Who am I?

Judges 6:11-16

11One day an angel from the LORD went to the town of Ophrah and sat down under the big tree that belonged to Joash, a member of the Abiezer clan. Joash’s son Gideon was nearby, threshing grain in a shallow pit, where he could not be seen by the Midianites. 

12The angel appeared and spoke to Gideon, ” The LORD is helping you, and you are a strong warrior.” 

13Gideon answered, ” Please don’t take this wrong, but if the LORD is helping us, then why have all of these awful things happened? We’ve heard how the LORD performed miracles and rescued our ancestors from Egypt. But those things happened long ago. Now the LORD has abandoned us to the Midianites.” 

14Then the LORD himself said, ” Gideon, you will be strong, because I am giving you the power to rescue Israel from the Midianites.” 

15Gideon replied, ” But how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest one in Manasseh, and everyone else in my family is more important than I am.” 

16″ Gideon,” the LORD answered, ” you can rescue Israel because I am going to help you! Defeating the Midianites will be as easy as beating up one man.” 

Who am I?

When trying to gain God’s mind, wisdom and will in a large decision in my life I was reminded of Gideon.   As I struggled with my decision and prayed about it I could see that my greatest fears, doubts and reservations were of myself.  I fear failure, making the wrong decision, the changing world and economy and so the doubts continue to race through my mind.   My greatest reservations are not of God, but of myself.  I, like Gideon of the Old Testament, see that in the natural I have no great qualities or strengths of my own to boast in.  What we see in Gideon is that sometimes it is people like us that are nothing in ourselves, but simply trust and love God, who are the ones he can use.  The Lord saw and spoke something into Gideon that he didn’t see or believe about himself. The reason God can use us nobodies in the world’s eyes, which are not particularly gifted, or smart or successful is because God has the opportunity to be the One who is mighty in us.  In verse 14, “Then the LORD himself said, ” Gideon, you will be strong, because I am giving you the power to rescue Israel from the Midianites.”  What I felt the Lord speaking into my heart was that your decision will not be without some adversities and trials, but I am your strength, your might and your provision is through Me in the midst of your adversity.  We really have no certainties in this life except our faith and confidence in our God and His truth.  Bottom line, what we must rely upon, is Him.   I know that in this fleshly mortal body of mine dwells no good thing.  I have nothing to brag about or boast in. Yours and my success in life comes from what we allow the Lord, our Christ, to be within and through us.  It is by his might that our enemies will fall and He will bring deliverance through us.  It is by His might that we will do things that in our natural man we would have never dreamed possible.  The key is that our eyes have to get off of the natural man and onto the spiritual man.  We have to walk in the peace of God for our lives.  We must walk in humility and a constant attitude of submission and obedience to His will and not our own.  Most of us won’t have an epiphany like Gideon did or hear an audible voice, but we must grow ever more attuned to that still small voice in our spirits that says, “this is the way, now walk in it.”  Often times God may say no to our request and close the doors and sometimes when He says Yes, it is hard to believe that He would bless us and give us the things that He does.  The only thing we know for certainty is that we want to be in the center of His will and purpose for our lives.  You may get a lot of opinions from others about what they think God’s will is for you, but only you can really hear, know and have the peace of God for what He wants for you.  It is good to have a multitude of counselors, but let God’s council be the final word.   

Gideon’s might was in the spiritual man he became as he put His confidence and obedience in the Lord.  Who I am isn’t dependent upon what I have been, it is dependent upon who I am becoming in Christ.  

Rest in God that He is allowing your life to be the instrument of His using and enabling.  It is relinquishment of your will to His, allowing Him to take your hand and your life to write with it the living words of His purpose and expression.  You learn to cease from your efforts and works and become comfortable in fully allowing the Holy Spirit’s direction through your life.

Blessings,

#kent

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Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh

Ephesians 5:25-33

Husbands, 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.

Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh

The law of first mention in the Word is that wherever we see something first mentioned in the Word it establishes a precedent, truth and principle that guides us in the interpretation of where it is used in other places.  Genesis 2:23-25 is where this precept and principle is first used and it establishes a precedent for the mystery and the principle that Paul speaks of here in Ephesians.  It says, “The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘ for she was taken out of man.” 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”

If you can receive it, think of Adam before the fall as being like Christ in the earth.  Everything is perfect. There is no sin, decay, pestilence or strife.  It is a utopia.  The only thing Adam is lacking is companionship.  He is alone in that he is existing in a level by himself.  Above him, he has the fellowship with God and below him he has the companionship and provision of God’s creation, but there is no one to meet him where he’s at.  

