Arise, My Darling , and Come with Me

Arise, My Darling , and Come with Me

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over [and] gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines [with] the tender grape give a [good] smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

               Do you know the lover in your Lord Jesus?  The one who is passionately in love with you?  He watches you and longs after you.  His affections are ever toward you.  He would know your heart.  Do you love Him?  Are you passionately inflamed with love and desire toward Him?  Do you treasure those quiet times in His presence where the world around you fades away and it is only you and your beloved?  If you haven’t come to know Jesus as your lover you are missing the richest experience of love in your life.  So many of us know about Jesus, we know him in an outward sense.  We may go to church and worship him and occasionally read the Bible, and of course we do pray now and then. 

“To Know” in the biblical sense is to know in intimacy as a husband knows his wife.  Jesus wants us to intimately know Him in the secret place of our spirit.  He desires such union with us that the product of that union is divine life and nature within us.  As His life is alive and flowing through us it will in turn impregnate others with His divine life, love and grace. 

               Some of us have loved our Lord.  We have longed after Him, but He has seemed illusive as He did to the Shulamite maid in the Song of Songs.  She would not be dissuaded but continued to pursue her lover till she would lay hold of Him.  Are we that passionately in love with our Lord where nothing will turn our eye or heart from pursuing Him?  Perhaps these have been the winter seasons of your life.  Spiritually you are languishing as you have gone through the stormy trials of life and have so longed for that closeness with Christ. 

               His word to us today is “Rise up, my love, my fair one and come away”; it is springtime in the spirit and a time of renewal, refreshing and blossoming in His love and presence.  It is a time for fruitfulness and spiritual life to spring forth.  It is a time when He will meet with you in the intimacy of the chambers of your heart.  He will draw close to you as you draw near to Him.  His desire is for those that love Him just for Him.  Even though He is the source of rich blessing and provision our heart is not on what He can do for us or what He can give us.  Our heart is passionately in love with who He is.  There is nothing richer than our fellowship in His presence.  This is why we never cease to praise and adore Him, because He is so worthy, lovely and our heart beats for Him. 

               Christ is coming for a Bride that is passionately in love with Him.  She is the one that will know the deep places in the treasures of His love.  If you are that lover be encouraged that He is coming to take you away in Him.  He will be your all in all and He will meet the needs that no earthly person can.  If you have not known the Lord in this way, you are missing out on the greatest love relationship of your lives.  Come fall in love with Jesus in a way you never have.  Come to know Him as your dearest friend, companion and lover.  Your life will be so much richer than you have ever known.  “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

Blessings,

#kent

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The Lord’s Presence

The Lord’s Presence

Jude 1:20-25

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, [be] glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

                There is no more awesome place than the Presence of the Lord.  It is a place of great glory and majesty where the power and presence of the Almighty emanates.   There are times in our worship and God experiences that we enter may enter into the Presence of the Lord where our actual body and soul experiences, at least a measure, of that Presence.  For those who have tasted of His Presence you know that there is nothing in earth that can imitate or match it.  When God’s Presence truly comes into a place, we become prostrate, for we can’t even look upon Him in our natural state.  He is as a consuming fire and cleaners soap.  There is no pretense, excuses or falsehoods that can abide in that presence, for they are totally exposed for what they are.  We know that as His children we have access into His Presence through the Son, for we are in Christ.  We are accepted in His Presence in Christ, our High Priest.  Hebrew 9:24 says, “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”  It is His righteousness that clothes us and we wear those garments in faith.  The Apostle Paul gives us a revelation of what it is to press into the Presence of the Lord in this life in Philippians 3:8-11, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”  When we catch a revelation of the place of God’s Presence then everything else will loses its meaning and value in comparison.  That place of God’s Presence, it is the place of the richest treasure we can experience.  That is what makes heaven so wonderful.  It is filled with His presence. 

