Establish the Earth

Isaiah 49:8-9

8Thus says the Lord, In an acceptable and favorable time I have heard and answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you; and I will preserve you and give you for a covenant to the people, to raise up and establish the land [from its present state of ruin] and to apportion and cause them to inherit the desolate [moral wastes of heathenism, their] heritages,

9Saying to those who are bound, Come forth, and to those who are in [spiritual] darkness, Show yourselves [come into the light of the Sun of righteousness]. They shall feed in all the ways [in which they go], and their pastures shall be [not in deserts, but] on all the bare [grass-covered] hills.

Establish the Earth

Christ came to establish the kingdom of God in the earth.  He came as a prototype and firstfruits of that company of people that He would use to propagate and infuse this kingdom into the hearts of men throughout the earth.  The Lord Jesus gave us a commission to go out into all of the earth and bring the gospel and the good news to them.  What the Lord began with the Jews He has accomplished through the Gentiles, because as a whole, His own received Him not. 

Romans 11:25 says, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”  The rejection of Christ by the Jews has become the Gentile’s salvation.  We have reaped the benefit and blessing of their rejection.  God will not cast off His people for all time, but will again establish and restore their habitation and ruins. God has given us as a new covenant in Christ.  He has also given us the commission and the honor to establish this covenant in the earth.  What God has given us as a commission to do, He has not left us in our own strength and devices to carry it out.  Religions of men are built on such devices and the strength and wisdom of men will always fall short. The Lord has given us His signet ring, His authority and power for us to go to those who are bound in spiritual darkness and bring them into the light of the Son of righteousness. 

We are more than we think we are.  There is more potential power and authority in you than you can even imagine.  There is about to be a spiritual explosion in the earth.  The spirits of darkness and of light will manifest themselves as never before.  God has prepared us for this hour to magnify, declare and, with all spiritual authority, establish His Name in the earth. 

Most of us look at ourselves and say who am I?  What do I have?  What can I do?  You can be the instrument of God’s righteousness and deliverance.  Through our obedience and faith we can and will walk in places of spiritual authority and power that we have never known.  Take your eyes off of your flesh and get them upon Christ, for His headship and His life is being expressed through His body to carry out His will and covenant.  Our weakness is insignificant next to His strength.   

In 1 Chronicles 28:7-8 the Lord speaks concerning Solomon, “Moreover I will establish his kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day. Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the congregation of the LORD, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God: that ye may possess this good land, and leave [it] for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.”  The Lord has given us His covenant to establish His kingdom.  What is working in us, will work through us, as we are constant to keep the Lord’s ways and set our hearts steadfastly upon Him.  The Lord is stirring in the hearts of His people to prepare our hearts. that we may walk in the faith and footsteps of the Son of God.

 

Blessings,

#kent

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Trust

Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

As easy as the instruction of this passage appears to be, why is it that it is so difficult to continually implement it into our lives?  Could it be because we have relied on our own understanding in so many circumstances and through so much of life it is hard for us to let go.  We might compare it with parachuting.  Why would a sane person jump out of a perfectly good airplane?  When you do you leave the safety and security of what you know to jump into what you only know and rely upon by faith.  Like parachuting, it can be pretty hard for us to want to let go concerning our faith and full reliance upon the Father.  Why should we be afraid to trust Him?  We certainly can see what a marvelous job He has done with the world that surrounds us, the balance of nature and how he cares for even the most minute of creatures.  Why should we doubt that He has anything but our best interest at heart?   Yet, the greatest stumbling block down through the ages has been that God’s people always eventually want to forsake Him for what they can see, touch, feel, taste and hear.  We are always being drawn back into the five senses of our natural man.  That is the realm in which we comfortably live. 

