Traveling into Lent – 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther – Day 3 – Purity 1276

Traveling into Lent – 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther
– Day 3 – Purity 1276

Purity 1276 02/16/2024 Purity 1276 Podcast

Purity 1276 on YouTube: 

Good morning,

Today’s photo of a palm tree and a dockside view of
the setting sun comes to us from Shane Onufrock who shared this scene on social
media from his visit to the Sunset Café Bar N Grill in Cocoa Beach, FL
yesterday.  Shane has been sharing photos
of his vacation to Cocoa Beach and Disney World and I am following in Shane’s
footsteps as I will, prayerfully, get on a plane to Orlando later today.

Full confession here: I am composing this message
Thursday evening, and currently there is snow falling at my countryside home in
Easton, and I am praying that my trip won’t be delayed as my wife, stepkids,
and I will be leaving for the airport at 3:30 am.  So, Lord guide our path! Speaking of the
path, let’s not worry about things beyond our control today and trust the Lord
to bring us to where we are supposed to be. He does work all things together
for good so let’s keep walking and talking with God until we get there. 

In the meantime, it’s the third day of Lent and before
I get to Disney World we will continue with my personal walkthrough of Gracia
Grindal’s 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther to observe and celebrate the
Lenten season.   In this walkthrough
Grindal’s devotional,  it is our hope
that we will get to know Martin Luther a little better as we seek to draw
closer to the Lord on our journey to Resurrection Sunday – Easter.  

And so we continue.

“Journey
Day 3

I do
not bind myself to such words or syllables, but say my prayers in one fashion
today, and another tomorrow, depending upon my mood and feeling. I stay,
however, as nearly as I can, with the same general thoughts and ideas. It may
happen occasionally that I may get lost among so many ideas in one petition (of
the Lord’s prayer) that I forego the other six. If such an abundance of good
thoughts comes to us we ought to disregard the other petitions, make room for
such thoughts, listen in silence, and under no circumstances obstruct them. The
Holy Spirit himself preaches here, and one word of his sermon is far better
than a thousand of our prayers.

Biblical Wisdom

Day
by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at
home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having
the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number
those who were being saved. Acts 2: 46-47

Silence for Meditation.

Pause the podcast, or stop reading, and sit quietly
for 60 seconds or 1, 5, 10, 15 minutes or however long you feel comfortable
with and have time for. Focus on your breath and the calm stillness in the
present moment that is always available to us in God’s creation. Meditate on
Martin Luther’s comments for the day, and the content of today’s Biblical
wisdom.

 

Questions to Ponder

·       What
is the difference between “an abundance of good thoughts” and just thinking of
too many things at once?

Well, based on Martin Luther’s statements, the “abundance
of good thoughts” would be significantly different from “just thinking of too
many things at once”  because of the
source of the thoughts is the Holy Spirit. 
When I think of “just thinking too many things at once” is get a picture
of anxious thoughts or worry as so many things are coming to mind – “I have to
do this, I have to do that, what about this, what about that?” That interior dialog
seems to be from the world, the flesh, and the devil because “just thinking too
many things at once” doesn’t seem to lead to peace whereas an abundance of good
thoughts would bless us with peace and joy- the fruit of the Spirit comes from
the Holy Spirit and will bless us and guide us in the way we should go.

·       How can
you tell the difference when you pray, and what might you do if you find
yourself thinking too many things at once?

You
can tell the difference when you pray because the abundance of good thoughts from
the Holy Spirit would keep you in prayer – by giving you peace and gratitude
for what the Lord is revealing to you, whereas thinking too many things at once
would be more likely to take you out of pray because they would impede your
concentration or cause you to abandon prayer to do other things.

·       Luther
believes that when we focus on God’s word, the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the
“abundance of good thoughts” that come to us. Why does Luther insist that
hearing what the Holy Spirit had to say is more important than our prayers?

Luther insists that
hearing what the Holy Spirit has to say is more important than our prayers because
The Holy Spirit is God and divine revelation is what man is looking for –
wisdom from above. Our knowledge is finite and limited and so we should
recognize that when God speaks we should be silent and listen.

·       How
much of prayer is listening? How do you listen in prayer? How do you know you
are hearing God and not yourself?

I believe that half of
prayer is listening, or it should be. I have learned to talk to God like a
friend and I ask for help and guidance and will pause to listen for God’s
answers.  While I haven’t heard an
audible voice from God yet, I have received thoughts and impressions in my mind
that I believe has been the Lord speaking to me. One way I know that I am
hearing God, and it is not myself is that His answers usually are spoken with
Scripture, the language of the Lord is the Bible, or it reveals things I didn’t
know or calls me to do good things I normally wouldn’t do.  His answers give me wisdom, help, and guidance
in righteous living. 

Psalm Fragment

On
the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. Psalm
138: 3

Journal Reflections

·       Remember
times when you have been praying and your mind has suddenly been filled with
good thoughts. Were they from the Holy Spirit or your own distractions? How do
you know?

The times I can recall when my mind has suddenly
been filled with good thoughts, I believe, were from the Holy Spirit. The good
thoughts would concern things like how I was saved or good things that have
happened to me since coming to Christ, how I’ve been forgiven, or how I’ve been
set free. Those good thoughts often include scripture and guide me to do good
works. My distractions on the other hand caused me to consider things of the
world, lead me away from prayer, or would cause me to worry. The Holy Spirit’s
thoughts give me peace and joy. My distractions would give me anxiety and fear.

·       Reflect
on times when you have simply been silent during your devotions. What comes to
you? Describe one such time in detail.

Recently I sat quietly in prayer just waiting on the
Lord and a brother in Christ that I hadn’t thought of came to mind and I got
the impressions that I was supposed to reach out to this person just to check
in and to encourage them. It was an overwhelming compulsion that had to be
answered. So I sent a message inviting this person to a chaptand it led to
being invited to a ministry he ran to encourage people of my testimony and to
encourage this man’s faithful work for the body of Christ. And not only got to
share my appreciation for this man and his friendship but was able to share my
testimony with some of the people he ministered to encourage them in their
faith. That’s what happens when we listen to God in prayer. We do good things we
wouldn’t have thought of on our own and it ends up blessing us as well as the
people we are sent to help.

·       Do
you experience “singleness of heart” in your life of faith and in your prayer?
If so, describe the experience. If not, how might you achieve it?

Honestly, I am not sure what this prompting means by
“singleness of heart” because the text above it doesn’t really mention it, but
as I understand it I think singleness of heart would mean that we are trying to
do God’s will, our heart is after God’s heart and we are surrendered to doing
His will.  In prayer, I hope to be of one
heart with the Lord because I want to do things His way and preface my prayers
with the understanding that I want God’s will to be done, not mine. 

Prayers for the Life of Faith

Pray
that you will be given the ability to concentrate in your prayers so you can
hear God’s word (and the Spirit) more clearly and fully.

Lord, let me hear your words clearly and fully when
I am in prayer. Help me to concentrate on what you are trying to tell me and to
receive the understanding you need me to have to do your will and represent you
on the earth.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer for Today

Holy
Spirit, enliven this time of prayer for me. Teach me to know when you are
speaking and to listen to what you have to say.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

(Gracia M. Grindal. 40-day
Journey With Martin Luther. Kindle Edition.)

(We encourage you to purchase Grindal’s book and
take the 40 Day Journey with Martin Luther for yourself by purchasing Grindal’s
book wherever books are sold. You can find it online at many different sites
and purchase it new, used – paper or electronic for less than $15.00).

 

——————————————————————————————–

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 Communication, Gossip, and
Lying.

Proverbs 16:20 (NKJV)
²⁰  He who heeds the word
wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

Today’s
verses fall under the thirteenth point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Communication, Gossip, and Lying.

13.     We must help stop
gossip and strife.

Today’s
verse tells us that trusting the Lord leads to happiness and those who heed the
word wisely will find good. Honestly, I had to look at this resource twice
because the 13^th point that tells us to stop gossip and strife doesn’t
come through the text given here, but if we are to heed God’s word wisely and
trust Him, we would not gossip or cause strife with our fellow man.   So as a general principle, we should heed
God’s word wisely and to find good – the opposite of strife’s bad. 

———————————————————–

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 “According to Your
Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament” By Stephen F. Olford – A
Collection of Devotional Journals: 1940-1941.

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

EVENING READING: MARK 8

“You are the Christ.” – Mark 8:29

This testimony of Peter was not the
result of human reasoning or even imagination, but as the Lord Himself says,
“The revelation of the Father” (see Matt. 16:17). And what a revelation it was,
for Peter recognized in Christ:

An Anointed Prophet. That is to say, a Teacher sent from God. He saw in Him “the way,
the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Peter himself said on one occasion,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
the words of eternal life” (John 6:68, emphasis mine).

An Anointed Priest.
One sent from God to mediate between God and Man.

An Anointed King.
Peter probably recognized Him as King more than in any other capacity. What a
revelation Peter must have had!

You are the Christ – Prophet, Priest,
and King!
Amen.^[1]

—————————more
tomorrow————————

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Encouragement
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