A Prompting of the Spirit – a Sign of a Christ-Centered Life – Purity 1886
Purity 1886 02/13/2026 Purity 1886 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of a pleasant blue sky obscured by trees comes to you from yours truly, as I responded to an impulse to look up and capture it while in the midst of the forest trails at the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve in Stuyvesant, NY, back on August 8th, 2020.
Well, it’s Friday—praise the Lord—and as I walk into the last day of the work week and look forward to Valentine’s Day with my wife, TammyLyn, this weekend, I can’t help but thank God for all the blessings in my life and for the close personal relationship we share together. Not only has God blessed me with a Christian spouse, relatively good health, and the ability to meet my financial needs, but He also gives me the occasional “heads up” through the Holy Spirit to remind me that He really is with me.
Even though I am busy with ministry-related work most weeknights, yesterday I had a rare evening with nothing on my dance card. As I contemplated what I would do Thursday evening, I thought of sleep, but something in my spirit reminded me of one of my brothers in Christ whom I hadn’t thought about or visited with in quite some time. Even though part of me really wanted to use Thursday night to rest, something in my spirit kept prompting me about my friend. So I finally broke down and texted him about the possibility of getting together last night.
While my friend assured me that he was well, he informed me that he was going through a medical procedure yesterday that would prevent him from being able to meet. After I learned this, I realized that the Holy Spirit had put my friend on my mind so I would reach out to him and offer prayers for a successful procedure and a quick recovery. My friend thanked me for my prayers and indicated that he would let me know how everything went and would try to be available for a get-together the next time I had an evening off.
Now, I am sure some would say all this was just a nice coincidence, but I know from my experience of walking in the Spirit that there are no coincidences. I didn’t know about my friend’s condition, but the Lord did. I believe He prompted me to look in my friend’s direction so I could offer my prayers and words of appreciation for our relationship—to give my friend comfort and to let him know that God hadn’t forgotten about him and was using me to assure him of this.
When we center our lives on our faith in Jesus Christ and try to live according to His will, God sometimes intervenes in our lives to cause us to do good works, even if it’s just offering prayers and words of kindness. But if you don’t make the Lord the center of your life, I believe you can miss these moments that remind us of God’s presence and goodness.
Speaking of a God-focused life, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses this topic, so I am sharing it on the blog to encourage all of us to keep the Lord at the center of our lives. David Jeremiah writes:
“DEAD CENTER
Jesus in the center—John 19:18
Where was Jesus on the day He died? He was in the center, between two thieves. He was in the center of humanity, in the center of history, and especially in the center of the story of redemption.
Where is He in your life? Are you Christ-centered?
Paul Tripp wrote, “A Christ-centered life begins with realizing that the source of everything we are is the Lord. He created us, He owns us, He gifted us.” Our Lord doesn’t simply want to be included in our lives; He wants to be the axis, the nucleus, the hub around which our entire life revolves. When we keep Him at the center, He takes everything we have and makes it meaningful. But when we push Him to the side, we are unable to enjoy His gifts.
The Living Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:24, “God has opened the eyes of those whom He has called to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, to see that Christ is the mighty power of God to save them; Christ Himself is the center of God’s wise plan for their salvation.” Is He at the dead center of your heart? — David Jeremiah
You were designed for the purpose of knowing Christ and making Him the center of your life. — Craig Etheredge
Amen. Not for nothing, but the simple idea that Christ could be the center of my life was a major revelation for me, and obviously, it could only be received after I put my faith in Jesus.
Before salvation, I probably would have mockingly asked, “A Christ-centered life? Does that mean you spend all of your time at church?”
Obviously, I didn’t realize that after you really put your faith in Him, the Lord is with you wherever you go, and making Him the center of your life just requires your attention and engagement with Him.
Because God is omnipresent, He is there for us at all times, and all we have to do to have a Christ-centered life is to talk to Him, listen for His “voice,” and follow His directions that come through His Word and through the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Obviously, this type of life requires we make Him our top priority—that we seek to know and follow Him above all others and that we accept His purpose for our lives.
Like I said, just knowing that this type of life was even possible was a revelation for me, but when I discovered it to be true, and that God was real and would be there for me and help me through life, I progressively moved to put Jesus at the center of my life.
I’m not sure if Jesus is completely dead center in my life yet, but I certainly recommend, to anyone who will listen, that the centered life is the best life we can live.
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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 Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
Philippians 2:12–13 (NKJV)
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Today’s verses fall under the seventeenth point of our counseling reference guide section on Progressive Sanctification – Growing in Faith & Godliness.
17. The Lord requires us to keep working out our salvation in every area of life, since He works in us by His Word and Spirit.
These Bible verses remind us that even though believers can be accountable to one another, ultimately we each have a personal responsibility to follow the Lord and allow Him to guide us according to His will.
Here, the Apostle Paul commends the believers in Philippi for their faithful obedience to God’s Word when he was present with them and for the good reports of their obedience after he had left. He praises their faithfulness and reminds them that their faith isn’t dependent on him as their overseer, but is grounded in the reality of a sovereign God who seeks to accomplish His will through their lives and will hold them accountable for their actions.
With this relationship with God and the responsibility to represent His kingdom, we should stand in awe of how the Creator of the universe has blessed us with the revelation of Himself and be motivated to walk in His ways.
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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 20 – Defending God – Read Job 34–35
Listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. – Job 34:10
Theology (“the science of God”) used to be called “the queen of sciences” because it deals with the most important knowledge we can have: the knowledge of God. Theology is a difficult science, for it is our attempt to know the Unknowable (Rom. 11:33–36).
“The essence of idolatry,” wrote A. W. Tozer, “is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” So, whoever attempts to explain and defend the Almighty must have the humble heart of a worshipper; for “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1).
As we read Elihu’s speeches, we get the impression that he was not growing; he was swelling. We also get the impression that his listeners’ minds were wandering (Job 33:1, 31, 33; 34:2, 10, 16). Yet Elihu emphasized that God is sovereign, and the book of Job magnifies the sovereignty of God. During the debate, it appears that God is absent, but He is aware of how Job feels and what Job and his friends are saying. Elihu was right on target: God is sovereign and cannot do wrong.
Something to Ponder – What are some questions of theology that have come up in your interactions with skeptics or people of other faiths?[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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