Grace be unto You
November 2, 2022
Grace Be Unto You
1 Corinthians 1:3
Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.
This salutation and greeting is used around ten different times in the New Testament. It is one of those phrases that might grow somewhat cliché’, but perhaps the Lord would have us take a little bit closer look at why this greeting was used. I believe the Apostles used the salutation, because it was the grace of God that was the foundation and expression of God that gave all, that were a part of the church, hope and confidence in the call of God, the in-working of His life, the strength and the power to live godly lives. One definition I read sums it up like this, “grace speaks of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” If we take grace away from the Christian what do we have left except law and self-effort. We are right back to where we were before Christ. It makes more sense when we read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” It would be like me greeting you and saying, “what God has provided, be unto you.” All that God has provided and that is working in us today is activated by our faith and confidence in Him, again a gift which He has provided, is the definition of grace. When we say grace at a meal we are acknowledging and thanking God for what He has provided. Grace is God’s provision for every need and in every circumstance.
When we speak grace to someone, we are speaking a blessing of God’s provision and salvation working into their lives. When we speak peace, we are speaking the blessed assurance that all God has said through His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ is right, true and shall come to pass. We can take it to the bank, and we can sleep through the night because of it. It is the rest of God.
God would not have us take lightly the salutation contained in these scriptures. They are the introduction and reminder that all things good flow through Him to those who believe and embrace His Word. Even in the midst of great tribulation, suffering and persecution which many of the early Christians endured they could rest and take hope that the grace of God was sure and would bring them to their final destiny in Him. “Christ in us” is the grace that is working out His exceeding great promises toward us that we might be partakers of the divine nature.
Today, and each day, “grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.“ Have a wonderful day and a wonderful life!
Blessings,
#kent
The Peace that Passes Understanding
September 21, 2022
The Peace that Passes Understanding
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
There is a place in the secret garden of God’s presence in us where we find of a refuge of His peace. It’s a peace that we find only when we have found that place of full confidence and rest in the Father and all that He says He is and all that He has provided for us. Philippians 4:3 exhorts us to “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” The joy of the Lord is what brings us into peace. The joy of the Lord is what dispels the dark clouds of doubt, fear and unbelief. The joy of the Lord is what instills in us confidence, assurance and yes, “peace”. When the enemy, or circumstances, or other people can rob our peace, then they can defeat our faith. Faith stands strong in the midst of peace. Our peace is often quickly shattered because it is vulnerable to conditions and emotions that surround us. Our peace can quickly turn to insecurity, doubt and fear, but not God’s peace.
A great example of this personal peace and God’s peace is seen in Jesus as He wages that great spiritual battle within for God’s comfort and peace. We see the tremendous anguish of soul that beset Jesus as He is faced with the greatest, most terrible and horrifying task ever required of an individual. He is staring in the face of insurmountable suffering, pain and anguish physically. But beyond that suffering He is looking at the darkness of becoming sin and bearing the sin for every inhabitant of the human race, all of this from Him who knew no sin. Worst of all, He is looking at a period where the Father Himself must turn away and separate His presence. I doubt that few of us could even begin to imagine or grasp the tremendous weight and burden that was upon the Lord at that time. It is no wonder that He sweat great drops of blood as He struggled with what He was facing. Everything in His mortal man must have been crying out, “NO, Anything but this.” Yet He was not a man given to the outward man and the dictates of His own will, He was and ever would be completely and totally sold out to the will and purpose of the Father. Through that spiritual battle that took place there in the garden where Jesus went to pray, Jesus found that peace that passes all understanding. It was that peace, that complete rest in Father’s will and purpose that enabled Him to face and go the way of the cross when everything within His natural man wanted to turn away. That is the kind of Peace that I believe Jesus left us when He told His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” There is a peace that Christ has left us in this world. It is a legacy of His salvation and impartation of His great love. It is a peace unlike the world’s peace that is fleeting and temporal. It is a peace that cements us to the heart of God and the assurance that His presence abides with us always. It is the assurance and comforts that Romans 8:31-39 speaks to us, “31What can we say about all these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us?
32God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things?
33Who can say anything against the people God has chosen? It is God Who says they are right with Himself.
34Who then can say we are guilty? It was Christ Jesus Who died. He was raised from the dead. He is on the right side of God praying to Him for us.
35Who can keep us away from the love of Christ? Can trouble or problems? Can suffering wrong from others or no food? Can it be because of no clothes or because of danger or war?
36The Holy Writings say, ‘Because of belonging to Jesus, we are in danger of being killed all day long. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed.’ (Psalm 44:22)
37But we have power over all these things through Jesus Who loves us so much.
