I Am that I Am
March 21, 2023
Exodus 3:14
God said to Moses, “I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
I AM that I AM
It is really hard for us as human beings to truly wrap our minds around the “I AM”. We have concepts; we have some imagery in our minds of whom we think He is. We have His Word that expresses His character and nature, His mighty acts and conveys to us how He deals with His creation. Most of all, we have Jesus who is the divine expression of God’s character and nature in flesh. God has conveyed to us in the ways that our human understanding can grasp, some of what and who He is, but even that doesn’t begin to express the magnitude of His greatness.
When we ponder the stars and the universe, we catch a glimpse of how infinitely great and powerful our God is. When we see that He would send to us undeserving humans His very own Son to die for our sins we get some since of the magnitude of His love, but can we ever grasp all that I AM is? I don’t believe in this earthly mind we fully can. What we should realize is that there is nothing our God can not do. Upon Him there are no limitations except those He would impose upon Himself.
As God brings us into the realm of the I AM, we come to a state of rest as we cease from who we were and start becoming what He is through the work of His Spirit that now indwells us. Have you ever taken a child’s hand to guide it and show them how to form letters only to have them take back control and make scribble out of the order of what you were trying to teach them? That is what we do every time we take the control of our lives back away from God. His ways will bring the order and the peace that we seek in our lives, while our own ways will only bring us back into chaos.
God wants us to know Him for who He is in the measure that we can comprehend Him. Never underestimate what He can and will do for you if you will rest in the confidence of who He is. I AM that I AM is resident in His people today. As He showed Himself mighty in bringing the people of God out Egypt, He will show Himself mighty to us. Let us not fall into the same sin of murmuring and unbelief that so many of the children of Israel did. Because God is God, His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Trust Him even when your heart and your faith are being tested. Know that I AM is in control no matter what the circumstances speak. His love, truth and promises never fail. I AM who I AM is ever with you.
Blessings,
#kent
Grace be unto You
November 2, 2022
Grace Be Unto You
1 Corinthians 1:3
Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.
This salutation and greeting is used around ten different times in the New Testament. It is one of those phrases that might grow somewhat cliché’, but perhaps the Lord would have us take a little bit closer look at why this greeting was used. I believe the Apostles used the salutation, because it was the grace of God that was the foundation and expression of God that gave all, that were a part of the church, hope and confidence in the call of God, the in-working of His life, the strength and the power to live godly lives. One definition I read sums it up like this, “grace speaks of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.” If we take grace away from the Christian what do we have left except law and self-effort. We are right back to where we were before Christ. It makes more sense when we read Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” It would be like me greeting you and saying, “what God has provided, be unto you.” All that God has provided and that is working in us today is activated by our faith and confidence in Him, again a gift which He has provided, is the definition of grace. When we say grace at a meal we are acknowledging and thanking God for what He has provided. Grace is God’s provision for every need and in every circumstance.
When we speak grace to someone, we are speaking a blessing of God’s provision and salvation working into their lives. When we speak peace, we are speaking the blessed assurance that all God has said through His Word and through His Son Jesus Christ is right, true and shall come to pass. We can take it to the bank, and we can sleep through the night because of it. It is the rest of God.
God would not have us take lightly the salutation contained in these scriptures. They are the introduction and reminder that all things good flow through Him to those who believe and embrace His Word. Even in the midst of great tribulation, suffering and persecution which many of the early Christians endured they could rest and take hope that the grace of God was sure and would bring them to their final destiny in Him. “Christ in us” is the grace that is working out His exceeding great promises toward us that we might be partakers of the divine nature.
Today, and each day, “grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.“ Have a wonderful day and a wonderful life!
Blessings,
#kent
Salvation and Healing
January 28, 2022
Salvation and Healing
Isaiah 53:5
But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Every aspect of what Jesus endured and suffered through the Passion was accomplishing a gift of grace and benefit to the salvation that it provided for us. Jesus died for the whole man. The first and greatest aspect of His salvation is the redemption of our souls, which restores us to a right relationship with our heavenly Father and washes our sins and transgressions away. Sometimes that is where we stop in our understanding of salvation and all that it provides. The Lord came to heal us spirit, soul and body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we look up the meaning of salvation in the concordance it carries with it much more than just spiritual salvation, it means help, deliverance, health, prosperity, welfare and victory. The wonderful thing about the ministry of Jesus is that while he spoke of spiritual truths which He demonstrated in practical ways. His very life was a portrait of salvation at work. Every day the compassion and love of God was manifested through selfless giving and ministering to practical needs in whatever dimension people needed the touch of God. Psalms 68:19 says, “Blessed [be] the Lord, [who] daily loadeth us [with benefits, even] the God of our salvation. Selah.” The Lord is indeed our Savior and Benefactor, providing for all the needs of our lives as we trust Him and walk in His grace and truth. I believe Jesus wants to be involved in our personal lives in the same practical sense that He was involved with the people of His day when walked in this earth. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Jesus hasn’t changed in His desire and willingness to touch us in the practical areas of our lives. Everyday multitudes of people are experiencing His touch in a miraculous way. It is not always in our time or our way, but the Father knows best concerning us. The important issue is that we understand and embrace His personal love and salvation. Salvation isn’t an event that happened that time we answered the altar call and asked the Lord into our heart. That was just the beginning. Salvation is at work in us as believers every day of our lives. While it has already sealed us unto God and delivered us from the wrath to come, it is progressively working in our lives His nature through the Holy Spirit. That salvation is seen through the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit working in our lives according to our need and the work He wants to do in us.
