God Given Relationships and Our Personal Accountability – Purity 1504
Purity 1504 11/15/2024 Purity 1504 Audio Podcast
Purity 1504 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a solitary palm tree in fading light of day in the land down under comes to us from Dave Baun Photography who share this scene on social media on or around September 3rd, 2023. To check out Dave’s photographic work go to https://davebaunphotography.com.au/ or follow Dave on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DaveBaunPhotography by following the link on the blog today.
Well, It’s Friday and I share Dave’s photo today to welcome us to the last day of the work week and what I hope will be an oasis of the weekend. I’ve never met Dave in person, but I made his acquaintance through social media and have his permission to share his work. His photography gives glory to God and so I share it for that purpose and to support Dave as well. Dave and my relationship is a very simple one but I appreciate it because it gives me joy to share his work and it is just one of many relationships I have made along the path of Christian discipleship that I never would have experienced if it weren’t for God.
Similarly, before coming to faith in Jesus Christ, I never, ever, ever would have thought that I would one day become a Christian Life Couch As a Christian Life Coach, I really just offer men a relationship with me – a relationship where I will pray for you, encourage you, advise you, educate you, and keep you accountable to pursue your life goals in the context of a Chrisitan lifestyle. My clients and I just do this thing called “the Christian life” together and I often find myself receiving as much as I give in the relationship. Our relationship, however, does have the expectation that my clients will be honest with me and that they will be accountable to at least try to “walk in the Spirit” – by using their faith and relationship with the Lord as the context and catalyst for their journey through life.
Today’s In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion addresses our personal accountability and I am sharing it on the blog today to assure us all that accountability relationships are indeed biblical and should be a part of our Christian lives. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“Our Personal Accountability
Ask the Lord to help you find a godly friend who will love, encourage, and challenge you.
Being involved in an accountability relationship is one of life’s greatest gifts. Consider some of the excellent examples from Scripture: Jesus is accountable to the Father (John 8:28-29), the church is subject to Christ (Ephesians 5:24), and Paul felt beholden to the church at Antioch (Acts 14:27). When we have someone with whom we can share our failures, weaknesses, successes, and longings, we benefit in several important ways.
For one thing, accountability helps us develop a sense of responsibility. It also promotes integrity and protects us from making poor decisions. What’s more, learning to examine ourselves keeps us honest and humble.
Because an accountability partner can see our weaknesses, he or she is in a good position to offer counsel, encouragement, or a loving rebuke. To choose the right person, we must look for a Spirit-filled believer who will offer godly wisdom. Also, we want to be accountable to a person who accepts and loves us just as we are but who also possesses the courage to confront us.
So, where will you find such a person? Possibly in the pew at church or among your friend group. Begin to pray today for an accountability partner, and ask God to help you become one yourself.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. AA founders used Christian principles of confession, fellowship, and accountability to develop the 12 step model to help people overcome their struggles. While they understood the importance of having someone to talk to and to be accountable to, the first steps in the model (2 & 3) demand that you believe in “a higher power” and make the decision to turn your will and your life “over to God”.
So that’s the first thing – surrender to God’s will and care for your life. I stress that because God is the One who transforms us. But we are not called to go through life alone. God wants us in relationships with other people. God wants us to be vulnerable and to trust someone else with our secrets and confessions. God knows it is not good for man to be alone so we shouldn’t be.
That means marriage for some. But in terms of recovery or discipleship – men are to be spiritual leaders of the home and our “weaker vessels” are not always the best choice for an accountability partner. Their love for us and their own weaknesses may cause our honest confessions to be a burden that they can’t carry and the struggle of our efforts to change may cause disruption to the peace between man and wife. So let’s NOT do that.
Thus we look for another CHRISTIAN man or men to be accountable to, and likewise Chrisitan women need to be accountable to other Christian women – let’s not fall into the temptation by starting an intimate relationship (accountability is very intimate) with someone of the opposite sex.
Christians need the fellowship of one another and accountability relationships meet that need for friendship and for assistance. We need to speak and act on our intentions to be changed and to be authentic in our commitment to pursue our freedom.
So let me encourage you to trust in another brother or sister in Christ to be in an accountability partner relationship with you to help you to take on the things that the Lord has put on your heart to change.
God has given us the gift of one another in the body of Christ but unless we step out in faith and utilize the gift of one another that He has given us, we won’t fully receive the blessings He has for us.
So go to the Lord in prayer and talk about it. Ask Him to help you to decide what battle you need to fight, and what brother or sister in Christ you should trust to approach and to ask to enter the fray with you.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. We all need each other if we want to be the person that God created us to be and to have some company on our journey through life as we keep on walking and talking with Him.
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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 come from the section on Giving.
Proverbs 19:17 (NKJV)
17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.
Today’s verse is the second of five passages of scripture that fall under the eighth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Giving.
8. God requires us to be merciful and give to the poor.
Today’s Bible verse us to consider our giving to the poor to be a “loan to God’ and to rest assured that whatever we give will be paid back with His blessings.
Again, we are not trying to encourage “giving to get” but the truth is that when we practice generosity we often receive more than give. When we give we become more like our heavenly Father and that alone should be enough to convince us to be generous with what God has provided us with.
So give of your time, treasure, and service to others because we reap where we sow and the more “seeds we plant” the more the potential we have to reap a harvest of blessings from the Lord.
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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 begin sharing from “Day By Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Easley’s books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 3
I persecuted this Way to the death, binding both men and women.
Acts 22:4
Former persecutor of the Way, Paul became its staunchest advocate, traveling throughout the Roman world to propagate the faith. He endured trials far beyond those that most of us will ever bear. But before his conversion, many suffered from his brutal attacks upon them. The suffering and endurance of the saints throughout the ages is legendary. Indeed, the Apostle himself said that all who would live godly lives “will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). This kind of persecution has not yet come to America. (Does that mean we are not as godly as we ought to be?) However, the day when it shall come may be drawing nearer. Whenever the Way is persecuted, the unfaithful fall away and the persecutor focuses upon the godly. God has not promised that people of the Way will be free from pain, suffering, and death. But He has promised grace to withstand every trial. Are you prepared to do so? Strong faith comes through the study and appropriation of God’s truth in the Bible. Now is the time to prepare for what may soon become the inevitable.[1]
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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 11–12.
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