Life Statement of a Believer

Romans 14:8

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

Life Statement of a Believer

               Is this what most of us think of as our mission statement in life? Are our lives really all about the Lord?  According to Romans 14:8 they should be.  Romans 14 deals with us being so concerned with how others believe and if they practice religion like we do?  People are going to have different opinions and ways of doing things than you and I.  Rather than our being so concerned about if they are doing everything right let us realize that each man or woman has to do what they know to be right before the Lord, because before Him, and not man, do they give account and stand or fall. 

               God wants us to be considerate and honoring of one another, but not to where we feel it is our duty to pass judgement upon others.  We can share our scriptural opinions in love, but it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all truth, not our opinions or understandings.  The Lord would have us judge our own house before we judge the life and house of another.  What are you living for? 

               Live your life as the example of what you believe.  If your beliefs are right, they should bear the fruit of what the Word says they should produce.  The important thing is not that we are concerned about judging others according to our standards, but that our lives are being totally focused upon living for the Lord.  He is the reason we live, move and have our being.  We want our life to express Him in all that we do and are.  It doesn’t mean that we quit living in the earth and relating with others.  It certainly doesn’t mean that now, we are holier than everyone around us and we have the right to judge them.  It means that our life’s purpose is to express Christ in all that we do and all that we are.  Our righteousness is lived out of faith in what God has made real in our hearts, not in servitude to rituals, holy days and traditions of men.  Our faith is not a religion, it is a relationship of willing love and submission to Jesus as we obey the Word; following the prompting and dealings of the Holy Spirit within us.  

               Colossians 3:12-17 exhorts us in our perspective of relationship with one another and our relationship with Father.  “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  We function as the Lord’s ambassador and as one another’s servants in love. 

               If you really have a grasp and revelation of who you are and what you are in Christ, then you know your life’s purpose and calling.  You know that it is to build up the brethren, extending toward them the same love and mercy that Christ has extended toward you.  It means forgiving the offences and extending grace to the irregular people, even brethren, that rub and irritate your life.  Jesus had them just as we do.  They are for the stretching and exercising of our love and patience in Christ.  Anybody can love those who love and appreciate them, but it takes the measure of God’s love to love those who go against our grain.  Love is not in the talk, it is in the walk, so walk as He walked and love with the same gentleness that He so loved us.  While we were yet sinners and His enemies He gave His life for us.  That is why we give our life back to Him

               “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”  His name, is upon our lives and our foreheads; indelibly written in His blood and sealed with His promised Holy Spirit.  We are His in life and death.

Blessings,

#kent

You Will Know the Truth and the Truth will Set You Free

John 8:31-32

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.

You Will Know the Truth and the Truth Will Set You Free

               Two camps are set before Jesus in the midst of this discourse.  The Pharisees that challenged Him about who He is  and those Jews who had believed Him.  Jesus makes this statement to the believers, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The son of the bond or slave woman will always try to mock and even try to put to death the son of the free woman.  They have a form of godliness in their religion, but they don’t have the anointing and it is the anointing that they are jealous of.  The birthright belongs to the son of the free woman. 

               I know I am speaking in somewhat riddles, but what we must realize is that the true disciples of God are those who hold fast “His Word”, not the traditions of their fathers and the way things have always been done.  In this day we have we have seen a great calling and moving out of organized and structured religion.  The true seekers of God have become weary of playing church.  They have tasted of God’s Spirit and they desire to move into the liberty of its blessing.   Unfortunately, many of the “comer-outers” have only succeeded in duplicating what they have come out of.  If we look back over church history we see a trail of denominations each one perhaps founded upon an expanded and greater revealed truth than the last, but they all make the same mistake.  They put down their roots in their truth, build their churches and universities.   We must grasp that God is an ever moving and expanding truth.  The Spirit keeps moving, but these denominations remain behind and stagnate.  It is not that God’s truth changes, but as the day of the Lord has drawn nearer the truth has grown brighter in its intensity and revelation.  For those of us who would be His disciples, we must keep swimming in this river of truth and move where it moves.  We are moving from glory to glory even into the same image as our Savior.  We must keep ourselves free not to fall into the ruts of our forefathers, but to follow the Shepherd’s voice wherever He leads us to go.  We are a people that are no longer about religion, but a people that are passionate about a relationship with our Lord.  We are no longer content to know Him from a distance through a religious viewpoint.  We want to know and hear from Him personally. 

               Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The Lord is teaching us kingdom principles and kingdom ways.  They are not founded upon the traditions of man, but upon His Word and His Spirit that is quickening and making alive His Word.  We are coming into a new dimension of spiritual revelation and understanding that is calling for us to throw off our old paradigms of thinking and even worshipping God.  The Holy Spirit is beginning to show many of us the human limitations that we put upon our spiritual relationship.  It is these limitations of fear, doubt, unbelief, along with the unwillingness to fully hear and obey His Word that render us so powerless and ineffective in operating in the power and the freedom of His Spirit.  We have to break this yoke if we are to come into the fullness and liberty of the Sons of God.  Only as we are willing to open up and yield our hearts without reservation can the Holy Spirit begin to reveal and deliver us from the hindrances we carry with us, often unawares.   As you passionately pursue your God and respond in obedience, as He reveals those areas of hindrance, will you come into the anointing that He has for you.  As you operate out of that anointing and the confidence, of who you are in Christ, then know that much of religion will not be your friend.  Remember these people were your brethren, but just as Cain slew Able, Ishmael persecuted Isaac, Jacob fled from Esau, Joseph was put into slavery by his brothers and Saul sought to kill David, your brethren will turn on you.  Even as Jesus is engaged in this conversation with the religious leaders of His day they want to kill the anointing.  The anointing will prevail, as it was in Jesus, so it will be in His body.  If you really want to be His disciple then know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Blessings,

#kent

Because He Lives in Me

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Because He lives in Me

               What is your mountain today?  What is your need?  What is your lack?  What is your weakness?  Turn your eyes and look upon the One who can meet everyone of those things in you today.  If I have learned anything in all my years of walking in Christ it is that I am nothing without Him and I have the potential of being anything through Him.  It matters not so much whether we have much or we have little, if we possess Christ we possess the treasure of the universe. 

               Many times, we get into focusing on what we aren’t and what we have not.  Can I tell you that is a selfish focus?  It is an ungodly focus and a dishonoring focus if you have Christ in you.  You and I are great not because of who we are in the natural, no matter how great or little our talents and abilities.  We are great because of the One who resides in us and desires to express Himself through us.  It is His strength and power that sustains and keeps us through all the perils, hardships, trials and struggles in life.  In Christ we can find contentment in the most adverse of circumstances, because we have learned the secret of not living out of our circumstance but out of the power of His divine life.  Paul communicates this in the preceding verses, 11 and 12, ” Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”  The circumstances of life will take us through many places; some them great and some of them extremely difficult, but it is the secret of this scripture that can take you through whatever your circumstance may be.  It is Christ in you who is your victory and He is able to sustain you with His very resurrection life. 

               Whatever your mountain, your need, your lack or your weakness. Christ in you is the revelation you need to see you through, because it is His life that strengthens and quickens you.  It is for Him that you live and move and have your being.  Come into the rest of who you are in Christ and who He is in you.  Colossian 3:1-4 reminds us of who we are and are not, where we now reside and where our hope is.  ” If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” 

               Because we are in Christ we must stop identifying with the old and looking upon the natural circumstances.  It is no longer these that dictate our life, it is Christ Jesus; for you He has died.  When He was raised up we were raised into the newness of life with Him by faith.  Exercise that faith in who you are in Christ.  There you will find the strength and the resources to overcome every circumstance life brings to you.

Blessings,

#kent

The Sinner Revealed

The Sinner Revealed

John 8:3-11

3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

               How amazing when the hunter is caught in his own snare. 

               Jesus was considered a friend to publicans and sinners.  He didn’t shun them, but loved them and ministered to them.  On the other side we have the pious religious leaders who are disgusted by any man that claims to be a man of God displaying such indiscretion and stepping out of the norms of proper social and religious behavior. They generally view themselves as above and more righteous than the lower crust of society.  After all, these are all sinners and lawbreakers that don’t worship and honor God the way that Moses intended.  As they brewed in contempt for this young itinerate preacher they came up with a plan that would nail Him either way He turned.  We’ll catch one of the local women in the act of adultery and then we’ll bring her before this Jesus and demand that He pass judgement on her.  If He refuses to condemn her then He obviously isn’t in keeping with the Law of Moses and we can arrest Him and accuse Him of heresy, not keeping the laws of Moses.  On the other hand if He does accuse her it will turn this motley crowd on Him and they will do our bidding for us.  How can we lose?