38For I know that nothing can keep us from the love of God. Death cannot! Life cannot! Angels cannot! Leaders cannot! Any other power cannot! Hard things now or in the future cannot!
39The world above or the world below cannot! Any other living thing cannot keep us away from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have the peace that our lives are hid in Him and nothing in heaven or earth can rob that from us who believe in Him. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Some of you are there in that garden today, like Jesus, struggling with tremendous tribulation and trials. The Father wants you to find this place of peace that passes all understanding where you will find your rest in Him. You can rejoice, even in the midst of the fire, because your heart has the assurance that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your situation. It doesn’t matter if you understand how; it only matters that “HE IS”. Your life is hid in Him and whether in life or death He is the peace that passes understanding.
Blessings,
#kent
The Benefits of His Promises
January 26, 2022
Psalms 147:5-6
Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
6The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
The Benefits of His Promises
Tender is the heart of the Father toward His own. Faithfully He watches over them. His steadfast love never forsakes us and He keeps us in the shadow of His wing.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend as He corrects us, guides and matures us. Often, through the sufferings we endure, we learn obedience, trust and reliance. We know that we are not our own, but we were bought with the price of the blood of the Lamb. He who redeemed is faithful to complete that good work that He has began in us.
Holy Spirit blow upon Your people the breath of divine power and life. Bring through our lives everything that will conform us to the image and likeness of You. Guide us into and help us to submit to the “all Truth”\ that You are. Position us, align us and set us in Your order and not that of our choosing. Help us to hear, know and understand You in all of the ways that You speak and move in our lives. Sometimes you may seem so quiet and so distant, but even in those times we know that You are as close as our breath; for Christ has promised us that He would never leave us or forsake us. You promised You would not leave us as orphans, but that You would come for us. Your Word tells us that, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is. (1 John 3:2)”
Your Word has encouraged us with the identity of who we are in You. 1 John 4:17 speaks to us, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.” In Romans 8:15-17 we are encouraged, “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Then once again we are encouraged as to the nature that we have received from You in 2 Peter 1:3-4, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” We know that our purpose is that you may be glorified in us even as 2 Thessalonians 1:10 declares, “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
What great and awesome encouragement You have given Your saints as the Three agree in One. Thank you that Your love is so great and unconditional that if You be for us who can be against us, nothing can separate us from it as you promise in Romans 8:31-39, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Thank God that He has put within us the overcoming Spirit of His Son. It is not that we will not have to endure much, but in all that we endure we have the power to prevail through Him who has loved us and gave Himself for us. Thank You Father for Your great love that envelopes us through the sacrifice of Jesus and the blood He shed. Thank You for the Holy Spirit that is actively working in our lives as we are in relationship with You to bring us into all that You have promised to us.
This is the day the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it because you live in us, Your glory to display. Be glorified as we give You all of the glory, honor and praise for the awesome God of love and salvation that You are. Amen
Blessings,
#kent
Trust
May 11, 2016
Jeremiah 17:5-8
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Trust
When we trust someone we are willing to put our confidence in them. We are willing to believe in them, rely upon them and place our faith in them. Perhaps some of you have seen or done the exercise where you stand, close your eyes and allow yourself just to free fall back into the arms of someone that you trust standing behind you. Now our body knows that if that person fails us we are going to hit the ground and it is going to hurt, but it is an exercise in trusting another for your well being. This is an exercise that is harder for some than others, especially if they have been disappointed, hurt or abandoned.
Our faith in Christ is all about trust, but many of us find that we have real issues in areas that require that we free fall back into the arms of God. We are very reluctant to give up the control we think that we have over our lives and circumstances. Many of us feel a lot more comfortable trusting in the things that we can lay hold of with our natural senses and understanding. Many of us want to trust in ourselves or in other men, which is the arm of the flesh. The Word of God tells us that this is a cursed place to be. It tells us that the place of trusting in the flesh is like a bush in the wastelands. We are abiding outside of the blessings of God, because we are not willing to trust Him.
Psalms 37:1-9 tells us, “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. 9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.”
Each day is an exercise in trusting the Lord. We have to learn to rely upon Him. Trust means that we may not understand all that happens to us, or why evil may befall us, but we know that we can trust the fact that God loves us. That love is working for our good in ways we can’t even see or imagine. While we may go through some very difficult times and outwardly everything may be saying that God has failed us, God can not fail. Sometimes we may fall back further than we think we should before He catches us, but don’t abandon your trust. God works in His times and His ways, not ours. He sees the end from the beginning; we only judge things by the moment. Psalms tells us to be still and wait patiently for Him. Do not let the things you see and feel rule and dictate your heart, but put your trust in the Lord and know that He will work all things after the council of His will and for your good.
