Applying The Truth and Running the Race – Purity 1495
Purity 1495 11/05/2024 Purity 1495 Audio Podcast
Purity 1495 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Well, It’s Tuesday and its Election Day, here in the U.S. and the one thing that is certain about the Presidential Race is that the outcome is uncertain as I have seen polls forecasting conflicting results. They can’t both win so I guess we will see what God’s will is tomorrow. That’s right, we may not know why things happen the way they do but if something happens it happens underneath our Heavenly Father’s watch, and although the outcomes may perplex us, they don’t surprise God as He shapes the pathway of “His-story” to meet His will.
Understanding God’s sovereignty will help us accept the hard truths of life, death, and suffering, and should cause us to find peace with Him through faith in Jesus Christ because simply there is no other way to the Father according to Jesus.
After I settled on today’s photo, I thought of looking up waterfall quotes and found this one by Turkish playwright, Mehmet Murat Ildan who writes:
“A waterfall cannot be silent, just as wisdom. When they speak, the voice of power speaks.”
Well, Ildan thinks of himself as somewhat of a philosopher, I guess, but states that he only believes in “existence, pure love and a friendly God (a personal unknown god-the universe) and of course strongly believe in Almighty Science, the real hero of humanity, our only chance to survive in this chaotic universe!” (https://mehmetmuratildanresmiwebsitesi.wordpress.com/hakkinda/)
Unfortunately, Ildan is deceived or just plain old wrong, and just like his proverbial waterfall that cannot be silent, Jesus – the embodiment of Truth and wisdom, spoke powerfully when he proclaimed in
John 14:6 (NKJV) where Jesus said:
6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
God isn’t the universe. He made it. God isn’t unknown. He revealed Himself in His creation and with His interactions with mankind that are detailed in the Bible. God came in the person of Jesus Christ, and it is only through faith in Him that we can be saved. Jesus is the real and only hero of humanity and unless we put our faith in Him we perish.
And just like that proverbial waterfall that cannot be silent, I speak out to share this message because I know it is true and more importantly I have applied that truth to my life.
Do we really know anything unless we demonstrate our knowledge of it by living according to it.
It is one thing to intellectually know that seatbelts can protect us in car accidents, but that knowledge doesn’t do anything for you if you don’t apply its wisdom by buckling up.
Similarly, in our walk of faith, God directs us to His ways of living and if we seek to flourish, we would be wise to take His path rather than going our running our own race. The In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley for today touches on this topic and so I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to follow the right path instead of chasing after waterfalls of the world’s nonsense.
“Running the Race of Faith
All believers reach a finish line in life—are you running to receive an eternal prize?
Imagine you’re running in a marathon, and one of the athletes decides to pick his own path. He keeps to the 26.2-mile race standard and sets his finish line in the same spot as the official one, but he picks routes with fewer hills and competitors. His plan seems excellent to him, but when he crosses the finish line, there will be no medal or ribbon waiting.
That would certainly be a silly thing to do. Yet we can fall into this very trap when we decide the course for our life instead of running the race God sets. (See Heb. 12:1.) By submitting to His will, we remain on the right path. But the moment we revert to old habits or start making decisions based on our own wisdom, we go far afield.
Whether believers run the race God’s way or their own way, they’ll reach a finish line—but that doesn’t mean it’s the same one. No one wants to look back and realize, I didn’t run the course meant for me. I accomplished nothing of value. The only truly lasting and worthwhile deeds are those done for the Lord in the power of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
And thankfully, no matter how far off course we veer, the Holy Spirit is still present. He reminds us of the right path—and gives us the power to get back on it and persevere.” – Charles Stanley
When we decide to put our faith in Jesus, we may be under the false impression that a proclamation of faith or a prayer is “all I have to do!” and that we can just go about our business just like we always have, but now with the “fire insurance” that will keep us out of hell.
That’s a distortion of the gospel – God didn’t send Jesus to die for us so we could continue as we were – God saves us to bring us into His family and to represent His kingdom, to not only forgive us of our sins but to free us from them.
When Christ calls us, He calls us to follow Him into a new life but we can be deceived and believe that our ways of doing things “work” so we can just carry on as we always have – choosing our own path. But God has a better way for us to live and the Holy Spirit is now present in our lives to guide us into it.
The ways and things of this world will fade away. Only the things that we do that give glory to God will stand. So seek God’s will for your life and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to find the path you were meant to walk.
We can discern our way into God’s path by the “fruit” we will find along the way. His way leads us to goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, self-control, love, joy, and peace. His path may not be easy to follow at first, or ever, but it always leads us to peace and closer to Him. So run the race of faith but let’s make sure we are on God’s path for us and not our own.
I review two devotionals each morning, In Touch and Turning Point, and if the Spirit leads me I use them in the blog and will text them to some brothers in Christ,
This morning I was torn over which devotional to share from and in case I got it wrong – I’m sharing the link to David Jeremiah’s message today that calls us to understand that the God of all creation is thinking about us and our lives individually- it’s an awesome message and if you need it here is the link: https://www.davidjeremiah.org/magazine/daily-devotional?showsignup=true
God bless you!
MT
————————————————————————
For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
———————————————————————–
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 Giving.
2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (NASB) 1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. 3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, 5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God.
Today’s verses are the first of three passages of scripture that fall under the second point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Giving.
2. The Lord wants us to give generously and cheerfully.
Today’s Bible verses highlight the churches of Macedonia that despite affliction gave generously to others because of their faith.
Paul states they gave themselves to the Lord first before they gave to others and that is a picture of how it should be. We don’t prove our faith by giving money. We prove our faith by giving ourselves to God and then we are drawn to give to others from the abundance of His love. So give yourself to God and see where He is calling you to give to others.
———————————————————–
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 16
“Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail.”
– Revelation 16:21
One of the most amazing things about the judgments that are foretold in this Book is that they enrage those upon whom they fall to an even greater degree. Notice especially the seventeenth chapter.
Of course, the people upon whom these judgments will come will be “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Rom. 9:22), those who have deliberately chosen to rebel against God. Thus, like Esau, though they should seek repentance with tears, they would not repent.
But in spite of this, it is very important to note that the negative side of the revelation of God very rarely turns man to repentance. On the other hand, “the goodness of God leads [men] to repentance” (Rom. 2:4).
O, that I might reach men with the goodness of God
before they become the focus of the judgment of God.[1]
—————————more tomorrow————————
The MT4Christ247 audio podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Amazon, Spotify, iHeartradio, Podbean, Audible, and many more podcast platforms!
Subscribe to The MT4Christ247 Channel on YouTube!
Email me at m.t.clark@mt4christ.com with any questions, or comments, or to inquire about our Christian Life Coaching or Prayer Ministry Services.
“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).
Leave a Reply