A Principle of Life about Fear

2 Timothy 1:7

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

A Principle of Life about Fear

If given the choice, most of us would be quite content to live a nice, safe, secure, healthy and relatively uneventful life.  In many ways, a lot of us have.  We need to ask ourselves is that really living or is that comfortably dying a slow death?  

One thing fear does, is it gets us out of our comfort zone.  It often gets our heart racing and our adrenaline pumping.  Our senses come alive in the face of danger and uncertainty.  If we could see our lives in the light of the spiritual couch potatoes we would become if we never faced any trials, testing or adversity, then we can better appreciate why God allows them to come into our lives.  

In order for our faith to grow it must be challenged so that our faith can come up to the level of our challenge.  Since fear doesn’t come to us from God then we must realize that faith is the antidote to fear.  Faith sets our eyes and attention back where they belong.  Looking to the Father.  When we realize that fear comes from our inadequacy, weakness and inability to control a situation, we either have to face it in the frailty of human ability or have a revelation of what God has given us to counter it with.  God hasn’t given us the spirit of fear, but what He has given us is the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind.  We have a mighty arsenal to combat fear and to overcome it.  Fear only works as long as you are afraid.  When you are no longer afraid, fear has lost its power.  What the Word of God is telling us is that you don’t have to be afraid.  You don’t have to fret, worry or be anxious.  What you need to do, is lay hold with faith and confidence upon God’s Word, His promises and assurance.  The more you fill your self with the Word of God and spend time in His presence; the more bold, confident and faith-filled you become.  For the enemy and the spirit of fear, you then, become a force to be reckoned with.  The person who really has a revelation of their identity in Christ, who knows their position in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and operates in their God given and appointed purpose is a dangerous person to the enemy of fear and darkness.  The gates of hell can not prevail against that person.  

An example of such a person was seen in David.  He was called, appointed, anointed and knew who he was in God when he confronted Goliath.  He didn’t fall into that trap of fear like the rest of the camp of Israel.  He came from a place of faith and authority, not his, but the Spirit of God in him.  Later, we see Saul, with all the resources and armies of Israel at his command pursuing David’s life, but unable to capture and take it.  He was that spirit of fear that pursued David, but was unable to prevail, because David put his trust and confidence in the Lord.  

Was that an easy place for David? No, it was a very difficult place, but at that time David lived and walked with God closer than at any other time in his life.  Adversities are often allowed in our lives to stir us into faith.  They cause our spiritual senses to come alive and get our focus off of the world onto the Lord.  Fear isn’t always a bad thing, not because we want to succumb to it, but because we want the faith to arise in our hearts, along with the resident power, love and the mind of Christ to overcome all fear and the adversary that stands before us.  The force of opposition only serves to make us stronger.

We are sons and daughters of the Most High God.  Our Captain, King and Savior has conquered death and the grave.  He has set down at the right Hand of the Father until His enemies be made His footstool.  We are the body and feet of our Captain and King, Jesus.  He is putting the enemy beneath our feet, because we are His.  

Someone once said, “You need to either get busy living or get busy dying.”  Our time for being complacent, lethargic and comfortable is soon coming to an end.  We need to make the choice to live or to die, life or death.  If we are going to live then we need to live out of the place where we pursue fear and it doesn’t pursue us.  We have to come into that place of having assurance of who we are and what God put us on this earth for.  We were not put here to be subject to this kingdom that lives under the rule and power of sin and death.  We live under the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.  We were put here to invade this earthly kingdom with the kingdom Heaven, Life and God.  “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.”  We are God’s portals, conduits and well springs through which He invades the kingdom of this earth.  That is not going to happen through spiritual couch potatoes that are content with the leeks and onions of Egypt.  It is going to happen through an army of believers that are hearing the trumpet of war sounding in God’s camp and are responding to it.  If we don’t respond to God’s calling and come into that place of abiding in the Almighty and under the shadow of His wing, then soon the spirit of fear will arise and cover the earth and those who have not found their place in Him will be overtaken by it.  Father has not given us that spirit of fear,  He has given us the Spirit of Sonship, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father”.  We are His kids and we were born for this, so don’t allow fear to rule your hearts, but come up into the faith and confidence of who you are in Christ and trample fear beneath your feet!

