Consecrated Son

Consecrated Son

1Samuel 1:9-11

So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD  And she [was] in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

               Most of us know the account of Hannah and how she cried out in her bareness for a man-child.  We know that Eli spoke a prophetic word to her, she conceived and gave birth to a child she called Samuel, who was a wonderful prophet and man of God.  As Hannah had vowed, when the child was weaned she came and presented him to the Lord. The child was consecrated unto the Lord according to her promise.  She had to fully relinquish the normal routines of a mother raising a child.  The priesthood raised him and she only had visitation rights.

               John 1:12 tells us,”But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:”  When we come to Christ there is a spiritual dedication and consecration that takes place within us.  Our soul, through its vow to Christ, dedicates the spiritual child within that is birthed to God.  Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:5-7, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”  Most of us who are Christian are very aware of our new birth, or born again experience.  We understand the concept of that new creature which we now are and still are becoming, is the product, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit.  We should understand, like Hannah, that this spiritual seed, which is the product of the faith in our soul uniting with the promise of the Spirit of God, has produced a spiritual man-child within us.  Our body is the tabernacle of this holy seed of God.  What we often forget is that this child doesn’t belong to the soul.  It belongs to the Spirit.  We gave up our rights and dictates to it when we received Christ.  As such we must remember and honor our vow that we are no longer our own. We belong wholly to the Lord.  For many of us, even though we have been spiritually birthed, we have never been really separated unto the Lord.  We are still being raised by our soul.  The result is that our spirit man reflects the soulish woman rather than the godly man after the image of the Father.  Who is raising your spirit man, your man-child that resides within?  Is he becoming just an extension of your soul, of your mind, will and emotions? Or has he been truly consecrated and given to God?  Is he being raised in the discipline of the Word of God and godly correction? Is he learning to truly bear the nature of the heavenly rather the earthly?  Roman 12:1-2 exhorts us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  God has answered the cry of our soul to birth a part of Himself in us.  We are exhorted to keep our vow and commitment to now let that spiritual man within us grow up in obedience and consecration to the Father and the instruction of His Word.  The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a mentor, a spiritual governor, advisor, helper, comforter and instructor to help us grow up into the priesthood of God.  We are men and women of God.  We are not ordinary and common people of the world.  We have been consecrated and set apart unto God, for His glory and for His purpose.  We must, as Samuel did, grow up into our calling and relationship with our Father.  We are purposed and destined of God.  We are not our own, we were purchased with a price.  Has our soul relinquished the man-child we are and the destiny we have before us to be conformed into the likeness of the Son of God?  If not, perhaps it is time we make good on our vow.  What we give up in the natural, can in no way compare to what we gain in the Spirit.  Let’s make sure we have been truly consecrated and released to God. 

The soul or the mother is the vehicle to produce the son.  She must then give place for the son to grow up in the likeness of his Father.  The soul must decrease and the spirit man must increase.  Have you consecrated your son?

Blessings,

#kent

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Passion for Your Lover

Song of Solomon 1:2-5
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine.
3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! 4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.

