Ephesians 3 14-21

I memorized a passage on dreams and visions back in 2006 Ephesians 3:14-21 it has been very powerful for me.  Below is the NASB version and below it is the Mirror Bible version which really spoke to me this morning.

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations [n]forever and ever. Amen.

Here is the version from the mirror bible that really spoke to me about God’s love.

3:14 Overwhelmed by what grace communicates, I bow my knees in awe before the Father. 15 Every family in heaven and on earth originates in him; his is mankind’s family name and he remains the authentic identity of every nation. 16 I desire for you to realize what the Father has always envisaged for you, so that you may know the magnitude of his intent, and be dynamically reinforced in your inner being by the Spirit of God. 17 This will ignite your faith to fully grasp the reality of the indwelling Christ. You are rooted and founded in love. Love is your invisible inner source, just like the root system of a tree and the foundation of a building. 18  Love is your reservoir of super human strength which causes you to see everyone equally sanctified in the context of the limitless extent of love’s breadth and length, and the extremities of its dimensions in depth and height. 19 I desire for you to become intimately acquainted with the love of Christ on the deepest possible level; far beyond the reach of a mere academic, intellectual grasp. Within the scope of this equation God finds the ultimate expression of himself in you. 3:20 we celebrate him who supercharges us powerfully from within. Our biggest request or most amazing dream cannot match the extravagant proportion of his thoughts towards us.

I have spent about 45 minutes reading this over and over.  There is nothing I can add.

Be blessed.

2 Corinthians 7:11

Yesterday around 4:00 I was home by myself watching  football and work on a kitchen sketch on my computer.  When it hit me.  An all-out assault on the visual area of my mind.  The visual rolodex came a live and I got inundated with pornographic images.  It was absolutely overwhelming.  I dwelled and I panicked for several minutes.  Hear me I wanted to go down that road, but I didn’t want to go down that road.   That road is death.  That road hurts my lord, that road hurts my wife.  That road is full of death traps and is a dead end.  So I sent a 911 text to the men I meet with and prayed a short prayer and then opened my kindle to the mirror bible.  Looked at the table contents and felt led to 2 Corinthians 7. 

What happened next was amazing.   7:3 there is no hint of condemnation in my message; I have always maintained that our hearts are joined with you in death and in life. 7:4 I am absolutely persuaded about you and take great pride in you; we are seamlessly one; therefore my joy rises above all sense of claustrophobia. 7:5 when we first arrived in Macedonia we had no chance to relax for a moment; we were literally thronged by trouble; we faced conflict on every side and felt deeply alarmed. 7:6 how wonderful it is to discover God’s comforting closeness when you feel like a bird that cannot rise in flight to escape the fowler; this time God’s closeness was reinforced in the arrival of Titus!  For me the arrival of Titus signifies me taking those thoughts captive and drawing near to Him. 

7:10 To anchor one’s thoughts in God’s thoughts when faced with difficult or painful experiences brings escape from sorrow and leaves one with no regrets; but oh, what a dreadful contrast is the world system (of the law of karma and works) which adds regret upon sorrow! Whereas the one brings such immediate relief, the other seems to be an inescapable deathtrap!  7:11 consider how this very thing that caused you such initial grief has turned your attention to God! It revived an immediate sense of urgency to realize your position in grace; almost like when your arm is twisted and locked behind your back, and your own efforts to clear or save yourselves were completely neutralized. You were greatly alarmed with an intense desire and burning zeal to re-endorse the basis of your righteousness. And so in everything your blameless innocence is vindicated!

The 911 is the subject line in my text that I need prayer and need it now.  It goes to the five men I meet with every week.  I received three texts and two phone calls.  That was awesome!  Thank you Jesus.

Do you have 911 men and women in your life right now?   As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another!

Break my heart for what breaks yours!

