Two Horses
July 20, 2023
Two Horses
Matthew 11:29-30
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.
The story I would like to share with you is from an analogy I once read about two horses.
Once upon a time on a horse ranch twin horses were conceived and brought into the world. As they grew they loved to play and frolic across the pasture. They could run like the wind and loved their freedom. As they grew older the master of the ranch had them brought into the coral and a bridal was put in their mouths and a harness over their heads. They both fought this and hated the taste of the metal and the discomfort that it caused them, but they had no choice. Later a trainer began to work with them. They had both become so accustomed to their freedom that they fought and rebelled at the trainer’s discipline. The trainer was very patient and kind and would stroke them and reward their right behavior. Eventually, one of the horses began to see the trainer as his friend. Even through he didn’t always like what the trainer was putting him through he loved the approval that he found when he pleased the trainer, so he began to submit to the bit and the bridal. The twin brother, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with any of it. No matter how patiently and kindly the trainer worked with him his neck was stiff with rebellion and he refused to come under the discipline of the trainer. He loved his freedom and longed to return to the pasture where he could run unencumbered and free. After a time, when the trainer became convinced that the twin would never be a useable horse, he released him back into the pasture. The horse was delighted. He had escaped the discipline and the training his brother was submitting and allowing himself to be put through. He would call to his brother to join him, but by now the brother had submitted his will to the trainer and had become obedient to his voice and direction. Of course, the free horse thought he had gained the victory and won his independence. How stupid and weak-minded his brother had been to submit to that trainer when he could still be out here running free in the pasture.
Over the course of the years the rebellious horse watched his brother. He observed that the family loved him. He was groomed, cared for and kept in the barn when it was cold and the weather was bad. He was fed oats and he was the one that pulled the carriage and was ridden by the master. The rebellious horse was sadden and missed his brother. While he had the freedom to run and do as he would, he had no purpose and use in his life. On the other hand, the submitted horse had come into a relationship with the master and his family. He was loved and had a relationship with them. He was trusted and depended upon by the family to take them where they needed to go whether it was to church on Sunday or across the ranch to check on the livestock. He had found purpose and meaning in his life, but he had to lay down his will to find it. It was by submitting to the master’s will, to the bridal and the harness, that he found his true purpose and meaning for being, something that his brother in all his self-will and freedom never found.
Luke 14:27 says, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Are we willing to fully embrace the bit and the bridal of the Lord, our master and go wherever He leads us or will we retain our freedom and self-will?
Blessings,
#kent
God’s Gift of our Government
Romans 13:1
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
It is very impressing to read and study the early American history of the lives and events that shaped and formed our country. There was such a great level of faith and commitment in the men and women that took part in helping us to become an independent nation. The very fact that we gained our freedom from England who might have been considered the greatest military strength and power of the world at that time is a miracle in itself. It doesn’t take a genius to see the hand of God as this nation was formed and birthed to be a free nation under God. I believe it was the acknowledgement, trust and faith in God that gave us this great nation. It was more than that, it was the willingness to take action and stand on principle and conviction. It was the willingness to put your life on the line for what you believed.
In God’s word it commands men to be subject to their governments as ordained of God. We are unique in that we are the government and we have each one been blessed to have a say in our government, the policies and values that our nation projects. If our nation is immoral or is going in a wrong direction whom do we have to blame but ourselves. We are the ones who place in office the values that we hold and feel are important to our daily lives.
I used to not believe in voting. After all, God was sovereign and He would place in high places whom He would right? The thing I have come to learn about God is that He has chosen to work in concert with man. He will empower and help him if he will trust God, but He won’t take all of the responsibility away from us. If I set on my couch and refuse to work, but I am spiritual so I’ll just pray that God is my provider and will supply all my needs. While the theory is true in part, the other part the Word teaches is that if a man doesn’t work he shouldn’t eat and a man that doesn’t provide for his household is worse than an infidel and unbeliever. The principles of God’s word say I need to be stepping out in faith and action and in turn the Lord will be my help. We have that same mandate and responsibility as Christians to represent godly values through the leaders that we elect into office. If no one ever told others about Christ how would they come to know him? Just as we must be a witness for Christ through our sharing and the way we live our life, we must be the ones that speak our voice and our values through our God given vote. Many a man and woman has risked or given their lives that we might have that privilege and freedom. We are an insult to their sacrifice if we fail to exercise it. God has given us a responsibility in the election process. While He does sit upon the throne, we are the instruments of His hand to perform and work righteousness in the earth. I have come to believe that by neglecting my responsibility as an American citizen to vote I am neglect a responsibility and a stewardship that the Lord has given me. Do your part in making a difference in the moral fiber and direction of our country by voting your values and convictions. It is your God given right and responsibility.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
Blessings,
#kent
Random Order
July 29, 2020
Random Order
Psalms 119:133
Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
God does not operate out of chance. He does not spin a wheel and wherever the ball lands that’s the direction He goes. Our God is a magnificent God of design and order. He has a plan and He knows the beginning to the end. Your life and mine aren’t a chance happening, they are ordered of the Lord. He has put within each one of us a destiny and a purpose for our being.
