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 in tact 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 and talked 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 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

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Kingdom Calling

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

 

Kingdom Calling

 

Romans 12:1-2 is a scripture that many of us are quite familiar with and yet it is so key to what God is bringing us into in this hour.  The majority of us in the body of Christ aren’t really that much different in our thinking and purpose than the rest of the world.  We hold many of the same values, the same passions, and the same desires to excel and succeed in life.  In many ways we think and act much like the world that we live in.  If we wonder why the church is powerless and ineffectual in so many areas, we have to look at our values and priorities as Christians.  Many of us have compartmentalized God into our God box; that part of our lives and thinking we reserve for God and spiritual things, but then we have all these other compartments that are outside of God.  We may have to be tough in the marketplace so we can’t take God there.  We may be another way socially and so maybe God doesn’t fit so well there.  Our God is relegated to our convenience but He has not been our purpose for living.

God wants to do something through His people in this hour, but He not looking to a luke-warm church of half-baked and half-committed Christians, He is looking for those that are sold out to Him, body, soul, mind and spirit.  That place of full commitment is a place of sacrifice where our will is laid upon the altar and it is no longer my will, but thy will be done, in this earth as it is in heaven.  That place of sacrificial commitment requires a daily maintenance program.  It is a choice and decision we don’t make just once, but every day.  Everyday we give ourselves afresh to Him and we are not praying that God fulfills and meets our purpose, but that He reveals and enables us to fulfill His purpose.  That requires a tremendous paradigm shift and change of mindset for many of us.  Quite honestly, many of us love and want to have a relationship with God, but we want to do what we want to do.  It can no longer be about us.  We are a “called out” people and the destiny that God has called us to is a higher calling requiring a greater discipline.  It is not about dos and don’ts; it is about where our heart and affections lie.  As we purpose our lives to become this daily living sacrifice we are going to see ourselves moving away from the things that formerly held our affections.  Our love of God and His purpose will become so much stronger within us that He is the obsession and full affection of our soul.  Instead of television and movies we will desire the fellowship of the saints and the breaking of bread with our fellow believers.  We will desire to be in His service giving out in the areas of service that express His love for those that are lost, hurting, dying and in need of a Savior.  What is more, He is going to become our fullness of joy.  We are going to become so blessed and enriched through our walk and relationship that we will wonder what these earthly things ever had that attracted us to them.  This comes through the renewing of our mind in the Word and the Spirit of the Lord.  In this place we no longer think like the world or operate out of its mind.  Our mind is set upon things above.  We have caught the vision of the higher purpose and plan of God for us and for those He has called us to minister too.  There needs to be a major shift in the thinking and mind of the body of Christ.  For example, we think of having a business, that it is for us to succeed and get ahead.  Often we find that our business begins to consume our life and everything we do is to make the business succeed and us to prosper.  I learned an interesting concept when I attended a Christian business class one time.  The instructor said, “Don’t allow your business to be your priority, rather let it be the outlet for your priority.”  This is the same type of paradigm shift we need in many areas of our life.  The purpose of God is that our lives might be the expression of Him.  Do our lives express Him or do they express us?  We must define our priorities and line up our lives to fulfill those priorities.  God’s Word offers the definitions of what our life is to be about.  The truth is we are living in an unwholesome and unholy mixture of flesh and Spirit.  God is now defining us in Spirit and the flesh is getting left on the altar.  They say that the biggest problem with living sacrifices is that they want to keep crawling off of the altar.  All the more reason we must reckon ourselves as dead unto sin, but alive unto Christ.

As we travel to Zion the way will become narrower and the path more confining.  We are the King’s kids, but we were birthed for kingdom purposes.  May our hearts be drawn to living out this daily sacrifice and the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus.  He is the reason that we live, move and have our being.  Let all that we are, and each day that we live, be to His glory and praise.

