Distracted but not Dissuaded

Distracted, but not Dissuaded

               Have you ever had those time when you were trying to pray or have quite time with Papa and your mind was continually inundated and distracted with other thoughts that you kept trying to put away, but they kept coming back?  It is like you couldn’t focus on prayer or the word, because of these mental imaginations and thoughts that were like magnets pulling your attention in another direction.  Sometimes it is brought on by an emotional turmoil or conflict I am having with some person or situation.  I find that this will happen occasionally and sense I seem to have very little control over it. That being the case, I might as well take whatever it is that my mind is distracted with and just give it to the Lord.  He said in all your ways acknowledge him, so whether my thoughts are spiritually inspired or not, still, all that I am is His.  What can I do, but simply say, “Father, I am sorry for all of this mental distraction, but since I am yours, I give it all to You. Lord, only your Spirit within me can help me to do as 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us to do. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  The primary thing is that I don’t want my thoughts and desires to be opposed to those of the Lord, so I am going to bring Him right into my mental barrage and say, “God here is what I am dealing with, help me get it in alignment with You, Your will and Your purpose.  Help me to cast down and overcome all that is not of Your Spirit and Your will.”   Satan loves to assault our minds and then turn and condemn us for the very thoughts he perpetrated upon us.  These are not my thoughts till I give them ownership by embracing and entertaining them.  Even if I find myself having done that I can repent and ask the blood of Jesus to wash me.  We must refuse to be robbed by the enemies’ condemnation anymore.  I am not going to allow myself to be separated from my identity in Christ.  When the enemy attacks me with distracting thoughts or temptation, he is assaulting and attacking the Christ in me as well, because my life is hid in Him.

               Satan is always out to Shanghai our identity and our faith in God.  So, I will continually remind myself of who I am in Christ and remember that my purpose is for His glory and not my own. 

               We aren’t immune from the assaults of the enemy, distracting thoughts, temptations and interruptions.  Neither do we have to allow these to be grounds of condemnation and feeling spiritually inadequate.  We just never cease to acknowledge Father in all our ways, to continually worship our God and magnify Him in all that we do.  No matter how distracted or insistent the thoughts are, keep your heart on Jesus, keep your praise on Him and ask Holy Spirit to give you the victory and peace.  As Romans 8:27-29 says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  I will continually acknowledge Him until my paths are made straight!

Blessings,

#kent

The Way of a Husband with His Wife

Colossians 3:19

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

The Way of a Husband with His Wife

               Father just spoke this into my heart to share about my experiences.  Whatever comes forth will be that which He brings up in me to share.

               Husbands, we often neglect our wives far more than we should.  We often can be harsh in our attitude towards them and transfer our frustrations and anger upon them.  Obviously God didn’t give us wives for our abuse, but as the objects of our love. 

               A young lady was sharing with me about her work and how the those she worked under were often unjustly abusive and unfair in how they treated her.  She was really struggling with trying to keep an attitude of forgiveness and love. 

               I felt the Lord through me begin to tell her that even in some marriages a spouse will often transfer their own anger and personal wrong attitudes and issues upon their spouse, because they feel they are a safe place to dump their issues.  Sometimes we treat and speak things to our family members that we would never dream of speaking to others, because it would be totally unacceptable.  Why is it that we would be willing to treat the ones we love so horribly?  In those cases, it is rarely because the problem is really with them; it is usually with us.  Because we are unwilling to confront and acknowledge our own demons, we may release those demons on the most precious ones in our lives.  Often we do it because we feel it is safe with them.  They won’t tell, because they love and understand us.  What we may not realize is that this spousal or child abuse, even if we don’t physically harm them.  Our words and anger can abuse, kill and tear down those we say we love.  The person who is the object of our abuse is quite prone to take this personally and come to feel that they are the one that is at fault, they failed and somehow they deserve the way they are being treated. 

               Listen to not my word, but the Word of the Lord.  Ephesians 5:22-32 tells us, ” Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” 

               Husbands if you are hating your wife it is because you hate yourself.  She is a part of you.  If she doesn’t respect and honor you, could it be because you aren’t treating her as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her? 

               What is the Lord speaking to both the husband and the wife here.  There is place of spiritual order and mutual honor and respect of each other. It is a commandment of love.

               Husbands, Jesus gave himself up for his bride.  That means he was totally unselfish and not self-serving in His attitude toward her.  It was not about what she could do for Him, but what He could provide for her.  He cleansed her with the washing of the water of the Word, to present her a radiant church, without stain, wrinkle or defilement.  Do our words wash our wives with praise, encouragement, appreciation, love and edification or do they defile and blemish them with criticism, harshness, sarcasm and belittling commentary?  Are we Christ to our wives?

               I was speaking to an older Christian woman at a tradeshow a while back and she shared how her and her husband had began to speak blessing over one another at the beginning of each day.  I thought what a marvelous concept and practice.  I began to practice this on my wife, Sharon.  Wow, it is like pouring buckets of blessings upon your spouse.  It will change the atmosphere of your home.  It will change the way you see them and they see you.  We are experiencing a much greater closeness with each other and in our together relationship with the Lord. 

               So often in marriages at the beginning of our relationship with our spouse they could do no wrong, but over the course of time that can change into they can do no right.  There is a saying that, “familiarity breeds contempt” and oftentimes that can take place in our marriage.  We all are going to have times of differences and conflict in our marriage, but how we handle those conflicts is so important.  Do we really just deal with the issue or do we make it personal by assaulting the other’s character, resulting in wounding and hurting one another.  As time goes on we continue to carry those wounds, hurts and disappointment.  They probably are reinforced and continued through the dynamics of how we deal with each other.   One day we come to the realization that we are incompatible and no longer have the feelings of love and intimacy that we once felt. 

               If we as husbands and wives will practice God’s word in our marriage, have His attitude toward our spouse and practice His forgiveness for their wrongs, we can be healed.  You didn’t get to where you are in a day so don’t expect the results to be immediate, but if we practice blessing one another, unconditionally loving one another and seeing them for who they are in Christ then our hearts will change.  We have to choose to release forgiveness for those past hurts and offenses and we both need to truly repent to one another for the hurts and wounds we have caused.  We must see that when we dishonor our spouse, we dishonor Christ.  When we abuse them, we abuse Him.  If you are struggling with this then get the help of a Christian counselor who can help you work through these issues.  There is no shame in that.  It is a greater shame to live in denial until your marriage and all that you loved is destroyed and lost. 

               Let’s change the way we do marriage and the way we treat one another.  Let us quit reacting when our buttons are pushed and actively act in love and forgiveness.  Let us return good for evil, blessing for cursing and honor for dishonor.  Let us restore the honor of marriage in the body of Christ and husbands let it begin with us.

Blessings,

#kent

Forgiveness

Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Forgiveness

               I would dare say that all of us have had experiences in life where others have wronged or hurt us and in some cases quite severely and repeatedly.   It is often these experiences, wounds and hurts that we can not seem to release.  They are a trauma upon our lives.  It is in these adverse life experiences that we are confronted with a choice to forgive and release an offense or to hold on to it and maintain the unforgiveness.  When we are hurt it is our natural inclination to want to hurt back. 

               In the natural we often are wounded through life and most are superficial.  In most cases they require a little attention and then they heal and we go on.  There are those times when we are wounded more deeply and without cleansing the wound and putting something on to disinfect, we can get it infected.  When infection sets in the wound festers and will not heal.  In fact, untreated, it will become worse and more compromising to our health.  It can actually be the infection that comes into us through the wound that could end up killing us rather than the wound itself.  That is what unforgiveness is like.  With emotional hurts and wounds there is a natural healing process and with the right heart and attitude those wounds will heal.  They may leave some scars, but life goes on.  Unfortunately, for some of us, there are places and ways that we have been hurt where we let the infection of unforgiveness come in.  It is a form of hate and it can even be toward ourselves as well as others.  It is the love of God that is the antibiotic that heals the infection of unforgiveness.  It is when we see Jesus, unjustly accused, mocked, ridiculed, beaten to the point of being unrecognizable and then nailed to the cross who can, before he breathes his last breath, say,” Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” that we see what forgiveness really looks like.  It is only as we are willing to apply that same forgiveness of love toward our offenders that we can receive the forgiveness of our offenses.  Before God, we stand no less guilty of sin and offense than those who have wounded us.  What we ask of God, we must be willing to extend to others. 

               It is the love released through making the decision to forgive, not just the feelings, that is the antibiotic that will bring healing and restoration.  First it restores our relationship back to Father and then it works to restore our human relationships.

               You may be saying, “yeah, but you don’t how many times this person has hurt me.”  Peter addresses this question unto the Lord in Matthew 18:21-22, ” Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”  You see sin kills, but God’s love is the multiplication of forgiveness that triumphs even over the depth and death of sin.  It is the grace of God’s forgiveness that brought each one of us into a place where we can know the restored fellowship and relationship with the Father.  We receive that only through His forgiveness for us, because we all deserve condemnation and death.  Luke 6:37 exhorts us, ” Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.” 

               For some of us it is time that we examine our hearts and lay down this cross of unforgiveness that we have been carrying.  We must realize that the unforgiveness is doing far greater damage to us than even the offense.  It is keeping us from our own forgiveness and right relationship with the Father.  Ask the Father for His love in you to release the unforgiveness you have been carrying, no matter how awful the offense.  As He forgave us, we ought also to forgive others.  How can we have Christ come forth in us if the very prominent part of His nature is forgiveness?

               First come and release it to the Father and then release the individual or individuals.  When you release you will be released from the judgement that unforgiveness can hold over us.  ” If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36).”  Isn’t it time to come into the freedom and the release of His Love?

Blessings,

#kent

Losing My Head

Losing my Head

Philippians 4:12-13

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

               As I was praying this morning my thoughts went back to my childhood where I spent a great deal of time with my grandparents on their farm in Oklahoma.  I remember times when my grandmother would get a chicken that she was going to prepare for a meal.  She would put its head under a metal bar, step on it and pull its head off.  I’m sorry if that is a little gruesome and graphic for some.  The thing that was coming to me is that after the chicken’s head was removed I saw them do things that I never saw them do in everyday life.  They might just flop around, but I saw some of them fly distances that I had never seen a chicken fly before.  How could they do that without a head?  I know, involuntary reflexes and such.   The thing that struck me is that if they could do that in death, why did they never do it in life?  The only time a chicken would leave the ground normally is if it was being pursued and took flight out of fear. 

               I believe what the Lord was showing me is that our greatest limitation is between our two ears.  We grow up saying, doing and being what everyone else around us does.  Think of the disciples.  Here were twelve very ordinary men.  I imagine not all of them were the sharpest pencils in the drawer, but they all did one thing, they left all to follow this man Jesus.  As they followed, communed and lived with this man they observed someone who was not like all the other chickens in the hen house.  They observed someone who thought differently, acted differently and did things they had never imagined anyone could do.  It was a process over time where the normal way they used to view their world changed.  They begin to see and understand their world from a heavenly and kingdom perspective rather than an earthly one.  After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus they received power from on High when the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost.  Now Jesus was physically gone.  They had lost their earthly head and a new mentality had to kick in.  The mind of Christ had now come within them for them to carry on the work of the Kingdom with power and authority.  They began to speak under the anointing of the Spirit and would see thousands respond and come to Christ.  They had miracles happening as they extended their wings in faith.  In some cases people were even raised from the dead.  These ordinary men were doing exploits that rattled the religious order of the barnyard.  The religious leadership thought that they had rid the hen house of this One that upset the natural order of things.  He was obviously out of the pecking order.  Now there were more of these people doing the same kind of things while proclaiming this Jesus as the Christ and the Messiah, not only in word, but also with signs and wonders. 

               What we have to realize is that when we accepted Christ as our Savior we became identified with His death on that cross.  In effect, our head got pulled off.  We are no longer like every other chicken in the barnyard.  The great news is that we didn’t just lose our head, we put on the headship of Christ in the process.  We lost our mind that we might have His.  Like the disciples before us we have began a process of changed thinking.  Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  It goes on to say ‘don’t think of yourselves more highly than you ought.’  It is never this earthen vessel that is great; it is what fills it. 

What fills you my friend is what gives you the power and abilities to do what you have never done before.  It gives you the ability to rise to heights that in the natural mind you never thought possible.               

               There are wings of faith in God’s Word that must be stretched and exercised.  We have had them all along; we just have never really used them.  God has given us the ability to be extraordinary people and maybe not in the way the world views as extraordinary.  We have the power within us now to be different, something more.  That more may not be as the world views greatness, but it will be seen in the power of an obedient life yielded to Christ and available for His power to manifest through in the ways that please Him and further His Kingdom.  Have you lost your head and put on His?

Blessings,

#kent

The Crown of Our Legacy

The Crown of our Legacy

1Thessalonians 2:19

For what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? [Are] not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

            Recently on a trip down into southern Colorado I had some time alone where I was just scouting the countryside and doing some photography.  Old broken down cabins, homesteads and a cemetery happened to be interesting subjects that I found that day.  It is always good that when we have these times, we ask the Holy Spirit to speak into our hearts lessons and truths that can help us in daily living.  As I look back on this particular day, I remember thinking who were these people that lived in this old cabin and who were these people that now rest in this old cemetery dating back to the early 1900’s?  Then you begin to think who will remember me fifty to a hundred years from now.  When we begin to think of our mortality; we begin to think of the brevity of life and how quickly it is here and gone.  We think about the meaning of our lives and the impact we have had during our lifetime.  How will people remember us?  How will God remember us?  Did we make a difference in the lives of others and the world around us or did we just exist to ourselves and for ourselves?  These are haunting questions we all tend to ask ourselves from time to time. 

            When we look at the life of the apostle Paul, we see the importance and the eternal value He placed on the lives He discipled into Christ.  His focus wasn’t on material success, or his education, or where He had been or what He had done.  It was on the difference He made in the lives of others spiritually.  What a crown and legacy Paul has in the kingdom of God, because His whole life was dedicated to seeing others come too and grow up into Christ.  Because of that passion and ministry, much of Christianity has grown and been nurtured from the writings and teachings of Paul to the early churches.  Paul will never be forgotten in earth or heaven because of the legacy He left behind. 

            Don’t we desire to have that kind of impact on the lives of others and especially our children and families?  What a heartbreak it is when parents have laid down their lives for their children and done all that they could to instill Christ and the children turn away and reject this most precious gift they have sought to give.  Yet, despite what the outward circumstances say, they will persevere in prayer and faith to see those loved ones return. 

            Philippians 4:1 starts by saying, “Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, [my] dearly beloved.”  Those ones that Paul helped birth into the kingdom of God were his children.  They were his godly seed, birthed and brought up for the glory of God.  In Malachi 2:15, talking in reference to the marriage covenant and the reason God created marriage it says, “Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.”  If we value what God values, then we must know that God is looking for godly seed in the earth.  Whether it is in our natural children whom we should be raising in the fear and admonition of the Lord or those we lead to a personal relationship in Christ.  It is not just about the birth, that is only the beginning.  Jesus tells us Matthew 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.”  God is looking for spiritual parents to disciple and raise up His spiritual children to maturity.  This is our legacy.  This is what we want to be remembered for in heaven and in earth, that we made a difference in the lives of others and helped them become the godly seed that God desires. That seed perpetuates itself in others leaving us a joy and a crown that we can rejoice in when see them in Christ at His coming.  Let us live to leave an eternal legacy for that is our purpose.

Blessings,

#kent

Who is this Zerubbabel

Zechariah 4:6-10

So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.

7 “What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’ “

8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.

10 “Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

“(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)”

Who is this Zerubbabel?

               Zerubbabel was the grandson of king Jehoiachin and leader of the first group of returning exiles from Babylon.  His name means, “sown in Babylon”.  He was a descendent of David.  I believe he stands as a type and a shadow of a man today.  He is the man that has laid the foundations of God’s true temple and his hands will complete it.   This is one that was born into, but came out of the confusion of this world and its religions of many voices and messages.  He came out for a purpose and a reason.  It was to lead people out of the traditions and captivity of a religious system and to establish again the true temple of God.  We might be quick to say, “Oh, this represents Jesus.”  In one sense we might be right, but there is more here than Jesus.  Zerubbabel is represented as a man of the earth, but with a royal seedline and a holy calling.  He is a man not operating out of his own strength, vision or purpose and yet he is a man of strength, vision and purpose.  What he is able to accomplish is ‘not by his might or his power, but by my Spirit,’ saith the Lord.  He is a man of authority in God.  A man before whom mountains become level ground.  One other interesting point here is that he not only laid the foundation, but “he will bring out the capstone to the shouts of ‘God bless it, God bless it!’” So who is this man of which Zerubbabel is such an interesting type? 

               The Lord reminds me of a scripture in Hebrews 11.  In Hebrews 11 we have the hall of faith where we read the tributes to many of the great men and women of faith, but in the last verses, verses 39-40 it says this, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”  Concerning the foundations of the temple which Zerubbabel laid we read this in Ephesians 2:19-22, “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens (Babylonians, born in Babylon), but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”  In Ephesians 4:13-19 (Amplified) it further expounds upon this concept,  “He Who descended is the [very] same as He Who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest). 11And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers.

12His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church),

13[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.”  It should be becoming apparent that this Zerrubabel is not just one man, but the enchristed one, Christ in man, the body of Christ, God’s holy temple not made with hands; from the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ the Corner stone to the head and Jesus Christ the Capstone.  It is Christ in His people.  It is the government and the kingdom of God in our midst.  It is the Spirit of God operating in the people of God to bring us all into the unity, maturity and the full stature of Christ.  The climax being when the Capstone is set and Christ returns in the fullness of His people, one new man from first to last, complete, resurrected and established in Him.

               Zechariah 4:10 says, “”Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”  This is God’s kingdom come in the earth to bring judgement and justice, to set every crooked path straight and dispense righteousness in the earth.  We are a part of this man.  We are the Zerrubabel of this hour.  God is awakening us and calling us to attention.  He is calling us to throw off all those old paradigms of who we think we are not and come into the full revelation of who we are in Christ.  We are God’s people and His workmen to complete this task in these final hours.  You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people for God’s own possession.  What He has called you too, He has empowered you to do.  Take up the authority of who you are in Christ and begin to walk in that authority, vision and purpose.  You are the Zerrubabel, sown in Babylon, but called out of Babylon for such a time as this.  Rejoice and lay hold of your calling.

Blessings,

#kent

The Loving Hand of Correction

The Loving Hand of Correction

Hebrew 12:5-8

5) And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.  6) For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8 )  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

               Most of us would rather run away from discipline and correction.  Especially when things are going well, the last thing we want is someone to rock our boat, especially heavenly Father.  Every motive and action of God is birthed in love, for He is love.  For God to leave us to our own devices and ways would not be very loving on His part since we are His children and His responsibility is to raise us as such.  While many of us say we love God we can be just as stubborn and rebellious about spiritual things as we can about natural things.  Out of God’s great love for us, because we are His children, He corrects and disciplines us in many different ways.  Even though that goes against the grain of our flesh, what is the greatest hindrance to our spiritual walk if it is not the old natural ways of living and thinking?  The trials and tribulations that touch our lives are exercising our true faith, spiritual obedience and substance.  I find, I can think I’m a pretty good egg until the Lord allows me to be tested in an area and what comes out of me or how I respond is often a pretty good indicator that a definite work of grace and correction is needed in that area of my life.  Unfortunately for most of us, God has to keep taking us around and around some of the same mountains in our life, because we still can’t seem to get it right.  How often have we read about the Israelites of the Old Testament and shook our heads at the fact we saw a continual cycle of rebellion and disobedience to God, His warnings and exhortation to turn from sin, their continued path of disobedience, God’s rod of discipline and correction, the repentance and turning again to God.  Then it would start all over again.  1 Corinthians 10: 11 says, “Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”  Here we have 20/20 hindsight, but do we make any better choices and demonstrate a greater measure of obedience and submission to the Lord than our Israelite predecessors? 

               Those who have trusted God for their salvation are at the heart of God’s love.  Even Jesus is our example, for it says, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered (Hebrew 5:8).” Let us not take the discipline of the Lord as a sign of His displeasure or anger toward us.  Though our discipline is not pleasant while we are going through it, the Lord does it for our profit and good.  The end result is that it works the peaceable fruits of righteousness in us when we have been exercised by it.  Like the loving Father that He is, He is not allowing us to grow up spiritually being the self-willed, self- serving children we would be inclined to be, but the children that are being conformed to image of the Father by His loving hand and correction. 

               Let’s thank God He loves us the way we are but loves us too much to let us stay that way. 

Blessings,

#kent

His Yoke

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

His Yoke

               A yoke referred to the device which bound you or enslaved you together with another for the purpose of pulling a weight or burden.  It could also mean a pair of scales.  Yoked under the law of the Pharisees the burden of righteousness was very great and difficult to keep.  It resulted in condemnation and failure to live up to the standards of God, imposed upon them by religious men.  The law yoked us to sin and death.  It exposed our sin, but didn’t empower us to overcome it, except in the strength of our own flesh.  Romans 5:20-21 says, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

               No wonder one would become too burdened, wearied and condemned trying to keep all the aspects of the law to be righteous.  Isn’t it interesting that the law was added so that the trespass might increase.  The law simply magnified our sin and burden before us.  Even today, many of us as believers are trying to live under various aspects of the law, thinking that by keeping it we will better please God and find His favor.  What we don’t have a revelation of is that when we are truly “in Christ” all the law is fulfilled “in Him”.  That’s why Jesus encourages people to unhitch their plow from the law and hitch it to becoming yoked with and in Him.  Jesus did all of the work of not only fulfilling the law but taking upon Himself all the consequences of the law for all who would believe in Him by faith. 

               When we were weighed in the scales or the yoke of the law we were always found wanting.  We never measured up.  When we are weighed on the scales with Christ then all the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in Him and because we are yoked with Him, His righteousness is imputed or credited unto us by faith.  Romans 4:23-25 says, “The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”  We may remember the adage that “justification” is, “Just as if I had never done it.”         

               Wow, no wonder the yoke of Christ is so much lighter.  It still represents a joining together with and a bond of commitment, but now it is not our efforts to accomplish what He has already done, but to simply enter into His rest and live out of the righteousness that He is in us.  No longer in my strength, but in His.  My life, yoked to Him, means that He leads the team in His strength and I follow, just sharing the load, but I follow in His strength and not my own.  In Jesus, we don’t find that spirit of oppressiveness, condemnation and heaviness.  We find that under His yoke we have communion with His person and in His love.  We find encouragement, strength, hope and confidence.  We find that because, ‘He that began a good work in us is able to complete it unto the day of salvation’.  He is able to do in us, what we could never accomplish in our efforts and abilities.  It doesn’t remove all responsibility from us, but it does draw upon the strength of the One who enables us to live mightily in Him.  Our responsibility is to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood; to partake of the communion that brings us into oneness and unity with His person.  In that identity our yoke becomes one. We live out of the power of Christ in us to fulfill the will of the Father.  We labor no more as servants and slaves, but we are partakers and sharers in the household of faith as sons.  It is no longer our obligation to do God’s will, it is our privilege and delight.  Our rest is totally in Him.  We don’t get anxious or stressed, “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6).”

               What a privilege to be yoked to the one whose yoke is easy, whose burden is light

and who gives rest to our souls.  Aren’t we glad that we are so yoked with Jesus?

Blessings,

#lemt

Rest or Stressed?

Hebrews 4:3-11

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

 For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God

 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

               Have you ever seen or experienced one of those events where a person will stand upon a platform of some type and allow themselves to free fall backward into a crowd of people they are trusting will catch them?  It is a great example of the principle of trust.  You have to overcome your fears and anxieties of being hurt.  You have to put your confidence in someone else to catch you and prevent you from being harmed.  That is a hard thing for us to do.  It is essentially what God wants us to do in regards to trusting Him.  Often we start too and then we chicken out because we are afraid He will drop us.   It is a hard thing for us to relinquish being in control of our life and circumstances.  Even though we know that we are a mess, make mistakes, and are full of faults and weaknesses we would still rather rely upon our abilities, our strength and our wisdom.  As a result, we have a society full of stressed out people and many of them are Christians. 

               If you are like me, it is hard to lay down our work and activities even for one day.  It is like it has this hold on us that draws us to it.  Somehow if we don’t work on it, it won’t get done and the world will end.  It is easy to look back on it and say, “yeah, that is stress, that is not rest.”  God gave a Sabbath to teach us a principle of rest.  God says, “There remains therefore a rest to the people of God.”  This passage teaches that there is only one way into this rest and that is through the avenue of faith.  Faith, no longer in our abilities, and ourselves but in Him.  In a way, God has taught me some of this principle as I write these Trickles of Truth.   I couldn’t begin to produce all that God has given me.  Each morning as I fall back into His arms and say, “Father, what do you want to share with us today?” That little act of faith results in the words you read from these writings and often I’m probably more amazed at what comes out than you are.  Certainly, it is often not what I would expect.    As God leads in our daily lives we need to learn the principle in every area of our lives of what it means to rest in Him. 

               You know Jesus didn’t get up each morning, look at His day planner and think, “will I’ve got fourteen healings today, three sermons, ten deliverances and I have to feed a multitude. I had better have my cup of coffee and get hoppin’.”  He entered into the presence of the Father.  As He communed with Him there, the mind of the Father was revealed to Him and He just did what the Father showed Him and spoke what the Father gave Him.  As He rested in the Father, He became the expression of the Father.  As we learn to rest in Christ, we will become the expression of Christ.  It is not in all of the do’s and don’ts that we are made righteous, it is as we fall back into the arms of Jesus in every aspect of our lives and just let Him be Lord and have His way in and through us.  As we knock a hole in the bottom of our self-reliance then instead of being a self-contained vessel we become a conduit and pipeline through which the Spirit of God can flow through, touching not only our lives, but the lives of others as well.  The results we see are not our righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ revealed and not our will, but His will being done.  It is all a matter of faith and reliance on Him, not just mentally, but experientially as we are willing to let go of our grip on this life. 

               The Word almost speaks a paradox in Hebrews 4:11 when it says, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”  Isn’t that contradictory to say we labor to enter into rest?  No, because it is not in our natural man to relinquish control of our life. 

Romans 12:1 says, ” I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.” This presentation of our lives as a living sacrifice is an act of continual obedience and faith on the part of the believer.  He is laboring against all that his natural man and instincts are telling him.  Like the old joke goes, “the problem with living sacrifices is they keep crawling off of the altar.”  We laugh, but we know it is all too true.  It is a labor to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him, but at the same time it is a rest when we do, because then He becomes our life and strength.                Where are we at today, in a place of rest or stress?  Perhaps it is a good day to crawl up on the lap of Daddy God and just rest in His arms of Love, knowing that He has your life and the whole world in His hands.  Just REST.

Blessings,

#kent

You Can Have What You Can See!

Mark 11:23-24

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them].

You Can Have What You Can See!

               In this passage Jesus speaks to the quality and the intensity of our faith.  The quality of faith that Jesus speaks of here is one that is not believing one day and doubting the next.  The faith that Jesus speaks of here is a finished work faith.  When faith is exercised and spoken it is regarded as done.  It doesn’t look at the circumstances or the natural to confirm its beliefs.  It is simply spoken into the heavens and it is reckoned as done in Christ.  Rarely do we possess and exercise that kind of faith. 

               One of the areas that the Lord has been dealing with in my heart about is the attitude and the capacity of my mind.  I tend to always see why I can’t do, or have something, rather than seeing how I can.  That mindset limits my vision and my limited vision limits my faith, which in turn, limits my capacity to receive all that I could have.  What I see in myself, I see prevalent in much of the body of Christ, we have a very limited vision.  If we pray for the blessing, outpouring and anointing of God upon our lives, but if we have not increased our capacity to receive it, then we are going to have a mess if we receive it.  Many people that win the lottery and suddenly find themselves with millions of dollars, later find their lives in ruins, because they didn’t have the capacity in the mindset and vision to receive what they did.  They were putting new wine in old wineskins and they couldn’t contain it.

               The Lord is speaking to me that I can’t keep thinking and doing things the same old way I always have and expect different results.  If I want my circumstances to change then first my thinking has to change.  I have to stretch my vision and stretch my thinking to believe that I have and can do things that I never have before.  You see, our greatest limitation is between our two ears.  We tend to think that if that is not the way we have always done it or the way it’s been done before we can’t change that.  We can! 

                I believe that God wants to explode upon our lives.  He doesn’t want just another revival where the Spirit comes upon a people.  He wants a revival where His life is manifested through a people.  If God’s people are still locked into their limitation and shortcomings then they will never be able to see that ‘greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.’  God is wanting to speak to us what He spoke to the Laodicean Church in Revelation 3: 17-22, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him,and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  We, in this country think we have so much, that we are so rich and in need of nothing when, in reality, we are exactly what the Spirit said of the Laodicean Chruch.  We need a renewing of our minds and our thinking if we are going to move into the realm of the overcomer that the Spirit of the Lord has called us to be.  God is stirring up His people in this hour.  It is no longer a time to sit back in the pew, sing songs and be spoon-fed.  It is time to find out who you are in Christ and to come forth in the ministry of that calling.  The first thing that has to happen is that you have to have the faith to believe who you are. Then you have to have the faith to begin to become who you are in Christ and that isn’t going to look anything like what you have been in the natural, so quit going there. 

People of God, we must lay hold of a vision in this hour.  It is a vision that is greater than what what our forefather’s knew.  They laid a foundation, now our generation is called to build the house.  We have entered into the day of the Lord.  David stored up for the temple, but it was Solomon that built it.  We have to begin to see what Christ wants to bring forth through His body of believers in the earth and then respond in fullness of faith to that vision and calling.  People around you and everything in your natural man may say, “you can’t to do that, who do you think you are?” 

You are a son and daughter of the Most High God and there is nothing that is impossible to those who believe and operate out of His life and nature.  God is bringing forth His kingdom that is no longer subject to nature but rules in power and dominion over nature. 

               Rather it is in our daily living or our spiritual living, we must come into an increase in the capacity of our thinking and our faith.  It is a time to cast off the limitations and restraints we have placed upon ourselves because of where we come from, education, race, sex, status or mental capacity.  What God is bringing you into is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit, thus saith the Lord!

               We need to get a greater vision and we need to know from God that if we can see it, if we can believe for it, we can have it.  Cast off the restraints of natural thinking.  Come into the mind of Christ and see yourself in Him.  I have seen my dreams come true and my vision fulfilled when I kept this scripture before me in Numbers 11:23, “And the Lord said to Moses, Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?  Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” 

               Dare to change your thinking.  Dare to believe that you can do whatever the Lord is directing and opening up before you.  Quit looking to you and your limitations and get your eyes on the Most High God who knows no limitation.  Come into the identity and promise of who you are in Christ and begin to fulfill and step out into your ministry in Him.  You will see the waters part before you as you, by faith, wade out into them.

Blessings,

#kent