The Things We Take for Granted

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

The Things We Take for Granted

               There are a lot of little miracles that are taking place, happening around us everyday and so many of them have become common place to us.  Most of the time we steam right past them like a flower that has budded and bloomed.  We don’t notice, because we don’t take time to take it in, appreciate and enjoy what God has given us.  Today’s scripture is a good example of how what was unimportant, an inconvenience and annoyance to the disciples was what was in the heart of Jesus.  Some of the disciples were probably much of the philosophy that ‘kids should be seen and not heard’ or that their mothers just need to keep them out of the way.  Jesus saw something else.  He took the time to acknowledge and appreciate these little ones.  What He saw in them was the purity, the honesty, the tenderness and the trust that He wants to see in us who think we are on top of things and have things under control.  Those children possessed the qualities that make up the kingdom of heaven.  Those are qualities we need to return too in our relationship with the Father. 

               It is good for us to take time in our day to put our business and chores aside and just appreciate all of the miracles that surround us.   Just take the time to look through the eyes of Jesus at all that He has provided for your enjoyment and pleasure.   We need to take the time to let our family members know that we really love them and that they are important to us.  We need to see others through the eyes of Jesus.

I was sitting with my granddaughter next to me yesterday and I was just hugging on her and stroking her hair and telling her that she was my girl.  She was soaking up that love and attention.  That was important to her that she knows in personal ways that she is loved and appreciated.  She leaned her head into me and said, “I love you, Grandpa.”  Those are the miracles that I am talking about, 

My daughter was talking about all the times she spent with her grandparents when she was younger and all of the special memories she has of those times.  Since they have moved out of state we don’t get to share those times like we used too. 

Often, our times with our children or grandchildren are limited and we should never take for granted that we will have those opportunities again.  The same is true of friends and other family members.  We need to be sensitive to those things that pass us in the river of life.  They may always be there and again they may be gone tomorrow.  We can’t take for granted that what we have now will always be.  Seize the moment and take time to smell the flowers.

               Let’s open our eyes to all the miracles that are around us every day that we so often take for granted.  Thank God for them and appreciate them as Jesus did the little children. 

Blessings,

#kent

The Tender Presence of Jesus

The Tender Presence of Jesus

Song of Solomon 7:10

I [am] my beloved’s, and his desire [is] toward me.

               And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8). For those outside of God’s will and salvation, the presence of the Lord can be a fearful thing.  Even we, His beloved people fear Him in loving reverence, adoration and awe.  Psalms 114:7-8 says, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, 8 who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.”  Our God and Lord is so awesome.  He is so powerful that the simple exhalation of His breath could blow us all away and yet He has a love so great and tender it is like unto a vast ocean with no beginning and no end.  This love is why the presence of God intrigues us so.  We desire to swim out into the depths of His love and mercy, splash in His grace and bath in His wonderful, wonderful presence.  This why we desire the place of intimacy and relationship where we may more personally know Jesus.  1 Chronicles 16:27 says, “Glory and honor [are] in his presence; strength and gladness [are] in his place.” We never experience God like those times of intimacy in His presence when He just floods our hearts with Himself.  Psalms 16:11 expresses it so well when it speaks,  “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” 

               Beloved, we are so precious in the sight of God.  We are the heartbeat and the passion of the Christ.  We are His love.  His focus, His eye and His desire is toward His bride.  We run and hide from His presence, because we, like Adam and Eve, are so self-conscious of our nakedness, our sin, our shortcomings and our unworthiness of His love and compassion.  Yet God sees beyond the outward filthiness and nakedness of our humanity.  He sees into the very depths of our heart.  He sees our true desires and longing for Him.  He comes, spreads over and covers us with His righteous garments; those that He has provided through his own sacrifice and the shedding of His blood.   Adam and Eve only had the skins of animals that had been sacrificed so that they could be covered, but we have the blood and the righteousness of the Lamb of God to cover and clothe us.  God sees His Son in us.  1 Corinthians 1:30-31 tells us, “But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.”  Indeed, this is what we glory in, His love, His salvation and the multitude of His benefits that would fill volumes.  How blessed and privileged we are in our Lord.  We have an access into the presence of God and the heavenlies that many only imagine.  Those of us that enter into that place of His tender presence know that there is nothing else like it in all of the earth.  In that place, our tears of joy flow as we feel the love the Lord just bathing and caressing our soul.  This is what the people of God are longing for so much.  They have set at the table of man’s religion and have always left with a lean soul and a longing for more.  This is where many of us are at today.  We are looking for the real.  We are looking for that tender presence of Jesus, the lover that is like no other.  When He meets with us we leave satisfied, fulfilled and changed by His presence. 

