A Word of Wisdom

Psalms 36:9
For with thee [is] the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

A Word of Wisdom

It is in the light of God’s truth and wisdom that we find light . As we pursue and meditate upon His word He is our eternal fountain. All through Proverbs 8 wisdom speaks to us about whom She is and what She desires to impart unto those who will seek Her. In verses 7-8 it says, “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom [is] better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.” The most valuable things in life are not in the material world they are found in the wisdom of God who is our fountain of life. Wisdom says in verse 17, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” In all of your getting, get widom for she will not fail you and She will deliver you in your day of trouble. She will prosper you and give you good success.

Blessings,
kent

Advertisement

Key to the Treasure

Isaiah 33:5-6
The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

Key to the Treasure

It is important for us in this time to know the difference between religion and relationship. Religion carries with it a knowledge of God, an exercise or expression of ceremonial worship, but it is evident that this not acceptable to God if our hearts are not right and our spirit in tune with His. Religion can know about God, His salvation, His power to save, but it doesn’t move God if the heart of the people doesn’t line up with the pursuit of God’s heart in their obedience and faithfulness.
Jeremiah 14:7-10 is a good example. Here Jeremiah cries out to God for His people, but hear God’s answer. “Although our sins testify against us, O Lord, do something for the sake of your name.
For our backsliding is great; we have sinned against you. 😯 Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night?
9Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save?
You are among us, O Lord, and we bear your name; do not forsake us!
10This is what the Lord says about this people:
“They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them;
he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”
When we are powerless and it doesn’t seem like God is showing up, the first thing we want to check is, are we lining up with God’s Word, walking in His principles and ways, living in obedience and pursuit of His highest for our lives. Much of our impotence and the absence of God’s power from our lives may have to do with an outward expression of religion, but our lives aren’t lining up with our confession and outward expression. Perhaps we have been seeking to please God with our outward works and religious expressions rather than communing with Him consistently within our hearts and honoring Him by our fear, reverence, obedience and faithfulness.
Look again at Isaiah 33:5-6. Look at the results when we align our hearts with His. When we exalt Him with a right heart and attitude in Spirit and in truth then, “The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” The key to the treasure of God’s heart is our relationship with Him. When we pursue Him in honesty and whole heartedness then we are fearing and reverencing Him. He is center of all that we are and all that we do. He is exalted in all that we are blessed with and to Him goes all of the glory. He will be all that He has promised to be when we are living what He has called us to be.
Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that mere religious acts can appease the Father. He doesn’t want our lip service, He wants our hearts. If we feign to live godly and yet do not restrain our feet to wander, do we have a right to expect God to honor us with His great salvation and deliverance in our time of need? If we love Him we will keep His commands and walk in them. Then we well experience the rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge, because the “FEAR” of the Lord is the “KEY” to this treasure

Blessings,
kent

Word from the Lord: Rest and Surrender

Jeremiah 31:25
For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.

Word from the Lord: Rest and Surrender

Lift up your head you who are weary and heavy laden. I am your rest, your comfort and your strength. Come and rest in My presence, commune and fellowship with Me. Worship me and be strengthened as My Life will flow back into you and well up within. Focus on Me, cease to allow your problems and challenges to consume all of your energy. I am your refuge. I am your strength. I am your wisdom, provision, power and deliverer.
I know it is often hard for you to open up your hand and release the control to me, but until you do, you will be continually frustrated and stressed about your circumstances. When you come to Me with open hands and open heart; sharing everything with Me and making me a partner in all that confronts you, then am I able to work on your behalf and bring about solutions and provisions that are far beyond your ability, power or wisdom without Me.
In My presence is fullness of joy. At My right hand are treasures for evermore. How long will you struggle and frustrate My better plans and purposes of you? I am not looking for what you can produce or how good you can be. I am looking for a life surrender to allow Me to live and show Myself strong in you.
When a child wants to help a parent with a project, left to their knowledge and abilities they will most likely make a mess of it. If the child is willing to submit to the guiding teaching hand of the parent then they are able to learn what they did not know and gain the experience they lacked in their immaturity. I am discipling you in My ways, if you will humble yourself and walk with Me, not ahead of Me. If you will wait and watch, you will learn. I am a faithful teacher, but My lessons take time and patience. They take faith, humility and the trust that I will do what I have said I will do.
Abraham got his Ishmael, because he and Sara ran ahead of Me, trying to produce in their own strength what I had promised them. Their efforts produced the works of the flesh and not of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is produced by the Spirit as you allow the process of the Spirit to work in and through you. If you try and produce it in your strength it will only be a counterfeit and not bear the fruit that only I in you, can produce.
Many things want to distract you. Many things rob the higher things that I want to give you. It is a time to put you focus upon Me. Operate out of a place of practicing, living and operating in My presence. Turn your will, emotions and your mind continually back to me. Abide in a place of continual prayer, praise, worship and acknowledgement of My presence that is with you. Your highest is not in being self-sufficient, but in being God-sufficient. This is what it is to walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit, overcome the works of the flesh. When your identity is in Me then you become what I am. What you see me do, you do. What you hear me speak, you say.
Come now and rest yourself in My presence. Experience My joy, My peace and My direction in your life. There is no richer place in this earth than the center of My will and purpose for you because there, My kingdom has come and there My will is done in earth as it is in heaven.
If you want My best. If you seek My highest, then come and abide with Me in My presence. The world will pass away and all that is of the world. My kingdom is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. There you will find fullness, rest and contentment.
Come and abide in Me.

Blessings,
kent

Despair

Despair

2 Corinthians 4:8
[We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair;

There may be one today that is in a place of despair. You are so low and you feel so worthless that you despair of life itself. Desperation is overtaking you and maybe you are even contemplating that the world would be better off without you. Beloved, despair is the work of the enemy. Never is it God’s intent to bring you here. God is not the author of discouragement. He values you even more than you can value yourself.
“You may say, “even God can’t love me the way I am.” God has never stopped loving you in spite of what you are. Though the world would despise you, God has not forsaken you. Even in the bondage of deepest and ugliest sin God’s heart beats for us. Even when men can’t forgive you, God can. He loves even the lowest and vilest of sinners, the greatest failures, the nobodies, the forgotten and the rejected. God didn’t come in Christ Jesus just to call out and save the golden boys and girls. He came for all and especially those rejected of the world. 1 Corinthian 1:27-31 says, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
God is calling out to you in your despair today. Despair is the tool of devil for self-condemnation in order to destroy the precious gift of life and hope that God has given you. God is there for us when we turn to Him. It isn’t by the evidence of our feeling that we determine His presence it is according to the promise and faithfulness of His Word that He will never leave us or forsake us if we call out and believe on Him. The Lord wants to instill hope in your life today. He wants to instill in you confidence that in His eyes you are of great value and worth. No matter what your life has been or where it has taken you God can take it and use it for good if you surrender your all to Him. He is reaching out to you the hand of hope and life today. He is your lifeline that will keep you from drowning in the miry sea. Reach out and lay hold of Him. Lay hold of Christ and the precious promises for life and blessing in His Word. Jesus died for you as much as anyone else, reach out by faith and receive life from Him today.

Blessings
kent

The Greatest Gift

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The Greatest Gift

If we do the research we find that Christmas isn’t really a biblical institution as much as it is a religious one. One could get as religious about dispelling it as one could get trying to defend it.
Hopefully for most it hasn’t become just an obligation of giving, of materialism, of fantasy, gluttony and wanton revelry. It’s one good and primary focus should be to help us prioritize those things that are most important to us in life, God and family. With all of the busyness of life this is one of those Holidays that should get our focus off of ourselves and on to others. It is a time to re-prioritize our family and loved ones. It is a time to exercise God’s grace and forgiveness toward our family and others. It should be a time of reconciliation, healing, and letting old things go. Life is too short, for us to continue to hold offenses, anger, hatred, bitterness and resentment. Our humanly love, will at best , put up pretenses and false gestures while maintaining our grudge or dislike. God’s love in us will enable us to resign our feelings to be able to love, forgive and accept even those who have wronged us or hurt us.
The Holidays can pull us into all that men have made it about, but for us, as believers, it should be a time to remember and proclaim to the world God’s greatest gift of all to mankind. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Out of the abundance and fruit of that gift, which we now hold in our hearts, should come the greatest expression of His love through us. People need to see through our lives, not just at Christmas, but in all seasons, the unconditional love and gift of giving we have living in us.
Perhaps at this time of the year some non-believers are more open and tolerant to hearing and receiving about Christ than at any other time. Our strongest message may not be in what we say, but in the actions with which we say it. This is our exceptional opportunity to be a blessing and to show Christ though the way we touch the lives and needs of others.
More than a tradition, Christmas should just be an exclamation mark of who we are in Christ and who He is in us. Christ is truly the reason for all seasons.

Blessings,
kent

Hopelessness

Romans 4:18
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Hopelessness

Hopelessness is a condition of the soul whereby faith has ceased to operate and the negative circumstances have prevailed. It comes when we give up on God or we don’t know Him. There are circumstances that we can not change and even God may choose not to change them. So, do we give up on God? Without God there is no real hope in life. He is the sunshine in a dark and negative world. When we loose faith in Him then we find ourselves in a state of hopelessness.
Faith is the embodiment of hope. Faith has its substance in hope, for Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Faith is the God-given confidence of seeing our hope fulfilled. Faith and hope work hand-in-hand. Faith comes from what we can not see. Hope stands in the gap until faith becomes substance and what is unseen, becomes seen. Romans 8:24-25 says it this way, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?25But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
God wants us to rescue those who are in state of hopelessness, because they are without faith in Christ, the Son of God. It is the confidence of our hope in Him, by which we live and draw from His life. The faith that we carry in our heart, becomes flesh and substance as we believe God and step out into what He is leading us to do and to be.
Our hope, our confidence and our faith are not in the things to this world, for we know that they are soon to pass away, but we have hope in that which is eternal. That hope therefore, is not squelched by earthly circumstances and events. It is what keeps us going in spite of them.
Take the light of the hope that resides in you and light somebody else’s candle of hope and faith. As your light shines it will bring the evidence of the light and it will instill in others the hope and faith that you carry, so that they no longer need live in a state of hopelessness.

Blessings,
kent

God’s Purpose in You

Ephesians 3:10-12
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

God’s Purpose in You

As I venture out here on this scripture, I do it fully in faith of what God wants to unfold to us about our heavenly destiny and purpose. As I read the scripture prior to this I find that Paul came to know that his purpose was to unveil the mystery. Ephesians 3:6 says this is that mystery, “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
God also has a design and purpose for the ages. Paul expresses here that the purpose He is unfolding is accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, but the fullness of the mystery is not revealed in Christ singular. It is revealed in Christ in the plurality of His church. Amazingly enough this scripture declares that it is through the church that the manifold or multi-faceted and expressive wisdom of God should be made known to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. It is not like they already know the mind, the will and the full intent of God’s plan. That plan is unfolding in Christ, through us, His many-membered body.
That tells us something about ourselves as the church and the body of Christ. We are the divine expression of God’s purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord. What God is unfolding in His wisdom is being revealed in you and I. We should quickly realize that church is not a building I attend, it is who I am. We are the habitation and the indwelling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our lives are for the purpose of His expression and unveiling through us the wisdom and the purpose of the Father. We are not here to just warm the pews on a Sunday morning. We are here to reveal Him. That is God’s purpose and His purpose becomes our purpose. So, know this, you are here to instruct the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms.
How in the world can I do that?
Simply by fulfilling our purpose in God, through Christ. That purpose is to be the divine expression of what He has uniquely put in you and formed you for. Knowing and fulfilling your purpose in Christ is part of the larger picture of fulfilling God’s purpose. You and I are a piece of the puzzle. Without us it can’t be fully complete. God doesn’t want us to take for granted who we are.
First of all, we know that who we are is now one with our identity with Christ .
Remember what Jesus prayed in John 17:20-23? “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” What Jesus is praying here is saying that we are a part of the picture. In Christ, we have been incorporated into the Godhead. We are there with Him. Remember Ephesians 2:4-7? “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Where is our position today in Christ as believers in Him? Christ’s resurrection was also our resurrection, when we died to sin and were raised anew in Him. In that resurrection was also our ascension so that where Christ is, there are we also, in Him. Your bodily location might be earth, but your spirit location is in heavenly realms.
Now you have to ask yourself this question, “Do I live out of the flesh or do I live out of the Spirit? Where you live from is where your true position is.
If indeed, you are living out of the Spirit as Romans 8 says we should be, then our identity is in Christ and our position is in the heavenly realms. When you have the right identity and the right position then you are in the right place to fulfill the purpose of God for which He created you. The identity, resources, the authority, the position, everything you need, He has provided you. Now all we need is the faith, grace and understanding to carry out in this world who we are and what we were meant to be in Him.
This is why we abide in the Vine and snuggle up close to the good Shepherd. In the place of right relationship He will reveal Himself through us to fulfill His purpose. It is not given to us ahead of time. It is given to us moment by moment as we abide, trust and obey Him.
You are the divine purpose of God created for good works to reveal God’s wisdom to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

Blessings
kent

Word of the Lord: Prepare ye the Way

Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the Angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts.

Word of the Lord: Prepare ye the Way

Hear this Word. It is simply, but imperative to obey.

“Prepare ye way of the Lord!”

Focus your time, attention, finances and desires on the kingdom. Let other things go. Allow God’s kingdom to become your first priority. Those who see Me will be ready for Me. Those who store up their oil are the wise ones. The foolish ones ignore the time, the message and the preparation.
In everything, everywhere and in all circumstances, look to Me. I alone, am your salvation. Fear not what man can do to you and be careful to accept what they offer to do for you. My sheep hear my voice and another they will not follow. Know Me my people! Seek Me while I may be found. The fowler and hunter’s greatest advantage is the complacency of its prey. Guard your hearts and be watchful. Set your mind upon My will, My purpose and My direction.
Allow the outward turmoil’s you are about to see only move you to inward peace. Be not given over to the same spirit of panic that you will see moving in the outward masses. If you are walking in obedience and right relationship with Me, then this is your time. You are here for this season.
Again, if you are a wise one, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

Blessings,
kent

The Love of God through Us

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

The Love of God through Us

I would imagine that most of us know John 3:16 by heart. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is interesting to note the parallel between 1 John 3:16 and John 3:16. Both of them deal with the laying down of one’s life. Now, in 1 John it is telling us that even as Jesus did that for us, we now ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Why?
Because this is what love is and this is how love acts. Romans 5:6-8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t just talk about His love for us, He showed it to us in one of the greatest examples and expressions of love a being could ever give, the life of His only begotten son for the life of another. Christ willingly became that sacrifice for our sin. Why? Because of love.
If this same love now indwells us through Christ in us, then it follows that it will demonstrate itself in its willingness to be poured out and to lay down it’s life for others. Self will be poured out in selflessness as it seeks to meet the needs in others.
1 John 3:17-20 further defines itself this way, ” If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”
We know that we belong to the truth by the love that is expressed through our actions toward others. God is not just a God of words; He is a God of actions and His actions define His nature, which is love. True Christians are not defined by what they say, but by what they do, because we are becoming like our Daddy. This same Spirit of love now resides in us and it is in the giving of our lives that we define ourselves in Him.

Blessings,
kent

Judges

Romans 14:4
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

Judges

One thing God didn’t make the body to be at this time is a bunch of individual judges. Oh sure, there are things to be judged within the church and discernment that must be exercised, but if God wants us to discern and judge anything, it would be ourselves. Not that we would be self-condemning, but that we would hold our lives up against the Word of God and bring self-correction to our own lives that we would not be judged and corrected by the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11 exhorts us when we take the Lord’s Supper or communion to exercise self-examination before partaking.
What we are usually best at is our judgements of others instead of ourselves. We are far better at dis-membering the body of Christ than we are a re-membering it. That is what communion and the Lord’s Supper is all about. Jesus, the One Loaf was broken into many pieces, which represent us. We the many pieces are re-united in Christ to form His body. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper it is to remember not only what Christ did for us through the Cross, but to re-member or reunite ourselves in one Spirit unto Him.
In 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 we are given this exhortation, “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. (We are that body) 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
What we must be mindful of is that God is the ultimate judge of a man’s actions and heart, not us. What does the Word tell us to do if we see our brother in sin?
1 John 5:16 says, ” If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life.”
Matthew 18:15 tells us, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.”
Galatians 6:1 exhorts us, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”
The Word does teach us to confront sin in one another, but not for the purpose of judgement and condemnation, but for the purpose of reconciliation, restoration, repentance and forgiveness. We are suppose to have each other’s back, not stab each other in the back. When ever our own body is suffering from an illness or injury we don’t just get a sharp knife and whack it off. The rest of the body comes along side, both inwardly and outwardly to minister and assist in the healing and the restoration of the injured member. We are one body and we must care for each other like we would our own selves.
Jesus gives a pretty strong kingdom lesson about judgement in Matthew 7:1-5 when teaches, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Pointing the finger at others always makes us feel better because it identifies the sin and weakness in others while turning the attention, mainly our own, away from our own sins and shortcomings.
We are all sinners, and as believers, we are all partakers in God’s grace and mercy. None of deserve forgiveness, but God, by His own example in Jesus Christ, showed it to us. How is it that we can’t extend that same mercy, grace and forgiveness to one another?
Jesus, the righteous and just judge of all said this while hanging on a cross after having been beaten and whipped to shreds by those who hated him in Luke 23:22-41, “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the Jews.
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
What could others do to us that would have been worse than they did to Jesus? If He could forgive them (and we are, in a sense the extension of those who crucified Jesus because our sins put Him there) then how can we not, in Christ, forgive those who have offended, hurt, or sinned against us. This is not the way of the world, but it is the way of the kingdom, which we are, as His disciples.
There is much more that could be said about our role as playing judge. We are not God and we don’t have the right to usurp His position. He sees all, He sees the heart’s of men and He judges from a place of righteousness. We are not God, so it should not be in our hearts to try and pass judgement upon others. Let us just conclude with this scripture from Romans 2:1-4, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”

Blessings,
kent