Blessings,

#kent

Divine Health

 

Divine Health

 

Isaiah 53:5

But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 

There is a spectrum of beliefs about divine healing across Christendom today, ranging from it doesn’t exist to every aspect of health is a matter of faith.  It is not the intent to debate these points, but to communicate what the Word of God has to say on this subject and how the Holy Spirit would help us to believe and appropriate it’s truths.  Most of us, as believers in Christ, if indeed we are believers, have no problem accepting by faith that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins. We embrace by faith in Him that He has washed away our sins, casting them as far as the East is from the West, into the sea of forgetfulness, never to remembered anymore.  I dare say many of us probably struggle more with forgiving ourselves than God does with forgiving us.  This is probably true of the aspect of our healing as well.  If indeed we believe in the cross and the power of Christ to forgive our sins and the truth that we are saved by His grace.  If we can truly believe that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus as the Word declares we are then we can no more deny the other aspects of our salvation.  Isaiah, written hundreds of years before the crucifixion of Christ, prophesies very accurately of this great act of sacrifice and salvation that would come through our Christ.  Part of that salvation encompasses divine healing as our scripture today indicates.  If we don’t want to believe that, then we can make attempts to explain it away as we do with other passages that don’t fit our theology, but the fact is ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).’

God in his covenant with Israel, when He was about to bring them into the promise land declares in Exodus 15:26: “He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”” If this promise was true of the old covenant how much more so by the new covenant of Christ blood?  The Word of God bears witness that our God is a healing God, healing us physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Jeremiah 17:14 says, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou [art] my praise.”  David says of the Lord in Psalms 103:3, “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;” He shows how health and salvation are tied closely together.

Now some of you may be saying, “well I prayed and God didn’t heal me”.  Why, because you don’t see the evidence of it?  You believe that you are saved, do you see yourself fully walking without sin and in the full manifest nature of Christ?   This is probably not the case.  We have the foretaste of the Spirit, but it’s fullness we still await.  What can take place in the spiritual realm is not always immediately revealed in the natural realm.  This is where we struggle, because we have to see it to believe it.  Treat your healing as you do your salvation.  If you do not doubt that Christ can and has saved you, then accept and receive healing the same way.  Praise and thank Him for what He has done, not just what you see with the natural eye.

1 Peter reiterates what Isaiah says in 1Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” As much as the nails purchased our salvation, those stripes paid for our healing.  How God works in this area is varied and different.  We can’t put God in a box and regulate his miraculous working with a magic formula, God is God and He works all things after the council of His will and purpose.  This we do know, God is healing and raising people up from sickness and even death, every day.  What He has done for others, He can do for you.  Lay hold of His Word, confess, believe and rest in His promises.  He is the Lord your God that heals you.  May our health trials be but the greater motivation to praise Him, to remember and declare all the areas of His faithfulness.  The greater our pain, the higher our praise as we declare the light of His truth in the face of our darkness.  The victory is won in the heavenlies, before it is revealed in the earth.  God is faithful to see you through.

Blessings,

#kent

The Kidron Brook

 

The Kidron Brook

 

2 Chronicles 30:14

And they arose and took away the altars that [were] in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away, and cast [them] into the brook Kidron.

 

 

There is a valley and stream that runs east of Jerusalem called the Kidron brook.  As the Lord began to unfold some things it is interesting that Kidron means “dark”.  What was interesting also was that I was seeing that when there was a purging of idolatry, idols and altars of incense, it was the Kidron brook they brought them too and disposed of them.  The scripture we read above is from Hezekiah’s reign when he was restoring the Passover in Jerusalem.  During King Josiah’s reign we read in 2 Kings 23:4-6, “And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. And he brought out the grove from the house of the LORD, without Jerusalem, unto the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and stamped [it] small to powder, and cast the powder thereof upon the graves of the children of the people.”  Again in 2 Chronicles 15:16 King Asa deals with his idolatrous mother, “And also [concerning] Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from [being] queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped [it], and burnt [it] at the brook Kidron.”

