Mercies
New Every Morning! – I Am not Ashamed! – Purity 640
Purity
640 01/28/2022 Purity 640 Podcast
Good
morning,
It’s the last Friday in January of 2022 and just
like that we are quickly exiting the first month of a new year and as slow as
the beginning of this week seemed to be on Tuesday evening here we are at the
end of another work week and soon to enter into a new month this Tuesday.
That’s the great thing about God’s created order,
time keeps marching on and as the word tells us His mercies are new every morning.
That means that everyday we can rejoice in the hope of a new day and because of
the Lord’s “great sidereal movement over which time is commonly reckoned” we
can be assured that no matter what troubles we may be going through in this
life we are one more day closer to moving out of them with each new
morning.
God’s created order should be a great comfort for
us as every aspect of our existence can be seen as evidence for God’s presence
and care for us. The universe screams
that there is a God and that He has created an environment in which we can live
and thrive and while the conditions of this world may be cold and forbidding at
times God has poured His wisdom into man to discover ways to not only survive
but to prosper in the face of circumstantial adversities.
So as we move through the last day of the work
week, let’s take some time today to thank the Lord for helping us to progress
to this moment in our lives and take some time to reflect on how we are doing
physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Let’s use this weekend to examine our experience in January and evaluate
what is working and what may need to be changed.
God encourages us to have an abundant life that
is filled with peace and joy but the key to finding it is to recognize His
sovereignty and to align ourselves with His wisdom and ways for our lives.
As preparation for some ministry work that I have
planned for tomorrow, I decided to do a spiritual check up by praying through
the Steps to Freedom in Christ this morning. The Steps have us look at our pasts
and resolve any issues on our hearts by renouncing the things we shouldn’t have
done, asking for God’s forgiveness, and by committing ourselves to follow Him
with a renewed mind, heart, and spirit from this point forward.
The process allows us to remove any residual
bitterness that we may have on our souls that result from less than perfect
interactions with our “neighbors” by forgiving those who have “sinned” against
us and by releasing those negative feelings that resulted for our being “offended”. As you walk through life, you can pick up
all kinds of little offenses and when you release them in prayer to God, you
can be amazed just how burdened you were and didn’t realize it!
So this morning I am rejoicing over my
relationship with God and all the people in my life because I have sought
forgiveness from God, forgiven others for anything they had knowingly or
unknowingly done against me that made me feel hurt, offended, or rejected, and
now realize once again the tremendous gift that my relationship with God has
given me.
My relationship with God through my faith in
Christ has set me free and the continual practice of my faith gives me the
opportunity to keep enjoying the gift of a new eternal life that I have
received.
So if you are feeling blah, and are wondering
what’s so good about life, repent and go to God to receive the mercy of His
love that can give you a renewed spirit when you simply are honest with Him and
seek it.
The battle of our lives as Christians is to keep
the hope of our faith alive because the world, the flesh, and the devil all
seek to drive us to despair with their false promises of fulfillment. So fight the good fight of faith by
reminding yourself of who you are in Christ and of just how good God is.
If you want to know how to fight, Deeper Walk
International has a free online conference on Spiritual Warfare tonight and
tomorrow and I am sharing the link on the blog today. (https://deeperwalkinternational.org/product/free-spiritual-warfare-conference/)
Dr. Neil Anderson and other Christian teachers
will be addressing the reality of the spiritual world of darkness that endeavors
to lead us into despair and will be teaching on how we can experience and
maintain our freedom in Christ. So if
you need knowledge and understanding, seek it and learn how to fight for and
win the abundant life that God has for you to experience.
So keep walking and talking with God because it
is through our relationship with Him that we can experience the fruit of the Spirit
in our lives. Enjoy the mercies of a new
morning and walk in the hope that comes from living by faith in the power of
the Holy Spirit.
When you experience the joy of your salvation and
the peace that knows that nothing can separate you from God’s love you will not
be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ and will boldly speak about the Lord’s
goodness and the power that He gives us to overcome.
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Romans 1:16
(NLT2)
16 For I am not ashamed of
this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone
who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.
Today’s verse speaks
of the power that the good news of Jesus Christ can have on our lives and the
boldness that it provokes in us to speak it.