Passion for Your Lover

Is your Christianity a routine? Has it become stagnant with the same old ritual and habits? Do you feel like going to church is just going through the motions and doing what you are supposed to do? If our Christianity has become mundane, boring and uneventful to us then we are missing the passion for the greatest lover that ever was.
The virgins and the friends of the bridegroom may have a more distant relationship with the Bridegroom, but for the bride He is her passion, He is the air she breathes, the song she sings and the dream that she dreams. All of her hopes are in Him. He is whom she lives for and pursues with all that is within her. Why, because it is required of her or it is what she is suppose to do? No, it is because she is so passionately in love with this bridegroom that it is all that she can think to do. He fills her thoughts, her dreams and aspirations. Oh, to be with Him and to come into union with Him. What adjectives can describe her love and desire for Him?
She has discovered what so many have missed. She is in love and nothing else matters around her compared to Him. Oh, how she languishes for His love to be poured out to her. He is the one that puts the butterflies in her tummy. He is like sweet smelling perfume, she just wants to breathe Him in and His name is like perfume poured out. With the fragrance of His name there is life, healing, deliverance and salvation. It is the name above every name and the name that is the sweetest fragrance in all of the earth. No wonder so many love him.
She cries to Him, “Take me away with you, let us hurry!” In John 14:3 the Bridegroom tells His bride, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also.” As the Bridegroom has prepared a place for her, so she has prepared herself for Him. Now she is ready and crying out to Him. It is not about escaping or running away from all that is happening around her, for her it is the union with Him. “Let the King bring me into His chambers.” It is about union and intimacy that produces life and a manchild that is in the image of his Father.
The fruit of her loins the enemy despises, seeking to devour and destroy this one who comes forth in the image and likeness of the King. This child is he (many membered he) that rules and reigns with Christ and becomes His government in a new heaven and a new earth. It is this bride that desires that seed. His seed of life and godliness that shall prevail and overcome, that will set creation free and bring all of humanity into the emancipating liberty of Jesus Christ.
What is your passion today? If you want to know this kind of love, then pursue Him. Often He may seem evasive as we seek His presence. He is looking for those who will not be discouraged and will not take no for an answer. He is looking for those who are not easily distracted and set their affections upon other things. He is proving her whose heart is perfect toward Him and who will not allow her love to be denied. Are you such a person of passion and purpose?

Blessings,
#kent

Pregnant with Child

Pregnant with Child

Revelations 12:1-6
1A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

There are those to whom this passage may seem intimidating and too spiritual to understand, but what would the Lord speak to us through it today? We perceive this woman that is pregnant here to be the Church.
1 Peter 1:23-25 tells us, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh [is] as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” This self-same seed of the divine Word of Life has impregnated the Church who is the Bride and the wife of the Lamb. Here she is clothed as the sun, the righteousness and glory of God, sitting in a place of divine dominion and authority, but still obviously in contention and opposition with satan represented in the great red dragon with the dominion and authority that is still his. Here we are at a climatic time in spiritual history very much in keeping with what we saw when Christ Jesus was born in the earth and how Herod, an instrument of satan, tried to destroy this man child by ordering all of the infants and young children of Bethlehem to be put to death.
The purpose of the Church is to bring up and birth a holy offspring; this corresponds with what we read in Romans 8:19-23, “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.” In Revelations 2 and 3 where exhortations are given to each of the Churches; at the end of each, a promise is given to him that overcomes. God is looking for a company of overcomers that will grow up into Him who is the head even Christ. Ephesians 4:11-16 tells us the mind and purpose of God concerning the Church and her children, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
The word of the Lord to us is that He wants a people of maturity, no longer little children tossed to and fro and moved by every wind of doctrine, but those who know and are established in who they are in Christ. There is a day and time when these mature ones will be revealed in authority and power. The purpose of the enemy is to destroy and devour them, but the purpose of God is that they would be the catalyst that would bring war in heaven where satan will be cast down and Christ’s enemies will be made his footstool. Our calling today is to grow up into Him in all things, to be the overcomers and those who would set creation free as His fullness and authority is revealed in this man child. Is this not what Paul saw when he said in Philippians 3:12-16, “12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”

Blessings,
#kent

How Profound is His Love?

Romans 5:6-8

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.

How Profound is His Love?

Meditate on this simple truth that we often so quickly read past.  Nothing you, I or anyone did or could do could provide for us what only God the Father could provide for us through the love of His Son Jesus Christ.  It speaks to a principle of God, that out of utter weakness, helplessness and depravity the power of God is revealed toward us.  Most of us know that we could never get good enough on our own to deserve God’s love and salvation.  He is not wanting us to come to Him only after we have cleaned up our lives, that is like trying to take a bath without water or soap. He is the only way that we can get clean. Faith in His blood and in the washing of the water and the Word is our cleansing.  It is by nothing we can do or earn, but by simple faith that embraces God’s Son who took our sins upon Himself, suffered the incomprehensible pain and shame that  should have been ours and then died the death of sin that we deserve.  

Who is this Jesus that He should die for me?  He was the divine expression of God’s insurmountable love for all of humanity.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”  This is a very simple elementary truth of the Christian faith, but one we never want to loose sight of. It is the simple faith we placed in Jesus that has brought us into one body and one hope of our calling.  Nothing else exists without this foundational truth and reality.  Even the faith that we have to embrace Christ was the gift of His grace, lest any of us should boast (Ephesians 2:8).  

Do we fully understand that it is not our power that is at work here in our Christian walk and faith?  It is religion and a religious mindset that doesn’t comprehend this mystery of God and tries to establish a godliness out its own works, strength, knowledge and goodness, but God operates best out of weakness and total dependence upon Him.  Just as we couldn’t save ourselves, we can’t produce our own righteousness.  He alone is our righteousness.  It is in that daily exchange by faith of “who we were for who He is”, that we embrace that divine nature.  There is no amount of knowledge or gifting that can bring you into the likeness of the Son, only He can do that by the power of His Spirit working in you.  It doesn’t matter your status, your fame, your perception in the eyes of this world, Father knows and wants us to know that it is only His power working out of our weakness that makes us strong.  

Notice that there was an appointed time, just the right time, when we were still powerless , that Christ died for the ungodly.  There is another time, just the right time, when as 1 Thessalonians 1:10 says, “on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”  You and I are the incubator and womb of this manchild that is growing inside the true Church.  There is a right time, the fullness of time when Christ shall be revealed in glory, within and without of His body, which we are.  

It is this simple truth that we first embraced that now grows within our womb.  This seed of life, deliverance, salvation and glory.  In your weakness He is working His strength.  Let your dependence and your hope be in none other, but Him.  He is the author and the finisher of your faith.  “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).”

 

Blessings,

kent

Consecrated Son

Consecrated Son

1Samuel 1:9-11
So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD And she [was] in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

Most of us know the account of Hannah and how she cried out in her bareness for a man-child. We know that Eli spoke a prophetic word to her, she conceived and gave birth to a child she called Samuel, who was a wonderful prophet and man of God. The only thing is that as Hannah had vowed, when the child was weaned she would come and present him to the Lord. The child was consecrated unto the Lord according to her promise. She had to fully relinquish the normal routines of a mother raising a child. The priesthood raised him and she only had visitation rights.
John 1:12 tells us,”But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:” When we come to Christ there is a spiritual dedication and consecration that takes place within us. Our soul, through its vow to Christ, dedicates the spiritual child within that is birthed to God. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:5-7, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Most of us who are Christians are very aware of our new birth, or born again experience. We understand the concept of that new creature which we now are and still are becoming, is the product, not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. We should understand, like Hannah, that this spiritual seed, which is the product of the faith in our soul uniting with the promise of the Spirit of God, has produced a spiritual man-child within us. Our body is the tabernacle of this holy seed of God. What we often forget is that this child doesn’t belong to the soul. It belongs to the Spirit. We gave up our rights and dictates to it when we received Christ. As such we must remember and honor our vow that we are no longer our own. We belong wholly to the Lord. For many of us, even though we have been spiritually birthed, we have never been really separated unto the Lord. We are still being raised by our soul. The result is that our spirit man reflects the soulish woman rather than the godly man after the image of the Father. Who is raising your spirit man, your man-child that resides within? Is he becoming just an extension of your soul, of your mind, will and emotions? Or has he been truly consecrated and given to God? Is he being raised in the discipline of the Word of God and godly correction? Is he learning to truly bear the nature of the heavenly rather the earthly? Roman 12:1-2 exhorts us, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” God has answered the cry of our soul to birth a part of Himself in us. We are exhorted to keep our vow and commitment to now let that spiritual man within us grow up in obedience and consecration to the Father and the instruction of His Word. The Holy Spirit has been given to us as a mentor, a spiritual governor, advisor, helper, comforter and instructor to help us grow up into the priesthood of God. We are men and women of God. We are not ordinary and common people of the world. We have been consecrated and set apart unto God, for His glory and for His purpose. We must, as Samuel did, grow up into our calling and relationship with our Father. We are purposed and destined of God. We are not our own, we were purchased with a price. Has our soul relinquished the man-child we are and the destiny we have before us to be conformed into the likeness of the Son of God? If not, perhaps it is time we make good on our vow. What we give up in the natural, can in no way compare to what we gain in the Spirit. Let’s make sure we have been truly consecrated and released to God.
The soul or the mother is the vehicle to produce the son. She must then give place for the son to grow up in the likeness of his Father. The soul must decrease and the spirit man must increase. Have you consecrated your son?

Blessings,
kent

Lord of the Flood (Prophetic)

Psalms 29:10-11
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
11The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.

Lord of the Flood (Prophetic)

Though the flash floods come suddenly to overtake you, I am the rock you cling to and climb. Ascend the Rock of your Salvation. Come up into Me when the floods come. For they come to quickly wash away all that is not secure and eternal. Earthly loss is not spiritual loss. Though you lose everything in this world, you still have all that you need.
Though the waters rise, you shall rise above them as you cling and climb up the Rock of your salvation. Many below you are swept away, but I have not given you the spirit of fear, but of confidence. In that confidence you move knowing that your life is in My hands and not in the world and its circumstances.
Raging waters come to wash away all that is not secure, but security rest in Me, not in the abundance of what you have or own. Look to Me. Confide in Me your every need. Put no confidence in the flesh, for you are the circumcision in Christ Jesus that worships God in the Spirit. Your life is in My Spirit and because you are mine I will glorify Myself through you. When others are in terror, you shall be in peace, for I have overcome the world and My overcoming peace resides in you. You shall not fear what men may do to you, for your life is hid in Me and none can snatch you from My hand. Your steps are ordered of the Lord, so in physical life or death, trust me, for in Me, you shall never die. Where there is no permanent death, there should be no fear of death, but fear only Me. I will honor Myself through you as you walk in the integrity of My ways.
Secure yourself in the Rock of your salvation. Anchor your life there. For in that place, when the floods come, they will not sweep you away. I am your anchor and your sure salvation. Each day, set your hope in Me, honor Me and pursue me with all of your strength. In that pursuit, you will find I have become your strength and I am more than sufficient.

Blessings,
kentA

Knowing Jesus

Song of Solomon 5:16
His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely.
This is my lover, this my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.

Knowing Jesus

Consider for a moment that you have an estate. Your home is surrounded by a court yard. Within your courtyard is your personal home and within your home is you personal room or bedroom. Now think about who you invite into those places. In the courtyard you will receive and entertain your friends, neighbors and acquaintances, but they may rarely come into your home. In your home you have your family, those relatives that live with you and are close to you. But in your bedroom and personal domain, only your wife shares the intimacy of that space with you.
This is a rough analogy of our spiritual relationship with the Lord and where we are at in that relationship. Most are content to meet with the Lord in the courtyard of religion, church, general worship and fellowship. They have their meal and their time with Him and then they go on their way until it is time to meet with Him again. Then there is His family, His disciples who walk with Him daily, live with Him, dine with Him and spend a great deal of personal time with Him. Lastly, their is His bride. Only she comes into the intimacy of His personal chambers or bedroom. There, she shares breath and life with Him. In that place she is not content to just fellowship with Him or even to imitate Him. There she is impregnated with His very life and being. There she become so one in His identity that she is one flesh with Him. When the others see her, all they see is her husband represented in her and in the life that she carries.
The question before us, is where to do we want to be in our relationship with Father? Are we content to know Him at a distance? Are we willing to pay the price to be a disciple and live with Him daily, forsaking all else, in our walk and life? Or, could we be like His wife who is content with nothing less than all of Him and giving all that she is to Him. In that relationship the one life is lost in the other and they can’t be distinguished apart except in form. Their spirit and their hearts are one. She is bringing forth the man child who is the express image and likeness of Jesus.
What relationship are we content with?

Blessings,
kent