Our healing, whether it is physical, spiritual or emotional, is an aspect of our salvation and provision from the Lord. If this is your need today reach out and let the Healer set you free. It is as free and easy as when you asked Jesus to come into your heart. You receive by faith the same way, not by works or how good you are, and you rest in what He has provided for you. It is not in what you see immediately or just outwardly, it is embracing by faith that by His stripes you are healed. Let’s not be afraid to trust the Lord for our practical needs as well as our spiritual needs.
Blessings,
#kent
The Peace of Christ
July 21, 2021
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
The Peace of Christ
The peace of Christ is a gift that Jesus gave and left for His followers to have. It is an attribute of the Spirit that we carry within us. Remember when Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Christ is the peace in the midst of all of life’s storms. It is found in our spirits, not our mind, will or emotion. His peace is that secure place of His rest wherein we abide under the shadow of the Almighty and under the wing of His protection. In that place there is no fear or anxiety because it is the attribute of His presence and the storms of this world can not enter into that place. This place and attribute of peace is what the Lord wants us to live out of. It is what is to rule in our hearts, our decisions and is to guide our actions. That place of peace is His salvation actively working in our lives.
Ephesians 2:17 says, “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.” That peace is His salvation that is we not given just to take us to heaven when we die, but to make us realize that are to be living out of heavenly places right now. Colossians 3:1-4 says, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” If you died and your life is hid with Christ in God, then where do you live and where do you live out of? When we know how to live in our position, then we will learn how to live in our peace, because “the kingdom of heaven is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).”
When we are living out of emotions, or our intellect or self-will, then we are living out of the realm of the soul and not the spirit. If we have died and our life is in Christ then His Spirit and His peace must have dominion over every aspect of our soul and all aspects of our soul need to be in submission to the spirit, that is the temple and habitation of God’s Holy Spirit. God is never moved, or upset or worried about the conditions and circumstances of this world. He is always at peace and that is that place He has called us to live out of and be ruled from. It is out of the peace of God that we move in the will of God. That is the place of His rest and we abide there by our faith and confidence in Him.
Don’t make major decisions out of place of strong emotion, but subject all your soul to the peace of His Spirit and He will lead and direct you into right decisions and choices. God is here to bring order to our lives through the sovereignty of His Being. As we walk in the Spirit, guided by the peace of the Spirit, our hearts are ruled by that peace and in Him we live, move and have our being.
Blessings,
#kent
The Loss of a Birthright
April 29, 2021
6/2/08
1 Chronicles 5:1-2
The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father’s marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright, 2 and though Judah was the strongest of his brothers and a ruler came from him, the rights of the firstborn belonged to Joseph)-
The Loss of a Birthright
There are several examples in the Word of those who lost their birthright. We see Esau selling His birthright to Jacob for a bowl of pottage, which took him out of the lineage of God’s divine line through which the Christ would come. We see those who forsook their higher calling and purpose because they failed in their faith and obedience to lay hold of the promise. We first saw that birthright forsaken when Adam disobeyed God and brought all of humanity into sin and darkness. He fell from the high place that His birthright had afforded him. Authority and dominion were lost to him.
Through Abram God brought forth the father of many nations and through his loins he began a seed line of faith and promise. We see there were cases that this seed line did not follow through the firstborn if they proved themselves unfit or unfaithful. What this all led to was the promised inheritance, restoration, dominion and authority restored through God’s firstborn son Jesus Christ.
Romans 5: 12-17 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Christ was the restoration of that which was lost through Adam’s failure. Therefore, we have been called in faith to rise up in the birthright afforded to us in Christ Jesus and to produce seed worthy of acceptance through faith. We have a birthright in Christ that we don’t want to take lightly or take for granted. It is a high calling in Christ Jesus to come up into Him and to rule and reign in Him through the authority that He has once again afforded us. Paul speaks of the calling of this birthright when he speaks in Philippians 3:12-16, “Not 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.
God has given us back a birthright in Christ Jesus full of faith and promise. Let us not neglect so high a calling or be unfaithful to that which Christ has called us to inherit. Secure the birthright afforded to you through your steadfast faithfulness and obedience to Him.
Blessings,
#kent
Call to Worship
November 16, 2015
Psalms 95:1-11
1O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Call to Worship
Do you want to be blessed today? If so come with me before the King of Kings, let us sing unto the Lord our God and Maker. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation! Let us exalt Him, praise and magnify His Holy Name. If you want to experience joy then get glad about Jesus. Think upon all His wondrous works throughout the ages and then think upon all the things that He has personally done in your life. We are the products of His loving grace and mercy. No one should know the joy of the Lord like we do. “Oh come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God and Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His Hand.” Can we truly comprehend what that means and how privileged we are to be His? Could we ever acknowledge and thank Him enough for the riches of His love toward us? When we come into His presence with joy and thanksgiving how can we be anything but happy and blessed. The deeper we enter into worship the richer His presence and joy becomes. Let us not neglect so great a privilege as we have to be His worshippers and the magnifiers of His great and Holy Name. For all things are through Him, by Him and for Him. We are created for Him, to be His children, to delight in our Papa God. He delights in you and so greatly loves you. When we honor Him in our praise, our worship and our thanksgiving, then we have the privilege of blessing His heart, for He delights in our love for Him.
It is somewhat strange that this Psalm would end on such a somber note, but it is a warning to us of how quickly our hearts can become hardened and we can lose sight of our great and illustrious King. Even though we know Him for who He is, we can, and still do, err in our hearts. It says “and they have not known His ways.” Let us walk carefully lest we also forget our God, tempt Him, grieve Him and provoke His wrath.
When we acknowledge Him day by day. When we spend the time to be with Him in the Word, prayer, praise and worship. When we center our world and lives on Him, then we come to know Him, delight in Him and know the peace that passes understanding. In this place we enter into the place of His rest, for we cease from our works and all that we are about. Our purpose is to be about the Father’s business, expressing that through our everyday lives and duties. Let every expression that we are be an act of worship and praise unto Him. We are a privileged generation of kings and priest that our God has ordained to magnify His Holiness. Unto Him be all praise forever and ever! Amen
Blessings,
#kent
Wells of Salvation
September 1, 2015
Wells of Salvation
Isaiah 12
AND IN that day you will say, I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for though You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You comfort me.
2Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and song; yes, He has become my salvation.
3Therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.
4And in that day you will say, Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name and by means of His name [in solemn entreaty]; declare and make known His deeds among the peoples of the earth, proclaim that His name is exalted!
5Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent things [gloriously]; let this be made known to all the earth.
6Cry aloud and shout joyfully, you women and inhabitants of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Isn’t it wonderful to have a well of salvation to draw the water of life from? Every day we must go to this well, for from it we draw the life, the direction, the strength and refreshment we need. As we drink deep of the Spirit of Life we are refreshed, filled with joy and thanksgiving. It is at this well we find the anger of the Lord turned away from us and instead we find forgiveness, redemption, healing and hope. As we drink from this well we realize that all things are possible, because the life we drink from is not our own and it knows no limitations, short of our faith to believe and God’s wisdom in how He responds. Faith becomes our bucket by which we draw out this water of life and we find its increase in our sharing it with others. It is with great joy that we draw this water, because we drink from the fountain of eternal life.
The Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon spent his life in pursuit of the fountain of youth. It was in front of him all of the time and he wouldn’t even have had to leave home to find it. He pursued the vanity of the flesh and no matter what we do with the flesh or how we operate on it, it is a corruptible commodity and will pass away. What we can discover and drink from is a well that is so much richer, deeper and more lasting than any fountain of youth or means we may seek to preserve this natural life. As we drink from the well of God’s eternal Word and abide in the Spirit of His life, we have great reason for rejoicing and praise. Our greatest joy can be in sharing this life with others that they also may know the great joy associated with this well.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:10-15 about this living water and this well of salvation. “10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11″Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”” He is that well of salvation, that eternal source of life, hope and joy. He is our strength, our portion, our deliverer and our very present help in time of need.
Every day that I come to write I take a drink and ask to able to share some aspect of this water with others so that they also might be strengthened, encouraged, refreshed and partakers in this life. The Lord spoke to the woman at the well that in drinking from this you will never thirst for another. As we drink of Him we become His well spring. Out of God’s people is the issues of life as we share with others what we ourselves have found and rejoice in.
Take your bucket of faith and continue to draw and drink deep from this well, but then share the joy of the well of salvation with others that they also may know this great joy and likewise become partakers of so great a salvation. You will be amazed at what God can bring up out of your life as you drink of Him and depend upon Him to be your source and well spring of life.
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 