Author: admin

August 22, 2019

““The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”” Luke 4:18-21

Authority is the right to do something and power is the ability to do something. Authority is conveyed from a source of authority by agreement with that source of authority. My agreement allows that source to have access to my heart which is the wellspring of my life.

God gave Adam authority over the entire creation in order to rule over over it. However, Adam gave up that authority to Satan when he believed and agreed with the lies Satan told him. This resulted in great toil and hardship for all of mankind.

Jesus triumphed over, disarmed and made a public spectacle of Satan and every other lying and deceiving spirit by his death and resurrection. Our Father raised him up and seated him with him in the heavenly realm where he has been given all authority in heaven and earth. But that was not enough. He also raised us up with Jesus and seated us with him as co-heirs where we now rule and reign under the authority of Jesus. In his authority and power we may demolish the strongholds of Satan that control the minds of people who have agreed with his lies.

May I believe Jesus and not re-arm Satan by believing his lies today.

Blessings,

Kevin

September 25, 2019

“Jesus calls us to a change in the way we see, his Father first, then ourselves and others, until we believe what he believes…..Without Jesus you would only have what you do and do not see—imprisoned by your feelings, or the lack of them, lost in your head. As we discover Jesus in us, we are given a way to change our minds and our feelings. With our Amen to Jesus comes freedom to live from his ‘I Am’ in our hearts. Living from Jesus’ faith, from his ‘I Am’ gives us confidence to turn toward our Father. When we see the Father through Jesus’ eyes we experience life—- eternal life” (a quote from the book Patmos by C. Baxter Kruger)

“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Col 1:25-27

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” John 14:18-20

Blessings,

Kevin

November 27, 2019

“But he answered, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?’ ‘How many loaves do you have?‘ he asked. ‘Go and see.‘“ Mark 6:37-38

What difficult situation will I face today where it seems that I do not have what it takes? Jesus’ answer is “Go and see what you have and then offer it with thanksgiving to our Father knowing it is less than the need you are facing and then see him multiply it”.

God our Father is the God who sees our need and then acts to meet those needs. May I offer what I have in my hands. May I offer the mustard seed I have of faith, hope, love, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control that he has already given me and then see him multiply it to meet the needs before me.

Blessings,

Kevin

November 28, 2019

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.“ John 1:14

As we approach the season of Advent to celebrate the birth of Jesus I think it is significant that not only did God choose to enter into our humanity as a baby, but he entered into our brokenness, our flesh. He has entered into our darkness, the darkness of our thinking that results in all the brokenness of humanity. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4)

“….Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed…..”(Mark 6:50-51). Jesus literally climbed into the boat of fear and panic that his disciples were in as they battled a life threatening storm and everything then became calm. In my life I have learned that there is no difficulty that I have ever faced that Jesus was not present with me in it and offered me the peace that he is. He truly is the Prince of Peace.

Blessings,

Kevin

December 11, 2019

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalms 23:1-6

Many people are familiar with Psalm 23 and probably can quote the verse from memory. But I have to ask myself do I really believe it, do I really know it, is it written upon my heart such that I live from the reality of this Psalm? I can know about and even believe something because someone tells me about it. However, to really know something is to experience it myself. David wrote this Psalm out of his experiencing the goodness of God in very difficult circumstances.

Over and over again the scriptures state that, “The LORD is good and his love endures forever”. This is an immutable truth because it expresses the immutable nature of God. However, experiencing the goodness and love of God our Father is a faith journey. It begins with hearing and believing what God has spoken and then walking in the situation “being fully persuaded that God has power to do what he has promised.” (Romans 4:21).

God has shown me his goodness during times of great loss, suffering and disappointments in my life. Therefore, I can truthfully say, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Please join me in looking for the goodness of God in every circumstance that we will face each day.

Blessings,

Kevin

December 13, 2019

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

While pondering my own disappointment this morning I looked up the word in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language and found the following definition:

DISAPPOINTMENT- Defeat or failure of expectation, hope, wish, desire or intention; miscarriage of design or plan.

What really helped me was the example that was given in the dictionary of using the word in a sentence, “We are apt to complain of the disappointment of our hopes and schemes, but disappointments often prove blessings and save us from calamity or ruin.” In my case the calamity or ruin that I was being saved from is expressed by Proverbs 29:25 which states, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.”

If my motivation is obtaining the approval of men then it will be a snare for me that will hinder my life. Our Father’s ways and thoughts are always better than other peoples’ opinions of me. May I stop doing things for the approval of men and abide in the reality of 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Blessings,

Kevin

July 20, 2019

“Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” John 14:23-24

I recently read a question that was posed as part of the dialogue of comments in response to someone’s post. My summary of the question is, “Can a person who loves Jesus support our president. This question, like others that I have read recently have caused me to examine my own heart attitude.

