Silence Before Him

Silence Before Me

Isaiah 41:1

Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.

               One of the most difficult areas for us to come into relationship with our God is in the area of silence.  It is hard for us to be still and wait.  We are used to activity and chatter.  Most of our ideas of worship are involved in going somewhere, listening to somebody, reading someone’s book, watching Christian programming or coming to God in prayer while we do all of the talking.  We rarely take time to just listen and meditate.  We’re like the cat on the hot tin roof.  We don’t know how to be still.  We are so used to high gear and rushing through life with all of it flurry of activity and demands that we never take the time to get silent before the Lord.  We need to pencil that into our appointment books, for it is essential to our really hearing what the Lord has to say to us.  In your prayer time, have a pencil and paper.  Listen and write down what He speaks into your heart.

               Habakkuk 2:20 tells us, “But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.”  We have become so busy in an idolatrous world, where our confidence is in those things which cannot speak and have no breath that we don’t take time to listen to Him that does.  Today the Lord is speaking to us to begin to take the time to be silent before Him.  Meditate on His Word.  Ponder His majestic glory and wondrous ways.   Who can say what the Lord wants to speak into your life and how will you know if you don’t take the time to be silent before Him.  Rise up and enjoy the sunrise with Him, take a walk with Jesus, spend some time in the swing watching His sunset and enjoying the stillness of an evening.  Get alone with the Lord, be silent and listen.  The Holy Spirit has much to say, much to teach you and can only begin to reveal insight into your life if you are silent before Him.  Psalms 4:4 encourages us, “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.”  Psalms 46:10 commands us, “Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”  When God truly does speak then we can be assured that all the world will stop to listen.  Right now, He is speaking in a still, small voice.  That is where we want to learn to hear Him, not in the thunder of judgment, but in the house of prayer.  We are His sons, His workmanship, created for His glory.  Doesn’t He desire to speak into us that which concerns Him and that which concerns our lives in Him?  Be still, listen and be silent before Him.

Blessings,

#kent

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The Word Hidden in Your Heart

Psalm 119:11

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

 The Word Hidden in Your Heart

              That which we store up and which we meditate upon continually, becomes the foundation of our thoughts, our values and our way of living.  Even in those times when we stray, lose our way, are assaulted with trials, tribulations and temptations, it is the foundation of our heart that draws us back to our roots.  Why do we need to hide God’s Word within our hearts, because it ties us and binds us to Him.  It intertwines His values with our thoughts.  It gives us compass and direction when we are not sure where to go or what to do.  That Word in us, we want to be like a well-sharpened sword sheathed in the recesses and the presence of our minds.  It is what we pull out when temptation and the enemy come against us.  It is what checks us when the passions of our flesh are drawing us into their web of seductiveness.   It is what gives us a greater wisdom and insight than does the conventional wisdom of this world.  The Word of God is the most powerful weapon that God has given us.  Because it His will and His mind and His authority.  It is what we stand upon when all odds and natural reasoning stands against us.  It is what we hope in, rely upon and what reveals to us our purpose and importance in God’s plan for our lives.   When we clothe and armor ourselves in the knowledge and revelation of God’s Word then we can have the inner strength to walk and to abide in the Spirit of God.  Our focus and eye is set upon our destiny in Christ and everything else becomes secondary to that purpose. 

              When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days and nights, it was the Word that sustained Him, because the Word is life.  It was the Word that He gave back to satan when He was tempted.  It was the Word that kept satan from finding anything in Jesus that he could use against Him.  Christ is the Word and Christ abides within us, so His Word must abide within us.  Out of the Word we flow in the Spirit of God in obedience and humility.  Eat and drink a steady diet of God’s Word, for in it He will establish and keep you.  When the written word is taken from you then all that you have is what you have stored in your heart.  It is the oil that will light your lamp in the day of His coming.  Hide the richness of that Word within your heart.

