Naked Before the Lord

2 Corinthians 5:9-10

               Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth away from Him] or away from home [and with Him], we are constantly ambitious and strive earnestly to be pleasing to Him.

10For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing].

Naked before the Lord

               There is an old saying that our clothing can hide a multitude of sins.  It is simply a reference that we can dress ourselves to hide many of our defects, faults and deficiencies.   Our scripture today refers to a time when we will stand before the Lord in judgement and all our clothing is removed.  All of the facades, the pretensions, the denials, the excuses and the justifications are stripped away and there we stand, naked before the Lord.  He looks at us in our raw state and every motive, intent, deed and work that we have lived is seen purely for what it is.  From this evaluation based on God’s righteous judgement we receive the due recompense for what we have done with our lives and how we have lived.  Whether it is good or evil, our life is taken into account and all that we have given it too. What did we spend our lives pursuing; was it life or was it wind?  What were the true motives and the intents of our heart?  Did we live for ourselves or for Christ and others?  Were we the takers or the givers? Were we ambitious for pleasing Christ or ourselves?  No matter how good we are at talking our way out of things, we aren’t going to convince God.  Things are what they are and they will be seen for what they truly are. 

               Now we have all sinned and we continue to have sin in our lives.  Fortunately, because we have embraced by faith Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins we have a confidence that our sins are forgiven.  Our judgement here is not about sin so much as it is about what we did with the life that God gave us and the knowledge of who He is and what He requires.   Our lives in this earth are the preparation and the precursor to eternity.  What we share with Him in eternity, what part we play is all being decided each day that we live our lives in this earth.  This why it is so important that we live each day for Him and that He is our everything in this life.  That will not change as we enter eternity.   1 Corinthians 3:11-15 sums it up like this, “11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

               God does not desire to condemn us, but to commend us for a life well lived in service to Him.  When we fail to live our life in faith and obedience, we condemn ourselves.  Paul’s attitude in verse 9 of our scripture is this, “Therefore, whether we are at home [on earth away from Him] or away from home [and with Him], we are constantly ambitious and strive earnestly to be pleasing to Him.”  This should also be our attitude every day that we live. 

               Most of us wouldn’t consider ourselves to be where we want to be if we were to stand naked before the Lord today and none of us knows how much time we have left to make a difference.   As sobering as this is, we can make a difference every day simply by living in the faith of the Son of God and placing our lives completely before Him now to work in us and make the changes we need to make.  As we seek His purpose and His will, we will have opportunity to express His life daily as we earnestly desire and allow Him to have expression through us.  As we walk by faith and repent of our sins, we can have a good conscience before God.  We would desire that the Holy Spirit would show us if it were otherwise.  It is not working to earn His favor; it is living to allow His favor.

               If we were to stand naked before God today, can we stand unashamed because our lives are being lived fully for Him?  If not, then now is the time to begin to make a difference, because one day we will all stand in that place.  What we all want to hear are the words, “well done my good and faithful servant.”

Blessings,

#kent

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Pass On

Ecclesiates 12:5b-7

…For man goes to his eternal home,

And the mourners go about the streets.

6 Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,

Or the golden bowl is broken,

Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,

Or the wheel broken at the well.

7 Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

                              Pass On

Our earthly lives are like the leaves of fall,

In their spring they stood strong and tall,

They’ve changed color as the season passed,

But the difference they made is what will last.

They brought life and joy to those around,

Now their voice is but a distant sound,

Yet their memories etched their mark.

Those memories we now hold in our heart.

Our tears water the ground where the body lay,

But their spirit is released into another day.

No more pain and sorrow in this body now,

No more fields in this earth to plow.

No longer will they come to us in this earthly plain,

We pray that what we count as loss they will find as gain.

Their memories and their love live on for us to share,

Find your comfort now in our Father’s mercy and care.

