In this world we are like Jesus.” (1 John 4:15-17)
A. Key Verse to Memorize
Those who look to dating only as a way of finding a future life partner or
of finding a present sex partner will likely miss God’s provision altogether.
Dating provides a venue for forming and growing a relationship with someone of
the opposite sex who might not become your marriage partner but who can become
your friend.
God’s desire is that we relate to one another in ways that reflect the mind
and heart of Christ. Spending designated time with another person allows for learning
ways to connect mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and possibly even
physically while not relating sexually. It is a forum for sharing goals,
values, thoughts, feelings, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes,
struggles, victories, and more. It is basically designed for getting to know
and value another person.
God clearly made us for relationships…both with Him and with one
another….
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as
Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5)
Biblical Counseling Keys: Dating: Secrets to Great Relating
When Dating.
—————————more
tomorrow————————
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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encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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