The Lamb of God
July 7, 2021
The Lamb of God
Revelations 7:17
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The redeemed of the Lord are in the midst of the Lamb even as Christ is in the midst of the throne. The Lamb is the Shepherd whose nature is imparted into His sheep. There is a redeemed of God sealed with the mark and nature of God in their forehead. They have put on the mind of Christ that whether in life or death their purpose is to glorify the Lamb and follow Him wherever He goes.
“9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”
13Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. 17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelations 7:9-17)”
Some of you have known great tribulation in your lives, more than many of us could understand or possibly endure. In the beginning of our walk with Christ sometimes we have this glorious vision of being transformed into a super Christian and changing the world for Christ. As God begins the processing and purifying in our lives, we don’t always see and comprehend the work that He is accomplishing in us. Outwardly there are times when there seems nothing is left but ashes and cinders of a life we once knew. One thing is required of us, “Follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” Even as the Lamb was slain, many of us will share in the suffering, the shame and the stigma the world has placed on many Christians. What we must never let go of and never loose is our vision of who we are in Christ. Out of the ashes many will rise to proclaim His name and profess in demonstration His works. Many of you are wounded and fainting in weakness. Be encouraged, lifted up and know that the Lord has not forsaken you, rather you are the apple of His eye, the ones He has entrusted with such faithfulness. Your reward is just before you. “17Now 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. 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” (Romans 8:17-19)
What is God saying to us? Prepare our hearts, not for the rewards we receive in this life, but in that which is to come. We, His people must see and discern life from an eternal perspective. What some of you have gone through and what we are yet to go through is nothing to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us who hold fast the faith and refuse to sell out our calling and election in Christ. In order to do that you must have more than a passing knowledge and acceptance of the Savior. You must fully possess Him and He must fully possess you. The mentality of our faith must not be to simply escape and fly away, but to persevere and overcome. The Promise Land was not possessed by the children of Israel being raptured into it. There were battles and the enemy had to be dispossessed that the Children of God might possess their inheritance. So it is in the heavenlies. We must dispossess the enemy who now possesses our inheritance and our promise. We do not fight these battles alone. The Lamb of God upon His white horse rides into battle before us leading us from victory to victory, from glory to glory. Follow the Lamb! Follow Him wherever He goes. Follow Him in the hard places as well as the easy ones. The Passover lamb had to be eaten in its entirety; the bitter and the sweet, so it is with the Lamb of God. It won’t always be glory and blessing on the way, but the end shall be sweet and so worth the journey. Press in and endure. Hold fast to the Lamb upon the throne and never loose your vision.
Blessings,
#kent
The Way into the Most Holy Place
October 1, 2015
Hebrews 9:1-10
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.a But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. 9This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
The Way into the Most Holy Place
God often works His truths in order of threes; what was, what is and what is to come.
As the writer of Hebrews expresses these truths he is revealing a new order that supercedes the previous order of things and brings the believer into a greater dimension of depth and experience with God than what he had before. In this place the law of Moses was giving place to the law of Christ Jesus and the Church age had began. Many of us are now aware that we are shifting into a new age; the age of Kingdom. There are many who are content to keep things the same and dwell in the former revelation and truth they have found in the Church age. It has been good in that it has brought us out of the outer court realm of legalism and law into the Holy Place, but even there we have built again the ceremonies and the traditions of men. In this place the Holy Spirit has given us a foretaste of the good things to come. We have operated in degrees out the Spirit and the gifts, but for those who are God chasers and hungry for more of the fullness of God they are not content to stay in this place. They are ever pressing against veil of the flesh, seeking entrance into the MOST HOLY PLACE, where the presence of God Himself dwells.
The Lord quickened this scripture to me sometime back in Hebrews 9:8, “The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.” We are not going to find what we are looking for in this old paradigm and old order if it is in our hearts to pursue God into the presence of His MOST HOLY PLACE. We are not going to enter into this place by simply holding on to the things we formerly knew. We have to let them go. Many of us are now getting a revelation that God is wanting to bring us into a new order, a Kingdom order, where we no longer move out of the religious, but out of His Spirit and Kingdom life. We are rubbing our spiritual eyes trying and straining to see what that looks like.
Will, it looks a lot like Jesus. We see with a little revelation and catch a glimpse of the gold of His glory and we are all ready to press in and partake of that glory. But just a minute before you do. Have you counted the cost? There is something that precedes the glory and it is called suffering. Paul tells us in Romans 8:17, “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.