I get in my truck to take my daily morning commute this morning to get my caffeine.  While I am driving I am trying to listen to the radio about the election.  Five radio stations and nothing but commercials.  So I turn it off.  I begin to pray about whatever comes to my mind when I hear “what breaks my heart doesn’t break yours.  I think “Nice …….. God’s speaking”     So I am thinking what does that mean?    I immediately start thinking about my sin.  You know …… my lying, my overeating, my lust, my cursing  my my etc. ……. and thinking about my levels of sin.  (You know what I mean sexual sin is so much worse than being a liar or being lazy or being a gossip)  We all know that in the eyes of God sin is sin man gives the scale.  Why are we so quick to confess sexual sin,   when yesterday you just might have sinned by lying, cursing, stealing you know what I mean and didn’t call anyone?

I begin to think about the quest next week and usually what is going on with me tends to manifest on the quest with some of the men.  Right now my sin doesn’t break my heart when in the past it did.  So I tell a little white lie or I lust over something it could be a woman or not, or I curse …. Whatever I think you get the point.  Some days I get convicted and some days I don’t.  When I get home I try to look up “break my heart for what breaks yours.  It is not even scripture!  It is a lyric to the song Hosanna.  This is where I need to be …..  Something that I need / my heart needs to break for what breaks His. 

While looking for this scripture I came across Ezekiel and it floored me.  26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36:26-27 esv.  This scripture is as much for me as what I think it has to do with this Quest.

I know for me That God sees me better than I see myself at times.  I know my friends see me better than I see myself sometimes.  So I am a work in progress.  A friend of mine who lost his son four weeks ago said this to me in a text message yesterday after our 30 minute phone conversation.

“Thanks Kevo, you are an inspiration.  That’s why I called you.  Needed that!!!!  Thanks for being a good friend!!!  

That text was like the Lord was speaking to me. 

Be blessed today!

Kevin

Will I surrender?

2:20 Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that Gal 2.20 msg

Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— “I have been crucified with Christ….”  Oswald chambers

If I refuse to walk in the light as He is in the light, I am the loser.”  Bill Bright, “Circumstances do not contribute to our misery. It’s our lack of understanding of who God is and his wonderful, holy purpose for us that frustrates so many.” He adds, “To surrender yourself totally, irrevocably, without reservation to the living Christ is the greatest privilege man can know.

So I am reading this morning in Matthew chpt 5 about anger and the next thing I know I am back to the topic of dying to myself again!  I read Oswald for the first time since April and he is all about Gal 2:20   I am listening to a song that keeps saying   “leave it all behind and come to the well.”  I click a link on my favorite’s bar that takes me to a blog about surrender and Gal 2:20 By Bill Bright and my last two blogs have been about dying to myself and sin cannot find any expression in a corpse.  Thank you Lord for your continued persistence.  It is easy to believe the obvious but there is something deeper that I am not seeing yet. 

God help me to love you more than myself and your glory more than my life.

So what does dying to yourself look like and are you doing it?

Sin cannot find any expression in a corpse.

I have been reading over this for several days.  Ever since my friend sent it to me.  This morning however it really spoke to me.

Romans 8:10 the revelation of Christ in you declares that your body is as good as dead to sins demands.  Sin cannot find any expression in a corpse.  You co-died together with Him. Yet your spirit is alive because of what righteousness reveals. TMB   Romans 8:10 ^If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is ^[a]alive because of righteousness.  NASB   Sin cannot find any expression in a corpse.    How much more dead can you get?  I guess that means that all people in a cemetery are dead to sin.  I have to admit that is a very good example.    Galatians 2:20 the terms co-crucified and co-alive define me now.  Christ in me and I in Him!  His sacrificial love is evidence of his persuasion of my righteousness!  TMB

As I prepare for another quest where the (we have been in prep over one week) I feel a huge burden to die to myself today.  I see that sin cannot express itself in me if I am the walking dead.  Today I am free

Today my wife is on heart quest so today not only do I die to myself but I must die for her and go to battle for her.

For me ….. I need to start living out the scriptures that I speak about.  Not just speak them to other people but believe them for myself.    Romans 12:1-2 were the 2^nd and 3^rd scriptures I ever memorized and I quote them a lot but have often wondered if I truly live by them.

12:1 Live consistent with who you really are, inspired by the loving kindness of God.   My brothers, the most practical expression of worship is to make your bodies available to him as a living sacrifice; this pleases him more than any religious routine.   He desires to find visible, individual expression in your person. (The word, 1parakaleo, comes from para, a preposition indicating close proximity, a thing proceeding from a sphere of influence, with a suggestion of union of place of residence, to have sprung from its author and giver, originating from, denoting the point from which an action originates, intimate connection; and kaleo, meaning to identify by name, to surname. Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit in the same capacity: parakletos, meaning close companion, kinsman [John 14:16]. The word, 2adelphos, comes from a, as a connective particle, and delphos, meaning womb. Commonly translated as brother. [See Heb 2:11] The word, 3paristemi, means to exhibit, to present. In the context of the New Testament, the sacrificial system no longer involves dead animals, but living people. “You died in his death and are now alive unto God” [Rom 6:11].)

12:2 do not allow current religious tradition to mold you into its pattern of reasoning. Like an inspired artist, give attention to the detail of God’s desire to find expression in you. Become acquainted with perfection. To accommodate yourself to the delight and good pleasure of him will transform your thoughts afresh from within. (The word, aion, is traditionally translated as “do not be conformed to this world.” Actually aion points to a period of time of specific influence. In the context of this writing, Paul refers to the religious traditional influence of his day as euarestos, which is eu, praiseworthy, well done + arestos, meaning to accommodate one’s self to the opinions, desires, and interests of others.) The mirror bible

Die to yourself

Just being real …………..  All week I have had two things going through my mind.   When I quote a scripture to someone do I believe it for myself?  The second one is the lyric I heard, “Worship is more than just a song.” 

When we signed up for this walk with Jesus, we signed up to die.  To die to ourselves,   to be living sacrifices Holy and pleasing to God,

Romans 12-1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

Revelation 12.11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

I hear this scripture quoted all the time but only the first part.  How convenient to leave off the last part about dying to yourself.

I look at these two scriptures and see how they go together.  You have to die to yourself before you can be a living sacrifice

I have to admit that dying to myself is not the simplest thing to do. At times it comes very easy when it is convenient, but what about when it is not?  I got out this old book I have called “Let Go” by Fenelon.  The letters in this book were penned during the 17^th century.  Anyhow when I opened it,   I see the letter titled  “the discovery of death and self.”    I have underlined in the letter “you asked for a remedy, that your problem might be cured.  You don’t need to be cured, you need to be slain!   Then I go back in my journal and I am reading along when I come across the part of my journal where I did a 40 day fast and there it is again the exact same quote.

What needs to die in you today?

Whenever you quote a scripture to someone do you ever think that it doesn’t apply to you?

Cultivate the presence of the Lord

Most of you know I serve on Quest.  I just got back Sunday and once again God showed up and showed off and it was incredible.   Not only for the Questers but also for the staff.  Before I left I received a text message from one of my clients and it said this God has a habit of chasing after leadership too.  Let Him catch you and see what happens.   Well he caught me.  He spoke to me through a friend of mine with this statement.  “Stop trying to create the absence of sin and start cultivating the presence of the Lord.”   I  had to just sit there a minute and actually ask him to repeat it again.  Sometimes I think  (me included) that we focus so hard on trying not to sin that we miss it!  We try to prevent sin instead of just focusing on God more.   There are things that need to be done.  Pray, listen to worship music, study the word and be washed by the word.   If you do all things then it makes it very hard for sin to creep in because your heart is with Him.  Your heart is filled with Him which leaves no room for anything else.  Be blessed today!

…Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. ~ Ephesians 5:25b-27

God tells Moses, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14

8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may [a]be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will [b]have success.  Joshua 1:8 (NASB)

Have been listening to a song called Clear the Stage which broke me.

A lyric from the song says.

You can sing all you want to

And still get it wrong; 
Oh, worship is more than a song


Jesus speaks to children

Matthew 21:16        Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.'"

We were giving the opportunity to have our grandson this summer for three weeks.  We had so much fun.  We were only supposed to get him for one week.  At the end of the first week he wanted to stay one more so mom said yes.  During this time we figured out he was afraid of the water,  afraid to go swimming.  He is only seven so we new something had happened but did not know what.  He didn't know why either.  At the end of the second week which was a Saturday morning there was a part of me ready for him to go home.  I knew the next week I was going to be super busy.  I heard the Lord say “ you have had missed opportunities you need to keep him for another week”  so I called mom and she said one more week.  That day I told him that if you will ask Jesus He will show you.  He said, “what do you mean?”  Ask Jesus to show you why you are afraid to go swimming.  He said “okay.”   That was Saturday.  so we prayed about this Saturday night and Sunday night and I told him to keep asking until he hears an answer.   ….. Monday morning as we were getting ready to go to work he came up to me and said,  “Pa Pa I know why I am afraid to go swimming.”  I said , “What is it?”  Jesus showed me when I was little that my big cousin through me in the deep end of the pool and I didn’t know how to swim.”  That just broke me.  We get to the job and at this house there is a swimming pool.  We were not there 10 minutes when he asked me if he could go swimming.  I said I thought you were afraid of the water?  “Not anymore!”  he said.   and so he jumped in and went swimming for over an hour and now he has no more fear of the water. 

So I ask you ……… If you have a hurt.  All you have to do is Ask Him and he will show you just like he showed Jeremiah.  Just ask.

Pride

Pride………………………. Need I say more. 

 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Prv 16:18.  I have felt pretty good about not walking in pride until Tuesday.   I was at the landfill unloading my trash trailer.  I was in the process of picking up a 36 x 36 broken window.  When I grabbed it I remember thinking to my self “be carefull you don’t want any of these broken shards of glass to fall and cut yourself in the leg.  Then I hear ask Scotty he is five feet away ask him for help,  NOPE I CAN GET IT ON MY OWN!”  All of that in a span of about five seconds. 

Well a shard of glass fell and cut my leg very badly and I got 16 stiches.   I doctored up my leg and went back to the job site.  While I was driving I hear “once again you thought you could do something on your own and once again you were wrong”  That statement took me right back to my struggle that I often have with porn.  I have found over the years that when I struggle the most is when I try to control the urges on my own instead of listening and turning it over to Him.

The other part of the story is I heard the Lord tell me to ask Scotty for help and I ignored Him

Pride and disobedience not a good combo.  Lord thank you for your forgiveness!  Thank you for your mercy for giving us one more day!

Stop Evaluating others

2 Corinthians 5:16 so we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!

  I was listening to a sermon yesterday morning driving to men’s group when I heard this scripture quoted and it just stopped me in my tracks.  Especially on the heels of what I wrote Saturday.  I have to admit that loving someone the way God sees them for me is not always an easy thing to do.  Case in point, at our sonic we have a gay waiter and I know he is gay, because he flaunts it.  I have not been very nice to him and have been called out by my wife several times.  Over the last three months of Listening to Todd White and understanding what it means to love people regardless of their life style has not been the easiest road travelled.  Loving them in spite of their religion sometimes harder.   I had some missed opportunities with some Jehovah witness’s as well.  I have actually heard ”you don’t see them the way I do”

Yesterday as I am driving I get this vision of the gay guy from my sonic walking out with a sign around his neck that says I am a liar and thief and that is my lifestyle that I choose.  I knew in my heart that I would treat him differently than if the sign said I am a homosexual and that is the lifestyle I choose.   Needless to say I did not feel very good about myself knowing that I would walk in judgment like that.  This is become a very big eye opener for me.  since the last time I was called out I have been back to the sonic and treated him  with the utmost respect and looked at him the way God sees him on the outside.  (my heart is still not right though)

His kindness leads us to repentance and sometimes that kindness is through us to another person.

Romans 2:4  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Make Allowances

Ephesians 4:2 always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.

So what exactly does that look like?   Does that mean if I get an lgbt waiter that I treat him the same as if I got a straight waiter?   What about a customer?   If I go to someone’s house to do kitchen remodel and when I get there I find out that they are gay.   I know what I would do; I would show them the love of Jesus and work for them.    Just maybe ….. Them seeing me as a follower of Jesus might be the one thing that causes them to question what they are doing.  I don’t have to say anything, just be Jesus with skin on.   I had the question asked me the other day.  What if I was approached to build an abortion clinic?   As I have thought about that question over and over I have come to the conclusion that someone is going to build it.  So for me I pray about it and if He says build it then I build it.  Is abortion against my beliefs …? Yes.  I look at it as an opportunity to pray over it every day during the construction.  Write scriptures on the studs and take opportunities to minister to the leaders.  Who knows what will happen.  Just because it gets built does not mean it will open. 

Someone told me the other day that Jesus did not minister to prostitutes.  He said Jesus looked at them as children of God that had lost their way.   What a concept.   I was once that person.  A child of God that had lost his way.  I did drugs, slept around, viewed pornography, cussed, overate, alcoholic, drug addict need I say more.  I had someone love me to Jesus in spite of me.

So you have a choice today.  Are you going to make an allowance for someone’s fault or you going to be religious?

Mark 12:29-31New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁹ Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. ³⁰ And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’^{[a] 31} The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] No other commandment is greater than these.”

Are you offended?

Are you offended?    Are you walking in un-forgiveness?     Life would be so much simpler if we would not walk in afence (I spelled it that way on purpose) I heard about a dream.  The man was standing at the edge of this beautiful field.  Down the middle was a fence.  On one side was Jesus and all who loved him.  On the opposite side was the devil and all who loved him.  The man decided to get a better view so he got on the fence and everyone disappeared.   Then the devil appeared and said,   “There you are…. I have been looking all over for you”   the man said, “I love Jesus I am on the fence leave me alone” Satan said “I don’t think so   who do you think OWNS the fence?   Matthew 5:37  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.   That is why I spelled the word offense as afence.  I think if you are walking in offense then you are on the fence.   You see we as followers of Jesus are not to become offended.  I truly believe if you love Jesus with all of your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself.    Then it is impossible to become offended.   I did not say you couldn’t get hurt I said offended.   Being offended is a choice with huge ramifications.   What did Jesus say:  Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I want to be so free from me, that I am free from you.   Know what is bad about being offended?   You spew poison from your mouth and it gets on everyone around you.  Especially those closest to you.  When that happens then it is easy for that person to become offended for you. Then you feed off on each other.   Happens all the time.   Remember Pain will always happen, but it is your choice to suffer YOUR CHOICE!

So here is the big question.   Stop right now and ask Holy Spirit.   Am I offended?  Am I offended because something happened to my spouse at work or something?  Am I offended because someone replied to my post on Facebook and it hurt my little feelings so you UN friended them?   I will touch on why I am witting this later.   Let’s just say I had an opportunity to become really offended and I chose not to get offended.                                   

Proverbs 19.11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. 

Matthew 25:40

Matthew 25:40 Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ MSG

Matthew 25:40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’  NLT

It has been a little over five weeks since I was introduced to who Todd White is and his story and ministry.   I have stopped reading my devotions and have been reading Ephesians.  I have been in Ephesians now for five weeks.   There has been a transformation in my heart.  It has been to love people right where they are at.  Not just for the 5.5 days on quest but every day.  If a person is carrying a sign that he is hungry, I give him money.  To me it does not matter if that is his job or if he is lying.   What matters is what my motive is.  The money always comes with a “Jesus loves you and He thinks you are amazing”    I believe that because He loves me.   My world has been turned upside down.  Today I don’t have to say “Father help me with my unbelief!”   I have none today. 

We are supposed to lay hands on people and they get healed.  We all have that power.   I was at a customer’s house the other day and after we were through talking business we started talking Jesus.   Her daughter began to tell me about this depilating disease she has called the suicide disease.  I immediately became uncomfortable in my spirit.   I got hot and sweaty and nervous and tears were welling up.  I knew I was supposed to pray for her healing,   but I didn’t want to.  The thought came what if she doesn’t get healed?  That is the enemy.   I did it anyway and I prayed for her and guess what?  For the first time in my life I knew Jesus was going to heal her right then…. There was no doubt in my mind.   I asked her, how do you feel?   She said, I still hurt and I said give it some time.  What happened though with me was my faith was not shaken because she was not healed right then.  She will be healed in Jesus name.  Her name is Chelsea and the disease that she will be healed form is called trigeminal neuralgia.   Sorry this one is a little longer than usual.

Buy someones lunch today and tell them that Jesus loves them and He thinks there amazing and  see if a door does not get opened.  

Kevin

Betrayed

The word says In Matthew 22:32 Jesus said to him, “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with your entire mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’   That means in every circumstance that you are in.   You don’t get to choose your circumstance.

Here is something to think about.   Jesus knew one of his best friends was going to betray him before he did.   Yet he still loved him and let him be in charge of the money.   So as I was thinking about that today,   and it made me wonder.

What if the Lord gave you a word of knowledge about your best friend?   That this person that you had been doing life with was going to betray you in a few months.     I mean  …….Judas gave up Jesus and  Jesus still loved him.   Jesus  even had communion with Him.  What do you think you would do in those three months?   How would you treat your future betrayer?

How would you treat him after the betrayal?  Knowing what you know and knowing who you are (which is a son or daughter of the King)  Everyone at some point  is going to get hurt, but it is your choice to be offended.

Kee

Let your yes be yes

Todd White is a man who loves the Lord unlike any one I have ever heard.  Last night I watched the movie “Father of Lights” the movie is a documentary about the Heart of God.  Rocked my world.  At the end was about 20 minutes of Todd White in Jerusalem.  Amazing!  I have learned something about myself.  For my walk to be complete I have to love people.  (that is what Jesus said)  All people not just certain ones.  I have learned that I am only seven years old in the Lord.  I have learned that I can’t be on the fence because satan owns the fence.  You are either all in or you are not.  Jesus  say in Matthew 5:37  But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.  I have found myself over the last 18 days looking at all people and asking the Lord for a word of knowledge for them.  I walk in Home Depot and I see people in a different light.  I see them in the way the Lord sees them and my heart is changing.   I see tattoos, overweight, super skinny, tall, short, mean, and nice and I find myself walking and praying for people under my breath.  I see it coming …… I see the lord giving me a word of knowledge for someone who is sick or injured and praying for them and they are getting healed.  It is real.   Right now I feel like my heart is about to leap out of my chest for this.  Going up to someone and reading there mail and then praying for them to be healed is out of my comfort zone, but then that is why we have the comforter… right?   To be okay with whatever response they have.  To walk and not be offended because I know who I am.  Proverbs 19.11  Good sense makes one slow to anger,  and it is his glory to overlook an offense.  I want to be so free from me,  that I am free from you #toddwhite

The last thing that has been really on my heart is Revelation 12:11   we all know it… we sing about it, but in the last week it has really just clicked.  We sing about the first part but never about the second part “and they did not love their souls so much that they were afraid to die!”

Rev. 12.11 And they overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and they did not love their souls so much that they were afraid to die.   We are supposed to die so we can live.  I just don’t see how the blood of the lamb and your testimony are going to do much good if you don’t die to yourself.
I suppose you can pose through the first part.  You can show a good walk and have a testimony and look at porn when you are by yourself or lie or cheat.  Under pay for something when you know the price is wrong.  Thief!    I think you get the point. 

Living as an epistle

As I woke this morning all I could hear was the song “I love you Lord” playing in my heart.

I love you, Lord
and I lift my voice

to worship You
Oh, my soul rejoice!

Take joy my King

In what You hear
Let it be a sweet,                                                                                                                          sweet sound in Your ear  

 It has been a long time since a woke to the joy of the Lord.  I have had a slow but consistent heart change ever since I was introduced to a man I have been listening to called Todd White.  Todd is an example of who we should be.  He IS THE REAL DEAL.  Give 15 minutes today and listen to this video Be a living Epistle  if it doesn’t make you think then call me and tell me why.  He starts off by saying “life is not worth living unless you’re living your life as a co laborer in Christ”

2 Cor. 6:1 As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. 2 For God says,  “At just the right time, I heard you.  On the day of salvation, I helped you.”  Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
As I have been listening to him this verse in revelation ……. We all know it, but we only quote the first part and we never quote the last “and they loved not their lives unto the death!”  That is my problem.  There are areas in my life that I will not let die.  If I don’t let them die then there is not much strength in the blood of the lamb or the  word of my testimony is there?  This says …. If I die then I WILL overcome.

ToddWhite testimony

There is a place you can walk where you are so confidant in God that it terrifies people.                    

Godfidence  is what I want to walk in.   Listen and be blessed

 

Galatians 2.20

Galatians 2:20

 

 

Galatians 2:20  "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

I wanted to tag on to yesterday.  What I wrote yesterday and the questions I posed were more for the unbeliever that you would come into contact with or maybe the believer who is not secure in who he/she is in Christ than a believer ..   The truth is if you are living this resurrected life then people don’t have to ask you the questions, they see it.   They come to you for answers, prayer or when they are in a crisis situation.  Why?  Because they see the Jesus in you.  They want to be around you.  They want what you have.

Thanks Chuck for the reminder.

Are you an Imitator?

1 Peter 3:15 (NIV) ¹⁵ But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

Question?  In the last week how many people have come up to you and asked you to give a reason for the hope that you have?   If the answer is no, why do you think that is?  What about in the last month?  Year?  For me as much as I walk this out I have not had many ask me.  I think in the last year the number is zero.  I don’t know if I have every had anyone come up to me and say.  Why are you so happy?  Why do you have so much peace?  How come you never get offended?

I believe this is a reality check.   Do people have a reason to come up to you and ask you those questions?    What is the deal with you?   Why are you different?    When was the last time someone said to you “I want what you got!”  I have to tell you that as long as I have been walking this walk I don’t believe I have heard that spoken to me.  Maybe I have and don’t remember.  I believe if you are walking this out and you are an imitator of God a full imitator of God not partial.  Then this will happen.  The reason I believe this is because if you are an imitator of God then you are oozing love and people will see that.  They will hear it in your voice.  They will see it in your eyes.   They will see it in your actions.  Your fruit will be good. 

Ephesians 5  (NASB)Be Imitators of God 5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;  and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 

Be on the alert

1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.   

Texting and driving and email.    

Look around … you see the Lord everywhere and he is apparent everywhere.   Look for the enemy … he is everywhere also but hidden.   Waiting for you to take the bait.   I have a bad habit of texting, driving and checking my email.   I would like to think I am very good at it.  (oh wait I am good at,  that is scary)  I find myself getting mad at people when I see them doing the very thing I do.   Go figure!   I use hands free, but it is still a distraction.   I have had a few close calls.   You know curbs, a mailbox the usual, I am sure you can relate.  We all receive warnings or wake up calls in this area and we heed them for a little while and then for the most part we are back to doing what we do on a regular basis again …. Right?  The other day I had an accident.  I pulled out of 7-11 on a two lane road heading north bound.  There was oncoming traffic and they were traveling southbound.   No sooner had I got up to speed (30mph) when a spare tire (fully air up on a rim)  came flying out of the back of this pickup truck and I was the bull’s-eye.  I could not go right nor left.   I think I had all but two seconds if that to react.  It took about two hops in the air about five feet tall I think.  I locked my truck up and was able to come to a complete stop before the tire hit my truck (3500.00 damages) had I been checking my phone or texting I probably would have taken that tire through my windshield and I would have been moving.    I said I had two seconds but it was probably less.  That was Monday, Tuesday in men’s group someone  posed the question “Do you think the Lord was trying to show you something?”   I said with a little exasperation “I don’t know!”    Then I heard it.   It was a wakeup call   ….. A warning, however you want to look at it about texting and driving.   It was very clear.  I have become way too comfortable with texting and driving.   So now I pull over to take care of business.

So the question is this.  Do you think you got it together with your driving that you can text?  If you do then I have news for you …… You don’t!   Be safe and be blessed

Kevin

Running the race

Two in a row after nothing for over a month …..hmmm.  I am driving around yesterday   when this scripture pops in my mind.  Galatians 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸ That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.   What I heard was …. You were running hard what changed?  So I looked it up.  I have been going through the motions.  You know just praying a little, going to men’s group.  Just doing the best I can ……. Knowing in my heart I was not doing what I am passionate about,   which is the Lord.  So I asked when did this start?  I hear “when you put your dog down last December.”   That just broke my heart.   The truth is I miss my dog.  The part where I got deceived was when the death occurred.   I was taken out of my daily routine and I didn’t realize it until yesterday.  It showed me that I was relying on something else to help me in my walk with the Lord.   That sounds funny but don’t know how to make it sound right … go figure.  When the one thing I was depending on was gone I didn’t run to Him.  I grieved but maybe without his help,  I don’t remember.   I am starting to see a pattern where I run to myself instead of the one who leads and that has to stop… today.

So if you are going through something and you are not sure ……. but feel like you are distant from the Lord.  You felt like you were running the race so well and then something just changed.   Look to your past.  We all know there is no future in the past, but there very well could be some freedom.

Kevin

Unbelief

So I have been really chewing on something for the last few days.  I have been thinking about something that my counselor said to me.   We were talking about my unbelief that I have when it comes to being delivered from lust..   We talked about how often I feel like I have turned this over to the Lord yet sometimes I have or want to go back to the vomit someway or another.   Many times I struggle with who God says I am …. Not often but sometimes.  She said something to me (and I feel it was from the Lord)

She said,  Maybe in this area you don’t believe who God says he is.   Well I had to just sit there and ponder that statement.   I have heard it spoken the other way, but not in the way she put it.  So I have been praying and asking  “Lord help me with my un belief!”  Help me to believe who you say you are!  Mark 9-23,24  Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,^[ all things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Kevin

Below was written on March 1^st, 2014

This is what I got in my time with the Lord Saturday morning down at the ranch.  I went down to the ranch to work on the dishwasher (fixed I might add) and a couple of MW ovens.  I also took down a new B-Bcue grill.  I was reading my usually Oswald chambers when in the middle I heard Jeremiah 16.   That was random.  (we all know the Lord is not random)

Jeremiah 16:¹⁷ I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. ^[1]They cannot hope to hide from me. ¹⁸ I will double their punishment for all their sins, because they have defiled my land with lifeless images of their detestable gods and have filled my territory with their evil deeds.” ^[2]
Now here is how I read it.  Jeremiah 16:¹⁷ I am watching YOU closely, and I see every sin. ^[3]YOU cannot hope to hide from me. ¹⁸ I will double your punishment for all of YOUR sins, because you have defiled my land with lifeless images of LUST and have filled my territory WHICH IS YOUR home with your evil deeds.” 

Well needless to say that is not what I was expecting this morning when I asked for a word for my wife!  I got this instead.   When I was reading about Judah’s coming punishment, I was thinking…… where is this going?  I am not getting much out of this.  Then I got slapped right in the face and it hurt.  The truth is when I am looking at things that I am not supposed to be looking at, doesn’t matter where I am, computer, store, restaurant or alone with my thoughts,  you know the visual rolodex.   I just never get the sense that the Lord is hovering over my shoulder watching me.  I understand what scripture says, but I think you know what I mean.  So I’m just there and pondered what I had just read…. I just stared at my bible for what seemed an eternity.   Normally when I get a scripture like that, I stop reading.  This time I felt a nudge to continue on.  So glad I did.

Whenever there is a wounding word from the Lord, it is a good hurt.  What came next though was better.  Jeremiah 16: ¹⁹ Lord, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day of trouble! ………………..²¹ The Lord says, “Now I will show them my power; now I will show them my might. At last they will know and understand that I am the Lord.

¹⁹ Lord, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in MY day of trouble! ………………..²¹ The Lord says, “Now I will show YOU my power; now I will show YOU my might. At last YOU will know and understand that I am the Lord.  Then I hear this. that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord. ^[4]  The end of Jer. 9:24

^{Almost two hours with the Lord that morning …}….. priceless with tears.   That He would love me in spite of me!

---