               Many people have entered into a second marriage and probably understand when I say that often you bring a lot of baggage with you from that previous relationship.  That was your point of reference.  That was the standard by which you measured what relationship was about.  We who are in Christ have died to that former relationship we had under the law of sin and death.  We still try and compare and measure our relationship with Christ by those lower standards.  He won’t fit in our box.  Christ loves you with an incomprehensible and incomparable love.  We have only touched and skirted the fringes of the love that God has for us.  “But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God (1Corinthians 2:9-10).” It is the communion, the fellowship and the intimate relationship we have with Christ that is unveiling and taking us deeper into the revelations of who we are in Christ and how rich He is in us. 

               As we are the passion of His Love, He must be no less in our sight and our desire.  As a love impassioned woman, we must pursue our lover, wherever He leads and however that love is tested, it must remain determined, committed and undaunted in its passion.  Many things come before us to turn our eye and heart from our Love, but we must remain true and settle for nothing less than His highest love for us.  This love will be rewarded with His tender presence as we are brought into the intimate place of His Love.

Blessings,

#kent

The Privilege of Honoring Him

The Privilege of Honoring Him

Ephesians 1:3-14

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And hemade known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

How blessed and privileged we are when we comprehend that our great and awesome God has chosen you and I out of all humanity.  He gave us spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to receive such a great and glorious salvation that He has chosen to reveal to us.  Far too often, we take way too much for granted that God has honored us to know Him, comprehend and receive the great calling He has for our lives.  We treat as ordinary and common this special gift of eternal life and the great privileges and honor that go with it.  We often see our faith as despised by the world and so sometimes we feel embarrassed by it.  You have what the world will covet in the ages to come.  We don’t yet see all the glory and honor that is ours in Christ if we hold fast to our faith.  You hold a position with the King of Kings.  You are personally known and called out by the Father.  Regardless of how you feel about it, you are exceptionally special, a priceless stone and gem of great price. 

We must not be dulled and dumbed down to the great and awesome calling we each have in Christ.  He has even given us the seal of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we are His.  We are a blessed people who need to be so constantly appreciative, thankful and aware of our Father who has so loved us and His Son who gave His very life for us.  We must refocus our hearts, our goals, our desire and plans to be made conformable to His divine will and purpose in us, for it is glorious beyond measure and we don’t want to miss it.  We all get caught up so much in the vanity of this world, but that is a distraction and mask concealing our true identity and purpose.  Embrace and comprehend who you are in Christ.  When the revelation of this truth fully dawns on us, we are so broken and humbled by a God that could love and care so much just about us.  Let us not take for granted our salvation and the high calling that we have in Christ Jesus.  Let us present ourselves as living sacrifices wholly acceptable and pleasing to the Father; that is our destiny and calling that Christ can have a manifested expression through us.  Only we can give ourselves over to His will and purpose in us.  Let us not neglect so great a salvation and calling in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

#kent

Forgiveness

Matthew 6:14-15

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

Forgiveness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings,

#kent

The Lord’s Presence

The Lord’s Presence

Jude 1:20-25

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

               There is no more awesome place than the Presence of the Lord.  It is a place of great glory and majesty where the power and presence of the Almighty emanates.   There are times in our worship and God experiences that we enter may enter into the Presence of the Lord where our actual body and soul experiences, at least a measure, of that Presence.  For those who have tasted of His Presence you know that there is nothing in earth that can imitate or match it.  When God’s Presence truly comes into a place, we become prostrate, for we can’t even look upon Him in our natural state.  He is as a consuming fire and cleaners soap.  There is no pretense, excuses or falsehoods that can abide in that presence, for they are totally exposed for what they are.  We know that as His children we have access into His Presence through the Son, for we are in Christ.  We are accepted in His Presence in Christ, our High Priest.  Hebrew 9:24 says, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”  It is His righteousness that clothes us and we wear those garments in faith.  The Apostle Paul gives us a revelation of what it is to press into the Presence of the Lord in this life in Philippians 3:8-11, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”  When we catch a revelation of the place of God’s Presence then everything else will loses its meaning and value in comparison.  That place of God’s Presence, it is the place of the richest treasure we can experience.  That is what makes heaven so wonderful.  It is filled with His presence. 

               We have a portal of access, a door of faith by which we may enter in.  For those in Christ the Presence of the Lord is our fullness of joy, but to the sinner that seeks to come in some other way or with other garments than those washed in the blood of Lamb, there is a terror and dread.  For outside of Christ we would be cast out of the Presence of the Almighty.  This is why we want to put off the garments spotted with sin and flesh.  Put on Christ and pursue His Presence.   Pursue His Presence with intimacy, worship and fidelity to your faith.  Make the Lord what your eye and heart covets and let your contentment be with nothing less.

Blessings,

#kent

I AM

I AM

John 18:1-8

When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

2Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.

4Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

5″Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

7Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?”

And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

8″I told you that I am he,” Jesus answered. “If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

               When Moses met with God at the burning bush in Exodus 3:13-14, “And Moses said unto God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”  How great is our God that is everything to every one of us.  As we go through the Word of God, we just see time after time how God was the provision, the providence and Divine Provider. 

These are some of the statements that God made to Abram, “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.”  “And he said unto him, I [am] the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.”  “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”  God said to Moses in Exodus 6:2, “And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I [am] the LORD:” 

“I Am that I Am” speaks of everything that God is and that is contained in Him.  Which of us can fathom the depths of the great “I AM”?  His character is unfolded and revealed as we read through the Word of God.  We see how He delivers His people from their enemies, how He provides for their needs in wilderness where so many people, abide so long in a place that could not begin to support them in the natural.  We see God as “I Am” in the righteous judgements He carries out. We also see Him in His mercy and lovingkindness.  When we come to the New Testament and Christ is revealed we see God revealed as, “I AM LOVE” in Christ.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe upon Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)” This Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was the “I AM” incarnate, in human flesh and form.  Mark 8 :27 –28 says, “And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?  And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.” 

               Finally, at the end of Jesus’ days when he is taken into custody and He asked the soldiers who they sought when they come after Him.  They said, “Jesus of Nazareth” and He said, “I AM” He.  So powerful was that “I AM” when He spoke of who He was that soldiers were knocked back and fell to the ground.  If there was that much power in Jesus just saying who He was, is there any doubt that the power that resided in Christ could have easily defeated any attempts to arrest or abduct him. 

               Today Christ stands in God on the resurrected side of Calvary.  He is still declaring to mankind and to His people, “I AM, THAT I AM”. 

               Whatever you need or whatever your circumstance God is “I AM” for you.  He is everything that you need to take you through whatever you must face or whatever is pressing upon you.  He is always the “I AM” for you.

Blessings,

#kent

The Name

The Name

John 17:6

I have manifested Your Name [I have revealed Your very Self, Your real Self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed and kept Your word. (Amplified)

               Jesus Christ, “Jehovah is salvation” and “Anointed”, this is the Name of God revealed and manifested to man that we may know the face of God and know the Name that is above every other, the only Name that has the power of salvation.  The Name of God is given to God incarnate, Christ Jesus, the revelation of the name, nature and character of the Father. 

               In John 17:11-12, Jesus goes on to pray to the Father, “And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one].

12While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot–the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”  There is power, protection and salvation in that name unlike any other. 