Blessings,

#kent

Call to Fitness

1 Timothy 4:8
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
Call to Fitness

Sometimes our spiritual muscles and countenance begin to droop and sag over time like much of the rest of our body. The spiritual man need not grow old. He is the eternal youth and life that lives in us. But if left to neglect the spiritual man can’t serve us. Certainly we need to care for the temple of this natural body, for it is what houses and facilitates the spiritual man within us. Our greater obligation and responsibility is to the spiritual man. This is the eternal part of us that is both now and forever.
The spiritual man is fed as we read and study God’s word. The spirit man feeds on truth. He is exercised as he acts upon this truth in faith. He is strengthened and activated in our life of prayer and fellowship with the Lord. Spirit feeds spirit. Do we spend as much time a day feeding our spiritual man as we do our natural man? Are we as attentive to our spiritual needs as we are our physical needs? Would your natural man be in better or worse shape if it was given the same amount of attention and food a day as you give your spirit man? When we put it in this perspective we might see why we might be spiritually weak and ineffective, not only in our lives but in the lives of others.
This is our day to awaken to our spiritual self and who we are in Christ. This is not just a head knowledge, it is a call to spiritual alertness and fitness. I can set on the couch and watch fitness and exercise programs all day long, but unless I engage my body in those routines no amount of mental agreement or ascent will change my physical state. Many of us listen to the word of God and we have a lot of spiritual head knowledge, but like James says, “faith without works is dead”. In order for us to have spiritual strength we have to exercise our spiritual man. James 1:22 exhorts us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” We are a kingdom people called for a kingdom purpose. We must become sensitized to who we are as a spiritual people and not just a natural people. We must see our world through God’s perspective and then act out of our spiritual man in life’s circumstances. Maybe it is just offering to pray for someone or building them up through an encouraging word. Maybe it is random acts of kindness and selfless giving. Whatever it is, it needs to be Christ finding expression through our lives and everyday circumstances. This is exercising our spiritual man.
Jesus commissions our spiritual man in Luke 17:15-18, “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.” How many of us are walking daily in this commission? We have to have a strong and energized spiritual man to carry our what we are called to do. The Lord is calling us to spiritual fitness so that we can make a difference in our world. Let us exercise ourselves in all faith and godliness that He may be lifted up and glorified through us.

Blessings,
#kent

Agenda for Today

Colosians 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Agenda for Today

Lord, what is on Your agenda today?
Other thoughts invade my mind as I take time to pray.
I try to focus in on what Your will is for me,
But my mind is cluttered by all the mental imagery.

I find my thoughts on these rabbit trails,
Then I catch myself only to feel like I have failed.
Help me Lord, get my soul quiet before Your throne.
Help me give myself, that I may be all Your own.

Lord, what is Your agenda today?
Give me spiritual ears to hear what You have to say.
Order my steps and help me with the choices I make.
Help me loose myself in You and do all for Jesus sake.

Fill my thoughts and be in all I do,
Let my former distracting thoughts, now be thoughts of You.
Focus me in Your will and plan for me.
In all I do, let it be done as unto Thee.

You are the ark and the safety for my heart,
Help me find in You my every portion and needed part.
Be my everything, as You are meeting every need,
Let me live in Christ and humbly follow as You lead.

Kent Stuck

Blessings,
#kent

Let All the Earth Exalt Him

Psalms 98
Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Let All the Earth Exalt Him

