Lost! & Finding the Will of God – Purity 1668
Purity 1668 05/27/2025 Purity 1668 Audio Podcast
Purity 1668 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the rise of an unknown trail disappearing into a sea of green trees comes to us from yours truly as this was the last photo I took before my phone died Sunday afternoon while going down a trail that turned out to be the wrong path.
Well, it’s Tuesday, and while I am thankful that a shifted work tour gives me the day off from my secular day job today, I’m more thankful that God is with me and has always been with me even at times in my life when I was lost.
Sunday’s afternoon’s hike of a circuit of Merck Forest trails, to Antone Mountain and back to our cabin in the woods, turned out to be more ambitious and challenging than my wife and I expected, as we both assumed that a large downward facing road like path, was the Merck Forest Center’s “Masters Mountain Trail” when in fact it was an unnamed logging trail that eventually led to the dead end “Town Highway 22” portion of Lang Road, which a far cry from where we were supposed to be heading. The unknown, unmarked trail – now to be known as the “Antone Mountain – Town Highway 22 Bypass” took us miles off course and eventually caused us to create a bypass of our own making as we bushwacked our way through the Vermont mountain side foliage at one point until we were able to finally intersect into our intended pathway, Masters Mountain Trail, that of course, was clearly marked, at various points and led us back to other clearly marked pathways that eventually led us back to our cabin, 10.2 miles, and several hours later.
While I am not so prideful to say I wasn’t lost, even at the point when houses at the end of “Town Highway 22” told me I was, I knew there were two ways to go – back up the mountain mudslide path to Mount Antone (I knew where up went ) or down to the civilization before me to ashamedly admit that I got lost and needed help getting back to Merck. If I was alone, I suppose I would have chosen one of those two options, but my wife was with me and TammyLyn’s phone, which didn’t die, had the “All trails” app that was functioning enough to give her hope of taking yet another “unmarked and unnamed trail” back up the mountain in the general direction of the Masters Mountain Trail that we were supposed to be on. So, trusting in TammyLyn and her All Trails App’ guidance, we were successful in making our way back “home”.
As I said, for the most part of our harrowing journey, we were on trails named, marked, or otherwise, but Sunday’s lesson taught me that not all trails are equal, and not all trails lead you in the way you should go.
Similarly, the Lord has a plan for each of our lives and even though none of us will follow it perfectly, if we are humble enough to accept His guidance, we will be blessed by the wisdom and security of following His will for our lives.
Speaking of finding the way of God’s will for our lives. Sunday’s In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley’s devotion addressed this topic so I am sharing it on the blog today to share Dr. Stanley’s “Six’s C’s of Finding God’s Will”. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“Finding the Will of God
Following the Lord is a wonderful and satisfying adventure.
Discovering God’s will is an ongoing adventure with wonderful rewards. God’s Word is our map, and the Holy Spirit is our guide. He also provides “road signs” as we travel:
- Circumstances. God can communicate through our situations—even negative ones. To discern meaning, we must relate biblical principles to what’s happening, realizing God won’t contradict His Word. Rather, His will always upholds it.
- Counsel. God may direct us through wisdom from others.
- Conscience. Once our “inner alarm system” has been programmed according to scriptural values, we can use it as a resource to determine God’s plan for our life.
- Common Sense. When decisions need to be made quickly, the Spirit helps us make choices that honor God (James 1:5-6).
- Compulsion. Sometimes God gives us compelling desires to see to it that certain things happen. If there’s no contradiction with Scripture and our inner feelings remain strong over time, we should likely move ahead.
- Contentment. God gives peace when we obey Him.
With the Bible as your itinerary, keep watching for the “road signs” God places in your path. The heavenly Father does not want you to miss His perfect will for your life.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. In my encouragements, I often describe the Christian Life as an ongoing adventure where God is present and actively blessing and directing my path through life, but I often wonder if anyone else out there is experiencing their “Christian Life” in the same way.
Because it is absolutely true that God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, personal, faithful, loving, and good – it is not a huge stretch to believe that He is with us, knows our situations, thoughts, and concerns, and is willing, able, and available to help us and to show us the best way to go through life, because He cares for us.
But because of how we were raised to believe we are all alone in this world, and because, let’s face it, sometimes we prayed for help and didn’t get what we asked for, it’s easy to say we believe but to see life, and to walk through life, pretty much like we did before putting our trust in Jesus.
This is an especially easy trap to fall into if we “have always believed” or have “always been a good person”. – because if you have “always believed and “been good” – you may not have actually sought God’s personal presence, love, or guidance and your view of faith is a set of principles similar to the laws of cause and effect.
But walking in the Spirit isn’t necessarily like that, it’s a relationship – it’s a continuous conversation – and it’s a search for God’s presence and guidance.
Stanley breaks down the various aspects of how we can operate to find God’s will expertly, but the thing that must change for us to experience the adventure of our lives in Christ is our view of life and our decision to live in the context of God.
Everyone of Stanley’s “Six C’s of Finding God’s Will” informs us of God’s place in our lives but if we don’t acknowledge or look for His place in the adventure of our lives, we will miss it.
So, open your eyes, hearts, minds, souls, and spirits to see the One that made you and who is trying to help you find your way into the greatest adventure of your life – a life lived according to the Maker’s plans – a life that is good, righteous, and holy.
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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. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verses come from the section on Mixed Marriages.
Deuteronomy 7:3–4 (NLT) You must not intermarry with them [the heathen]. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.
Today’s verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the fourth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Mixed Marriages.
4. God’s people are warned against mixed marriages; unbelievers will lead them to sin.
Today’s Bible verses make God’s stance on “interfaith marriages” pretty clear. He doesn’t like them. His anger will burn against us if we go that way and if we are led astray to worship other “gods” – and stay there – we will discover that we never really knew the Lord because if we did, we would never turn our backs on the One True God.
So, while diversity may be considered the “spice of life” in many areas of life, when it comes to what we worship, diversity that leads us to worship anything other than the Triune God of the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is poison.
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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 167
Whoever hears you hears Me, and whoever rejects you rejects Me. – Luke 10:16
Rejecting Christ is serious business. It is the same as rejecting God, as He said. And He pronounced His woes upon those cities that did so. When you go forth in His Name, announcing the Kingdom, He goes with you. He knows what will happen to you—and to those who reject you. Are you ready to handle rejection—and whatever ostracism or persecution that it may involve? It helps to remember that it is Jesus Who is being rejected when others reject your message. Knowing and remembering that fact is what enabled the seventy to go forth—and to come back rejoicing. Those who go forth will return in joy over those who come to know the Savior Whose kingdom you announce. The cost of ministry and discipleship can be great, but is there anything too great to sacrifice for the One Who gave His life a sacrifice for you? Let your joy over those who are saved be sufficient reward![1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 175.
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