Acts 2:21 says, “And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” With faith in the name of Jesus comes the promise of His abiding Spirit and presence.  “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38).  Peter again establishes the lordship, salvation, uniqueness, power and authority of the name of Jesus Christ in Acts 4:21, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  Do we want relationship, favor and restoration of fellowship with the Father?  It is in the Name and in the person that bears it.   Do we want the power and authority of God working through our lives?  Again, it is in the Name and our identification with it. 

               Jesus prayed here in John 17 to bring us who would believe in that Name into unity with Himself and the Father.  In John 17: 20-23 Jesus prays, “20Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching, 21That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me. 22I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one: 23I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.” Jesus came not to do His will, but the will of the Father.  All that Jesus spoke of and the acts that He did, He did for the glory and the honor of the Father.  He was a sacrificial earthen vessel yielded to the expression of the mind and will of the Spirit of God.  What does that mean to us in our identification with Him?  It certainly doesn’t mean that we walk around with a God complex declaring ourselves as gods, and yet, ironically, we are.  It is not as though we lift up our ego and think that we are anything, it is only as we lift up Christ and declare Him as everything.  Even as the Son only lived to express the Father and to do His will, so is His Name in us to declare the Christ and His salvation.   There is power in the Name of Jesus, but it is not in just going around and verbally speaking, “in the name of Jesus”.  It is as the power of that Name possesses us and has expression through us by virtue of the power and life that is in us through the Spirit.  We don’t govern the power of that Name; the power of that Name governs us.  We are becoming the dispensation of the government that indwells us.  It is God that exalts and He alone that establishes.  It is this Name of Jesus that He has established above all others.  Philippians 2:9-11 proclaims,  “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

               The Word we read tells us we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  Indeed, we must, but that might suggest to some of us that it is more an intellectual knowledge rather than a heart-Spirit connection.  Perhaps it would communicate it better if we said that we believe into the Name and person of Christ.  It is an experience, a realm and personal relationship that we should be continually expanding and experiencing the depths of that Name.  When we see the power of the Name of Jesus, it is so much more than an exercise of words, it is exercise of experience and identification with His life.  It is about being the yielded channel of His Life’s flow and expression.  It is not about who we are.  It is about losing us and finding Him in us.  If you are in Christ, you are in His Name and all that His name implies.  Swim out into the depths of all that He is and all that He wants to be in and through your life.  His Name is above any other and He has joined you to His Name.  Allow it to change you, transform and flow through you to His glory and praise.

               “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6).

Blessings,

#kent

Intimacy

Intimacy

John 14:20-21

At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

            Intimacy is what we think of when we think about our closest times of relationship.  Intimacy is not sex; rather sex should be but the outward expression of the deeper emotional and spiritual connections of our heart and relationship.  Our intimacy with God and the intimacy in a marriage are very closely related and by understanding one we have insight into the other.  God’s idea of intimacy is not just gratifying our needs, lust and wants.  Man often has that approach with God.  “God you are there to give me what I want, what I pray for or what I name and claim.”  No, that is not intimacy, that’s exploitation.  Anytime we are using another simply for our own gain, then we are exploiting them, rather it is God, or man, or woman.  In God’s eyes intimacy is what we begin to experience when we move into a covenant relationship with someone.  Intimacy is a sharing through relationship our hearts, our souls, our feelings, our emotions.  It is that place where we feel safe and unashamed to get naked before that other one; naked, not just in the outward physical sense, but inwardly being able to expose to the other our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, as well as our strength.  In that place of intimacy we should feel safe, secure, loved, wanted and needed in the completeness of who we are, both in strength and in weakness.  True intimacy moves past the outward act of relationship, it is first established in trust and commitment.

            Just as intimacy is vital to a marriage relationship, it is vital to our God relationship.  If our general success at marital relationships is any kind of thermometer to our intimate relationship with God then it is no wonder we are not connecting on the level that we desire.  Our marriages fail because we lack intimacy, true unselfish commitment and love to that other individual.  Intimacy can’t be one-sided; it takes two to be intimate. It takes an exchange of heart to heart. 

            Personally, I think women are more attune to intimacy than most men.  I find that I can get caught up in the busyness of life and all that is going on around me.  Emotionally I may not feel differently toward my wife than I have before, but if I’m not spending the quality time with her, she is letting me know that we lack intimacy.  It isn’t any different with our relationship with God; we get all busy and caught up in life.  Yes, we love God and are committed to Him in our minds, but under the surface our hearts are moving away from Him because we lack the intimacy and time with Him.  What an example we see in Jesus as He spent what must have been exhausting days of ministry with people and yet He didn’t forsake His intimacy with the Father. He knew that was vital to His walking and expression of the will of the Father.  It took intimacy for Jesus to express the full purpose and will of the Father in His everyday life, if it took that for Him, then how much more so for us.  That longing that we have to come into God’s presence, to experience the secret place of the Most High, it will only be found through intimacy with Him.  God does desire to give us the desires of our heart, to meet our needs and fulfill our longings.  He doesn’t want to be loved for what He can do, anymore than you and I would want to be loved because we were wealthy.  We are all looking for the one who will love us for who we are, not what we can do for them.  God so desires a people that in blessing or distress, in much or in want, in sickness or in health, they will love Him no less and they are committed wholly to Him in life or death. God is a jealous God.  He is jealous for our intimacy with Him.  Do we want more of God, then we have to get into relationship and stay intimate with Him.  In that place of intimacy is where we are going to begin to hear His heart and find His perfect will.  God so loves you.  Come into that covenant relationship and intimacy with Him.

Blessings,

#kent

Did I Tell You I Love You Today?

Ephesians 5:22, 24

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it…

Did I tell you that I love today?

Did I tell you that I loved you by the way I greeted you today?

Did I hug you and tell you how special you are in so many ways?

Did I do those special little things to serve you and bless you?

Did I look into your eyes, hold you and say, “I love you?”

So often I am rushing through life with so many things on my mind.

I so often fail to communicate and to cherish our special time.

People, work, business, payments, bills, so many pressing things,

I tend to forget how special you are and why I bought that ring.

Forgive me for treating you so ordinary when you’re so extraordinary,

When I think about all the things you do for me it is exemplary.

What fool runs through their garden and doesn’t stop to smell the flowers?

What gardener doesn’t pull the weeds, nurture the plant and pray for showers?

You are the blessing of my life, so why do I provoke bickering and strife?

So many little hurtful things that I say and do must cut you like a knife.

Life is too short to spend on the things that divide and keep us apart.

Let every morning be brand new and the gift of a brand new start.

It isn’t riches that will make our hearts glad; it is the simple things.

Taking walks, holding hands, just holding you, gives life such meaning.

The visits over a cup of coffee, sharing a book, sharing what touches you.

These are the simple things that bind us close and make our love like glue.

Did I tell you that I love you today and that you’re special in so many ways?

I want you to know I appreciate you and I cherish you every day.

Did I tell you that I really want to work on giving you all of my heart again?

I want to remember at the end of life, all that it was, not what it might have been.

I Love You!

Blessings,

#kent

Thy Kingdom Come

Luke 11:2

And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Thy Kingdom Come

In Luke 11:20 Jesus says, “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.”  It is evident in this passage and others that Jesus was the kingdom of God come upon the earth.  If He was the kingdom come then why did He teach us to pray for it to come?  He was the dispensation of the kingdom of God in that age, but He was speaking to a greater dispensation of the kingdom of God in the earth, the manifestation of the Head and the body of Christ filling the earth.  In Luke 17:20-21 says, “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:  Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  Even as the dispensation of God was seen through the life of Christ, our prayer should be that His kingdom come forth in this earth that we are and that His will be done in this earth as it is in heaven.  We are the light of God and the city set upon a hill.  The Kingdom of God comes not with observation, but the kingdom of God is within you. 

               Allow the King to be enthroned in your earth and His will to be done as it is in heaven, for Christ in you is the expression of His kingdom come.

Blessings,

#kent