                We have a portal of access, a door of faith by which we may enter in.  For those in Christ the Presence of the Lord is our fullness of joy, but to the sinner that seeks to come in some other way or with other garments than those washed in the blood of Lamb, there is a terror and dread.  For outside of Christ we would be cast out of the Presence of the Almighty.  This is why we want to put off the garments spotted with sin and flesh.  Put on Christ and pursue His Presence.   Pursue His Presence with intimacy, worship and fidelity to your faith.  Make the Lord what your eye and heart covets and let your contentment be with nothing less.

Blessings, 

#kent

The Joy of His Fellowship

Psalms 5:11

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

The Joy of His Fellowship

              When you think back over your life what strikes you as the times when you had the greatest joy and contentment in your life?  For many of us has been the loving relationship that we have shared with our spouse or some special individual, but I don’t even know if that joy can exceed or compare to the joy of an intimate relationship with the Lord.  There is not greater joy than when we are in right fellowship with Jesus.  When I think of the times of greatest joy and fulfillment, I have to say they are in the Lord.  In those days when there is a constant dialogue with the Father and the Holy Spirit is just speaking little things into your heart that encourage you or just give you a new different revelation of Him.  It is such a joy to see the little miracles that He performs in our lives as we are fully trusting on Him and looking to Him for our every need.  That is why it is good that we don’t have everything.  We need to keep exercising our trust in Him.  Some of our poorest times were some of our richest times, because we had the privilege of seeing God’s ability working in our circumstances and His provision in our needs.  When we become prosperous and enjoy success, we often lose sight of the One who brought us where we are and who gave us the prosperity that we enjoy.  We begin to take ownership and pride in what we have accomplished rather than what the Lord has imparted through us and to us.   We tend to quit trusting in Him and looking more to our own devices and means.  He blesses us with all of His riches and wonderful gifts and then, ironically, we tend to have less and less time for Him because now we have to be focused on all that we have and all that we are still trying to get.  Meanwhile, in all of that we lose that most precious commodity and possession that we can have in life, the joy and fellowship of the Lord.  We have allowed that intimacy and fellowship we once enjoyed to become replaced by other things we think we want, but that usually only bring us into more bondage and obligation to care for them.  Somewhere in our travels through life we look back and we wonder where did it go, when did I lose it; that special relationship I had with Him?  It is not that we have forsaken our faith or that we don’t still love and trust the Lord, but it becomes like many of our marriages; we lose our first love. 

              God show us again how to recapture the fervent passion and joy we had in our first love.  Help us to turn our backs on the weights and sins that so easily encumber us, stumble us and have robbed us of our joy with YOU!  Help us to find again the elements of our love that made our time together so sweet and memorable.  Help us to revisit and possess again that joy.  We tend to lose it with You and in our marriages and other human relationships as well.  It was that joy that made life so rich and so worth living.  Bring us back to that joy of when You were everything and fellowship was so sweet. 

Blessings,

#kent

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

 

Building up the Temple

Acts 20:32

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Building up the Temple

This past weekend we had the privilege of having a few of our grandchildren stay with us.  Now each on of them has professed their faith in Christ, but I observed that their faith had been weakened, by disappointments, challenges and just the world that they live in.  Through the weekend Sharon and I just shared testimonies of God’s faithfulness and stories of the things He has done in our lives and the lives of others.  It was like watering a wilted flower.  I saw their faith begin to rise up as they were encouraged in the Word and by the stories of God’s personal faithfulness.  I observed the cynicism begin to depart from their attitudes and their hearts become tender toward the Lord again.  This is why we have church.  It is not just about an organized service on Sunday morning, but about when two or more are gathered in His name.  We need more of that kind of church, especially in these trying times.  We all need to be focused on building up the temple, because when we build up and edify one another that is what we are doing.  ” Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)”

Romans 14: 19 exhorts us, ” Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”  This is especially true when we are with other believers that may not hold your same point of view on some doctrinal issues.  In the past we have often spent more time debating and arguing our differences rather than edifying one another in the love of Christ, thus we maintain our walls of difference and division.  That is not the work of the Holy Spirit.  His work is to unify us and bring us into one Spirit.  1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”  Paul says in Ephesians 4:2-6, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  How important it is that we have that unity of love and mutual edification where we are not only focused upon our needs, but upon the needs of others.  1 Thessalonians 5:11 encourages us, “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”  

It is so important that we speak into one another’s lives the faith and encouragement that we all need to hear and be mindful of.  In so doing we water one another’s faith and keep it strong and focused on God’s kingdom rather than the kingdom of this world.  

When there may be those times and seasons that we are alone and without any real fellowship or encouragement I am reminded of David as he was fleeing for his life from Saul.  In the Psalms he is constantly encouraging his soul through the Word and reminding himself of all of God’s goodness and benefits.  Praise encourages his faith and causes him to rise above his circumstances.  It was a time when the Spirit of God within him ministered encouragement and faith back into his soul.  He didn’t live by the way he felt or the way he perceived things were going, but he committed all to God and placed his trust fully in Him.  After all, Romans 10:17 reminds us, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  God’s Word is that source of faith and encouragement that needs to be verbalized to ourselves and to others.  Let us be mindful at every opportunity to be building up the temple.

Blessings,

#kent

Call to Fitness

1 Timothy 4:8
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
Call to Fitness

Sometimes our spiritual muscles and countenance begin to droop and sag over time like much of the rest of our body. The spiritual man need not grow old. He is the eternal youth and life that lives in us. But if left to neglect the spiritual man can’t serve us. Certainly we need to care for the temple of this natural body, for it is what houses and facilitates the spiritual man within us. Our greater obligation and responsibility is to the spiritual man. This is the eternal part of us that is both now and forever.
The spiritual man is fed as we read and study God’s word. The spirit man feeds on truth. He is exercised as he acts upon this truth in faith. He is strengthened and activated in our life of prayer and fellowship with the Lord. Spirit feeds spirit. Do we spend as much time a day feeding our spiritual man as we do our natural man? Are we as attentive to our spiritual needs as we are our physical needs? Would your natural man be in better or worse shape if it was given the same amount of attention and food a day as you give your spirit man? When we put it in this perspective we might see why we might be spiritually weak and ineffective, not only in our lives but in the lives of others.
This is our day to awaken to our spiritual self and who we are in Christ. This is not just a head knowledge, it is a call to spiritual alertness and fitness. I can set on the couch and watch fitness and exercise programs all day long, but unless I engage my body in those routines no amount of mental agreement or ascent will change my physical state. Many of us listen to the word of God and we have a lot of spiritual head knowledge, but like James says, “faith without works is dead”. In order for us to have spiritual strength we have to exercise our spiritual man. James 1:22 exhorts us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” We are a kingdom people called for a kingdom purpose. We must become sensitized to who we are as a spiritual people and not just a natural people. We must see our world through God’s perspective and then act out of our spiritual man in life’s circumstances. Maybe it is just offering to pray for someone or building them up through an encouraging word. Maybe it is random acts of kindness and selfless giving. Whatever it is, it needs to be Christ finding expression through our lives and everyday circumstances. This is exercising our spiritual man.
Jesus commissions our spiritual man in Luke 17:15-18, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” How many of us are walking daily in this commission? We have to have a strong and energized spiritual man to carry our what we are called to do. The Lord is calling us to spiritual fitness so that we can make a difference in our world. Let us exercise ourselves in all faith and godliness that He may be lifted up and glorified through us.

Blessings,
#kent

Fallen is Babylon

Revelations 14:8
A second angel followed and said, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”
Fallen is Babylon

Through the ages we have seen both a real church of God and pseudo church who worshiped God outwardly in form and in name, but the true Spirit and nature of God was not found in them. In the world they represented the church and truth of God and yet through inquisitions and martyrdom they persecuted and killed those who possessed the reality of Christ and refused to be conformed to her ways and doctrines. The great Babylon has been the source of tremendous influence in the world and yet she has been in bed with the world in so many of her ways and dealings. Ironically enough it has often been the real that has been hidden in the midst of this great harlot Babylon. Babylon is the epitome of man’s religion and devices. Her leaders have taken the holy vessel of God’s true temple and defiled them in their drunkenness and debauchery. The world sees her hypocrisy, but even they don’t see the depth of her sin and defilement of Spirit. Even so, in her midst, true saints of God and the Bride has been hidden, but their effectiveness and light has often been hidden and obscured by the corruption and watered down religion of that which surrounds them. This results from a system of men that use God for their own gain and power. They have built great edifices and monuments more to their own glory than to Father God. As they come into the fullness of their corruption they will try to bring their masses into the mindset of this world system. They will use condemnation and coercion to do what would not bear witness with the true Spirit of Christ. What she does not yet know is that her time is short and her days are numbered. Her spirit is that same one as the religious leaders that crucified our Lord.
We hear this word coming out of God’s word repeatedly as expressed in Revelations 18:4 to the saints of God to come out of her, because here in Revelations 18 it tells us of her demise and ultimate destruction. “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. 3For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” 4Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 5for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. 6Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. 7Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ 8Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
God is calling us saints of God to true religion and undefiled. He is calling us out of man’s version of religion and into the truth of Spirit and His life. In that place we find no longer just outward expressions, words and acts of religion, God is bringing us into that place of intimacy and relationship where we can intimately know Him, not just in head knowledge, but in Spirit and in Truth. It is a place where we can finally experience the reality of His presence and fellowship in our personal lives. Our relationship is no longer dependent upon what we do for God or how good we can be. We come into the place of knowing Christ who is the finished work of our salvation and who is able to complete the good work He has began in you and I.
This is the hour to leave the old wineskin of dead religion and move into the reality of His true Church, which is alive and pregnant with the Spirit of God. God loves His own and so He is calling His own unto Himself. He is calling us out of dead religion, old paradigms and ways of thinking and out of our traditions. Jesus told the religious leaders in Mark 7:13, “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Press in for yourself and find the reality of Christ for your life. He is bringing you into a place of freedom. Your religion may condemn you, but then little does it know it stands condemned and under the judgement of God. He is calling you to be part of the true Church that He is raising up to the glory and praise of His name. A church that will be mighty and will go forth doing exploits, signs and wonders. He is setting you free and He is calling you out!

Blessings,
#kent

The Spirit of a Jackass

Jeremiah 14:6
“Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyesight fails for lack of pasture.”

The Spirit of a Jackass

Oh that men would praise Him rather than sing mournful hymns and songs. Oh that men of the cloth would have restored to them spiritual vision and insight. The religious man perishes and is made like dry bones. He pursues God only with his mind and intellect while his heart is far from Him. He has not the faith to embrace and hold the things of God because he stands upon the barren heights of man’s religion and tradition. It is what he has been handed down from his fathers and it is what he has learned to embrace. Now, as a wild donkey, he stands upon the barren and desolate heights of religious intellect and the traditions of his fathers to find he like the jackal is looking for some dead thing to feed upon. His spiritual eyesight fails to see that God is so much more than the cathedrals of theology and learning. He is not only the God of the past, but of the here and now. He doesn’t know how to find and relate with God in his own present tense. His soul is lean though his head is full of knowledge. He dwells in the land of famine and feeds upon the fodder of human reasoning. He has a form of godliness, but denies the power thereof. Thus, he finds no pasture and rest for his soul, but wrestles with fears, doubts and unbelief. The product of this man is found across the landscape of religion. They have their structures, their forms, their incantation, ceremonies and holy words, but their lives are devoid of the life giving power of true relationship and fellowship with Father God. There God is kept in their holy box instead of being a living fire in their hearts.
Though the truth is spoken to them they can not hear. They will not receive for they are like the wild donkeys, stubborn and set in their ways. They, in fact, resent and despise those who live in and speak the truth, for they are the heretics of their religious box. The religion and their tradition have become their idol and indeed it is the religion and form that they worship and not God.
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.” The strongholds of religion will fall. Their religious walls have only served to hide the hypocrisy and sin of those who inhabit them. The Lord Almighty has judged the form and tradition of religion, because like the law of Moses it has become an instrument of death and not life, it has only condemned with judgement and fear instead of giving life, liberty and freedom. God does not dwell in edifices and structures of men, but in the living stones of His peoples lives and hearts. “Unless the Lord build the house they that labor, labor in vain.” The Lord will establish His house. 1 Peter 2:4-10 speaks the mind of God concerning His house, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” 8and, “A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” This is God’s temple and this is His house that He has built through the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ.
God is calling His true people out of the former traditions and forms of men into the relationship with Him whereby you may cry “Abba Father”, Papa God. Our God is a God of relationship not of form and dead letter. He is desiring to bring you into the fellowship of His family and communion with His Holy Spirit. That relationship is not one of ceremony but of knowing Him in the intimacy of your heart and life through Christ. Wild Donkeys will not hear this word for they are stubborn and stiff-necked, determined in their own way even when it leaves them in famine and desolation, but those who have spiritual ears will hear and come out from among her to find that true and living church which isn’t in an organization, but is a living, functioning organism of His life, love and fellowship. This is the word of the Lord to His people this day.
Blessings,
#kent

Distractions

Colossians 3:3-4 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Distractions

A young lady knelt beside her bed one morning to pray.

The warm sun breaking in caused her eye to stray.

As she glimpsed up and saw a song bird in the tree,

And was attracted to the window as she rose from bended knee.

Her thoughts became distracted as she looked out upon the day,

The woods, the leaves, the crags all beckoned her come and play.

There she left Jesus sitting as she dressed and fled her room.

Later, she thought, I will return and then my prayers resume.

Why not invite Jesus with you as you engage upon your day?

Maybe He would love running with you as you run and play.

Why do we confine Him to when we are on bended knee?

Carry Jesus with you and allow Him to be free.

Should He not be with you in every expression of your day?

Do not be distracted, but take Him with you, even when you play.

He is your closest friend and loves to spend His time with you,

So take His presence with you in all that you say and do.

Do return to take time with Him in the solace of your room.

You need the quite time with Him your conversation to resume.

Allow Him to order your steps as you step into your day,

But always take Him with you and never cease to pray.

Kent Stuck

Hold Fast to Your Relationship

Hebrews 10:35-36
“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

Hold Fast to Your Relationship

Have you ever exercised, ran a race or just lived life and you came to the place where you thought you couldn’t or didn’t want to go any further. You were tired, exhausted, maybe even discouraged and felt defeated. There are times as we walk through life trying to hold fast the faith that we get tired. We just want to let ourselves drift back into the flesh and quit the daily effort of living a life of faith and righteousness. Perhaps we have a friend or loved one who is always pressuring us to go out and have fun with them or do the things we know would be displeasing to the Lord. There are times we get weak, we get discouraged and we want to give up trying and fighting the good fight of our faith. “After all, God still loves me and maybe He is not all that interested in what I do and don’t do.”
I can tell you from experience that when we step through that door, we step out of our place of fellowship and relationship with the Lord that we have cultivated through our walk and prayer time with Him. Often we don’t even realize what we do have and what His fellowship means to us until we lose it. When we walk away from it, that ground is so much harder to gain back the second time. The Lord knows our heart and our feelings, but we must be careful not to allow the enemy to come in and rob us of that confidence and relationship we have in Him. It is often so subtle and many times perpetrated through the ones we like and love.
The Lord says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The pressures and the trials of life often weigh heavy upon us and we sometimes want to give up, but the Word says, “don’t throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Stay the course, don’t give up and don’t give in. Find your rest and your strength day by day in the Good Shepherds arms. “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

Blessings,
#kent