I believe when God created Adam that he was created in the image of God and he was complete in one person in the male and female sense.  Both genders were already complete in him.  But God in His wisdom and divine purpose saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He put Adam in a deep sleep, from his side He took a rib and formed a woman.  He separated out a gender that was a part of Adam and made it separate from him.  When Adam awoke and came to know this woman, what he spoke, is what Christ has spoken of His bride, the church, when she was taken out of His side.  Remember when Jesus hung upon the cross and after He slept in death, the soldier pierced his side and out that wound flowed blood and water.  These are the elements of birth and life.  The woman, the bride was now taken out of Him, washed in His blood and baptized into the death of the flesh that she might become alive in the spirit.  Jesus, the Christ, could now say of her, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘ for she was taken out of man.”  Christ might now say of His church, you are flesh of my flesh and spirit of My Spirit.  The profound mystery is that we are only complete as we are in Christ and He is complete within us.  We are two parts come together to make the whole man Christ.  Christ the head and Christ the body must become fully one.  His Word must wash us by renewing our minds and hearts in the mind and will of Christ.  Our full consummation with Him will be seen as we are presented ‘without spot or wrinkle, holy and blameless.’  When Christ left the Father it was to take unto Himself a bride.  When He comes again she will be ready and prepared for Him.  The Holy Spirit has been grooming us for Him and like Esther when she went into the king, we will be so radiant in beauty that none other can compare.  The reason Esther was so pleasing to the king is because she took the effort to find out from the eunuch what was pleasing to him.  We must find out from the Holy Spirit what is pleasing to Christ and be conformed to it.  Then we will be ready as His presence and appearance comes forth.  We will be flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone in consummate fullness.  

The Father wants us to see and know who we are in Him.  It took time and process for Esther to see herself as the queen of the great kingdom of Babylon. She had to change her thinking from who she had been to who she had become.  We must also change out thinking, being transformed in the renewing of our minds to who we now are in Christ.   We are one flesh and one spirit in Him.  He is the last Adam, without sin or fault and He is conforming us into His own image and likeness.  “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  We must be in a place of full respect and commitment unto our Husband, who is our head in all things.  We can’t be the rebellious, self-willed and self-serving wife that lives only for her wants and desires.  Our purpose is for Him, to complete Him by allowing Him to have expression through us.   Through us, the woman, He procreates Himself in the earth.

Blessings, 

#kent

Different Individual Words from the Lord

Ezekiel 47:12

Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

Different Individual Words from the Lord

There is a lonely teenage girl in loneliness and sadness today.  I see her in the corner of a dark room with a light upon her face.  The enemy is talking to you and a spirit of suicide is trying to take hold of you.  God says, “Don’t listen to the voice of darkness.  God has created you to be His daughter.  He has put great purpose and destiny in your life and the enemy wants to rob it from you.  Be encouraged.  Encourage your soul in the Word of God and don’t drown in your present circumstance.  This time of trial is to cause you to go deeper into the God you have believed to be real.  This is a time to identify and draw from His life.  “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.”   He is calling you to be an overcomer; to rise up and take authority over your circumstances and over the depression that is gripping your heart.  You are a daughter of the Most High and for freedom did Christ die to set you free.  

That’s it.  Let faith arise in your heart and let God’s light and love illuminate your being once again.  You shall prevail because He is in you.  Be encouraged and lay hold of the hope that is before you. Your time of testing and trial has an expiration date and there are great days before you.

William be encouraged, your blessing is coming!

Laurie, sin is crouching at your door.  Don’t entertain it or allow it place in your heart.  It is the enemy speaking to you and trying to get you to take up an offense.  Let it go.   Cover it in love and release your offender. 

Harvey, walk on with me.  You have stubbed your toe on a rock and it is a rock of offense.  It has brought great pain to you, but I want you to be healed of it now and walk on with me.  I will heal it and I will deal with it.  Set your eyes back on me.  Come on Harvey, it is time to walk on. 

