Seasonal Transitions and Experiencing God’s Love- Purity 1749
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of evenly spaced pines and deciduous trees on the shores of small pond comes to us from an unknown FB friend who shared this simple yet beautiful scene on social media back on November 7th, 2021. If this memory is your let me know and I will photo credit you on the blog after the fact.
Well, It’s Saturday of Labor Day weekend even though autumn is still a few weeks away, I thought I’d share this scene from November ‘21, because the temperatures in the mornings here in upstate NY have been cooler and with school starting this week I feel like Fall is already here.
I love this Labor Day weekend in upstate because we often get to experience a little bit of both the summer and autumn and it the transition of “back to school” reminds me of all the years of my life and how it has transitioned from me going to school and college to watching my kids go through it, and beyond. The institutes of formal education really define a great deal of the order of our society, and its seasons form the settings of our lives and even after we graduate and leave our school days behind, we are never truly free from impact and the call to keep learning.
Similarly, the institutions of the church give us order, and its seasons help to mark the times and seasons of our lives and, when done correctly, continually calls us to learn more about God.
As much as we can spend countless hours studying the Bible or learning about the history of the church, the best lessons we can learn about God are those that inform our hearts about His grace, mercy and love.
Speaking of the love of the Lord, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanely devotion for today invites us to experience the love of God and I am sharing it on the blog to share its warnings about what can stifle our abilities to receive what the Lord so desperately wants us to know. Dr. Charles Stanely writes:
“Experiencing God’s Love
God’s love is offered to everyone without condition, but we have to accept it.
Ephesians 3:14-19
In today’s passage, Paul prays that the Ephesians will grasp the depth of Christ’s love. Though it is beyond human comprehension, the apostle says God will give spiritual understanding so we can experience Him more fully. But there are things that keep us from understanding and resting in His love. For example …
- We think God’s acceptance is like ours, imperfect and conditional. The Bible tells us God’s compassion comes from His character and isn’t dependent upon our morality, choices, or thoughts. (See Romans 5:8.)
- We often experience guilt when we recognize our sin. Sometimes this leads to feeling unworthy of the Father’s love. However, His love and forgiveness are greater than any sin. He promises that there is no condemnation for His followers (Romans 8:1).
- We fall into the trap of legalism. This makes a person feel he or she must earn God’s favor. It also contradicts the truth that our Father loves His children without condition.
- We struggle to reconcile God’s love and discipline. Though we likely don’t enjoy His correction, it flows from compassion.
Recognizing God’s love will bring peace and joy. May we let the Father’s love motivate us to walk in a holy and obedient manner before Him!” – Charles Stanley
Amen. It’s my prayer that anyone reading or hearing this message, myself-included, would take Stanley’s points regarding the love of God to heart and to let God’s love change the way you think and live.
The first point – God’s love for us isn’t dependent on our performance and isn’t going to be taken away from us because it’s based on his character, not ours- should give us peace as God’s love is THE CONSTANT in our lives that we can always count on.
But if we believe the lie that God is mad at us, tired of our failures, and is just waiting for one more screw up to drop us, we will fail to receive God’s love and the peace and power that it has.
This is sort of huge because our misconception on this one-point flows to create the problems of the other points.
Not understanding God’s unchanging unconditional love for us can make us feel that we are not worthy of it, cause us to make us believe that we have to earn God’s love or favor, or that His convicting us to change comes from His displeasure rather than His love, that doesn’t want to see us suffer in sin.
Understanding that we are not condemned for our failures and that nothing can separate us from God’s love for us gives us peace and joy and motivates us to draw close to God’s presence and to maintain our harmony with the Lord by following His ways for living.
So, stop beating yourself up and stop trying to earn what you already have and what you can never lose. God has revealed His love for you through Jesus Christ and He wants you to live in the joy and power of His love every day.
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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 verse comes from the section on Peace – Rest.
Psalm 85:8 (NKJV) I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.
Today’s verse falls under the seventh point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Peace – Rest.
7. God promises peace to his people.
Today’s Bible verse reminds us that God speaks to us and that the message we are to receive is one of peace and love that will guide us to follow His righteous ways.
I like what the psalmist does here in creating an expectation that God does and will speak to us and that when we hear His voice, we will be at peace and motivated to not return to our folly – which could be misunderstanding the nature of God’s love or acting in ways that cause us to fail to receive it.
So, seek to have a conversational relationship with the Lord, where you trust in His presence and love and will listen when He speaks.
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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 248
Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that day. – Luke 23:12
What a sad way to establish a friendship—two enemies becoming friends through this despicable act which united them! The same thing goes on today, as people make common cause in jointly pursuing some illicit goal—money, power, and so on. Businessmen, gossiping neighbors, crooks of all sorts (even religious leaders) sometimes get together to do evil. Such people, no matter how sophisticated, no matter how wealthy, no matter how religious, are no better than a gang of thieves who band together to carry on their nefarious purposes. Have you found yourself drawn to alliances with others whose motives or methods you would otherwise recognize as wrong? Take warning, consider your own motives and methods and, if necessary, repent.
He who walks with wise persons will become wise, but an associate of stubborn fools will become evil. – Proverbs 13:20[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 256.
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