How Special You Are!

Ephesians 1:4-6
4Before the world was created, God had Christ choose us to live with him and to be his holy and innocent and loving people. 5God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children. 6God was very kind to us because of the Son he dearly loves, and so we should praise God.

How Special You Are!

Imagine that God chose you and I as individual grains from the sands of eternity, from the vast incomprehensible expanse of His Universe and from the foundations of the world to be His very own adopted children. Before we ever voice another complaint or think how hard life is sometimes, really think about how special you are to the Lord that He would choose to reveal Himself to you. He, in His great love and goodness has brought us into the fellowship of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He has imparted into us His very life, Spirit and blood. Do we really comprehend who we are in Him? All that He is and all that He has promised has been imparted to us. We are the expression of His heart and His love, could we be any more privileged or blessed?
If we comprehend these things how can we help but want to offer all that we are and have back to Him? He has given us everything and He is our everything. Every breath we breath, every morsel we eat, every dollar that we spend and every child that we birth; all of it is His. All of it is through Him, because of Him and should be for Him. It is our privilege to honor, praise and serve our mighty Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are an immeasurably blessed and chosen people through no merit of our own, but only according to our mighty God’s grace and election, He has drawn us to Himself.
Ephesians 1: 11-14 goes on to say, “God always does what he plans, and that’s why he appointed Christ to choose us. 12He did this so that we Jews would bring honor to him and be the first ones to have hope because of him. 13Christ also brought you the truth, which is the good news about how you can be saved. You put your faith in Christ and were given the promised Holy Spirit to show that you belong to God. 14The Spirit also makes us sure that we will be given what God has stored up for his people. Then we will be set free, and God will be honored and praised.” We may struggle in the moment. We may endure and grow weary with trials, but these present sufferings can not hold a candle to the glory that will be revealed to us who remain faithful and steadfast in our faith.
We are a people for a purpose and the purpose is not our own, but His who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christ has called us and filled us with His Spirit to be the ministry and fulfillment of Himself, a many-membered, multi-faceted expression of His love, mercy and grace. The apostle Paul goes on here to literally pray a Spirit anointed prayer that we truly comprehend and get a revelation of who we are and what we have been called out for. Verses17-23 goes on to say, “I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Spirit. The Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God. 18My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God’s people. 19I want you to know about the great and mighty power that God has for us followers. It is the same wonderful power he used 20when he raised Christ from death and let him sit at his right side in heaven. 21There Christ rules over all forces, authorities, powers, and rulers. He rules over all beings in this world and will rule in the future world as well. 22God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything. 23The church is Christ’s body and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.
Did anybody tell you today how very special you are?

Blessings,
#kent

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Family Relationships

Mark 10:4-16
4And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 5And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 6But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. 9What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 10And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. 11And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. 13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

Family Relationships

This is an interesting passage where Jesus is not only talking about marriage and divorce, but He is then addressing the importance of children and their part in the kingdom of God. One of the greatest maladies of this age is the moral decline we are experiencing as a society and as Christians because of the breakdown of our homes and our families. We have become either too busy or too broken in our marriages to give our children what they need. There are millions of homes with single parents struggling to make ends meet and millions of children growing up with a lack of love, discipline and mentoring that they need. Even those of us who have homes and marriages that are loving and intact often find ourselves missing the opportunities we need to take advantage of, in investing into spouse and our children’s lives.
I believe Jesus, in this passage is bring out the point that marriage and family are not about putting the ones you love aside. So often we get so caught up in the process of providing for our family that the means takes the place of the object of what our lives are about. We miss out on giving the greatest provision of all, our personal time and attention. If we spend all our resources to buy a farm, but never spend time working the fields, can we expect them to produce anything but weeds? A family is an investment of our lives and it continues on even when our kids are grown and we have grandkids. The most meaningful memories we have from our childhood are probably not what mom or dad bought us, but those special one on one times that we had with them that were special and meaningful. Sometimes we don’t realize the little things that we do or give that are the most significant. God wants us to know that the most precious gift we have to give is our time and ourselves. Passing down memories, teaching and instructing our children and grandchildren are the things that matter. I have felt the Lord’s conviction on my own life that it won’t matter so much whether we were rich or poor, but where we invested our time and our love. Perhaps nothing says more to someone about how important they are and how much we love them than the personal time and attention that we give them. Seize those moments when you can have special time with your family and the ones you love. Few things are more important.

