A Day with the Lord

A Day with the Lord

 

1 Corinthians 1:9

God [is] faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

 

 

The sun strikes the peaks with pinkish hue,

As I rise to start my day with You.

Soft, back lit clouds streak across the eastern sky,

As the day dawns and You are nigh.

 

With sleepy eyes I step out into the newborn day,

With praise and worship, I begin to pray.

Lord You are faithful, good and so kind,

You are the treasure I seek and the wisdom I find.

 

In the fresh clean morning air,

I step out and sense You are there.

A dove coos nearby as Holy Spirit says I’m here.

A fragrant breeze passes saying God is near.

 

Outward signs remind me of our inward chat,

A dialogue where we can talk about this and that,

Where God listens intently as I pray,

And I so want to hear what He has to say.

 

Often it is quiet when I listen for Him

With patience in prayer, I seek Him again.

He doesn’t always respond like I think He should

But often He speaks in other ways than man normally would.

 

Sometimes it is in the day that He is speaking to me,

Even through my wife, a friend or someone I meet.

I must learn to listen and see with spiritual ears and eyes,

Or I’ll miss what He is saying as my life goes whizzing by.

 

God often speaks when we’ve ceased to pray,

He talks to us often in such little ways.

He gives us opportunities to respond in His love,

He allows those tests to see what our hearts are made of.

 

No, He doesn’t speak audibly to me,

But He is speaking in ways that are setting me free.

He is not constantly condemning my sin,

But He is teaching me the liberty of the righteousness in Him.

 

Let us always start our day with prayer and praise,

Let us bask in His love, rising above earthly haze.

Let us learn to carefully listen and look for Him.

Walking in the Spirit, is knowing our dearest Friend.

Kent Stuck

 

Blessings,

#kent

 

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Savor the Laver

Savor the Laver

Exodus 38:8
And he made the laver [of] brass, and the foot of it [of] brass, of the lookingglasses of [the women] assembling, which assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

The brass laver was a piece in the tabernacle of Moses between the holy place and the brazen altar that the priests would come to wash themselves before their service. Exodus 40:30-32 tells us, “And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash [withal And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat: When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses.” The laver provided the facility for washing both when ministering to the people and when ministering to the Lord. The fact that it was made of the highly polished looking glasses of women spoke of its ability to reflect back to the one washing, their image and likeness. God’s Word is like a laver in that it gives us a standard of God’s character and righteousness and helps us to examine ourselves for who we are in the light of that standard. God’s Word can provide the introspection we so desperately need to see and wash the areas of sin and blemishes from our lives. This practice of washing was obviously a routine event that took place quite frequently as the priest would minister and serve. It is one we should practice in ministering within our own household.
Ephesians 5:25-27 gives us some insight into the spiritual application of this piece of the tabernacle furniture. It says, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” The Lord gives us the Word to wash us and the Holy Spirit to be the polished brass that reflects our image so that we might see ourselves as He sees us. The Word of God has that power to transform our lives and wash away our uncleanness as we apply it to our minds, our thinking, our actions and our words. It is what translates to us the mind and purpose of God for us, as well as helping us to see where we are in light of that.
Please understand that God doesn’t give us the Word to condemn us, but to convict us. We were already under condemnation before we came to Christ, so the Word acts as introspection that reveals our sin so that we may repent, be washed and delivered out of our sin through the blood of Jesus. The Word speaks in several places about the need for us to judge ourselves, so that God doesn’t need to judge us. Whenever the Lord’s Supper or Communion was administered the partakers were exhorted to examine their own hearts and motives so that they didn’t partake of the Communion with sin still active and present in their lives. 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 says, “27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31But 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.” It is important for all of us to perform this self-examination in the light of God’s Word continually and respond to the evidence of sin in our lives by ridding ourselves of it. If we judge ourselves in this manner then we avoid the need for the Lord’s discipline to come upon us and deal with us in a more severe manner. This is true for all of us, but the ministers and the leadership of God’s house has even a greater responsibility in this cleansing, because they are the ones who help to wash the rest of the saints by giving forth the Word of God. This is a time when we are seeing God beginning to reveal and judge the sin in His house. It will start with the ministry of greater accountability and will follow down from there. 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
James 1:21-25 sums up the spiritual aspect of the laver quite well, “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” We need to savor the laver, judging our own selves in the light of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. The laver was not just to look into, but to wash in, through this washing we can be the instruments and ministers who can effectively serve both the Lord and man. It is essential that we are clean and right before the Lord.
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn [yourselves] from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. (Ezekiel 18:30)”

Blessings,
#kent

A Day with the Lord

1 Corinthians 1:9
God [is] faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Day with the Lord

The sun strikes the peaks with pinkish hue,
As I rise to start my day with You.
Soft, back lit clouds streak across the eastern sky,
As the day dawns and You are nigh.

