Coaching Through Trials – Purity 1716
Purity 1716 07/22/2025
Purity 1716 on YouTube: Puerity 1716 Audio Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s somewhat blurry photo of the sun setting over the Hudson River and on the horizon of the Catskill Mountains comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this serene scene on social media back on May 31st, 2022. If this memory is yours let me know and I will photo credit you on the blog after the fact.
Well, it’s Tuesday and even though I am not sure of which friend shared today’s photo, I know that view and I am fairly sure that like me the photograph probably grew up in Columbia or Greene County area like myself and thus we would have that in common and be able to talk and share our experiences with life in our little place in upstate New York. In our discussions, we would probably be able to relate to how we not only know some of the same places in common but have some of the same friends or acquaintances in common as well. That’s what we do what we meet someone new. We talk and find out what we have in common.
In role as a Christian Life Coach, people come to me for encouragement, accountability, and coaching with the hopes that I know the Lord and it is my hope as the coach that they know Him to. Tonight, I have a meeting with a perspective client who I don’t really know very well at all, who is looking to process some of the situations of his life and to receive specifically Christian guidance to help resolve his personal and spiritual conflicts, presumably with coaching and prayer. He had contacted me months ago, but I didn’t hear back from him until yesterday as he must have been reviewing my website and decided that I could possibly help him, and so he scheduled an initial consultation for coaching. (https://book.titan.email/mt4christ/intro/dateTimeSelection)
I’m looking forward to the opportunity to discuss the possibilities but ultimately will be encouraging them to reconnect with the person we both, presumably, have in common – the Lord. I might have to remind my perspective client about how good God is and may have to assure them that the Lord will help them – but that’s what I do – I point and guide people to the Lord to receive His wisdom, guidance, healing, and peace. In this world of trials and tribulations, its easy forget that God is with us and so I offer my services as a coach to help clients to remember or to perhaps learn for the first time just how much the Lord loves them and is willing to help them.
Speaking of trials, today’s In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotion talks about how God uses trials for our good and I am sharing it on the blog to encourage us to turn to the Lord at all times to find His goodness, mercy, and grace. Dr. Charles Stanley writes:
“Our Trials: Allowed by God
The Lord never permits hardship unless He has a beautiful purpose.
1 Peter 1:3-9
Some people have the wrong idea about the Christian life. Once they become believers, they expect everything to be smooth sailing. Yet Jesus made it clear that troubles are inevitable, even for God’s children (John 16:33). His own life was no exception.
So, even as His followers, we can expect difficulty, though the causes of tribulation differ with each circumstance. Some problems arise from the fallen nature of the world, while others result from ignorance, sin, or poor decisions. There’s also another possibility—sometimes God Himself allows trials. While this last option is hard to accept during painful times, we should remember the Lord never permits hardship unless He has a beautiful purpose for it. And He promises to give us strength to endure.
That’s why, when we encounter struggles, it’s important for us to keep in mind that they can be for our benefit. Perhaps they are intended to purify and grow us. Maybe God’s purpose is to test our endurance and devotion, strengthening our trust. Or He might be revealing His sustaining power. This side of heaven, we may never know the cause, but we can trust the Lord’s character and ability to deliver us.
What trials are you facing? Jesus understands your pain and longs to be the One you cling to in both good times and bad.” – Charles Stanley
Amen. Part of the serenity prayer says, “Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace.” And so, it is. When the Lord calls us to walk away from the darkness of our past (or current) behaviors, He invites us on a journey to find His peace and the new life He has for us, but the invitation doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be easy.
Turning to God and His ways for living is definitely the right decision but having your life transformed may be a battle that will test your strength and resilience.
So, when you encounter trials in this life understand that they are best navigated through with the understanding that ultimately, they will be for your good as you will grow in knowledge, strength, and experience for going through them.
God takes all things and uses them to bring us closer to Him and to shape us into the people He made us to be.
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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 Overcoming Sin – Changing.
Romans 8:1–14
Romans 8:13–14 (NASB) For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Today’s verses are the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the third point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Overcoming Sin – Changing.
3. All Christians are called to live by the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us and empowers us to overcome sin and lead a godly life.
Today’s Bible verses talk about the reality of our need to die to flesh if we want to truly experience the benefits of being sons of God.
If we want the benefits of the Lord’s presence, power, love, and peace, we need to approach the Lord spiritually – we need to seek His spiritual knowledge and to apply it to our lives. That means that we need to “seek the Lord” through His word and prayer. We first need to know what it means to know and follow God and then we actually have to spend the time and effort to do that.
This process of seeking the Lord means that something has to go – we have to die from our old ways of doing things and repent of pasts by turning to the Lord to help us to live out our new lives in the Spirit. We need to put away the “deeds of the body” – sexual immorality, drunkenness, sloth, and gluttony – and start living a pure, holy, and self-controlled life.
Of course, we will only have success in this if we surrender to God and live according to the Holy Spirit in us – the one who will lead us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is in us, so listen to His voice and follow His lead.
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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 215
The lord commended the dishonest steward because of his shrewd action.
Luke 16:8
Do you have difficulty in understanding how Jesus could tell a parable suggesting such a thing? This steward was corrupt. He cheated his master out of a great deal of revenue. Surely, He wasn’t encouraging us to cheat, was He? Of course not. But He was making it clear that believers ought to become more discerning about, and apt to deal with, life—and especially with the way that we look forward to heaven. How you spend your money is a chief area in which you ought to become extremely wise. Jesus says that unbelievers are often more so than Christians. “The sons of this age are more shrewd with people of their own kind than are the sons of light” (v. 8b). This ought not be so. In particular, Jesus tells us to shrewdly make friends with our earthly money so that these friends that have been won, or otherwise blessed with it, will greet us when we go to heaven. Do you use your mammon to win the lost? Good for you if you do.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 223.
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