Confession of Faith
July 20, 2015
Philippians 3:3-6
I thank my God every time I remember you. 4In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Confession of Faith
Sometimes, if I start to see myself after the flesh, I will become discouraged, depressed and defeated. I will focus on all of the things I am not, all of the places I still fail, all the places I’m still selfish and self-centered and on all of that which I don’t yet see. I will allow my circumstances to dictate a life that I left behind when I identified myself with Christ on that cross and died to that old man of sin and death. If I allow myself, I could go back there again, but then that would be to deny Christ and what He has done for me. That would be to say that I wasn’t raised in the newness of His life, to live out of His life and no longer my own. That would be to return again and live under the law of sin and death, rather than out of the law of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus. That would be to embrace the flesh, whose end is death and corruption, rather than embracing the Spirit, who enables and empowers me to walk in Life in the divine nature of His love.
What I am identifying with is what I am and am becoming, whether it be flesh or Spirit. It isn’t dependent upon what I see outwardly, it is fully dependent upon my believing the promises that my God gave to me or forsaking them to go back from whence I came. Behind me is only what brought me guilt and shame, but before me is my Jesus who has promised to bring to completion the good work that He began in me.
No, I may not see the fullness of Him yet, but I will keep pressing into Him, expecting and believing for His highest for me. I will not allow the discouragement, natural circumstances and even facts to detour me from the truth that I know in my heart. For I refuse to see through natural eyes alone anymore. He is teaching me to see all things after the Spirit; myself, my spiritual family and even the world around me. As I walk in the faith of who He is in me, I see more clearly others through God’s heart of love. I see that I walk in the earth, but I live out of heaven. I live in Christ Jesus who sits at the right hand of the throne of God. From that place I know that whatever touches my life has to come through the Father and the Son. I know that He works all things to my good, even the bad things, because He has loved me and called me according to His purpose. He doesn’t just love me, but in that love He corrects me, teaches me and stretches me. He makes me to come out of the dependency of my flesh, so that I can more full rest and rely upon Him. Only there will I learn of His rest that He has for me and only there can I operate out of the fullness of faith without which it is impossible to please Him.
I don’t know everything, I just know His Word. I don’t understand everything, I just trust the Holy Spirit to help me understand what I need to know. Life has a new meaning and purpose because He is in it. Because of that, it is no longer about me, it is all about Him. He has told me that all of His promises to me are “yes and amen”. As I walk in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, I believe I can walk into all that He has prepared for me. I don’t believe I have to die and go to heaven to experience and live out of a more abundant life. I believe heaven wants to live that abundant life through me as I walk in the earth. I believe God wants to manifest that kingdom in my earthen body as it is in heaven, but He can’t do that while I am still caught up in me. So with God’s grace and the power of His Spirit I submit myself and my will, which is the one gift He has allowed me to give to Him.
If you are looking for perfection in me, you won’t see it yet, but know that even in my human frailty and weakness I pursue Him who knows none. His blood continues to wash me and His grace certainly carries me. Out of His strength and abundance I will live and declare the name of the Lord, for He is my salvation, both now and evermore.
Blessings,
#kent
Lord, You Mean Everything
September 17, 2014
Lord, You Mean Everything
Philippians 3:7-14
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. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
What is our level of commitment today in our walk with the Lord? What does He really mean to us in terms of our life plan, our goals and where we are going and what we hope to accomplish? In the above scripture we are seeing Paul lay out his mission statement and his life plan before us. Does ours sound anything like that? Paul says in the next verses 15 and16, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” He says if you want to be perfect then try this goal on for size. Even in all that Paul had committed of his life to the service of the Lord and even through all that he endured he didn’t say I’m there yet,” but I’m running with all my might.” He lost all affections for the things of this world. He was spiritually minded and heavenly visioned. He so desired to experience the depths and the riches that Christ alone could provide, everything else paled in comparison. I believe Paul wanted to so identify with Christ that in the sharing and partaking of the sufferings of Christ and the conformity to His death, he might experience and lay hold of the resurrection life. That resurrection life was so much more than just dying, going to heaven and experiencing the resurrection at the Second Coming of Christ. He desired to experience the resurrection out of the dead things of this life. What holds us back from experiencing the fullness of life right now if it not the death that works in us? And what is the power of death if it is not sin. The resurrection out of the dead is the resurrection out of the sin and death that works in our members.
Paul says in Romans 8:10-11, “And if Christ [be] in you, the body [is] dead because of sin; but the Spirit [is] life because of righteousness, But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” We may live in the natural realm and as such so much of our energy, thinking and identification is with the things of this world. I believe Paul was saying turn around from the world and look at who you are in Christ. Look what He has provided for us and where He wants to take us. ‘The things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.’ Paul is telling us here in Romans 8 that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you and I. What is the implication of what He is saying? If we are dead to the flesh, then there is Spirit Power of Resurrection Life at work in us to raise us up in the power of His life. I believe Paul ran and lived his life to lay hold of that resurrection power and life even in his natural life. If he didn’t fully realize it then he carried and ran with that vision right into heaven and into the arms of Jesus. There is a high calling of life and power in Christ that we should yearn and long for. So many of us complacently wait for heaven as the end in itself. Paul wasn’t running that hard just to get to heaven. He had a greater vision and higher calling; he pressed for the high calling that is in Christ Jesus. Again, in Romans 8:19-23 I believe he gives some insight to this calling, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And 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.” The first fruit partakers of this liberty and redemption from corruption will be the administrators of its glory and life to creation. There is coming a day of restoration when all of creation is going to be set free from the bondage of sin and corruption. We who are in Christ should be travailing and groaning within to be free from the bondage of this natural man that we may experience the coming and the presence of Christ within us. Don’t let the realm that we live in now hinder the vision of what you are becoming and living your life for. If we truly live in Spirit life, the natural body and life just facilitates that in this earth, but we should already be living in the light of God’s eternal plan and not just our natural life span. The implications and fruit of how we live our lives carries on into eternity. As many as are perfect or spiritually minded want to catch the vision of God’s highest for us.
In conclusion Paul gives us gravity by saying, don’t look behind you at what you have or haven’t been. Don’t live in past condemnation or victories, but look ahead at what is before you. Set your eyes on Christ and the high calling that is in Him nevertheless wherever it is that you have thus far attained be faithful to walk in the light of the truth that you have and understand the high calling that Christ has called you too.
Blessings,
#kent
Practical Application for a Holy Life
September 16, 2014
Practical Application for a Holy Life
Colossians 3: 1-3
1Since, 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.
The first thing we need as Christians is a revelation of who we are in Christ. In Christ, the former man with it natural affections has passed away and we are putting on a new man renewed in thought, purpose and deed; reflecting and producing the image of Christ. Colossians 3 is a great application for who we are and what we are becoming, as well as what we need to be doing to get there.
We start out by realizing positionally where we are at, “raised with Christ” who is seated at the right hand of God. We are in Christ who is seated at the right hand of God. We aren’t going to find many positions higher than that. We, who are in that position, have come to a new mindset different from the one we formerly carried. We must be a heavenly-minded people whose affections are on things above and not on things below, who walk after the Spirit and no longer after the flesh. Many of us are still holding on to that old unrenewed mind and earthly affections. It is bringing us down and robbing us of who we are and what we have “in Christ”. It is only as we behold Him that the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
Colossians 3 is an instructional in the practical ways we are to become heavenly-minded and have a renewed mind. The first thing that it instructs us to do is often the hardest for us to put into practical application. Verses 5-11 instruct us, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming, 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Do you happen to recognize any of these attributes still lingering around your life? The hardest thing to put to death is our flesh. It has an instinct for survival and it will do anything, compromise anyway, promise to be good, it just doesn’t want to die; yet it must. We can see the value of keeping Christ and the Word of God constantly in front of us, so that we have a mirror of who we are in Christ and we don’t loose vision of where we are going and what our purpose now is. These little daily devotionals are just one more means I pray the Holy Spirit uses to continually prompt and exhort us in His ways and not our former nature. We tend to want to turn away and ignore the things that put a finger on our sin and our reluctance to yield certain areas of our lives to Christ. We all have our little weaknesses, our idols, and those things that our flesh covets and doesn’t want to give up. Yet, if we are unwilling, then we are living in rebellion and disobedience to Christ, we are not being true to who we are “in Christ”, thus we deny His best and His highest for us.
These scriptures tell us what we must take off, but what about what we must put on. God never takes anything away but what He doesn’t give us something better to replace it with. Verses 12-17 instruct us, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” God is in affect telling us to be clothed now with His nature, which is the holy apparel that is consistent with heavenly citizenship. The world around us must see something unique, different and special about the people who bear the name of Christ. If we are no different than the world, then we haven’t really changed identity or clothing. We are still living in the same old unredeemed man. Its not all about us going to church, or just talking about Jesus, or telling the world they are sinners bound for hell unless they repent; it is about a lifestyle and behavior that exemplifies who and what we are in Christ. That speaks so much more loudly than words. Give me a person that truly lives Christ before me and that will more quickly move me to change than all of the words and arguments they could give. When you put on Christ you don’t just put on different behavior, you put on a holy presence. It is a presence that exudes the love and power of the Spirit that you are of. God now has place and platform to glorify Himself through you.
Colossians 3 concludes by these instructions to the households of believers and the reminder that at the end of this natural life there is a reward and an inheritance. A reminder that it is Christ we serve and that if we choose to do wrong, that wrong bears its consequences without respect of persons. Verses 18-24 instruct us, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
21Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.”
Thus we have simply laid out for us the guide for living the practical Christ centered life that is consistent with whom we now are. Daily we present our bodies a living sacrifice and daily we renew our minds in Christ. We apply these practical instructions with the help and power of the Holy Spirit, that in all things we might be conformed to His life and live consistent with the high calling that we have in Christ Jesus.
Blessings,
#kent
The Glory of the Latter House
December 27, 2013
The Glory of the Latter House
Haggai 2:9
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts
There is spiritual principle in the second chapter of Haggai. I believe it is prophetic of what God wants to do with a people in this day and in this hour if we have ears to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the church. Through the years and all of our efforts we continue to come up short of God’s highest and His best. There have been seasons through history that have seen mighty outpourings of God’s Spirit upon the earth and a precious flow of His anointing through various individuals. For the most part all of our spiritual efforts have fallen short of producing what we saw in the Acts of the Apostles and early church times when God’s Spirit moved so powerfully and miraculously. That early power of the Holy Spirit had diminished so much through the years that many in the church world have developed the philosophy that these demonstrations of power and anointing were just for the early church to get it started and until the Bible was written. I believe the often used pretext for this is, “But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away (1 Corinthians 13:10).” If the Bible is that which it referred to as the perfect then why are we still living in an “in-part realm of the Spirit”? I’m not saying the Bible isn’t perfect, I am just saying that the Word is the road map and the life guide to direct us to that which is perfect. I believe 1 John 3:2 might provide a clearer picture of the perfect that is to come, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” Until the fullness of Christ is seen upon the earth the “in part” will remain. In the meantime the spiritual temple needs to be rebuilt. Ephesians 4:11-13 says, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:” When we, His temple, are rebuilt then He will come in all His glory to fill that temple.
Haggai gives a parable in chapter two that illustrates why we aren’t being blessed and why all that we attempt to do is coming short. “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests [concerning] the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If [one that is] unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So [is] this people, and so [is] this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so [is] every work of their hands; and that which they offer there [is] unclean (Haggai 2:11-14).” The holy flesh was that which had been offered on the altar of sacrifice and cleansed by fire. We might see it in the context that we bear holy flesh in the sense of “Christ in us” born in the skirt of our garments of flesh or our bodies. We are sanctified and made holy by Christ in us, because of our faith and trust in Him. We are born again spiritually and cleansed of our sin. While we are made holy by the blood and life of Christ it doesn’t mean that everything we touch shall be holy. That holiness and cleansing isn’t transferred through our bodies, it is only the Holy Spirit working through us that can sanctify and make holy. Without His life and power at work nothing is going to happen through us. On the other hand, if we who possess Christ go out and touch the dead things of this world or have our fellowship with unbelievers we can be defiled and made unclean. Why? Because we have touched sin and the death that surrounds it. As a result we don’t lose Christ in us, but we are defiled and made unclean. How do we get clean again? 1John 1:7-9 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”There is the process of confession and repentance that again cleanses us through the blood of Jesus. Are we trying to operate spiritually in a state of defilement and uncleanness? Is this the reason, “I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye [turned] not to me, saith the LORD (Haggai 2:17).” God’s desire is to bless us as never before. God desires to move us to that place of repentance, confession and sanctification where we are keeping our lives before the Lord and in a place of right relationship and holiness. This is the place of blessing and increase he is bringing us too. “…From this day on I will bless you (Haggai 2:19b).”
Blessings,
kent
Prophecy: The Pursuit of Excellence
December 3, 2012
John 14:3
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
Prophecy: The Pursuit of Excellence
Celebrate that you are not lonely. My Spirit is always with you to comfort you, encourage you and sustain you. Step beyond the threshold of your present faith into the realm of unseen and unknown. In that dimension you move fully by faith and reliance upon Me. You a spiritual people with a spiritual dimension and a heavenly calling. Rise above your circumstances and surroundings. Cease seeing the circumstances around you as walls that hem you in. Step into the vehicle of My Spirit and move in that place of the unseen.
Develop your spiritual eyes and tune your spiritual ears, not that you become mystical and strange, but you are to move in a place that is not of this earth or naturally perceived and understood. The pearls that I give you do not cast before swine, for the earthly man in human intellect will not understand or comprehend.
In order to journey with Me you must abide in Me. Pursue My thoughts, My heart, My plan and My will. I can take you places that others never go, but you are not to pursue the experience. You are to pursue Me.
There is much I have to train and impart into My people in this age and time so that they may see how I am moving in this hour in conjunction and unity with their lives. If your eyes and heart are set upon those things that are without, you will miss the deeper dimensions that I desire to lead you into. I am Spirit. Come to know what it is to commune in Spirit and in Truth.
The weak and faint hearted will not pursue Me where I would take you, if you have ears to hear and a sincere heart after Mine. Just as Elisha would not have received the mantle and double portion of Elijah had he allowed himself to be distracted or redirected. As Elijah is a type of My Spirit, your heart will be tested, but allow nothing to detour you or restrain you from your faithful and steadfast walk with me. Where I go and lead, you must go also, although there will be many times and good reasons where you don’t feel you will be able too.
Press in and lay hold with the tenacity of all that I have put within you. Settle for nothing less than My best and My highest. Many have been content to settle along the way and have ceased to press on toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God that is in Christ Jesus. If you want My highest, then be unwilling to settle for the lesser, even though it still looks good and fulfilling. I have called you to pursue My good, acceptable and My perfect will. Anything less than My perfect for you is less than I have called you too. Be ye perfect, even as I am perfect. Your perfection lies in your identity with Me. See yourself as nothing less than what I have called you to be, a partaker of My divine nature.
My provision is there for those who are willing to pursue.
Blessings,
kent
What is Our Temperature?
November 21, 2012
What is Our Temperature?
Revelations 3:15-17
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
The state of our spiritual temperature has to do with our acceptability before the Lord.
The Spirit of the Lord is giving us his temperature preference in this passage concerning the church and us as individual Christians. Many of us, if were not familiar with this verse, and ask the question of how we would rate ourselves in our spiritual walk with the Lord; whether hot, lukewarm or cold, would probably respond “lukewarm.” Why, probably because we see ourselves vacillating in our spiritual commitment and walk with the Lord. Many of us love the Lord, but we are not completely sold out and zealously pursuing Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. We are Christians of convenience, mindful of the Lord when it is convenient for us to do so. The Spirit is speaking to us that He would rather not have us committed at all than to have us in a tepid state of apathy and lethargy where we live a semi-committed life. For us to be cold is defined as sluggish, inert in mind. One who is destitute of warm Christian faith and desire for holiness. While one that is hot is defined as one zealous and fervent of mind. It is so easy for all of us to fall into the error and pitfall of complacency in our relationship with the Lord. God wants us to be passionate about Him. He gave us this great salvation, not to have as an intermittent portion of blessing for our lives, a spiritual or religious activity to appease our conscience. He gave Himself wholly, unconditionally in His love for us. We do Him grave injustice if we desire to give anything short of our best and all for Him. Let us press into Him today and enter that “hot zone” where we are passionate and zealous for our Lord. We don’t want to be distasteful and the object of His rejection because of our unstable ways. James 1:8 says, “A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways.” Are we single-minded today, where Christ is our life and all that we live for and do in life is centered around Him and His will for us? He is calling us continually higher in our spiritual commitment and walk with Him. Let’s be Hot for Him!
Blessings,
kent
tricklesoftruth 