This is My Fight Song – Purity 1136

 

This is My Fight Song – Purity 1136

Purity 1136 09/01/2023 Purity 1136 Podcast

Purity 1136 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a view of Lake George from the vantage point of one of the cannons
at Fort William Henry comes to us from yours truly as I captured this shot
while walking through history and appreciating the struggle of those who have
gone before us, just how primitive things were in days gone by, and how the
victorious rise to challenge and fight for the freedom they want to
experience.  

Well, it’s Friday, September 1^st and
just like that we have entered into the ninth month of 2023 and in three weeks
we will all say goodbye to the summer. 
But while I love autumn, I was in no hurry to say adios to summer and
had the stirring to “do something” with yesterday’s pleasant summer day off
from work and I decided to go somewhere I had known about since childhood but
had never actually gone to: Fort William Henry in Lake George.

 My
family vacationed at the Lake George RV Park in the 80’s and while spending
time in Lake George we hit virtually all the attractions.  As a fan of the macabre, Frankenstein’s Wax Museum
was a personal favorite. Our family went to the miniature golf course at Gift
World, Goony Golf, every year and we hit the fun parks – Storytown USA, aka the
Great Escape/ Six Flags, Waterslide Word, and the Magic Forest at different
times but although we may have walked outside of Fort William Henry to take a
Steamboat cruise on the Minne Ha Ha, our family never went inside the fort. 

So with yesterday off and the feeling that
summer was slip sliding away, I got the urge to go to Lake George and to do
something “touristy” and because I had never actually been to Fort William
Henry I decided to check it out with my wife and my stepdaughter.  I love going to museums and art galleries
because of it points to another part of God’s overall story – History is His
Story after all, and I am often humbled and amazed when I learn about how
people lived in the past, how they lived, and by examining the art and
artifacts they left behind that testify of their stories.   

The story of Fort William Henry centers around
the French Indian War and how the Imperialistic French and British Empires
tried to claim the lands and the lucrative fur trade of North America and how
their efforts divided and exploited the Indigenous People with often unexpected
and tragic results. While the British ultimately “won” the French Indian War,
they didn’t win every battle. In  August 1757
the British controlled, Fort William Henry was surrounded and was surrendered
after a 6 day siege to generous terms of surrender.  

The French, however, failed to protect their prisoners. After the
British marched out of the fort under a French armed guard and began their
retreat down the Old Military Road to Fort Edward, they were attacked by the
French’s Indian allies. The Indians brutally killed and scalped many of the
British soldiers and then took hundreds of prisoners to Canada where they were
held for ransom. Although early chroniclers claimed that as many as 1,500
British were killed, more recent analysis—based on period documents—places the
number closer to 185.

Regardless of the number, that event is know the “Massacre” at
Fort William Henry and the true story inspired James Fenimore Cooper’s highly fictionalized novel, The Last of the Mohicans to keep the events of 1757 alive in historical
and literary circles (https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-massacre-at-fort-william-henry/#:~:text=After%20the%20surrender%20the%20French,40%20miles%20to%20the%20north.)
.  

I am greatly humbled when I realize
these events happened in my own backyard of upstate NY and that I am just so ignorant
of the history of this continent and our country.  The massacre of Fort William Henry inspired colonists
and the British to fight for victory which was sealed with the Treat of Paris
of 1763.  Ironically, the joining together
of various colonial forces after the massacre Fort William Henry was later remembered
by the colonist to inspire them to fight for their Independence from the British
in 1776.  Those colonists had learned
they could win if they fought for victory and when they were given taxation
without representation they decided they could use the lessons they had learned
in the past to fight for and win their freedom for the future.  

Similarly, I had learned the
importance of “fighting for my freedom” over my addictions by leaning on the
power, strength, and guidance of the Lord. With His help, I was set free but
just like those colonists later learned that their days of fighting were meant
to prepare them for a future battle, since leading the Celebrate Freedom
(Recovery/Discipleship) Growth Group I was inspired to take the lesson I have
learned from my past recovery and apply them to the fight against my food
addiction.   

This week I tried to encourage our
group to trust in the Lord to help them, but I also made it clear that we were
personally responsible for our walk and that if we wanted our freedom over our
hurts, habits, and hang-ups, we were going to have to do our part. We were
going to have to “fight for it”.   And so
after we sang Big Daddy Weave’s Redeemed to thank God for saving us and making
us “not who I used to be”, I did something a little unorthodox by encouraging
the group to “fight for their freedom” by singing along with Rachel Platten’s “
Fight Song” which declares:

“This is my fight song.

Take back my life song.

Prove I’m alright song.

My power’s turned on.

Starting right now I’ll be strong.

I’ll play my fight song.

And I don’t really care if nobody
else believes.

‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight
left in me.”   (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rachelplatten/fightsong.html)

That song was a part of my soundtrack
for overcoming and emerging from addiction and divorce. When I decided to
follow Jesus, I lost some things, but I know that I gained the victory. I
gained my freedom – so I don’t really care if nobody else believes – I know
Jesus is Lord and I am going to lean on Him, offer all the fight I have in me,
and follow Him into my freedom over food addiction and into the rest of the
abundant life that He has for me. 