^{Kent Stuck}

Blessings,

#kent

Dare to Speak

Dare to Speak

Romans 15:18

For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

How is the Lord working in you today?  What is He bringing forth in your life?   Do you know why He is working His ways in your life through various means and experiences?  As you think about these questions, think about what He wants to communicate through you as a result of the Holy Spirit working in your life.  This is why it is vital that each one of us has a personal relationship and experience going on daily with the Holy Spirit.  Our lives are being fashioned for a purpose and that purpose can only be truly realized as we walk in relationship with Christ.  While our churches and sources of spiritual teaching and instruction are good, they alone can’t work the experience of walking out a godly life through which the Holy Spirit is dealing with us and teaching us through our life experiences His ways and His truth. 

The point of what Paul is saying in this scripture today is that he didn’t just go and speak the things he had been taught in Bible school or read out of a lesson.  What he was teaching and speaking was coming out of spiritual revelation and experience of walking out the will of God in his life.  What he communicated to the saints was what God had wrought in him.  He was not giving regurgitated food, but he was giving fresh manna, made real through a personal walk and experience.  Each one of us, if we are walking with the Lord, are experiencing His personal dealings, corrections, revelations and spiritual realities in our lives.  It is these things that make up our testimony and give real life substance and meaning to what the Spirit is teaching us through the principles of His Word.  His Word is forever the foundation and the bedrock of what the Holy Spirit wants to make real and living to us.  As it is processed through each one of our personal experiences it becomes a living Word in us that we can communicate to others.  As each of us experience and process what God is working in us then we really have the right to share it with others.   Wasn’t this what Paul was sharing about concerning what He was teaching and the foundation He was building in the lives of others.  What God works in our lives I don’t believe He does for us alone.  Through our walk, experience and personal encounters with the dealings of the Lord, we then can be His expression to help and minister life to others.  Haven’t most of us been encouraged at one time or another when we were going through something and we may have felt like we were the only ones that experienced this and then someone came along that could personally relate with where we at through their similar type of experiences.  They offered comfort and encouragement to us through their personal identification with where we were at.

God works things in our lives for a reason.  Draw from these life experiences as you use them to bear witness and give testimony of your faith.  They are valuable instruments that the Lord has put into our hands to convey life and blessing.  Through them we’re able to get under others and lift them up rather than speaking down to them through just condescending head knowledge.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were great at judging others with the law, but Jesus said they were ‘whited sepulchres full of dead men’s bones.’  They only knew how to use the Word to minister death and judgement, rather than life, encouragement and blessing.   This is the difference the Word makes in us when it comes alive through life experiences.   We are able to relate with people in humility and love because we experience similar things. 

God is making us the ministers of His life.  Use what He has revealed in you through the direction of the Holy Spirit to give life to others in your life’s path.  God often places us with others for a reason.  We are the instruments and vessels He wants to use to communicate life, blessing, exhortation and teaching into those that He brings to us.  Be sensitive in your spirit to how our God would want to use and speak through you a living Word into someone’s life and circumstance.  You and I are His expression.  The world around us can only truly know Him by what they see in us and actions speak louder than our words. 

Blessings,

#kent

Life and Death

Life and Death

Deuteronomy 30:19

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

               In the midst of the Garden of Eden were two trees that stood out from all the other trees in the Garden.  In the fruit of these two trees were contained the two great laws and principles of heaven and earth which are life and death.  Genesis 2:9 says, “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”  Later, as God creates and sets man in the Garden, He gives only one simple instruction and rule to the man.  “Genesis 2:15-17 says, “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  This is the first introduction of the concept of death.  How could Adam even grasp what the principle of death was when he had never seen what it looked like?  Now there were no restrictions on the tree of life, Adam and Eve had full access to partake of that tree and its fruit.   While abiding in the Garden in obedience to God and partaking of the fruit of the tree of life, Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect bliss and communion with God.  There was no shame or evil; because of yet it had not found its way into God’s creation. As long as Adam and Eve were willing to choose only life they lived out of the life, abundance and supply that God gave them.  Death was not a part of this realm. 

               This tree of the knowledge of good and evil, why was it in the Garden if it would produce death?  The tree alone didn’t produce the death, it was the partaking of it’s fruit that caused them to surely die.  Why?  Because it was a Pandora’s box that once opened could never be shut except by the hand and the will of God.  It opened the door to man making choices outside of the will and purpose of God.  But free choice is a gift that God gave to man and all of man’s choices really boiled down to these two basic principles, life and death.   

