Wanderlust and Finding “My People” on the Road – Purity 1165

Wanderlust and Finding “My People” on the Road –
Purity 1165

Purity 1165 10/06/2023 

Purity 1165 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the fading light of sunset
reflected in the waters of Cranberry Lake as the Autumn landscape fades into
darkness comes to us from Lisa Warner who shared this twilight time scene from
her visit to Wanakena NY on social media back on October 1^st.  

Well, It’s Friday and as the sun will set on the
first full week of October this weekend I am SO GLAD that I decided to make it special,
truly momentous, as I took to the skyways and highways yesterday to make the
spiritual pilgrimage to the Deeper Walk International Break Through Conference
in Hobart Indiana!  

Although every trip has its costs in time and
finances, those who like to travel know that the costs pale in comparison to the
thrills and benefits of boldly going out into the world to unfamiliar places to
see thing you have never seen or to revisit people and places you love that you
haven’t seen in a while. 

I have to admit that although I find his story to be
quite tragic, I was a huge Jack Kerouac fan in my youth because my dream has
been to be a writer of sorts since childhood and because Kerouac’s wayward
prodigal explorations really spoke to my wanderlust spirit that craved an “authentic
life experience” – to live with passion, to break out of the confines of my humdrum
suburban life, and to experience all that life had to offer. I had a deep
desire to find the meaning of life and was willing to go wherever to experience
it. However, my explorations to see the world was somewhat tempered by fear and
so I looked to “suck the marrow out of life” by searching for meaning and love
in all the wrong places with euphoric experiences brought on by alcohol, drugs,
sex, and the occasional road trip.  That
was a dead-end path of course, although, regardless of the futility of
following such a path, it can serve as a good lesson in what not to do! But
that is a lesson best learned quickly. 

Kerouac’s final chapter – that of living his last
years with his mother, dying of an abdominal hemorrhage caused by heavy
drinking at the age 0f 47, and leaving behind three ex-wives, a daughter he had
met only twice, and an estate of $91.00, despite his fame – tells us that a
pathway of desire and chaos is no way to live our lives.  

While it is nice to travel and enjoy ourselves we
shouldn’t make “exciting experiences” an idol. The YOLO philosophy (that you
only live once – so you better live it up) can be help you to boldly go where
you might not normally go, but we have to make sure we don’t go too far and that
our travels don’t take us into darkness.  
 

And although I have had a pretty broken road to learn
this truth, I can now tell you from experience that when it comes to meaning,
purpose, and finding an enduring peace, the path of Christian discipleship is
the way to go. When you surrender your selfish – darker – desires for a life of
following the Lord’s call to know the truth and to be set free you can rejoice
in the “full Immersive experience of life” by going about the earth but living
in God’s kingdom at the same time.  When
you combine the physical realities of life with the spiritual realities of who
you are in Christ, you can experience joy and peace regardless of the
circumstances you encounter.  

Hey, don’t get me wrong, but Hobart Indiana isn’t necessarily
a heavenly destination – in fact, as my wife and I drove down the section of
I90 between Chicago and Merrillville Indiana I couldn’t help but think that the
atmosphere was pretty depressing, as that industrialized pathway looked like a
scene from a post-apocalyptic movie from the 80’s and I wondered if Mad Max
Beyond Thunderdome was shot in the Midwest!

But after I walked into Deeper Walk’s Conference
last night, I forgot all about the long travel day and the was positively
elated to be amongst “my people”, Christians whose experiences of heart-focused
discipleship and conscious contact with God have resulted in personal freedom
and victories the likes of which the Kerouac’s of this world could never dream
of that has produced a mutual desire and vision to help others to experience a
deeper walk with God. While none of our stories are the same, we all have God and
the freedom that He has given us in common and the joy by our gathering was
evident in the spirit of worship that descended upon us as we the first night
drew to a close. 

