We, the Lame
July 22, 2015
We, the Lame
Hebrew 12:13
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Have you ever had a broken leg, a dislocated joint or wrenched knee or ankle? When you find yourself in this condition, you find that walking normally is out of the question. There is too much pain and tenderness to walk in a normal way. This is the way we are when we get out of joint in our walk with the Lord. Our spiritual health and harmony are interrupted and our walk with Him becomes crippled and distorted.
I think many of us have areas in our lives where we experience some lameness; an area that is out of joint with God’s will and purpose for our lives. The Lord doesn’t want us to walk in a crooked and twisted path, but in a straight and narrow one. It is like Jesus says in Matthew 7:14, “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” I would venture to say that most of us have found ourselves off of that straight and narrow more times than we would like to admit. How wonderful that through repentance and the power of the blood of Jesus we have a means to be restored to the path of righteousness.
It is sin that cripples us and makes us lame. It is sin that distorts our spiritual health and wholeness. There are many that are still struggling with strongholds of sin in their lives. While they feel condemned and defeated, they can’t seem to get delivered and free from it. We often make the mistake of judging others in an area of weakness while we may have another area in us that is just as bad. We are all creatures of God’s grace and mercy. We didn’t find our way to Him because our works were righteous and we were so much better than everyone else. Like everyone else, we are sinners saved by the grace of God. That same faith with which we embraced Christ when we first gave our hearts to Him is what we must now exercise as we make straight paths for our feet.
There is something wrong with us as a body of Christ when we are more concerned about judging one another for our faults than we are with ministering to one another in our weaknesses. What does James 5:16 say? “Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” We all have weaknesses and faults that we have not fully gained the victory over or that we are still struggling with. Where are our ministry, compassion and prayers for one another in our weaknesses? We desperately try and conceal our faults and weaknesses, either because we are in denial or just think it is our problem, but more likely because we don’t have a safe place where we can expose and share the sins with which we struggle. Jesus says it is not the well that need a physician, but the sick. The Christ in each one of us is the physician that wants to minister help and healing to those around us. We need each other to help each other. Our sin would always cripple us and dislocate us from the Lord, but the Lord wants to heal our lameness and restore us in a path of righteousness for His namesake. The Lord doesn’t want us to justify and cover over our sin, that would be hypocrisy, but He does want to see us healed in the areas of our sin sickness.
We want to see Isaiah 35 come to pass in each one of our lives, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. 8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
The Lord is on the side of our restoration and wholeness, but it takes our willingness to forsake our sin. Perhaps we need to seek out those who will stand with us and help us to lay hold of our victory and healing in the areas where sin has held us captive and crippled our walk. We are a body and we must minister to one another’s needs. We need one another to minister and help each other in all of the areas that pertain to life and godliness. Corporately, we are growing up in Christ, ministering to one another out of the gifts that the Holy Spirit has apportioned to each one of us. Ephesians 4:16-18 says,” Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work..”
If you are lame in an area of your walk with the Lord, then find your healing and deliverance so that your path may be made straight. If it is greater than your ability to find the victory then seek out those in the body of Christ who can come along beside you, give you help, prayer and accountability. It is the Lord’s will to restore the lame.
Blessings,
#kent
Kindness and Severity of God
September 10, 2014
Jeremiah 4:8
So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.
Isaiah 60:5
Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.
Kindness and Severity of God
Today’s passages come from two totally different aspects that represent both the kindness and the severity of God. Even in the severity of God, He is working to bring all things to His purposed end. He is able to deal with His people in whatever means are necessary to accomplish that purpose. Our faith and obedience to Him or the lack of it often determine our choice in this process.
In Romans 11:13-24 the apostle Paul teaches this, “13I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
We see then that the severity of God has worked to our salvation and our being grafted into the tree of God’s family and people, but it will also work to the ultimate reconciliation and restoration of natural Israel. Then we two branches will become one spiritual Israel unto His glory. Even within our lives now we see both the kindness and the severity of God. We love His blessing, but He also gives of His correction because Hebrews 12:4-12 reminds us, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” 7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
12Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13″Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.
Within the severity is contained the same love as in His kindness. We often reap what we sow and bring upon ourselves the need for His severity, but even in that severity it is to lead us to repentance and turn us back to Him. God’s severity is not His first course of action and with great longsuffering He often forbears our sin and rebellions. Romans 2:4 speaks of how God desires to deal with us, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? We are most often the ones that forsake our own mercy and provoke the severity of God.
This doesn’t mean that our sin or failure brings on all of the trials that we go through. Often it is these trials and tribulations that are most likely to cause us to keep our eyes and attention fixed upon Him. God’s sternness is to those who fall away, but His kindness is to you provided that you continue in His kindness.
Blessings,
#kent
Dusty Walk, Clean Feet
March 13, 2014
Dusty Walk, Clean Feet
John 13:4-10
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
In the days of Jesus the roads were dusty and dirty. Imagine walking for miles down a dry and dusty road in your sandals. Imagine how darkened with dirt your feet would be from your journey. In the days of Jesus it was customary when coming into a home that not only would you kick off your sandals, but that a servant would meet you with a basin of water and a towel to wash your feet. This was the task of a slave or servant, but on this day, it was Jesus, the Master, that put off his garment, girded himself with a towel and began to wash the disciple’s feet. We can only imagine how uncomfortable and embarrassing this must have been to the disciples for Jesus, their Master, to be washing their feet. Peter, the outspoken one of the disciples, probably expressed what was in all of their hearts. At first he ardently objects to Jesus washing his feet. When Jesus tells him if He does not wash his feet, he has not part with Him; Peter goes to the other extreme. “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head.” Jesus told him he was already washed; all he needed to clean was his feet.
The Lord reminds of this today and of what He went on to say,”If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Obviously we don’t visit too many Christian homes today where it is customary for the people of the household to wash our feet. There is a lesson and message that goes beyond the ceremonial and outward washing of feet. Our feet represent our walk. When we come into Christ and He washes us in His blood. Jesus, with His blood, does for us what He relates to Peter, He cleans us within. There is still the principle that we all continually walk the dusty roads of our earthly existence. We are darkened and our feet dirtied by the sin and death that fills the earth in which we live. As daily we walk through life, it is difficult for us not become dirtied by all that touches our lives. It doesn’t mean that the blood of Jesus hasn’t cleansed us from our sins or that we need to be re-saved; it does mean that we still frequently need our feet washed. We need our walk washed by the water of the Word. We need our hearts and minds renewed and need to be reminded of whom we are, what we are and where we are going. If our feet are not constantly washed our walk, can become polluted, unclean and defiled.
Jesus teaches us in this example that it is the responsibility of each of us to wash one another’s feet. As you read this word this morning, perhaps the Lord is using it to wash your feet as you are exhorted and encouraged in Him and your relationship with Him. God has given us all unique gifts and abilities by which we can wash one another’s feet as we serve in the capacities that He has given each of us. When we wash one another’s feet, we have accountability to one another to help each other to continue on from each other’s presence in a pure and holy walk. This requires that we are not ignoring or neglecting the gift that the Lord has given and placed within us. It requires that we are sensitive even to the least, perhaps even the most undesirable. Jesus was not a respecter of persons; He was as willing to wash the feet of Judas as He was of Peter.
Are we following the Lord’s example and commandment today, to wash one another’s feet? Do we greet one another and speak to one another words of encouragement, hope, life and love? Perhaps the Lord will bring some dirty feet across your path today. Take the time to wash them in the love and mercies of Jesus. As we wash one another’s feet it helps each of us to be encouraged and continue walking in the things of God with clean feet and a righteous walk.
Blessings,
#KentStuck
#TricklesofTruth.wordpress.com
Our Steps are Ordered of the Lord
February 5, 2014
Our Steps are Ordered of the Lord
Acts 26:16
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee.
Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” People of God, we have feet that are prone to wander. We know and love God, but our hearts are still deceitfully wicked. Our spirits are fully redeemed and delight in God after the inward man, but there is a soulish body of sin, that doesn’t want to let go. It has been sentenced to death through the cross, but it doesn’t want to die. It is an avenue of temptation that satan uses to lead astray and cause us to wander. We can’t change ourselves, but we must maintain a vigilance to keep ourselves in relationship and in a place of sitting daily at the feet of Jesus. We have to keep our focus on the kingdom of heaven and what our life’s purpose is about. So easily our eyes and heart can turn away and something other than Christ catches our heart. We often wonder why we experience so little of the Lord’s presence. Perhaps it is because our time in seeking it and pursuing Him is so limited. Here is what the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet to Israel, which is for our example. Jeremiah 14:10 says, “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.” Does that sound like us?
I don’t speak out of condemnation. I speak out of conviction. I speak out of shame and disappointment with myself at how often and how many ways I must grieve the precious Holy Spirit. God knows our form and He knows our weakness, but that cannot become our excuse, because it is no longer who we are. Everyday we must lay hold of the life of Christ and when I miss Him, He will forgive me if I repent, but it must become the exception and not the rule. Our steps are ordered of the Lord. We must find and stay upon that path. How subtly we can be steered out of it. Usually it is just one little step at a time until we suddenly find ourselves in the deep waters of sin and wonder how we got there. Many times we may find the discipline of the Lord upon our lives or even the course of the natural consequences of our sin. God loves us. His desire and purpose is always to draws us back into Him and into His heart. Hebrews 12:11-15 of the amplified version exhorts us like this, “For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness–in conformity to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
12So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,
13And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.
14Strive to live in peace with everybody and pursue that consecration and holiness without which no one will [ever] see the Lord.
15Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it—” Our Father is for us, not against us. Even in our weakness and failing He so greatly loves us. Praise His Name, He loves us enough to correct and discipline us, even though it is often painful, to bring us back to Him.
If we are walking out of His ways today, come back to Him. Even this word you are reading now is God’s invitation and cry to come back to Him. He desires that none of us “falls back and fails to secure God’s grace.” Luke 1:79 says of Jesus that He came, “To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Who is ordering our steps today? What are our hearts following after and our feet carrying us into? The steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. Let us delight ourselves in His ways and follow wholly after Him. “God help us to loose ourselves and renounce the strongholds of sin that want and have taken hold upon our lives. We are marching to Zion and we must not be turned out of the way. We behold the throne of God and the Lamb of God that sits in that throne with Him and in Him. “We must fix our eyes and our hearts upon You, oh Lord. Order our steps, oh God, and direct our paths in righteousness for Your Name’s sake.”
Blessings,
kent