A Word from the Lord

 

Simmone Bakchadj

A Word from the Lord

 

Lift up your heart unto the Lord for He has heard your prayers.  You are not forgotten, but you are remembered this day.  Have I not spoken and shall I not bring it to pass.  You are my vessel in this hour, in this place for such a time as this.

You have questioned in your heart if you were truly in My purpose.  I want to affirm to you that you are.  I see your heart and I know the Love, My Love, that has been infused through you.  Stay faithful daughter.  You will have times of tribulation and setbacks, but don’t allow that to discourage you.  I am with you and I will establish My purpose and My plan through you.  You will see provision from places that you didn’t even expect, because I have gone before to release them to you.

Don’t set your eyes upon the natural things, because the work that I am doing in you and through you is a supernatural work.  It is a work that will develop and come forth out of your faith as you walk in obedience to My ways.  You have My heart and I hear your cry.

Blessings,

#kent

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Skating on Thin Ice

 

Skating on Thin Ice

 

Matthew 25:10-13

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

29-30

For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.  And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

41-46

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

 

            Our texts from Matthew 25 presents us with three parables given by Jesus that illustrate wise and faithful servants with subsequent rewards and foolish and slothful servants who reap the closed door to God’s presence and His judgement of displeasure. There are many that loosely wear the name of Christian.  There are many who attend church and acknowledge the name of Christ, but if we all stood before Him in judgement today how many of us would truly be considered His?  The passage in Matthew 7:13-23 instructs us, “13″Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15″Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21″Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ “The scriptures speaks something very specific to us that many tend to ignore.  Many of us have a philosophy that we can have religion, that we can have works and that we can generally believe upon the name of Jesus and that insures us of heaven.  I fail to see that premise supported in these scriptures.  There is a connection necessary for us to be “in Christ”.  The connection we have in Christ is not just one made in a moment of repentance when we came to the altar; that should have been the beginning of a continuing, ongoing and deepening relationship that leads us into the heart of God and establishes us as part of the vine, yielding the fruit of the Spirit.  Our salvation is not contingent upon how religious we are, what church we go too, what denomination we do or don’t belong too or how good our works are.  Salvation is union with the One who hung upon that cross for you and I. He gave His life so that we might have eternal life.  For many, the definition of salvation has become very loose and general, but in these scriptures and many like them we find an exacting Lord, who expects faithfulness, obedience, commitment and fruitfulness.  That fruit has no value or worth if it is produced outside of the vine; it is the fruit of the vine that produces life and lasting value.

Jesus says specifically in Matthew 7:13, “”Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  Religion is a wide road that may lead us in pursuit of God, but does not lead us into life and relationship with Him.  That small gate and narrow road is not the one traveled by the masses or even the church in general; it is traveled by those in pursuit of Him.  Where are we at on life’s road?  Do we just possess religion, a belief system or even spiritual gifts?  None of those in themselves make us His.  He is looking for the ones who bear the fruit of His life within them, who are faithful with what He entrusts them with, who are watching and preparing for Him and those who are ministering that life to others that they themselves possess.  Do we really know Him and are we in relationship with Him or are we skating on the thin ice of a mindset that just says, “sure I believe in Christ” but aren’t really living what we think we believe.  Our beliefs must become your realities.

Blessing,

#kent

Spoiled Leftovers

 

Spoiled Leftovers

 

Colossians 3:5-11

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.

 

When we were saved and came into Christ we may have experienced a wonderful salvation and deliverance experience.  While we by faith stepped into Christ and heavenly places not all of our old baggage fell by the wayside at that moment.  While we were forgiven and all of our sins were washed away, it didn’t mean we never sinned or fell short again.  The reality is that God didn’t just take all of the responsibility away from us and say now you are all pure, holy and you are just like me.  In our spirits He did.  In that inner man there is one in the likeness of Christ.  But for that “Christ in us” to possess all of us it is a life-long process and one only fully consummated at His presence or coming.