Many of us caught the revelation of Christ is us, the hope of glory. We are catching the sense of our identity and purpose. We are excited about partaking of these heavenly things, but some of us can become quite disillusioned when it comes to paying the price. In our identity with Christ we must realize that we also, like Paul said in Colossians 1:24, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.”
What was it that once again gave us access and relationship with our Papa? It was the veil that was rent between the Holy Place and the MOST HOLY PLACE. That veil was the body of the Lord Jesus. When His body was rent and torn asunder through His crucifixion on the cross the physical veil in temple was also rent signifying that there was now access made into the MOST HOLY PLACE. If we are identified with Christ then what was true of the head must be true of the body. The veil was rent from the top (Jesus Christ the head) to bottom (the rest of the body of Christ through the ages). We must be willing to embrace the suffering if we desire the glory.
Paul did. He goes on in Romans 8:18-25 to say, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
When we see the calling and destiny that is before us. When we, as the sons of God, hear creation groaning and travailing, even as we have travailed within our own souls. How can we not, with Paul say, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
It is not found in our past experience of our religion, ceremonies and paradigms. It far exceeds just playing church. It is the call to pursue His highest and be willing to pay the price to do so if we want to enter into the MOST HOLY PLACE.
Blessings,
#kent
God of Light
July 9, 2015
God of Light
1 John 1:5
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
Without the light and Spirit of God we would still be in state of the earth and the heavens when they were first formed and created. Genesis 1:1-5 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.“ In John 1:1-5 gives us the spiritual interpretation of the natural creation. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
This morning as the Lord had impressed upon my heart this scripture from 1John, I was studying through some of the scriptures on light. I began to get a little drowsy so I got up to stretch my legs. I walked over to the back door and looked out, it was dawn and the light was beautifully illuminating the clouds at the end of the mountain range. There wre a couple of small cloud beneath the others that were like little floating flames of fire as they caught and reflected the light of the rising sun. Quickly, I walked back to my office and grabbed my camera to take a picture. As I hurriedly tried to set the exposure and I took a couple of pictures, I looked down at the display and it was informing me that I didn’t have a flash card in my digital camera. I had to make a dash back to the office to get a flash card. While the scene was still pretty I had missed the climax of its beauty.
I began to think about the analogy of how God created man to capture and reflect His beauty and nature, but like John 1:5 the light shined in the darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not. You might say we are all like a bunch of cameras, but without film or a flash card we can’t fulfill our destiny and the reason for which we were created. We can go through the motions, but we can’t comprehend or capture the light of God unless we have received Christ into our hearts and been quickened in our spirits. He is the film in our cameras. He is the one that gives meaning and purpose to our being. Cameras without film or a means of capturing the light are of no use to us. God needs a people who are able to capture and comprehend by His Spirit their reason and purpose for being and then start becoming the image of the light that they see and capture in their spirits. 2 Samuel 22:29 says, “For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.” It is only the light of God that gives us understanding and comprehension of who and what we are in Him. Psalms 36:9 says, “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.” God has given us His torchbearer to manifest and demonstrate His life in the world through Christ. The Church is like the candlestick that maintains and bears that light.
Exodus 25 tells us how God commanded Moses to make the golden candlestick, which is a type of Christ and the Church. “”Make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms shall be of one piece with it. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other… “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.”” Here we get a picture of a golden candlestick beaten out of one piece of pure gold. It is telling us that the Church is of one substance in Christ, that pure holy nature being like the gold. It is formed by being hammered out; “…we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). “ The lamp stand has six branches, three on each side, six being the number of man, but it has seven lamps. The base and the center stem make up the seventh, like Christ who is the chief cornerstone of our foundation of faith, the six branches come out of the center-supporting candlestick. The purpose of the candlestick was to illuminate what was in front of it. Likewise the Church in Christ is to illuminate each generation with the light of the gospel and the Spirit of Christ. Exodus 27:20 goes on to inform us, “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.” The pure beaten olive oil is like the Holy Spirit that keeps us burning continually. Again we see the beating and the processing involved in getting each thing to a usable state. The candlestick illuminates a glorious realm of the Holy Place in the tabernacle, but in this place there are still shadows and areas of darkness.
The Holy of Holies is where God Almighty resides and in that place the illumination is His Light. While mortal sinful man can not approach this light, the perfect high priest, Jesus Christ can and we are told that we are in Him. 1 John 5:20 tells us, “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” Are we comprehending and capturing where our position is? It is in Christ. And where does the Christ dwell. Colossians 3:3 puts it all in perspective, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” We have been brought into the Most Holy Place, in Christ. It is in Christ that we have been told that we can approach His throne boldly. Hebrew 4:14 –16, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” In Christ we are being brought into the Light that will dispel every shadow and darkness in us. We have been called to be light bearers, capturing the light of God in our Spirits and presenting that image before men. For we serve the God who is Light and in whom there is no darkness or shadow of turning.
Blessings,
#kent
Abundant Life
June 22, 2015
John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
Abundant Life
When we talk about abundant life, where do your thoughts go? Do they go to your natural man, your financial success, your health and the resources of this world? Indeed God’s abundant life touches us on a natural plane, but if that is where our focus is then we’ve missed the bigger picture.
If the thief, which we know as satan, only comes to steal, to kill and destroy, then why are so many non-Christians blessed and prospering in this life. The quality of life we are talking about here is the Greek word Zoë, God life. One definition states, “life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.” While satan is out to steal, kill and destroy, his focus is upon the “God life,” not the just the breath of life. When the Zoë of a person is robbed, killed or destroyed then what hope is left for a man? Separation from God is the ultimate darkness. While some may scorn God in this life, they have no concept of the life they have forsaken and given up.
The Apostle Paul brings this concept of abundant life into more focus in 1 Corinthians 15:9. He says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Paul wasn’t experiencing the abundant life as a big bank account and vacation home in Athens. In this life he experienced great tribulation and hardships. The revelation that he had was that this natural life was his investment into the abundant life he knew in Christ. It is not the seed itself that is the abundance, it is as it dies and gives place to the life within that abundance is released. It is not in the corruptible that we find the fullness of abundant life, but in the incorruptible, the resurrection life.
It is not in the abundance of this natural life that we rejoice or find the proof of abundant life. If we are blessed in our natural lives that is all well and good, but that is not the measure of God’s abundant life. Your abundant life is found in Christ. It is in your relationship with Him and the hope you have in Him. This natural life is but a corruptible seed planted in the ground. The question of abundant life is in what it brings forth through its death, not what it possesses in this life.
We want our life seed to possess the DNA of Christ in it. He is the essence of our abundant life, in this life and that, which is to come. Don’t allow satan or any one to steal that from you. The faith we have in Christ lives out of the abundance of who we are in Him.
Blessings,
#kent
God is for You
December 10, 2014
Romans 8:28-39
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, we have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God is for You
There are times we go through in life when it seems all of hell comes against us. There are times the enemy wants to condemn and defeat us through accusing voices within and without. There are times circumstances of life overwhelm and flood over us like a tsunami seeking tear away all that we have held sacred and dear to us. There are times that if we lived only by our feelings we would be utterly lost and forsaken. But, God says we are His predestined ones called according to His purpose.
Predestined and purposed for what?
Predestined and purposed to be conformed to the likeness of His Son!
Sonship will allow the world to tear at every fiber of your humanity so that it may reveal your destiny as a son. It causes us to turn from every reliance and dependence upon the world so that we might fully depend on Abba Father. That is why all things are working for our good even in the darkness and seeming discouragement of our life circumstances. Father is saying take heart, I am only allowing it to conform you by faith and steadfast obedience to that which you are called to become.
“I am for you, not against you”, says the Lord.
Hebrews 5:7-10 says of Jesus, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” We have a promise to suffer persecution if we live godly in Christ Jesus. “As Jesus is so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17)” We will have our hardships, but Father wants us to know beyond a shadow of doubt those hardship are in no way indicative of His inseparable love for us. There is a principle in God that out of our dying to self and the natural realm, spiritual life is produced and propagated. The more we die to this life the more of Jesus is released into the earth.
Paul describes it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” Every assault of the enemy and this natural world should only serve to bring forth Jesus. Every time you are wounded physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially; it should only cause you to bleed more of Jesus into every situation, because that is who you are and what you are becoming.
This is why it is so important not to weigh your spirituality or God’s love for you by your circumstances. How can you be an overcomer, unless you have to overcome? God wants us to so get a hold of who we are. He so wants you to have a revelation of your identity in Him, your destiny and purpose in Him. If you have a secure revelation of that and that nothing in hell or earth can steal that from you, then you will overcome the enemy, “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” You will not fear or shrink back from the death in this life, because you have so much of a revelation of the life of Christ that dwells in you. In the understanding of that revelation is the peace of knowing, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If God is so much for you, who can ever be against you?
Blessings,
#kent
Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge
December 4, 2014
Colossians 2:1-3
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge
Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 16:16 says, “How much better [is it] to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!” Proverbs 4:5 tells us, “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget [it] not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.” Psalms 119:104 teaches us, “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”
The true treasures that God has for us are not riches of gold, silver and precious stones; they are the riches of wisdom, understanding and the knowledge of the Lord. That is why the Bible is the most precious and priceless book in the world for it contains these riches and the Holy Spirit is the guide that leads us into the depths of His treasure house. Unlike the riches of the world that promote greed, selfishness and lust, these treasures bring us into the character and knowledge of godliness, love and the fruit of the Spirit. What is even more amazing is that the fruit of following and finding these precepts of wisdom with understanding is what often produces the fruit of earthly prosperity and blessing as well. More importantly they teach us not to be looking at those things which are perishing, but rather those things which are eternal. Paul, in this passage from Colossians says the full riches are in the complete understanding, because understanding unlocks to us the full mystery of God, which is in Christ.
Who are you? “You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). It is when we comprehend and fully process this truth of who we are in God that we begin to truly be hid in Him. It is our spiritual ignorance that continues to hold on to an identity that is outside of Christ.
Paul reveals this truth in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Most of us in the mind of our natural thinking have not really gone down into the grave of our earthly reasoning, mentality and natural awareness and so we have never risen in the resurrection of the riches of Christ in spiritual wisdom and the knowledge of who we are in Christ. We acknowledged it by faith spiritually, but have we truly embraced it in reality? When a woman marries a man, in most circumstances she gives up her name and she takes on his, but aren’t most of us like the woman who wants to take on all the benefits of his name, but she wants to keep her own name as well? We still want to be Mrs. Adam-Christ. Isn’t this why we see the carnality in our lives and the mixture of flesh and spirit within the church. God wants to educate us in who we are. He has given us the riches of all that He is in Christ Jesus and we are content with the husks that are fed to the hogs. As we will press into Christ and into depth of His Word we will find the riches that will bring us into the liberty of the Spirit. It has been said that, “knowledge is power.” When you begin to come into the full realization of who you are in Christ and what God has created you for, will that not bring you also into the power of God? God operates through vessels that are in union and in sync with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leads us into all of the riches of God through His Word and then He begins to operate those riches through us in wisdom, knowledge and understanding. This is where we buy the gold of God, tried in the fire, because the truth of God’s word must become a reality in us and that can only be worked out through experience and the proving of God’s word in our daily lives. This is the oil that the foolish virgins asked of the wise in Matthew 25. It is not something that can just be given to you, it something that you must press into and lay hold of. It is a substance that is brought forth in your life through the trials and tribulations, because this is the place you must lose yourself and find who you are in Christ.
“Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” All of it is found in the riches of Christ Jesus in whom are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Blessings,
#kent
What God does to us or for us?
April 9, 2014
What God does to us or for us?
Job 42:1-6
Then Job replied to the LORD : 2 “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
How many of us have gone through times in our lives when we have experienced such pain, sorrow or disappointment at circumstances that have come upon us or happened to us? We question, “God where are you, where were you and why did you let this happen to me”? There are those of us who have gotten angry, offended and hurt because we felt that the Lord let us down and He didn’t meet our expectations in the ways that we thought He should have. Perhaps God would ask us, as He did Job, ‘Who is this that obscures council without knowledge?’ God is the Magnificent One that created the Universe, the earth and all of the mysteries and wonders contained therein. Would we be so bold as to compare our wisdom and understanding with His? If what God says in Romans 8:28 is true, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified,” then we must believe that God is working for our good. Jesus never makes the promise to deliver us from tribulation. In fact, He says just the opposite, “…In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). To the natural mind, life often isn’t fair and it doesn’t always make sense. It is in these times that we must rely upon our faith to bridge the gap between our understanding and God’s plan. Often what we thought was the enemy coming against us, in retrospect, we see the hand of God was working through what seemed to be a negative circumstance to bring us into God’s plan and higher will for our lives. It serves to stretch us and takes us to places we would never go on our own.
