Treasure of Your Heart

Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Treasure of Your Heart

Where is your heart today? Wherever it is that your words are speaking from, is speaking to the abundance of what is in your heart. Do you know that most of us wear masks? We want to present a persona of how we want others to perceive us. The way we see through the mask in others is by sitting down with them and having a casual conversation about the things that are important to them. In that unguarded conversation you will get a window into their heart. You may see things in them that they don’t even see in themselves. When we wear our masks the one we often most deceive is ourselves. Our words are the expressions of our heart and even the lack of words can communicate the closed and guarded places of a person’s heart.
What do psychiatrist do? They have you come in, lie on the couch and tell them what is on your heart. They know that your words, your communication, your emotion in communicating are all a window into your soul, that helps them see what we often don’t understand.
What are your treasures? What really means the most to you in life? We may say one thing, but what consumes our passions, our time, our energy and our thinking may be something completely different. When we really begin to see this, we may even realize we are not who we thought we were, said we were or even believed we were.
What is in the content of your words, is it worry or rest? Is it fear, doubt and unbelief or faith and trust? Is it murmuring and complaining or is it thankfulness and praise? Is it negative and fault finding or is it edifying and speaking to the good? Really listen to your own words and conversation. Are you speaking life or are you speaking death? Are you building up or are you tearing down? Is it the kingdom of God you are living out of or the kingdom of this world?
Why are words so important? It is because they are the avenues that speak into and out of our life. Our communication is the data highway to our heart and soul. It will carry either good, bad or a mixture of the two. What we are taking in has a lot to do with what is going to go out.
Again I ask you, “Where is your treasure?”
“Where treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If you want to evaluate your treasure listen to your communication. It easy for us to try and judge others, but God is telling us today to listen to your words, find out what your treasure really is and what you are operating out of. If you want it to be life, then it has to be the output of His Word and Truth. Your treasure and value must come from the relationship that you have with the Father through Jesus Christ His Son. Every principle that works in the earth, whether it is “Christian” or not comes out of what lines up with the word of God.
Listen to yourself today. What is truly the treasure of your heart?

Blessings,
#kent

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The Refiner’s Fire

Hosea 6:1-7
“Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. 3 Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”
4 “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears. 5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you. 6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. 7 Like Adam, they have broken the covenant— they were unfaithful to me there.
The Refiner’s Fire
Today is the day of preparation of the people of God. There is judgement, sifting, exposure and revealing of the inner thoughts and the intents of our hearts. He is sifting out our flesh, the religious junk that has a profession of godliness, but is full of defilement and hypocrisy. God is judging His house, not out of anger, but out of love. If He has torn us apart, it is so that He might heal us. If He has injured us it is so that He may bind up our wounds. For whom the Lord loves He chastens. He disciplines us for our own good that we may share in His glory (Hebrews 12). A prerequisite for glory is most often suffering. Romans 8:17 tells us, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” Suffering is like the antiseptic that boils out and disinfects the wounded areas of our lives that have become contaminated with the bacteria of the world. It is what brings our focus upon the healer and the restorer of our souls. Is it pleasant? No, but it brings about an inward working of righteousness, because our dependencies and focus are no longer upon ourselves, but upon the Lord in the midst of our need.
Using the principle from 2 Peter 3:8, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” we can see a truth unfolded. In verse 2 of Hosea 6 it says, “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” The last two thousand years the Church has grown and functioned actively in the earth, but our sights have not been on the joy of our everyday struggles, but upon the coming day of the Lord. Chronologically we have entered into that third day. It is as Jesus was in the earth for two days, but on the third day He was restored and resurrected. This is the day of our restoration and resurrection that we may live in His presence. The Lord also says Ephesians 5:27 that there is a quality that He is looking for in His bride. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” I don’t know that any of us would argue that the Church has been without spot or wrinkle in physical appearance. The Lord see us pure and spotless through the blood of Jesus, but the in-working of that righteousness is like it was for Jesus, “through the things we suffer.” Through that process He is bringing us through the fire and into the blessing. “Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” We still hold fast to the promise of His presence.
Today I believe we stand in the place of John the Baptist declaring the kingdom of God, giving a call to repentance and saying “Make straight the way of the Lord.” It is as Malicai 3:1-5 declares, “”See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.
2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years.
5 “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.”
The Lord is preparing a royal priesthood, no longer offering up the blood of goats and bullocks, but the offering of righteousness. It will no longer be the sacrifices of works and religion, but it will be the mercy, love and compassion of the Lord. The imprint of the name of Jesus will be upon us and the fragrance of His nature will emanate from us.
Endure the time of hardship and suffering. Allow it to have its perfect work in you that you may be transformed and purified by its fire. For you are being brought forth as pure gold and refined silver. There shall be no more dross in you.

