Be An Encourager – A Voice in the Darkness – Purity 1481
Purity 1481 10/19/2024 Purity 1481 Audio Podcast
Purity 1481 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Well, it is Saturday and although I am stumbling in the dark as I try to navigate my way to a Nutritarian lifestyle – I’m fully committed to being “ready to be fully committed” and making sudden impulsive food choices as a last hurrah in the interim, I can be trusted as a faithful companion on the path to Christian Discipleship because although I am seeking to make further progress on destroying my food addictions and experiencing optimal physical health, I have been victorious over many sins of the flesh and can, if nothing else, be trusted to walk with you should you need deliverance from alcohol, drugs, sex addiction, anger, depression, anxiety and other possible forms of what could be demonic oppression.
With that said, I should make the disclaimer that I am not a fully trained exorcist (although I have completed the full course of studies at Bob Larson University) and I am not a licensed Psychologist or Counselor (although I do have a Master’s degree in Christian Counseling and previous work experience in Mental Health). However, I am a Christian Life Coach and have been trained as a Community Freedom Ministry Associate through Freedom in Christ Ministries and have acted as the “Encourager” in many a freedom appointment where I have seen God work through that prayerful repentance process to set men free from persistent sinful bondages, strongholds, and unresolved issues of their past.
While I can’t set you free, I know the One who can. I can introduce you to Him through the Steps to Freedom in Christ and walk beside you as you get to know Him and learn how to walk in freedom and live according to his ways afterward.
Although many a “Christian” may claim to know the Lord, research results (https://thestateoftheology.com/) indicate that their view of God may not align perfectly with scripture and their behaviors and opinions are similar to their unsaved neighbors.
While “do what thou wilt” or “anything goes” morality may be the soup du jour of our overall society today, many a soul has realized that such self-indulgence is actually the doctrine of demons that offers satisfaction but leads to suffering, disillusionment, brokenness, and death.
Freedom isn’t doing whatever you want and indulging the flesh – that’s bondage. True freedom, joy, and fulfillment come from being the person that God created us to be. By acknowledging God as Sovereign and accepting His Truth, Way, and Life through submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ by faith, we can have victory over the sins of the flesh and experience the life of peace, love, and joy that God wants us to know.
But going from “simple faith” to a victorious life in Christ is the battleground of spiritual warfare and the body of Christ was intended to be the means by which we could band together and encourage one another to fight the good fight of faith and win the war against the world, flesh, and the devil. Unfortunately, the statistics indicate that the “church in America” has not been successful in leading its members to even know the truth about their faith with any degree of success let alone been able to lead them to live a Christian life when it comes to morality.
But ministries like Freedom in Christ Ministries, Deeper Walk International, Wild at Heart, and individual Christian Counselors and Life Coaches, like myself, recognize the need to educate and guide Christians to the freedom and victory in Christ that they were meant to have. These ministries and individuals use the truth of scripture and the intervention of prayer ministry to lead their brother and sisters in Christ out of the dark.
While I have been doing recovery and freedom ministry since 2015, I started my Christian Life Coaching practice this year because I recognized the need for continued discipleship and spiritual formation coaching that went beyond a 12 or 25 week course of study and that was needed to help break strongholds that remained after otherwise seemingly success prayer ministry. As the Steps to Freedom in Christ concluding verbiage states:
“It is exciting to experience your freedom in Christ, but what you have gained must be maintained. You have won an important battle, but the war goes on. To maintain your freedom in Christ and grow as a disciple of Jesus in the grace of God, you must continue renewing your mind to the truth of God’s word.” (Anderson, p.60, 2017).
That process of renewing your mind is empowered by the Holy Spirit but is greatly assisted when you have brothers or sisters in Christ who can be a “voice in the darkness” – brothers or sisters in Christ – who can be an “encourager” and a friend to you when circumstances change and you begin to doubt.
We can all be encouragers by attending church services, church small groups, and serving in the church regularly but even in those environments “Christians” can end up hiding their hurts, habits, or struggles because they are supposed to be “all better now” or the church culture is such that “freedom” has been bestowed from the pulpit and if you don’t have it it is because you haven’t been listening or you haven’t been faithful – essentially it’s your fault – and you should “try harder”. They may have even suggested that you “just believe” with no helpful further instruction of how you actually live in a completely different and new way.
Of course, instruction guiding people into the spiritual disciplines is pretty simplistic – read the Bible and pray – but when you have someone willing to make you accountable and to encourage you as you learn and grow those simple instructions become more than “commandments”. They become advice and testimony from some one who has practiced them and learned from them and cares enough to talk and walk you through the process.
As I was reviewing the progress of my clients this morning, I realized that, even though our sessions can seem somewhat simple and don’t appear to be much more than a couple of friends getting together to talk about life, my relationship with my clients has a meaningful impact on the way they live their lives. While my clients, and myself admittedly, are a work in progress I can honestly say that they have made steady improvements in the areas that they wanted to address and that they have grown in their faith and their maturity as Christians. They are making progress and in many ways are living as the people that God created them to me. And I was a part of that. I have offered “coaching”, advice, and instruction, and they have benefitted from it. I have prayed with them and for them and their families and I have seen the Lord work in their lives to bless them and to move them to be more like Jesus.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NKJV) tells us
9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up.
So let’s help each other up and let me encourage you to reach out to the people around you and to encourage them to get to know and to follow the Lord.
As amazing as it sounds, God chooses to work through us and when we encourage others in their faith we can not only rejoice over the progress that they make but we can also stand in awe over how God has used us to help others and has caused us to grow in the process.
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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 Friendships.
1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV2011)
33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
Today’s verse falls under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Friendships.
1. Bad company corrupts good morals.
Today’s Bible verse warns us that we have to be careful of the company we keep.
As much as I have encouraged you to reach out to others in a spirit of Christian fellowship to encourage them to walk with the Lord, if we realize that our messages aren’t being received or causing our “friends in low places” to answer the upward call in Christ Jesus and to turn from their sinful ways, it might be best to take a step back because their sinful ways may in turn corrupt you!
The word says that light has no business with darkness so if we discover our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, or fellow church attendees are actively engaged in sin or aren’t living according to their faith, we should distance ourselves from their degradation and continually discourage their destruction.
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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.
EVENING READING: REVELATION 2
“You have left your first love.” – Revelation 2:4
The church in Ephesus failed in all when she failed in love. For love is the all-inclusive word which embraces all other fruits of the Spirit.
The Lord had to say to this church:
“I know your works” (v. 2). Here was the work of faith. In faith, this church was strong. Then again:
“I know your patience” (v. 2). Here was the patience of hope. In hope, this church was strong.
But the Lord goes on to say, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (v. 4). Here the church had failed, and therefore failed in all. For while these three remain – faith, hope, and love – “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). The other two are comprehended in love, and Ephesus had failed here.
O Lord, help me not to fail in love.[1]
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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] 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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