Cool Your Jets

Cool Your Jets

Philippians 4: 4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

               None of us ever get stressed about things do we?  We’re able to take everything in stride.  The pressures and demands of life, family, jobs, finances, relationships, are all handled with the peace and calm of the Lord, right?  Not likely, we all feel the pressures of life and its demands.  It is hard for even those of us who are normally calm, not to get wound up about things at times.  It is hard for us to rest in the Lord when we are like a turbine wound up at full throttle.  Let’s face it, life is hard a lot of the time.  We are all trying to problem solve and best figure out how to get ourselves out of the pickle we often find ourselves in. 

               Then we come across this scripture in Philippians 4 and we think, “wow, that is easier said than done”.  Most of our problems, pressures and how we handle them are in our minds.  That is not to say they are not real, it is just that how they present themselves has a lot to do with how we handle them mentally.  Philippians 4:4-7 is prompting us to get in the right mindset to handle our pressures and our problems.  It is God’s way of saying, “Cool your jets, take a deep breath and start exhaling with praise, worship, and rejoicing.  I know you don’t feel like it and the circumstances don’t warrant it but do it anyway.”  The peace and the rest of the Lord can’t be found while we are thrashing around and struggling in our flesh.  It can only be found as we enter into Him in that place of rest and relinquishment of all that we are, or better yet, all that we are not, into what He is.  The great “I Am” is with you, in you and in your circumstances.  You just can’t see Him through all of the smoke of your screaming engine as you are racing to solve your problems.  That is why the Word says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Turn the key off, kill the engine for a little while, let things cool down and park your self in the presence of Jesus.  As important as we feel things are sometimes, if we were taken out of the world, it would not stop, adjustments would be made and things would continue on as they always have.  Life is too short to burn ourselves out with stress and worry.  So much of what we do worry about isn’t even that important.  Will what we are worrying about even matter tomorrow or next week or next month.  There is a reason that Jesus taught us in Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof.”  Live for the day and in the moment.  It is all right to plan, but always let your plans be subject to God’s will and timing.  Our peace is in putting Him first.  He tells us if we will do that, He will take care of the other. 

               So, maybe it is time that we quit stressing so much about everything in life.  Maybe it is time that we “cool our jets.”  Rest in Him who is without limitations.  Rejoice in Him who has your back and is your resource.  He is able to work all things out for your good as you enter into His rest, rejoicing, praising Him continually and leaning on the everlasting arms of Christ.                 Stress and pressures are always going to be out there, but we must renew our minds in Christ if we want the victory in dealing with it.  As we are put in the pressure cooker of life, let’s just let it make us ever more tender to Jesus.  Sometimes life feels like we are driving the car with no steering and no brakes and all that we can do is throw up our hands and say, “please take the wheel sweet Jesus”.  That is the rest He wants to bring us too, where we can let go and let Him be God in each situation

Blessings,

#kent

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God’s Gift to Us

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God’s Gift to Us

               This simple verse is so profound because it is the summation of God’s love and purpose.  We say that Christmas is about Christ’s birthday and yet it so often about us and not Him.  His name is mixed in amidst the presents, Santa Clause and the traditions of the season, but do we ever focus on what can I give back to You?  What present can I bring You Lord Jesus that would be honorable and pleasing?  Is it about kneeling before the Christmas Tree on Christmas morning or kneeling before the throne of grace in true worship, adoration and appreciation for the King of Kings?  It is always good to remember how Christ came to us, God incarnate, in the flesh of an infant child, but we no longer worship the baby Jesus, but the resurrected Lord.  It is to Him that we give thanks and praise for becoming the son of man, so that the sons of men might become the sons of God.  He came down to bring us up. 

               Our greatest gift back to the Lord is a life that is consecrated, honoring and obedient to His Word.  The greatest gift we can give is to allow our lives to be the full expression of His indwelling presence; ‘no longer I that live, but Christ in me.’  As we remember in this season, Christ coming into the earth, let us remember to daily give back to Him what He desires to be in us.  We are His Redeemed, the joy of His salvation.  He delights in us.  Always allow Him to be your greatest delight and the object of your full love and affection.  Never trade the hope you have in you for the glitter of this world.

Blessings,

#kent

Holy Spirit Rantings

1 John 3:1-3

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Holy Spirit Rantings

               Lose yourself in Father today.  Don’t allow it to be prayer as usual. Get out of your box, get out of yourself, your routine, your norm.  Be radically in love and carried away in His presence.  Be extreme in your worship and be violent in your pursuit. 

               How easy it is for us to get into our religious routines and do the same thing day after day.  Sweep us away Holy Spirit.  Rapture us into your loving presence.  Catch us up into a higher realm.  Usher us into Your throne room, into your Holy presence.  Bring us into such awe of You, till we can’t stand, but can only fall on our faces in worship of Your awesome greatness. 

               Holy Spirit energize and make alive every part of us, Your people, to be so alive and aware in Your Love.  Baptize us with the same Love that compelled Lord Jesus to die that horrible death for us.  May we burn with Your passion and may we feel with Your heart.  Take us out of us and into You.  You are the ocean we desire to swim into with such abandon that we only delight as the waves of Your holy presence crash over us and we are immersed into the depths of Your love. 

               Holy One, YOU are the air we breathe, the song we sing, the light we behold.  Let our world be so colored with You that it puts rainbows to shame.  Allow all the spectrums of Your light and truth to be seen in us who delight in Your Name.  With overwhelming peace fill Your people with such confident rest and trust in You.  Allow fear to have no place in anything we do.   Only confident resolve that You are all and all.  That You are more than enough and able to do so much more than we could ever do; it is simply relying on You. 

               We are the people called by Your Name.  We will put our trust in no other, for You alone cover us under the shadow of Your wing.  The world is blessed today because we release You to live through us in unprecedented love and abandon.  Be glorified, be magnified, be exalted in and through all that call upon Your name.  We love You mighty God and our grateful hearts pound with your grace and blessing.  We are so rich because we have You, poverty can not touch us. We are so strong in Your might that no weakness can infirm us.  Sickness must flee from Your presence today.  Infirmity must bow to Your Name.  All disease is dead as Your feet tread over them.  YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS  IT IS IN HEAVEN!  Allow it to begin in this earthen man that we are.  May we be the holy lights You hold up for all the world to see Your great glory.  Come be glorified in all of Your saints.  Let us be the mountain of Your house that is established in the earth above all other mountains.  May Your kingdom flow through us, Your redeemed. 

               How GREAT and AWESOME are YOU in all the earth.  May the darkness flee and the demons tremble as Your great light shines in the earth to dispel all darkness and we storm the gates of hell to prevail in every battle.  May our oppressors become our slaves as we conquer all in Jesus Name.

Blessings,

#kent

The Lord on High

The Lord on High

Psalms 113:5

Who [is] like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

Praise the Lord who reigns on High,

Whose love and power and grace,

Pierce the earth and rent the sky,

Who looks upon His beloved with open face.

His heart is tender and His love is great,

As He gathers us as chicks beneath His wing,

His love is jealous over His mate,

As her song of love she sings.

The Lord is merciful to a thousand generations;

His forgiveness reaches through the span of man.

Redemption and salvation are His great vocation,

As He brings His beloved into His eternal plan.

His ways are high and past finding out,

Yet He shares His secrets through the Holy Spirit within.

He leads us in the way up into His high and holy mount.

Mount Zion is His throne-room where the issues of life begin.

Be still and reverence this High and Holy One!

Lay prostrate upon your face as unto the Lord you call.

Then rise to sing His praise and magnify the Son,

Who is worthy of all our praise, the Redeemer of us all.

His Holy Hand directs His Holy Plan,

As He searches out His own.

In weakness and utter dependency of man,

Is the glory revealed and His great power is shown.

It is not in us, who will or do,

But it is God who gives the increase.

It is His power and grace working in me and you,

That brings forth wonders that never cease.

Oh Lord, we wholly lean on Jesus name,

As we run this race in our soul.

Your Spirit life is the conqueror’s flame,

And Your HIGH CALLING is our goal.

Blessings,

#kent

The Richness of Praise

 

The Richness of Praise

 

Psalms 42:11 & Psalms 43:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, [who is] the health of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 56:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

Psalm 63:3 Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name.

Psalm 106:12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise

Psalms 107:8 Oh that [men] would praise the LORD [for] his goodness, and [for] his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psalms 115:18 But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD

Psalms 146:2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being

 

Why so many verses?  A reference mentioned that in the book of Psalms from where these verses were taken there were 248 references to PRAISE in 216 verses.  This is but a small sprinkling of the many that are contained in the Word.  Something else that may be note worthy is the first place praise is used in the Word is in Genesis 29:35 when Leah gave birth to Judah who was the son of Jacob and one of the twelve tribes of Jacob.  His name means praise.  Isn’t it interesting that David who descended out of the Judah was the Bible’s chief proponent of Praise, the greatest King in Israel’s history, a man after God’s own heart and the line from which Jesus is born?  The list could go on, but the point is Praise is such an important component in our spiritual walk with the Lord and yet, is so often neglected.  Let’s define Praise here as incorporating rejoicing, thanksgiving and exaltation of God.  It has been my personal experience and I’m sure the experience of many of you that no one thing can bring us into relationship and closeness with the Lord like Praise can.   Over the past year and half as I have made Praise a more central and faithful part of my life, I am seeing the richness and change it is bringing to my spiritual walk and the closeness and greater sensitivity I have to the Holy Spirit.   What is sweeter to the nostrils of God than the sweet fragrance of the sacrifice and incense of praise and worship?  Psalms 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of Israel or His people.  Our Praise should rise up out of our spirits as we reflect and meditate on God’s rich goodness, awesome greatness, love and grace.  Even more so as we reflect on our Lord Jesus and His great sacrifice of Love on our behalf that we may receive forgiveness from our sins, be reconciled to God the Father, be made a part of His family and be partakers of divine and everlasting life.  Some may say, I agree with that, but I don’t always feel like praising God.  Praise is first an act of our will, not our feelings.  It must have it’s origin in our spirits, not our souls.  Feelings often accompany our praise and worship, but they are not the source of it.  God wants our worship and praise to come from spirit and truth.  That means they originate in our spirit as it is yielded to the Holy Spirit.  Most likely it is when we least feel like praising that we need to the most.  Life, circumstances and especially condemnation can all enter in to rob our joy and desire to praise.  Praise is a dimension of faith where, before the results are seen, the thanksgiving and worship are going forth.  (Read 2Chronicles 20 for a great example of this.)  Perhaps we fail to see the victory, because we fail to praise, rejoice and give thanks for that which we say we believe for.  The eyes and heart of faith acts on what is unseen, not on what is seen.  Praise should come before not just after the answer to prayer is revealed and manifested.

Time would fail us to touch on the richness and fullness of this subject.  More may be shared as the Lord directs.

Begin to make PRAISE the first order of your daily encounter with the Lord.  It is the means by which we approach Him and enter into His presence.  I often think of it as climbing up on the lap of Father God and putting my arms around Him just to tell Him how much I love and appreciate Him.  It is not coming with my expectations or problems.  It is a time I want to come just for Him, to worship Him and love Him for who He is not what He can do for me or give me.  He is so worthy of our praise brethren, let us not deny Him.  When we deny Him Praise we also rob ourselves of the richest fellowship we can have with the Father.  Experience the richness of Praise.

Blessings,

#kent

The Lovingkindness of the Lord

Psalms 63:1-4

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 

The Lovingkindness of the Lord

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD” (Lamentations 3:22-26).  In both of these passages there is both an acknowledgement of the lovingkindness and the faithfulness of the Lord, but there is also travail of soul.  While we wait upon the Lord our underlying desire and longing is to see the power and the glory of God revealed.  While we saw remarkable manifestations of God’s power and miracles through the ages it wasn’t until the coming of Jesus that we saw the full manifestation of the lovingkindness of the Father.  In Christ Jesus we saw the power and the glory revealed in acts of lovingkindness and compassion.  He could have as easily have come to destroy and devastate the armies of Rome and of His natural fleshly enemies.  He could have set up His kingdom in the earth as many expected Him to do, but the foe that He conquered was the prince of darkness when He led captivity captive, conquered death and the grave and gave gifts unto men.  He laid the foundation and the groundwork for a holy nation to rise up in Him, His church, His body and His bride.  We who have a foretaste of our inheritance and of the lovingkindness of our Lord are in much the same place as these Old Testament writers.  We have seen the faithfulness of our God.  We have seen His mighty acts upon the earth and toward His people.  We have seen His face in the life of Jesus Christ and we have received the divine promises as 2 Peter 1:3-4 declares, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  

We, like the saints of old, behold the magnificence of our God and the greatness of His love for us.  We flourish in that love and in that love and the promises of His Word we live in hope and expectancy to see the fullness of our salvation revealed when Christ is come to fully manifest Himself in us.  

Romans 8:15-25 teaches us, “For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! 16The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. 17And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory. 18[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and  for us and conferred on us! 19For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship]. 20For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it–[yet] with the hope 21That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.23And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons). 24For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees? 25But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.”

 The cry of the hearts of God’s people today is for Sonship.  It is to see the glory of Christ revealed in us so that all of creation might be set free.  We have so longed experienced the dry and thirsty land of religion, where there is no water.  We have gone through all of the rituals and followed the traditions of men, but the reality isn’t in those things, it is in the lovingkindness of God when He is revealed in us through Christ Jesus.  2 Thessalonians 1:7-12 speaks of this coming glory and power, “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what we long for, hope for and rest in the lovingkindness of our God to bring to pass. This is what we live for and press into that His kingdom come and His will be done on earth, as it is heaven.

Blessings,

#kent

Honor the Lord

Matthew 15:8-9

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

Honor the Lord

Does the honor of our lips match the integrity and obedience of our heart towards God?

Yes, God loves the honor of our lips if it is coming from a pure heart of love and worship, but if we are just going through the program, singing and saying the things that we are directed to sing and say it is in vain.  It is hypocrisy to honor God with lip service, but then live in rebellion and sin.  A consecrated life is what honors the Father.  It is one that humbles itself before Him and draws its direction and strength from Him.  It is one that willing says “Yes” to whatever Father says do.  

The honor of the lips should proceed out of the honor of the heart.  If we don’t honor Him with our lives then we are hypocrites to honor Him with our lips.  How much of our religious service to God has just been our religious tradition of service and doing our religious duty.  If that is what it is, it is vanity and emptiness.  We don’t become holy by putting on our “Sunday go to meeting clothes” and playing Church.”  The church isn’t the building, it is who we are as the body of Christ.  “No ye not that God does not dwell in temples made with hands?”  He dwells in the temple of His people; those who fear and worship Him out of a broken and contrite heart.   We can no longer just go through religious motions and expect God to move on our behalf.  He is looking for an expression of Himself and to have that we must love what He loves and hate what He hates.  So many that call themselves and identify themselves as Christians really have no revelation of what Christianity is really about.  

This is a sober word, but one I believe God speaking to awaken some of us out of sleep.  Romans 12 exhorts us to present ourselves as living sacrifices which is our reasonable service.  That speaks to a daily walk where we are set apart unto Him.  We still live and function in life, but we are always pursuing His highest and His kingdom, not the kingdom of this world.  

The true church are those who are gathered in one accord to truly bring honor to the Father out a heart filled with gratitude and praise.  True worship emanates out of our spirit that so desires to fully connect with His.   It brings worship and honor because He is truly worthy of all worship and honor.  We are not only honoring Him with our lips, but out of our lives that have become an expression of worship, because they are an expression of Him.  True church endeavors to humble itself under the direction of the Holy Spirit and allows Him the freedom to move and direct the order of our worship.  It is not about a one man show, but a body functioning in His giftings in an orderly fashion where God is honored and the body is edified; building itself up in love.  