The good news
of Jesus Christ is for every man, Jews, and Gentiles, and it is every man’s
responsibility in life to find peace with God and the only way to be reconciled
to Him is through Jesus.
As today’s verse
tells us, this good news has the power to save but in order to be saved we must
believe. We don’t earn salvation we
receive it through faith in Christ alone.
That’s why it is good news! We don’t earn salvation we receive it by believing
that Jesus is the Messiah and that by our placing our faith in Him as Lord and
Savior we are given a new life of significance, security and acceptance as adopted
children of God.
“Everyone”
means everyone. Everyone who believes is
saved. So no matter what you have done or where you have come from, God extends
the invitation to be saved and to live forever with Him to those who seek His
truth put their faith in Jesus.
If you have
believed on the Lord Jesus, you are saved and that should fill you with the joy
and peace of the Lord and cause you to boldly proclaim that good news to a
world that desperately needs it.
So feel he
power and love of your salvation, let it work in you to give you peace and to
motivate you to live for God and His purpose for your life. Do not be ashamed of the glorious gift of
your salvation. Instead be a light in the darkness, that burns bright for the
cause of Christ, to seek and save that which is lost and to reconcile men to
God through His beloved Son.
They say that
if you see something you should say something. Well in Christ we have seen
death turned to life and light shine in the darkness. So be not ashamed, be bold and speak the good
news of Jesus Christ!
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.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 to share from Dr. Neil Anderson’s
. “Restored: Experience Life with Jesus”. Today, we continue sharing from
Chapter 6.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Neil Anderson’s books for your own private
study and to support his work.
AVENUES OF PRIDE
People come from diverse backgrounds,
but pride, rebellion, and self-sufficiency are consequences of the Fall and
common to all humanity. The whole aim of Satan is to get self-interest
recognized as the chief end of man. Satan is called the “prince of this world”
because self-interest rules this world. The iniquity that is passed on from one
generation to another is a distortion of, and preoccupation with, self-will.
This self-will is the chief characteristic of the false prophet and teacher.
Peter says they “indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise
authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic
majesties.”130 They operate from independent spirits and won’t
answer to anyone. An even more sober scenario is given in Matthew 7:20-23:
So then, you will know them by their
fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say
to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your
name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will
declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness [iniquity].”
Strongholds of pride are not only passed
on from one generation to the next, but each new generation will develop its
own basis for pride by seeking fame and fortune in the worldly system in which
it is raised. Self-glorification can come by accumulating wealth, garnering
social status, acquiring academic degrees, and even obtaining biblical
knowledge. There is nothing wrong with having wealth, social status, academic
degrees, or biblical knowledge—if they are obtained by the grace of God for the
purpose of doing His will.
Pride is the chief characteristic of the
world: “For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his
eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but
from the world.”131 All temptation is an attempt to get us to live
our lives independently of God. When we give into such temptation, we
unwittingly serve the world, the flesh, or the devil. We have been deceived
into thinking we are benefiting ourselves, but such temporal gratification
quickly fades away. Jesus counters by sharing the way of the Cross, the
foundational principle for our lives in Christ, which is the repudiation of the
old natural life and embracing the new joyful union with the resurrected life
of Christ.
Though the immediate evidence of pride
is self-centeredness, the root of pride is self-exaltation. It is at this point
that we are most like the evil “god of this world.” Self-exaltation expressed
by subtle attitudes of pride and self-righteousness will keep a person from
humbly admitting the need for Christ’s righteousness. Such pride is an open
invitation to the god of this world, which may render impossible the ability to
carry out even the best of our intentions. Notice how this proved to be true in
the life of Peter.
Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed
for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned
again, strengthen your brothers.”132 Notice that Jesus didn’t say He
would not permit Satan to sift Peter like wheat. He just said He would pray for
him, that he would be able to help others if he repented.
What right did Satan have to ask
permission of God? The previous context reveals that a dispute had arisen among
the apostles regarding who was the greatest. Such pride can coexist with the
best of intentions. Peter said, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison
and to death.” Sadly, he had already forfeited his right. Before the cock
crowed, Peter denied his Lord three times.
—————————more
tomorrow————————
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”,
“Freedom in Christ” series of Discipleship Classes via the
mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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Email me
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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