What a wonderful Psalm that exhorts us not only as God’s people, but the whole earth to enter into jubilant praise and worship of God’s greatness and salvation. He has not only revealed Himself to His people, but unto all the nations He has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness. We have beheld His love and faithfulness not only to natural Israel, but to spiritual Israel as well.
Which of us could truly step into the presence of our awesome God without going prostrate in the light of His glory, power and majesty. Often it is only in the midst or true worship and praise that we touch the hem of His garment in such a way that we experience the richness of His love and presence where we get such a revelation. I have had times when the revelation of His love and grace upon my life has brought me to tears as I meditate upon the richness of His love and presence in my life. How can I honor, appreciate and magnify Him enough for the riches of His grace throughout my life. When I meditate upon all of the times He has forgiven my sin and unworthiness, He has saved me and protected from serious harm or death, He has healed my body, been my provision and blessed me with wonderful family and friends. When we really start to count our blessings we will be blown away by how much God has done for us. How tragic that we in the earth treat the Lord as common and take Him so much for granted. He is like the loving parent that poured out His very life for our blessing and benefit. We are so often like the spoiled children who don’t appreciate Him for all He has done, but only complain because we don’t have more or because everything doesn’t go our way.
This Psalm captures the spirit of worship and adoration that should be resonating in our hearts every day. When the earth truly gets a revelation and vision of its Lord all the peoples, the creatures and the very elements of the earth itself shall sing together for joy. How marvelous and wonderful is our Lord who loved us and redeemed us. It must be in Him that we live, and move, and have our being. This same God who created the magnitude of the universe and all that is therein personally loves you, knows your name and wants you to be part of His family. We know it in our minds, but do we truly comprehend the gift we have been given in Christ, who we are and what we are becoming? It presses the boundaries of our natural minds to comprehend the mighty God that we love and serve.
In the light of all that He is, let us not be silent in our praise, worship, singing, thanksgiving and adoration of our God who is so worthy. No wonder in heaven it is not silent, but always resounding with praise to our God. When we get a revelation Him, how can we be silent? How can we not praise Him, sing to Him and worship Him? He is worthy, oh so worthy. Listen to what it is like in the throne room of God from Revelations 4:2-11, “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. 4Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. 5From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. 6Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” 9Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11″You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things,
and by your will they were created and have their being.””
Take the time to meditate today on how great and wonderful your Lord is. Think upon all the times that He has moved upon your life and those around you. Take the time to truly love Him, appreciate and worship Him for who He is. We often regard our precious Lord far too lightly. A lot of us don’t even take a moment to thank him for our food. In our prayer life, far ahead of all of our request and petitions, should be our praise and worship. Take the time to climb up on Daddy’s lap and just love on Him today. He is special beyond measure and how can we ever appreciate and express our love for Him enough? Oh for the day when all of the earth will praise Him, sing a new song and shout to His glory.

Blessings,
#kent

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I am God
Psalms 46:10
Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

One of the most difficult things for us to do in our busy lives with all of its demand is to really be still before the Lord. Even in our prayer life, don’t we tend to want to say our peace to God and then move on? Most times we don’t want to take the time just to be still in His presence, to listen for His voice and meditate on His wonder and greatness. Psalms 4:4 says, “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah”
We tend do with God what many of us are guilty of doing with our loved ones, “I would really like to talk with you about it, but I’ve got to run. Maybe we can talk later.” Is that similar to the words that come out of our mouth sometimes? It is often really hard for us to be still, but until we do, we often don’t really hear the things we need to hear. Ecclesiastes 9:7 says, “The words of wise [men are] heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.” Even in our human and family relationships, we don’t really hear their hearts until we are willing to take the time to really interact with them and listen to them. The greatest mysteries, the greatest truths, the revelations we receive are most often heard in the quite and still places. Those are the places and times when our minds are at rest and peace and we take time just to listen and focus. We all really need that time every day with our God and with each other to stay in tune and in touch with the ones and the One we really love. Perhaps one of the reasons we don’t want to sit and be still is because, even subconsciously, we are running away from facing issues or confrontations or unpleasant dealings we really don’t want to deal with. Maybe the reason those things even exist in the first place is because we don’t take the time on a regular basis to talk, heart to heart, on a human and a God level. We want the quick fixes of our present society and culture to handle our relational problems, but they don’t. They still take the investment of our time and our true heart to really deal with them effectively.
Our lives are incredibly busy and full, but we need to set aside those times every day when we can just be still and know that God is God and be able hear, should He wish to speak to us. More than likely He is speaking to us, or at least trying to throughout our day, but we aren’t tuned in to see and hear Him working in our lives and circumstances. The way we get ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart that is tender before the Lord, is to be still and really know that He is God in our lives. Don’t neglect the valuable time it takes to get quiet and be still before the Lord.

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

Power through the Word

 

Power through the Word

1 Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of God [is] not in word, but in power. 

We live in a world full of philosophies and religions.   Some would say God is too big for any one religion.  It is man that has deviated from God’s way to invent his own.  God has always had a plan and “the Way” that brings us to Him.   I’ve heard it said that, “religion is merely man’s search for God.”  Many religions and cults, Islam being one of them, take the Word of God for their premise, but then twist and pervert it to be their own.  True Christianity isn’t just a religion made up of a lot men’s thought, ideas and dreams.  It is an inspired book, written by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration and direction.  It is not just a book about men of God who could do no wrong.  It is about ordinary, sinful men who often stepped out and believed the Word of God to them.  Because they dared to put their faith in this God of the Bible they often saw great and mighty things accomplished.  

If God was going to write a book about His people why would he put in this book their failures, their shortcomings and their sins?  You don’t read any of those things about Mohammed. The Bible isn’t a book about great men.  It is a book about a great God working through weak and ordinary men.  The Bible is not a great book because it is good reading or just has inspiring stories.  It is great book because its words are backed by the power of God.  You could burn all the Bibles you wanted, but you could never destroy the Word of God, because it is not just words on a page.  It is a living Word and Testament of a living and powerful God.  That is what sets it apart from any other book or religion in the world.  There may be a lot of truisms in other religions, but it is satan’s little bottle of poison in a lake of truth that brings death, that makes it null and void.  If it doesn’t line up a hundred percent with the Bible, it ain’t the real thing.  

Why does God tell us to study and meditate on the Word of God?  Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”   Psalms 1:1-2 tells us, “Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs us “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 3:16 also says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

These are but a few scriptures that encourage us not just to read the Word of God, but to get it down in our hearts and spirits.  Why, because it is life and power.  When we have a “revealed Word of God” plus “faith” to believe that word, it equals “Power” and the move of God.  This is why weak, ordinary men and women like you and me have the potential to do supernatural things.  It is a power, like dynamite, which resides in you, because, by faith, you asked Christ and His Holy Spirit to come into you.  When He did He brought the power of God into you.  You are a keg of dynamite and a potential explosion of the move and power of God.  There was an old saying back in the days of powdered fire rifles and guns.  It was “keep your powder dry.”  Wet powder was ineffective and lost its power.  It is the same with us when we let the world, compromise and unbelief come into our lives.  We become like wet powder, ineffective.  

Luke 17:21 tells us, “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  As a believer in Christ, you are a loaded gun.  When you are primed with the Word of God within you and the Spirit of God moves upon you there are no limitation to what He can do through you.  That is because the kingdom of God is not in word, it is in power.  It is the living Word of God ignited by His Spirit.  It will move mountains; it will bring the high place low and the low places high.  It will bring down the kingdoms of this world and it will establish the kingdom of our God.  You are a part of that.  You are the rifle through which He fires that bullet.  We are corruptible old earthen vessels until the power of God gets inside of us that, as 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”  It doesn’t matter about the circumstances of life that work around us; it is the power of God that is at work in us.  It is the very resurrection life that raised Christ from the dead that now dwells in you and gives life to your mortal bodies also (Romans 8:11).   We do not believe and put our trust in a dead and ineffective word, but in the ever living and ever powerful Word of God, that through faith becomes substance and power to us.  

 

Blessings,

kent

The Thunder of My Presence

The Thunder of My Presence

Job 26
1 Then Job replied: 2 “How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom! And what great insight you have displayed! 4 Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth? 5 “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 6 Death is naked before God; Destruction lies uncovered. 7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. 8He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. 9 He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. 10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters for a boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at his rebuke. 12 By his power he churned up the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces. 13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent. 14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”