We can see here from several examples that when a righteous king came upon the throne in Israel that there was a purging of idolatry and those idolatrous things were disposed of in the brook Kidron.  As interesting as that is, what does that have to do with you and me?  We know that it is the bride of Christ that is the New Jerusalem.  Revelations 21:2 says, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  We know that it is the “true church” that is the bride of Christ.  When I say ”true church”, we do not speak with regards to Protestants, Catholics or any denominations thereof.  We speak of those who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb, who have received Him as their Savoir and abide in relationship with Him.  Jesus is the King of righteousness that has come to reign upon the throne of our hearts and lives.  What kind of groves, idols and altars of incense might He find within our hearts and lives?  The edict has gone forth and the Holy Spirit is carrying it out in our lives.  He is cleansing His house.  He is cleansing us individually and corporately.  He wants to smash our idols to dust and cast them back into the dark places that they came from.  That Kidron Brook in our lives is in that valley of our will, it is on the East where the Son of God arises in our hearts.  He is shedding His divine light upon the areas of darkness, rebellion and idolatry in us.  This is the day of His purification.  If we are not willing, as many in those days weren’t, to come and relinquish our idols, then instead of the baptism of fire, we will experience that baptism of judgement.  Our idols, those things that we covet and hold so dear will not be able to save and deliver us in that day.  Many of them scoffed and said, “Oh they have been talking about this for years and nothing has happened.”  2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  God is calling His people to repentance in this hour.  As we are willing to tear down the strongholds that we have permitted to exist in our lives and grind them to powder, casting them into that Kidron brook it is the act of relinquishment of our will to His.  It is where we cast the sins of our separation into the dark waters that carry them forever away from us.  Today is our day to sanctify and purify our temples.  What idols and strongholds am I not willing to let go of?  What is hindering me in my relationship and fellowship with my Savior King?  What is it I need to throw into the Kidron brook?

blessings,
#kent

Exacting Obedience

John 14:28-31

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

“Come now; let us leave.”

Exacting Obedience

If Jesus showed and demonstrated one thing in His life it was that He was completely obedient to the Father.  His obedience wasn’t dictated by the Law or obligation, it was the motive of complete love and surrender to the will of the Father that flowed through the life of Jesus.  Jesus, the Son of man, the earthen vessel was the divine expression of the Father through His this love and that relationship that indwelt Him.  

The Jew’s asked, “Who are you?” in John 8:25-29. 

“Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. 26″I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 

27They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” The bond of obedience in Jesus was sealed in the love of the Father.  It was the bond of that love and union that made the Father and the Son one in Jesus.  This is why Jesus could speak with the authority that He did while not exalting Himself, but always the Father.  

Jesus again speaks strongly to His deity through His unity with the Father in John 5:16-30. “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 

19Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. 

24″I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 

28″Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.”  What was He saying, but that I am the expression of the Father’s message and salvation to all who will hear, receive and obey.  Jesus was of one mind and one heart with the Father, so when the Jews rejected, persecuted and finally crucified Jesus.  What they did to the Son they did to the Father.  

Finally in John 14:5-14 we again come full circle when Thomas asks Jesus to show them the Father and they will be satisfied.  Jesus tells Him plainly of the relationship between the Father and the Son.  “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 

8Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 

9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

In this hour when the Spirit of the Lord is working in us to conform us to image and likeness of Christ, it will come through no effort or proclamation of our own, it will be birthed out of the union of love and obedience to the Father and the Son as we live it out through the power of His Spirit in us.  Jesus so expresses this to us as He continues to speak in verses 15-21, ““If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” If we would know Christ in His fullness then we must know the relationship of exacting obedience birthed out of the extreme love we have for Christ.  May we become that expression in word and deed that He was of the Father.  

Blessings,

#kent

God’s Plans

 

God’s Plans

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What is God’s plan for your life and are you fulfilling it? It doesn’t matter if we are twelve or ninety-two, God created us for a purpose, have we found it?  Like Jeremiah, the Lord has good plans for your life, but if we never find it, if we never grow and develop in it, we miss His perfect and best for us.  Our success story in life is not about our wealth, our natural accomplishments or talents.  If all of that is accomplished outside of God’s plan then all we have gained is worthless chaff.  God has us all in different and unique places. He has furnished each of us with different and unique talents and abilities.  The truth is, we have the basic raw materials to fulfill the plan of God for our lives.  The one thing we may really lack is God’s direction and a heart that wants first and foremost to fulfill God’s destiny and purpose for ourselves and not our own.  Self-made men are often godless men, who have become gods unto themselves.  Our God is a God of destiny, plan and order.  Each of us is not random genetic materials living out lives with no reason, hope or purpose.  God doesn’t make junk, that’s what happens when we pursue a direction outside of His purpose.  

Isaiah 32:5-8 speaks this concerning men, “5 No longer will the fool be called noble 

nor the scoundrel be highly respected. 6 For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water. 7 The scoundrel’s methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. 8 But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.”  Here we see the two types of men, the fool and the wise, the man of self and the noble man of God.  What is deceiving is that often the godless are given by the world the cloak of nobility, but noble isn’t in their character, it is only a mask of appearance.  The fool even uses the appearance of godliness to self-gain and to carry out his wicked devices, but the noble man of God is established on godly principles “and by his noble deeds he stands.”  

Where are our lives in the scheme and plan of God’s order and purpose?  Proverbs 29:18 tells us, “Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.”  God has given us His Word, His prophets, His Christ, His apostles and those who minister His Word all to give us vision.  If we fail to see, it is because we have refused to look into the perfect law of liberty whereby God has called out of darkness.  Ephesians 2:1-6 reminds us, “1At one time you were dead because of your sins. 2You followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God. 3At one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God. 4But God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love. 5Even when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favor. 6God raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens.” God has a plan for you and I that will only be realized as we walk in His will and purpose for us, seeking and desiring His perfect personal direction and will for our lives.  Our lives are often meaningful and purposeful in ways we don’t even recognize, like the kind words of encouragement you speak to someone, the random acts of kindness and the deliberate acts of mercy.  When we live and move and have our being in Him, we are living out His will and purpose in our lives.  

We often quote a scripture in 1Peter 2:9-12 because the trails we travel keeps leading us back to our destiny.  “But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by [your] good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”  We are destined for greatness in Him, let us not choose to live anything less than His perfect will and plan for our lives. 

Blessings,

#kent

The Fear of Death

 

The Fear of Death

Psalms 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou [art] with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The fear of death or bodily harm can be the most compelling fear of all.  The one reality we are sure of is the one we are living in; everything else is by faith.  If this life and body are the only hope and reality we know then death can be particularly disturbing and fearful.  Life, as we know it will cease to exist; then what darkness, nothing, back to dust?    

Some who read this could be walking through the valley of the shadow of death today.  It is built into us to protect and preserve our lives.  That fear will motivate us to do everything within our power to avoid death.  When we are really brought face to face with our mortality it is a sobering thing.  It makes us look deep within ourselves to think about the meaning of life and what the loss of it holds for us.  We examine our values and what we truly believe.

David was certainly faced with the awesome possibility of death as King Saul hunted him to take his life.  He was often faced with enemies that desired his death.  I believe David had learned a principle as a shepherd.  He knew that his sheep were totally dependent upon him, as their shepherd, for protection.  They had no real ability to protect themselves.  They knew that if they staid close to the shepherd, his rod and staff, his authority and power, would protect them.  Their greatest peace and our greatest peace are in knowing that we are walking with the Shepherd and that our life is not in our hands, it is in His.  We are at peace and we have comfort even in the midst of the certain threat of death because He is there and our life is hid with Christ in God.  The faith we have in our Shepherd is able to dispel the grip of fear that is seeking desperately to lay hold of our hearts.  Faith will dispel fear, but the lack of it will give place to it.  If we walk in the light, then we will not fear the darkness, for even if darkness surrounds us, it can not extinguish the light and the hope we have within us through Christ Jesus.  Often it can become a battleground between faith and fear as the fear of death seeks to lay hold of us.  

One scripture that brings us much encouragement in this fear of death is found in Hebrews 2:14-15.  It says, speaking of Jesus, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”  We have peace and assurance through the blood of Jesus and the confidence that through our trust in Him, He has paid for our sin, and robbed the devil of the fear eternal punishment and condemnation he once could put upon us.  Now we have the peace and confidence that when death comes we step out of the limitations of our mortal body into glory and into His wonderful presence.  We can almost view death as no longer as a curse, but as a promotion.  No wonder so many Christians through the ages have been able to hold fast their testimony and give up their possessions, their livelihood and their very lives.  They had their eyes fixed on One far more glorious that quenched the fear of death and loss.  It was the One who walked with them through the valley of the shadow of death.  

One of the greatest fears and terrors is that of the unknown, but the knowledge we have in Christ and the faith that we have placed in that knowledge of Him has robbed satan of his power of fear and intimidation.  