With sleepy eyes I step out into the newborn day,
With praise and worship, I begin to pray.
Lord you are faithful, good and so kind,
You are the treasure I seek and the wisdom I find.

In the fresh clean morning air,
I step out and sense You are there.
A dove coos nearby as Holy Spirit says I’m here.
A fragrant breeze passes saying God is near.

Outward signs remind me of our inward chat,
A dialogue where we can talk about this and that,
Where God listens intently as I pray,
And I so want to hear what He has to say.

Often it is quiet when I listen for Him
With patience in prayer, I seek Him again.
He doesn’t always respond like I think He should
But often He speaks differently than people would.

Sometimes during the day that He is speaking to me,
Even through my wife, a friend or someone I meet.
I must learn to listen and see with spiritual ears and eyes,
Or I’ll miss what He is saying as my life goes whizzing by.

God often speaks when we’ve ceased to pray,
He talks to us often in such little ways.
He gives us opportunities to respond in His love,
Allowing those little tests for us to rise above.

No, He doesn’t speak audibly to me,
But He is speaking in ways that are setting me free.
He is not constantly condemning my sin,
But He is teaching me the liberty of the righteousness in Him.

Let us always start our day with prayer and praise,
Let us bask in His love, rising above the earthly haze.
Let us learn to carefully listen and look for Him.
Walking in the Spirit, is knowing our dearest Friend.

Blessings,
#kent

Hinderances

Galatians 5:7
Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?

Hinderances

This word hinder in the Greek is “egkoptō” which literally means ” to cut into, to impede one’s course by cutting off his way.” The question the Lord is asking us today is what is hindering us? What is interrupting our road to walking in His will and purpose?
There are many things that can come into interrupt and cut us off from walking and fulfilling the purpose and destiny that we are called too. Let’s just touch on a few and this by no means exhaustive so there are many others that could be added to the list. Scripturally we will address a few of them.
In Luke 11:52 Jesus addresses a major hindrance, ” Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” One of the greatest hindrances we have in the Church today is religious knowledge and true spiritual ignorance. Our way of thinking is so often skewed, even among grace believing churches, to still hinder our identity of who we are in Christ. We are still looking and seeking to change the man of sin which we were, rather than walking in the identity of the new creation man which we are and are maturing into. It is our paradigm and way of thinking that is one of the major obstacles. Even John the Baptist wanted to hinder Jesus from being baptized because he didn’t consider himself worthy. Wrong thinking. If Jesus hadn’t considered him worthy He wouldn’t come to him to baptized. Peter wanted to hinder Jesus from the cross. Jesus rebuked satan working through him, because it was a hindrance to His mission and purpose. Satan will always try and cut you off from your purpose and destiny, because his purpose to “kill, steal and destroy.”
What hindrances are you encountering today in your spiritual walk? One area might be in your marriage. Peter addresses this one in 1 Peter 3:7, ” Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” “Them” here being your spouse and ladies take this to heart as well. How is satan best able to get to us more than through the ones we live with. If he can cause contention, frustration, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness and irritation we fall into his trap of contending with the very one that God has placed into our lives that we are intended to be the heirs of salvation with. This is our partner not our enemy. The enemy is the one you are allowing to work through you as you give place to your flesh and emotion rather than to the spirit and the love of God. Yes, we are going to have our differences, we all do. The art of a magician is to distract you so that he may deceive you into thinking something that isn’t true. That is the craftiness and whiles of the devil. Discern your true enemy and unite your heart in love to defeat your common foe who is out to destroy you, your marriage and interrupt you communion and relationship with Christ. Unite yourselves in the spirit of Christ and reconcile yourselves through His love that your prayer and communion with the Father is not hindered. This speaks to men primarily because we must realize that women, as general rule, are more emotional and a man should be aware of what the influences in the home environment are and deal with them by the Spirit.
The final one we will address today are the hindrance that satan places before us. 1 Thessalonians 2:18, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” Satan will always try to cause interruptions in you fulfilling your obedience to your destiny and calling. Here is where we must come into knowing our authority as a believer standing in the full armor of God, praying and making intercession, but also specifically declaring and taking authority through Word and the authority of the name of Jesus. There will be spiritual conflicts. When those hindrances come and in whatever form they may come, know who you are in Christ. Walk in the power and authority of the Spirit. Know that even though you may not immediately see things happening in the natural realm that doesn’t mean things aren’t taking place first in the dynamics of the spiritual realm. Hold fast your faith and confidence and do as Hebrews 12:1-3 commands us, ” Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Blessings,
#kent

Stepping Up

Stepping Up

Ephesians 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:

Our walk in Christ is a progressive one; it is a journey that each day should bring us a little more into His character and likeness. If we charted it on a graph I doubt that for very many of us it would look like this smooth sloped line starting at zero and going up. The truth is we would probably see dips and rises. Sometimes it is like we go two steps back to take one forward. Some days we can be so discouraged with life or ourselves that we just want to give up and sometimes we may even do that for a time. Life is a series of ups and downs and we all know that on the surface it is easier live a sweet Christian life when things are going well. When we are caught up in the Spirit and we are feeling and experiencing the Lord’s presence and blessing in our lives it can be like we have heaven on earth. The reality is, we know that we can experience hell on earth well. There can be those times in life when all that we know and held dear is pulled out from under us. Our world can be turned upside down in a heart beat. One thing you can count on in life is that nothing stays the same. It is these experiences in our lives that are the testing and proving grounds of our faith. The adversities in life are what exercise our muscles of faith and sound the depths of our character and integrity. Often it is when we feel spiritual the least that we grow the most. Our Father always sees the big picture where we can only see the next hundred feet. The one thing we have to be committed too is that come heaven or hell, our lives are wholly His. We are His garden, to prune, to dig around, to water or however He decides to deal with us individually. What we can hold fast too are the facts and truths that ‘He loves us with an everlasting love’, ‘He is able to complete the good work He began in us’, ‘He will never leave us of forsake us’ and ‘all things work together for the good of them that are called according to His purpose.’
The important thing for all of us in Christ is that we maintain a focus and vision of continual faithfulness toward the Lord. The enemy of our souls has continual roadblocks, diversions, disasters, and snares to discourage, get us off track and get us back into that mindset of the flesh and the world. We must maintain a continual vigilance of our souls and we need one another to help us see the things that we often don’t see in ourselves. Our spiritual transformation and progression is not something we accomplish in and of ourselves. Romans 8:3-4 tells us, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” That is why our walking in the Spirit is so important. Walking in the Spirit is where we experience His righteousness, His freedom, His strength and power through us to overcome sin and temptation and deliverance from evil. It is where we walk in the company of the Strong One, the Wise One, and the Faithful One. It is in Him and our continual union and fellowship with Him that we experience growth from glory to glory as 2 Corinthians 3:18 puts it, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Every day should be a progressive walk in the Spirit, irregardless of what life circumstances are. Each day should be a stepping stone of faith and trust that brings us up higher and transforms us into His likeness. Keep your eyes upon Him and your walk in the Spirit. Let each day be another step up into the glory that is before us.

Blessings,
kent

Day and Night

Day and Night

Psalms 42:8
[Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [and] my prayer unto the God of my life.

We have talked about the seasons of God in our lives and how there are time when we sense the presence of God so strongly in our lives and the times when the Lord seems so silent and distant.
Day and night are the same analogies, I believe, David is writing about here. In the daytime we experience the blessings of God’s presence, love, direction and provision. These are wonderful times that we partake of the richness of His fellowship and He is so near to our hearts. These are times of growing, enrichment in the truth of God and sitting at the feet of Jesus. It is easy in these times to become complacent and take for granted that things will always be this way. What we fail to realize is that the day is preparation for the night. 1 Thessalonians 5:5 says, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” While we are the children of the light and the day it doesn’t mean we won’t have to walk through the dark places and the nighttime of our soul. When we cease to experience the light of His presence and the sweet bounty of His fellowship that we had experienced in our daytime. As surely as there is day, there is night. There are times when evil surrounds and darkness overshadows us. In these times we are inclined to say where did you go God, why have you forsaken me? He hasn’t forsaken us, but it is a time to draw out of the storehouse of the spiritual blessing He has placed in our lives. It is a time for His truth to get from our head down into our heart and it is time to hold on to the song He has placed in our heart. He is still the ‘light unto our feet and the lamp unto our path.’ He will still ‘never leave or forsake us’, but there are those times when we must encourage our soul as David did. Remembering the goodness and the benefits of the Lord, His faithfulness and our hope that is ever anchored in Him. Maturity causes us to be stretched in uncomfortable ways, but it is the valleys that will bring us to the next mountain that will be higher than the one before. The night will eventually give place to day. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19).”

