The Nightmare After Christmas – & Out with the Old – Purity 1541
Purity 1541 12/28/2024 Purity 1541 AUdio Podcast
Purity 1541 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun shining through a forest clearing covered in snow comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene yesterday afternoon as I walked toward the farmland clearing on Wate Rd.
Well, It’s Saturday and although I awoke to more notifications telling me that the hacking activity on my FB account had resumed while I slept, I say good morning because I have done what I can to resolve it and am leaving the rest up to God.
I have actually chatted with a person at MetaSupport who is passing my complaint to the hacking specialists to resolve the issue, I disabled the payment method that I couldn’t remove yesterday, and I reached out to both Paypal and my bank to report all the fraudulent charges made against my account since Christmas Day. I also was able to possibly get a glimpse of who my hackers are as a pair of FB accounts came up when I investigated the latest activity. They may be alias accounts so I won’t name my hacking attackers publicly but I blocked them and will be sharing the information with Meta support team when they get back to me.
As disturbing as this hacking has been, I have done all I can for right now and am going to let it go.
Speaking of letting it go, boy am I ready to make some new year’s resolutions! I have been walking in the flesh more than walking in the Spirit lately and look forward to repenting of my latest indulgences in the realm of mindless eating. I am looking to start my new year’s resolutions early by beginning today. I will keep track of what I eat and say no to the things that I know are not good for me, even if they taste good! Its never too late to start again and I have a certain level of peace knowing the God is faithful to help those who ask. So I’m asking and ready to say “out with the Old”.
The Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah is entitled “Out with the Old” today so even though it didn’t inspire my turn toward repentance, it certainly encourages me. So, I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage anyone else out there who may need to hear it. David Jeremiah writes:
“Out with the Old
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43:18-19, NIV
The turning of the year reminds us time is fleeting, the past is unalterable, the future is uncertain, and our God is unchanging!
We can say, “Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness during all this dying year. There were good days and bad ones, but there were no days without Your constant grace and care. My mistakes and sins are covered with the blood. My victories are committed to You. Now, help me to anticipate the new graces before me—the blessings, the guidance, the opportunities, the promises. May I perceive Your ways. May I foresee by faith Your path forward and the springs You will give me in the desert.”
You can record that prayer as your own, or you can write out a prayer in your own words. There’s not a better plan than recording your thoughts in the form of a prayer as the old goes out and the new comes in.” – David Jeremiah
“Another year is dawning! Dear Father, let it be, in working or in waiting another year with Thee.” – Frances Ridley Havergal
Amen. 2024 has been a great year in many ways. I am proud of the ways I sought the Lord and tried to do His will by serving others, but I am also humbled by the many ways I was shown that I still need God’s help that brings me to a point of repentance as this year comes to an end.
For all the steps forward I believe I have made in doing God’s will, I know that in many ways I may have stepped off of His path by trying to do things my way or by living in the flesh rather than in the Spirit.
And so I rejoice over what I may have gotten right but I am now ready to repent in dust and ashes over the ways I may have drifted off course and am ready to surrender to the Lord and to ask Him to help and guide me in the year ahead.
God’s mercies are new every day and I choose to recommit myself to Him and His ways more completely today.
I want to congratulate you for making it through 2024 the way you did.
The people getting this text, or hearing this message, I believe, have grown a lot and although we all may have some regrets and could have done things better, I believe the Lord has seen us trying and is encouraging us all to remain faithful to follow Him into the new year with joyful anticipation over the possibilities of what He will do in our lives this year.
So let’s rejoice, take a rest if you need it, and then dust ourselves off and rise and walk into the new year with the faith that understands that God is with us and will lead us to where He wants us to go, as long as we keep on walking and talking with Him.
Have a great weekend. God bless you.
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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 verses come from the section on Humility (Pride).
1 Peter 5:5–6 (NKJV) Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.
Today’s verses are the fifth of five passages of scripture that fall under the first point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Humility (Pride).
1. Humility is a virtue most pleasing to God. Pride is a grievous sin in his sight.
Today’s Bible verses encourage us to be submissive to one another because God knows that when we put our own needs above others we can easily be operating out of the worldly ways of pride, rather than the humble ways of Jesus.
Jesus’ way of self-sacrifice and serving others is our example to follow and even though putting others before ourselves and serving others first cuts against the grain of everything we may have ever been taught, we should trust that God is leading us in the right direction when He tells us to follow Jesus.
While I need a lot of work in this area, I have to admit that I have experienced growth and real peace when I decided to let go of my selfish needs or preferences and instead decided to try to meet other people’s needs. When we stop worrying about our needs being met, we can relax and we usually get discover that our “needs” were more like wants and our Heavenly Father actually gives us everything we do need.
His ways lead to peace but we must act on what God is directing us to do to experience it. So trust the Lord by being submissive to others and to love them with your humble kindness and service.
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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 “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 Adams’ 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 40
… walk in the same way that He walked. – 1 John 2:6
If you say, “I remain with Him,” then demonstrate it. This is more than an obligation. It is a privilege. By learning how the Lord lived His life, you may learn to walk as He walked. But how can you expect to do so, if you don’t know the Bible’s teaching about His life? It is sheer nonsense to claim to walk as He did when you don’t know how He walked. Moreover, all He did outwardly came from the light that was within Him. The Pharisees looked good outwardly, but were full of darkness within. To walk as He walked is to walk by the Spirit, as we have seen. It is He alone Who opens the meaning of the Scriptures to us so that we can understand what walking in the Light means. It is also He Who enables us to so walk. If you ask the Father for the help of the Spirit, He will not give you a scorpion. Rather, He is ever more willing to give than you are to receive. “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:11–13). Do not hesitate to ask today; He is on the path to fellowship (which means, literally, “to partner”) with you.[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), 48.
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