We have so missed it by making it all about our agenda and time constraints.  That is one of the reasons we often don’t experience God in the depth and dimension we might desire.   Yes, we still need good teaching and preaching, but we need the balance of the rest of God’s gifts and offices in operation as well.  

It is no longer a time just to play church.  It is the time for us to be the Church, in and out of the church building.  Let our lips praise Him from an honest heart of gratitude and worship, as well as a life that is living after the Spirit and not after the flesh.  We are the organism of Christ’s body, not His organization. 

Blessings,

#kent

When We Call

 

Psalms 138:3

When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.

When We Call

This morning, I waited for some time before the Lord dropped this scripture in my spirit.  It made me realize that God does hear us, but we don’t always hear His answer right away.   What makes us bold and stouthearted is the confidence in His Word and in Him that is answering us even through we may not audibly hear or physically see the answer right away.  As we wait upon the Lord, we need to do so from the perspective of worship and faith.  

Now let me share with you the two verses preceding verse three.  “I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; before the “gods” I will sing your praise.  I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”  Notice the approach and attitude toward God, as David, the Psalmist, approaches God for his answer.  David first exalts the Lord in praise, secondly he bows and prostrates himself in the attitude, position and spirit of worship.  Then he makes declaration of the Lord’s faithfulness to His Word and to His name.  

Sometimes, in our busy life and Christianity we forget that there is a protocol to our coming before the Lord.  In the light of that protocol that we see here, we might see how rude it could be for us to just pray as we go; telling the Lord all that we are having problems with and all that we need.  Most of the time we are never get quite or still long enough to listen and see if the Lord has anything to say back to us.  Remember the awesome, holy God we pray too.  He is not just a part of our “to do” list and He’s not just a part of our “to do it for us list”  He is worthy of our every day, every moment, highest regard, reverence and praise.  God wants to meet with us and have relationship with us, but let us never get so flippant and complacent that we dishonor Him in the way we approach and seek Him.   

Listen to whom God says He is, to whom God says He will look and to whom He will listen in Isaiah 66:1-2.  “This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house you will build for me?  Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord.

“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”  

You see, the attitude and position of our heart has a great deal to do with how God receives us.  This word “esteem”  means to look, consider, pay attention to.  If we wonder why we seldom or never hear from God, then we might want to consider how we approach and honor Him with our lives, our praise, worship and prayers.  Learn to ascend into His presence.  Remember, when we call upon the Lord, to follow how Psalms 100 gives us  instruction on how to approach our awesome and wonderful Father.  

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Blessings,

#kent

Call to Worship

Psalms 95:1-11
1O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
3For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
5The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
6O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.
7For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,
8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.
10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Call to Worship

Do you want to be blessed today? If so come with me before the King of Kings, let us sing unto the Lord our God and Maker. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation! Let us exalt Him, praise and magnify His Holy Name. If you want to experience joy then get glad about Jesus. Think upon all His wondrous works throughout the ages and then think upon all the things that He has personally done in your life. We are the products of His loving grace and mercy. No one should know the joy of the Lord like we do. “Oh come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God and Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His Hand.” Can we truly comprehend what that means and how privileged we are to be His? Could we ever acknowledge and thank Him enough for the riches of His love toward us? When we come into His presence with joy and thanksgiving how can we be anything but happy and blessed. The deeper we enter into worship the richer His presence and joy becomes. Let us not neglect so great a privilege as we have to be His worshippers and the magnifiers of His great and Holy Name. For all things are through Him, by Him and for Him. We are created for Him, to be His children, to delight in our Papa God. He delights in you and so greatly loves you. When we honor Him in our praise, our worship and our thanksgiving, then we have the privilege of blessing His heart, for He delights in our love for Him.
It is somewhat strange that this Psalm would end on such a somber note, but it is a warning to us of how quickly our hearts can become hardened and we can lose sight of our great and illustrious King. Even though we know Him for who He is, we can, and still do, err in our hearts. It says “and they have not known His ways.” Let us walk carefully lest we also forget our God, tempt Him, grieve Him and provoke His wrath.
When we acknowledge Him day by day. When we spend the time to be with Him in the Word, prayer, praise and worship. When we center our world and lives on Him, then we come to know Him, delight in Him and know the peace that passes understanding. In this place we enter into the place of His rest, for we cease from our works and all that we are about. Our purpose is to be about the Father’s business, expressing that through our everyday lives and duties. Let every expression that we are be an act of worship and praise unto Him. We are a privileged generation of kings and priest that our God has ordained to magnify His Holiness. Unto Him be all praise forever and ever! Amen

Blessings,
#kent

A Word from the Lord

A Word from the Lord

Romans 13:12

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Leave this day the things of the earthly realm behind you. Look into the dawn of the New Day for from the East arises your salvation and from the West the sun is setting on the former things and the things of this time and place. Open your heart to me and I will fill it. Open your mouth to me and I will fill it. Open your hands to me and I will fill them. I will be your supply and your provision. All of your need is met in me. Lean not upon the arm of the flesh to feed and provide in your day of want. I am your Provider and the supplier of every need. Lean not upon your own understanding, but lean on the council of My Word, for it is the light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet. Take care that you walk in the light of the council of my Word. It is a sword to prove you, to divide and separate soul and spirit. Far too long my people have been a mixture and double-minded in their ways. Let your eye be single and your heart true to the calling that I have given you to walk in My ways and obey My commands, if you do this, then do you love Me. Far too long my people offer up the oblations of praise and worship, but their hearts are far from me. Outwardly they do their homage, but within their heart and their thoughts they entertain wickedness and impurity. I do not judge the outward man, but the inward man, the man of the heart. What value does a beautiful cup or vessel have if it is full of abominations and wickedness? The fire is sent to purify that which I have sanctified. It will burn with unquenchable thirst until there is no more left to feed its desire. Mercy and grace will wet and temper the steel of godliness in my people, lest they be consumed in judgement. My people shall turn to me from the least to the greatest and those that are mine shall gather beneath My wing. There I will shelter them from the storm. It is a time of pruning and separation so that those who would bear fruit may do so more abundantly and those that are dead upon the vine may be cut off and cast into the fire. What a man has sown and what he is now sowing will bear its fruit and he shall eat the fruit thereof either to life or to death. Take care how you plant into your life and into the lives of others. Clay pots hold divine life. Only as they are emptied are they perpetually filled. Stop holding the life till it becomes stagnant and putrified. Pour out that which I place within each one of you. It is only in giving that you truly receive. Release the life. You are not vessels for storage, you are the vessels of daily use to wash the feet of common people and make their way clean and sure. Some of you say, what do I have to give? Give your life, your service, and My love that abides within you. With Me there is never a lack of supply or increase. You are shallow, because your deeds are shallow. Become the vessel that is tipped over and poured out. If you sow sparingly you will reap sparingly. Revelation is coming, but it comes with a price. It must be received with humility and obedience. The revelation of the Most High is revealed in what you live and not in what you know. The revelation of Jesus Christ in you is revealed through a crucified life, laid upon the altar of obedience and service. Today is the day to seek Me and lay all else aside. I am your refuge, your hiding place, your mighty fortress, but you must truly know me to be hid in me. It is no longer about outward actions of religion and godliness, it is a day to know intimately my heart and come into the inner sanctuary of relationship and abiding that is only found in intimacy and relationship. Come quickly, for the days are getting short and times and seasons are at hand. Rouse you up out of your sleep and slumber and come away with me. I speak these things to you, because I love you. Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is speaking to the Church. It is the day for the Bride to prepare herself and make ready for her Groom. Take heed and act quickly.

Blessings,

#kent