The Lovingkindness of the Lord
March 28, 2016
Psalms 63:1-4
O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
The Lovingkindness of the Lord
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:22-26). In both of these passages there is both an acknowledgement of the lovingkindness and the faithfulness of the Lord, but there is also travail of soul. While we wait upon the Lord our underlying desire and longing is to see the power and the glory of God revealed. While we saw remarkable manifestations of God’s power and miracles through the ages it wasn’t until the coming of Jesus that we saw the full manifestation of the lovingkindness of the Father. In Christ Jesus we saw the power and the glory revealed in acts of lovingkindness and compassion. He could have as easily have come to destroy and devastate the armies of Rome and of His natural fleshly enemies. He could have set up His kingdom in the earth as many expected Him to do, but the foe that He conquered was the prince of darkness when He led captivity captive, conquered death and the grave and gave gifts unto men. He laid the foundation and the groundwork for a holy nation to rise up in Him, His church, His body and His bride. We who have a foretaste of our inheritance and of the lovingkindness of our Lord are in much the same place as these Old Testament writers. We have seen the faithfulness of our God. We have seen His mighty acts upon the earth and toward His people. We have seen His face in the life of Jesus Christ and we have received the divine promises as 2 Peter 1:3-4 declares, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
We, like the saints of old, behold the magnificence of our God and the greatness of His love for us. We flourish in that love and in that love and the promises of His Word we live in hope and expectancy to see the fullness of our salvation revealed when Christ is come to fully manifest Himself in us.
Romans 8:15-25 teaches us, “For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! 16The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. 17And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. 18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us! 19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. 20For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it–[yet] with the hope 21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.23And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons). 24For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees? 25But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.”
The cry of the hearts of God’s people today is for Sonship. It is to see the glory of Christ revealed in us so that all of creation might be set free. We have so longed experienced the dry and thirsty land of religion, where there is no water. We have gone through all of the rituals and followed the traditions of men, but the reality isn’t in those things, it is in the lovingkindness of God when He is revealed in us through Christ Jesus. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-12 speaks of this coming glory and power, “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what we long for, hope for and rest in the lovingkindness of our God to bring to pass. This is what we live for and press into that His kingdom come and His will be done on earth, as it is heaven.
Blessings,
#kent
The Way into the Most Holy Place
October 1, 2015
Hebrews 9:1-10
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.a But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The Way into the Most Holy Place
God often works His truths in order of threes; what was, what is and what is to come.
As the writer of Hebrews expresses these truths he is revealing a new order that supercedes the previous order of things and brings the believer into a greater dimension of depth and experience with God than what he had before. In this place the law of Moses was giving place to the law of Christ Jesus and the Church age had began. Many of us are now aware that we are shifting into a new age; the age of Kingdom. There are many who are content to keep things the same and dwell in the former revelation and truth they have found in the Church age. It has been good in that it has brought us out of the outer court realm of legalism and law into the Holy Place, but even there we have built again the ceremonies and the traditions of men. In this place the Holy Spirit has given us a foretaste of the good things to come. We have operated in degrees out the Spirit and the gifts, but for those who are God chasers and hungry for more of the fullness of God they are not content to stay in this place. They are ever pressing against veil of the flesh, seeking entrance into the MOST HOLY PLACE, where the presence of God Himself dwells.
The Lord quickened this scripture to me sometime back in Hebrews 9:8, “The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.” We are not going to find what we are looking for in this old paradigm and old order if it is in our hearts to pursue God into the presence of His MOST HOLY PLACE. We are not going to enter into this place by simply holding on to the things we formerly knew. We have to let them go. Many of us are now getting a revelation that God is wanting to bring us into a new order, a Kingdom order, where we no longer move out of the religious, but out of His Spirit and Kingdom life. We are rubbing our spiritual eyes trying and straining to see what that looks like.