I was overjoyed to see that several of my fellow cohort
classmates had made the trip and was positively exuberant as I greeted them
with hugs. My “client experience” Prayer Minister, Christy Edge, was in the
building and I hugged her. Lisa Nirva, our Cohort’s teaching assistant was
there, I hugged her. I gushed adoration and appreciation over Dawn Whitestone –
Deeper Walk’s SOM Director – and Nik Harrang – Deeper Walk’s Director of
Operations and my cohort leader – as I was awestruck by simply being in the
same room with people whom I have only met online who I consider to be true heroes
for the cause of Christ and our faith doing simple tasks like making coffee and
trying to meet in greet the masses there.  

However, my deepest praise fell on Dr, Marcus Warner
as I tried to express how very honored I was to meet him in person and express
to him how much I appreciate his work for the body of Christ. I have been
reading Warner’s books and watching His teachings and webinars for a while now
and I was in awe being able to meet him and watch him teach in person.  

While it was joyous and somewhat surreal seeing all
my online friends and heroes in one place in the flesh, and I still have to say
hello to more today, I at least had some level of expectation of what that
would be like but one of the biggest thrills of the night was something that
was totally unexpected.  

As I made my way into the auditorium last night, I was
shocked to see a familiar face among the crowd that I had no reason to expect to
see at the conference, and frankly to ever see again but there he was- another
online “friend” now visible in the flesh!  

Before joining the Deeper Walk SOM, I was an online
course facilitator for Freedom in Christ Ministries and as I walked into the auditorium
last night I saw one of my former “students” in the flesh! “Sam” is a doctor
who lives in California, and he went through the Freedom in Christ course that
I hosted online in the Fall of 2022 and last night he told me that the Freedom In
Christ course set him on a journey to “keep walking and talking with God.” and
that my comments in the class led him to discover Deeper Walk International and
to join their SOM this year! It was absolutely awesome to see how Sam’s journey
is continuing and I was humbled to know that I was used by God to be a small
part of it.  

Sam and I were total strangers from different sides
of the country with different careers and life experiences but our common desire
to follow the Lord led to us meeting and now reuniting a year later. I’m not sure
where Sam is going and I’m not sure where I am going but I’m pretty sure that
both of us would tell you that a life living in the Spirit on the path of
Christian Discipleship is way that leads to meaning, purpose, peace and joy!

So ask the Lord to help you and guide you and if you
are bold, be like Isaiah and ask God to “send me” – you – to the life that He has
for you, and when He speaks be equally bold to follow where He leads. The life
you can have in Christ is waiting for you to step out in faith and to follow it.
The wonderous life the Lord has for you is available so put one foot in front
of the other and go get 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 verses come from the section on Assurance of Salvation.

Job 19:25-27 (NLT2)
²⁵  “But as for me, I know
that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.
²⁶  And after my body has
decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
²⁷  I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. I am overwhelmed at the thought!

Today’s
verses fall under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s
section on Assurance
of Salvation.

 1. Job had assurance.

Today’s verses encourage
us that we can have confidence that the Lord has saved us and that we can look
forward to the day when we can meet our Redeemer face to face.  

Talk about a deeper walk
with God and an unshakeable faith in Him! Job’s life experiences – His relationship
with God- before everything fell apart in his life – told Him that the Lord was
real and that He could be trusted. Although we don’t know how Job knew that His
redeemer lives, the faith of Job testifies that something happened in Job’s
life that caused Him to fear God, shun evil, and offer burnt offerings to the
Lord continually.    

Job’s “religion” wasn’t just
the product of “tradition”. Job’s faith wasn’t one of “mental assent” or going through
the motions of religious practices because He just had an “inkling” that God
must exist.  No – his actions before His testing
reveal that somehow Job really believed in and knew the Lord experientially.  While Job could have just been “covering his
bases” with those burnt offerings over some form of superstition or to manipulate
God to get a good result, His comments here in chapter 19 – show us that Job’s
faith wasn’t based on the prosperity he enjoyed or general spiritual
principles. Job’s comments reveal that He had an experience that told him that God
was real and that He could trust that God would someday reclaim the earth – you
don’t get that from general revelation.  

And just like Job could be
assured of His salvation, we can be assured of ours. Jesus is a historical fact
and if we believe what God’s word says about Him, we can be assured that we
will be saved – because of our faith in Him – and that we will be with Him for
all eternity – because of Jesus’ resurrection and because He said so. 

