A Hard Turn Towards Repentance & Seeking the Lord – Purity 1805
Purity 1805 11/04/2025 Purity 1805 Audio Podcast
Purity 1805 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of my canine pal, Harley, looking up Waite Road as the sun and clouds decorate the sky with ethereal glory comes to us from yours truly as I captured this tranquil scene this past Sunday morning.
Well, it’s day two of my self-declared “Race to Thanksgiving Weight Loss Challenge” (Weight Loss Goal Poster) , and I wish I could say that day one was a smashing success of diligence and self-control, but it wasn’t. Unfortunately, I tend to go to extremes and in my zeal to rid my pantry of processed foods, I was a little overzealous in my attempts to get rid of them, by eating them. While I’m happy to report that I have almost completely cleared out my stock of “fake foods” – man made vegetarian meat like substitutes, I did so by consuming them. In that tension between “getting rid of things” and “not wasting your money”, I consumed more than I should have and am seeking to be more intentional about the way I go through the remainder of my fake food stock. The truth is that these vegetarian meat replacement foods are not bad in and of themselves when consumed in moderation but as I have thought about it, the whole idea of using replacement foods at all sort of defeats spirit of life change that I am trying to accomplish. To fully repent is to change one’s mind about something after all and if my knowledge and experience deem something to be unhealthy or unhelpful, I shouldn’t look for a healthier alternative to that thing, I should instead turn from it all together. I mean, have I really learned anything about health and my eating habits if am merely feeding my fleshly preferences with some unnatural man-made substance that replaces what I have deemed to be unhealthy?
Dr. Joel Furhman’s book Eat to Live has opened my eyes to the dangers of animal products and processed foods and if I am to agree with its wisdom, I can’t really allow myself to continue to be deceived by ignoring how these man-made products violate the wisdom of what I have learned. So, I’m making a hard turn away from processed foods and I am doing so by cleaning out my freezer and pantry of all man-made processed foods with the intention that “when they are gone, they will be gone for good”. I knew better and compromised the truth but now will seek to really repent and move forward without compromising the truth of what I have learned about nutrition and health.
In John 8:31-32 Jesus said “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jesus sets us free from our sin, our wrong attitudes and actions, and when we discover new things about life, we have to follow our Lord’s advice to let the truth of our new revelations set us free. We can’t keep doing the same old things that we know are wrong. We have to discard the old ways and follow a new way based on the truth of what we have learned. And as we go through life, the journey for truth doesn’t end. We learn little by little – from faith to faith, from glory to glory – and thus we never stop seeking the Lord and the truth that He has to reveal to us.
Speaking of seeking the Lord, the Turning Point with Dr, David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses that topic and I am sharing it on the blog today to encourage us all to continue seeking God’s truth and presence. David Jeremiah writes:
“HIDE-AND-SEEK
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:13
If you think hide-and-seek is a game only for youngsters, think again. Nearly fifteen hundred people in China set the record for the largest game of hide-and-seek in history. Elsewhere in Asia, the Japan Hide-and-Seek Association regularly holds games in interesting locations.
If we truly seek God, we will find Him, for He doesn’t hide from those who long to know Him. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
One of the ways He makes Himself known is through His creation. When we see the majesty of God’s works all around us, it helps us grasp His grandeur. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). Spend some time today in quiet contemplation and prayer, observing the majesty of His creation around you, and give thanks that He gives us the opportunity to seek and find Him.” – David Jeremiah
I sing the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise; that spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies. – Isaac Watts
Amen. When we were children the fun of hide and seek lay in the certainty that even if our friends hid themselves so well that we couldn’t find them, eventually they would come out of hiding and we would be together again. The promise of hide and seek is that we will eventually find the people we are looking for. The game is not called “hide and disappear forever”.
Likewise, even though we are separated from God’s manifest presence currently, He invites us to seek and find Him. We can find Him in His word. We can find Him at sacred places. We can find Him in the love we have in our family and friends. We can even find Him when we are alone in His creation.
As much as we may think that finding Him in His creation means going somewhere out in nature where the beauty of His creation can be appreciated, the truth is that God’s creation is literally everywhere, even indoors.
During my physical recovery, I have been doing physical therapy exercises in my basement and as much as I appreciate my basement – it would be a hard sell to convince someone that it was beautiful. It isn’t.
But during my time down there recently, as I flex various muscles and hold them in tension for 10 to 30 seconds, I was able to shift my focus onto the underlying silence and peace that was in that otherwise dreary place. I was able to drop into the peace of the present moment regardless of my surroundings and realized that I wasn’t alone.
I’m not saying that the manifest presence of the Lord was there in some intense glorious way, but He was there through His creation. Even though I was surrounded by a dwelling that was fashioned from the hard work of the house builders, God’s creation was there all the same through the air that I breathed and the “time and space” that is ever present in God’s created universe. And in that place – really just within God’s time and space – I was able to find peace – brought to me from God.
November is not the prettiest time of year. Autumn is past peak, and winter is coming but even in this time (and at all times really) we can find God in His creation. So, wherever you are, stop for a moment and realize that God has made everything you are experiencing right now and fall into the peace that He has there for you.
I always encourage anyone who will listen to “seek the Lord” because I know that He can be found. So, seek Him and enjoy the fact that He is there to be found and that His presence will never leave you.
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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 Persecution.
Matthew 10:16 (ESV) Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
Today’s verse falls under the fifth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Persecution.
5. In dealing with your persecutors be wise and innocent.
Today’s Bible verse declares the danger of our situation and advises us to be wise in our ministry.
To be among wolves is not a picture of peace. Wolves hunt in packs and surround their prey and devour them by their sheer numbers and thus the Lord warns us that we are surrounded in a hostile environment where at any moment the enemy could influence people to attack us.
So how should we walk through this dangerous world? Jesus directs us to do so with innocence and wisdom. When we are innocent, we are free of any malice or wrongdoing and are less likely to provoke an attack. When we are wise, we accurately assess the surroundings of our circumstances and make wise decisions about where we position ourselves and about what we say and do.
While we are never promised freedom from persecution, the Lord directs us to act in a manner where the love of God is shared and where we are protecting our future ministry by being wise about the choices we make today. So be bold and courageous, but all be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
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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 304
Peter went up on the roof to pray. – Acts 10:9
Roofs were usually reached by an outside staircase. They were flat, secluded, quiet venues where people often slept and prayed. Peter found no seclusion. Instead, he was granted the vision of a tarp containing a variety of unclean animals that he was ordered to kill and eat. He refused three times. Finally, God told Peter that what He cleansed, no one must consider unclean. Some people misuse the dietary laws of the Old Testament to regulate the eating habits of Christians. But the words are plain—there were to be no restrictions upon food. The rest of the chapter shows that God was addressing (or the union was concerned with) more than just food. The distinction between Jew and Gentile was also broken down. Old Testament restrictions demonstrated God’s control over all of life. Not wearing garments of mixed substances, for instance, also proclaimed that fact. That was their purpose. Such former restrictions divided God’s ways from those of other religions.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 312.
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