Pictures of Joy – 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 11 – Purity 1067

Pictures of Joy – 28 Day Joy Challenge – Day 11 –  Purity 1067

Purity 1067 06/13/2023 Purity 1067 Podcast

Purity 1067 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo
a view of the Hudson River from the vantage point of my front yard comes to us
from yours truly as today’s “Joy Challenge” calls for us to look into our
phones to find photos that bring us joy.  

Well, it’s
Tuesday and while things are relatively stable in my life, I am close to
several people who seem to be in the midst of a major transitional period of
their lives. Things that have been long standing “institutions” of their “normal”
lives – jobs, relationships, their health – are no more or on the verge of being
“over”.  In some cases these changes are
sad because from where they are standing now it looks like things have gone
from bad to worse but in other cases, although there may be a sense of loss and
heartache involved, the changes seem to be a step in the right direction – from
bad to possibly good.  In a couple of
cases, I see people on the verge of a major break through as they have the
potential to leave bondage and brokenness behind but its not my life and only
time will tell if they choose to step into the light of a righteous life or into
another shadow of the same old darkness.  

In seeing
these friends on the cusp of a new life of freedom, I find myself not only
praying for them to “do the right thing”, but I also get a little impatient to
see them do it because “they are right there” – all they have to do is to not
do the stupid things they have done in the past and just keep moving forward away
from their mistakes and into a new life.

“Come on
man, let’s go!”

But it’s not
my life, and in some of these cases I am far removed from the drama and am just
a “hoping and a praying” for them to wise up. 
In other situations, I am giving as much counsel and guidance as I can but
know all too well how others before the ones I am counseling know were able to
walk in the Spirit for awhile before they either stopped moving forward to sit
in complacency or who made a bad turn into confusion and brokenness, making their
short lived victory and subsequent fall all the more tragic.  

I also have
noticed as I have contemplated these friend’s next steps, that I have recalled
details from my own journey out of my past and remember the agony and the
victory of transitioning to my new life, where I realized that there is no cost
too high to pay for your freedom and that “things are just things” and that
throwing things out or giving things away, or abandoning things to your nemesis
are all viable options when you are determined to leave your broken situation
behind.  I remember “the get ‘er done”
spirit on steroids that I had when God moved all things for good and brought me
and my children to my new home down by the River and while I can remember the
difficulties and bitterness that surrounded that transition, now that I am on
the other side of it – I fondly remember the exodus to my new life as a time of
exhilaration and joy.  

And that brings us to our current series
where I am walking through the 28 Day Joy Challenge, (https://4habits.org/) because we are encouraging
ourselves and others, you, to “find peace” in our lives by increasing our
capacity for joy and by building our emotional resilience through simple
practices of quieting and appreciation.

The 28 Day
Joy challenge is based on Dr. Marcus Warner & Chris Coursey’s latest book,
The Four Habits of Joy-Filled People, and you can sign up to take it for free,
and purchase a variety of books from Warner and Coursey on topic of Joy, by
going to https://4habits.org/.  

So let’s
jump into Day 11, which will direct us to look up some photos that give us
joy. 

———————————————————————————————————

Day 11 – Joy Pictures

 

Welcome to Day 11
of the 28 Days to Joy Challenge!

Today’s
Encouragement:

We are so glad you
are here today to practice building joy with us! Even if you missed some of the
previous exercises, you can still receive amazing benefits by jumping in now
and any day you are able to.

Today’s Practice:
Exercise 11

Today we are
practicing building joy starting with appreciation.

– How This Exercise
Will Benefit You:

Pictures are a
great way to reminisce about some of the special moments from our lives. You
can draw on the joy from these personal memories to jumpstart your joy today!

– Exercise Steps:

Find a comfortable
place, then use your phone (or picture album) to look at pictures. The goal is
to enjoy pictures that are meaningful and savor the joy that comes from
remembering your special moments. Notice what changes in your thoughts,
feelings, focus, and body while you reminisce.

Have fun with this
exercise. We pick up tomorrow with more joy practice!

As I stated above, I know people in time of
transition right now and their struggles towards a new life has reminded me of
my journey and the struggles that I faced but I also recognize those hard times
were for a purpose – to bring me to a new life of joy and peace – a life that
would be defined by walking in the Spirit – continuously and progressively.  

And so for this morning’s “joy practice”, I immediately
dialed the way back machine to the year 2020 – and to June – the month I
completed the purchase of River House and moved in on my birthday – June 25^th
– so in 12 days I will celebrate 51^st year on this planet and the
third anniversary of moving into River House – my “first sleep” in my new home.
 Surprisingly, I didn’t have any photos
from my birthday but now that I recall it – I had to work on my birthday and
finished bringing the last of my stuff to my new property.  It was a long day of work and moving – from my
old place in Craryville to work in Albany to my new place in Stuyvesant – was about
45 minutes between points and so I didn’t get done moving until the evening
hours and I so that first night I very contentedly crashed.   I did have some photos from the 27^th,
my first Saturday in River House, but I think a good deal of those first River
views that I took have already been shared to the blog and moved to the cold
storage of my Seagate hard drive.   But
as I looked through what was there I was filled with joy remembering the stunned,
joyful disbelief that I had finally accomplished what I had worked and prayed
for about 18 months or so. Even though I was working two jobs at the time, I
was in a state of bliss all that summer and today’s photo was taken on July 28^th
at 6:09am as I would wake up rejoicing over being free and being in MY HOUSE.   

So today’s joy practice was great!  The pictures I looked at were meaningful and I
savored the joy that came from “remembering my special moments”.  I noticed my spirits rose and my body
relaxed.  

I am currently suffering some negative consequences
because of things that are beyond my control so today’s practice was just what
I needed to remind me that whatever I have to pay for the things of the past is
worth suffering, because those broken days are over and as we go forward and
time and space all things will be resolved, eventually, for better or for
worse, but no matter what I have to pay or suffer because of others, nothing
and no one can take away the freedom I have in Christ and when I remember what
the Lord has done for me and continues to do for me, no one and nothing can
steal my peace or joy for long. 

——————————————————————————————-

Today’s
Bible verses comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This
morning’s meditation verse is:

Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NLT2)
¹⁰  Whatever you do, do well.
For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or
wisdom.

Today’s verse encourages
us to do things well, because after we pass into eternity there is no way to
make up for what we didn’t do or know.    

The NLT Promise book for Men
only shared the first part of this verse: “Whatever you do , do well”   – but I decided to go with the whole verse
because the emphasis to do things well is stressed even more when we realize
that we may not get a second chance to do things right.   

While, I guess we could interpret
this verse to see the after life as some lazy limbo where there will be no need
to work, plan, learn or know anything, I think that would be a false view of
reality as God’s purpose for man from the beginning, in that garden, was to “tend
and watch over it” – to rule and reign – and while I can’t tell you exactly
what we will be doing when God’s kingdom comes, I have to believe that God will
give us something to do and learning will definitely be a part of fulfilling
our purpose on the earth.     

But as for here, we don’t always
get a second chance, so do things well the first time. How many times have we
cut corners or done things in a manner less than our best and regretted
it?   That’s my whole life! But as I have
increasingly walked in the Spirit, the conviction to “do what is right” is a
driving force in my life and when I agree with it in both in what I think and
what I do, I have learned that regardless of outcomes, I don’t have any regrets
– I did my best.   

So whatever you do, do
them well because not only do we not want to suffer the consequences of doing “less
than”, but we also want to represent God’s kingdom in the hopes that the things
we say and do will be used by the Lord to welcome more people into His peace.

———————————————————————-

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 sharing from  The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.

As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)  

A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit  

8 – The Advent of the Spirit

The
Purpose of the Advent of the Spirit

We next consider the purpose of the Spirit’s descent.