We have been called out of the comfort zone of our natural living.  We have been called to sky dive into the arms of our God, no longer looking and relying on the natural man.  Until we are willing to do this we will always live under the law of limitations.  Obviously there is a balance to this, but I believe more times than not we error more on the side of trusting in the flesh than trusting in our God.  Abraham is a wonderful example of a man that was willing to trust in God rather than his own understanding.  His faith was accounted unto him as righteousness and we don’t see God failing Abraham.  It doesn’t mean his faith was not tested and he often had to walk only in trust and obedience, but we see an example of a man that was well pleasing to the Lord and God counted Abraham as His friend. 

We see the Apostle Paul coming to this place when he says in Galatians 2:20, ” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  This is simply stating in New Testament words the truth of Proverbs 3:3-6.   Christ becomes our all and all.  Life has become for His purpose and for His glory and not for ours.   All of our life is directed around His will and good pleasure.  Our spiritual senses are always attuned to His leading and direction.  The more sensitive, conscious we are and the more time that we are spending communing and setting our minds and hearts on the Father, the more the Holy Spirit will be able to make Himself known to us in our daily lives.  It is the walking in our own understanding that has made our hearts hard and insensitive to the Spirit’s leading and direction. 

We are again reminded of James exhortation to us in James 4:7-10, “7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  We are God’s people and it is essential that we really begin to trust and rely on Him in all of our ways.  If this world, its economy and all of the security we currently trust in were gone tomorrow do you have the trust and relationship with Christ that would sustain you by faith alone?  Is Christ truly our security or is it in all that we have built with our hands and our abilities. 

Today is a day that God wants to bring us out of our understanding into the understanding of who He is and who He wants to be to us and through us.  Let’s press into the understanding of our God and His ways.

Psalms 23:8 says, “But [it is] good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”

 

Blessings,

#kent

Strongholds

Mark 3:23-27

So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.

Strongholds

There are strongholds that each one of us deals with in our lives.  Some may be stronger than others, but all of us have dealt with areas of our flesh where we are weak and more prone to failure and sin.  Most all of us tend to want to keep these in the secret places of our closets so others won’t see, but often very ugly things reside behind the closed doors of our home and our hearts.  These strongholds have fettered us and kept us in a state of bondage even as Christians for far too long.  It is most often a love-hate relationship.  We hate our sin and yet we love it too much to let go of it.  As a result we struggle with our hypocrisy, often justifying it or rationalizing it so we can live with this bondage that is crippling our wholeness in Christ.  Many of us live with much guilt and condemnation because we truly love the Lord and yet in these areas that may differ with each one of us, we are weak and seem unable to break free. 

The enemy knows our areas of weakness and vulnerability.  These are his inroads to our soul to hinder us and cripple us in walking in obedience in these areas.  No amount of rules or laws are going to deliver us from these sensual or fleshly indulgences. 

Paul says this in Colossians 2:19-13, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”  The truth is that Jesus Christ has bound the strong man, disarming his powers and authority.  We now possess in Christ a greater power and authority than that which has bound us.  Verse 10 says ‘you have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority.’ 

So why are we still enslaved by these strongholds of sin and flesh?  God has placed the Spirit of Christ in us to overcome the flesh.  It is easy when someone does everything for you, but it doesn’t help you to grow or to find the strength you need to live in victory.  God has called us to overcome in Christ Jesus. 

We plead, “But I have tried and I still fail. I can’t do it.” 

That is exactly right, we can’t do it, but we have a power resident within us by which we can.   Romans 8:12-14 tells us, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  The key words here for us are “By the Spirit”.   We have an identity in Christ that we must put on in every area of our lives.  We are no longer identified with the weakness, fearfulness and the lust of our flesh.  We are identified with what we possess which Colossians 2:10 says is the ‘fullness in Christ’.   

Colossians 3:1-11 exhorts us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” We must know who we are and where we now reside in the Spirit.  We are not an earthly people any longer, we are a kingdom people with the King of Kings setting upon the throne our hearts and souls. 

