New Year’s Revolution – Giving Up Lies – Purity 1545
Purity 1545 01/02/2025 Purity 1545 Audio Podcast
Purity 1545 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a tree limb railing leading us down a stone step pathway as the sun shines over Franklin Pond and through the trees to reach us comes to us from yours truly as I pause to capture this scene on the afternoon of December 31st, 2024.
Well, It’s January 2nd and while it may be “back to life, back to reality” for me as I return to my secular day job today, I am also taking a step in a new direction as I am surrendering to God and entering into an extended time of prayer as I begin the first full day of my new year’s revolution.
Yes, I said revolution because I don’t expect the road ahead to be an easy one of peaceful resolutions as much as it will be a hard fought battle of the mind, spirit, and will as I seek to gain back what was lost (my sanity – or call it “my clarity of purpose”) and to give up the thing that keeps me from accomplishing the levels of peace, health, and freedom that I long for. So what am I giving up? Well, to paraphase and reflect that strange iconic moment in 1994’s “The Professional” when Gary Oldman’s character realized that he was in over his head and screamed to bring him “EVERYONE!!!” – similarly I’m giving up everything.
What do you mean “everything”? “EVERYTHING!!!!”
Sorry, I think cinematically at times and tend to be a little dramatic. But seriously, while giving up everything may be a little too vague or may be too much to bite off, let alone chew, I’ll be more specific and run the risk of being more vague. I’m giving up lies.
Giving up lies? Yeah, lies – I’m entering into an extended time of prayer and spiritual formation in which I seek to live according to the Truth – God’s Word – Jesus Christ – and so I am going to attempt to actively take all my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. I will seek to reject my subtle forms self-deception, the deceptive philosophies of the world, and any lies from the spiritual forces of darkness as well. I’m giving up lies and am going to attempt to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So in my campaign against lies, I will be studying the truth of God’s word and attempt to follow its wisdom, but I am also going to give up those “little” hurts, habits, and hang-ups that believing the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil have brought into my life. I want a clean slate so while I am blessed to be starting from a place of maintained freedom in victory from battle campaigns in the past, I will be declaring total war on things that have remained and grown in strength during in 2024. If we don’t eradicate our enemies, they wait, grow stronger, and return and they way they do it is through lies.
I am somewhat well versed in the lies of the enemy and those of self-deception, in theory anyway, – I even did series on them with the podcast in the past (See the MT4Christ247 Playlist Page to check them out.) but it is one thing to know how we can be lied to it is another to reject those lies and to keep their deceptive influence out of our lives.
So that will be our focus today and going forward – to live by truth and to add or remove those “habits” that will help us to be a man after God’s heart.
Speaking of being a man after God’s heart – that is the topic of today’s In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion, and we are sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to ask ourselves the questions that could begin a movement toward freedom, peace and joy. Charles Stanley writes:
“A Man After God’s Own Heart
Ask God to give you the desire to move ever closer to Him.
Have you ever seen a gravestone with a poignant epitaph of the person buried there? Perhaps it read “Devoted Mother” or “Beloved Friend.” What would you want etched on your tombstone? What epitaph would summarize your life?
In the book of Acts, we discover how history remembered King David. In a sermon presented to a primarily Jewish group, the apostle Paul made reference to David, who was well known to the audience. Remembering all of the king’s great accomplishments during his reign, how did Paul choose to describe him? He declared that God called David “a man after My own heart” (13:22 NKJV).
What does it mean to be a person after God’s own heart? For David, it required an intimate relationship with the Lord (Psalm 63:1; Psalms 63:6-8). This entails more than a regular routine of rote prayers and church attendance. Rather, such intimacy is founded upon a desire to grow closer to the Father (Psalm 42:1).
What would it take for you to be described as a someone after God’s own heart? Which activities would need to be removed from your life? What would need to be added? Ask God for His help in making these adjustments—and for the commitment to make this epitaph the goal of your life.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. Spiritual Formation, recovery, or discipleship is all about restoration and combing back into alignment with God’s plan for our lives – to become the people God created us to be.
As we aged we were taught or learned on our own many things that may have “worked” to get us through life but Jesus came to show the truth about life and to give us a different way of living that leads to peace and joy. His way is the narrow road that lead to life and life more abundantly.
As we really begin to walk into the new year, ask yourself the questions that Stanley suggests to determine what you would have to add or take away from your life to be show your desire to be closer to our Father and to be considered “someone after God’s heart”.
Ask God to reveal what He has for you to do this year, and take a step in that direction today.
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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).
Matthew 20:25–28 (ESV) But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Today’s verses fall under the fourth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Humility (Pride).
4. He did so again at another time when they were revealing the same sinful pride.
Today’s Bible verses remind us that Jesus didn’t flaunt his authority over his disciples and instead served others to show his greatness was rooted not in power but in love.
When we focus on what we can do or what we want, we run the risk of forgetting who we are supposed to represent. We are not looking to be a new improved version of ourselves. We are supposed to be following Jesus to be more like Him. Jesus was humble, loving and strong in ways that are different from the world and it is His example of sacrificing love and service that we are to follow. So be humble by reading the word of God and seeing how far we fall short of perfection, and then rejoice because God accepts us because our faith in Jesus and we need only follow Him to know we are on the right path.
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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 44
They went out on behalf of the Name, taking nothing from the Gentiles.
3 John 7
Missionaries, when walking in the truth, never take anything from the unsaved. They have something to give—and it’s free! They must not create a wrong impression about Christ’s Name by seeming to be “out to get something.” So, in order to serve freely, they must be supported by the church. The way to support them is to treat them as if they were God Himself (v. 6). The false notion that worn out clothes, threadbare carpets, and chipped cups are good enough for missionaries must be exploded. There must be no such “missionary barrel” for missionaries! They ought to be provided with the finest of what they need to carry on their work. Somehow, a wrong spirit prevails among many believers who think that their cast-offs are “good enough.” Are you among those who think so? Read verse 6 again: “You will do well to send them forward on their trip in a manner that is worthy of God.” Missionaries must be treated “in a manner that is worthy of God!” How would you treat God were He your guest? Pray for, but also give generously to the work of missionaries who walk in the truth.[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), 52.
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