Gifts and Callings
August 14, 2020
Romans 11:29
For the gifts and calling of God [are] without repentance.
Gifts and Callings
When God created us for a purpose He put within us gifts and callings. The gifts and callings are like the resources within the earth. They may or may not be evident upon the surface, but often they need to mined out of our earth, developed and refined. God is faithful. He doesn’t take back that which He has placed within us. Now we might take what He has given us and run with it to our own ends and for our selfish purposes, but in ourselves it will never produce the life and blessing that He has destined it for. A gift is not just for receiving, but for giving. This is the beauty of the mystery of the body of Christ. We are gifted and called in different ways, but brought to together under the unity and submission to the headship of Christ we function in our many different offices like parts of the body function to the health and wholeness of the whole body.
You have a gift and a calling in your life. Have you found, discovered and developed it? Are you using it for God’s kingdom purpose or just for your own benefit? Often our gift and calling is tied to our passion, the thing that we love to do. When we have a passion for something then it isn’t a chore, it is what we enjoy doing. Don’t think that what you have is unimportant, less significant or not as needful to the body of Christ. The body truly is only healthy and functions properly when all the parts are in place and functioning in submission to the Spirit. True Christianity is not a spectator sport. It requires that we are in the game and performing in our gifting, position and calling.
Some of us have yet to discover what our particular gifting and calling is, but it may well be right in front of you. You may be doing some aspect of it right now in your daily life. It may not look real spiritual and in fact it can be quite functional. Our gifts and callings take on so many different forms and are as unique as we as people are. Some people are organizers, some benefactors, some have skills with crafts, music, speech, writing, listening, helping, encouraging, some in leadership and some in support of leadership.
Perhaps a good guiding scripture for us concerning our lives, how we live them and how we carry out our talents, gifting and calling is found in Colossians 3:17. It says, “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.” All that we do in life we want to be directed to the praise and honor of the Father. Now some of us are good at talking about what should be done and we may think our gift is to judge and critique everyone else. Sorry, now you are trying to take on God’s job. Romans 14:10-13 exhorts us, “You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ “12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” 1 John 3:18 says it this way, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Each of us has a calling, gifting and an election in Christ Jesus. Find your calling and begin to function in it. The rest of us as the body of Christ need what you have. A lost world needs what you can contribute. None of us are without something that we can give. You will find your joy and fulfillment in doing so.
Blessings,
#kent
Random Order
July 29, 2020
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
Speaking to Purpose
April 28, 2016
Ephesians 2:6-10
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Speaking to Purpose
Do we ever think much about why God created us? Why He saved us by His grace when we could never earn or deserve it? He tells us His purpose in this passage of scripture. You are His workmanship. Now most of us realize that we are a work in progress, but also know that God beholds you as the finished product of His grace and workmanship in Christ Jesus. He sees you far beyond what you can even comprehend of yourself. He sees you as a good works people, not your good works, but His. You are the administration of His righteousness in the earth. You are the outshining of His glory and goodness. You are the divine expression of His love and compassion. In and through you is His divine nature revealed, because that is what He created you for.
In this present state we see ourselves as in an apprenticeship for a greater works ministry. The Holy Spirit is currently working in our lives to stretch us, train us and exercise us in righteousness. As we yield in obedience to His dealings we often find ourselves going places we would not have gone and doing things we would not have done. As we apprentice for this good works ministry Holy Spirit takes us out of our comfort zone and complacency. He exposes our prejudices and wrong motives and attitudes. He is constantly dealing and meddling in our hearts. The precious thing about the Holy Spirit as opposed to religion is He doesn’t expose our faults to condemn us, but to grow us and deliver us out of the place of our weakness and into the place of His strength and strong standing. We have to understand that where He is bringing us is not out of the place of our righteousness, but out of the righteousness of Christ in us. So as we present ourselves unto Him He begins to do in us what did in Joshua in Zechariah 3:1-10, ” Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
8 ” ‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
10 ” ‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
You see we, like Joshua, we were created and destined of God to be the kings and priests of our Most High God. Jesus has taken our filthy garments off of us and clothed us with the garments of His righteousness. He puts a clean turban upon our head signifying a renewed mind in Christ Jesus. He gives us this same charge that He gave Joshua, ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.’ It is this people that He has prepared with His vesture to remove sin from the land in a single day. The scripture says specifically, “‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come.”‘ That branch is Christ who has removed the sin by His blood shed upon the cross, but the administration of that righteousness is through His holy priesthood and His holy nation.
In John 14:9-14 Philip is asking to see the Father, but it is because he doesn’t yet have a revelation of the Father. If we are still looking to see Jesus, it is because we don’t yet have a revelation of Christ. ” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Jesus, Himself, has declared that we are that greater works ministry. That was the purpose for which you were created for. Yield yourself to the in-working of the Holy Spirit for even now He is preparing and bringing you into the good works, ‘which God in advance, prepared for us to do.
Blessings,
#kent
The Worth of a Child
April 8, 2016
The Worth of a Child
Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
There is no knowing the potential that each child holds. Every one of us is unique and special. God has His purpose and design for each one. Most all of us are made up of a mixture of strengths and weaknesses. We can be so outstanding in one area while very lacking and needy in another.
We are God’s children, children of destiny and purpose. How many of us are living up too and into the purpose and destiny that the Lord created us for? So often it is our will that God has given us that can subvert the desired purpose of God in our lives or yield to His design and plan through us. Most of us seem to have this concept that we can do things in our lives better than God and we are always wanting to get our hands in His kitchen and change the recipe.
The first thing that all of us must realize is how valuable we are to the Lord. He couldn’t have stated that any better than His willingness to come into humanity and pay the price for our sins. It is important that we are not proud or arrogant in who and what we are, but some of us want to perceive ourselves as of little or no worth or value. We develop a self-defeated attitude. We devalue in ourselves what God has created for His glory and purpose. Often it really takes on the form of self-pity and a “woe is me” type of syndrome. We need to realize that the source of that attitude is selfishness and sin. That may surprise a lot of people in this category, because this is their view of humility. It doesn’t glorify God to take what He made and talk down about it whether it is someone else or us. Our potential is in Christ and not in ourselves. The fullness of who we are and who we become is never going to realized in any of us in our own merit. It is realized in who we are in union with Christ that transforms this lump of coal into a diamond.
My grandson recently got a gift from his babysitter. He is 8 years old and she gave him a necklace with that said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That faith in that scripture is our power and our calling. We all need a necklace or bracelet or just to remind ourselves daily of who we are in Christ. The enemy’s victory is in getting us to forget that. When we forget who we are in Christ we get out of Christ-reliance and into self-reliance. We either get full of ourselves or we get discouraged and defeated in ourselves. That phrase, “in Christ” is used some 224 times in scripture, do you suppose that the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate to us that this phrase is a pretty important part of who we are? We are so prone to forget that our life is not about us, it is about Him. We all have the potential and ability to love and serve God in whatever means and abilities He has bestowed upon us to do it with. It is not about how much we have or how gifted we are; it is about what we do with what the talent God has given us. You may be as the widow who had nothing and yet gave more, in the eyes of God, than all that had wealth and riches. It is within God the Father and in Christ that that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid as it says in Colossians 3:2; those treasures become a part of us as our lives are hid in Him as well.
God has not created you and called you to be something that you are not able to be, but to live by His strength, to the potential that He has called you to be. That must be the legacy of our lives, to live well the life He has called us to live in the faith and confidence in Him.
You and I are children of worth as are our children and their children. We just must always remember that our worth is only fully realized and invested into the kingdom of God as we invest the fullness of ourselves in loving the Lord our God with all of our hearts, our minds, our soul and our strength. It is the Lord that gives our lives value, purpose and a reason for being. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” You are of great value and worth, live accordingly.
Blessings,
#kent
The Enemy’s Fear
March 16, 2016
2 Corinthian 10:3-6
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
The Enemy’s Fear
You are the enemy’s greatest threat. The most dangerous thing for him is when you come into the knowledge, the confidence, faith and boldness of who you are in Christ. He fears nothing in this world, because he can’t be fought with conventional weaponry. Religious wars of the past have only further perpetrated and fueled the mayhem he delights to create. You are the one who possesses the weapons that he fears the most. That is because our weapons are not of this world, but they are mighty through Holy Spirit power and kingdom authority to rip his strongholds apart. We are the terrorist in the camp of the enemy, because with prayer and divinely directed council we have authority and power to blow apart his bastions of evil. Is there a battle, of course there is? Will he assault you? You can pretty much count on it, but it is because he fears you and the threat you pose to disrupt his purpose and plan. Because we are a spiritual people we are some of the few that really have the insight to discern the spiritual realms and be aware of how they operate.
We come up against these spiritual oppositions daily in the mindsets and the spirits that move people. We see the lies of the enemy playing out in our politics, our society, our religions and what are becoming the standards of morality in our society. We see the pillars of truth being toppled over as men erect the lies of diversity and acceptance of all immoral behaviors. Political correctness says, if we speak out against them then we must be intolerant and haters, because we stand in opposition of such lies. Soon we find the very laws that once protected the righteous from the unrighteous will be turned to prosecute the righteous who stand on godly principles and dare to speak out against the imaginations and lies that have come to fill men’s hearts.
Where this battle begins with us is in our own thoughts, thinking and values. The Word of God must be our standard of truth upon which we judge and discern all things. That starts with our own thinking and reasoning lest we be deceived to think like the world and receive the lie. Just as the kingdom of God starts within you, it must first fill your personal earth before it can spill over into the earth you walk in. God wants us to be grounded in His truth so that we will not operate out of religious bigotry, but out of the love and wisdom of God’s truth; speaking that truth in love. Sometimes we get all wound up about tearing down someone else’s theology and philosophy. The greatest dispeller of any darkness is just speaking the truth of God’s word. That truth in combination with lives that are walking in that truth and faith that lives out of that truth are tremendous testimonies and persuasion to those that God has given ears to hear. If Jesus came to His own and they couldn’t even hear Him or receive Him, think it not strange when the majority mock you and persecute you for your stand in the truth. There are vessels created unto wrath that cannot and will not accept truth, but then there are those that will and for their sake we must be the advocates for God’s truth.
It is important that you come to truly know your authority as a believer. The enemy often uses his condemnation to disarm you with a sense of unworthiness and lack of confidence. It is important that we walk in obedience and righteousness, but we know that our righteousness is not in ourselves, it is in Christ. We operate in power because of who Christ is in us, not in who we are in ourselves. Jesus was able to do all things as He operated to carry out the Father’s will and to speak His words. This is where our relationship with Him is vital to our calling and the execution of our purpose. Our success is in Christ and operating in concert with His will and purpose for us. If you don’t know who you are in Christ, you will be easily turned away and defeated, because then your weapons are only in yourself and what you think. When we operate out of the Spirit of Christ we have all of heaven backing us up. What stronghold can stand before our God? What power can oppose Him? When we are operating in Him and out of His spiritual resources then all things are possible.
You are a warrior being prepared for battle. Allow God to have His full way in you that you may be fully equipped and useful for every good work. A man or woman who knows who they are in Christ strikes fear into the heart of their enemy. Before them they cannot stand.
Blessings,
#kent
Zerubbabel, a Corporate Man of Purpose
March 1, 2016
Zachariah 4: 8-10
Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
10 “Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)”
Zerubbabel, a Corporate Man of Purpose
Zerubbabel means “one sown in Babylon”. I believe the Lord was showing me today that Zerubbabel is representative of God’s remnant people. They have been sown into the captivity of the world and its system that they may be the leadership that brings His people out of darkness and into light. They will reestablish the temple that has been destroyed through the confusion of religious thinking and the perversion of men’s minds. They are laying the foundation of new vision and revelation of God’s purpose and plan. They are the builders to restore the temple and bring unity back into the body of Christ.
Far too long it has been individuals that were seen and deemed spiritual. It has been individuals that have led God’s people, but in this hour God is restoring a unity of faith in the body of Christ that we may no longer be individualized, but unified in oneness of mind and purpose. There will always be order and leadership, but the leadership is no longer about the individual, but about leading other believers into their purpose and calling. Jesus said that a house divided against itself can not stand. Far too long we have allowed the foxes to spoil the vine through our schisms and divisions. It doesn’t matter what we think; it only matters what the Lord thinks. His will is going to be done regardless of what we think. We’ve got to get over ourselves and get into Him. God’s glory is coming into our midst. His Spirit is stirring among us. As He is building His temple in this hour He is unifying His true body in oneness of Spirit and purpose. Our power in Christ is strengthened as we begin to lift up one another, praying and agreeing together according to the will of God.
The device of the enemy is that of a predator. He seeks to isolate us so that he may prey upon our weaknesses and conquer us. When we stand together as one man in Christ, he stands utterly defeated and without power. We must stand with one another in this hour, bearing one another’s burdens, praying and supporting each other.
Up until this day we have seen, but the small things. They are not to be despised, because they were our preparation for a greater day, a greater responsibility and a greater outpouring of God’s anointing. God is placing a plumb line of His righteousness into your hands. You will set the standard and you will judge what is upright. I am sensing the glory of the Lord about to sweep over His body. For those of you who can hear, you are Zerubbabel. You are those who are leading God’s people out of Babylon and establishing them again in Jerusalem as the temple of God. Many of you, who have seen yourself as nothing, will be something through empowerment that He will bring into your life. Many are His people that have been hidden away, nobodies in the eyes of the world. When the glory of the Lord begins to move upon you, you will indeed be more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. Set your face toward Zion in this hour. There is a moving of God and you want to be a part of it. The body of Christ will be a force to be reckoned with as never before. He must be our priority today. This world is soon passing away, but He who is eternal stands at the threshold of lives and purpose. Know Him and embrace all that He has for you!
Blessings,
#kent
The Privilege of Honoring Him
February 22, 2016
The Privilege of Honoring Him
Ephesians 1:3-14
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
11In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
How blessed and privileged we are when we comprehend that our great and awesome God has chosen you and I out of all humanity. He gave us spiritual eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to receive such a great and glorious salvation that He has chosen to reveal to us. Far to often we take way too much for granted that God has honored us to know Him, comprehend and receive the great calling He has for our lives. We treat as ordinary and common this special gift of eternal life and the great privileges and honor that go with it. We often see our faith as despised by the world and so sometimes we feel embarrassed by it. You have what the world will covet in the ages to come. We don’t yet see all of the glory and honor that is ours in Christ if we hold fast to our faith. You hold a position with the King of Kings. You are personally known and called out by the Father. Regardless of how you feel about it, you are exceptionally special, a priceless stone and gem of great price.
We must not be dulled and dumbed down to the great and awesome calling we each have in Christ. He has even given us the seal of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that we are His. We are a blessed people who need to be so constantly appreciative, thankful and aware of our Father who has so loved us and His Son who gave His very life for us. We must refocus our hearts, our goals, our desire and plans to be made conformable to His divine will and purpose in us, for it is glorious beyond measure and we don’t want to miss it. We all get caught up so much in the vanity of this world, but that is a distraction and mask concealing our true identity and purpose. Embrace and comprehend who you are in Christ. When the revelation of this truth fully dawns on us we are so broken and humbled by a God that could love and care so much just about us. Let us not take for granted our salvation and the high calling that we have in Christ Jesus. Let us present ourselves as living sacrifices wholly acceptable and pleasing to the Father; that is our destiny and calling that Christ can have a manifested expression through us. Only we can give ourselves over to His will and purpose in us. Let us not neglect so great a salvation and calling in Christ Jesus.
Blessings,
#kent
God’s Plans
February 9, 2016
God’s Plans
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
What is God’s plan for your life and are you fulfilling it? It doesn’t matter if we are twelve or ninety-two, God created us for a purpose, have we found it? Like Jeremiah, the Lord has good plans for your life, but if we never find it, if we never grow and develop in it, we miss His perfect and best for us. Our success story in life is not about our wealth, our natural accomplishments or talents. If all of that is accomplished outside of God’s plan then all we have gained is worthless chaff. God has us all in different and unique places. He has furnished each of us with different and unique talents and abilities. The truth is, we have the basic raw materials to fulfill the plan of God for our lives. The one thing we may really lack is God’s direction and a heart that wants first and foremost to fulfill God’s destiny and purpose for ourselves and not our own. Self-made men are often godless men, who have become gods unto themselves. Our God is a God of destiny, plan and order. Each of us is not random genetic materials living out lives with no reason, hope or purpose. God doesn’t make junk, that’s what happens when we pursue a direction outside of His purpose.
Isaiah 32:5-8 speaks this concerning men, “5 No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected. 6 For the fool speaks folly, his mind is busy with evil: He practices ungodliness and spreads error concerning the LORD; the hungry he leaves empty and from the thirsty he withholds water. 7 The scoundrel’s methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. 8 But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.” Here we see the two types of men, the fool and the wise, the man of self and the noble man of God. What is deceiving is that often the godless are given by the world the cloak of nobility, but noble isn’t in their character, it is only a mask of appearance. The fool even uses the appearance of godliness to self-gain and to carry out his wicked devices, but the noble man of God is established on godly principles “and by his noble deeds he stands.”
Where are our lives in the scheme and plan of God’s order and purpose? Proverbs 29:18 tells us, “Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.” God has given us His Word, His prophets, His Christ, His apostles and those who minister His Word all to give us vision. If we fail to see, it is because we have refused to look into the perfect law of liberty whereby God has called out of darkness. Ephesians 2:1-6 reminds us, “1At one time you were dead because of your sins. 2You followed the sinful ways of the world and obeyed the leader of the power of darkness. He is the devil who is now working in the people who do not obey God. 3At one time all of us lived to please our old selves. We gave in to what our bodies and minds wanted. We were sinful from birth like all other people and would suffer from the anger of God. 4But God had so much loving-kindness. He loved us with such a great love. 5Even when we were dead because of our sins, He made us alive by what Christ did for us. You have been saved from the punishment of sin by His loving-favor. 6God raised us up from death when He raised up Christ Jesus. He has given us a place with Christ in the heavens.” God has a plan for you and I that will only be realized as we walk in His will and purpose for us, seeking and desiring His perfect personal direction and will for our lives. Our lives are often meaningful and purposeful in ways we don’t even recognize, like the kind words of encouragement you speak to someone, the random acts of kindness and the deliberate acts of mercy. When we live and move and have our being in Him, we are living out His will and purpose in our lives.
We often quote a scripture in 1Peter 2:9-12 because the trails we travel keeps leading us back to our destiny. “But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past [were] not a people, but [are] now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech [you] as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by [your] good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.” We are destined for greatness in Him, let us not choose to live anything less than His perfect will and plan for our lives.
Blessings,
#kent
Today’s Tomorrows
December 8, 2015
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
Today’s Tomorrows
Today, as I watched the children play,
It dawned on me that they are tomorrow’s day.
Often busy or annoyed I push them to the side,
But they are my tomorrow I suddenly realized.
Tomorrow they will be what I am today.
Tomorrow they will make the decisions and have the say.
What they are tomorrow is what I instill in them today.
I must make time to value them and teach them how to pray.
Those children will learn by my example,
Will what they learn be ample?
Will it instill in them character and integrity?
Does it teach them to walk with God in power and victory?
So many times we buy them things and take them places,
But does that adequately cover all life’s bases?
Do they see me spending time in prayer?
Do they see me in God’s word when I’m full of care?
We spend time with sports or events,
We’ll remember how busy we were and where we went,
But will that develop the purpose God has for them?
Will that teach them a relationship of knowing Him?
Tomorrow is soon becoming today.
Help me Lord to teach them your ways.
Help me to teach them your light for the darkness ahead.
Today help me impart and pray with them as I put them to bed.
Kent Stuck
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 