Resetting Goals with the One Who Is Always with You – Purity 1826
Purity 1826 11/28/2025 Purity 1826 Audio Podcast
Purity 1826 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of my canine pal, looking over the varied landscape of a post-harvest field under a pleasant cloud filled blue sky comes to us from yours truly as I paused at the end of the clearing beyond “Freedom Road” to capture this simple scene of beauty last Saturday.
Well, It’s Friday, Thank God!, and while many will be caught up in the frenzy of seeking holiday bargains in the stores today, I’ll be on the other side of things this year as I will be going to work delivering packages that just might be under your Christmas tree. As a seasonal delivery driver, I get paid to lighten the load of the regular delivery drivers’ holiday rush. I now have a deeper appreciation of the hard work that the employees of the post office, UPS, FedEx, and Amazon have to do. I order a lot of things online and can only imagine how annoyed my delivery drivers have been to have to repeatedly stop at my house!
Driving from house to house delivering packages is more tiring than you would think but there is other things that are more tiring than delivering package after package to the same address and one of them is trying to change our bad habits and repeatedly doing the same old foolish things over and over again that prevents our progress.
A few weeks ago, I announced that I was repenting of my unhealthy habits of overeating and had set a weight loss goal to achieve before Thanksgiving. I even shared a link to a Weight Loss Goal Poster that I was using to inspire my efforts. Well, due to temptation, bad decisions, and a lack of self-control, I fail to reach my goal. I have lost 0.2 pounds since November 11th, but that is almost literally nothing. So, its back to the drawing board.
Yesterday, I crossed out the date on my weight loss poster and penciled in December 25th as the next check point of progress and will endeavor actually move toward it. Although my November attempt was nearly a complete failure in terms of results, I feel that I have learned more about this annoying struggle and myself and am oddly hopeful that I will have more success come December 25th.
When we want to change our bad habits, we have to commit to the long haul and never give up. If we keep seeking to achieve our goals, ask for the Lord’s help, and live according to His wisdom, nothing is impossible. When God is with you, you can do amazing things.
Speaking of God being with us the Turing Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion from today speaks on that topic so I am sharing it on the blog today to remind us that we are never are alone in our struggles when we are in Christ. David Jeremiah writes:
ALWAYS WITH YOU
“Look!” [King Nebuchadnezzar] answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” – Daniel 3:25
There is great comfort in the truth that God is with us in our troubles. What He does about the trouble is up to Him, but the promise is that He is always there. Three stories from Scripture illustrate this truth.
First, Daniel’s three friends were thrown into a fiery furnace in Babylon (Daniel 3). When the king peered into the furnace, not only were the three men unharmed but also a fourth man was with them—one “like the Son of God.” Second, when Jesus and His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee and a storm came up, Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Third, when the disciples were struggling to cross the Sea of Galilee due to a contrary wind, Jesus came to them, walking on the water, and calmed the winds (Mark 6:45-52). The promise of God is, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
If you are in a fire or a storm today, never doubt that God is with you. Trust Him to resolve the matter according to His will. – David Jeremiah
The more terrible the storm, the more necessary the anchor. – William S. Plumer
Amen. This is the promise of God that means the most – His permanence & His presence in our lives.
God is eternal. He’s not going anywhere.
But He doesn’t force Himself upon us. If we choose to deny Him and His truth, He allows us to separate ourselves from Him to suffer the consequences.
But His is mercy is great and His love is sent our way continually and, if we are chosen, one day we are shown the truth of Jesus Christ and begin to see how God has always been with us, how He has silently blessed us and saved us from ourselves BEFORE we put our faith in Jesus.
God had to protect us from ourselves and the world before we believed. And after we believe, He continues to help us but that doesn’t mean we won’t face hard times. It means that God will be with us in those hard times to help us, to mature us into the people He wants us to be, and to draw us deeper into His love.
If you have walked through a storm and had the Lord rescue you a time or two like I have, you understand that the greatest promise we have is that God will never leave us or forsake us and will help us through the fire.
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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 Persecution.
Revelation 2:9–10 (NIV) I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.
Today’s verses are the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the eighteenth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Persecution.
18. Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake will be blessed.
Today’s Bible verses don’t exactly paint a rosy picture for end times saints, but the promise of a victor’s crown encourages us to remain faithful in times of persecution because God will reward us for the things we suffer.
While I don’t usually speak about the end times, if we read scripture, we understand that things won’t exactly get better before Christ returns. While there may be some out there that teach about a smooth transition to God’s eternal kingdom, many traditional end times theories include a period of tribulation where there will be a time of great persecution and suffering for 7 years. If these theories are correct, being persecuted and put in prison for our faith is to be expected.
So, we should be very thankful for the fact that we are not being persecuted yet and try to deepen our faith in Christ to prepare us, should the “tribulation” come in our lifetime.
By focusing on God’s promises of being in His eternal kingdom and being rewarded for our faith, we can endure the pain of rejection and persecution we may face. When we understand that God is for us and will be there for us should persecution come or should we die for our faith, we can have peace because Christ was raised from the dead. The resurrection demonstrates that God is bigger than the sufferings of this world and because Jesus rose from the dead we can trust what He says about eternity.
These words in revelation are the words of Jesus, and if He tells us to endure and promises a victor’s crown, we can trust that God will help us to endure through persecution and to receive the rewards that He has for us.
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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 325
… he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, opening up and setting forth … – Acts 17:2, 3
Again, few Jews believed, but many Gentiles did, and those jealous Jews who would not believe stirred up a riot. So, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea for safety. But before we take our leave of Thessalonica, take time to notice what Paul’s preaching was like. Did he focus on his own conversion? Experiences? No. He put all his emphasis upon what the Scriptures said. Like Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13ff.), Paul “opened” the Scriptures and then set forth the facts about Christ’s death and resurrection that a person must believe in order to be saved. There are many today who put experience over the Bible. That is a tragedy. Experience is a subjective matter that focuses on what happened to an individual. Instead, the focus must be upon God’s Word where we read not primarily about the experiences of those like Lydia who believed but about the message that they believed. The Bible is that which must be “opened” at home and on the mission field—nothing less.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 333.
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