               Early the next morning they snare their guilty woman and bring her as bait before Jesus.  I’ve often wondered where the adulterous man was in all of this since it takes two to commit this sin.  The Law of Moses deals with both the man and the woman.  That aside, the religious leaders come throwing the guilty adulterous woman at Jesus’ feet and demand that He judge her.  You can imagine not only her shame, but also her fear as she is facing sure condemnation and death.  If Jesus doesn’t condemn her the religious leaders surely will. 

               While we can imagine the enraged, bloodthirsty religious leaders, demanding of Jesus a verdict they are sure that will seal His fate either way, they press upon Him.  I love the demeanor of Jesus as He holds His composure while being in perfect peace as He doodles with a stick in the sand.  

               Did you ever think, if you didn’t know how Jesus answered them and how the story came out, how would you or I have answered?  Would we condemn the woman to save ourselves? What would we do or say in this situation? 

               What does Jesus say?  He virtually takes that woman’s sin and convicts the whole crowd that they are really no different than she.  “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”  He says, ““If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.”  This seems to be an example where Jesus just speaks a sentence and then lets the Holy Spirit go to work on their hearts.  Perhaps Jesus was writing the sins of crowd with His stick, we don’t know.   What we do see is the conviction of the Holy Spirit upon each one of them from the oldest to the youngest, that in condemning the woman they are condemning themselves for all of them were with sin as well.  It is interesting that even the pious religious leaders didn’t start the dirty deed by chucking the first rock.  The magnificent wisdom of one simple sentence saved that woman’s life, convicted the crowd and religious ones of their sin and taught a lesson greater than a hundred sermons.  Jesus basically taught them to judge others, as they themselves would want to be judged.  Did He condone the sin?  No, He looks up at the woman and ask her, ““Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” 

Jesus tells us His mission in John 3, “17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”  He came not to condemn the sinner, who already stands condemned in their sin, but to save them from their sin and condemnation through faith in Him.  May His loving Word and Truth judge and discern our hearts, so that we may see others through His love and mercy, knowing that, ‘ there, but for the grace of God, go I.’

Blessings,

#kent

Do We Believe the Facts or Truth?

Do We Believe Facts or Truth?

Psalms 33:4

For the word of the LORD [is] right; and all his works [are done] in truth.

               It is interesting to note that the word “fact or facts” does not even occur in the King James Version of the Bible one time.  On the other hand the word “truth” occurs some two hundred and thirty-five times.  The point this brings us too is that the Bible is a book about Truth.  While it may well be factual, it is not based on fact; it is based on truth.  We may ask what is the difference?  I thought facts were truth.  Facts are based on information presented as objectively real, such a real occurrence or event.  It is something having a real demonstrable existence.  It is something that can be seen or proven in our natural world.  Truth can be more real than fact even though it is not always seen or yet manifested in the real or natural world. 

               We grow up being a fact-oriented people.  We look at science and mathematics as being disciplines built upon facts.  That works pretty good in a natural world made up of natural people, but we have discovered that there is far more to our world than just the natural existence around us.  As we have come to know God, we who are believers in Christ have come to accept that God is the epitome and standard for truth.  Deuteronomy 32:4 says,”[He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.” We know and believe that the very nature and character of God is truth and with Him it is impossible that He should lie.  Numbers 23:19 tells us, “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”  While we don’t yet see the existence of all that God has promised manifested in this natural world, we can take it to the bank, that if He has promised it He will make it good.  Hebrews 6:17-18 tells us, “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability (unchangableness) of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:”

               As believers in Christ we activate the promises of the truths of God by our faith in those promises.  Our very salvation was our act of faith to believe and receive Christ into our hearts and become joint heirs with Him of the promises of God.  Even though we reached out and received our salvation, we didn’t see the fullness of it in that moment.  What we see is that as we plant the seeds of faith in the truth of God’s Word it begins a process of producing the fruit and the fullness of that truth.  We don’t plant a kernel of corn in the ground and then say that seed is a lie because I don’t see any corn produced yet.  We know that through time and patience we will reap that which we have sown.  In due season it will bring forth the fruit of the seed that was planted in the ground.  God’s Word operates under this like principal.  As we walk in the truth, as we plant our faith in the promises of God, we abide in the confidence that in due season it will produce fruit.  The reality of that fact is dormant in the womb of truth until it is given birth.  That which gives birth to the manifestation and fact of a truth is faith. 