I’m two weeks into the victory tour
over food addiction. The official weigh in is 229 pounds this morning, down
from 238.9 so I’m going to keep going and encourage you to keep walking and
talking with God while He encourages you to fight for the life you always
wanted to live but never thought was possible.  With God all things are possible, but you
should expect to do your part and fight for it.

——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.

(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick
google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late
author’s work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )

This
morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Alcohol & Drug Abuse

Isaiah 28:7-8 (NIV2011)
⁷  And these also stagger from
wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are
befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions,
they stumble when rendering decisions.
⁸  All the tables are covered
with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.

Today’s
verses fall under the eighth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Alcohol
& Drug Abuse. 8. Isaiah gives a vivid picture of a drunk losing his moral judgment.

Today’s verses are a continuation from yesterday’s passage in Isaiah that documented that the Lord judged the northern kingdom of Israel for their drunkenness resulting in their kingdom’s destruction by the Assyrians in 721 BC.    Here Isaiah documents how the priests and prophets of the northern kingdom were shameless drunks proving that alcohol can even corrupt those with great spiritual knowledge and who should know better.  

Whenever someone makes a
compromise for their “little indulges or vices”, moral compromise should be
expected.  

One story I recall from my
days lost to a false religion of eastern mysticism, told the tale of a vegetarian
monk who was traveling and was taken in for the night by a woman who offered him
a goat and herself.  Because he had sworn
off meat and sex, he politely refused her hospitality. But when she offered him
wine, he accepted.  The monk drank too
much and in a drunken frenzy that fueled his flesh, he killed and ate the goat
and had sex with the woman to awaked the next day filled with horror and
shame.  

So we be careful with alcohol.
Drunkenness is a sin all by itself but when you give in and compromise with booze,
your sin may take you further than you ever thought you would go as your
intoxication will cause you to lose your moral judgement.

——————————————————————–

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

22 – The Spirit Assuring

A
Filial Spirit

As the Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit
bestows upon the quickened soul a filial spirit: He acts in unison with the Son
and gives a sense of our relationship as sons. Emancipating from that bondage
and fear which the application of the Law stirred up within us, He brings us
into the joyous liberty which the reception of the Gospel bestows. O the
blessedness of being delivered from the Covenant of Works! O the bliss of
reading our sentence of pardon in the blood of Immanuel! It is by virtue of our
having received the Spirit of adoption that we cry “Father! Father!” It is the
cry of our own heart, the desire of our soul going out unto God. And yet our spirit does not originate it:
without the immediate presence, operation, and grace of the Holy Spirit we
neither would nor could know God as our “Father.” The Spirit is the Author of
everything in us which goes out after God.

This filial spirit
which the Christian has received is evidenced in various ways. First, by a holy
reverence for God our Father, as the
natural child should honor or reverence his human parent. Second, by confidence in God our Father, as the
natural child trusts in and relies upon his earthly parent. Third, by love for our Father, as the natural
child has an affectionate regard for his parent. Fourth, by subjection to God our Father, as the
natural child obeys his parent. This filial spirit prompts him to approach God
with spiritual freedom, so that he clings to Him with the confidence of a babe,
and leans upon Him with the calm repose of a little one lying on its parent’s
breast. It admits to the closest intimacy. Unto God as his “Father” the Christian should repair at
all times, casting all his care upon Him, knowing that He cares for him (1 Pet.
5:7). It is to be manifested by an affectionate subjection (obedience) to Him
“as dear children” (Eph. 5:1).

“The Spirit of
adoption is the Spirit of God, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and
who is sent by Them to shed abroad the love of God in the heart, to give a real
enjoyment of it, and to fill the soul with joy and peace in believing. He comes
to testify of Christ; and by taking of the things which are His, and showing
them to His people, He draws their heart to Him; and by opening unto them the
freeness and fullness of Divine grace, and the exceeding great and precious
promises which God has given unto His people, He leads them to know their
interest in Christ; and helps them in His name, blood, and righteousness, to
approach their heavenly Father with holy delight” (S. E. Pierce).

John Gill observes
that the word “Abba” reads backwards the same as forwards, implying that God is
the Father of His people in adversity as well as prosperity. The Christian’s is
an inalienable relationship: God is as much his “Father” when He chastens as
when He delights, as much so when He frowns as when He smiles. God will never
disown His own children or disinherit them as heirs. When Christ taught His
disciples to pray He bade them approach the mercy-seat and say, “Our Father
which art in Heaven.” He Himself, in Gethsemane, cried, “Abba, Father” (Mark
14:36)—expressive of His confidence in and dependence upon Him. To address God
as “Father” encourages faith, confirms hope, warms the heart, and draws out its
affections to Him who is Love itself^[1]

—————————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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Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the
MT4Christ247 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ),  her
Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

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