Kate, it’ not too late.  It’s not too late.  Turn your heart back to me.   Kate, I am the Gate you need to walk through for healing, restoration and deliverance.  Look back Kate.  My arms are open to you.  Come back to Me Kate.  it’s not too late.

Richard, you are radical.  Be radical in My love.  Allow My heart to prevail in you.  Let mercy triumph over judgement.  You are called forth to the nations, but you have to come into My heart for the nations.  I have made you radical to go where few men would go, but you have to be radical in My love, for it is My love that will be your greatest weapon in the days to come.  Pursue 

Me now and seek My heart.  I will reveal My love through you. 

Judith, pursue with fervor those that are before you.  Overtake them in My love through you.  I want to apprehend them and you are the vessel through whom I want to work.  In all that you do and all that you are, show them Me.  Don’t worry that their beliefs are different.  You are My living epistle and My gospel is written upon your heart and is lived out through your actions.  

I am with you Judith, Pursue!

Sue, the Lord is healing you!  No more, no more!   The battle bow of disease has been broken!  Stand in your authority in Christ.  Declare His Word and don’t look at what you see.  This is not unto death but unto life, for it is resurrection life that is working in you today.  Take hold of My Word and don’t be moved.  You are called to life declares the Lord!

Cheyenne Summers, there are green pastures before you.  come into My rest.  Come and partake of Me.  I will lead you by the gentle streams and peaceful brooks.  I am your Shepherd.  Come and learn to hear My voice so that where I will lead you, you will follow.  I will give you rest. 

Jane, God hears you.  He hears your cries and feels your heart.  You have thought yourself to be nothing when in reality GREATNESS  is written all over you.  You are My beloved and I cherish you.  In My quietness toward you I have seen your faithfulness.  You have not gone unnoticed.  Abide in Me for I have written GREATNESS  upon you.  Your window of opportunity is coming.  As you abide in Me you will know when to move into it. 

Summer, winds are at your back right now and  life is good, but there are dark days before you.  Don’t become complacent or take your ease.  Come and dwell in the shelter under the shadow of my wings, so that I might shelter you as you go through the storm.  Draw near to Me and know that I am with you.  

Robert or Bob, you have five children.  They are your legacy and a godly seed. Diligently plant the Word of God in them.  Don’t force it upon them, but teach them to practice the principles of My Word in their daily lives.  Show them the excitement of knowing Me and encountering Me daily.  I will come along side you in this endeavor.  Make it your priority. 

Max, the Lord says YES.  That is His will for you.  

Linda, less is more.  Just be and do.  The Word through you will preach much stronger than the words out of your mouth.  Live my gospel before him and edify him.  You can’t build a kingdom if you are trying to build it yourself.  You be the expression of My love and then I will be free to do My work.  

If any of these words have spoken to you or ones you know, I would be very encouraged to hear those testimonies.  Thank you.

Blessings,

#kent

Counsel of the Lord

Proverbs 19:21

[There are] many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. 

Counsel of the Lord

Are there any of you, besides myself that get in our mind what we want to do and that is like our final counsel?  We have decided this is the way it needs to be and in our mind we are right.  We are insistent in our arguments and dogmatic in our commitment to see it done our way.  Maybe someone has said to you, “It doesn’t matter what I say, you are going to do what you are going to do.”  So we bulldog our way through; sometimes it turns out good and a lot of times not so good.  

Conviction of purpose is a good thing to have if we follow the right counsel.  Proverbs 19 says that there are many devices in a man’ heart.  We have our ways of how we think things will work, what is best and how things should be done, but is that God’s counsel or ours?  What we often find out, and don’t like to admit, is that we are not always as wise as we thought we were at the time we decided what the right way to do something was.  What we all have to come to the realization of is that no matter how good our intentions or our motives the only counsel that will surely stand is the Lord’s counsel.  How imperative it is in this hour that we develop an ear for the Lord’s counsel.  Most times we can find it in His Word if we have ears to hear and a heart to obey.  Human nature is such that it usually hears what it wants to hear and kind of ignores the rest.  

Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where no counsel [is], the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors [there is] safety.”  Counsel is an important element of success.  Where we lack proper direction we usually fail, but if we have the right counselors to advise us and we have a willing and an open heart to listen, we can be successful because we follow sound advice.  The advantage of a multitude of counselors is that you get a multi-faceted opinion and direction.  The key here is to choose a multitude of counselors that are people of God and seek to have the mind of the Lord.  In that multitude you may find confusion or you may here a reoccurring theme and advice that is a witness that this is the way to proceed.  Most of us have had the experience of hearing something that we thought was of the Lord, then we started hearing that same thing or something similar coming from different places and people.  It serves as a confirmation in our hearts that what we first heard was true.  It is like a multitude of counselors and can work the same way.  

Many of us can relate to places in our spiritual walk where we are much like teenagers.  We thought we had it all figured out, we had just enough knowledge and information to be dangerous, but in our minds we knew what we wanted and what was best for us.  So despite the counsel of others we proceeded to do what we wanted to do.  We usually continue in that vain for a time until we gain enough maturity, generally through our failures and mistakes, that we realize we don’t know it all and that those who were trying to give us good counsel weren’t as dumb as we seemed to think they were.  Why is it that we can see it in our teenagers, but we can’t see it in ourselves?  What we generally find out is that we didn’t want to do something God’s way because we wanted to have our freedom.  What we come to find out is that our so-called freedom became our bondage and downfall and our response of obedience really brought the liberty and freedom that we thought we would miss.   The sad part is what we had to go through to come to this realization.

Lord, may we find the wisdom of your Counsel each day of our lives.  May the divine counsel of the Holy Spirit guide us and order our steps in the ways of righteousness.  May You place the will and the do of Your good pleasure within us to follow Your counsel and gain the principle thing, which is divine wisdom and understanding.  Help us each day to put on the mind of Christ, not being conformed to this world, but being transformed through the renewing of our minds in Your counsel.  Straighten our crooked paths and correct us when we steer off course.  Bring us into the straight and narrow of Your divine will and purpose for our lives.  In that place we will find the green pastures of your peace and the gentle stream of living water.  In that place our soul will be satisfied with comfort and joy because we are the sheep that know Your voice and follow in Your counsel.  Amen

Blessings,

#kent

Promise Keepers

Promise Keepers

1 Kings 8:56

Blessed [be] the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. 

Isn’t it sad, time consuming, frustrating and even a little insulting that whenever you make a purchase using a credit card or check you must verify everything with an I. D.?  You can’t even pump gas unless you pay first.  Why wasn’t it that way forty or fifty years ago?  I think it was because the majority of people were more honest, reliable and their word meant something.  Many deals were done with a handshake rather than a contract.  More people were raised with the ethics that ‘a man is only as good as his word’.  Therefore a person’s word carried more weight and reliability than it does today.  Today, among so many, a person’s promise or word doesn’t carry the commitment that it once did.  Many of us have grown very lax when it comes to our commitment in carrying out what we have said that we will do.  As a result we live in a world of mistrust and we must seek security of some sort on all of our transactions and dealings, otherwise someone will change their mind and their promise or commitment means nothing.  

Aren’t we thankful that God isn’t wishy-washy, changing His mind from one time to the next?  Aren’t we thankful that His love and commitment aren’t conditional upon our being good enough or performing well enough?  2 Corinthians 1:19-20 says, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”   God isn’t slack concerning His promises and our word should be as His word, sure and reliable.  It is bad enough that we live in a world and society that are not committed to their word, but we, as God’s people, are not that much different.  In fact I have seen many times that a person that wasn’t even a Christian was more reliable and trustworthy than another person who did profess to know Christ.  If we can’t and don’t keep our word and our promises then what are we telling the world that is seeing Christ through us.  “If I can’t trust you, why should I trust your God?”  Brethren, these things ought not to be so.  All of us need to raise our level of integrity and character to the point that when we commit and promise something we are bound to carry it through.  

What does Jesus say about keeping your word?  In Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”  He doesn’t ask us to bind ourselves with oaths and swear by other things that we have no control over, He simply tells us to have the integrity to let our yes mean yes and our no mean no.  He is saying, just be a person of your word.  Are we liars, promise breakers, false and untrue?  This is what we are saying about ourselves when we don’t follow through and keep our word.  Even more, this is what we are communicating about God to the people that are watching our lives and seeing our actions.   