Meanwhile we are caught up in the battleground of the mind and soul.  Our inner man is intent on holiness, righteous and conformity to Christ, but sin still wants to work in our outward members.  Did you ever have a beautiful refrigerator with great food in it, but you keep smelling this stench and wonder where is that odor coming from?  You keep digging and digging and finally you find a baggy with an old rotten onion, so you throw that out, but it still stinks.  You look some more and you open up this yogurt container that has more hairy mold than you’ve got whiskers.  You grimace and wrinkle your nose as you throw it out.  Still there is this smell, but what you find is that some of the foods you really like are the culprits.  Oh man, you don’t want to throw those out, because you really like them, even if they aren’t good for you, so you tuck them away so they will be less noticeable, but you can still munch on them when you get the urge.  Likely it is not the spirit man that wants to hold on to them, it is the flesh.  We have ways of justifying our flesh and our little stashes where we make provision for those things we outwardly love, crave or don’t want to let go of.

What we deal with is that if we are maintaining a relationship with Christ and seeking to please Him in all of our ways we run into conflict.  The Holy Spirit only allows us to indulge in our little hidden treasures for a time until He begins to put His finger on them.  Now it comes down to our will or His.  The truth is, that to His nose, these things are spoiled leftovers of our past nature and they are a stench to Him, but will we let go of them?  The Cross takes no prisoners in its process of holiness.  It exercises extreme prejudice on those things our flesh holds dear, because they represent idolatry to the Lord.  They are the place where our affections, commitments and loyalties often diverge from the Spirit as we make provisions for the flesh.

Most all of us deal with strongholds, these giants in our land, in one area or another that keep defying the living God.  Only as the Spirit of God rises up in us with dominion and authority will we conquer and overcome the strong will of rebellion that still abides in us.  It must to be our will in union with His.  Only as we relinquish everthing, every emotion, and every desire, can Christ be fully Lord of the land.  Romans 8:12-14 tells us, “12Therefore, 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.”  What are we going to do with our spoiled leftovers?

Blessings,

#kent

New Hope

New Hope

Psalms 31:24

Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

 

Spring snowmelt trickles down through mountain streams

Blue skies compliment the budding green,

The hawk soars as the sentinel of the sky,

The earth awakens from her sleep and comes alive.

 

Hard winter’s trials are melting from your heart,

God’s mercies are bringing a brand-new start.

He is lifting you up on promises of love,

Alive in Him you will walk in the things above.

 

So lift your face unto the sky,

Rejoice today in the Lord on high.

His Son has broken through the clouds of adversity and trial,

This is the day to rejoice, be glad and smile.

 

New Hope has risen in your land,

What appeared dead, is alive again,

Resurrection life has entered in to bring alive the lost,

Your prayers are answered, because Christ paid the cost.

 

His promises are sure and true,

But there is often a battle to press them through.

Continue to stand your ground in faith,

Your time in His presence is never a waste.

 

Today is the day of your breakthrough,

Today is the day that I will deliver you.

Set your eyes and heart steadfast on Me.

For this day your deliverance you will see

Blessings,

#kent

Lifted from Unworthiness

 

Lifted from Unworthiness

 

John 10:10-11

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

 

            There are many who won’t come to Christ because of strong feelings of inadequacy, sin and failure in their lives.  Condemnation and judgments, from themselves or others, have left them feeling like, for them; there is no hope, no salvation or redemption.  Perhaps, if you are that person, you have had a “past”.  There has been sin that you don’t think God would ever forgive you of, because you might not even be able to forgive yourself.  You may be on a self-destructive course, because you feel there is no hope, no more purpose to life and no more reason to live. 

            There is a word of hope and life for that person today.  Jesus tells us in John 3:16-17 the plan of God for us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”  What we must never let the devil rob from us is that no matter how deep our sin, God’s love goes deeper still.  His purpose is not to condemn and judge because you missed it, His purpose is to restore you to life, to lift you up from your unworthiness and cloth you with His garments worthiness and righteousness.