Blessings,
#kent

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Liberty

Liberty

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.

Liberty is the liberation of the soul from the law of sin and death. It is emancipation from the bondage of the flesh. Liberty in Christ is the freedom to live in the calling and destiny our God has prepared for us, to realize His highest and His best for us. Oppressive forces are continually at work to rob our freedom, to undermine our liberty and to pervert the law of life in Christ Jesus to which we have been called. Our liberty in Christ is not found in the freedom to live to our flesh, or in self gain and promotion; it is realized in our dying to all that the world holds dear. Those former affections are no longer the object of our love and desire. When we really see Jesus, when the Spirit of God really possesses our soul, then all that is earthly, sensual and devilish will be as dung in comparison. We will catch the vision that Paul caught and we will run for the prize of the high calling that is in Christ Jesus. We are living in a day of purification and revelation. We are being called by the Spirit to come out of our former complacency, our ruts of religious thinking and form, and come into the anointing and calling that Christ has for each of us who are His. If you are reading these words, it is because you desire something more; you desire more of Him. God wants to impart more of Himself to us, but in order to impart the new, the old has to pass away or it is only a hindrance and a pollution of the new. Hebrews 9:8 says, “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” We can not realize the fullness of God’s calling and the holiest of all as long as we are bent on carrying all of our old religious baggage with us. Do not depart from the Word of God, but put on new ears to hear not the same religious rhetoric that you have heard all of your days, but the sound of a new trumpet in the land. It is calling us up higher, but it is not going to often be all that we thought we understood. The Lord says in Isaiah 65:16-17, “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” The Lord is doing a new thing in the earth. He is calling us out and up in ways we have not known before. Know this, that in the way of the cross there is suffering and in the suffering there is loss, but in the loss there is purification and resurrection from the dead. Don’t fear to let the former things go, for what the Lord is calling you into is so much higher and so much greater, but it is not the way of the flesh, nor of the will of man. Like Peter in John 21:18, the Lord would say to us, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”” The calling of God is great upon our lives, but it is not without a price. Again we know and believe Romans 8:16-18, “The 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. 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Can you hear the call of God personally upon your life today? Will you respond by releasing the former things and come to know Him in Spirit and in Truth. Learn His voice and obediently follow Him, for you are the sheep of His pasture. He is calling you into the liberty. When we truly find our liberty in Christ, then we will begin to become the liberators of others. 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.” Search out and know your liberty in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

#kent

Jesus Wept

John 11:32-40
When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she dropped down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
33When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.]
34And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see.
35Jesus wept.
36The Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him! 37But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man’s eyes have prevented this man from dying?
38Now Jesus, again sighing repeatedly and deeply disquieted, approached the tomb. It was a cave (a hole in the rock), and a boulder lay against [the entrance to close] it. 39Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, exclaimed, But Lord, by this time he [is decaying and] throws off an offensive odor, for he has been dead four days! 40Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?