Some of us cry out in our souls and say, “I want to be free, but I can’t.”  Can’t is not a statement of faith, but of fear and unbelief.  “We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us.”  Our greatest enemy is the deceptiveness of sin.  We hide our sin in the closet because of our shame.  We don’t want people to think of us less than spiritual; when in truth we are all struggling with the same garbage.  It doesn’t matter how wicked or perverse the thing is that you struggle with, God sees it and He knows.  It is not His will that this stronghold possesses you and rules over you.  The greatest tactic of the enemy is to get you alone with your sin, like you are the only one going through this. You are not alone.  We all struggle in areas of our life.  Our greatest strength and victory is going to come when we bring our sin and struggles into the light and we allow the body of Christ to stand with us, pray with us and offer accountability to us.  James 3:16 tells us, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  The reason we confess our sins to one another is to bring them into the light, which renders the devil powerless.   He can only work in darkness.  In the light we unite with the strength and support of fellow believers who can pray with us, stand with us and help us to be accountable in those areas where we are so prone to temptation. 

It is time for all of us to come out of our dysfunctional state of sin and failure.  Let us help one another in coming into the full freedom and deliverance from these strongholds that have so long crippled and hindered us in our walk and full devotion to Christ.  You are not alone in your struggle.  Surround yourself with other solid believers that you can trust and confide in.  You may find that you are able to help them as much as they can help you.   Let us walk in the light as He is in the light.  No more strongholds!

Blessings,

#kent

Temporal or Eternal

There was a day I knew not what to do.  Lord  I come before You to inquire of You.  The Spirit is silent within and I don’t want my thoughts to take the place of Him.  So I wait to see what He may speak. 

Inserted Sharon’s writing.

Morning Kent,

Just wanted to share a thought with you. If you feel it is something that can be used, then share it. There are scriptures I could put in, if you want to use this that would add to it. I will add them if you want me too. Also, feel free to edit it…as I’m sure it needs it. Love you…

Temporal or Eternal

Matthew 6:19-21

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This evening, I opened an email and one of my friends sent me something I had received a few years ago. It was sculptures made in the sand at a beach. One of the pictures was of Christ and his twelve disciples…another was Jesus on the cross and the last one was the face of Jesus. I found myself asking Jeannie, “Can you imagine spending all that time on making something that will just fade away or be destroyed by the next day?” I no more said those words when the thought came to me that’s precisely what we do everyday. We work hard in this world for money, to buy things that are temporal…those things that fade away and can be destroyed… instead of working for those things that are eternal. Why do we do this? Is it because this world has blinders on our eyes? It would have us going in every direction but on the straight and narrow road, which leads to life.  Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Why can’t we understand and keep in mind how temporal this life is? I heard a preacher say once, “Everything we are doing now, will make a difference in our position for all eternity.” I’m sure I didn’t quote it just right, but the meaning is there. And if this is true, then why do we waste so much time? Are we building our house on a firm foundation? Or are we building on sand; and when the winds of adversity blow, what we’ve been built on, will it sink and fade away? My prayer is that each one of us would take a long hard look at our lives and the way we live, and ask ourselves what exactly our lives are about. Are we living for Christ and His destiny for our lives? Or are we living apart from Him, doing our own thing and living our lives the way we please?

Blessings,

Sharon

 

 

The Seed of Heavenly Life

The Seed of Heavenly Life

Matthew 13:37-38

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked [one];

This parable of Jesus concerning seed is a principle that runs through the Word of God.  Here, He plainly says what the good seed is, that it is the children of the kingdom.  In John 12:23-26 Jesus teaches His disciples this principle about seed as He is preparing for the cross.  “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will [my] Father honour” The principle of seed is that it lives to die to bring forth life more abundantly and in an increase that it could never see if it only lives to its self.  Jesus tells us we are the good seed and that when good seed loses its natural life it gains life eternal. 