The word Christian has come to have a lot of religious baggage so I describe myself as a follower of Jesus when I begin a conversation with someone about life and all the challenges humanity faces. Is there a difference between loving Jesus and following Jesus? It seems the answer to that question depends on how I define love.

As I pondered this question the scripture above came to mind where Jesus makes it clear that for me to love him is the same as for me to follow him and to participate in his work to reveal the true nature of God our Father.

If I am honest I have to admit there are too many instances where my thoughts, attitude and actions towards people I disagree with do not reveal the true nature of God our Father.

Blessings,

Kevin

July 20, 2019

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:10-12

Have you ever taken dominos and carefully stood them up in a row and then knocked over the first one? If you have then you know that the next domino will be knocked over and hit the next one beside it and the process will repeat itself until the last domino falls.

That is how the devil’s schemes work. He is described as being very crafty and he uses his craft to carefully set up his schemes in our minds such that once the first domino is knocked over it will trigger a series of thoughts that yields the result that he wants.

The results that the devil wants is to kill, steal and destroy relationships and to cause all manner of attacks on our bodies and souls.

What would happen if after the scheme has been triggered if I were to remove one of the dominos down the line? The scheme would end without knocking over the rest of the dominos.

Not all of my thoughts are actually my thoughts. We live in a spiritual environment where deceiving evil spirits are at work to get me to believe their lies. Those lies will always have some element of attacking the nature of God our Father, our Father’s view of us or our view of other people.

Once a scheme is triggered I can either be one of the dominos that falls or recognize what is going on around me and remove a domino and stop the scheme. I can do that by taking captive every thought that stands against the truth of Jesus and then by the power of the Holy Spirit speak words that are life giving rather words that harm someone.

Social media can be a tool of setting up and triggering one of the devil’s schemes because it is so easy to respond to something I disagree with without testing my own thoughts before I respond.

If I will test my own thoughts I can then be part of removing one of the dominoes rather than being knocked over and then striking my neighbor domino.

Blessings,

Kevin

July 13, 2019

“But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages ! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”

When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”

Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.” Mark 6:37-44

I recently read a comment about the humanitarian crisis that is occurring along the southern border of our country that caused me to examine my own heart attitude about this situation.

My summary of the comment is, “people fear that the migrants will eat their portion of the pie and that there will not be enough for them.”

I am not taking any side of the political debate surrounding this crisis. But I am asking whether or not, I am and will be, moved by the compassion of Jesus to do something to help people in need.

The passage quoted above is an invitation into participating in God our Father’s answer for this crisis and others such as the plight of Syrian refugees a few year ago.

We as individual followers of Jesus, or corporately as his body, do not have the financial resources to solve this problem. However, there is no lack of any needed resource in the Kingdom of Heaven and we are ambassadors of that kingdom.

Will I take my share of the “pie” and in faith offer it to Jesus that in his hands it may be multiplied such that all may have all the “pie” they need plus left overs?

Blessings,

Kevin

July 6, 2019

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

When I was growing up a friend of mine had a Mattel Vacuform toy making device. There were several molds that were used with the device to conform a colored plastic sheet to the shape of the mold. The conforming took place by heating the plastic and then pulling a vacuum on the heating chamber that would force the plastic sheet into the shape of the mold. Once the plastic cooled it was permanently in the shape of the mold which might be a car, animal, soldier, etc. But it was still a piece of plastic only in a different shape and its value had not changed much except it was more fun to play with than a colored sheet of plastic.

The spiritual forces that stand against the knowledge of who God is and who we are in him work in a similar way. They use the trials of everyday life to heat us up and then try to suck us into the mold of unbelief concerning the goodness of God our Father. An example would be “If God is good then why are you in the middle of a bad situation?”

The scripture above indicates that were are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Greek word translated to the English word transformed comes from the word metamorphosis which we use to describe the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly. A caterpillar does not become a butterfly by conforming to the shape of a butterfly. Rather it becomes a whole new creature forever. It no longer eats caterpillar food or does what a caterpillar would do. It’s very nature has been changed and it can never be what it once was even if it becomes confused and tries to be a caterpillar again.

It is the same with us. Through faith in Jesus we are born again into being true sons and daughters of God our Father. But our minds are slow to believe that we have been changed. Our minds must constantly be renewed with the truth of Jesus that we may see life experiences through the mind of Jesus and who we really are. We are in Jesus and he is in us and he is in the Father. We are no longer orphans and we are not alone as we face the difficulties of life.

Jesus came to reveal the true nature of God our Father who at the core of his being is love and goodness in every circumstance, especially the difficult ones.

May I be transformed by believing what Jesus speaks and not be conformed to the lies of Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy.