Are you prepared?

Romans 1:5 Through Christ, God has given us the privilege* and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

This is all about walking in who you are as an Apostle, being able to give your testimony in Love not bashing someone over the head as a religious person may do. When you are walking and living in His love, you will be bringing Glory to His name and not yours.

Are you prepared today to bring Glory to His name?

Hebrews 10

 

Hebrews 10.32 Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.^* Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.

Many years ago the Holy Spirit showed me to stay off the computer in the morning and my phone. To give Him the first fruits of the morning. No TV, no computer, no work …. Just him. I am amazed at how often I hear Him in the morning. It usually comes in the form of "What are you doing? That is not what I said do. How long are you going to continue to do this instead of listening to me? Or at night I hear "you going to pray? I just ignore. This morning was the first time in a long time I left everything off and just read and listened and it felt good. The passage above made me think about where I was 10 years ago …….. Lost and my marriage was going down the tubes and then it hit bottom. I started going back to church and was on fire for everything. I did whatever the church leaders told me to do and I did not question that. I was a baby craving spiritual milk. I went through some suffering but I remained faithful. Now I am ten years later, I am faithful but do I trust as much as I did 10 years ago? Am I as patient? Am I as passionate?

Are you?

Hebrews 10 ³⁵ So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! ³⁶ Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

Stand Firm

Isaiah 7:9 Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria,

and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah.

Unless your faith is firm,

I cannot make you stand firm." As I read this passage this morning it made me wonder. A company is only as strong as its leader. A country is only as strong as its leader. A marriage is only as strong as the husband. So many times I pray for strength or resolve or patience or discipline when in reality I already have these things I just don't stand firm. Enough said.

Isaiah 42

Could not sleep last night, I am feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the work I have going on. I was up for at least three hours last night. I could not shut off my brain. I have more work right now than I could imagine and it just keeps coming. I would ask for prayer for me to be focused and confident in what I do and to be better organized. 16 I will lead blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and smooth out the road ahead of them. I take this scripture and believe that it is for me. It took two chapters to get there. I am not saying that I am blind but I am in uncharted territory. In the next two months I will have made more money that the previous 18 months.

The next word I got is familiar territory and that is not a good thing Isaiah 42:20 you see and recognize what is right but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but you don't really listen." Here is the truth, I am overweight and I hate it, I am completely out of shape, my joints hurt, I hate to bend over. Everything is a chore. I know I need to eat right, but I don't , I know I need to exercise, but I don't. I wrote about this at the start of the year, and then I broke my leg. Still could have at right though. So the bottom line is I am walking in rebellion. James says that he who knows what to do and does not do it, that is sin to him.

So I confess rebellion and fouling up God's Holy Temple with the lack of exercise and not eating right. You know what to pray for. Bless you Kevin

A little dog

The power of a little dog. We adopted a little Jack Russell mix about five weeks ago. It has been an interesting time. The dog is two years old and house broken and was abused. We were told she was not abused, but we are finding out through my big burliness and voice that she was. I want to name the dog skitso because with me she has a split personality. James 3.5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. (OR MAKE A LITTLE DOG PEE!) I am convinced that the Lord has a sense of humor and brought this little dog to us. My wife has observed the dog react to my voice when my tone is in a bad way and she cowers even if I am not talking to her. If my tone in my home is how it should be, with honor and respect for the ones who live in my home then I don't have to worry about this dog leaving puddles around my home. In a way, I have to walk on egg shells at times and that is okay because it is about my tone around my family. This dog is here to help me and I receive that.

So here is my question to you. If my little dog lived in your home for a while would you have pee stains on your carpet?

Isaiah 40

Sometimes it is the most subtle word from the Lord that penetrates the deepest. So why do you think it is when you know the truth …….. People tell you the truth. You tell yourself the truth, but nothing clicks until you read it straight from the word of God. That is what happened. A word from the Lord this morning during my short time with Him this morning. Isaiah 40:2 ………..tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned ………………….This is what I heard this morning and I receive it.

Amen

Just being Honest

The poem is one that I wrote back in 03. I found an old disk that had some files on it and that poem was one of them. I read it and it spoke to me like I wrote it today. My wife asked me a question yesterday and I did not know how to answer it. She said "Why do you hate yourself so much?" I did not know how to respond to that. I got really jacked up over something that happened a while back. I am not sure if I am entirely over it. It is not working for me. Pain is inevitable but am I choosing to suffer?

I really have to wonder if I am walking in humility? am I tending to my wife's garden?

I don't want to read ….. I don't want to pray …… I don't like that….. there is no desire and no passion in my heart right now. Just being honest. I don't want to go to Church because I don't want to be a poser. I have my friends that I am being real with. This is just where I am at.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

2 Chronicles 7:14

Where I am at

You have a choice

 

There is a truth that we seek.

Without this truth we become weak.

There is a road we must all travel.

It is with Jesus or our lives will unravel.

 

Think of the Holy One

And the road He took.

The price He gave.

So He could rise from the grave.

 

He ascended to the Heavens

On that special day

Forever to be by His Fathers side

So He can spread His love worldwide.

 

Do you have His love in your heart?

Or does your life feel torn apart?

Do you walk with an Angel?

Or has your life become tangled?

 

He wants you to follow Him

He forgives you of your sin.

Even when you walk at night,

His light shines bright.

 

You have a choice when you live

Should you be into yourself,

Or should you give?

If you do not give, you will have no wealth.

 

Walking with Jesus is the way.

Speak to Him when you pray.

Thank you Lord for Your grace.

Then one day I will see Your face.

 

What a special day that will be,

Just think You were once a stranger to me.

I was never a strange to You

Your love was/is always true.

 

By kevin gwyn

Copyright © June, 1^st. 2003

I was hurt

Did you know that when you carry "the Bible", Satan has a headache, when you open it, he collapses, when he sees you reading it, he loses his strength, AND when you stand on the Word of God, Satan can't hurt you! I received this in an email this morning and it really struck a chord with me. This is who I have not been in the last almost two weeks. On May 21^st I was judged very harshly for something I did or said. This person decided on his/her own that the reason I said what I said was for the reasons he thought. What I said was not for the reasons this person thought. He/she tried me, convicted me and sentenced me without every even talking to me. and now we do not speak to each other. It just goes to show that when you add a why to the reason someone does something then you will essentially cause your own pain. I have opened my house to this person and walked with this person for almost two years and now, today it is over. That is okay, you can only reach for so long until the rope runs out. So what happened to me? It took me out …. I was hurt and wondered why and before I knew it I was not reading or praying or writing or anything. I could see it happening, but in my mind I was not willing to do anything about it. I was angry and hurt and instead of running to the source of my comfort, I just kept quiet. That is where I have been. I walk in forgiveness and peace

 

 

7 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Hebrews 10

Someone asked me yesterday "how is your heart?" I gave the standard poser answer because I didn't feel like getting into it right at that moment. My heart is sad. There is very sweet lady that I have been praying for, my mother in law and other people having been praying for her as well. We have had great words spoken over her about her healing, but it feels like the prayers are going UN answered. The doctors are saying there is nothing else they can do, so it looks like they are going to move her to hospice Thursday. My wife who has been very strong during this time broke down yesterday for the first time that I have seen. It hurt to see her like that, I know it is life, but why can't the evil just get snuffed out and leave the good people alone. I have a lady who I am supposed to add on to her house, that I have only known for three months. People have been praying for her as well. I went to the hospital last Friday. She had some questions for me and then we gathered around and prayed for her healing so she could go home. Now she is worse and is having 24 hour care. You hear about this happening a lot, prayers that seem to go UN answered, but do they. It can and sometimes makes it very hard to pray when you feel like your prayers are going UN answered. Prayer is how we communicate with God; we just have to remember are we listening when we are praying? Or is it just a one side conversation. I received a little comfort this morning in the word. Hebrews 10 ^and so, dear brothers and sisters,^* we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. ²⁰ By his death,^* Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. ²¹ And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, ²² let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

²³ Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise

John 6.65

I walk up and down my driveway in the dark to pray. It always seems that whatever I need to say just comes out. When I sit at my desk it seems like a struggle. One of the things I always pray for is for something to write. As you can see I didn't get anything to write at that moment. I say all of that to say this. When I was praying this morning I felt like I was supposed to read in John chapter 5. So I read and I wasn't getting anything, so I continued through chapter 6 and then I got stuck on verse John 6.65 Then he said, "That is why I said that people can't come to me unless the Father gives them to me." I thought …. I can write about that, but I couldn't. I tried but nothing. I researched the words … nothing. I didn't get it until today at lunch when I was eating with a friend of mind and we got to talking about stuff. He was telling me about a friend of his that he wanted to come to the Lord, but nothing was working. What he said to him was not working. Without going into a lot of detail. The lord showed me that the scripture this morning was for him. It was a good moment in time today at lunch … for him and me. I think he got some peace when he realized besides planting the seeds of righteousness he was also trying to water them. That is not our job and I think we are all guilty of that. We want people to have what we have so bad that we actually get in the way of the Lord and make it worse! Are there any takers? The other part to this story is I still got to write just not when I wanted to. I also heard the Lord this morning, but didn't think I was. It never dawned on me that what I was hearing this morning was preparing me for my time with my friend today at lunch. How many times do you or I hear the Lord and not even realize that is what you're hearing?

Faith or Doubt

Have you gotten to the point where you have hardened your Heart to the works of Jesus? Mark 6:52, "For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened." They didn't understand what he had done at the supper. None of this had yet penetrated their hearts. Mark 6.52 MSG. I just wonder if that is what happens to us. We see someone get healed but when it comes to our on healing then we harden our own hearts and maybe not believe we could be healed by the same power. Or we pray and God answers our prayer and we are amazed at that. Then time goes by …. A month or 6 months or maybe a year. Then we are not amazed anymore. Then we begin to listen to the doubt and fear of the enemy more than we listen to the truth of the Lord. We need to learn to be more sensitive to God's word and our faith than to satan and doubt.

So what's in your wallet? Faith or doubt?

Maybe our hearts need to be hardened to doubt

Just had a thought.
Are you relying on your emotions to get you through the day? Or do you rely on the truth?

It is for Freedom that christ has set you FREE!

2 Peter 1.5

2 Peter 1:5

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, ……………………….NKJV this whole passage goes on and on. Verse 10 says ………….. If you do these things you will never stumble! Cut and dry! I am reading May 10^th in Oswald. (As usual wrong day) It cause me to pause a moment and think about all of the things that I ask the Lord to do in my prayers. Things that I am responsible for, not Him. The Lord does not give me character; I do that by the choices I make. He does not give me good habits or bad, I do that by the choices I make. The scripture above says "ADD" I am walking in freedom because of the choice I made on March 14. So many times we ask the Lord to do things for us, when we should be doing ourselves. Are you asking the Lord to do something for you when really it is you that needs to do it? I have been asking the Lord about my eating and exercising. He is not going to change my eating o exercising habits.

You know how the prayer goes Lord I pray for discipline in my eating and give me the desire to workout. Change your eating habits and get your butt to the gym! (that goes for me) Or how about this one. Lord I am praying for work. I need to support my family. Then you sit around waiting for the Lord to bring that job to your doorstep. I don't think that is how it works. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done and trust. You will know if what you are doing is not the Lord. The lord is my protector, but I still have to lock my windows at night. The Lord is my provider, but I still have to work. The Lord is my healer, but I still have to go to the doctor. The Lord is my Rock, but I still have to make the right choice!

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue  knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control 4perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither 5barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Today this scripture

And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

What exactly does that mean to you? I have read this many times before but never noticed it. It comes after one of the most powerfull scriptures in the new testament.

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

I like to read it like this. My name is Kevin and the Spirit of the Lord is upon me Because He has anointed Kevin To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Kevin to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

It is my belief that this scripture speaks to all of us not just me. Not because it is what I believe but because it is what Jesus said "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." I say read this passage and put your name in place of mine, but not just to hear your name but believe it when you say it.

 

Here is what Jesus says later in Luke 10:19
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.NKJV

So you are anointed and you can trample

 

 

Psalm 94.19

Psalm 94.19  When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. NLT

Started reading in Psalm 91 …… always a good psalm to read…. One of my favorite. So I kept on reading and then I got to 94.19 and when I read it I hear "you never seek me for comfort, You don't get quiet anymore and just listen." "you pray and read and write" Some of my best times with the Lord come when I just close my mouth, close my bible and just listen. Just crawl up in His lap and just listen. It is so hard sometimes to just get quiet and it is so important. Maybe your next quiet time needs to be listening instead of reading and praying. Or better yet listening and then praying.

When I was upset and beside myself, You calmed me down and cheered me up. Msg

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul. NASB95

In the multitude of my [anxious] thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight my soul! AMP

In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. NKJV

Which version speaks to you?

Your Fruit

7 "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7

I am reading this morning and I skipped right over this and read the whole chapter. When I get to the end verse 20 it says Matthew 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. It made me think back to verse 7 and 8. I thought if I am not doing the things that 7 and 8 are saying then what kind of fruit am I producing?

So here is my question, have you quit asking? Have quit receiving? Have you quit knocking? How is that working for you? God says draw near to me and I will draw near to you. That is a promise! If things aren't going YOUR way then maybe it is time to do something else! What kind of fruit are you producing? I think you should stop right now and ask, Lord, do people want to eat my fruit or is my fruit bad?

Today, my fruit is good; Seven weeks ago it was not. "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Idols

We were talking about the temptations of Jesus in our men's group tonight. So naturally I woke up at three in the morning thinking about them. So I got up and begin reading in Deuteronomy chapter six. So as I am reading I keep hearing "idol" Not something I like hearing about. When I get to the end of chapter 8:19 "But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. 20 Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God. One of the things that I really struggle with is the computer and facebook and emails and such. The Lord showed me or told me or whispered. I don't remember exactly how it came. What was said was that I need to give Him the first part of my morning. That means before I turn on the computer I give him my time first. I don't do that all the time. Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"NKJV As I am writing this morning and thinking about idols this teaching I heard 10 years ago by Beth Moore at a passion conference came too thought and the above scripture from Isaiah. What is in your right hand that is a lie? Is it your smart phone? You're Facebook? You're Kids? You're Work? You're TV? What? Stop and ask right now …. Hold your fist in the air and ask the Lord, because if there is anything other than Jesus in your fist that you are leaning on then you need to deal with it and repent.

Amen

 

Your tone

So I am reading this devotion this morning. Kind of skipping around and I read May 31st. The week is about watching your words. I struggle in this area, like a lot of people do. What got my attention was this. Have you ever been in an argument with your spouse and the words were flying. You were being very loud or yelling and then the phone rings. Two things happen ….. One you make a decision right then to answer or not to answer. Two, you know if you do answer then you have to change your tone right then. You cannot answer the phone in the same way you were yelling at your spouse. Right? (Unless you want to look like a complete idiot …. Which you were already looking like a complete idiot by yelling at your spouse.) So you take a deep breath, and you pick up the phone, and say hello and you say "Oh not much just having a chat with my wife." LIAR! Now what have you done? You have lied to the other person on the phone and have shown your spouse that you CHOSE to yell at her. Think about that for a while. Believe me I am as guilty at this as I can be. Are you? Do you choose to yell at your kids? You're Spouse? If I talked to my friends the way I talk to my wife sometimes or my kids back in the day I would not have any friends. I don't think 31 and 32 are asking I think it is a command. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32

Thanks Kevin

Heaven

Been reading a book and finished it this morning. Never read "90 minutes in Heaven" still haven't. What I read was "Heaven is for real" by Todd Burbo. It is about a boy that is four years old who dies on the operating table and he goes to Heaven and then is revived. I am not going to go into details because it is really good. I finished it this morning. I read the last 10 chapters this morning and I was in tears for most of the time. It is very interesting because lately I have had a very unsettled feeling in my gut about getting old and dying. I know I am not that old, but the thoughts still come. Don't you think about it occasionally? Anyway I received peace about that this morning a very calm spirit. Thank You Jesus!

A memory was brought back to me while reading, it was a memory that I thought that I had dealt with and I still believe I have. It was the memory of my previous wife Karen and our miscarriage of Taylor in 1993. I have had people tell me "you will see him again when you go to Heaven" Yeah I know, No big deal right? I think sometimes we just kind of brush those remarks off. The quote in the book says this…… Colton (4 yrs. old who is the one who went to Heaven during surgery and came back, this is part of the conversation he had with his sister while in Heaven) says, "She just can't wait for you and Daddy to get to Heaven" (He is saying this to his mom after he said "I have two sisters" He did not know about the other sister, he did not know about the miscarriage.) I felt that is what I was hearing Taylor say to me right then. It broke me big time. I wanted to call Karen and tell her right then. I will tell Karen another day, because today this was for me.

Amen