1 Corinthians 15 teaches us some more along these lines.  It deals a great deal with the principles of life, death and resurrection.  In this limited commentary we would glean just a point or two from it.  The first point is this; death isn’t often a pleasant process.  We can see throughout the New Testament and throughout the Word of God that men and women of God often suffered hardships, persecutions and trials as they walked out their faith.  Many even gave their natural lives for their faith.  Paul makes the statement in 1Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”  Why did Paul make this statement?  He was a seed planted in the ground who was dying, literally pouring out His life, for the lives of others.  He makes another statement in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” The reason for dying and the reason for resurrection are so that death gives place to life, weakness gives place to God’s strength and corruptible gives way to that which is incorruptible. 

1Corinthians 15:42-49 goes on to make this point, “So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”  We are God’s seed that He is planting in the field of this world.  The end is that it works the life of Christ in others as we are poured out unto Him.  In the process of our dying or being poured out, there is a transformation that is taking place from the earthly to the heavenly.  While we see only now in part, Christ shall complete that process when corruption puts on incorruption, when death is swallowed up in life and when we fully bear the image of the heavenly, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If we are experiencing the death today, be of good courage, it is giving place to His life.

 

Blessings,,

#kent

The City of our God

The City of our God

Psalms 48:1-3

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

Most of us understand the concept that when we talk about the church we are not just speaking of physical locations made up of sticks and stones and building material.  We know that when God speaks of His church He is speaking of the organism and a body that functions under the headship and authority of Christ.  The city of God and Zion are the same way.  Yes there is a natural Jerusalem and Mount Zion, but it is much more than a physical location; it is a spiritual location.  Many of us have become so earthly minded that we only see Jerusalem in a natural context.  We fail to fully comprehend that this city is comprised of His people and that King Jesus is upon its throne, ruling out of mount Zion.  Mount Zion was in the older part of the natural city of Jerusalem.  It was a citadel, a high place and a fortress.  It included Mount Moriah where the temple was built.  God has used Jerusalem and Zion as a metaphor throughout His word to speak of the spiritual city of His holy habitation. 

Hebrews 11:8-10 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as [in] a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.”  God founded this city of salvation in Abraham.  It was there that God sent Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Genesis 22:2 says, “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”   It was Mount Moriah where Solomon built the temple.  “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2 Chronicles 3:1)” It was in Jerusalem that God fulfilled His promise of salvation because it became again the place of the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son when Jesus gave His life for our sins.  And finally we see Jerusalem, not the old natural city, but the New Jerusalem which is from above, as being the completion of God’s salvation at Christ’s return.  Revelations 21:2 tells us, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  This is Lord’s church, His Bride, His holy habitation and dwelling.  You and I are a part of that now as Christ indwells us.  The Word speaks to this heavenly Jerusalem in Hebrews 12:22-24, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”  This Jerusalem is a spiritual city and assembly whose builder and maker is God.  The natural has been the type and shadow to reveal the real.

Finally we come to a scripture that we have shared many times that so describes the part we play in this city.  1 Peter 2:4-9 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, 8and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  We, the body of Christ are what constitutes and comprises this New Jerusalem.  Out of this New Jerusalem the Lord will reign and govern the earth.  Truly, “great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.  Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King!”  (Psalms 48:1)

 

Blessings,

#kent

My Destiny is the Pits

Genesis 37:13-24

[One day] Israel said to Joseph, Do not your brothers shepherd my flock at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. And he said, Here I am. 14And [Jacob] said to him, Go, I pray you, see whether everything is all right with your brothers and with the flock; then come back and bring me word. So he sent him out of the Hebron Valley, and he came to Shechem. 15And a certain man found him, and behold, he had lost his way and was wandering in the open country. The man asked him, What are you trying to find? 16And he said, I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing our flocks.

17But the man said, [They were here, but] they have gone. I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. 18And when they saw him far off, even before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. 19And they said one to another, See, here comes this dreamer and master of dreams. 20So come on now, let us kill him and throw his body into some pit; then we will say [to our father], Some wild and ferocious animal has devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams! 21Now Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands by saying, Let us not kill him. 22And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit or well that is out here in the wilderness and lay no hand on him. He was trying to get Joseph out of their hands in order to rescue him and deliver him again to his father. 23When Joseph had come to his brothers, they stripped him of his [distinctive] long garment which he was wearing; 24Then they took him and cast him into the [well-like] pit which was empty; there was no water in it.

My Destiny is the Pits

Most of us know the story of Joseph who was the favored son of Jacob, but despised by his brothers.  God had his hand on Joseph in a special way and even gave Joseph some dreams that were glimpses into his destiny and calling.

Remember how great it was when we first came to know Christ and experienced the joy of salvation.  Then, as we grew we learned of His exceeding great and precious promises to us in Christ Jesus.  What perhaps wasn’t so real to us at the time was the truth that “if we suffer with Him we shall also be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17)”.  Many of us walking this journey of faith and trust in Christ have found and are still finding ourselves in some very difficult places.  Maybe we have even pondered whether God really loves or cares about us.  I believe, like Joseph, the pit we often find ourselves in was really an appointment with destiny.  It may be satan’s attempt to destroy us, but then that was his attempt when he succeeded in crucifying Jesus.  The paradox of our faith is that often the way up is the way down and we often walk through hell in our journey to heaven. 

Joseph, just happened to run into a man that was in the fields where his brothers were suppose to be as he was searching for them and this man just happened to have overheard his brothers saying where they were going.  Joseph’s whole journey that day was the road that would lead him to rule and reign, but between here and there existed a dark and hard path to follow.  It was the road of preparation, the trying of his faith.  When Joseph did come to where his brother’s were camped they plotted against him and even planned to kill him.  Remember the scripture that says, ‘your enemies will be those of your own household?’  Many of us have experienced betrayal, hurt, rebellion and have been forsaken by those of our own family.  They seized Joseph and threw him into a dry well or pit.  Have we ever found ourselves in dry and waterless places, faced with adversity, trials and tribulations and it seems as if God and the Holy Spirit are no where around?  We may not think that we are even going to make it.  Surely this is the end of us; what hope is left? 

Imagine how Joseph felt and the thoughts that went through his head as his brothers spoke of killing him and refused to take him out of the pit?  The fear, the sorrow, the betrayal and the separation he felt not only from his brothers, but more importantly from his father who he may never see again.  His bright future is suddenly turned to darkness and despair. 

If you are finding yourself in the pit today, don’t be discouraged and don’t despair, you may just be finding your destiny.  If we learn one thing from Joseph’s life it is that matter how dark it gets and how far away from God it seems, don’t give up, don’t give in and don’t forsake your faith and trust in God.  God has not forsaken you, but He is there with you every step of the way.  James 1:3-4 exhorts us, “Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Patiently trust God even in the pits of your life because He is active in you performing the will and do of His good pleasure to bring you into your inheritance.  1 Peter 1:3-9 sums all of this up quite well, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

 

Blessings,

#kent

Appreciation

Appreciation

Colossians 3:15

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

One thing that is common in both God and man is that everybody likes to be appreciated.  We will go to great lengths sometimes for others if they have a grateful heart and are appreciative of our efforts.  It is important that we always appreciate the Lord.  It is this appreciation that keeps us mindful of Him and all of His wonderful attributes and the blessings we so richly enjoy from Him.  It is a dangerous thing for us to develop an ungrateful spirit.  That spirit shuts us off from people and causes us to only be caught up with ourselves. 

We see that thankfulness and appreciation to the Lord are basic steps of etiquette to entering into His presence and fellowship.  Psalms 100:4 tells us, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name.”  We can never appreciate the Lord too much and that heart of thankfulness and praise should be resident in us continually.  Appreciation gives value to the one receiving it and it is an act of humility and respectfulness on the part of the one delivering it.

The lack of appreciation has far different results.  As many in the world were caught up in sin, it caused their hearts to become hardened toward God, as it can ours.  What was the result of their ungratefulness and lack of appreciation to the glorious God and Creator who authored our lives and gave us life?  Romans 1:18-32 gives the account of man’s ungratefulness and what results.  “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

Our ungratefulness and lack of appreciation causes a perverted and arrogant way of thinking and leads us to God’s wrath and judgement.  On the other hand, a truly grateful, thankful and appreciative heart can lead us into God’s very presence and the fullness of joy.  What does God command us to do?  Love Him with all of our hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves.  That means we truly need to appreciate the Lord and appreciate those that God places in our lives.  We might be amazed at the difference we would have in our relationships if we really became sensitive and attentive to appreciating those around us.  We all want to feel that the things we do are worthwhile and that we are valued.  We all want to be appreciated, even God.

 

Blessings,

#kent

The Future Spoken

John 14:28-30

“You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

      “Come now; let us leave.”

The Future Spoken

Jesus is speaking to His disciples and us as well a prophetic word.  So much is contained in those few words, “I am going away and I am coming back to you.”   The whole of our faith is summarized here: death, burial, resurrection, ascension, return of Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit to indwell us and the return of Christ in manifest glory.  Christ has told us all that would happen and for two thousand years we have been seeing the manifestation of what He has said. 

Amos 3:7 says, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”  Jesus was Messiah, prophet, priest and king.  He operates fully in all of those offices, because is the source and progenitor of those offices.  Even today we can know the mind and will of God through what is being spoken in our spirits by His Spirit and Word, and what is being confirmed to us through His prophets in this hour.  Sometimes the body of Christ gets in fear because of all that they see coming upon the earth in this hour.  Let me tell you that you don’t have to fear the flames when you know the architect of the fire.  Satan may wreak havoc, but Father is still in control. especially where it concerns His saints.  While He may allow the flames to touch our lives, it will only be to burn the dross and the attachments we still have to the things of this world.  Father is moving us into a new economy, a kingdom economy, that doesn’t operate and look like what we have grown up in and formerly operated out of.  The world’s economy is passing away.  If you hold to that economy your provision will pass with it.  The kingdom economy is El Shaddai, God Almighty and Jehovah Jieh, “The Lord will Provide”.  Just as the Lord provided the ram for Abraham as he moved in faith and obedience to God, our God will provide for us as we cease from our labor and worry to rest in His loving care.  Will provisions always come in our designated deadlines and in the ways we imagine they should come? Probably not.  Don’t be surprised when God doesn’t fit into your box and paradigm.  His ways aren’t our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  As the heavens are higher than the earth so are His thoughts and ways higher than ours.  Sometimes the loss of the things we thought God should have provided for us may bring in us into a greater gain and trust.  God never takes something from us, but what He gives us something better in return. 

Many of God’s people are in a hard place in this hour.  While you think it is hard now it will be nothing compared to what is to come.   That is not to bring you into fear, but to cause you to rejoice that God loves you enough to prepare you in your faith so that in that hour you can stand and operate in His provision and not that of the world’s.  God is telling us to get our eyes off of the world as our provision.  If your provision and trust is in the world then you will perish with the world.  You are a kingdom people and are we not to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?”  God’s people are the avenue of His kingdom entry into the world.  Just as judgement first comes to the house of God, so blessing and provision will then come through the house of God. 

Just as Jesus loved the Father and did exactly what He said, so we must come into kingdom alignment with all that the Word is speaking into us.  Until there is an alignment and shift of our paradigm to line up with His we will not know the obedience and faith of Abraham or the Lord as our Jehovah Jireh. 

We are hearing a trumpet that is telling us as Matthew 24:15-18 says, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. 18Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.”  We will not be able to turn back to the resources we have formerly known in this world.  If we are not sitting under teaching that is growing us up into the maturity of who we are in Christ then it will be as Matthew 24:19-20 says, “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.”  Our failure to mature in Christ will be our downfall along with those in ministry who have not matured their children.  You don’t want to start this journey with a winter barrenness of faith  or a day when you are resting rather than in readiness. 

Hear the Word of the Lord to prepare your hearts.  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).”  When we come into the ark of His safety and provision we need not fear the storm before us, but at the same time don’t be ignorant and complacent about what is coming.  Know Him and prepare your hearts in Him.  Know the secret place and the shadow of the Almighty.  Find your place under the covering of His wings.

Jesus finally said, ” Come now; let us leave.”  It is time to leave the world and our worldly thinking behind.  He is bringing us out of that old place of thinking and doing and bringing us into the new.  Are we ready to go with Him?

 

blessings,

#kent

The Power of Touch

 

The Power of Touch

Luke 6:19

And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed [them] all.

What is contained in this sense we call touch?  We could make the argument that it was touch that actually caused mankind to die.  In Genesis 3:3 God told Adam and Eve, “’You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” Touch is a powerful thing both in a positive and negative sense.  Through the power of touch we can communicate life and death, healing and wounding, love and hate.  Touch is a sense that both gives and receives.  Touch also carries with it the connotation of how we affect others and how they affect us.  So we can actually touch or be touched without ever physically contacting another person. 

God knows the power of touch and because of that He set boundaries on the things we should not touch.  In these situations, to reach out and touch what God had prohibited could result in death, or in being unclean.  God has commanded us not to touch the things that would result in defilement and negative consequences.  Because of the nature and freewill of man, we have not always obeyed the Lord concerning these things and now we live with death and the consequences of our sin, disobedience and defilement. 

Christ had a ministry of touch.  He first touched this world when He created it through the spoken Word of the Father.  Still nothing has touched humanity more profoundly and eternally than when Christ came forth in the earth in Jesus.  This was like God’s personal loving touch upon the face of all flesh.  In Jesus we saw the manifest nature and purpose of God come among us.  We came to know and understand God in a more personal way than perhaps we ever had.  As Jesus began His ministry we saw Him healing and changing lives by the touch of His hand, but then we saw a little afflicted woman who said to herself, “if I can just touch the hem of His garment I know I will be healed.”  So it was that she reached out in faith and touched His garment she was healed.  After that people weren’t waiting for Jesus to just touch them, they were seeking the opportunity to touch Jesus for their need.  There are many people today that want to touch Jesus in a real and personal way. 

When God gave the commandment in the Garden not to touch or eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, disobedience to that command brought death into all of humanity.  When Jesus lived out the obedience to the Father, the sin of humanity nailed Him to an old rugged cross on Calvary.  That old rugged cross has become to mankind the tree of life and restoration back to relationship with our God.  If we desire life, salvation, healing and restoration we need to first come and first partake of that tree of life at Calvary, touching and laying hold of Christ in faith. 

Colossians 2 tells us that if we have come to Calvary we have also died to the rudiments and elements of this world.  We are no longer bound by the ordinances of taste not, touch not, handle not which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men.  We have now been touched and infected with His very Life.  Disease spreads to destroy and bring death, but the Life of Christ grows and spreads within us to bring life out of death.  In that embrace with Calvary we have touched heaven.  With our one hand touching heaven the Lord has told us to reach back with the other hand and touch earth.  Become the touch of Christ to those the Lord places within your life.  Be the channel and the hand of the Almighty to touch and communicate God’s love and grace to the world you live and exist in.  You are like the hem of the Lord’s garment, as people begin to see the power and love of Christ issuing from your life they will seek you as point of contact to help them receive what they need from the Lord.  Never underestimate the power of touch.  God wants to touch lives through you every day.  Are we a willing and supple hand, willing to stretch forth and offer life to all that we are with?  Touch someone’s life today with the power of the endless life that dwells within you.

 

Blessings,

#kent