God is wanting us to be promise keepers, true to our covenants and promises to Him first, but also to our wives and husbands, families, friends and the people that we interact with in life.

Are you a person of integrity and a person of your word?

Blessings,

#kent

The Former and the Latter Rain

Joel 2:23

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month]. 

The Former and the Latter Rain

The former rain was the rain of preparation for the seed.  It gave the seed the moisture that it needed to grow.  This is what the Lord has given us in measure by the Holy Spirit.  We have a foretaste of that which we saw in Jesus without measure.  We have been given the rain that we need to grow up into Him in all things.  The former and the latter rain are the preparation rains and the maturing rains together.  They are the outpourings of God’s Spirit combined into one great outpouring upon His people that the fullness of Christ power and life might be manifested through us.  

The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3:14-20, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”  Paul wouldn’t have prayed for us to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God if there wasn’t a time, a season and the ability for it to happen.  To some of us it may seem blasphemous that we could even think such a thing, but remember the new creation man in you was birthed after the image and likeness of Christ.  God’s purpose and plan for us is that we mature into His likeness.  Ephesians 4:13 talks about the body of Christ being built up, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Does that give us any revelation of who God has called to be?  Paul says that to those who are mature they will see this calling and run toward the prize of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus.  Our life and calling is about so much more than a shallow Christian life lived out in mediocrity until we die and go to heaven.  It is about pressing into the fullness of what Christ has called us to be in Him.  Our maturity and growth is going to spill over into body for the spiritual maturity and growth of all of us together.  It is as Ephesians 4:14-16 says,  “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” We are God’s seed and His harvest in progress.  He doesn’t want us to always be looking at what we aren’t, but rather what we are becoming and already are in Him.  

The Lord is speaking to us in this hour from Hosea 6:1-3, “Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.” 

Blessings,

#kent

Come Near to God

James 4:8

Come near to God and he will come near to you…

Come Near to God

In this time and this hour there should be an urgency in our hearts to pull back from the world and all that it represents.  Our attention and our focus must be heavenly; upon His kingdom coming in this personal earth, as well as the earth at large.  If we continue in the world it will only be and anchor that pulls us down into its destruction, chaos and judgement.  Today is a day of heavenly vision and divine insight.  It is a day to get a revelation of why you have been created to be who you are.  God has designed you, purposed and placed you in the earth for such a time as this.  Each of us in Christ has a calling and a destiny.  If we haven’t discovered what that is then how much more we need to come near to God to gain understanding of our true identity and purpose.  

Everything else must become secondary in our pursuit for Him.  Father God is our primary objective and goal and anything else before Him detours us from what we must lay hold of.  There is a sifting going on. On God’s threshing floor the wheat and chaff are being cast together into the air.  The wheat will remain, but the chaff will be blown away.  

Today God is calling His people in a separation unto Him.  

You are on a ship and it was destroyed, but you escaped with your life.  You’re in the water with the ship’s debris all around, but in the distance you see a life raft that is completely in tact and floating.  You know that in it there are provisions, water, blankets and protection from cold and sharks.  Would you settle for just clinging to the ship’s debris or would you move whatever was necessary out of your way and swim until you were able to reach that raft?  Where would your eye be fixed and where would your goal be set?  Jesus is that life raft in the midst of this earthly debris. With all that is within you swim for Him.  He is not only your means of survival, but once you are safely in Him your focus can then be on rescuing others.  

The problem in our relationship with God, is not God, but us.  It is our sin that causes separation.  It is not that God is not there or has turned His back on us.  His desire is for our relationship, but we have to get in alignment with the instruction of His Word and the revelation that we are a new creation man. When we are willing to do things His way, we will see the results that He promises us. When we are willing to wait and hear the direction of the Holy Spirit we will see the results in our lives that we are looking for.  It is God that is waiting for us.  If we want Him to come  near to us then we need to fully turn our hearts to where He is.  It is not in all of our efforts, but in our submission, waiting and obedience.  Move whatever earthly debris that is hindering you out of the way as you make your way to Him.

Blessings,

#kent

A Sobering Word from the Lord

Joel 3:9-16

Proclaim this among the nations: 

Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. 

10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 

“I am strong!” 

11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD! 

12 “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. 13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow— so great is their wickedness!” 