Jesus Wept

As the Lord dropped this scripture into my heart I came to it trying to understand the heart of Jesus in this moment. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were no doubt some Jesus’ closest and dearest friends. They acknowledged and received Him for who He was as Lord and Christ, but now the revelation of that knowledge is tested through the sickness and death of Lazarus.
“Jesus wept” is the shortest verse in the bible, but it can make a strong statement if we seek to understand the heart of Jesus in this moment. Jesus is not weeping because he is sad for Mary or Martha or because He is mourning the loss of Lazarus. Jesus saw the grief and sobbing in Mary and Martha. Then he hears from Mary in an almost mournful rebuke, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Perhaps Jesus is thinking, “What are you saying Mary, because I didn’t come in your time and in the way that you thought that I should that I failed you?” I believe it was these loved one’s disappointment in Him that grieved Him so. In their grief they were saying, “Jesus, you failed us. You didn’t come through. You didn’t show up in time.” This disappointment communicated through Martha, Mary and even the mourners that were with them greatly disturbed and disquieted the spirit of Jesus. I believe that this truly hurt the heart of the Lord that they had these scruples and doubts about His love and faithfulness to them. There was such a tremendous upheaval in the spirit of Jesus that He groaned and wept. This was a very disturbing moment of Jesus. He already knew that Lazarus, though he had been dead for four days, was a good as alive, but to see the disappointment and the feelings of His failure in the hearts of those who loved Him the most was tremendously hurtful and troubling.
What it shows us is that we have a box of our own human reasoning and understanding. We so often want to put Jesus in that same box. When He doesn’t fit within our boxes we can often become offended with Jesus and feel that He has somehow failed us. In our grief and disappointments we sometimes want to blame Him and hold Him responsible because we feel that He failed us. We often carry those hurts and they create a breach in our faith and trust in the Lord. Sometimes it causes us to turn from Him altogether. We can see here how this grieves the heart of the Holy Spirit. We must learn to trust Him and count Him faithful even in what we don’t know and fully understand. We must know that His love for us is so much greater. If Jesus had showed up sooner and healed Lazarus, He would have still been known as only the healer. This is a time and place where Jesus is going to manifest an even greater dimension of Himself as the resurrection and the life. There is a power in Christ that is even greater than death. Even death has to bow to His power and authority.
When Jesus commands the stone to be rolled away from the tomb, Martha speaks out of her natural thinking as she says, “But Lord, by this time he is decaying and stinking, for he has been dead for four days.” Natural reasoning often speaks out of doubt and unbelief. Jesus replies to her, “Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God.” What a powerful statement this is, to her and to us. When we deny him through unbelief, we are denying ourselves of His manifest glory. The glory of God is beyond our comprehension and so far beyond our limitations.
The Lord would say to us, trust me even when you don’t understand me, even when I haven’t come through the way you thought I should. Do not murmur against me in unbelief and doubt. Trust me, for I will do what I have promised even in ways that you do not understand.

Blessings,
#kent

Treasure Unearthed

2 Corinthians 4:7-12
7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Treasure Unearthed

I want you to imagine today the there is this large earthen clay statue of a man and it has been revealed to you that within this earthen clay man is a treasure of untold wealth, power and blessing. You can’t see it because it is hidden in this earthen covering of clay. If you are told you can have that treasure, but all you have to do is reveal it what would you do? Chances are that no matter how lovely the statue is outwardly, you no longer see or are concerned for the outward sculpture. You are intent upon reaching the treasure within. So you go to work on this statue with all of the tools that are at you disposal. You are using picks, shovels, sledge hammers, chisel and whatever else that will give you access to this treasure. While you are intently uncovering the treasure within, what is happening to this clay statue without? It is being put to death, destroyed and decimated. Yet what you discover is that the more the red earth is peeled away from the statue the more a new substance is revealed to take its place. It is a substance of life that cannot be destroyed and contrary to destruction it actually gives life to those who come in contact with it. All of your efforts to unveil and to remove the earthen outer man have left his clay flowing off of him like streams of water. What you have discovered is a new creation man under that earthen exterior that is only revealed more and more as it is attacked and put to death, not so much by those who are intent upon the treasure, but by those who are intent upon discrediting and destroying the treasure. The more others seek to kill and destroy it the more life that is revealed from it. After awhile the clay statue has been changed in its form. The treasure has been unearthed and it is the life of God, the Christ within that is the treasure that is now revealed. While death worked in the outer man of this clay vessel, the life of God was being revealed through the forces that were brought against it. Outwardly the old was dying, but the inner man was coming forth in life.
Such is the case in our own lives. We often see all of the forces of destruction and opposition in our lives as negative things. They bring to us much pain, anxiety, frustration and hurt, but each one of them causes us to reach into the resources of the treasure that we all contain in Christ. It causes us to draw from His strength, His healing, His forgiveness, His provision, His protection and His supply.
Paul goes on this passage in Corinthians 4:16-18 to say, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” What is within us is rock solid and it cannot be destroyed. Though outwardly we are perishing, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our heart and our eyes are not fixed upon that which temporal and soon fading away. It is fixed upon the eternal, unmovable, unchangeable, unshakable, faithfulness and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Blessings,
kent