            What a beautiful example of this we have in the story where the woman was caught in the act of adultery.  The Law, the Commandments said she should die.  Her accusers surrounded her and demanded Jesus judge and condemn her.  Jesus, with just a few words of divine wisdom showed that mercy is greater than the law, forgiveness is more precious than judgment.  When He told them, “Let the one that is without sin cast the first stone”, He allowed their own conscience to judge themselves rather than the woman.  Now instead of the finger pointing at the adulterous woman, they were confronted with the other three fingers pointing back at their own lives.  None had the right to judge and condemn, but Christ.  As our passage for today says, there was not a man that found place to condemn her based on their own righteousness. The mercy and love of God speaks to her and says, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”  That is what He is speaking to you and me today.  The Lord’s mission was not to judge us for our sins, but to deliver us out of them, to forgive us and set us free from the power of sin. 

            If there are things in your life that you haven’t been able to forgive yourself of, if there are things others won’t forgive you of; then know that there is one greater than your conscience.  There is one greater than the judgments of yourself and others.  It is the blood of Jesus that paid that price and there is no sin so deep and dark that the blood can’t cover it if it is simply brought to the Lord in sincere repentance.  The Lord wants to put purpose, joy and hope back into your life today. He wants to lift you out of that place of despondency and despair that you have been living in.  He is the doorway to that new life of righteousness that we can only have as we put on Christ Jesus by faith.  And when you bring that sin to the altar and you lay it before Him in true repentance, then do as the woman was told, “go your way and sin no more.”  Don’t take that trespass up again and keep condemning yourself with it once it is repented of.  Then you grieve the Holy Spirit, because you have not really released it and left it under the blood.  As far as God is concerned that sin is cast as far as the East is from the West.  1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

He will wipe the slate clean for you today if you will let Him.  With your repentance you no longer have a “past” that was filled with sin and failure; you have a future to no longer be a slave to sin, but rather a slave of righteousness as we live our lives, by the power of God unto obedience to Him.  He has lifted you out of your unworthiness and clothed you with His righteousness.

Blessings,

#kent

Growing Up

 

Growing Up

 

Galatians 4:1-2

Now I say, [That] the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

 

Is it time that God wants us to lay hold of a spiritually adult mentality and grow up out of our childhood and immaturity?   So often our thinking and our vision is earth bound.  We see only in terms of the law, tradition and religion.  What is God trying to tell us?  If we want to remain children then we will not experience anything more than a servant.  God desires sons that can step into His nature and likeness.  Romans 8: 14-21 tells us, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  The Lord is exhorting us to grow up in all things that pertain unto life and godliness.  In order to walk in the maturity of full-grown sons, the Word says we must be led by the Spirit of God.  Galatians 4:6-7 goes on to tell us much the same thing, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”  We are told we have an inheritance in Christ, that we are joint-heirs with Him and that we have received the Spirit of Adoption.  The nature and Spirit of the Father has come in us, but not unlike the Galatians many of us are still living in the weak and beggarly elements of this world of the law, tradition and religion.  We are still striving in our immaturity to live up to outward forms and standards of righteousness.  We are not coming into and laying hold of the awareness that the Law Giver is within us.  He is writing His law upon the tables our heart. It is not in the outward forms that we lay hold of our inheritance.  In fact, it this mentality that is holding us back.  Paul was genuinely grieved with the Galatians; because they had taken the freedom He had imparted to them in Christ and traded it again for bondage.  In Galatians 4:19 he says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you;” in other words “My little immature children.”  God is calling us to GROW UP!  It is no longer to the outward forms you are looking to bring you into maturity; it is the Christ within you.  It is that Spiritual impartation of divine life within you that will transform and conform you to the nature and likeness of your Father.  In order for that to happen we must make it our priority and purpose to be led by the Spirit of Christ within us.  Even as the Son of God walked not in His will, but in the will of the Father, we must become so attuned.  If we want to enter into the fullness of our inheritance then we must grow up into Him in all things, in every aspect of our lives; both religious and otherwise.  We are not separate from Him, we are one with Him.  Only in the unity of that oneness can we be the full expression of who He is.  It will never happen through any efforts or abilities of ours, but only as He is the fullness within us.