How often do we stop and really meditate on the awesomeness of our God, how great His ways and how marvelous His acts? I marvel at God’s seemingly infinite patience with man and even myself, as I think how such a mighty and wonderful creator endures the insolence, arrogance and foolishness of man. Especially when we see how God sees mankind in Genesis 6:5 when is says, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually.” The fact that mankind still exist is a testimony to God’s incredible loving-kindness and long-suffering. How many times He must have been grieved that the creatures that he created in His own image and honored with dominion and authority over the earth would turn from Him and despise Him through their actions and their deeds. If our God had not had a plan and a vision wherein He saw the end product of what He was bringing His creation too, surely He could not have endured us.
It is incomprehensible that the very God who created the immeasurable vastness of the universe with all of its wonders, stars, constellations, planets and all that is contained therein, could care about you and me. We, who in His sight, would be less than microscopic dust in light of His great creation. Yet, He tells us that He loves us and His thoughts toward us are more than we could even recount. Psalms 40:5 tells us, “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” If God showed Himself to us as He did to the Children of Israel we would become as dead men in the fear and dread of His Almighty presence. Exodus 20:18 tells us about when the people had gathered before the mountain of God and He revealed His holy presence, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance.” After that, they didn’t want God speaking to them, they wanted Moses to speak to them on His behalf for the fear of Him. When we get an inkling of the Holiness of God it will make us quake and fear Him. God doesn’t want us to be afraid of Him, for He has not given us a spirit of fear, but we do need to greatly reverence and hold Him in the utmost respect. Because God’s grace has been so rich toward us many of us have in our minds and hearts reduced God to someone on our level or who is simply there for our benefit. We treat God as common and regard Him lightly. We must realize what an insult and offense this is to the Holy God that has given His all for us.
Leviticus 10 reveals how God feels about that kind of an attitude when we see what happened when the two sons of Aaron, offered up strange fire before the Lord. They decided they would do things their way, instead of His. They lost their fear of God and counted His holiness as common. It says, “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. 2 So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: ” ‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’ ” Aaron remained silent.” We see a similar incident in the New Testament church in Acts 5 with Ananias with Sapphira when they lied to the Holy Spirit.
What we must realize as the people of God is that we have been called apart unto holiness and we must take very seriously the responsibility we have to sanctify ourselves before the Lord. Why? Ezekiel 39:27 tells us, “When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations.” God has purposed us to the expression of His holiness. We can not be what He has purposed us to be until we truly see and reverence Him for who He is in the fear of the Lord. The Word tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We can be like the children of Israel and know God from a distance through the revelation of others, but if we want to know Him intimately and personally we must approach in the fear of His holiness with boldness, confidence and full assurance of faith. Jesus tells us in John 14:21 to whom He and the Father will reveal themselves, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

blessings,
kent

Success

Success

Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

We as a people and a society are very success oriented. There are different ideas and definitions of success. The one most prevalent in the world’s view has to do more with materialism, riches, fame, houses, cars and social position. If we are to be successful as Christians then it only makes sense for us to ask the question, “What is God’s definition of success?” It is interesting you should ask, because the word “success” only occurs one time in the Word of God. That is in our passage for today. I don’t think that there are any of us who don’t want to prosper and have good success. Here is God’s formula for having it. Now whether God’s ideas for success are that of the world’s I think not, but I do believe that God created all things for our enjoyment and pleasure if they are used in the context of His will and purpose. God is telling us today that our key to success lies between two covers that we call the Bible. It is not just the words on a page that bring success in our lives it is what we do with those words that is life and blessing. Notice where that Word has to be. It “shall not depart out of thy mouth.” Remember Proverbs 18:21 that says, “Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Our words are powerful instruments of both death and life. We know that the Word of God perpetuates Life. John 1:1-4 tells us whom this Word is, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” God wants that Word to never depart from our mouths. What we speak reflects what is in our heart, ” for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Is the Word of God prevalent in our speech and conversation? What we are speaking is what we believe; it is faith in that which we hope for, but may not yet see.
What is in our mouth is the fruit of what is in our heart, which is what brings us to the second part of success. What is the meditation of our heart? Is it our work, our hobbies, our sports, our earthly desires or is it the Word of God? If we want to succeed and prosper in the kingdom of God, His Word must prevail as the primary source of our meditation and contemplation. As we eat of His Word and slowly ingest and digest it, as we pray to fully pursue understanding and revelation, the Holy Spirit is little by little making it alive in us and then through us. It is the staple of our spiritual life that carries over into every aspect of our natural life.
David had the revelation that He gives in the beginning of the Psalms in Psalm 1:1-3 he says essentially the same thing, “Blessed [is] the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
If you and I want to prosper and have good success then it begins and ends in the Word of God. It is the source of Life and Blessing to us. It is our guide and counselor through the instruction of the Holy Spirit to bring us into the mind and will of God. Through it we will experience the prosperity and sweet success of a godly life because His Word fills us with divine life, eternal hope and the riches and treasures that can only be found in Christ. Jesus said it when He said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” When our priority lines up with what God is speaking to us today we will experience the abundant life that is in Him.
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 1:2

Blessings,
kent