               When this Pandora’s box of the knowledge of good and evil was opened through the tempters temptation and the choice of Adam and Eve to partake of it; man fell that day from his heavenly state of life and peace in perfect harmony and communion with God.  Sin was conceived and mankind would never be the same until the time of the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).  While Adam and Eve didn’t die an immediate death, the spirit of death was put into motion through sin and began its work of death and corruption.  Within that fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the greatest enemy of mankind was given place, the spirit of death.  Once the spirit of death was unleashed through man’s disobedience, it was the power of the devil to destroy life with death.  We have only to look around us, starting with our own bodies to see the effects of death at work still.  Sin and corruption is all around us touching and tainting everything it touches. 

               God, in His great love, gave man a choice to choose life or death.  Because we all have made choices that were contrary to life and the righteousness of God, we have all sinned and fell short of His glory and His highest for us.  Then man wants to blame God for all the wickedness, sin and suffering in the world and call Him unloving because of the mess we have made.  The state of our world is the fruit of our choices, not God’s.  God has never encouraged us to do anything else but to choose life.

               Christ Jesus is God’s gift of life back to us.  Christ is the tree of life to us again.  He has come to reconcile His creation back to Himself.  Hebrew 2:14 says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” That reconciliation and restoration to life can never come through our self-effort to obtain it.  We find that it is only found in the grace and mercy of God revealed through Jesus Christ His Son.  He alone stands as the door that leads us back to paradise and right standing with God.  Only as we enter through that door by faith in Christ does His righteous blood sacrificed as Calvary make atonement for our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness in the sight of God.  Romans 8:1-4 declares to us, “[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  The knowledge of what is good is a noble thing, but it is not in the ability of man to live up to God’s righteous standards by his own strength.  It is only in our union with Christ and the Spirit of His Life, that we again return to the principles of life.  Only as we submit our hearts in obedience to walk in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, He has imparted to us who believe, do we have the ability to lay hold of the paradise lost and our communion again with Father God.  Christ has conquered death, but He is raising up a body that will follow in His example, for He has set down at the right hand of God, “From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool (Hebrews 10:13).”  “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

Blessings,

#kent

Him that Believes

Him that Believes

John 12:32-50

Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. 46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47″As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. 48There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. 49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

               This statement by Jesus here in John 12 is like His mission statement.   In these few sentences Jesus pretty wells summarizes who He is and what He is about.  Although the Jewish ears of this day were pretty much deaf to his message and their eyes were blind, for here stood their Messiah and they discerned Him not.  Here, in this passage, He is telling plainly that when you embrace and believe upon Me, it is not just Me that you are embracing; you are embracing and believing the Father.  In this place we see Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, manifested as the Son of man and appearing outwardly not unlike you and I.  What so many can’t grasp is that contained within this man of the flesh is God Almighty living, breathing and speaking.   Jesus, the man, is the facilitator of God walking, talking and moving personally in the earth.  This passage is core to the Christian beliefs and tenants.  It is what separates us from other religions.  Men search all of their lives to find the way to heaven and Jesus says plainly, “I am what you seek, I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father except by me. “

               Have you ever been trying to figure something out and your wife or husband or kids are telling you the solution, but you can’t hear them.  They are telling you plainly enough, but you have shut them out and disqualified them because they don’t know what they are talking about.   If they had the answer why couldn’t you hear it?  It was pride, self reliance or stubbornness to hear from one so familiar to you and especially if you think you know more than they do.  We can look at the life of Jesus lived in front of the religious leaders who only rejected and condemned Him.  We might say, “how could they be so stupid and blind not to recognize who He was?”  It was that same stubborn pride that refused to acknowledge the God in Him. 

               Now Jesus didn’t go around saying, “Look how great I am, I am God, you people better believe me or I am calling down fire on you.”  Perhaps it was His humility that disarmed so many.  Here is Jesus, the King of King and He is speaking with divine authority and yet He is among them as a servant.  He is identified with the people, not filled with the pomp and grandeur of what He could have portrayed, as the earthly leaders did.  He wasn’t only identified with the people; He was identified with God the Father.  He says in verses 49-50, “49For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. 50I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”  The Father, the Spirit and the words that He spoke were His credentials and they bore witness that He was who He said He was.  Jesus goes on to tell them,  ‘I’m not here to judge you, but I am speaking God’s Word and the Word itself will be your judge in that day, whether you received in faith and obeyed it or rejected it. 

               What does God want to speak through our lives as His people and His vessels?  Is He not still speaking this same Word to the generations of today?   Who is His mouthpiece if it is not you and I?  This is a primary reason that we don’t want our flesh in our way.  The flesh obscures and hides the Christ in us.  The less of us, or the former identity with self that exist, the more we can be like Jesus in that what we hear in the Spirit we can speak into the natural realm of men.  God is still moving through human agents.  Jesus was our prototype, the first, the template and the pattern for us to follow.  What has destroyed the credibility of the Church is that world sees in us a mixed message, a message of both flesh and spirit.  We have been a source of muddy water.  You can’t blame them for not wanting to drink.  We don’t want to be that source of muddy waters; we want to be growing ever more in tune with the Father through Christ.  We want to learn to the hear and discern the Holy Spirit’s voice so that whatever He speaks or directs, then we are speaking not our words, but His and the deeds that we do are not our deeds, but His.  We must follow our example for what the Father did in Him, He wants to do through us, but He needs clean vessels to speak forth a pure Word.  He needs vessels that are fully yielded to Him and in tune with His will and purpose.  Are we that people?

Blessings,

#kent

The Fragrance of Jesus

The Fragrance of Jesus

Psalms 45:6-8

Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom [is] a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments [smell] of myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

Have you ever been around someone or in an atmosphere where all around you, you could smell Jesus.  It may not have been a physical fragrance as much as a spiritual one, but there is a fragrance you can sense that is not of this world.  That fragrance brings with it such a presence of God’s love, His peace and His awe.  Occasionally we may be in the company of someone who has that fragrance about them.  It may not be so much what they say as who they are and the spirit that emanates from them. 

As I closed my eyes this morning I imagined an empty elevator where it’s occupants had just exited, but it was like I could see a resident aura or like a lingering shadow of those who had been there.  There was something they had left behind of themselves. 

Have you been around a person that has a certain distinctive fragrance about them and every time you smell that fragrance you think of them?  When you smell their clothes or their pillow or towel.  What ever they have come into contact with retains a fragrance of them. There is a fragrance of Jesus and that is the fragrance I would desire that others would smell on me when I am in their presence.  We would desire that people would not be impressed with us, but with the Spirit and fragrance of Christ that we would give off because we have been in His presence.  Don’t you imagine that the fragrance of Jesus was on the disciples and the ones who spent so much time in His presence?  People are drawn to that aroma, for it is the smell of life and the fragrance of Love. 

The apostle Paul spoke of having that fragrance when he said in 2 Corinthian 2:14-17, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”  There are a good many to whom the fragrance of Christ doesn’t smell good, because they have so long been entrenched in the stench of death because it bring conviction on the death they carry. Others, who have been surrounded by that stench, those in Christ are a fresh fragrance of life and hope.  They are like a breath of fresh air when stepping out of a dark and putrid dungeon. 

               It is my prayer that the fragrance of Jesus would so permeate our beings that people would not only smell His sweetness when we are present, but that that aroma of life would linger on even after we had left. 

               It is springtime with all the fragrant smells of blossoms and the newness of life in the air, but oh there is no smell so sweet as the fragrance of Jesus.  That is the aroma we want to carry with us and leave behind us, His presence, His life, His Spirit and the sweet fragrance of all that He is.

Blessings,

#kent

Knowing Jesus All the Way

John 14:6-7a

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” 

Knowing Jesus All the Way

                Most of us as believers think of ourselves as knowing Jesus.  And we do know Him in some sense of the word, but notice that in this scripture in John 14:6-7 that there are three levels of knowing Jesus. 

