No Greater Love

John 15:13

No greater love hath any man than he lay down his life for a friend.

No Greater Love

               No greater love hath any God than He would lay down His life for His creation.   “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God’s great love is expressed in us in that we would lay down our lives for one another in service, forbearance, forgiveness and patience.  We walk that second mile because of the nature of His character and love in us.  Our mind, will and emotion may object, but the Spirit of Christ in us says give your life a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable unto me.  When we yield and are obedient to His Spirit, then is the love of God expressed through us.  Our flesh is often rebelling, but we are putting it down and crucifying it that we might operate in a greater dimension of love and service.  Our heart is not fixed on pleasing us, but upon pleasing Him. 

               Give us such a heart Lord that we might please you and fill up the sufferings of Christ in His body by offering our bodies to the service of Your love, even when that means that we die that others may live.

Blessings,

#kent

The Atmosphere of Heaven

Romans 14:17

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

The Atmosphere of Heaven

                As we come into a greater revelation and unfolding of our identity in Christ one of the things we should find is that it brings us into the atmosphere of the kingdom of heaven.  In that place of identity, unity and oneness with Father we experience His presence and those qualities and attributes in our lives that characterize our heavenly estate. 

               We walk in righteousness because we are in Christ who has become our righteousness.  It is not in our righteousness or goodness that we boast, but rather the righteousness that comes by faith.  Paul said it so eloquently in Philippians 3:7-9, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”  When we are willing to lose those things we once counted valuable and significant to gain Christ then it is because we want to be enveloped in His identity and not our own.  In that place we no longer operate out of the law of righteousness, but rather we operate out of the faith of righteousness which takes on the righteousness that is not only of Him, but is found “in Him”.    

               In that place of His presence there is perfect peace.  It is not that peace like we find in the world.  It is the peace that our life is hid with Christ in God.  It is the peace that our lives are sold out to Him so that we live out of the blood covenant of the New Testament that has been established with us through Christ.  Our dependency, our reliance, our provision, our peace is no longer based on this world or in its circumstance, because Christ is our peace.  We know that because He is in us and we in Him we can weather any storm and even if we were to perish physically it wouldn’t move us out of that place of peace.  Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  You can imagine how incomprehensible it must have been for the persecutors of Christ’s body to see the perfect peace of those believers when all their earthly belongings were ravished and destroyed and they willing laid down their own lives also.  You can’t have that if you are operating out of the world’s peace, because it is circumstantial and conditional.  God’s peace comes out of the rest that we found in Him through faith in His faithfulness.

               The last attribute of the kingdom it speaks here of is joy.  In Psalms 16:9-11 David declares this observation of Spirit, “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.  11You 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.”  The greatest joy we have in Christ is that which Romans 8 declares to us that nothing in heaven or earth can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death.  We have such security in Him that we know that because He was raised to incorruptible life; we shall be raised up also.  The greatest fear of the world is death and yet for the believer it can only releases us more fully into His presence, but it can never take Christ away from us.   Even as we abide in the presence of the Lord on earth and as we live out of and walk by the Spirit, we experience the joy of His presence.  In Philippians 3:1 Paul writes, “Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.”  Rejoicing safeguards our faith, because we can have righteousness, peace and joy in every circumstance.  We see our lives through the eyes of faith, and we have such confidence no matter what befalls us.  God is still upon His throne and we are there next to Him in Christ.  Finally, Paul goes on to write in Philippians 4:4-7, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

               You see, when we can get a revelation of living out of the kingdom of heaven now as we walk in the Spirit, then we can enjoy and partake of heaven’s benefits.  It is as we walk in the Spirit that we walk in the heavens and we bring heaven into the earth.  Righteousness, peace and joy are that atmosphere and the fragrance of it should rest upon us who walk in that faith and confidence of Him.

Blessings,

#kent

How Special You Are!

Ephesians 1:4-6

4Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people. 5God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children. 6God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.

How Special You Are!