1. To witness unto Christ’s exaltation.
Pentecost was God’s seal upon the Messiahship of Jesus. In proof of His
pleasure in and acceptance of the sacrificial work of His Son, God raised Him
from the dead, exalted Him to His own right hand, and gave Him the Spirit to
bestow upon His Church (Acts 2:33). It has been beautifully pointed out by
another, that, on the hem of the ephod worn by the high priest of Israel were
golden bells and pomegranates (Ex. 28:33, 34). The sound of the bells (and that
which gave them sound was their tongues)
furnished evidence that he was alive while serving in the sanctuary. The high
priest was a type of Christ (Heb. 8:1); the holy place was a figure of Heaven
(Heb. 9:24); the “sound from Heaven” and the speaking “in tongues” (Acts 2:2,
4) were a witness that our Lord was alive in Heaven, ministering there as the
High Priest of His people.

2. To take Christ’s place. This is clear
from His own words to the Apostles, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14:16).
Until then, Christ had been their “Comforter,” but He was soon to return to
Heaven; nevertheless, as He went on to assure them, “I will not leave you
orphans, I will come to you” (marginal rendering of John 14:18); He did “come”
to them corporately after His resurrection, but He “came” to them spiritually
and abidingly in the Person of His Deputy on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit,
then, fills the place on earth of our absent Lord in Heaven, with this
additional advantage, that, during the days of His flesh the Savior’s body
confined Him unto one location, whereas the Holy Spirit—not having assumed a
body as the mode of His incarnation—is equally and everywhere resident in and abiding
with every believer.

3. To further Christ’s cause. This is plain
from His declaration concerning the Comforter: “He shall glorify Me” (John
16:14). The word “Paraclete” (translated “Comforter” all through the Gospel) is
also rendered “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1, and an “advocate” is one who appears as
the representative of another. The
Holy Spirit is here to interpret and vindicate Christ, to administer for Christ
in His Church and Kingdom. He is here to accomplish His redeeming purpose in
the world. He fills the mystical Body of Christ, directing its movements,
controlling its members, inspiring its wisdom, supplying its strength. The Holy
spirit becomes to the believer individually and the church collectively all
that Christ would have been had He remained on earth. Moreover, He seeks out
each one of those for whom Christ died, quickens them into newness of life,
convicts them of sin, gives them faith to lay hold of Christ, and causes them
to grow in grace and become fruitful.

It is important to
see that the mission of the Spirit is for the purpose of continuing and
completing that of Christ’s. The Lord Jesus declared, “I am come to send fire
on the earth: and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism
to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke
12:49, 50). The preaching of the Gospel was to be like “fire on the earth,”
giving light and warmth to human hearts; it was “kindled” then, but would
spread much more rapidly later. Until His death Christ was “straitened:” it did
not consist with God’s purpose for the Gospel to be preached more openly and
extensively; but after Christ’s resurrection, it went forth unto all nations.
Following the ascension, Christ was no longer “straitened” and the Spirit was
poured forth in the plenitude of His power.

4. To endue Christ’s servants. “Tarry ye in
Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49) had been the
word of Christ to His Apostles. Sufficient for the disciple to be as his
Master. He had waited, waited till He was 30, ere He was “anointed to preach
good tidings” (Isa. 61:1). The servant is not above his Lord: if He was indebted
to the Spirit for the power of His ministry, the Apostles must not attempt
their work without the Spirit’s unction. Accordingly they waited, and the
Spirit came upon them. All was changed: boldness supplanted fear, strength came
instead of weakness, ignorance gave place to wisdom, and mighty wonders were
wrought through them.

Unto the Apostles
whom He had chosen, the risen Savior “commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father,” assuring them
that “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come unto you; and
ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:2, 4, 8). Accordingly, we read that,
“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in
one place” (Acts 2:1): their unity of mind evidently looked back to the Lord’s
command and promise, and their trustful expectancy of the fulfillment thereof.
The Jewish “day” was from sunset unto the following sunset, and as what took
place here in Acts 2 occurred during the early hours of the morning—probably
soon after sunrise—we are told that the day of Pentecost was “fully come.” The
Outward Marks of the Spirit’s Advent

The outward marks of
the Spirit’s advent were three in number: the “sound from Heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind,” the “cloven tongues as of fire,” and the speaking “with
other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Concerning the precise
signification of these phenomena, and the practical bearing of them on us
today, there has been wide difference of opinion, especially during the past 30
years. Inasmuch as God Himself has not seen fit to furnish us with a full and
detailed explanation of them, it behooves all interpreters to speak with reserve
and reverence. According to our own measure of light, we shall endeavor briefly
to point out some of those things which appear to be most obvious.

First, the “rushing mighty wind” which filled all the house
was the collective sign, in which,
apparently, all the 120 of Acts 1:15 shared. This was an emblem of the
invincible energy with which the Third Person of the Trinity works upon the
hearts of men, bearing down all opposition before Him, in a manner which cannot
be explained (John 3:8), but which is at once apparent by the effects produced.
Just as the course of a hurricane may be clearly traced after it has passed, so
the transforming work of the Spirit in regeneration is made unmistakably
manifest unto all who have eyes to see spiritual things.

Second, “there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” (Acts 2:3), that is, upon the
Twelve, and upon them alone. The proof of this is conclusive. First, it was to
the Apostles only that the Lord spoke in Luke 24:49. Second, to them only did
He, by the Spirit, give commandments after His resurrection (Acts 1:2). Third,
to them only did He give the promise of Acts 1:8. Fourth, at the end of Acts 1
we read, “he (Matthias) was numbered with the
eleven Apostles.” Acts 2 opens with “And” connecting it with 1:26 and says,
“they (the Twelve) were all with one accord in one place” and on them the Spirit now “sat” (Acts 2:3).
Fifth, when the astonished multitude came together they exclaimed, “Are not all these which speak Galileans?” (Acts 2:7), namely, the “men
(Greek,” males“) of Galilee” of 1:11!
Sixth, in Acts 2:14, 15, we read, “But Peter standing up with the eleven lifted up his voice and said unto them, ‘Ye men of
Galilee and all ye that dwell in Judea, be this known unto you and hearken unto
my words: For these are not
drunk’ ”—the word “these” can only refer to the “eleven” standing up with
Peter!

These “cloven tongues
like as of fire” which descended upon the Apostles was the individual sign, the Divine credential that they were the
authorized ambassadors of the enthroned Lamb. The baptism of the Holy Spirit
was a baptism of fire. “ ‘Our
God is a consuming fire.’ The elect sign of His presence is the fire unkindled
of earth, and the chosen symbol of His approval is the sacred flame: covenant
and sacrifice, sanctuary and dispensation were sanctified and approved by the
descent of fire. ‘The God that answereth by fire, he is the God’ (1 Kings
18:24). That is the final and universal test of Deity. Jesus Christ came to
bring fire on the earth. The symbol of Christianity is not a Cross, but a
Tongue of Fire” (Samuel Chadwick).

Third, the Apostles, “speaking with other tongues” were the public sign. 1 Corinthians 14:22
declares “tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that
believe not,” and as the previous verse (where Isa. 28:11 is quoted) so plainly
shows, they were a sign unto unbelieving
Israel. A striking illustration and proof of this is found in Acts 11,
where Peter sought to convince his skeptical brethren in Jerusalem that God’s
grace was now flowing forth unto the Gentiles: it was his description of the
Holy Spirit’s falling upon Cornelius and his household (Acts 11:15–18 and cf.
10:45, 46) which convinced them. It is highly significant that the Pentecostal
type of Leviticus 23:22 divided the harvest into three degrees and stages: the
“reaping” or main part, corresponding
to Acts 2 at Jerusalem; the “corners of the field” corresponding to Acts 10 at
“Caesarea Philippi,” which was in the corner of Palestine; and the “gleaning”
for “the stranger” corresponding to Acts 19 at Gentile Ephesus! These were the
only three occasions of “tongues” recorded in Acts.^[1]

—————————more
tomorrow————————

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For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in
Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer
Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge     

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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship