Don’t Believe the Lie – I Can Do All Things # 6 – Purity 1361
Purity 1361 05/25/2024 Purity 1361 Podcast
Purity 1361 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a view of lush green mountains from the vantage point of what I will call “Lookout Road Extension” comes to us from yours truly as captured this somewhat underwhelming scene under overcast skies on Saturday afternoon as my wife and I boldly hiked uphill for a mile to see it before racing back to our cabin to avoid hiking home in darkness.
Well, it’s Wednesday and I hiked the three miles to get to that quaint lookout point in the Merck Forest and Farmland Center and if nothing else today’s photo can visually represent our arrival at another “hump day” although with the holiday weekend and an unexpected shift in my normally programmed work schedule this Wednesday proves to be a little bit different. A co-worker needed Saturday off and as I was faced with back to back Saturdays to later this month because I was normally scheduled to work during Memorial Day Weekend, I jumped at the chance to make a switch for both our benefits. So I work this Saturday and as a tradeoff, I have off today which actually works out because my generator is scheduled for maintenance (thanks for the 24 hour notice fellas) and I will use the time off at home to develop a plan of attack for the spiritual formation of my new life coaching clients.
While my initial consultation with my clients introduced them to the basics of life on the path of Christian Discipleship with a guideline for daily spiritual practice, and even provided them with a plan to exercise their bodies for an overall holistic approach to mental, physical, and spiritual wellness, I feel convicted to provide them with some fundamental teachings on the Chrisitan faith from Derek Prince that they may have not received at “church on Sunday.”
In my walk of faith, I have read and studied the Bible and various Christian authors extensively and have listened or watched hundreds if not thousands of hours of Christian content to “know what I believe and why I believe it.” And now as a Christian life coach, I want to save my clients time by giving them resources that are worth their time, money, and attention. Of course, the Holy Spirit will have to illuminate the truth to their hearts and minds to cause them to be transformed but I truly care about the growth and prospering of my clients and will do my best to provide them with a spiritual “core” or foundation from which they can grow into the men that God created them to be and that will prayerfully inspire them with meaning and purpose. The power of our faith comes from the application of Biblical wisdom to our lives and a personal relationship with God through His word and the Holy Spirit and I intend to encourage my clients to trust and follow the Lord into a whole new way of life. I was just reading the “Get Used to Different Student Guide” by The Team at The Chosen, this morning and even though it is aimed at young adults new to the faith, it addresses some of the basic questions we all need to answer if we are going to be disciples of Jesus.
At the end of the first week of study, this devotional asks the questions about following Jesus:
“… To follow Jesus, we have to do things his way. That’s the thing about following: we are no longer leading. Duh.
So, what would it look like to follow God and focus on Him instead of yourself? How would it change the way you feel about the hard things in your life? What would change, like actually change, if you truly grasped how much God loves you?”
These are the questions I will be putting to my clients. I will be giving them solid Christian teachings that will help with the application of biblical truth but following the Lord with the way you live your life is not an academic study. They probably “know” – mentally or intellectually – much of what I will point them towards, but I intend to challenge them to make God their focus, to adopt His point of view and strategies for dealing with the hard things in life, and to receive, return, and share the love He has for them.
To do that we must know and relate to God personally. And in addition to our relationship with God, we benefit from knowing what we believe and why we believe it, but we must also reject the things that are false.
And that brings us to the conclusion of our current mini-series on “I Can Do All Things”, where we are sharing from the last chapter of Neil Anderson’s Who I Am in Christ: A Devotional, where the good doctor is advising us to:
“Don’t Believe the Lie
The biggest obstacle I encounter in helping people find their freedom in Christ are the lies people believe. Satan is the father of lies. Jesus is the truth. The Holy Spirit is first and foremost the Spirit of truth (see John 14:17), and He will lead us into all truth (see John 16:13). When I share my faith, people sometimes say, “I just can’t believe that.” And I respond, “Of course you can; if I believe it, can you believe it? Belief is a choice.”
One of the most common lies I encounter is, “I can’t do that. I’m not good enough. I don’t have the ability.” I always expose it for what it is, a lie from the pit. The truth is, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” (Phil. 4:13). Here is a little poetic encouragement:
Someone said that it couldn’t be done,
But he, with a chuckle, replied:
“That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.”
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed, “Oh, you’ll never do that,
At least no one ever has done it.”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With the lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
I started this chapter by asking, “If God wants it done, can it be done?” and “If God asks you to, can you do it?” The answer is, “Absolutely!” And if God gives you grace, can you be content with His will in any situation? Yes, because He is there with you and you are in Him. You can say, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13).
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for revealing my true identity in Christ. Thank You for showing me from Your Word how You are meeting my needs of acceptance, security and significance in Christ. I feel like I need to say, “Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief.” Teach me to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I want to be a child of God who lives by faith. I renounce the lies of Satan that say I can’t, and I announce the truth that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I pray for the renewing of my mind so that I can prove that the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect for me. I love You with all my heart, soul and strength. You are the Lord of the universe, and the Lord of my life, now and forever. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.[1]”
Belief is a choice. So seek the Lord, read His word, pray for Him to help you, but then make the decision to believe God and follow Him.
“What would change – like actually change –if you truly grasped how much God loves you?”
Everything. Everything would change. So choose to believe God and follow Him to see what your new “everything” includes.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
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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 Depression.
Proverbs 28:13 (NKJV)
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
Today’s verse falls under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Depression.
1. Concealing sin often leads to depression. If you confess your sins and turn from them, you will find mercy.
Today’s verse comes from the “wisdom section” of the Bible and oh how wise we would be if we could grasp and apply this truth to our lives! He who covers sins will not prosper. Oh come on, I can get away with it. Oh no you can’t. God knows all and sees all. We don’t get away with any of our sins, even if we seem to avoid immediate negative consequences. Sin defiles us and either makes us suffer pretty quickly or causes us to think we are fine which predisposes us to sin again and quite likely will cause us to sin in bigger ways or to become entangled in sin’s habitual patterns. If we cover our sins, we will not prosper.
But if we confess and forsake our sins, God is merciful to us. We can have peace with God through Jesus and experience an abundant life of mercy and grace when we forsake our sin. So treat the word of God as if it is true, because it is!, and allow its wisdom to guide you to know God’s mercy, peace, and love.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com 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.
MORNING READING: ROMANS 4
“Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.”
– Romans 4:10
It is when one sees such phrases as this one, that some of the hidden wonders of this marvelous Book are revealed. Paul is propounding the doctrine of the sovereignty of God’s grace, and he shows clearly that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). To prove his point, he refers back to Abraham, the man who was reckoned for righteousness. He shows that God reckoned the blessing of righteousness to Abraham before he was circumcised. Now circumcision was the work of the law. The operation of circumcision had to be done by man. Thus, if righteousness was imputed to Abraham because of his circumcision, the righteousness would be of works and not of grace. Herein shines the fact that this wondrous Book is inspired. For though Abraham lived centuries before, yet God ruled it that he should be blessed apart from works, thus confirming the teaching of the New Testament.
From beginning to end, how marvelous is Your Word![2]
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“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
[1] Neil T. Anderson, Who I Am in Christ (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2001), 275–277.
[2] Stephen Olford and Heather Olford, According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament, A Collection of Devotional Journals 1940-1941 (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2008).
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