               Imagine that God chose you and I as individual grains from the sands of eternity, from the vast incomprehensible expanse of His Universe and from the foundations of the world to be His very own adopted children.  Before we ever voice another complaint or think how hard life is sometimes, really think about how special you are to the Lord that He would choose to reveal Himself to you.  He, in His great love and goodness has brought us into the fellowship of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  He has imparted into us His very life, Spirit and blood.  Do we really comprehend who we are in Him?  All that He is and all that He has promised has been imparted to us.  We are the expression of His heart and His love, could we be any more privileged or blessed? 

               If we comprehend these things how can we help but want to offer all that we are and have back to Him?  He has given us everything and He is our everything.  Every breath we breath, every morsel we eat, every dollar that we spend and every child that we birth; all of it is His.  All of it is through Him, because of Him and should be for Him.  It is our privilege to honor, praise and serve our mighty Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are an immeasurably blessed and chosen people through no merit of our own, but only according to our mighty God’s grace and election, He has drawn us to Himself.

               Ephesians 1: 11-14 goes on to say, “God always does what he plans, and that’s why he appointed Christ to choose us. 12He did this so that we Jews would bring honor to him and be the first ones to have hope because of him. 13Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show that you belong to God. 14The Spirit also makes us sure that we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised.”  We may struggle in the moment. We may endure and grow weary with trials, but these present sufferings can not hold a candle to the glory that will be revealed to us who remain faithful and steadfast in our faith. 

               We are a people for a purpose and the purpose is not our own, but His who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light.   Christ has called us and filled us with His Spirit to be the ministry and fulfillment of Himself, a many-membered, multi-faceted expression of His love, mercy and grace.  The apostle Paul goes on here to literally pray a Spirit anointed prayer that we truly comprehend and get a revelation of who we are and what we have been called out for.  Verses17-23 goes on to say, “I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God. 18My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God’s people. 19I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. 21There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. 22God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. 23The church is Christ’s body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.

               Did anybody tell you today how very special you are?

Blessings,

#kent

Inward Garments

Isaiah 61:3

…The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…

Inward Garments

               You know our moods; our dispositions, our attitudes, our outlook on life and our demeanor are all clothing and garments of our soul and spirit.  The inward man has a wardrobe just like the outward man.  So what kind of garments are we wearing on the inside of us today? 

               When life is going well and things are prosperous and easy, it is not so hard to have a good disposition.  What about those days, weeks or even years when we have endured heartache, disappointments, afflictions, hurts and the heaviness of life weighs down upon us, oppressing and depressing us?  It is hard to have joy in the midst of sorrow and it is hard to rejoice in pain, but we will identify and outwardly take upon us the fashion of our inner clothing. 

               God has given us the ability in these times to be able to change our inner garments.  It starts with the faith of who He is.  It takes our eyes off the natural circumstances, the very seemingly real feelings of despair that we have, and it looks upon the promises of our faithful God.  Faith reaches out and grabs hold of God’s Word and life and then the exercise of that faith begins to change the fabric of our mournful state by declaring what God has said.  It looks at those things that are not and speaks to them as though they are.  Faith remembers 1Corinthians 1:28 that says, “And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.”  Faith looks and remembers what God says in Isaiah 46:8-11, “ Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ 11Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it”. 

Faith looks upon an ever-living and ever-faithful God and it begins to open its mouth in praise.  It declares as Paul does in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you. 13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,”we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  Faith fixes it’s eyes upon what God has said and promised and not upon the hard place that it is in.  Praise begins to declare the majesty and the promises of the Almighty and of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It looks up and sees the heavens open and joins chorus with the angelic host that worship before the throne.  Praise puts upon us a royal and priestly garment that is the proper apparel for approaching the throne of God. 

Praise and worship changes our demeanor and our spiritual garments.  It gives us beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning that the name of the Lord might be glorified.  The world has to wonder at people that can demonstrate such joy in such a pitiful earthly state.  It is because they have looked upon their Redeemer who lives. They see the heavens opened and the garment of praise has brought them before the King of Kings and into the joy of His presence.

Blessings,

#kent

Feet?

Feet?