Blessings,
kent

The Flesh and Blood of Christ

The Flesh and Blood of Christ

John 6:53
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

This was a hard saying back in the day when Jesus spoke it. You can imagine the hearers that were processing this through their natural minds. “What is He saying, that we have to cannibalize Him and drink His blood?” This would be an abomination to the natural mind of the Jewish person, especially in the light of the teaching of the law about the blood. Leviticus 17:10-14 taught, “And whatsoever man [there be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
And whatsoever man [there be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
For [it is] the life of all flesh; the blood of it [is] for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh [is] the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” From this passage you can see why the many struggled with what Jesus was speaking to them and why many turned away. So why would Jesus say something so controversial and seemingly contradictory to the law? We can easily see where the blood of Jesus was the all time atonement for our sins, but why would He say we should drink His blood when it was an abomination to God to drink the blood of animals? Have you ever heard the saying, ” you are what you eat?” This has a lot of application here. The blood represented the life and nature of a creature. I believe in God’s eyes, for man to drink the blood of animals was for him to, in essence, partake of that lower beast nature. There was identification and imparting of the nature or the soul that was ingested with its blood. The blood of the animals was to be poured out and covered with dust, which was the perishable, and corruptible substance from which it came.
Jesus was the beginning of the New Covenant, not one established upon the corruptible and temporal sacrifices and atonement of the blood of goats and calves. He established the New Testament upon the perfect incorruptible and eternal sacrifice and atonement of His blood and life given once for all, for all of mankind. Jesus was communicating the spiritual truth that in order to have the incorruptible nature and life of God we had to partake of it through the body and blood of Jesus. As He said in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Obviously, it wasn’t the physical ingesting of the body and blood of Jesus that He was referring to in this passage, but the partaking of His life through faith in His word. We do this symbolically through the communion. These are small physical reminders of the great truth that without a true participation in our communion and partaking of His Spirit life we are none of His. Perhaps we begin to comprehend as never before what our Lord accomplished and gave to us through His Passion. Let us meditate, seek to comprehend and appropriate all that He provided for us through the breaking of His body and the giving of His blood. As we partake of Him through faith we are partakers of His incorruptible, everlasting soul, His nature and His life. So let us eat of His flesh and drink of His blood for it is eternal life for all who partaker. He is forever the Bread of Life.

Blessings,
kent

Continue to Abide in Me (Prophetic)

Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Continue to Abide in Me (Prophetic)

Linger not over the things that matter so little. This life quickly passes before you and yet you are consumed with the temporal and not the eternal. You labor for today’s bread while passing over the bread of life. Reach out and receive of me the eternal; that which gives life that doesn’t fade or tarnish or die. Look into my face. Look fully upon Me and then you will see how temporal the earthly things are. Labor for the bread that perishes not and grows not moldy and hard. I am the bread of life and daily you commune with Me as you eat the bread of My life and drink from the cup of My blood.
You are My life flow in the earth, bringing life and distributing the oxygen of My truth throughout the world. Whenever truth is cut off, the area from which it is removed begins to die and death is pursuant. As you live and breath out of Me you bring life to that which surrounds you. As you are faithful to live out of Me you give life, health and hope to those dying places. You may not see it. You may not feel it. You may even be persecuted, rejected and cursed at for it, but that is only the decay speaking. Don’t allow discouragement to come in. Don’t discount the difference you make in the world around you. My disciples are life givers, because they abide in Me and carry My life wherever they go. They are the salt of the earth that offer the seasoning that preserves, heals and restores. You are My ambassadors of Life and Giving. My love is best demonstrated through the lives that have been transformed by it. You are the transformers that take the power and love I pour into you and distribute it out to those around you in practical and real ways that they can receive My love and heart for them.
You may sometimes feel your prayers never pass the ceiling, but I hear the heart cries of My people, because I put them there. They have not gone unheeded or unheard. They come up before Me and I am the culmination and administrator of intercession and prayer. Continue to stand in the gap for others. The prayers of a righteous person avails much and I do hear your heart and your prayers that come from a true heart of love and concern. Pray through by the Spirit. Pray with your heavenly language and with your understanding. Your prayers are not in vain, but like the moisture evaporating from the earth that comes up before Me and accumulates in the clouds of My mercy and blessing that in due season will be rained down again upon the earth to water those dry places that you have lifted up before Me. All things work for My glory, in My way and in My time. Patience is the virtue of the saints, because through longsuffering and perseverance you shall receive your reward. All things have their time and their season and only I fully know the time and the seasons.
Be not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. My love does not come without testing and trials, because in the midst of it, it is proven to be the real not just the superficial or counterfeit. Men will test My love in you, because they can’t believe just your words, until they see the reality of your actions. So love not in word only, but in action and in deed. The only way that love perseveres and is genuine is when you are fully living out of My Spirit and not your strength. Your strength and your love will fail, where Mine will stand. So faint not, even when you are weary; I will give you rest. I will be your strength, when yours has failed. Live out of Me daily and daily I will lift you up on eagles wings and carry you where human strength can not fly.
Yes, you are poured out, but it is your life in Mine and because your life is mine it becomes My life in yours. Practice My presence daily in every conversation, interaction, decision and need. Praise Me in all things and let My praises be continually in your mouth and heart. I have come to energize your life as long as you stay connected and plugged into Me.
Come today and let us continue to commune together. Drink of My cup and eat of My bread that you may have life in you and have it more abundantly.

Blessings,
kent