               We live in a very negative world in many respects.  There is much in our world that speaks contrary to the Word of God.  In the natural world we readily accept these things as fact.  In a spiritual dimension we can see that the Hand of God is moved by our faith that activates and brings into being His promises.  Though God is sovereign, He has integrated man into the bringing forth of His plans and His promises by the working of faith.  Hebrews 12:1 tells us that, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” 

               What is fact and what is truth in our lives today?  Many of the facts that we see are not the truth that we want to see revealed.  In fact, they may be there contrary to God’s will and highest for us.   We don’t plant weeds in a garden but they are very much a fact.  A good garden is purged of the weeds, those things contrary to the seed we have planted in faith and the product of what we are hoping for.  We likewise must purge from our lives the thoughts, words and actions that are contrary to the harvest we are believing for.  Let us begin to stand upon the promises of God’s eternal and ever true Word, declaring the things that are not as though they are according to the quickening of God’s Word by His Spirit.  Let us by faith plant that truth of God’s promises into our every situation, believing God for His faithfulness to bring to pass that which He has declared.

Blessings,

#kent

Spirituality Begins at Home

Luke 2:51-52

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Spirituality Begins at Home

               Today’s scripture is a reference to Jesus and the relationship He had with His parents as a child.  We see His subjection unto His parents even as a child when in reality His understanding was, no doubt, way beyond theirs.  Jesus could have easily been proud and arrogant in who He was, but He wasn’t. He was humble.  I am reminded again of a definition I once heard of humility.  Many often relate humility with wimpiness, weakness and lack of strength, but true humility is simply, “true strength under control.”  Jesus didn’t become spiritual when He was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon Him.  He grew up day by day practicing a spiritual life in daily living.  Our greatest spiritual training and practice is not what we do before others, but what we do at home.  Our ministry should be a byproduct of who we are to our family and household.  Our true spiritual character is revealed in our daily relationships with our wife, children, parents and siblings.  The ways we serve and treat our families is a rue test of our spirituality.  What we are perceived as being in the spiritual community should be a reflection of who we are when nobody else is around.  There is no greater place to practice and perfect our spiritual walk than with the people we rub shoulders with everyday.  We might be in the place headship or in the place of submission, but both require a Christ nature to do well.  Many times we are less tolerant and more critical of the ones we love.  We are familiar with them.  We know their weaknesses and often we fail to respect and honor them as we ought.  Within our home and family, are we as diligent to build up and encourage one another in our strengths as we are to criticize and find fault with their weaknesses? We should already know that we are all cracked pots, we just have our cracks in different places, so the pot should look at its own color well before it calls the kettle black. 

               The true demonstration of our spirituality will be seen in our home, because that is where we are ourselves and all of our pretenses leave.  If we live the Christian life with our family and walk the walk with them, then we should have no trouble when it comes to living it in the world.  I pray that God will help us to grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man by the way we live at home through our daily relationships.  How does our spirituality look in the light of your home life?  It is here that we will get an insight into ourselves and the areas we need to grow more in our spiritual walk with Christ.  True spirituality begins at home.

Blessings,

#kent

The Radiance of the Lord

The Radiance of the Lord

2 Samuel 23:4

And [he shall be] as the light of the morning, [when] the sun riseth, [even] a morning without clouds; [as] the tender grass [springing] out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

                The account in 2 Samuel 23 said that these were among the last words spoken by David, the Psalmist.  What do you hear in these words of David?  Do you hear “His mercies are new every morning?”  There is freshness in the Lord everyday and everyday as the sun rises He is fresh in His tenderness and love.  The blood of Jesus washes us clean each day as we bring our sins in repentance before Him.  He is like the fresh scent after a rain, the air of our spirits are clear and shining as the radiance of the Son shines through them.  We are His radiant ones because of the Radiance of the Mighty One who in-fills us with His precious Spirit and presence.  We are so wonderfully blessed to be called the children of the Most High God.  Proverbs 4:18 says, “But the path of the just [is] as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”  God has called us “the light of the world and a city set upon a hill.”  Who is that light, but the out-shining of the in-dwelling Christ in us. 