Don’t be afraid to fall back into the arms of God in all of your ways, for you can trust Him like no other. “Behold, God [is] my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH [is] my strength and [my] song; he also is become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2)
Unto You, I Bring My Life
October 12, 2015
Psalms 55:22
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
Unto You, I Bring My Life
The ways of the Lord are steadfast. He is not moved by every wind of circumstance as men are. His perspective is high above all and sees all and knows all. Why would we not want to put our confidence in Him who is all and in all. Life can weigh heavy upon us at times and seem even an insurmountable weight, but the Word says we don’t have to bear the weight of that burden, because our God has broad and strong shoulders. He will undertake for us and sustain us. For where we are weak, He is strong. Where we would fail, He overcomes. He is the overcomer in us, showing us His strength even in the midst of our adversity and suffering.
When you have a wash cloth full of water and you want to use it to wipe the counter what do you have to do first? You have to wring out the excess water, so you twist it tightly in you hands as the excess water pours out. That is similar to what God must to do in us to make us usable to wash and clean others. He has to wring out the self and selfishness, so all that remains is selflessness in service of others and we are usable in His hands. If He used us the way we were, we would no doubt make more of a mess than we cleaned up. Too much water. Too much self. God is breaking us only to establish us in Him who is immovable and unbreakable. He shall sustain us.
Psalm 25:1-5 in the Amplified version puts it so beautifully this way:
“UNTO YOU, O Lord, do I bring my life.
2O my God, I trust, lean on, rely on, and am confident in You. Let me not be put to shame or [my hope in You] be disappointed; let not my enemies triumph over me.
3Yes, let none who trust and wait hopefully and look for You be put to shame or be disappointed; let them be ashamed who forsake the right or deal treacherously without cause.
4Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
5Guide me in Your truth and faithfulness and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You [You only and altogether] do I wait [expectantly] all the day long.
It is in our God we wait expectantly and faithfully. We know that He is has our life in His hands and that all things are working together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose ( Romans 8:28). Even when we don’t see our answers in the time and the way we expect to see them, God is still God. He works all things after the counsel of His will and not ours. Even though we may think we know how to run God’s business better, trust me, we don’t.
I am reminded of the New Testament equivalent of this scripture in Philippians 4:6-7 (Amplified) it says this, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. 7And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
Is everything in life going to go the way we planned and hoped? Probably not. Life has its bumps and turns, some more severe than others, but Christ is the vehicle that helps us negotiate all the roads that life takes us down. He is our peace, protection and provision. He will see us through and work His great salvation in us if we hold fast our confidence and do not grow weary in well doing. The pathway to Sonship is a disciplined path. It will often take us where we would not go and cause us to do what we would not do. Transformation is like that. It will turn you inside out as it makes a new creature of you.
Cast your burden and your anxieties upon the Lord. He is our peace, our confidence, our safety, our provision and our answer to every trial that is set before us. “Unto YOU, O Lord, do I bring my life.”
Blessings,
#kent
God, On Our Terms
August 14, 2015
1 Corinthians 3:10-16
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 16Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
God, On Our Terms
Most of you who are reading this know Christ as the sure foundation of your life. We have received Him into our hearts by faith and we place our trust in Him. We have the sure foundation of our lives, which He is. The question then becomes as the apostle Paul addresses here, “what are we building upon this foundation?” Paul indicates that there are different materials that can be used to build this temple which we are. Some of them are fireproof and others are not, but He does warn us that there will be the Day that will bring to light what our house is made of.
Perhaps it is not so unlike the little story of the Three Little Pigs. Each one’s house was tested and those that were made of sticks and straw did not stand. The little pigs verily escaped by the hair of their chinny-chin-chin. I don’t think that this is how we really want to build upon this foundation that we have in Christ. Yet we have to consider the quality of the materials and the work that is going into building this temple.
Many of us have embraced Christ as our Savior, but do we really know Him as our Lord. Many of us have faith, but we still want God on our terms, rather than ourselves on His. We must understand that with the building of the temple there is a continual demolition of the old. While the grace and mercy of God builds us up we are allowing the cross to crucify and tear down that which is of the natural man and that which is not eternal, but will pass away. If we continue to build a corruptible temple on an incorruptible foundation, then there will be a day the building of our lives will come to ruin and destruction. What we invested our lives in building will come to naught, because it was on our terms and not His. We built with wood, hay and stubble instead of the nature of God, the redemption of God and His precious truth. God will allow us to build our house with whatever materials we choose, but their will come a day of final inspection and if we haven’t built according the blueprint and the materials declared in His word, then we can’t expect our house to pass inspection. Which of us wants to come to the end of our lives and then find out there was nothing lasting, permanent or of eternal value in what we did?