Transforming Power

Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Transforming Power

As lost and sinful as you are, Jesus loves you anyway,

But He gave His life so that you need not stay that way.

He gave His blood to wash away your sins.

He died, that your old being might die with Him.

He was buried, that your old being might be left behind.

He raised your spirit from the dead, giving you His own mind.

Ascending in Christ to sit at the right hand above all things

We are His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in everything.

He redeemed us to set us free from sin.

He sanctified us to cleanse us from within.

He conforms us to His image, as we are transformed in our minds.

He calls to us from His Word to leave the former world behind.

He fills us with His Spirit to lead us in truth and life.

He gives us faith to crush all temptation, fear and strife.

He heals our bodies, and by His grace He does provide.

He lives to become the expression, of all He’s doing inside.

His LOVE flows through us to reach the lost and wounded ones.

So that they, like us, may be conformed, to the image of the Son.

Kent Stuck

Blessings,
kent

Peacemakers

James 3:18
Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Peacemakers

The Amplified version says it this way, “And the harvest of righteousness (of conformity to God’s will in thought and deed) is [the fruit of the seed] sown in peace by those who work for and make peace [in themselves and in others, that peace which means concord, agreement, and harmony between individuals, with undisturbedness, in a peaceful mind free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].”
This scripture that God just dropped into my heart makes me meditate upon the correlation of peace and righteousness. Righteousness is the fruit of what is sown in peace. Peace speaks to rest, confidence, assurance, freedom from fear, agitation, worry or discord. Peace is not the result of contention, warring, factions, control or being right. It is the result of right being in relationship with the Lord and His purpose in our lives. Our circumstances aren’t the condition of our peace. Jesus had complete peace even in the midst of a great storm that threatened to take His life and the life of His disciples. Peace comes in the assurance of what your identity is in Christ, your position “in Him” and the divine purpose and destiny He has planned for you. If we truly be walking “in Christ” and living out of His life, then our lives are no longer in our control, but His. It is usually when we take back control that we lose our peace. If we are walking in faith, obedience and in the Spirit then the fruit is going to be righteousness.
Paul says some interesting things in Romans 14 when he is dealing with the Christian disputes over diet and days of worship. He conveys that our faith is so much more than every one fitting in your box or believing and thinking just like you. He says this in Romans 14:7-9, “For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” Life is not about our dogma and doctrine, it is about living and dying for the Lord. If we are focused on getting everyone to believe just like us, we are never going to have peace. The Holy Spirit deals with the seasons and the changes of our lives, The important thing it being in right relationship with Him and communicating that gospel of peace to all who will receive.
Paul also makes mention a little latter in Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Isn’t it interesting that two of the attributes we are talking about are attributes of the kingdom of God and where they are found, joy is close by.
When we have a revelation of walking “in Christ” then our identity is no longer with ourselves. Our purpose is simply to become the expression of the Lord in each situation. That means we don’t have to get caught in the flesh and in other people’s drama. Obviously they aren’t enjoying peace in the state that they are in. God’s love in and through us is the peacemaker. If we see life from God’s perspective and allow the Holy Spirit to have control of each situation, then our response is to the Lord, not to opposing circumstances before us. When it is not about us, then it can be all about Him. Walk in the freedom of God’s peace for your life. Allow Him to have every concern and worry. Walking in the peace of God, brings forth the righteousness of God.