Let us not be so foolish as to attempt to pass judgement upon God for allowing things to happen to us. His ways are so much higher than our ways and His thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts. Job thought He had a pretty good handle on understanding God till His world and theology got turned upside down. The one thing that Job never lost was faith and trust in the Lord. I think that with many of us it will be as it was with Job when he said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” When we really come into the revelation and presence of God and all that He is we will repent that we ever questioned, doubted or spoke negative of Him.
God is not doing things to us; He is doing things for us. Our understanding may not comprehend it, but our trust has to receive it and know that God’s nature is to work in our behalf. Even when that means we are crushed in the process, it is because He does love us and sees the end from the beginning. We see in terms of time and earthly values. God sees in eternity and kingdom values. God values you. Even when you don’t understand His hand, trust His heart. God is for you, trust Him and rest in His wisdom, love and council.
Blessings,
kent
The Peace that Passes Understanding
April 2, 2014
The Peace that Passes Understanding
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
There is a place in the secret garden of God’s presence in us where we find of a refuge of His peace. It’s a peace that we find only when we have found that place of full confidence and rest in the Father and all that He says He is and all that He has provided for us. Philippians 4:3 exhorts us to “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” The joy of the Lord is what brings us into peace. The joy of the Lord is what dispels the dark clouds of doubt, fear and unbelief. The joy of the Lord is what instills in us confidence, assurance and yes, “peace”. When the enemy, or circumstances, or other people can rob our peace, then they can defeat our faith. Faith stands strong in the midst of peace. Our peace is often quickly shattered because it is vulnerable to conditions and emotions that surround us. Our peace can quickly turn to insecurity, doubt and fear, but not God’s peace.
A great example of this personal peace and God’s peace is seen in Jesus as He wages that great spiritual battle within for God’s comfort and peace. We see the tremendous anguish of soul that beset Jesus as He is faced with the greatest, most terrible and horrifying task ever required of an individual. He is staring in the face of insurmountable suffering, pain and anguish physically. But beyond that suffering He is looking at the darkness of becoming sin and bearing the sin for every inhabitant of the human race, all of this from Him who knew no sin. Worst of all, He is looking at a period where the Father Himself must turn away and separate His presence. I doubt that few of us could even begin to imagine or grasp the tremendous weight and burden that was upon the Lord at that time. It is no wonder that He sweat great drops of blood as He struggled with what He was facing. Everything in His mortal man must have been crying out, “NO, Anything but this.” Yet He was not a man given to the outward man and the dictates of His own will, He was and ever would be completely and totally sold out to the will and purpose of the Father. Through that spiritual battle that took place there in the garden where Jesus went to pray, Jesus found that peace that passes all understanding. It was that peace, that complete rest in Father’s will and purpose that enabled Him to face and go the way of the cross when everything within His natural man wanted to turn away. That is the kind of Peace that I believe Jesus left us when He told His disciples in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” There is a peace that Christ has left us in this world. It is a legacy of His salvation and impartation of His great love. It is a peace unlike the world’s peace that is fleeting and temporal. It is a peace that cements us to the heart of God and the assurance that His presence abides with us always. It is the assurance and comfort that Romans 8:31-39 speaks to us, “31What can we say about all these things? Since God is for us, who can be against us?
32God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things?
33Who can say anything against the people God has chosen? It is God Who says they are right with Himself.
34Who then can say we are guilty? It was Christ Jesus Who died. He was raised from the dead. He is on the right side of God praying to Him for us.
35Who can keep us away from the love of Christ? Can trouble or problems? Can suffering wrong from others or no food? Can it be because of no clothes or because of danger or war?
36The Holy Writings say, ‘Because of belonging to Jesus, we are in danger of being killed all day long. We are thought of as sheep that are ready to be killed.’ (Psalm 44:22)
37But we have power over all these things through Jesus Who loves us so much.
38For I know that nothing can keep us from the love of God. Death cannot! Life cannot! Angels cannot! Leaders cannot! Any other power cannot! Hard things now or in the future cannot!
39The world above or the world below cannot! Any other living thing cannot keep us away from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have the peace that our lives are hid in Him and nothing in heaven or earth can rob that from us who believe in Him. Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Some of you are there in that garden today, like Jesus, struggling with tremendous tribulation and trials. The Father wants you to find this place of peace that passes all understanding where you will find your rest in Him. You can rejoice, even in the midst of the fire, because your heart has the assurance that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your situation. It doesn’t matter if you understand how; it only matters that “HE IS”. Your life is hid in Him and whether in life or death He is the peace that passes understanding.
Blessings,
#kent
tricklesoftruth 