God is exhorting us to maturity and full Sonship.  We are pressing into our full inheritance as we give place to Him being the all in all within us.  In that inheritance there is not only freedom and deliverance for us, but for all of creation as well.  Let us grow up even as Ephesians 4:13-15 tells us, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ.”

Blessings,

#kent

Affectionately Loving One Another

Affectionately Loving One Another

Romans 12:10

 

[Be] kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

 

Did you ever notice that the people that you end up neglecting and abusing the most are usually the ones you say that you love the most?  They are most often your family, close friends, or even your brothers and sisters in Christ.  The ironic thing is, that we often give preference to the ones or the things that are putting the more demands and abuses on our lives, but in the scheme of things are less in importance.  Somehow, we just expect those we love and prefer to understand when we put them last on our agenda or speak or treat them harshly.  Perhaps many of you, like myself, find your lives out of balance with your priorities and preferences.  In a society in which we find ourselves running like crazy in a thousand different directions, with people and pressures pressing in on us on every side, when something has to give, it is usually our family.   That can apply to both our immediate families as well as the family of God.  Isn’t it strange that we are doing all of these things that in our minds we consider for the benefit of our families and yet they are often suffering as a result of them?  What’s wrong that picture?

I speak this first for my own benefit and then for the benefit of anyone else who thinks it may apply to them.  I find I get an agenda set in my mind and I’m not real tolerant of interruptions to that agenda.  Some of you, like myself, may find that you have created walls of hurt and wounded the ones closest to you.  You have communicated to them so many times through your actions and words that they aren’t as important or as valuable as so many other things in your life.  My feeling is that this is a major problem with good many of our families and relationships.  We all need to get our priorities in order.  God and his people are often at the forefront of our offense list.  It is not usually something we do intentionally and often quite subtly these neglects and abuses creep in to undermine our most precious relationships and destroy one of the most valuable commodities we possess, our families, friends and brethren.  We often put up our pretty fronts around others, but the loved ones so often see a whole different face and attitude.

Those closest to us rub us the hardest.  We would most like to blame them for being the problem with us, but in reality, if we didn’t already have a problem then a lot of what they did wouldn’t irritate us so.   Like the old saying goes, “You can’t get a person’s goat unless they have a goat to be got.”

The unconditional love of God prefers the other above themselves.  It displays that preference by being affectionate.  The connotation of our theme verse is to be tenderly reciprocating love and caring in a relational way as with a parent and child, or husband and wife.  It is preferring the other above yourself.  Please join with me in making it our goal to set the priorities of our relationships and commitments straight.  Let our God be at the forefront of all that we do, then our family, our relationships with each, then those outside and then us.   Let’s make our first priority to invest in the eternal things and then the temporal.

Blessings,

#kent

Time in His Presence

Time in His Presence

1 Chronicles 16:27

Glory and honour [are] in his presence; strength and gladness [are] in his place.

Psalms 16:11

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.

The world has little to offer in comparison to those times we come into the presence of our God.  There is nothing else that can be so humbling and yet so edifying as His presence.  It is a privilege we far too often forsake because it requires time, waiting and attending unto the Lord, praise, worship and adoration of His most worthy and holy Name.  The Lord doesn’t want us to take Him lightly or just address Him in passing.  The rich times are most often found as we approach Him with the right attitude of heart, with honesty, with true reverence and appreciation for all that we can comprehend Him to be. Think about the intimacy in our human relationships and how real bonding and closeness requires our time and attention to that other person, so that they know that our heart is set totally on them and they are the complete object of our affection and love.  Unfortunately we treat our relationship with God much like our human relationships where we pay lip service for a few minutes and give an outward show of affection, but our real motive is our own gratification and the fulfillment of our wants and desires.  The reality is it is centered on us not the person of our God we say we want to be in relationship with.  God knows our hearts and our motives.  We may fool people, but we won’t fool Him. 

When we truly come into God’s presence it is all about Him.  It is about loving and ministering to Him strictly based on who He is and because He is so worthy of our highest praise and love.  It is about losing ourselves in worship and as much as is possible forgetting the time constraints that so often rob us of what we could have.  God is certainly not insensitive to our need, but the fact is He has already provided for it.  Isn’t it time that we spent more time appreciating and thanking Him for what He has already provided whether we see it manifested in this world or not.  Hebrews 11:6 says, ” But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”  Notice God is a rewarder of those who “diligently” seek Him.  That means we are seeking with earnest and determination.  When He rewards us with His presence, when His glory even rains lightly upon us, there is no greater reward we could ask.  It is the wellspring of joy; the peace that passes understanding and the unspeakable love that fills our hearts.  It is so worth the time we spent seeking Him.  The precious thing is that we have touched His heart as well as Him having touched ours.  We have met the Lord’s desire for intimate fellowship and relationship.  This is what He is calling His bride into in this hour, that place of intimate relationship with Him.  Eventually God wants to bring us to the place that these times are not just an occasional happening, but they become a lifestyle of living in the presence of our God; where we practice His presence everyday, in every activity, from the most mundane to the most glorious.  He is always there in our hearts, in our thoughts, in our continual expression of worship through the continual prayer and praise we breathe and through our daily routine of work and life.  No greater reward can this life hold than God’s presence.  When He is there we are walking in heavenly places.  We have “come up hither” as the Lord speaks to John in the book of Revelation.  We find there a new dimension of life and purpose this present life can not offer.  We will find there strength, power and provision to carry out the calling God has for each one of our lives.  Take the time to find His presence.

Blessings,

#kent

 

Liberty

Liberty

 

 

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.

 

Liberty is the liberation of the soul from the law of sin and death.  It is emancipation from the bondage of the flesh.  Liberty in Christ is the freedom to live in the calling and destiny our God has prepared for us, to realize His highest and His best for us.  Oppressive forces are continually at work to rob our freedom, to undermine our liberty and to pervert the law of life in Christ Jesus to which we have been called. 

Our liberty in Christ is not found in the freedom to live to our flesh, or in self gain and promotion; it is realized in our dying to all that the world holds dear.  Those former affections are no longer the object of our love and desire.  When we really see Jesus, when the Spirit of God really possesses our soul, then all that is earthly, sensual and devilish will be as dung in comparison.  We will catch the vision that Paul caught, and we will run for the prize of the high calling that in Christ Jesus. 

We are living in a day of purification and revelation.  We are being called by the Spirit to come out of our former complacency, our ruts of religious thinking and form, and come into the anointing and calling that Christ has for each of us who are His.  If you are reading these words, it is because you desire something more; you desire more of Him.  God wants to impart more of Himself to us, but in order to impart the new, the old has to pass away or it is only a hindrance and a pollution of the new.  Hebrews 9:8 says, “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.”  We can not realize the fullness of God’s calling and the holiest of all if we are bent on carrying all of our old religious baggage with us.  Do not depart from the Word of God but put on new ears to hear not the same religious rhetoric that you have heard all of your days, but the sound of a new trumpet in the land. It is calling us up higher, but it is not going to often be all that we thought we understood.  The Lord says in Isaiah 65:16-17, “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”  The Lord is doing a new thing in the earth.  He is calling us out and up in ways we have not known before.  Know this, that in the way of the cross there is suffering and in the suffering there is loss, but in the loss there is purification and resurrection from the dead.  Don’t fear to let the former things go, for what the Lord is calling you into is so much higher and so much greater, but it is not the way of the flesh, nor of the will of man.  Like Peter in John 21:18, the Lord would say to us, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.””  The calling of God is great upon our lives, but it is not without a price.  Again we know and believe Romans 8:16-18, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”

Can you hear the call of God personally upon your life today?  Will you respond by releasing the former things and come to know Him in Spirit and in Truth.  Learn His voice and obediently follow Him, for you are the sheep of His pasture.  He is calling you into the liberty.  When we truly find our liberty in Christ, then we will begin to become the liberators of others. 