Blessings,
kent

A Principle of Life

2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

A Principle of Life

If given the choice, most of us would be quite content to live a nice, safe, secure, healthy and relatively uneventful life. In many ways, a lot of us have. We need to ask ourselves is that really living or is that comfortably dying a slow death?
One thing fear does, is it gets us out of our comfort zone. It often gets our heart racing and our adrenaline pumping. Our senses come alive in the face of danger and uncertainty. If we can see our lives in the light of the spiritual couch potatoes we would become if we never faced any trials, testing or adversity, then we can better appreciate why God allows them to come into our lives.
In order for our faith to grow it must be challenged so that our faith can come up to the level of our challenge. Since fear doesn’t come to us from God then we must realize that faith is the antidote to fear. Faith sets our eyes and attention back where they belong. Looking to the Father. When we realize that fear comes from our inadequacy, weakness and inability to control a situation, we either have to face it in the frailty of human ability or have a revelation of what God has given us to counter it with. God hasn’t given us the spirit of fear, but what He has given us is the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind. We have a mighty arsenal to combat fear and to overcome it. Fear only works as long as you are afraid. When you are no longer afraid, fear has lost its power. What the Word of God is telling us is that you don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to fret, worry or anxious. What you need to do, is lay hold with faith and confidence upon God’s Word, His promises and assurance. The more you fill your self with the Word of God and spend time in His presence; the more bold, confident and faith-filled you become. For the enemy and the spirit of fear, you then, become a force to be reckoned with. The person who really has a revelation of their identity in Christ, who knows their position in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and operates in their God given and appointed purpose is a dangerous person to the enemy of fear and darkness. The gates of hell can not prevail against that person.
An example of such a person was seen in David. He was called, appointed, anointed and knew who he was in God when he confronted Goliath. He didn’t fall into that trap of fear like the rest of the camp of Israel. He came from a place of faith and authority, not his, but the Spirit of God in him. Later, we see Saul, with all the resources and armies of Israel at his command pursuing David’s life, but unable to capture and take it. He was that spirit of fear that pursued David, but was unable to prevail, because David put his trust and confidence in the Lord.
Was that an easy place for David? No, it was a very difficult place, but at that time David lived and walked with God closer than at any other time in his life. Adversities are often allowed in our lives to stir us into faith. They cause our spiritual senses to come alive and get our focus off of the world onto the Lord. Fear isn’t always a bad thing, not because we want to succumb to it, but because we want the faith to arise in our hearts, along with the resident power, love and the mind of Christ to overcome all fear and the adversary that stands before us. The force of opposition only serves to make us stronger.
We are sons and daughters of the Most High God. Our Captain, King and Savior has conquered death and the grave. He has set down at the right Hand of the Father until His enemies be made His footstool. We are the body and feet of our Captain and King, Jesus. He is putting the enemy beneath our feet, because we are His.
Someone once said, “You need to either get busy living or get busy dying.” Our time for being complacent, lethargic and comfortable is soon coming to an end. We need to make the choice to live or to die, life or death. If we are going to live then we need to live out of the place where we pursue fear and it doesn’t pursue us. We have to come into that place of having assurance of who we are and what God put us on this earth for. We were not put here to be subject to this kingdom that lives under the rule and power of sin and death. We live under the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. We were put here to invade this earthly kingdom with the kingdom Heaven, Life and God. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” We are God’s portals, conduits and well springs through which He invades the kingdom of this earth. That is not going to happen through spiritual couch potatoes that are content with the leeks and onions of Egypt. It is going to happen through an army of believers that are hearing the trumpet of war sounding in God’s camp and are responding to it. If we don’t respond to God’s calling and come into that place of abiding in the Almighty and under the shadow of His wing, then soon the spirit of fear will arise and cover the earth and those who have not found their place in Him will be overtaken by it. Father has not given us that spirit of fear, He has given us the Spirit of Sonship, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father”. We are His kids and we were born for this, so don’t allow fear to rule your hearts, but come up into the faith and confidence of who you are in Christ and trample fear beneath your feet!

Blessings,
kent