The Finger of God

The Finger of God

Luke 11:20
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

What is God personally touching and dealing with in your life? Is He meddling in areas you would rather that He leave alone? Is the Holy Spirit revealing and stirring up things that you have wanted to keep tucked away? In the Old Testament it was the finger of God that wrote the Ten Commandment upon the stone tablets, but in the New Testament it is the same finger of God that is writing His laws upon our hearts. The Apostle Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 3:3, “[Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” If we are the Lord’s and we truly want His highest in our lives then He is going to start dealing with our lowest. He will deal with those base things in us that cause us to still walk after the flesh and not after the Spirit. If we are stubborn then He may deal with us in stronger measures. What ever it takes, we need that purification that only He can bring into our lives. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s Word in the hand of the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction and dealings in our lives. He is bringing out things in us that we may not even have known were there, or attitudes and behaviors that have been quite contrary to His nature. This is often a very painful process.
We used to go to a chiropractor that was quite good, but you would dread going to him. He knew all the places to push where lactic acid and knots would form in your muscles. He would put his finger in those knots to work them out and you would literally be trying to crawl off of the table. He would keep pulling you back up there and working in all of those painful areas till they would let down and submit; only then would he be able to adjust you and bring you back into proper alignment. That is what the finger of God is doing in our lives. He is touching those sore spots, those tender areas where we don’t want to be touched and dealt with. We know it is necessary, but we cringe from it and really it is our flesh that is cringing. Our spirit man really longs for the spiritual health and well- being that comes from a properly aligned spirit and heart, but we are like the living sacrifice we are called to be in Romans 12:1, we keep wanting to crawl off of the altar. We all want spiritual health, but are we willing to pay the price to get there?
The holy scripture declares in Hebrews 10:12-17 concerning Jesus, “12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. 15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16″This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.” 17Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” If Jesus has sat down till His enemies are made his footstool and we comprise the feet of Christ in the earth, then we also must see our enemies of sin and flesh be made our footstool. We must gain the same dominion, authority and dominance over everything that is negatively affecting our lives. The Holy Spirit through the Word of God and through His personal dealings in our lives is dealing and touching our areas of unrepented sin. We all have those areas in our lives that we struggle with, but we must pray that the Lord will do whatever it takes in us to gain the victory and dominion over our giants. A lot of times we would be content to coexist with them, but the Lord has given the commandment to purge the land and not compromise, for He knows that our compromise will bring defilement and defilement will again bring us under bondage. Our flesh will do anything it takes if we will just let it live, but when we do it comes back to bite us. Our only recourse is the cross, painful though it is. It is death that gives place to life and death to self gives place to the life of the Spirit.
The finger of God is writing His laws upon our hearts of flesh. He is placing the mind and nature of Christ within us, but where the Lord is, His finger is being put upon the areas of our lives that need to come into conformity with His will and righteousness. I would leave us with 1 Peter 5:6-11, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Blesssings
#kent

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Troubled Waters of the Soul

Troubled Waters of the Soul

Psalms 38
1 O LORD , do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. 9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. 10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. 11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. 12 Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. 13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; 14 I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. 15 I wait for you, O LORD ; you will answer, O Lord my God. 16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat 17 For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. 18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. 19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous. 20 Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good. 21 O LORD , do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. 22 Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.

The dealings of the Lord are many with those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Those of us who have walked with the Lord for some time know that this walk is not just peaches and cream and everything in between. We can identify with King David, who was a man after God’s own heart and yet endured many trials and afflictions throughout his lifetime. He loved God and yet we see him in times of weakness, sin and defeat. How wonderful God is to allow us to see great biblical characters in their good times and their bad. In that truth and reality there is hope for us who also struggle with our weaknesses and shortcomings in our desire to be godly and upright.
Hebrews 12:4-13 is an exhortation and encouragement also of the Lord’s correction. “4In 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.” As sons and daughters of the most High God, we experience the corrective, but loving hand of God as we endeavor to grow up spiritually. Sometimes it can seem harsh and extreme, it can rob our peace, it can upset our world, and it can afflict our bodies, but if it didn’t we would continue on and miss the mark or where God wants to take us. We are by former nature a stubborn and rebellious people. Many of us still have that former nature still wanting to work in our members. As submitted as we think we might be there are areas of our life where we tend not to want to let go of things that are keeping us back from God’s highest and His best. As painful as it is, we must be thankful that God loves us too much to leave us the way we have been.
Perhaps you are wrestling in your spirit today. Maybe there is unrest, trials or tribulations that are pressing hard upon you. While we don’t want to give place to the enemy to usurp the authority we have in Christ, we must, with all humility and contriteness of heart, be searching our hearts for those area and places where we might be missing the mark and displeasing our Father. 1 Corinthians 11:31-32 tells us, “31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.” Let us search our hearts that we may judge and correct ourselves so that we may retain His peace and avoid undo correction.

Blessings,
kent

Spiritual Act of Worship

As I was preparing to write today’s word and scrolling down through the past Trickles of Truth, my cursor stopped and as I looked at the message upon which it stopped, I was amazed that it used the same scripture and dealt with like issues that I shared yesterday. What a God incidence. I feel this was His prompting to share with you again this word.

Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Spiritual Act of Worship

Jesus came upon this earth and fulfilled His earthly ministry and then presented His body as a physical sacrifice for the atonement of our sins. Yet each day prior to this He would offer Himself up to the Father as a daily spiritual sacrifice, often forsaking personal desires, comforts and needs to do the will of the Father and to minister to the needs of others. God is love and Jesus is the physical manifestation of that love. His life was not self motivated, but God motivated; always carrying out the will of the Father. Here is our prototype and example of what it is to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. This act of worship is not just about praise, or singing songs or being in prayer, all of which are good and a part of worship. The spiritual act of worship is about taking up our cross daily and following Him, the Shepherd of our souls. It is about hearing His voice and seeking His highest will for our lives and then living in obedience to what He is showing us.
The kingdom of God doesn’t follow the pattern and the ways of this world. Even the good things of this earthly life may not be the best that God has for His people. As we grow up into Him and walk this walk, then He is showing us from glory to glory, His good, then pleasing and finally His perfect will. The way we come into this perfect will is by this spiritual act of worship wherein the mind doesn’t any longer reason after the natural man, but reasons by the mind of the Spirit that is congruent with the Word of God. How can a man not react in retaliation when he is slapped in the face? How can a man give his coat to someone who has already stolen his jacket? How can you bless them that curse you and despitefully use you? These types of instructions don’t follow the reasoning of the natural man; they transcend human reasoning and response. They can only be performed as acts out of the love and nature of God that indwells us. Our flesh still often wants to respond out of the flesh, “an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The spiritual act of worship takes us into a new dimension of living. Our actions become love actions, and not human reactions. Our enemy often becomes the object our ministry, whom we love with Christ’s love, pray for and serve. We learn to retaliate by pouring the hot coals of God’s love upon their heads and by giving back loving-kindness in ways they don’t deserve.
The Word makes it clear here that in order for this to happen there has to be a transformation of our minds. That transformation is from the Greek word “metamorphoō” from which we get our word metamorphosis. It is like what we see when a caterpillar goes into a cocoon state and transforms into a butterfly. It is transfiguring from an earth bound being into a heavenly being. It is the same word that is used when Jesus was transfigured on the mount, changing the state of His being. It is also the same word that is used in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” It is just like Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Just as we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is we need to be moving from the good, to the pleasing, to the perfect will of the Father. Much like the example of the tabernacle of Moses, there were those who were in the outer court, those who ministered in the holy place and the high priest who ministered into the Holy of Holies. We are being carried into that place as we grow up into Christ, our high priest, in all things.
Today, our lives in Christ are no longer our own. We are His. All that we are and all that we do must now become centered in this purpose. This is our daily act of spiritual worship that is bringing us into His presence and likeness.

Blessings,
kent