Will, it looks a lot like Jesus. We see with a little revelation and catch a glimpse of the gold of His glory and we are all ready to press in and partake of that glory. But just a minute before you do. Have you counted the cost? There is something that precedes the glory and it is called suffering. Paul tells us in Romans 8:17, “Now 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.
Many of us caught the revelation of Christ is us, the hope of glory. We are catching the sense of our identity and purpose. We are excited about partaking of these heavenly things, but some of us can become quite disillusioned when it comes to paying the price. In our identity with Christ we must realize that we also, like Paul said in Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”
What was it that once again gave us access and relationship with our Papa? It was the veil that was rent between the Holy Place and the MOST HOLY PLACE. That veil was the body of the Lord Jesus. When His body was rent and torn asunder through His crucifixion on the cross the physical veil in temple was also rent signifying that there was now access made into the MOST HOLY PLACE. If we are identified with Christ then what was true of the head must be true of the body. The veil was rent from the top (Jesus Christ the head) to bottom (the rest of the body of Christ through the ages). We must be willing to embrace the suffering if we desire the glory.
Paul did. He goes on in Romans 8:18-25 to say, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
When we see the calling and destiny that is before us. When we, as the sons of God, hear creation groaning and travailing, even as we have travailed within our own souls. How can we not, with Paul say, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
It is not found in our past experience of our religion, ceremonies and paradigms. It far exceeds just playing church. It is the call to pursue His highest and be willing to pay the price to do so if we want to enter into the MOST HOLY PLACE.
Blessings,
#kent
Riches in Christ
July 24, 2015
Riches in Christ
Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Did you ever express the desire to be rich? When you find Christ, you have found the storehouse of God’s riches. There is none to exceed them in all of the earth. Many people miss His riches, because it doesn’t have all the glitter and shine that earthly riches have. It doesn’t make you the most prominent and honored by the people of this world. That’s why so many missed Jesus. They were looking for the worldly standard of riches, but the King of Kings was born in a barn, to a meager couple. In the world’s eyes, His mother had gotten pregnant out wedlock and no doubt bore the shame and reproach of an illegitimate birth. Farm animals and shepherds were the King’s attendants. There was nothing that rang of riches by the world’s standards. Yet, in heaven, the angels rejoiced and heaven celebrated the fact that the King of Kings had been born in the earth of a virgin to bring salvation to men. They were full of glad tidings, because they recognized the rich gift that God had just deposited into the earth, but the world comprehended it not.
What you and I contain in Christ is nothing less than phenomenal. We contain a treasure that the universe would covet, but your next door neighbor might not even notice. We contain the potential glory that even the angels of heaven stand in awe and wonder. How often do we, ourselves, treat this treasure and the riches within us as every day and common? We carry within our earthen vessel the outshining of the Father’s glory and yet so many of us have become complacent with it. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 says, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” Why we miss the Christ in us, is because there is still so much of us, that, like the world, we don’t even begin to appreciate and cherish this treasure within us. Think about what that means, “Christ in YOU!” The reason we don’t appreciate the Christ is because the “YOU” is too big. It is still trying to be our treasure instead of it just facilitating the Christ, who is our treasure. Ephesians 2:4-7 tells us, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us; Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Look at the position in which God has placed you…”made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus.” You and I are in the Christ. We are in the King. We sit down at the right hand of the Father in Him. Colossians 3:1-4 reaffirms this, ” If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” This is so often such a hard concept for us to really grasp and live in the reality of, “that it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives within me.” We are one, as a husband and wife are one. Our name is now His name. Being faithful in our fidelity to our Lord Christ, all that we are is now to please Him and for His glory alone. Likewise His covenant with us is too meet our need. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Christ and us now live unto each other. He is the motivation, the focus and the strength out of which we live and move and have our being. The heart of God for all of His people is, “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:2-3).” You see Christ is our riches and our treasure house in which all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are stored. Could we, with these finite minds, begin to comprehend what we fully possess in Christ? It is not possible, for the natural mind and understanding doesn’t comprehend it, but the Spirit of Christ within us does. 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 says, “9However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”[a]— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” We have the potential of understanding and having a revelation of far more than we may think, but it will never be through the natural mind. You and I are a rich people today. Let us be careful not to despise, treat lightly or common the gift and riches that we have been given. They are often masked in pain, suffering, persecution, and adversity. All are the processes of bringing the gold out of the darkness and into the light; so let your light so shine before men, Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is our riches and treasure for eternity.
Blessings,
#kentGod
For My Own Sake
July 8, 2015
Isaiah 48:8-11
You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. 9 For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. 10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.
For My Own Sake
We are not so unlike Israel of old to whom the prophet speaks these words from the Spirit of the Lord in verses2-4, “you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel— the LORD Almighty is his name: 3 I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. 4 For I knew how stubborn you were;
the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze.” You know we can be very self-willed at times and determined to go ahead and do what we are going to do. We are the Lord’s people and yet we often don’t really listen and obey what God is telling us in this hour. We are complacent. We are caught up in our personal lives and agendas that aren’t about our God. They are about us, what we idolize, esteem and deem important. Thus it often takes God’s strong hand to align us with His word and purpose for us.
Many of us know that as parents our children can bring us praise or they can bring us reproach by their behavior. They may have been instructed and taught better, but if they ignore their instruction and upbringing, doing what negative things is in their heart to do, then don’t you bear the reproach of their actions as a parent? What we don’t realize is that we are the Lord’s glory, but we can also be His reproach when the world observes us living in unrighteousness and contrary to what we teach and believe. How does God get the glory from that? God is still dealing with the rebellious nature that still wants to manifest in many of us and He will take us through the furnace of affliction, not for our destruction, but for our transformation.
The Lord says in verse 11, “For my own sake, my own sake I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another.” If we have been created and purposed for the glory of God, then God must do whatever is necessary to bring us into that purpose that He may be glorified. God is not glorified in our selfishness. Selfishness seeks God’s glory for its own and God says, “I will not give my glory to another.” If you are the Lord’s glory then you must be wholly His. How can you see the glory of the Lord fully expressed from you until you are wholly His?
In this hour God is giving us the word to return with all of our hearts unto Him. Again, He is speaking great and wondrous things to our generation through His word and through the prophets. The trumpet is sounding, but if you are too caught up in the noisiness of your own life you may fail to hear it and even if you do hear it, it is easy to ignore and become distracted. It will be as the Lord says in verse 3, “I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.” Are you ready when the Lord acts upon what He said? We must not allow our stubborn and rebellious ways to cause us to miss what God is doing. It is for this purpose that you were created. We must not foolishly miss the train that is headed for our destiny. Our destiny is to be the expression of His glory, unto His glory and for His glory alone. Hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying, “Prepare you hearts and pursue His presence. Let all else become secondary to your relationship with Him. In Him you must live and move and have your being.”
Blessings,
#kent
God’s Love Letter to You
April 27, 2015
Jeremiah 31:3
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
God’s Love Letter to You
My child, I love you more than can be ever written or expressed. I loved you so much that I was willing to give My only begotten Son to die for you, so that I could redeem you back to My heart.
With My own blood I purchased you again from your sin. I blotted out your transgression and imparted to you the right and privilege to partake of My righteousness. I have called you out as a people to carry My very own name in all of its majesty and glory. As My children, all that I have is yours, because you are in My Son and He is in you.
You see and know so little and you aren’t even able to comprehend with your finite minds the length, the breadth and depth of My love for you. My love isn’t the revelation of material things that soon perish with the using. My love is you being transformed into My likeness and glory. It is bringing you into the full expression of who I AM.
Rejoice, even in your trials, for all things are working together for the good of those who love Me and who I have called according to My purpose.
Romans 8:28-39, ” And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 