Someone may be thinking, “You don’t know my life, what I have been through or what a mess I am.” God does and He is able to take what the enemy has meant for evil and destruction and turn it around to be a stronghold for His glory and praise. He is able to lift you up out of the death and darkness you have been in and set your feet in the way of light and truth. He is able to take our weakness and turn them into the strongest areas of righteousness and victory in our lives. God has a destiny, plan and purpose for your life, but the only way you will fully realize it is as you allow Him to order your steps according to His Word. God has a divine and fulfilling plan for each of us, but we don’t have to follow it. It is sin and rebellion that have caused us to miss it and that is why many of us are in the misery we are in.
As we look back over our lives, what do we see? Are we satisfied and content with the results? Do you feel you have lived your life to the fullness of God’s will and design for you. We must come to the place that we realize our greatest joy, happiness and fulfillment doesn’t come out pursuing our own pleasures and desires, it will only be realized in the unity with God’s will and order for your life. As I look back over my own life and the times I have walked close to God and the times I haven’t, I can see that my greatest joy, blessing and fulfillment are the times when I am passionately pursuing Him and seeking the fullness of His will for my life. Our Father didn’t give us His Word and commandments to imprison us and make us miserable. He gave them to set us free to be the children of righteousness and holiness that could enjoy the riches of all that He has for us. It is our own sin and rebellion that prevent, inhibit and imprison us from enjoying the full blessings and promises that God has given us.
Our God is a God of divine and precise order. We can look all around our universe and see the evidence of that in all of creation. Only the fool could truly say the world and all its wonders were created by mere chance, how absurd. An atheist has to have more faith to believe that, than a believer does to believe in God. All of creation is a testimony to the wonder, greatness and order of God. We have to realize that so much of our thinking, values and beliefs have been the persuasion of a lie. All the chaos, disorder, anarchy, rebellion and discord in the world is the result of the devil’s influence on the minds and hearts of men. We at war with terrorism today because men bought the lies of satan and in the name of religion and their god they terrorize by killing, wounding and maiming innocent men, women and children. That certainly has no connection with the God I know.
If our steps are ordered of the Lord then He will not allow iniquity to have dominion over you. In fact, in Christ, He has already empowered you to have victory and dominion over sin and iniquity. He is our righteousness and we stand complete Him today because of Jesus. Jesus did it all. He has issued us all the equipment we need to go out, conquer and prevail. All we have to do is, in faith, put it on and use it according the operations manual of the Word of God, your Bible. If we are living in defeat, oppression and failure in our lives, then we are like a homeless person using hundred dollar bills to stuff the bag he is sleeping on. God has given us the resources, but we must rise up in the authority of His Word and the name of Jesus Christ and use them.
We cannot live our lives by random order and expect the fullness of God’s best in our lives. It will be a hit and miss proposition. As we live methodically and purposefully in the principles of God’s Word then we will reap the benefits of His promises and provisions. If you want victory, joy and fulfillment in your life then order your steps in the Lord and in His Word.
