Beating the Heat with CAKE? – Purity 1142

 Beating the Heat with CAKE? – Purity 1142

Purity 1142 09/08/2023 Purity 1142 Podcast

Purity 1142 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the setting sun peaking its way between
a tree and a rustic barn comes to us from your truly as I captured this scene at
the end of the road during last Sunday’s walk into the farmlands off of Waite
Rd in Easton NY.  

Well, I don’t know if I was crazy from the heat or I
was just tired after a long day at work and a fruitful night of ministry, but I
opened up the blog/podcast yesterday saying it was Friday! Yesterday wasn’t
Friday and what’s funny is that I shared a pathway photo on yesterday’s blog as
is my regular habit for Thursdays, but somewhere between picking that photo and
writing yesterday’s blog post I must have wanted to skip ahead to the weekend
and reported that it was Friday. So I offer my apologies for any confusion or
concern my false report may have caused.  

But today is Friday! And after several 90 degree
days I am thankful that we have finally made it and can’t wait for today’s work
to be done so I can be reunited with my beloved wife, TammyLyn, at our countryside
home later this afternoon.  

You know the heat can do some crazy things to people.  The high temperatures can challenge our
bodies and our minds to the point that we don’t respond the same. The heat
makes us weaker physically and mentally. 
Our physical strength is depleted quicker and ourpatience under fire is
not what it should be. 

Yesterday, we had a staff meeting at work, and an
issue involving a manager and an employee was discussed. There was a question
over whether or not management did all they could to assist the employee to do
his job and there was a subtle accusation that the manager was trying to coerce
the employee to push past his physical capacity. If that wasn’t bad enough, when
the employee refused to comply with the manager’s suggestion the manager issued
an ultimatum that sounded, like a punishment or a threat, that the employee
would be “forced” to stay late if they didn’t finish their job on time.  The “discussion” was heated, and tempers flared
as management refused to admit any wrongdoing and went nuclear when the top manager
issued another thinly veiled threat to make the workplace even less hospitable.  People lost their cool. I even chimed in once
or twice to voice my disgust over what seemed like a minor request to be
refused because management thought they knew how to do the job better than the
tech and didn’t even try to help them.  But
the top brass’s threat, although I thought it revealed a surprising lack of maturity,
was effective. He had the authority to make our lives a little more difficult so
after he threatened to, as one of my co-workers said, “take his ball and go
home” the arguments fizzled out as the workers all could see there was no point
appealing to this management group’s sense of fair play or justice.   Because we didn’t want things to be worse,
we let it go in hopes that management wouldn’t make the same mistakes
twice.  The whole situation was an
aberration. Generally, we get the things we need to do our jobs and are treated
with respect but the day before was hot and there was pressure to get the job
done, so things were less than ideal, and the heat made them worse.  

Although today’ temps are dipping a bit – forecast is
for 87 degrees -so much for Summer being over Labor Day, right? –

To add more fuel to the fire, last night we had
thunderstorms and we lost power! So I am SO thankful for my Generac generator
as the power is out and if it wasn’t for my decision to spend the money on it
in 2020, I would be sitting in the dark right now!  So if you are in my neck of the woods, you
could encounter people upset over having no power in their homes last night and
who are bothered by the heat.  

Although I didn’t think of it during the heat of the
moment of yesterday’s staff meeting, there are ways to contain our discussions
with one another to lead them into a balanced peaceful conversation rather than
having them degenerate into angry arguments.

Dr. Jim Wilder and Marcus Warner’s Rare Leadership
offers us “CAKE”, an acronym that points to infusing our conversations with
relational skills to keep the peace.  

C – Curiosity – 
Starting a sentence with “I’m curious” can help us to remain relational
as we will convey that we are listening and want to hear the other person’s
side of the story. We don’t assume we know their motivations or thought
processes and instead invite them to “tell their story” and possibly share
facts and insights that we are not aware of. Curiosity keeps us open to the
possibilities of various solutions and keeps the parties engaged with one
another to find one that takes into account all the factors .

A – Appreciation – Letting the other person know
that you appreciate your relationship with one another and that you appreciate
what they say and do – also keeps things amiable.  

K – Kind – When we are kind to one another, we won’t
say something insulting or offensive.  We
will understand that we are both fallible people who are just trying to do our
best in life and are acting from our perspective.  