Isaiah 52: 7

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace,

who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

               What do we think of when we think of feet?  Do you think of the often smelly, dirty, corned and callused little members at the bottom of your body that carries you through life?  It has been very enlightening, as I’ve taken some time to go through all the scriptures in the Word about feet.  These little, often neglected, members of the body are spoken of quite frequently.  They are definitely members of spiritual, as well as, natural significance.  Our feet, so often neglected and taken for granted, carry us through our whole life.  They have to support the weight and burden of the whole body.  If they don’t work or they slip or stumble, they take the whole body down with them.  Spiritually speaking this is significant as well, because the feet represent our spiritual walk.  There are many aspects to the feet, but let’s look at this one first. 

               We have often heard the term, “to sit at one’s feet”.  Throughout the Word of God it is shown that at the one’s feet you sit at, is often the one who determines the direction and the way you walk.  The authority that we submit too, the ones we learn from and how that translates into our lives is our definition of “sitting at one’s feet”.  There are many instances where people would fall at another’s feet.  By that act they were showing submission, obedience, asking for mercy, humbling themselves beneath that one’s authority.

In Deuteronomy 33:3, Moses speaks of God, “Surely it is you who love the people; all the holy ones are in your hand. At your feet they all bow down, and from you receive instruction.”  As a people of God, we have at least mentally assented to the authority of God to order our ways.  Deuteronomy 11:22- 25 tells us the significance of walking in His ways. “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him- 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea.  25 No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”  We begin to see a principle unfold that our authority and dominion is dependent upon the way we walk and who we follow.  God is saying, ‘if you follow after me and sit at my feet these are the results you can expect to see.’   In Joshua 10 there is an account of a miraculous battle when five Amorite kings moved into position and attacked Israel.  You may remember that this was the battle in which there was such great victory for the Israelites that Joshua prayed that the Sun might stay still in the sky so that he could finish the battle.  In verse 24-26 the kings have been captured and it says,” When they had brought these kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had come with him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and placed their feet on their necks. 25 Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the LORD will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.” 26 Then Joshua struck and killed the kings and hung them on five trees, and they were left hanging on the trees until evening.”  This is a type of what the Word of God is instructing us to do with our spiritual enemies and the strongholds of our lives.  We could even see it as being our five senses and living after our natural man.  For it is our flesh that wars against our spirit, but our spirit man must prevail and put to death the flesh.  Through the example of putting their feet upon the necks of these kings we are seeing that our enemies are put under our feet. The condition is that we have to exercise our authority and if we let the flesh live we will have to come back to fight it another day and it will always plague us and be a stumbling block to us as we see it was for Israel. 

               Joshua is such a strong type of our spiritual authority because he learned it at the feet of Moses and by seeing first hand the faithfulness of God.  In Joshua 14:7-9 he briefly shares a testimony of earlier days and its lesson.  “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions, 8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly. 9 So on that day Moses swore to me, ‘The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.”  What is the lesson?  Faith, that is steadfast, has the reward of an inheritance.  That faith is demonstrated through a walk that follows after God wholeheartedly.  Fear on the other hand is the contradiction and arch–nemesis of Faith.  If we follow it, then it will be our undoing and our defeat. 

               Another case for this truth is seen in 1 Samuel 2:6-10, “”The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; upon them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails; 10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king

and exalt the horn of his anointed.” If we will believe in the Lord and walk in His ways, He will guard our steps and bring us to good success and it isn’t dependent upon our might or ability. 

