Fighting the Prince of the Power of the Air and Grasping for the Wind – Purity 1878
Purity 1878 02/04/2026 Purity 1878 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun setting on the horizon as a group of geese glide along the surface of a partially frozen lake comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this serene scene and many more like it during my visit to Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, NY, back on February 8th 2023.
Well, it’s Wednesday, and as I look forward to another meeting of the Celebrate Freedom Support group at Starpoint Church tonight, I am still getting over of the joy of fellowship that I enjoyed at last night’s online Freedom in Christ course. There is nothing like getting together to talk about God and to examine our lives through the lens of the Christian worldview to see just how active God is in our lives.
In last nights, lesson we examined three different world views ( the Eastern, the Western, and the Postmodern) that the Freedom in Christ course presents and pointed out that while it is very easy to live within these systems of belief, that have a false view of, or ignore completely, the spiritual aspects of existence, it doesn’t free you from the influences of the spiritual forces of darkness.
Internal condemning “mental” “voices”, for instance, have a completely different meaning depending on how you view things. In the Western and Postmodern view, this phenomenon would most likely be dismissed as a chemical imbalance or a split personality. In the Eastern worldview, the cause would probably be considered to be a curse that needed a witchdoctor or a shaman to prescribe a remedy. While these theories make sense to their associated worldview, they both ignore the truth that is revealed in holy scripture and the possibility of demonic influence.
I, for one, suffered from what I thought of as condemning “low self-esteem” thoughts for most of my life. My failure to live a sinless life didn’t help, as I had valid reasons to feel that I wasn’t “good” and had done and thought things that would naturally cause me to feel guilty and ashamed. But after I came to faith in Jesus, received the forgiveness of my sins, committed to be a follower of Jesus, AND broke the demonic permissions and access to my mind through the prayerful repentance process known as the Steps to Freedom in Christ, those condemning voices completely went away!
Faith in Jesus and prayer, repentance did that. Not medicine, not years of therapy, and not some voodoo hocus pocus, God and my submitting to Him was because of my healing and peace.
So, now I live in the reality of the spiritual realm and instruct others on how to get set free, and I demonstrate my faith as much as I can by “walking the walk” of an authentic Christian who knows about spiritual warfare, and I use what I have learned where applicable.
Yesterday, my wife text told me that she was having trouble with her 5G internet service and her cell reception at our countryside home, and that I might not be able to get through to her for our regular evening call and bible study. When I went to call TammyLyn, sure enough, the call didn’t go through – at all – no ringing, no voice mail, no nothing. I tried a couple of times on my cell with no success. I decided to use my landline, but had no luck with that either. I was about to give up when I suddenly thought “the prince of the power of the air is responsible for this” and I got angry and prayed quite forcibly to have the call to go through, “in Jesus’ name” and lo and behold, the prayer worked, much to my wife’s surprise and amusement. She hadn’t been able to make or take calls prior to me getting through. We did our Bible study and ended the call. But TammyLyn still didn’t have internet service and didn’t trust the cell because we got disconnected a couple of times (I prayed again and got reconnected). So, I called tech support, who confirmed that there was indeed a network outage in her area that wouldn’t be resolved for several hours yet. So there was a problem,m but somehow, I got through, and when I did, TammyLyn’s cell showed my landline number, but the Caller ID didn’t show my name, it showed the name as “Jesus”, I kid you not, and I am including TammyLyn’s screen to prove it.
Say what you like, but I believe my prayers to God were answered, and I take joy in reporting this minor miracle. Our faith can overcome this world, but we have to practice what we preach; otherwise, we will never know what miracles may come and what joy we could have. Speaking of joy through our faith, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today leads us in the direction, so I am sharing it on the blog today to remind us of the abundant life we have in Christ.
“GRASPING FOR THE WIND
Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed, all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:11
A notorious aging celebrity recently said, “The older I get, the more horrible I think everything is. I mean, the more life experience you have, you start to see what a foolish, meaningless, tragic experience it is. What a bleak way to view the world! Yet without Christ, life really is foolish, meaningless, and tragic. The writer of Ecclesiastes grappled with just that issue.
Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). When people can’t seem to find happiness and meaning in life, they sometimes want to give up. But God gives joy to those who follow Him and center their lives on Him. He gives joy in abundance.
Praise God today! When we have the joy He brings, we learn to enjoy what life has to offer.” – David Jeremiah
When we search for happiness apart from Christ, we find loneliness, confusion, and misery. When we focus on Jesus and others, we find untold happiness. – Randy Alcorn
Amen. Full disclosure, I had to edit Jeremiah’s message today and remove the celebrity’s name from this post because their notoriety caused me to focus on their alleged sins more than on the joy that is found in Christ.
Money and fame can’t buy happiness, and that is even more true when you have sin in your past that hasn’t been confessed and covered by the blood of Jesus.
So yes, this is why some people who have enough material wealth to live very comfortably see life as tragic or meaningless. They have rejected the truth of Jesus Christ and removed themselves from the hope and joyfully abundant life that they could have in Him.
So, while you may not have fame and fortune, consider yourself rich beyond measure because you have been shown the truth of Jesus Christ and have the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life in God’s kingdom.
When we focus on the suffering in this world, we forget the good and can see life as tragic or meaningless. But when we focus on the forgiveness and love we have received, we will walk through life with abundant joy.
So, live in the joy of the Lord because not everyone has this treasure, and all you have to be filled with joy is to remember the God who loves you and who has set you free.
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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 Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
John 15:1–8
John 15:5 (NKJV) I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Today’s verse is the second of three passages of scripture that fall under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
12. Abide in Jesus Christ, the vine, through whom alone you can bear much fruit, to glorify God.
Today’s Bible verses are the words of Jesus, who assures us that if we abide in Him, we can bear much fruit, and that without Him we can do nothing. I realize that we as humans can do a lot of good things through the sweat of our own brow, but if we do them just for our own selfish satisfaction or even the thanks and admiration of others, those good deeds will eventually fade away and be forgotten.
Without Jesus as our Savior, those good works will be wood, hay, and stubble that will be consumed by fire at the Judgement Seat of Christ. If you don’t have faith in Jesus, the good works would be counted as nothing. So in an ultimate sense, if we don’t abide in Christ by having faith in Him, we essentially will be doing nothing.
So be sure to put your faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and spend time with the Lord in prayer to receive the guidance that will direct you to our kingdom work, which will be a shining reward awaiting you in heaven.
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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 “Pause for Power” By Warren Wiersbe.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Wiersbe’s 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 12 – Hope: It’s Alive- Read 1 Peter 5:12
I have written to you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. – 1 Peter 5:12
“While there’s life, there’s hope!” That ancient Roman saying is still quoted today, and like most adages, it has an element of truth but no guarantee of certainty. It is not the fact of life that determines hope but the faith of life. A Christian believer has a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3) because his “faith and hope are in God” (v. 21). This “living hope” is the major theme of Peter’s first letter. He is saying to all believers, “Be hopeful!”
The writer’s given name was Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter, which means “a stone” (John 1:35–42). The Aramaic equivalent of “Peter” is “Cephas” (v. 42), so Peter was a man with three names. Nearly fifty times in the New Testament he is called “Simon,” and often he is called “Simon Peter.” Perhaps the two names suggest a Christian’s two natures: an old nature (Simon) that is prone to fail, and a new nature (Peter) that can give victory. As Simon, he was only another human piece of clay, but Jesus Christ made a rock out of him!
Something to Ponder: What situation in your life is most in need of new hope?[1]
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[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, Pause for Power: A 365-Day Journey through the Scriptures, 2nd Ed., Year in the Word Series (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010).
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