The Joy of Finished Business and Looking Ahead – Purity 1233

 The Joy of Finished Business and Looking Ahead –
Purity 1233

Purity 1233 12/28/2023 Purity 1233 Podcast

Purity 1233 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a pink and blue morning sky over a roadway
that is lined with Christmas lights comes to us from an unknown FB friend who captured
this scene, presumably near their home, back on Christmas Day of 2020.  

Well, it’s Thursday and I share this blast from the
past because of its simple beauty, it features a pathway, and as we get closer
to a new year I tend to take a look back to reflect on and resolve things from
the past.  

So by sharing this photo on the blog, I will delete
it from my phone’s photo archive and be one “photo space” free-er going
forward.  It is good to reflect on the
past from time to time and it is absolutely wonderful to get rid of things we
no longer need and to tie up loose ends. 
Every problem we solve is one less burden to carry as we go forward in life,
and I am happy to report that yesterday I had a humungous burden lifted from my
shoulders, mind, and credit report that I previously had only hoped and prayed
for deliverance from.  

In 2019, my divorce agreement was signed and
finalized and among the terms of the agreement was the sale of the house at 7
Birch Hill Rd in Craryville.  I vacated that
home in what I think of as “my Exodus” to Stuyvesant as the Lord used my
determination, hard work, and other fortuitous circumstances to give me the
means to buy a house for my children and I to go to in 2020.  My ex remainder behind but basically refused
to sell the house until yesterday. The house has been sold  and the closing is completed. And even though I
expected to receive next to nothing from its sale, when I signed the divorce
agreement in 2019, the Lord was faithful to move all things together for my
good as I was blessed with a buyer who paid us more than we did for the
property, enough to cover all the associated costs and expenses and to give me 66%
of the money that I had paid off of the principal on the mortgage.  While I didn’t walk away rich, I did walk away
with enough to pay off all of my debt and to bankroll a trip to Disney World in
February.  So I’ll take it and I will
thank the Lord every day, as is my habit, for who He is, what HE has done, and
what He continues to do.  

I am far from perfect and still have many areas to
improve in, but I will do my best to follow the Lord’s will for my life and I
will praise and thank Him all the days of my life for the new life He has given
me in Christ. 

The path of Christian Discipleship has not always
been easy. I have suffered loss and have been challenged to rethink everything
I knew about life as I have tried to understand who the Lord has made me to be
and to turn from my ways of doing things to His way and while it has been
difficult at times I have no regrets and earnestly encourage any and everyone who
is reading or listening to this message to make Jesus their Savior and to
completely surrender to His Lordship and to follow Him with the way you live.   Christ’s is definitely the path less travelled
these days, but I will proclaim with my dying breath that it has made all the
difference and leads to peace, love, and joy.

So with 2024, right around the corner let me
encourage you to get on the path of Christian Discipleship to become the person
God created you to be, the person you always wanted to be, but never thought
you could be, and watch and see just how good and faithful God is when you
decide to live with and for Him.   

——————————————————————————————–

Today’s
Bible verses come 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 Comfort.

Psalm 139:1-12 (NASB)
¹  O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
²  You know when I sit down
and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
³  You scrutinize my path and
my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
⁴  Even before there is a word
on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You
know it all.
⁵  You have enclosed me behind
and before, And laid Your hand upon me.
⁶  Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
⁷  Where can I go from Your
Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
⁸  If I ascend to heaven, You
are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
⁹  If I take the wings of the
dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
¹⁰  Even there Your hand will
lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
¹¹  If I say, “Surely the
darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”
¹²  Even the darkness is not
dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are
alike to You.

Today’s
verses fall under the fifth point  of our
counseling reference guide resource’s section on Comfort.

5. God knows us most intimately;
he holds and guides us by his hand.

 

Today’s verses tell us of
the One who never leaves us or forsakes us, who follows us wherever we go
throughout the earth, and who knows us completely. 

 

God is all knowing and
ever present.  No matter where we go –
there we are- and there God is. He knows our location physically, emotionally,
mentally, and spiritually at all times. 
He knows us better than any other and knows where we were and where we
are going.  

 

So why not walk with Him
and trust Him to help you with the rest of your life.   God is with us whether we like it or
not.  So why not make peace with Him by
putting our faith in Jesus and trusting Him to guide us into the future. Trust
me when I tell you that His plans are better than your plans.  

God is with us, so make
peace with Him and be comforted by His presence.

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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 are sharing from “God is in the Manger-
Reflections on Advent and Christmas” – By Dietrich Bonhoeffer.   

As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work.  This resource is available online
for less than $10 at many sites.

God is in the Manger – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY

DECEMBER
28

With God
There Is Joy

Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads” (Isa.
35:10). Since ancient times, in the Christian church, acedia—sadness of heart,
resignation—has been considered a mortal sin. “Serve the Lord with gladness!”
(Ps. 100:2 RSV), urges the Scripture. For this, our life has been given to us,
and for this, it has been sustained for us to this present hour. The joy that
no one can take from us belongs not only to those who have been called home,
but also to us who are still living. In this joy we are one with them, but
never in sadness. How are we supposed to be able to help those who are without
joy and courage, if we ourselves are not borne by courage and joy? What is
meant here is not something made or forced, but something given and free. With
God there is joy, and from him it comes down and seizes spirit, soul, and body.
And where this joy has seized a person, it reaches out around itself, it pulls
others along, it bursts through closed doors. There is a kind of joy that knows
nothing at all of the pain, distress, and anxiety of the heart. But it cannot
last; it can only numb for a time. The joy of God has gone through the poverty
of the manger and the distress of the cross; therefore it is invincible and
irrefutable.

Acedia may be an unfamiliar term to those not
well versed in monastic history or medieval literature. But that does not mean
it has no relevance for contemporary readers.… I believe that such standard
dictionary definitions of acedia as “apathy,” “boredom,” or “torpor” do not
begin to cover it, and while we may find it convenient to regard it as a more
primitive word for what we now term depression, the truth is much more complex.
Having experienced both conditions, I think it likely that most of the restless
boredom, frantic escapism, commitment phobia, and enervating despair that
plagues us today is the ancient demon of acedia in modern dress.

Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s
Life

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord
with gladness;

come into his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord
is God.

It is he that made us, and we are his;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him, bless his name.

For the Lord
is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 100^[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
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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)

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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship