Belief – The Key to Personal Revival – Purity 1566
Purity 1566 01/27/2025 Purity 1566 Audio Podcast
Purity 1566 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of my canine pal, Harley, surveying the snow covered expanses of the cornfield just off of Waite Rd in Easton NY comes to us from yours truly as I captured this tranquil scene back on December 27th 2024.
Well, It’s Monday and it’s been a month since, I captured this scene on Waite Road and as much as I am happy to report that I have had experienced progress in the realm of my physical health since then I am also going to keep it real by reporting that even in the midst of great progress we can discover that there is more room for improvement as some patterns of thinking and behaving are difficult to be free of.
Luckily, I can recognize when some of my old patterns re-emerge that cause me to do the things that I want to do anymore – like comfort eating, which seems to manifest when I am either bored or when I start to think and feel negatively about myself or the situations in my life. It’s an illogical response, of course, eating excessively will not actually make me feel better or resolve the issues at hand and giving into the temptation to eat mindlessly only results in more negative thoughts and emotions which in itself can create a viscous cycle of automatic behavior that feeds itself until it drives us to despair and seeking help from the Lord and the wise counsel of other Christians shared their inisights on the human condition before and how our faith holds the key for our freedom and our ability to experience personal revival.
Dr. Neil Anderson’s work in Victory over the Darkness emphasizes how beliefs about ourselves drives not only our perception of who we are but can influence who we behave and whether or not we can live the life God wants for us. Anderson writes:
“Understanding your identity in Christ is essential for living the Christian life. People cannot consistently behave in ways that are inconsistent with the way they perceive themselves. You don’t change yourself by your perception. You change your perception of yourself by believing the truth. If you perceive yourself wrongly, you will live wrongly because what you are believing is not true. If you think you are a no-good bum, you will probably live like a no-good bum. If, however, you see yourself as a child of God who is spiritually alive in Christ, you will begin to live accordingly. Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are is by far the most important truth you can possess.
The major strategy of Satan is to distort the character of God and the truth of who we are. He can’t change God and he can’t do anything to change our identity and position in Christ. If, however, he can get us to believe a lie, we will live as though our identity in Christ isn’t true[1]” (Anderson, 2000).
So, we have to know who we are in Christ and we have to be diligent in renouncing the lies of the enemy that would lead us into temptation and cause our sense of identity and peace to be shaken. We have to let the word of God inform our thoughts and to guide our life. God’s word and agreeing with it’s truth can launch us into personal revival.
Speaking of revival, the Turing Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses the topic and I am sharing it on the blog to encourage us to let the word of God and the Spirit of God to light a fire of revival in our hearts. Dr. David Jeremiah writes:
WHERE REVIVAL BEGINS
Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him. – 2 Kings 23:25
Josiah was crowned king of Judah at age eight. When he was twenty years old, he began instituting spiritual and religious reforms in Judah. Why? Because workers in the temple found a copy of the Book of the Law which had been ignored (2 Kings 22).
Josiah called the people together and read the words of the covenant of God with Israel and called on the people to renew their obedience. He set about to remove all the centers of idol worship in the land and removed the priests who had served false gods (2 Kings 23). When Josiah was 26 years old, he declared that Passover should be celebrated, a feast that had been ignored for years. No king before or after Josiah did as much to revive faithfulness to God in Judah. And it all began with the discovery and application of the Word of God.
Whether a nation or an individual—revival begins with reading and applying the Word of God.” – David Jeremiah
It may be said that revivals thrive on the Word and the Word is exalted in revivals.
Arthur Skevington Wood
Amen. As we seek to “have a happy new year” each new year, we often walk into January with the best intentions of making positive changes in our lives.
New diets, work out routines, or developing new habits are considered and attempted to be implemented. However, only a very small percent of New Year’s resolutions ever turn into lasting change. Why?
There can be several reasons I suppose but I believe that the problem most of us run into has to do with changing what we believe and how the ways we think are deeply ingrained. Our old programming has to be replaced on a deep and fundamental level for new life to begin.
In terms of adopting new beliefs – logic and reason can cause us to wake up but unless we allow our new knowledge to inform our hearts, our attempts at change may be short lived as we revert back to the thoughts and patterns of “what we really believe” about life and about ourselves.
That is why as Christians, we want to go to the word of God for wisdom and to rely on God to help us to live new lives.
Just like Josiah, we can experience a personal revival when we seek to lean on the Lord and to do what’s right according to Him.
With our faith as our basis for our identities and with God as our constant companion, we can be empowered to have a revival in our lives. When we make a change as an expression of our faith and our relationship with the Lord, we can overcome the habits of old and truly live a new life, although we may have to “renew our minds” on a continually basis to “keep on believing” and living according to Christ’s way.
So don’t be discouraged about the failures of the past, instead live a new way of life based on the truth and righteousness of scripture and aided by the power of God in us. When we trust in God and His wordm and abide in His presence, revival can come pouring into our lives and help us to experience more of the abundant life that Christ came to give us.
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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).
Luke 18:9–14 (the parable of the proud, self-righteous Pharisee and the humble tax collector)
Luke 18:14 (NASB) I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Today’s verses fall under the eighteenth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Humility (Pride).
19. The proud, unrepentant, self-righteous person will not be forgiven by God. Only those who humbly confess their sins and seek forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
Today’s Bible verse tells us about what is really important to God when it comes to our justification – the humility to know that we are spiritually poor and in desperate need of forgiveness.
The Pharisee listed his good deeds and expected to be exalted but they weren’t. The tax collector could only hope for mercy and God’s grace and because he earnestly and humbly sought the Lord, he received it.
God is the one who forgives and He is not impressed with our personal righteousness, He is moved by our repentance and reliance on Him and it is by His mercy and grace alone that those who turn to Him can ever be accepted and exalted in His kingdom.
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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 65
Good sense wins favor, but the way of transgressors is hard.
Proverbs 13:15a
Good sense wins favor both with men and with God. Transgression, on the other hand, wins disfavor, thus making one’s way difficult. Where does good sense come from? From minds marinated in Scripture. Daily we soak up ideas, attitudes, and concepts from the sinful world in which we live. Mostly, we are unaware that it is happening. It is only when we soak our minds in God’s truth that we become savvy enough to detect and replace these adverse influences. In your unconscious activities day by day, you act according to your mind’s set. When your mind is filled with Scripture, then you will learn to act differently. You will learn to exercise good sense only when your mind is saturated with God’s truth. So, what should you do? Obviously, acquire and use the truth. Replace error and transgression with truth and holiness. This means time alone, spent studying (not merely reading) God’s Word. Good sense is making decisions that accord with His Word.[2]
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[1] Neil T. Anderson, Victory over the Darkness, ed. Virginia Woodard, Second Edition (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2000), 47.
[2] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 73.
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