Blessings,
#kent

Make of Me an Instrument of Praise

Make of Me an Instrument of Praise

Psalms 40:3
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, [even] praise unto our God: many shall see [it], and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Do you know what is the sweetest and the most precious instrument of praise in all of the earth? It is the song of the redeemed. It is the song of the Lord’s beloved bride lifting her voice in heartfelt adoration and worship. It is that new song that arises out of true spirit and truth worship from the innermost being of each believer. It’s not about how high or low the notes, the range or tonality of the voice. It doesn’t matter if you can carry a tune in a tin bucket; it is about your heart’s expression towards the Almighty. That song isn’t one we just wait until we get to church to sing. It is a song that resonates throughout our day, throughout our lives. It is the expression of our spirit to the most-high God. It is not always made up of carefully crafted and arranged tunes and words. It may be us simply giving expression to the Spirit praying through us. Whatever its form of expression, its intent and purpose is to glorify the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Revelations 5:9-14 says, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, [be] unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four [and] twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.” At the heart of each spiritual being is the need and the desire to worship. As people, we have the ability to worship many things other than God and those of the world often do. Even we, as His children, often misplace our worship, adoration and desires for things other than Him. There are many pitfalls of idolatry in which our worship becomes misplaced and we rob the One who alone is worthy. There is no greater defeat to a Christian than robbing believers of true praise and worship. Many of us go to church and go through the motions of singing our songs, but we never enter into a place beyond the mental exercise of singing. We may court the Lord, but never enter into intimacy with Him. In order to be intimate you have to get naked. You have to take off those garments of pretense, of religion, of self-righteousness. You must be willing to expose with honesty all that you are. Nakedness often brings shame, because all that we are is exposed. We can’t hide anything. This is the way true worship is. It is letting down all the walls we have built so that others wouldn’t see who we truly are. God has already seen us for who we are. As we come before Him in naked honesty, expressing our truest form of worship and love, in spite of our faults and shortcomings, He covers us with the robes of His righteousness and garments of praise. There is such a freedom and joy in giving yourself, without reservation, to the one you love above all others and all else.
Worship has many expressions. There is not one formula you can package and take home in a box. Worship is a union, a dance, a fellowship and communion with the Lover of your soul. That new song within you rises out of that intimacy and union with the Spirit. When this type of worship is expressed corporately through many individuals with the same mind and heart for true spirit and truth worship a song is born that truly blesses the heart of God. Psalms 22:3 says, “But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” It is often in those times when spiritual Israel comes in the heart of true worship that the presence of the Lord is so rich and wonderful. There are many in the body of Christ who are looking, desiring and longing for this intimacy and closeness in their worship experience. When we partake of the real heart of worship, when we truly learn and sing the new song of the Spirit, then all else becomes shallow and superficial.
The true body of the believers are the instrument that brings God the highest praise. In this atmosphere our spirit is truly united and in concert with His and we are one. We become lost in the rhapsody of our love for Him as our heart searches for the words of expression that fully communicates how much He means to us.
May it be our prayer and heart’s desire that He will make us an instrument of His highest praise that in every expression of life our song is, “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, [be] unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” Amen.

Blessings,
#kent