               We see the spiritual reality of our enemies being put under our feet in Christ.  While satan may have been deluded in that day to think that he had defeated Christ when he nailed him to the cross, he simply sealed the Lord’s victory and dominion.  When the Lord was resurrected, He ascended into heaven, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.  He took the keys of dominion and authority back from satan and gave them to the church.  He gave gifts unto men.  He gave spiritual gifts and offices to His church for what reason?  Ephesians 4:12-13 says, “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Christ gave us the power to crush the head of the serpent under our feet.  He did the hard part, He gave His life to redeem us back to God and take those keys of authority.  Now He has sat down as it says in Hebrew 10:12-14, “12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”  Christ, the head has done His part, now it is up to the body to complete and walk out what He started.  We are His body and as such, we are also His feet.  It is not finished until satan is our foot rest and he has been put under the least and lowest member of the body.  1 Corinthians 15:26-26 says, “25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”  The body must experience and lay hold of the fullness that is in the head.  For it is Christ through His body that must exercise full dominion and power to put all things under His feet.  Ephesians 1: 22-23 tells us, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”  It has to be completed in us. God, in Christ, shared our humanity with us, so that we might share His glory with Him.  Hebrews 12:5-13 says it so well, “5It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 7You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor 8and put everything under his feet?  In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers;

in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises.”  13And again, “I will put my trust in him.”   And again he says, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”  We are the feet of the Lord and dominion and authority is coming from the head through the body till the feet of Christ are rested fully upon the neck of satan as they were on those Amorite kings in the book of Joshua.  He that makes us holy and we that are made holy by him are of one family and one body.  It is the Lord and trust in Him that gives us strength to walk the path of faith and trust even in perilous and trying times.  It is the Lord who strengthens us and gives us help in the battle to overcome the adversary. David expresses these very thoughts in Psalms 18:31-40, “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 31 For who is God besides the LORD ? And who is the Rock except our God? 32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. 36 You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn. 37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. 38 I crushed them so that they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. 39 You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. 40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes.”

Blessings,

#kent

If I have to Live this Way, Just Shoot Me

If I have to live this way, just shoot me!

1 Kings 19:4

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I [am] not better than my fathers.

            Have you ever felt that way?  You came to a point in life, maybe more than once, where life was just too painful, too hopeless and a dark cloud of depression and despondency covered your soul. Maybe it was from physical pain, emotional heartbreak or pressures around you that were just too much to bear. Thoughts of suicide were contemplated and maybe even attempted.  Voices were in your head telling you, “just to end it, get it over with.  Once you’re dead your pain is over.  Besides, who really cares?  Everybody will probably be better off without you.”  Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?  If they do then you have wrestled the enemy of depression and despair.  If you have been in this place, don’t feel condemned or weak, even the most spiritual of men have had there bouts with these demons.  Our scripture today is speaking of Elijah, the mighty prophet of God and it came just after one of the greatest spiritual victories of that time.  He should have felt invincible, but here we find him weak, frightened, fearful, despondent and despairing of his own life.  Isn’t it wonderful how God shows us the great spiritual men of the Bible in their weakness as well as their strength?  That, in itself, gives us hope.  If they are so spiritual and yet they went through these things, then maybe there is hope for me and you. 

            Beloved, some of you have endured great pain, suffering, persecution and affliction, beyond what one should have to bear.  Even if you have tried to fight the good fight and be faithful, you can grow weary in the battle.  Mental, physical and spiritual exhaustion can overcome you until thoughts and reasonings can come in that have no place being in your head.  These are like the testing experiences of Christ in the wilderness when He was at His weakest point.  The enemy tries to come in for the kill.  He would tell us, “God is a lie, that He is not faithful, He has forsaken you, He doesn’t care about you, and there probably isn’t even a God.” 

            His strategy is to disconnect us from our unity, oneness and identification in Christ, who is our strength and our life, because that is our power.  If He can rob Christ from us, then what do we have?  What strength can we stand in? 

            Some of you are thinking, “yeah, but if God loves me so much, why would He allow me to have to go through so much pain?”  Sometimes it is the deep inner working of pain and suffering in our lives that brings us to terms with areas that we would just as soon keep buried forever.  There may be root causes for these pains and afflictions in our lives that can’t be healed and delivered until they are brought into the light and dealt with.  If Christ learned obedience through the things He suffered as it tells us in Hebrews 5:8, are we then greater than He? 

            It is not God’s will that we are in continual suffering and pain, but these are often the tools brought to bear upon us by the enemy, but God turns and uses them to do an inner surgery upon our character and our heart.  One thing we have to come to terms with is, “God is faithful all the time”, but you won’t always outwardly see that faithfulness.  Quite the contrary, everything in the natural can be speaking and demonstrating against the faithfulness of God.  2 Corinthians 4:18 tells us a secret, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.”  What does Hebrews 11:1 tell us about faith?  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  As hard as it is, our trust can not be placed in the outward circumstances that are seen around us. 

            God loves you and is with you even in your weakest, darkest moments.  He has not abandoned or forsaken you.  What you are living with or going through may be the valley of the shadow of death, but David says, “I will not fear, for thou art with me.  Thy rod (authority of the Word) and thy staff (salvation) they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” While the enemy is doing everything in its power to defeat and destroy you God is setting the table of blessing and mercy right in the face of the enemy.  You are the anointed of God.  He is pouring the anointing of His Spirit and power over you that you may be more than a conqueror through Christ who has loved you and gave Himself for you.  See with your spiritual eyes, embrace with all the faith of your spiritual man the love and goodness God has for you, even in the midst of such darkness and despair.  Don’t give up, keeping on trusting Him.  The race isn’t to the swift and strong, but to the faithful.

Blessings,

#kent

A Touch from God

A Touch from God

Nehemiah 8:8-9

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading.  And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.

Softly He touched my heart and tears began to fall,

Down my cheek, they streamed with an ever-increasing flow.

All that mess within me that I had denied so long,

Now burst the dam of self-restraint, I had to let it go.

My body shook as great sobs uncontrollably came,

It was as if my soul was opened and His light shown in,

His love had touched me in an undeniable way,

His mercy covered me as He washed away my sin.

With total humility I lay bowed down before Him,

He stripped away my unrighteous selfish cloak,

He clothed me with righteousness in place of my sin.

With the blood of the lamb, He washed this wicked goat.

Within my heart He shone brighter than the sun.

He saw past my faults and met my need.

As fuller brush cleans, so His Holy fire burned.

In place of all the weeds, He planted His holy seed.

Now every day I want to experience the wonders of His grace,

I want to know so much more of the Presence in that place.

The desire for righteousness now fills my heart,

As His steadfast love and holy fire fill my inward parts.

Blessings,

#kent

Take Time to be Holy

Take Time to be Holy

1 Peter 1:16

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

            What does this mean “Be holy”?  I can comprehend to a small degree that God is holy. He is awesome, breathtaking, greatly to be reverenced, worshipped, adored, admired and unapproachable except through the blood and intercession of Christ.  How is it that God calls us to be holy?  How God, can we be like you? because we were birthed from above.  John 3:5-8 says, “⁵Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  Like we have born the image of the earthly, God is calling us to bear the image of the heavenly in the nature and character of Christ.  How could we be like God except God dwelt within us, empowering us and transforming us by His very Spirit Life?  The implication in today’s verse is that we are not automatically made holy, but rather we choose to be holy. Am I holy by my religion, by my righteous acts and deeds or by my ability to be like God?  No, the only way you and I can be holy is by dwelling in the presence of the Holy One.  We become like what we worship.  We become and are transformed by what fills our hearts, minds and souls.  Holiness is birthed out of spiritual union with the Lord.  It takes place as we give place to the Lord in all aspects of our lives.  As we practice His presence through a constant communion and prayer life, through meditation upon His Word and by allowing His love to govern our actions, words and deeds, we are manifesting holiness.  Is it sinless perfection; no, not at this point.  It is the process that is bringing us to that end.  Tribulations and hardships of this life are only a smelting process that teaches us to wholly rely and trust in the name of the Lord.  We come to the place in that pursuit of holiness that we love not our lives even unto death.  We know our God is able and can deliver us, but even if He doesn’t, we will bear the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in the book of Daniel when confronted with the fiery furnace for not bowing down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. “¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.””  This is holiness.  It is a faith and a lifestyle that embraces and trusts God in daily life.  His Holiness is a consuming fire that will devour our flesh and the bondages that hold us.  The enemy would throw us into the fire to destroy us, but God takes that fire of affliction, persecution and trial and uses it to perfect and purify us. 

          Are we going to struggle, stumble and often fail in the process?  Yes, we are going to miss it, but the Lord isn’t there to condemn and reject us; He is there to forgive, restore, pick us back up and set us again in His ways. 

          He is calling us to holiness, but we won’t partake of the holiness He has called us to until we choose to take time to be holy.  The world and its demands are constantly pressing in upon us, that is not the eternal, that is what is soon passing away, but the holiness we find by practicing His presence and being transformed from glory to glory as we behold His glory; that is eternal.  It is being God-natured and disciplined.

          Did you know that the simple little phrase, “Be ye holy” is used forty-six times throughout the Bible?  I think God is making a statement about what is important to Him.  If we miss that, then we are probably missing Him.  For many of us the concept of being holy is being something super spiritual, unapproachable, someone with their head in the clouds.  What was Jesus like?  He related with people and loved them where they were at.  Some of us don’t feel very spiritual and holy today.  It doesn’t matter where you have been or what you have done, the provision for forgiveness and the call to holiness is still there for you.  Holiness is not earned, it is the impartation of His presence and glory upon our lives as we walk, live and commune with Him.  We are His saints, washed in the blood and destined for glory, but holiness is an attribute that He wants us to put on now.  It is a god-minded attitude toward the world you live in.  Has He not told us to put on Christ?  Romans 13:14 says, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].” Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  That is holiness.  It is Romans 12:1-2 where it says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  You see,” what is holy is sanctified unto God.”  When we gave Christ our lives and ask Him to come into ours, that was a point of sanctification, a point when we became holy and dedicated unto him.  Now we must live out that which we have committed to Him in faith by faith.  We must take the time to be what He has called us to be, “Holy”. 

From Fear to Faith

From Fear to Faith

2 Timothy 1:7

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

            After being away a good part of the day, that night we brought a couple of our grandkids home with us to spend the night.  Before I had finished getting everything out of the car, the wife was telling me the back door was unlocked and open.  She said she was sure that she had locked it.  On the way into the house I grabbed a trusty little aluminum bat and went into to secure the perimeter.  As the grandkids followed, we walked all through the house and did a search to make sure no one was there.  Everything was intact and nothing was disturbed so it appeared to be just an oversight on our part that the door was open.  As the grandkids followed me talking. I could hear the apprehension and a degree of fearfulness in their voices as they wanted us to set the alarm.  Now these grandkids are about six and nine years old.  As we got them ready to put to bed I began to talk with them about fear and the author of fear.  I explained about the One who is our life and security, the One who has His hand upon our lives and all that touches us can only be by His permission.  We talked about “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world”; how we are “more than conquerors through Christ that loved us” and how God has “not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  As I began to speak these things to them, faith began to rise in their hearts as they began to remember and realize that even though they were just children, Someone, much greater, resided in them and watched over them.  I began to recount Bible stories of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, of Hezekiah when great armies came up against Jerusalem and the Lord told Him to send the praise team and worshippers out first.  I asked them how they would like to go out in the frontlines of battle with just a tambourine or a horn or just their voice.  We talked about how that praise and worship of faith and obedience released God to discomfit and utterly destroy those great armies so that by the time they reached them all there was to do was gather the spoil they left behind.  We talked about the story of Paul and Silas, beaten for their faith and thrown into dark dirty jail, their hands in chains as they began to sing hymns and songs unto the Lord.  Through that praise and worship, in the midst of such discouraging circumstances, God sent an earthquake that opened the cells and freed everybody, but nobody escaped.  As the distraught jailer thought everyone had fled he drew his sword to kill himself, Paul stopped him and assured him all of them were there.  We saw how, what had seemed to be a day of utter defeat and failure, had been turned by God to result in the salvation of this jailer and his household. 