                We first come to know Jesus as “the way”.  The Lord reveals Himself to our spirit in such a way that we understand and receive by faith that Jesus came to die for our sins and that by believing in Him we have “a way” of relationship restored to us by which we might really come to know the Father through His Son, Jesus.  For some, it is fire insurance.  If there is Hell and I don’t want to go there, then Jesus is my insurance and assurance, because He promises me eternal life with Him and to keep me out of hell. 

                Our initial encounters with Jesus and our acceptance of Him bring us into the relationship of knowing Him as “the way”, but that is only one aspect of how Jesus wants His disciples to know Him.            Perhaps we should make one more distinction.  A disciple is always a believer, but a believer is not always a disciple.  A disciple is focused upon the discipline of learning the ways of His master and becoming like him.  A believer may only be content to know about the master, but never really integrate the ways of the master into their lives.  Their faith is more superficial in nature.  It is more prone to be built upon the sand rather than the rock.  They may come and hear the word of God, but they don’t allow it to become their life, by putting it into daily practice and practical living.  They may easily talk about Jesus in the right crowd, but their life isn’t centered around living for Jesus. 

                The next aspect of knowing Jesus, is knowing Him as “the Truth”.  We come to know Jesus as the truth through His Word and knowing that Jesus is that Word as John 1:1-4  says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”  We come to know who Jesus is in our heart and our life.  We gain spiritual wisdom, understanding and insight about our Savior.  Our relationship deepens as we endeavor to walk in “the Truth” of His ways.  We become truth seekers, because we want to know more about Jesus. 

               Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:23-24 what true worshippers are.  “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”  Those who know Jesus as the way and the truth are often true worshipers.  They have followed the spiritual journey from the outer court of tabernacle, the salvation experience; to the holy place of spiritual encounter.  There, they are led by the Spirit and the Spirit is leading them into truth.  This is a glorious place of personal encounter, revelation, understanding and the beginnings of intimacy as we are discipled by the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. 

While it is wonderful knowing Jesus as our “way” and our “truth”, ultimately we want to know Him as our “LIFE”.  This is the Holy of Holy of intimacy and relationship.  Here we step through the rent veil of the flesh of Christ as we come boldly before God’s throne.  In that place of holiness there is no room or place for our former life or that way of thinking.  We have stepped into a heavenly dimension of relationship with Him where we know Jesus in true intimacy.  Earthly values give place to heavenly ones, facts give way to truth and we become kingdom minded.

                In John 14: 7 where Jesus says, ” If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”  This word “knew” and “know” here is the Greek word, “Ginosko”.  It means to lean to know, come to know, become known, understand, but it is also the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.  This doesn’t speak about being acquainted or knowing about someone.  This speaks to the depths of human and spiritual relationship.  We come to know Jesus as our LIFE. He is the life seed of all that is planted within us coming to fruition.  He becomes more than the “way” and even more than “truth”, He becomes our “LIFE” and we become His.  There is a spiritual union of one flesh or one spirit if you will with Jesus.  Jesus was speaking here to His disciples of a new door of intimacy and relationship that had not previously been open; “From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him” speaking of the Father.  If you really want to know the Father it is through the intimacy of a love relationship with Jesus that takes you into the presence of the Father where you no longer distinguish between the two, because they are one in His love.   The cross that Jesus faced was the ultimate expression of the unified love of the Father and the Son.  When we know Jesus as the “way”, the “truth”, and the “LIFE”  then we also will be consumed in His love.  ‘The things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace’, as the song was written. 

                This is that journey that we want. That which is consummated in His LIFE!   Out of that LIFE we live, move and have our being.  Out of that LIFE we live out of the power of the resurrection life and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.  Out of that LIFE we will overcome and prevail, for it is the LIFE of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit living through and out of us.  Out of that LIFE comes our Sonship and our unity with God to walk, live and operate fully out of our destiny and purpose.  Let us come to know Jesus all the way as the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Blessings,

#kent

Life and Godliness

1 Timothy 6:6-12

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Life and Godliness

                This scripture kind of flies in the face of all that we are taught in our present-day society.  It teaches us that it is all about education, working your way up, success and getting ahead.  All of these can be good in the right balance, but in all of our pursuit of life’s “success” we often miss the most important and needful things, life and godliness.  It takes a paradigm shift in our natural thinking to not be so earthly minded and material oriented that we rob our soul to satisfy our flesh.  How many upon finally reaching their goals of success, wealth, fame and riches find that happiness, satisfaction, contentment and peace are not in the pot of gold they thought to find at the end of their rainbow?

                We all need to work and support ourselves and families.  That is a godly principle.  In the process of that we often find ourselves getting out of balance, because the world and work place begins to demand more and more from us at the expense of robbing God, our family and even our own souls. 

                Many times this may be because we are trying to find our identity in our career rather than our relationship with Christ.  What we are and how we are seen in world’s eyes supercedes who we are and our life’s purpose in Christ.  Many of us have fallen in this snare and may be there right now.

This is not to condemn but cause us to take an honest look at our true motives, affections and life’s pursuits.  If we are not first and foremost focused on our identity in Christ and how He wants to live through us day by day, then we are missing our calling.  We all have to be so careful that we don’t get caught up in the materialism of the world and society we live in, that we miss our higher and foremost calling.  “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

                If our basic needs are met, then let us pursue what God apprehended foremost for, Himself.  Our primary function is the expression of His nature in and through our lives which grows out of an ever increasing relationship and intimacy with Him.  The enemy will bring every distraction and temptation to rob us of that identity and purpose we all have in Christ Jesus.

                Let us check our priorities today.  Are we aligning our lives with this scripture?  If not, what steps do we need to take to bring our lives back on course with our true identity and purpose? 

Blessings,

#kent

You shall not Die, but Live

Psalms 118:17-18

I will not die but live and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

You shall not Die, but Live

              “Has fear and doubt come against your mind?  Has your faith been sorely tried?   Reach out your hand from whence cometh your help.  It is Jesus, for you He has died.  Rise and be healed in the name of Jesus.  Let faith arise in your heart.  Reach out your hand from whence cometh your help.  It is Jesus, for you He has died.” 

              I was just impressed that the Lord was bringing this song up in my heart as I began this writing.  There are those of you who need this word this morning, because it is the Word of the Lord for you.  If you need it, take hold of it with all faith and don’t let go.

              Oh, the Spirit of the Lord has heard your cry as you have faithfully cleaved to Him.  He knows your every need and He is your healing and your answer today.  Take hold of Him, nothing wavering.  Set your face as flint upon the promises of His Word and refuse to be moved, ‘for has the Lord spoken and will He not make it good?’  “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent.”   Ephesians 5:30 says, ” For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”  “The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. (Romans 8)” 

You are no longer identified with this man of the flesh, even though you can be touched by its infirmities and weaknesses.  “You are more than a conqueror through Christ who loved you and gave Himself for you. (Romans 8)”  1 Peter 2:24 declares to us, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”  We, who are in Christ, already possess our healing, it has already been done for us in Christ.  The fact that we are afflicted doesn’t negate the truth that we are healed.  Healing is not something we have to get.  It is what we already have.  When the circumstances of this natural realm presume to rob that from us then we have to stand in truth and declare the truth of God’s Word over our circumstance and affliction.  We are not of this world, even though our natural man is still subject to it.  We are kingdom people “who worship God in the spirit and put no confidence in the flesh.”  As God’s children who set at the right hand of the father in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6), we have been raised up to declare and to live out God’s kingdom on earth.  “His kingdom come and His will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.”  We live our lives not out of the life of this natural man, but out of the Spirit of God.  We are identified and one with a risen Savior, Christ and Lord; bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.  God has declared life into us by the power of His Son and the manifestation of His Spirit. 