Jesus taught us that the foolish man built his house upon the sand and when the floods came it was washed away, but the wise man built his house upon the rock, the sure foundation of Christ. The same materials that have been used in the foundation must continue to be used throughout the building of the house. Then we will know and have confidence that it will stand and remain in the day of testing and fire. Consider that unless we know Jesus as the Lord, the One we relinquish all control too and are in true submission to His headship, then we are building with corruptible materials that will not be of lasting value or substance. That is the price of having God on our terms.
Blessings,
#kent
Proven Faith
July 10, 2015
1 Peter 1:3-9 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Proven Faith
Is there any one of us that feels like our faith has been sorely stretched and tested through our trials and tribulations? Yet even in what we have gone through few of us have been tested in the way many of these early Christians were tested. Even in our struggles and hardships we are blessed in so many many ways. Currently anyway, we still enjoy the freedom to worship without fear of retribution. Our children may actually experience less freedom of religious expression in their schools than we do. The important thing for us to realize is that God doesn’t paint a picture here of all blessing, prosperity and no opposition. For many of us we are only beginning to head into the winds of opposition, trial and testing. Few of us walk into the fire of our own accord, but it is so relevant in this hour that we know Him intimately that shields us as we pass through the fire. Verse 5 says, “who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” There is a divine promise of God’s great salvation and power towards us, but in order for us to reach that breakthrough we must pass through the fire. That fire will greatly test the metal of our faith. It will separate sheep and goats, but, more importantly, it will burn up in our own lives whatsoever is not of God. Some of us have already been feeling the fire and enduring the testing of our faith for some time now. You may feel there are days when you don’t know if you can still go on, but I want to encourage you that you are among the firstfruits of God’s delivering power if you will hold fast your faith. You will be the guide and the mentor to help others come through where you have already walked. You may feel right now like God’s rejected ones, but you are far more favored than you know. When we are going through the severe discipline and chastening of the Lord it is hard for us feel or see ourselves in a place of victory. What we must realize is that we are in a place of victory because of God’s discipline and chastening in our lives. While many Christians are still walking the superficial Christianity you have been experiencing what it is to be on the front lines of battle as you stand in faith concerning your circumstances and all that has come against you. What you probably don’t see is the precious value of your faith that is emerging out of this fire with purity and power. What we all have to learn and are learning even more in this hour is that our reliance and source can no longer be through our human efforts. We must learn the rest that comes from knowing Father as our source in all circumstances. You don’t have the resources, but He does. It occurred to me that it is like a Father that establishes a business and as he raises up his sons it becomes a family business and he changes the name from father’s business to Father and Sons. God is preparing us to take over His business and to operate in it. That is why we pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” He is establishing His business back in this earth through us. First we must be fully trained, equipped and tested to know how to operate in this business properly. We have all seen examples of how it can be improperly operated, but Father is putting integrity back into the business and He is doing it with the fires of purification. Be encouraged people of God. What is crucifying our flesh is strengthening us in spirit and in power. If we hold fast our confidence we will reap its exceeding abundant salvation. We will not only reap it, we will have the privilege of being the instruments of it. Be of good cheer and let the inner peace and joy of the Holy Spirit sustain and encourage you through every trial and testing.
Blessings,
#kent
God, I don’t Deserve You
June 17, 2015
Psalms 71:5
For thou [art] my hope, O Lord GOD: [thou art] my trust from my youth.
God, I don’t Deserve You
Throughout the highs and lows of life, the victories and the defeats, the triumphs and the disasters the one thing that is constant is God’s love. How thankful I am that my hope and confidence is not in myself. It would be as vanity and vapor if it were. All through life the anchor has been the Lord. Even in the times I felt rejected and cast off by others and the times that I even have hated myself, I have known like David that God is my hope and my trust is in Him. As we are pressing in to know and love God more we all know that we make a lot of mistakes and miss the mark more than we would like. The good news is that while there are times we may really get down on ourselves and feel totally condemned, God loves us. He loves us through our failures as well as our successes. While He doesn’t justify or condone our sin, He can forgive us and restore us into right fellowship with Him.
God loves you. Even if you don’t know how He could, He does. No matter what falls we take in life or even if we have slipped back into sin, hope in the Lord. Continue to put your confidence in Him. He is the One that you can always trust to love you, forgive and restore you if you will put your trust always in Him. We don’t deserve His love, His forgiveness or His mercy, but they are new every morning. His arms are open to us today. Come, let us embrace Him and draw near to Him again.
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 