Assurance comes from
knowing God, putting your faith in Christ, and believing what God’s word says.
So seek the Lord – trust in Jesus- and know that your Redeemer lives, and you will
one day see Him rule over the earth – because He said so.

——————————————————————–

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

28 –The Spirit Preserving

Preservation
in Holiness

The chief end for which God sends the Spirit
to indwell His people is to deliver them from apostasy: to preserve them not
only from the everlasting burnings, but from those things which would expose
them thereto. Unless that be clearly stated, we justly lay ourselves open to
the charge that this is a dangerous
doctrine—making light of sin and encouraging careless living. It is not true
that if a man has once truly believed in Christ, no matter what enormities he
may commit afterwards, nor what course of evil he follow, he cannot fail to
reach Heaven. Not so is the teaching of Holy Writ. The Spirit does not preserve
in a way of licentiousness, but only in the way of holiness. Nowhere has God
promised His favor to dogs who go back to their vomit, nor to swine which
return to their wallowing in the mire. The believer may indeed experience a
fearful fall, yet he will not lie down content in his filth, any more than
David did: “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD
upholdeth him with His hand” (Ps. 37:24).

That many Christians have persevered in holiness to the last
moment of their lives, cannot be truthfully denied. Now their perseverance must
have been obtained wholly of themselves, or partly of themselves and partly by
Divine aid, or it must have been wholly dependent on the purpose and power of
God. None who profess to believe the Scriptures would affirm that it was due
entirely to their own efforts and faithfulness, for they clearly teach that
progress in holiness is as much the work of the Spirit as is the new birth
itself. To say that the perseverance of the saint is due, in part to himself,
is to divide the credit, afford ground for boasting, and rob God of half His
rightful glory. To declare that a life of faith and holiness is entirely
dependent upon the grace and power of God, is but to repeat what the Lord told
His disciples: “without Me ye can do nothing”
(John 15:5), and is to affirm with the Apostle, “Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

Yet it needs to be
pointed out that in maintaining His people in holiness, the power of God
operates in quite another manner than it does in the maintenance of a river or
the preservation of a tree. A river may (sometimes does) dry up, and a tree may be uprooted: the one is maintained by
being replenished by fresh waters, the other is preserved by its being
nourished and by its roots being held in the ground; but in each case, the
preservation is by physical power, from without, entirely without their
concurrence. In the case of the Christian’s preservation it is quite otherwise.
With him God works from within, using moral persuasion, leading him to a concurrence of mind and will with the
Holy Spirit in this work. God deals with the believer as a moral agent, draws
him “with cords of a man” (Hosea 11:4), maintains his responsibility, and bids
him, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12, 13).

Thus there is both
preservation on God’s part and perseverance in holiness on ours, and the former
is accomplished by maintaining the latter. God does not deal with His people as
though they were machines, but as rational creatures. He sets before them weighty
considerations and powerful motives, solemn warnings and rich rewards, and by
the renewings of His grace and the revivings of His Spirit causes them to respond thereto. Are they made
conscious of the power and pollution of indwelling sin? then they cry for help
to resist its lustings and to escape its defilements. Are they shown the
importance, the value, and the need of faith? then they beg the Lord for an
increase of it. Are they made sensible of that obedience which is due unto God,
but aware, too, of the hindering drag of the flesh? then they cry, “Draw me, we
will run after Thee.” Do they yearn to be fruitful? then they pray, “Awake, O
north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof
may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits”
(Song. 4:16).

His understanding
having been savingly enlightened, the believer desires to grow in grace and the
knowledge of his Lord, that he may abound in spiritual wisdom and good works.
Every affection of his heart is stirred, every faculty of his soul called into
action. And yet this concurrence is not such as to warrant us saying that his
perseverance depends, in any degree on himself, for every spiritual stirring
and act on his part is but the effect of the Spirit’s operation within him, “He
which hath begun a good work in you will finish it” (Phil. 1:6). He who first
enlightened, will continue to shine upon the understanding; He who originally
convicted of sin, will go on searching the conscience; He who imparted faith
will nourish and sustain the same; He who drew to Christ, will continue to
attract the affections toward Him.^[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)

“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