              We declare the Word of the Lord today over all sickness and death that is at work in God’s people.  Declare this scripture in Psalms 118:17, “I will not die but live and will proclaim what the LORD has done.”  Do it out loud and with all authority.  The Lord is touching you even as you read this, believe and declare His Word.  You shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.  Remember Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”  Align your heart, your faith and your declaration with the Word of God. Stand believing and proclaiming what He has said.  Don’t look at your symptoms as the proof of your healing, keep your eyes only upon His Word.  Truth is greater than all the facts of the world.  They that stand in it, will be vindicated by it.  Rise and be healed in the name of Jesus! 

              This is the Word of the Lord to you who are sick or enduring the trials of affliction today.

Blessings,

#kent

Random Order

Random Order

Psalms 119:133

Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

              God does not operate out of chance.  He does not spin a wheel and wherever the ball lands that’s the direction He goes.  Our God is a magnificent God of design and order.  He has a plan and He knows the beginning to the end.  Your life and mine aren’t a chance happening, they are ordered of the Lord.  He has put within each one of us a destiny and a purpose for our being. 

              Someone may be thinking, “You don’t know my life, what I have been through or what a mess I am.”  God does and He is able to take what the enemy has meant for evil and destruction and turn it around to be a stronghold for His glory and praise.  He is able to lift you up out of the death and darkness you have been in and set your feet in the way of light and truth.  He is able to take our weakness and turn them into the strongest areas of righteousness and victory in our lives.  God has a destiny, plan and purpose for your life, but the only way you will fully realize it is as you allow Him to order your steps according to His Word.  God has a divine and fulfilling plan for each of us, but we don’t have to follow it.  It is sin and rebellion that have caused us to miss it and that is why many of us are in the misery we are in. 

              As we look back over our lives, what do we see?  Are we satisfied and content with the results?  Do you feel you have lived your life to the fullness of God’s will and design for you.  We must come to the place that we realize our greatest joy, happiness and fulfillment doesn’t come out pursuing our own pleasures and desires, it will only be realized in the unity with God’s will and order for your life.  As I look back over my own life and the times I have walked close to God and the times I haven’t, I can see that my greatest joy, blessing and fulfillment are the times when I am passionately pursuing Him and seeking the fullness of His will for my life.  Our Father didn’t give us His Word and commandments to imprison us and make us miserable.  He gave them to set us free to be the children of righteousness and holiness that could enjoy the riches of all that He has for us.  It is our own sin and rebellion that prevent, inhibit and imprison us from enjoying the full blessings and promises that God has given us. 

              Our God is a God of divine and precise order.  We can look all around our universe and see the evidence of that in all of creation.  Only the fool could truly say the world and all its wonders were created by mere chance, how absurd.  An atheist has to have more faith to believe that, than a believer does to believe in God.  All of creation is a testimony to the wonder, greatness and order of God.  We have to realize that so much of our thinking, values and beliefs have been the persuasion of a lie.  All the chaos, disorder, anarchy, rebellion and discord in the world is the result of the devil’s influence on the minds and hearts of men.  We at war with terrorism today because men bought the lies of satan and in the name of religion and their god they terrorize by killing, wounding and maiming innocent men, women and children.  That certainly has no connection with the God I know. 

              If our steps are ordered of the Lord then He will not allow iniquity to have dominion over you.  In fact, in Christ, He has already empowered you to have victory and dominion over sin and iniquity.  He is our righteousness and we stand complete Him today because of Jesus.  Jesus did it all. He has issued us all the equipment we need to go out, conquer and prevail.  All we have to do is, in faith, put it on and use it according the operations manual of the Word of God, your Bible.  If we are living in defeat, oppression and failure in our lives, then we are like a homeless person using hundred dollar bills to stuff the bag he is sleeping on.  God has given us the resources, but we must rise up in the authority of His Word and the name of Jesus Christ and use them. 

              We cannot live our lives by random order and expect the fullness of God’s best in our lives.  It will be a hit and miss proposition.  As we live methodically and purposefully in the principles of God’s Word then we will reap the benefits of His promises and provisions.  If you want victory, joy and fulfillment in your life then order your steps in the Lord and in His Word.

Blessings,

#kent