2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.”  Search out and know your liberty in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

#kent

Forgiveness

 

Forgiveness

 

Ephesians 1:7-10

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

 

Forgiveness is a word that we use a lot and often fail to really consider the depth of what it implies and what it accomplishes.  Forgiveness is a necessary ingredient before any true restoration and reconciliation can take place in a relationship where an offence has occurred on the part of one or both parties.  Where an offence remains not forgiven, it may be pushed down or ignored by the offended one, but when forgiveness is not released it is like getting a splinter under the skin.  Even a small splinter that is not released will begin to fester and be a constant source of agitation until it is removed.

God, in His great wisdom, saw all the offences we committed toward Him as human beings.   While we might have good intentions, we have come to realize that God’s standards of holiness and righteousness are not obtainable in our fallen state and so we are a constant source of offense to Him.  We have come to realize that under God’s mandate and law we are all destined for judgement and the eternal consequences for our sins.  This was not God’s plan.  His plan was to provide for us forgiveness.  Through the sacrifice and the shedding of the blood of His perfect Son, He could extend release and pardon to us for our offences and sin.  God’s heart is to reconcile, redeem and restore His creation back to Himself and He paid the ultimate price to do so.  We all know what we deserve, but the mercy and grace of God said, “no”.  He has extended to us the olive branch of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation through the blood of His own precious Son.  God, in Christ, has done all the hard part for us and all we have to do is extend the hands of faith and receive this great and precious gift of forgiveness and pardon.

Imagine that you have murdered someone in the heat of passion, and you have been tried, found guilty and sentenced to death.  Nothing you can do can undo the consequences of your sin.  Then one day the son of the president comes to you and says, “You know that you have committed a crime and the debt and punishment for that crime has to be paid.  I am here to take your place; pay for the crime and let you go free.  It will be just as if you had never committed that crime.  It will be erased from your record.”  If you accept this exchange, then the doors to the prison open and you are free to go.  As if that were not great enough, the president’s son tells you that now that you are free, he wants you to assume the position of the president’s son with all of its rights, powers and privileges.  Wouldn’t we be a fool not to accept such an offer?  Obviously, in turn we would owe the president and his son our lives for that exchange.  Obviously, what he is offering is far better than what we were facing.  We don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.  The point is that if we never accept the pardon and we hold on to our offence then it can never be pardoned or released.  With every gift given there is an exchange, but for the exchange to be complete it must be received.  The gift isn’t mine till I accept it from you, and I can never open it and experience its contents until I am willing to reach out, take it and open it.

In our human relationships forgiveness is an important part of our interactions with one another.  We offend and hurt one another rather intentionally or unintentionally all the time and we need to ask and extend to one another forgiveness.  As Christians we are commanded of God to forgive others as Christ has forgiven you and gave Himself for you.  Many of us are struggling with our relationship with both God and man because we have been unwilling to release forgiveness.  It doesn’t mean that we extend forgiveness and are expected to continue in a hurtful or destructive situation given a choice, but we need to forgive to set ourselves free.  It is the only way we can get those splinters of offense out of us.  When we withhold forgiveness, we create a dam that withholds the love of God from flowing through us.  We close our heart and emotionally detach ourselves.

Many of us need the restoration and the reconciliation that can only come, as we are willing to release forgiveness.  We can’t always be responsible for the other party accepting it, but we can release it and thereby release ourselves.  Often pride, on both sides, is the greatest hindrance to our reconciliation.  You can see why God loves humility in us, because it is not too proud to say when it is wrong and it is not to proud to forgive someone, even when they don’t deserve our forgiveness.

Unfortunately, our unwillingness to forgive can become for us a puddle of self –pity that we continue to wallow in and feel sorry for ourselves.   We can do the same thing with our unwillingness to receive forgiveness.  We remain in the bondage of our offenses.

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful instruments of love that the Lord has ever given to us.  We all need to take it, use it and exercise it often.  Nothing can set us free and restore right relationships like forgiveness.  It can unlock the many prison doors of our hearts and sets us free to love and be loved with the love of God.

Search your heart and if you find their a hurt, a wound and offense that someone has committed either intentionally or unintentionally, exercise the gift of Father’s love and forgive them.  You are right.  They may not deserve it, but then neither did we.  When we set others free, we free ourselves and become again, an instrument and a heart that God’s love can flow through.

Blessings,

#kent