E – Envelope Conversation – This is where we put
whatever issue we are discussing into the “envelope” of our relationships. For
example, during yesterday’s staff meeting – the workers could have said: “We
appreciate that management has had our best interests in mind and has provided
us with all we need to do our jobs. And we appreciate that we can go to you to
help us and treat us with respect, so let’s try to maintain this relationship in
the same way we have been operating in the past.  And management could have said: We appreciate
how you workers do your jobs efficiently and how you have worked with us to
meet the company goals and will go the extra mile to get things done. So let’s
work together here, to address this issue and prevent anything from getting in
the way of the relationship of mutual trust and respect that we have.

If we had put this issue into the envelope of our
relationships, expressed curiosity, appreciation, and kindness, I believe that
no one would have lost their tempers and things wouldn’t have degenerated into
childish threats. I’ll have to remember to bring out the CAKE if this should
happen again!

So as we deal with the stress of fatigue and high
temperatures today, let’s be careful to take our time and be patient with one
another. Let’s remember that our relationships are more important than any
problems that come our way and if we remain relational we can solve them with a
little CAKE.

 ——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verses 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

Proverbs 23:19-20 (NIV2011)
¹⁹ Listen, my son, and be wise, and
set your heart on the right path:
²⁰  Do not join those who
drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,

Today’s
verses fall under the fourteenth point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Alcohol & Drug Abuse.

 14. Be wise! Don’t join those who abuse alcohol.

Today’s verse encourages
us to be wise and to set our hearts on the right path of a balanced and sober
life of purity.   The implication is that
drunkenness and gluttony are not a part of God’s original plan for mankind.

Let’s face it we can do
some pretty regrettable things when we are drunk. We can say stupid things and
do stupid things that can cause us and others harm.   The path that leads to continual pain,
troubles, and strife is not where the Prince of Peace is leading us to go.  So let’s take the right path and not join those
who are in bondage to booze.     

——————————————————————–

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

23 – The Spirit Witnessing

The
Office of Witness

The Holy Spirit who dwells in Christ, the
great and eternal Head of His people, dwells also in all the living members of
His mystical Body, to conform them to Him and to make them like Him in their
measure. He it is who takes possession of every quickened soul, dwelling in
them as the Spirit of life, of grace, of holiness, of consolation, of glory. He
who made them alive in the Lord, now
makes them alive to the Lord. He
gives them to know the Father in the Son, and their union with Christ. He leads
them into communion with the Father and the Son, and fulfills all the good
pleasure of His will in them and the work of faith with power (2 Thess. 1:11).
In the carrying on of His “good work” in the soul—commenced in regeneration,
and manifested in conversion to the Lord—the Spirit is pleased to act and
perform the office of Witness: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:16).

Now the office of a
“witness” is to bear testimony or supply evidence for the purpose of adducing
proof. The first time this term occurs is in the Epistle to the Romans in 2:15,
“Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing.” The reference is to the Heathen: though
they had not received from God a written revelation (like the Jews had),
nevertheless, they were His creatures, responsible creatures, subject to His authority,
and will yet be judged by Him. The grounds upon which God holds them
accountable are, first, the revelation which He has given them of Himself in
creation, which renders them “without excuse” (Rom. 1:19, 20); and second, the
work of His Law written in their hearts, that is, their rationality or “the
light of nature.” But not only do their moral instincts instruct them in the
difference between right and wrong, and warn them of a future day of reckoning,
but their conscience also bears witness—it is a Divine monitor within, supplying evidence that God is their
Governor and Judge.

But while the
Christian ever remains a creature accountable to his Maker and Ruler, he is
also a child of God, and, normally (that is, while he is sincerely endeavoring
to walk as such), his renewed conscience bears witness to—supplies evidence
of—the fact. We say “renewed conscience,” for the Christian has been renewed
throughout the whole of his inner man. The genuine Christian is able to say,
“We trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly” (Heb. 13:18)—the bent of his heart is for
God and obedience to Him. Not only is there a desire to please God, but there
are answerable endeavors: “Herein do
I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and
men” (Acts 24:16). When these endeavors are carried on there is inward
assurance of our state: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience” (2 Cor. 1:12).

Thus, the Christian’s
sincerity is evidenced by his conscience. It is true that there is also
“another law in his members, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing
him into captivity to the law of sin” (Rom. 7:23); yet that is his grief, and not his joy; his burden and not his
satisfaction. It is true that “to will is present with him; but how to perform
that which is good (how to attain unto what he ardently desires and prays for)
he finds not.” Yea, the good that he loves to do, he often does not; and the
evil which he hates, he often falls into (Rom. 7:18, 19). Even so; yet,
blameworthy and lamentable though such things are, it in no way alters the fact
that the one whose experience it is, can call God Himself to witness that he
wishes with all his heart it were otherwise; and his own conscience testifies
to his sincerity in expressing such a desire.^[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

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available
on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and
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     

“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”

Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship