Equipped and Called of God
April 22, 2022
Equipped and Called of God
Every morning when we rise up, our first thoughts should be to praise the Father. Arise with praise upon your lips and let it continually flow from your heart throughout your day.
One of the very first things you put on is the mind of Christ. As Romans 12:1-2 instructs us, “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.”
One of the first things we remember is that we are not our own. We were bought with the price of Christ’s blood. We are as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Along with that mind of Christ you look into the mirror and remember who you are in Christ. That person looking back at you in that bathroom mirror may appear in an earthen suit, but beneath that exterior is a spiritual being that lives and has expression through its earthly members. It is just as if we are now, the earth suit of Christ, His physical body of expression in the earth. The body no longer does what pleases it, but what pleases the Father as it is instructed and led through the Word and the Spirit of God.
In Christ, you have a divine identity, not an earthly one. Your identity is not in your sex, race, creed, color, earthly position, possessions or occupation. You are a true Jew and the seed of Abraham, whether you are one outwardly or not. Galatians 3:26-29 says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” We have a unity with every other member in the body of Christ that transcends denomination and religious schools of thought. God did not create a divided and splintered body in Christ. His body is one. It is unified in Christ. What we see in the religious world of Christianity isn’t the body of Christ, but much of the body is hidden behind the garments and walls of religion. No matter how we have been raised or where we worship, our allegiance and calling is into Christ.
As we remember our divine identity, we remember that God has given us His very DNA, the make-up and essence of who He is, because the Spirit of Christ now indwells us as His believers. His divine power has given us all that we need to be the partakers of that life. 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
Now, as you are meditating on these things, first thing in the morning, as you are dressing and prettying up the outward man; you are renewing your mind in who you really are in Christ.
You have a heavenly mandate today. Jesus told you to do something. In Mark 16:15-18, “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.”” You have a heavenly mandate and with that heavenly mandate you have been given a kingdom authority to declare and administrate the kingdom of heaven into the earth.
I know what some of you, if not most of you are thinking. No, it is not in your fleshly power or ability, but it as you walk in the identity and authority of who you are in Christ, in all humility and submitted to the empowering direction of the Holy Spirit in you. Mark 16:20 reminds us, “Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. It’s not just you, it is the Lord working with you, so I hope that takes some of the pressure off.
Now, hopefully, your thinking has changed as you face your day from what all I am going to do, to what does the Holy Spirit want to do through me. You are a part of the body, and, if you are in sync with the head, even Christ, there are no limitations on what He can do through you because you are one with Him. You no longer operate out of a fleshly mindset, you are operating out of the mind and heart of Christ. You are operating out of the third heaven where He dwells. Ephesians 2:6-7 says, “And 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.” In Christ, you are operating out of a third heaven position, which means you are no longer looking up at how big and bad the obstacles and giants are before you. Now you are looking down upon them and your giants have become as ants beneath your feet. Isn’t it wonderful the empowerment that being “in Christ” can give us? But before we get to high minded remember one last thing, you are not only the royalty of God, you are His priests. Remember what 1 Peter 2:9-10 says, “But 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.”
As His priesthood, we, like Christ, ever live to make intercession and stand in the gap on behalf of others. Who we are doesn’t become as important as why we are. It is about what we can minister and give to a hurting and dying world around us. We have taken within ourselves the heartbeat of God for His humanity and creation. Our groaning and travailing is to set creation free as He has set us free.
Okay, I think you’re about ready to face your day, you radiant, magnificent sons and daughters of God. Remember, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” and ‘as He is so are we in this world’.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Revelations 11:15)
“And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,
because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” (Revelations 5:9-10) Be mighty people of God!!!!!!
Blessings,
#kent
Who is that Person in the Mirror?
June 2, 2016
James 1:22-25
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Who is that Person in the Mirror?
When you look into the mirror what do you see? You see the reflection of your outward man from which you derive your identity and perception of how you look. Even though you see a real-time reflection of how you appear is that really who you are? Two people looking at the same thing will see it different ways. A woman may look in the mirror and be thinking, ” Oh my goodness, look at the bags under my eyes, that blemish on my nose and I can’t do a thing with this hair. I just look horrid. Her husband may come into the bathroom and say, “Honey, did I tell you how beautiful you are today and how much I love you?” Wow, two totally different opinions of what you look like. Which one is true? The truth is in the perception and we tend to act according to the perception we hold.
The Lord began to show me that what we reflect on often becomes the image of our reality. The people that we associate with often do a lot to influence and shape that perception and image of who we see ourselves as being. We may often mirror what others do because we want acceptance by them, but is that who we really are?
Most of us have seen the mirrors at the amusement park that are distorted to make us look fat or skinny, but we readily recognize that these are not true representatives of what we really look like. We would be surprised at how many times life puts these kind of mirrors in front of us, but instead of recognizing their distortion of the truth we begin to believe their lie. Our behavior and self-perception can be strongly influenced by the feed back and input we get from others. We are always reading this to get a sense of how others see us and how that relates with who we are.
Often, with our children we tend to major on their shortcomings and minor on the positives and accomplishments. If my son comes home from school after trying his best and everyday I greet him, “Hi looser, what did you mess up today?” What is that going to do for the image of how he sees himself, because I am a mirror to him of his self-worth. Many of the problems we see in people come out of a distorted perception they have of what they should be like. It is influenced by culture, media, friends, social groups and relationships, parents, relatives, school, work and the constant feedback we get from the world we live in.
The only really true perception we can get of who we are, our worth and value, is what we get from God’s perspective. We know that He is truth and can not lie. If we want to be mentally and emotionally healthy then we need to focus on what God has to say about us and what we need to do to become what He has created us to be. James says it is not in just listening to the word and then forgetting what it taught us. We need repetition for remembrance and application for change to take place. When a woman goes into the bathroom to get ready for work she doesn’t generally just look in the mirror then turn around and forget what she looked like and go to work. She starts a process of cleansing, conditioning, make-up and grooming. All that she does is to conform her to the image of what she wants to look like. When we look into God’s Word it has to be much the same way. If we just go and listen to a sermon on Sunday then leave and forget what was said how does that change anything? If we continually position ourselves in front of God’s Word through our reading it, reading inspired books, listening to inspired messages and then praying and meditation on all that we are taking in, we are like the woman who is conforming her looks to a certain image. We are working on conforming our hearts to the image of Christ. That is why it is important that our focus isn’t on the world or the things of the world. That is not the image that we want to be conformed too.
Take into your spirit the promises that God has for you. Heed the warnings that He gives to you that will end up perverting His image in you. Act upon who you are in Christ, acknowledging that it is no longer you that lives, but Christ in you. ‘As He is so are you in this world. (1 John 4:17)’ That is the identification you want to remember and walk away with. When you look in the mirror know that you are created in His likeness and you are becoming His expression and you are being conformed into His image. That is God’s reality of who you are.
Blessings,
#kent
The Enemy’s Fear
March 16, 2016
2 Corinthian 10:3-6
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
The Enemy’s Fear
You are the enemy’s greatest threat. The most dangerous thing for him is when you come into the knowledge, the confidence, faith and boldness of who you are in Christ. He fears nothing in this world, because he can’t be fought with conventional weaponry. Religious wars of the past have only further perpetrated and fueled the mayhem he delights to create. You are the one who possesses the weapons that he fears the most. That is because our weapons are not of this world, but they are mighty through Holy Spirit power and kingdom authority to rip his strongholds apart. We are the terrorist in the camp of the enemy, because with prayer and divinely directed council we have authority and power to blow apart his bastions of evil. Is there a battle, of course there is? Will he assault you? You can pretty much count on it, but it is because he fears you and the threat you pose to disrupt his purpose and plan. Because we are a spiritual people we are some of the few that really have the insight to discern the spiritual realms and be aware of how they operate.
We come up against these spiritual oppositions daily in the mindsets and the spirits that move people. We see the lies of the enemy playing out in our politics, our society, our religions and what are becoming the standards of morality in our society. We see the pillars of truth being toppled over as men erect the lies of diversity and acceptance of all immoral behaviors. Political correctness says, if we speak out against them then we must be intolerant and haters, because we stand in opposition of such lies. Soon we find the very laws that once protected the righteous from the unrighteous will be turned to prosecute the righteous who stand on godly principles and dare to speak out against the imaginations and lies that have come to fill men’s hearts.
Where this battle begins with us is in our own thoughts, thinking and values. The Word of God must be our standard of truth upon which we judge and discern all things. That starts with our own thinking and reasoning lest we be deceived to think like the world and receive the lie. Just as the kingdom of God starts within you, it must first fill your personal earth before it can spill over into the earth you walk in. God wants us to be grounded in His truth so that we will not operate out of religious bigotry, but out of the love and wisdom of God’s truth; speaking that truth in love. Sometimes we get all wound up about tearing down someone else’s theology and philosophy. The greatest dispeller of any darkness is just speaking the truth of God’s word. That truth in combination with lives that are walking in that truth and faith that lives out of that truth are tremendous testimonies and persuasion to those that God has given ears to hear. If Jesus came to His own and they couldn’t even hear Him or receive Him, think it not strange when the majority mock you and persecute you for your stand in the truth. There are vessels created unto wrath that cannot and will not accept truth, but then there are those that will and for their sake we must be the advocates for God’s truth.
It is important that you come to truly know your authority as a believer. The enemy often uses his condemnation to disarm you with a sense of unworthiness and lack of confidence. It is important that we walk in obedience and righteousness, but we know that our righteousness is not in ourselves, it is in Christ. We operate in power because of who Christ is in us, not in who we are in ourselves. Jesus was able to do all things as He operated to carry out the Father’s will and to speak His words. This is where our relationship with Him is vital to our calling and the execution of our purpose. Our success is in Christ and operating in concert with His will and purpose for us. If you don’t know who you are in Christ, you will be easily turned away and defeated, because then your weapons are only in yourself and what you think. When we operate out of the Spirit of Christ we have all of heaven backing us up. What stronghold can stand before our God? What power can oppose Him? When we are operating in Him and out of His spiritual resources then all things are possible.
You are a warrior being prepared for battle. Allow God to have His full way in you that you may be fully equipped and useful for every good work. A man or woman who knows who they are in Christ strikes fear into the heart of their enemy. Before them they cannot stand.
Blessings,
#kent
We Have the Mind of Christ
September 22, 2015
1 Corinthians 2:14-16
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ
We Have the Mind of Christ
What a bold statement that the apostle Paul makes here when he says, “But we have the mind of Christ.” If you or I were to come out and say something like that many Christians might consider us heretics. It is made clear by what is written preceding this that we can’t make this statement if we are walking and reasoning out of the natural man. It is after we live and walk in the Spirit that we become spiritually minded and put on the mind of Christ. We can discern that the man who is not centered in the mind of the Spirit is often one that is a mixture of flesh and spirit. Most of us have seen or heard of someone who thought they were “the Christ” and were caught up in a God complex where they spoke as God. We all know of Jim Jones and David Karesh, for example, that led many astray and to a tragic end. Paul is not speaking in this context, because we never see ourselves as “the Christ”, we see that we are in Christ with the Lord Jesus being our head and yet He is bringing us into His likeness in mind and in being. Many are so afraid of identifying with Christ that they rob and deny the power of what He has called us to be in Him. Apart from Him we can do nothing, but as a part of Him all things are possible. Our faith is taking what God’s word says and counting it as so, even when the physical world and natural evidence doesn’t support it. Faith is what bridges the gap of time and space and the eternal. In Christ and in the flesh we stand between two dimensions and we are trying to reconcile who we truly are. In the natural we often see evidence in us that is often contrary to what we know we should be, but our faith renounces the old, repents of the shortcomings, sins and mistakes and then embraces God’s word and promise as to our true identity. Satan is always trying to convince us of who we are not, through feelings of unworthiness, condemnation, keeping our eyes on the natural man. Christ is saying to us, “Count that former man of the flesh as dead, as crucified with me upon the cross. Identify with me in resurrection life, for the power of sin over you is broken. You are a new and spiritual creation that no longer has to be subject to the law of sin and death. You have been called to be the children of God who walk after the Spirit and put no confidence in the flesh. As a part of your faith in identifying with me I am imparting my life to you and through you by My Spirit that dwells in you.”
God’s word provides our pattern of thinking and living. His Spirit is guiding and leading us into all truth. He is exploring our inward parts and revealing those areas that still need to line up with His nature and character. The difference is that the Spirit doesn’t bring conviction in us to condemn us, but to transform and change us. It is the man of the soul that must come into submission and obedience to this man of the spirit. As this happens our spiritual mind becomes more and more a way of our daily thinking and reasoning, for the natural gives way to the mind of the Spirit.
We have the mind of Christ, but it is our choice to embrace it and put it on by faith that leads to good works and righteousness.
Blessings,
#kent
Real Love and Beauty
August 24, 2015
1 Peter 3:1-7
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 5For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, 6like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.
7Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.
Real Love and Beauty
On the subject of beauty:
So many derive their value from outward perception and how they view themselves through the mirror of others. Thus many have believed a distorted view of who they are.
God says we were ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’.
Our truest beauty comes from within, not without. See yourself through the beauty
that God has created you to be. The greatest beauty is seen in the one who aligns their heart
with God’s purpose and design to best express Him.
On the subject of love:
Young love is sexy and beautiful. It is fresh, passionate, sensual,
but its roots are young and it thrives more on the feelings of the outward man.
Old love is not always as passionate. It is not as sexually driven or motivated,
but it stills sees the beauty that it first saw. Its roots are now deep, as are the scars and life experiences that have knit and grown these two souls together. What was once expressed
outwardly is now the inward sharing of two hearts that beat as one. They have learned
that it is not always feelings that keep you together, but the decision to love one another even when you don’t feel it. Love is not just an emotion, but a decision of will.
Blessings,
#kent
The Law of Sin and Death
August 18, 2015
Judges 21:25
In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.
The Law of Sin and Death
The state that we see Israel in, in the book of Judges is the same state that we could see a lot of us as Christians in. We have the promise and the inheritance and we have the Word of God, but we haven’t embraced our King. Just as the Israelites could be God’s chosen people by name, it didn’t mean they were His people in their heart. They became apostate, doing whatever seemed good to them, while ignoring who God had called them to be. Isn’t that the way many in the Christian world have become. They have become apostate because they live and do what is right in their own eyes and justification rather than according to the will and calling of God in Christ Jesus.
I am not writing this to bring condemnation, but to make us aware of which law we are living under in this state of mind. Before Christ, we were living under the law of sin and death. It was a law of the commandments whereby sin abounded because of the weakness of the flesh to live and keep it. Under that law we stood condemned because we were lawless and law breakers. Even in our best efforts we were not able to find reconciliation and intimate relationship with Papa because our sin stood to condemn us. Because sin would ultimately rule us, God had to send judgement to correct us and bring us back to repentance. There we would cry out under our judgement and God in His mercy would send a judge to bring us back to Himself where we would remain briefly before repeating the cycle again.
Now, we have a King and His name is Jesus. He is not only the King, but the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. In His realm of authority and dominion He has called us out of the old law of sin and death, because the crucifixion of His divine life nailed that old law of condemnation to the cross. When we come to Him in faith we must recognize that is where our old selfish sinful nature and man has been identified; with Him on that cross. We also died to that former way of doing, “whatever seemed right in our own eyes.” As He raised us up by faith into His life we come under a new law, because we have entered and become citizens and partakers of a new kingdom. The laws of this kingdom don’t operate like the former one. Here there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. “In Christ” speaks to a state of being in our spirit man that is manifested through our physical being.
We find this in Romans 8. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” The key to living in this realm and kingdom is living by faith out of the law of the Spirit and no longer after the flesh. A line of demarcation has been drawn that you live under one law or the other, but you can’t live under both.
Jesus says you can’t serve two masters in Matthew 6:24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Mammon is the old world order that falls under the law of sin and death.
The question then really becomes, “What law are we living under?”
Romans 8 goes on to define what it is to live in the law of the Spirit of life and what the differences are. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now 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.”
The Word doesn’t say we don’t still struggle with the inclinations toward our former sinful nature, but it has become a matter of new identity, allegiance and citizenship. If you move to the United States from a foreign country and decide to become a US citizen then you have changed your identity, allegiance and citizenship. You must renounce the old to embrace the new. If the United States is at war with your former country, who are you going to fight for and stand with? Where is your identity and allegiance? You may feel the soul ties that want to draw you back to the former feelings you had for your country and countrymen, but now you have to cut them off, because it is no longer who you are. You can no longer go between countries and have your allegiance divided or you will be considered a traitor. You can no longer live under the former laws and traditions of the old country and still be a US citizen. They don’t work in this new country. You no longer have to live under tyranny, but you can live in freedom, but freedom isn’t freedom if it brings you again under the bondage of sin. “13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You see it is the Spirit that now indwells you that is the power in you to overcome who you used to be. As we learn to live in obedience and faithfulness to Him we are led by Him. It is living under His banner and direction that we become the sons of God.
If we are still doing whatever is right in our eyes we are missing what it is to live under the higher law. It is only under this law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that we live and abide in the life of God and we come to experience the intimacy of relationship with Him. God has given us the choice to be sons or slaves. Where is our true identity, allegiance and citizenship, in the law of sin and death or the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? Your identity is who you are, not what you call yourself.
Blessings,
#kent
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
What is God’s Heart for You?
July 2, 2015
1 John 4:8-15 (Amplified)
He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him. 10In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins. 11Beloved, if God loved us so [very much], we also ought to love one another.
12No man has at any time [yet] seen God. But if we love one another, God abides (lives and remains) in us and His love (that love which is essentially His) is brought to completion (to its full maturity, runs its full course, is perfected) in us! 13By this we come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we abide (live and remain) in Him and He in us: because He has given (imparted) to us of His [Holy] Spirit. 14And [besides] we ourselves have seen (have deliberately and steadfastly contemplated) and bear witness that the Father has sent the Son [as the] Savior of the world. 15Anyone who confesses (acknowledges, owns) that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides (lives, makes His home) in him and he [abides, lives, makes his home] in God.
What is God’s Heart for You?
God’s heart is and ever has been that He loves you with a love so massive it defies comprehension. Until we fully embrace and come into the love of the Father for us, we can’t really know Him, for His identity is LOVE. Which of us would willing lay down our life for another, much less give our only son to die for someone else. It was through this demonstration of love that the Father and the Son corporately as one gave their life for the very humanity that had become their enemies; despising, rejecting and living in rebellion and opposition to God. Romans 5:6-11 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” That is God’s heart for you!
Now what is our heart for God? 1 John 4:15 says, “Anyone who confesses (acknowledges, owns) that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides (lives, makes His home) in him and he [abides, lives, makes his home] in God.” God’s heart for us has so consumed us with His love that we embrace the gift of His love by our faith in Christ. His Holy Spirit comes into our heart to bear witness that we now belong to Him and the evidence of His presence is that we continually grow in His nature, which is love. After all, verses 16 and 17 go on to tell us, “And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. 17In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world.”
What is He? He is love! What are we? His love exemplified through word and deed.
The question we all must ask ourselves is when others see me do they see God’s love, because I am His expression of love to others. If the answer isn’t positive then I must ask myself, “Am I so abiding in His love that it can’t help but show up through me? If we try and just do God’s love then it will always fall short, because it is out of conditional human effort and ability, but if we can become so lost in Him, that we just start to become like the One we worship and abide in then it will it come out of our being and not our doing.
The law of the kingdom of God is contained in this one word LOVE. When LOVE is what rules our hearts, our desires, our motives and our actions then God’s kingdom has come in us. When God’s love rules over all that we do then there are no limitations on what He can manifest through us in His power and glory, because it is all of Him and for Him. This is the heart of God for us and this is the kingdom we were called to live into and out of.
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 