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

His Wisdoms

His Wisdoms
Job 26:14
Lo, these [are] parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

Never stop being passionate about who you are.
You were created for a distinct reason and purpose
And your purpose can only be fully revealed by the One who made you.
Your gifts and the talents He gave you can be used in many ways,
But they are best used and humanity best served by using them His way.
He has created you unique, special and one of a kind.
There will never be another you and that is why you are highly collectable.
God sees you as His treasure and desires to purify you into your most refined state.
How often do we insult our Maker by despising and disliking what He has made?
If you have weaknesses they can be a blessing,
They keep you constantly dependent and reliant on the One who is your strength.
Not even the best of us are complete in ourselves.
If we become an island, then we become disconnected and disjointed.
We fail to give out and take in the breath of other human lives.
Just like breathing our lives are a series of interactions of giving out and taking in;
It is the breath of life, blessings and struggles of other human beings.
As we breathe God in through our spirit we exhale Him out through our souls.
His people feeding and breathing in His life are the breath of life to the world they touch and live in.
Hope is based not on what we see, but on what we believe.
Faith is the wings that allows hope to fly into our reality.
Love binds the universe.
While hate destroys and tears asunder,
Love is the creative force that brings light out of darkness;
That overcomes and triumphs over all that is evil.
Love is the blood flow of God’s heart and it courses throughout His creation,
The Cross is the doorway through which the blood of Jesus, His Love flows.
God’s heart has been broken by our sin, but His blood poured out to cover them.
Because we are washed in the blood we are the instruments of His love.
He is our destiny.
His life is our reality.
His love is incomprehensible.

Blessings,
#kent

The Blessing of Our Women

Proverbs 31:8
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband [also], and he praiseth her.

Most all of us have a woman or women that are very special in our lives. They are often so dependable, constant and such a continual source of blessing that we often become complacent and even unappreciative in our attitudes toward them. Much like our attitude can become toward the Lord, we can become very insensitive to their presence, their continual serving and blessing and all that they contribute to our lives. We often are far more acutely aware of their faults, their nagging, and their expectations. Yet it is often some of these little irritating qualities that keep us on track, that help us live up to our abilities and responsibilities, and they are often the cornerstones of our households. These little ladies look after us, pamper us, serve us, bless us, love us, even when we are unlovely and are constantly laying down their lives to unselfishly serve and bless their families.
Often we relegate one day a year to commemorate and recognize these special ones, which is much like just going to church on Christmas or Easter. We should be so cognizant to love and appreciate them every day, in every way and through all of the little actions as well as the larger ones. Sure they have their human side. They can get cranky and irritable and some times hard to live with, but that may be a good indication that we as men and children aren’t doing our part to support, love and care for them.
I know my wife is so giving and far more generous than I am. While I’m always carefully watching the bottom line, if there is something I really need or want, she doesn’t hesitate to try and bless me with it if it is in her power to do so. Time would fail me to tell all of the examples of her giving and blessings in my life. She is such an example of love and Christ to me in these areas. Often, I get irritated with her for always asking me if I remembered this or that, but if she didn’t she knows that there is a good chance I would go off and forget it. What I am saying is that these special women are such a constant source of blessing and help to us, and we usually cop an attitude with them in their efforts to help us keep on track.
Proverbs 31:30 says, “Favour [is] deceitful, and beauty [is] vain: [but] a woman [that] feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.” We men and children that have godly women in our lives are very blessed and should never fail to praise and appreciate them. They wear innumerable hats, continually work at daunting tasks and yet manage to love and serve their household in that process. Many of us truly have heroines living among us whom we don’t love and appreciate nearly enough. They deserve our best, because they give no less of themselves.
It is interesting that some of Jesus’ last thoughts and concerns, while hanging on a cross, were for His mother. He delegated her care to the disciple John. If we see Jesus throughout His ministry so tender, loving, forgiving and caring of women should we, as men, be any less so? He valued women as few men did of that time. The Word exhorts us husbands in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.”
We must ask ourselves, as men, husbands and children, are we really everyday appreciating and showing the women in our lives how special they are? Our encouragement and praise means so much to them and helps them to continue on in their endeavor to serve and bless us. I speak this as strongly to myself as I do anyone else; that the women in your life are an extension of you in one way or another. If we love ourselves then we must not fail to love and bless them as a part of ourselves. Many of our marriages and relationships fail, because we cease to really love and appreciate one another. We become focused on all of the faults and shortcomings and actually cause them to become accentuated through the negative confessions of our lips. What if we were to speak, sometimes by faith, what we see or would like to see more of them, in a positive way? What if we were to be sure and praise and appreciate often the positive aspects of one another while humbly and willingly receiving loving correction and exhortation from one another. None of us are the perfect husband or wife, mother or child, but we can move and encourage one another toward that through the positive reinforcement we can bring to one another’s lives. Let today and each coming day be a day of true appreciation of those special women in our lives. Let us continually let them know how special they are and how much they bless our lives.

Blessings,
kent