            The kids wanted to hear more and more stories, but finally I said it is time for us to go to bed.  Now there was no more fear or apprehension as we turned in.  It was as the scripture says in Romans 10:17, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Are you fearful today about some circumstance in your life?  Don’t look at how great the problem or the circumstances are, rather look to the Word of God and see how great your God is.  Look at all the times He delivered His people, because they put their faith and trust in Him.  Don’t look to how great the name is of the disease or burden that you bear, look to the Name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God ( Philippians 2:9-11).  Our God can take us from fear to faith as we read and meditate upon His Word; remembering how great and mighty our God is, how He loved us and gave himself for us and how if we fear anything let us fear the Lord and trust Him.

The Psalmist David says it so well in Psalms 56:11, “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”

Blessings,

#kent

The Wind of the Spirit

The Wind of the Spirit

John 3:8

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

               There are many things in life that we can’t see or don’t fully understand: the wind, electricity, love, spiritual influences of good and evil.  There are many mysteries in life and yet often we accept things by faith that we don’t understand and use them accordingly.  We know that they yield expected results when we do.  We may not understand heating and air conditioning, but we believe they exist and adjust a thermostat in faith that they will.  We flip a light switch and expect electricity to power a light bulb and produce light.  We expect that when we turn the key in our car it will start, run and take us where we want to go.  How some huge chunk of metal can fly may well be above our understanding of the aerodynamics and yet we buy a ticket, take a seat and expect it to fly us where we have destined to go.  The Holy Spirit is no less real, but more so, the difference is we don’t harness and control Him.  He is the one that desires to control us.  God chose to give man a will to choose and make decisions for himself.  Sometimes that is probably more of a curse than a blessing, because we often don’t make wise choices.  Nevertheless, God has given us some power over our destiny through the freedom of choice. 

               Many of us have the illusion that we are fully in control of our lives. The truth is we only have the power to choose whose control and dominion we want to be under.  As the Holy Spirit is the one controlling force that leads us in the ways of truth, life and godliness, there is another spirit that blows and an atmosphere we have become so accustomed too that we often take it for granted.  It is the spirit of this world, the prince of the air as he is described in Ephesians 2:2, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”  Just as we breathe air, spiritual forces influence us, forces that are unseen, yet nevertheless real and influential in our lives.  We are born into a world of sin and from the time of our birth are under its influence.  While we are free in regards to righteousness, we are under the bondage of sin whose end is death.  Romans 6:16-18 reveals our state of being before and then after we come into the saving knowledge and acceptance of Christ: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.   But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”  We came to the understanding that there are two primary spiritual forces at work in our lives.  The spirit of darkness, that operates under the law of sin and death, leaves us free to live according to the dictates of our flesh and in that place many of us have lived for a time.  What we came to realize was that in that place of supposed freedom to live as our lust and desires dictated, we were missing key elements in life.  We were missing peace, true joy, and unconditional love, hope and purpose for living and existing beyond this current life.   We were missing comfort, guidance, direction and the help from something or someone greater than ourselves.  While we momentarily enjoyed our pleasures, they left us empty, unfulfilled, feeling unclean, lonely and alienated from life and hope and peace.  Somewhere along our path we felt the breeze of a different wind blow upon us.  It was in total contrast to all we had ever known or embraced in our past.  When we breathed it in, somehow, we sensed that this was what had been missing out of our lives.  This was the hope, the peace and the destiny to which we were born for.  This was the way that would lead us to a life that had meaning and purpose, not just in this life, but in the life to come.  The wind of the Holy Spirit had blown upon our spirit and carried us up by faith through His grace into the atmosphere of heaven.  In the face of Jesus, we saw a Savior and Redeemer who laid down His life that through His death we might have life eternal, not just mortal life, but God life.  And while our feet still walk in an atmosphere of sin and death, we have the assurance that this is no longer our home.  We are simply travelers in a foreign country, sharing with others in this place the wonderful benefits and the good news of the kingdom and city to which we now belong.  As the Holy Spirit blew someone across our path that shared that good news with us, we in turn, are the influences of God.  As the Holy Spirit blows through us to touch someone else’s life with the truth of the life and hope that God has for all of us through Christ. 

               Romans 6:20-23 tells us of the fruit of the decision that we have made to follow Christ and give our lives to Him, through the will and choice that He gave us, “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things [is] death But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Blessings,

#kent