Blessings,
#kent
Judgement on Disputable Matters
September 29, 2015
Romans 14:1-5
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Judgement on Disputable Matters
If we were all to gather around and talk our theology hopefully we would be in agreement concerning the basic tenants of our faith such as Jesus being the Son of God, His blood being the atonement for our sins, that we are saved through faith and not of works, the virgin birth and other foundational truths that define Christianity. Hopefully, what we do not do is what Paul and others warned us about and that is adding or taking away from the gospel. Many times men, doctrines and denominations want to put their addendum that it is not just by faith that we are saved. The Galatians had been deceived into thinking that it was Christ and the works of the Law that saved them, but Paul clarifies this all through the book of Galatians. In Galatians 2:16 it says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” The Law is all about our doing and doing is never enough, therefore we find ourselves standing in condemnation because we can’t live up to the Law or we become judgmental and condescending because we think we are keeping it so much better than others around us. Christ came and died to deliver us out of the mentality and the separation from God that it brought. In Galatians 2:20 Paul puts our faith into perspective as to where our lives should be if we are a Spirit-led people. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is no longer about what I am or what I believe; it is about being the expression of the Christ that indwells me. “I” should no longer live, only Christ in me. The summary of our past, present and future in Christ is summed up in Ephesians 2: 1-10. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in 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. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Now if we agree on these basic tenants of our faith, then what is all of Romans 14 about? It is about all of little disputes about what we see, understand, are persuaded and comprehend the Word of God to say. I have found in myself, that over my lifetime many of my opinions and perceptions have changed and are still changing. We all walk in the light of what we know, see and understand, but 1 Corinthians 13: 12 says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” The truth is, no matter how much we know, we all still just know in part, because we are limited through our natural mind and understanding. I read an illustration recently that helped me see this more clearly. If I held up a nickel between us and we were asked what was on the nickel, I would say an impression of Thomas Jefferson and you would disagree and say no, it is an impression of Monticello. The truth is that we would both be right depending on our perspective, paradigm and way of seeing it. Religious men, including us, have often been guilty of taking a particular truth and making a dogma out of it. The truths of God are like spokes in a wheel; they can only keep the wheel in round if they are balanced by all other truth. If I take any truth to an extreme it becomes out of balance. The truth is I need both Thomas Jefferson and Monticello to make that nickel work.
Let’s not get distracted by the minor points of truth that we loose sight of the bigger picture here. We are not in fellowship with one another to bicker over our differences, but to edify one another in who we are in Christ. Let us lay our petty differences aside and let us allow one another the freedom to walk in the light of what we know realizing that we are all growing in the light and knowledge of Him. God is our judge, not man, before Him alone do we stand or fall. The Lord told me once concerning trying to correct how someone else believes. Don’t argue and debate them. Speak the truth in love and the truth will set them free.
Blessings,
#kent
The Wounded and Broken
September 23, 2015
The Rains are Coming!
August 26, 2015
Joel 2:21-24 (The Message translation)
Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate! God has done great things. Fear not, wild animals! The fields and meadows are greening up. The trees are bearing fruit again: a bumper crop of fig trees and vines! Children of Zion, celebrate! Be glad in your God. He’s giving you a teacher to train you how to live right—Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do. And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain, casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.
The Rains are Coming!
As I was asking the Lord about what to write this morning, I heard in my Spirit, “Tell my people the rains are coming.” He then reminded me of the rains spoken of in Joel 2:23. King James reads, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Just as the rains of heaven rejuvenate and give the life giving fluids to grow the crops, so the Spirit anointed teaching of God’s Word will come like rain to cause His people to come forth in spiritual fruitfulness. We have all set under much teaching and even good instruction, but this teaching and Word of God will be life changing and spirit transforming. It will come with the demonstration of such power and life that it will be a well of restoration, breakthrough and freedom. This rain comes after a time of great darkness upon the earth. It comes after a time where the people of God have entered into fasting and praying, of rending their hearts and not just their garments. It comes as we fully return to the Lord and bring the acceptable sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart.
When this rain breaks forth it will be like none you have seen before. It will be the former and the latter rain together, a double portion blessing upon the people of God. The rains are necessary both for preparing the soil to plant and also for bringing the harvest to fruition. These rains are for the bringing forth of a great harvest in the earth and also for the fruition of that which has already been planted. The rest of the passage of Joel 2 goes on to read, “24And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. 32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”
There is a season for every purpose under heaven. There is a season for tearing down and destruction, but that preceeds the season of restoration, blessing and life. Let us prepare our hearts in the manner that God has prescribed, seeking Him in fasting, repentance and prayer. For surely He will answer us and bring the showers of His blessing and life.
Blessings,
#kent