14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 

15 The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. 

16 The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

A Sobering Word from the Lord

There shall be a day of mourning and sorrow for the sun shall not shine by day, nor the moon by night.  Spiritual darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people.  The Lord is with His own.  Many stand in the valley of decision.  They need to act quickly and not hesitate.  

The Morning Star was given to bring light into the world, but the world received it not.  People will cry out for light, but none will be found.  They will stumble for lack of vision and knowledge of the Lord.  The Lord in His grace has poured out the blessing of His grace and salvation, making it known unto every nation, tribe and tongue.  The nations will be brought into the Valley of Judgement and Valley of Decision.  “Choose this day whom you will serve.  Before you are life and death.   Choose this day who you will serve, for you stand in the Valley of Separation.  

The Lord will thunder out of Zion.  He will sit in judgement of all who have profaned His name and His people.  You do not want to hear the hard things I have to speak.  You want your ears tickled with blessing and good words.  I have many rich and wonderful things for you My people, but you must not withdraw in fear and unbelief at the fires of purification that stand before you.   

You worship My Son in this season and that is good, but so many are content to keep Him the infant child and fail to see Him mature into the warrior King.  You have become content on the milk and Christ remains the infant in your hearts.  Woe to them that give suck in this day for you have fed milk when by such time many of you should be mature and partaking of the meat of the Word.  Pray that your flight be not winter when all is spiritually cold and dead.  Oh My people, come into the fullness of your calling.  Put aside the frivolous things that consume your time and resources.  It is a time when the kingdom of God is to come into the earth and your kingdom is so polluted.  Purify your hearts ye double-minded.   Make straight the way of the Lord.  The times are upon you and you continue to tarry in their season.  The trumpet has sounded and the alarm has gone forth, but still you sit in your complacency and slumber.  Awaken My people and arise to the marvelous calling that is before you.  Become spiritually alert and astute to what I am about to bring to pass.  Know that I am with you if you are in Me, but so many have strayed from the hedge my protection, because they have been rebellious and disobedient in their hearts.  Their affections are far from me.  

Today I am calling unto you, “Return unto Me!”  Soon the door closes and those who are not prepared will not come in.  This is the day of your reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration.  Respond to the season of My compassion and mercy.   Darkness is coming, enter in while you have the light.  Hide yourself in the shadow of My wing and I will cover you there.    I am purging and preparing My people for this time of darkness and for a time you will be hidden.   The time of My judgement is at hand, be sober, vigilant and pray in the Holy Ghost.  Turn your heart from all impurity and defilement of flesh and spirit.  Come unto Me with a broken and contrite heart and I will not turn you away.  My Risen Son stands at the gate awaiting My Word to go forth.  Ready your hearts for your Redeemer cometh.  

Blessings,

#kent

Fellowship with Father

Romans 8:14

Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Fellowship with Father

I just want to share with you some of what the Holy Spirit was speaking into me during my time with Him this morning.  I think the thing that we all desire from Father is a “now Word” that speaks to the season and the time that we are in.  I believe that what He is speaking to each of us is largely relevant to what He is speaking to His body at large.  At least to those who have an ear to hear His voice.

  

The Holy Spirit is freedom, liberty, no more walls, restrictions or limitations.  He is a river that can not be dammed up or stopped.  He overcomes all obstacles in His path as we flow in the Spirit of God.  As we are filled with that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead we go where he goes and we also prevail against all obstacles and restraints.  The Holy Spirit flows and moves in the tabernacle and the tents of His people.  We must behold Him as the Israelites did as the cloud in the wilderness and move when He moved and stay when he staid.  The children of Israel lived outside the cloud.  We now live within the cloud of His presence.  That is the shadow of the Almighty and the shadow and protection of His wing.  

Respect and honor the Holy Spirit.  Hold Him in high and holy regard. He is not common or to be taken for granted.  

Why sickness and affliction lingers?

Like prison ministry you learn in the midst of the prison how to bring freedom in.  You learn how to express out of your weakness His strength and out of your need, His provision.  When man learns to find the heavenlies and God in his limitation, then, not only does he become free, he is able to bring other into that freedom.  The kingdom is not that which is without, but that which is within. When you walk in the unseen, even in the midst of the reality of your natural world, then you walk in the Spirit and in faith.  It is more needful and important to see with the eyes of the Spirit than even with natural sight.  Faith moves your circumstances, it is not circumstances that determine your faith.  God’s people get discouraged because they don’t always see in the natural realm those things that are taking place by the Spirit.  All things have a time and season; a time of planting, cultivation, watering and then the harvest.  Faithfully walking  in the “I AM”, even when you don’t see, hear or feel will over time and faithfulness produce the “I AM” in you.  Faithful is the man that does not see and yet believes.

The mind of the Spirit doesn’t think as the world thinks.  It is not moved by worldly criteria or time.  It sees and moves in the eternal purposes of the Father.  The person that walks by the Spirit learns not to succumb or try to move according to earthly standards, pressures or human restraint.  So many miss the Spirit, because they don’t know and apply this principle.  They must only speak what they hear the Spirit speaking and do what they see the Father doing.  As Christ was in this earth, so must we be in this world.  The soul must learn submission to the spirit under subjection to the Holy Spirit.  This is why so few really move by the Spirit.  The soul has not yet been brought into subjection and obedience to the Spirit.  God’s Spirit is affirmed by the Word of Truth, because He is Truth. 

John 10

The way of entry into the kingdom of God is through Christ.  He is the only gate.  All who are His sheep hear His voice and they know His voice.  His voice is revealed in His nature, its love, its correction unto righteousness and its consistency and alignment with the Word of God.  

John 10:14

“I am the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know  me. – Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.”

John 10:17

The reason My Father loves me is that I lay down My life  — only to take it up again.”  

If we are like Christ we must embrace this principle of willingness to lay down our lives.  

” Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mathew 10:39)”

“Bear with Me church, for where I lead you will follow.” 

Blessings,

#kent

What do You Hold in Your Heart?

Genesis 41:50-52

Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” 

What do You Hold in Your Heart?

The story of Joseph is such an inspirational one, because few stories in the Bible parallel the life of Christ like Joseph’s does, especially in the area of suffering.  Here is a young man that is treated harshly and unfairly through all of his youth.  First, his own brothers sell Joseph into slavery.  He is then cast into prison through false accusations and all the time he never waivers in his trust in God and reliance upon him.  Joseph didn’t have the outward markings of greatness as the world would see them, but even those that he was put under could see the Spirit of God that was evident in his life.  They observed the spirit of wisdom that was with him and were comfortable with placing him in charge of what was theirs.  

Some of us have walked a path of suffering and suffering can take many forms.  Sometimes it seems that there is no way out.  No matter what we do, God seems to keep us hemmed in.  What we are able to observe in Joseph’s life is that through this season of suffering when life was so unfair, he acted differently than many would have.  We might say he had a right to be resentful, anger, bitter, unforgiving towards people and towards God, but he didn’t choose that path.  He chose to keep his heart in the hands of God and trust Him, that He would order his steps.  He was simply faithful in whatever circumstances he found himself and did the best he could to serve whoever was put over him.  He learned the art of submission and obedience.

I was looking for somewhere where Joseph would reveal his true feelings.  I found it in how he named his children.  The first one Manasseh was named such because God made him to forget and forgive the betrayal and cruelty of his brothers and all of the trouble and hurt their actions brought upon him.  The second son he named Ephraim, because God made him to be fruitful in the land of his suffering.  What I saw was that Joseph was willing to submit to God through all of His difficult circumstances.  He maintained a quiet reliance and trust in God, while always giving God the glory in his ability to interpret dreams.  

God has some of us in a hard place today.  It may well be the place of suffering and a place we would be glad to leave if we could.   God may well be with us in that place even more than you know. That may be the place where He is training you up in trust and reliance upon Him.  It may be the place where He is teaching you to let go of all bitterness and unforgiveness that you may have towards those that have wronged you.  Joseph had the wisdom to not allow his circumstance to defeat him or define him, but to shape him into the man of God that could be used for God’s eternal purposes.  God may well be training you and I to rule and reign with Him, but we are often trained up in the camp of suffering.  When soldiers go through boot camp it is camp of suffering and hardship as they are prepared for the day of battle.  God is preparing His people in this hour.  Don’t despair in your place of suffering for it may well be the place of God’s preparation in your life.  Rather submit to Him and learn of Him the nature of Christ in every circumstance.

Blessings,

#kent