When Israel had come out of Egypt and was going up to battle against their enemies, this is the word that was spoken to them and what I believe the Lord wants us to hold fast in our hearts as we enter our battles.  It was spoken in Deuteronomy 20:1-4, “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them. 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.””  If we know that we are already victorious in Christ what have we to fear?  The worst that could happen is that we would wake up in His arms.   In Psalms 27:1 David says, “The LORD [is] my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD [is] the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” It is like when you were a small child and something frightened you.  You could run and jump up on daddy’s lap, bury your face in his chest and he would put his powerful arms around you.  You knew then that you were safe; that anything that touched you now had to come through your daddy first.  That is exactly how it is for us in the Lord.  Colossians 3:1-4 tells us, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” If we are truly dead to the things and the affections of this world then what power of fear does the devil have over us seeing that we have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God?  If the devil touches us, he has to come through God to do it.  If I know that God has control over all that touches my life then I have no room for fear, only for trust.  He is my good Shepherd that will lead me and keep me wherever I must go and through whatever valley of the shadow of death I must pass, I will fear no evil.

Blessings,

#kent

Judgement in the House

Jeremiah 14:7-10
Although our sins testify against us, O LORD, do something for the sake of your name. For our backsliding is great; we have sinned against you. 8 O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? 9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, O LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us!
10 This is what the LORD says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the LORD does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

Judgement in the House

Why does the Lord not hear us when we call? Why does His ears seem deaf when we cry out in our distress? How many times has the Holy Spirit tried to speak into our hearts, but we ignored Him, tuned Him out and went about our own ways?
God is so longsuffering with us, patient and kind. He often does not reward us according to what we deserve. There comes a time when He will be ignored no longer, nor will He forever tolerate our sinful ways and rebellious hearts. Finally the judgement of God is come and justice is served. We are now bewildered by why God won’t hear our prayers, deliver us and meet our needs.
Whether we comprehend it or not, all of God’s ways are just and true. Even in the severity and judgement of the All Mighty it is tempered in His love. When we fail to correct our course, we get so far off of course that God has to make a severe course adjustment. For many of us that is enduring a significant life-changing event. 1 Corinthians 11:31 exhorts us, “But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” Judgement of God for us is not His condemnation, but His correction, so that we will not be condemned with the wickedness of the world.
Often we are comparing ourselves with the world and we are making judgements upon the lost and those outside the body of Christ, but God wants us to be concerned about judging our own house. We do not live by the standards of the world, but by the standards of God’s Word. That standard should not be a law that robs from us in it’s restraints, but rather brings us into the light of the blessing we have as we walk by the Spirit and not after the flesh. God is not trying to rob us from joy in this life, but is giving us vision and comprehension to lay hold of the love, joy and peace of His kingdom while we still abide upon this earth. God holds us to higher standard because He is our righteousness and we are to be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So then judgement begins first with us, discerning and searching our heart for any unclean way. It comes from repentance and a turning away from our sins by His grace and the power of His life in us. Now if unrighteousness and sin is blatantly taking place before us and we are aware of it, we, as the body of Christ, have a responsibility to judge, correct and discipline for it. Otherwise defilement spreads to the rest of the body. 1 Corinthians 5:12 says, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”” Judgement is to maintain purity and righteousness within the body. God’s corrections humble us and remind us of whom we are without Him.
King Hezekiah was a righteous king who loved and served the Lord, but he was stricken in feet with boils even unto death. Isaiah, the prophet came to him and told him he was going to die. Isaiah 38:2-3 says, “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3 “Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.” “The prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” In an excerpt from the writings of Hezekiah after his illness and recovery he writes, “I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!”
But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.
I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health and let me live.
Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.”
God became more real and personal in Hezekiah’s affliction and eventual healing than He probably had been in any other time in his life. When we have been disciplined, corrected and restored by the hand of Lord, it works a humility and reverential fear of the Lord we don’t soon forget.
If we experience God’s correction it is a good thing that restores us in righteousness. It is not pleasant, but painful at the time; yet it works the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Much of our pain and estrangement from God can be avoided as we judge, discern and align our hearts in obedience to His will and His Word. It is better to judge ourselves than to be judged.

Blessings,
#kent