                Jesus gives an interesting account in Luke 11:33-36,  “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth [it] in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.  The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when [thine eye] is evil, thy body also [is] full of darkness.  Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore [be] full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.”  What is He saying, but that lights aren’t lit to be hidden, but to be seen?  They are given to be illumination for the path of others who are walking in otherwise darkness.  He is saying if our eye is single and our purpose in life is foremost and utmost Christ, then our whole body will be full of light.  Spirit, soul and body will be His candlesticks lit with His Spirit and Truth, but if we are double-minded and our eye is evil, looking unto other things, then our bodies are also full of darkness.  The light we think we have, will it then be not polluted with the flesh and the darkness of the world?  If our whole body then is full of the light of God’s truth and His ways then we will be full of light and darkness will have no part in us.  Our light, our truth shall be clear not only to us, but to those around us that they may clearly see their way to God through Jesus Christ His Son.   What a holy and awesome responsibility He has put upon his disciples and his followers, which we are.  If our life is askew, then we will direct others in the same way.  We have to be right because we are the signpost and the watchmen and the guardians of Truth that direct others on their journey through life to the “Way of Life”.   “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).” If we were to see our world through the eyes of the Spirit, I wonder if we would be looking into a dark place where we would see little beacons of light like fireflies in the night.  Perhaps they would even vary in their intensity depending upon the truth that was shining out through them.  How much illumination of God’s truth are we bringing to our world?  Ephesians 5:8 says, ” For ye were sometimes darkness, but now [are ye] light in the Lord: walk as children of light:” How many of us have become lathargic in our Christian walk?  We have become complacent, dull, ineffective and asleep, neglectful of our calling and hope in Christ.  The Lord is calling to us, ” Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  The Lord has not cast us off but He is giving us a call to action and purpose in our lives.  In 2 Peter 2:9 we are reminded of our calling and who we are, ” 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:”  We have a responsibility as the children of Light to show forth the light of His presence and truth.  How shall the world know that Jesus is raised from the dead unless they see the evidence of His resurrection life in us? 

                In 1 John 1:7, John deals with us about the practical side of the light we say we have in us, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”  That light is going to be evident in our relationships and attitudes toward others, for he says again in 1 John 2:9-10, “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.”  That light of Christ will be seen in us as the love of Christ is manifested toward those within and without of His body.  That doesn’t mean we accept the ways of those in darkness, but we reprove them with the truth, making manifest their evil ways.  We speak and act out of the love of Christ, but with the same uncompromising conviction and authority we saw in our Lord.  Thus, we are exhorted in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” 

                In John 8:12 Jesus says, “… I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  May that Light so shine and radiate through our lives that it exemplifies and magnifies the Author of Light and Truth who desires that all men be shown the way of Life. 

Blessings,

#kent 

Knowing Jesus All the Way

John 14:6-7a

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” 

Knowing Jesus All the Way

                Most of us as believers think of ourselves as knowing Jesus.  And we do know Him in some sense of the word, but notice that in this scripture in John 14:6-7 that there are three levels of knowing Jesus. 

                We first come to know Jesus as “the way”.  The Lord reveals Himself to our spirit in such a way that we understand and receive by faith that Jesus came to die for our sins and that by believing in Him we have “a way” of relationship restored to us by which we might really come to know the Father through His Son, Jesus.  For some, it is fire insurance.  If there is Hell and I don’t want to go there, then Jesus is my insurance and assurance, because He promises me eternal life with Him and to keep me out of hell. 

                Our initial encounters with Jesus and our acceptance of Him bring us into the relationship of knowing Him as “the way”, but that is only one aspect of how Jesus wants His disciples to know Him.            Perhaps we should make one more distinction.  A disciple is always a believer, but a believer is not always a disciple.  A disciple is focused upon the discipline of learning the ways of His master and becoming like him.  A believer may only be content to know about the master, but never really integrate the ways of the master into their lives.  Their faith is more superficial in nature.  It is more prone to be built upon the sand rather than the rock.  They may come and hear the word of God, but they don’t allow it to become their life, by putting it into daily practice and practical living.  They may easily talk about Jesus in the right crowd, but their life isn’t centered around living for Jesus. 

                The next aspect of knowing Jesus, is knowing Him as “the Truth”.  We come to know Jesus as the truth through His Word and knowing that Jesus is that Word as John 1:1-4  says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”  We come to know who Jesus is in our heart and our life.  We gain spiritual wisdom, understanding and insight about our Savior.  Our relationship deepens as we endeavor to walk in “the Truth” of His ways.  We become truth seekers, because we want to know more about Jesus. 

               Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:23-24 what true worshippers are.  “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”  Those who know Jesus as the way and the truth are often true worshipers.  They have followed the spiritual journey from the outer court of tabernacle, the salvation experience; to the holy place of spiritual encounter.  There, they are led by the Spirit and the Spirit is leading them into truth.  This is a glorious place of personal encounter, revelation, understanding and the beginnings of intimacy as we are discipled by the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. 

While it is wonderful knowing Jesus as our “way” and our “truth”, ultimately we want to know Him as our “LIFE”.  This is the Holy of Holy of intimacy and relationship.  Here we step through the rent veil of the flesh of Christ as we come boldly before God’s throne.  In that place of holiness there is no room or place for our former life or that way of thinking.  We have stepped into a heavenly dimension of relationship with Him where we know Jesus in true intimacy.  Earthly values give place to heavenly ones, facts give way to truth and we become kingdom minded.

                In John 14: 7 where Jesus says, ” If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”  This word “knew” and “know” here is the Greek word, “Ginosko”.  It means to lean to know, come to know, become known, understand, but it is also the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman.  This doesn’t speak about being acquainted or knowing about someone.  This speaks to the depths of human and spiritual relationship.  We come to know Jesus as our LIFE. He is the life seed of all that is planted within us coming to fruition.  He becomes more than the “way” and even more than “truth”, He becomes our “LIFE” and we become His.  There is a spiritual union of one flesh or one spirit if you will with Jesus.  Jesus was speaking here to His disciples of a new door of intimacy and relationship that had not previously been open; “From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him” speaking of the Father.  If you really want to know the Father it is through the intimacy of a love relationship with Jesus that takes you into the presence of the Father where you no longer distinguish between the two, because they are one in His love.   The cross that Jesus faced was the ultimate expression of the unified love of the Father and the Son.  When we know Jesus as the “way”, the “truth”, and the “LIFE”  then we also will be consumed in His love.  ‘The things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace’, as the song was written. 

                This is that journey that we want. That which is consummated in His LIFE!   Out of that LIFE we live, move and have our being.  Out of that LIFE we live out of the power of the resurrection life and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.  Out of that LIFE we will overcome and prevail, for it is the LIFE of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit living through and out of us.  Out of that LIFE comes our Sonship and our unity with God to walk, live and operate fully out of our destiny and purpose.  Let us come to know Jesus all the way as the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Blessings,

#kent

You shall not Die, but Live

Psalms 118:17-18

I will not die but live and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

You shall not Die, but Live

              “Has fear and doubt come against your mind?  Has your faith been sorely tried?   Reach out your hand from whence cometh your help.  It is Jesus, for you He has died.  Rise and be healed in the name of Jesus.  Let faith arise in your heart.  Reach out your hand from whence cometh your help.  It is Jesus, for you He has died.” 

              I was just impressed that the Lord was bringing this song up in my heart as I began this writing.  There are those of you who need this word this morning, because it is the Word of the Lord for you.  If you need it, take hold of it with all faith and don’t let go.

              Oh, the Spirit of the Lord has heard your cry as you have faithfully cleaved to Him.  He knows your every need and He is your healing and your answer today.  Take hold of Him, nothing wavering.  Set your face as flint upon the promises of His Word and refuse to be moved, ‘for has the Lord spoken and will He not make it good?’  “God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent.”   Ephesians 5:30 says, ” For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”  “The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you. (Romans 8)” 

You are no longer identified with this man of the flesh, even though you can be touched by its infirmities and weaknesses.  “You are more than a conqueror through Christ who loved you and gave Himself for you. (Romans 8)”  1 Peter 2:24 declares to us, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”  We, who are in Christ, already possess our healing, it has already been done for us in Christ.  The fact that we are afflicted doesn’t negate the truth that we are healed.  Healing is not something we have to get.  It is what we already have.  When the circumstances of this natural realm presume to rob that from us then we have to stand in truth and declare the truth of God’s Word over our circumstance and affliction.  We are not of this world, even though our natural man is still subject to it.  We are kingdom people “who worship God in the spirit and put no confidence in the flesh.”  As God’s children who set at the right hand of the father in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6), we have been raised up to declare and to live out God’s kingdom on earth.  “His kingdom come and His will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.”  We live our lives not out of the life of this natural man, but out of the Spirit of God.  We are identified and one with a risen Savior, Christ and Lord; bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.  God has declared life into us by the power of His Son and the manifestation of His Spirit. 

              We declare the Word of the Lord today over all sickness and death that is at work in God’s people.  Declare this scripture in Psalms 118:17, “I will not die but live and will proclaim what the LORD has done.”  Do it out loud and with all authority.  The Lord is touching you even as you read this, believe and declare His Word.  You shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.  Remember Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”  Align your heart, your faith and your declaration with the Word of God. Stand believing and proclaiming what He has said.  Don’t look at your symptoms as the proof of your healing, keep your eyes only upon His Word.  Truth is greater than all the facts of the world.  They that stand in it, will be vindicated by it.  Rise and be healed in the name of Jesus! 

              This is the Word of the Lord to you who are sick or enduring the trials of affliction today.

Blessings,

#kent

Who is that Person in the Mirror?

James 1:22-25

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Who is that Person in the Mirror?

When you look into the mirror what do you see?  You see the reflection of your outward man from which you derive your identity and perception of how you look.  Even though you see a real-time reflection of how you appear is that really who you are?   Two people looking at the same thing will see it different ways.   A woman may look in the mirror and be thinking, ” Oh my goodness, look at the bags under my eyes, that blemish on my nose and I can’t do a thing with this hair.  I just look horrid.  Her husband may come into the bathroom and say, “Honey, did I tell you how beautiful you are today and how much I love you?”  Wow, two totally different opinions of what you look like.  Which one is true?  The truth is in the  perception and we tend to act according to the perception we hold.  

The Lord began to show me that what we reflect on often becomes the image of our reality.  The people that we associate with often do a lot to influence and shape that perception and image of who we see ourselves as being.  We may often mirror what others do because we want acceptance by them, but is  that who we really are?  

Most of us have seen the mirrors at the amusement park that are distorted to make us look fat or skinny, but we readily recognize that these are not true representatives of what we really look like.  We would be surprised at how many times life puts these kind of mirrors in front of us, but instead of recognizing their distortion of the truth we begin to believe their lie.  Our behavior and self-perception can be strongly influenced by the feed back and input we get from others.  We are always reading this to get a sense of how others see us and how that relates with who we are.  

Often, with our children we tend to major on their shortcomings and minor on the positives and accomplishments.  If my son comes home from school after trying his best and everyday I greet him, “Hi looser, what did you mess up today?”  What is that going to do for the image of how he sees himself, because I am a mirror to him of his self-worth.  Many of the problems we see in people come out of a distorted perception they have of what they should be like.  It is influenced by culture, media, friends, social groups and relationships, parents, relatives, school, work and the constant feedback we get from the world we live in.  

The only really true perception we can get of who we are, our worth and value, is what we get from God’s perspective. We know that He is truth and can not lie.  If we want to be mentally and emotionally healthy then we need to focus on what God has to say about us and what we need to do to become what He has created us to be.  James says it is not in just listening to the word and then forgetting what it taught us.  We need repetition for remembrance and application for change to take place.  When a woman goes into the bathroom to get ready for work she doesn’t generally just look in the mirror then turn around and forget what she looked like and go to work.  She starts a process of cleansing, conditioning, make-up and grooming.  All that she does is to conform her to the image of what she wants to look like.  When we look into God’s Word it has to be much the same way. If we just go and listen to a sermon on Sunday then leave and forget what was said how does that change anything?  If we continually position ourselves in front of God’s Word through our reading it, reading inspired books, listening to inspired messages and then praying and meditation on all that we are taking in, we are like the woman who is conforming her looks to a certain image.  We are working on conforming our hearts to the image of Christ.  That is why it is important that our focus isn’t on the world or the things of the world.  That is not the image that we want to be conformed too.  

Take into your spirit the promises that God has for you.  Heed the warnings that He gives to you that will end up perverting His image in you.  Act upon who you are in Christ, acknowledging that it is no longer you that lives, but Christ in you.  ‘As He is so are you in this world. (1 John 4:17)’  That is the identification  you want to remember and walk away with.  When you look in the mirror know that you are created in His likeness and you are becoming His expression and you are being conformed into His image.  That is God’s reality of who you are.

Blessings,

#kent