Author: admin

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.

June 28, 2019

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8

The basic meaning of philosophy is the love of wisdom or the way of truth. It is a leaned system of thought as to what is true that someone imparted to us. That someone may have been our family, our community, a teacher or a preacher, etc.

Everyone lives by a philosophy, whether they realize it or not, that gives them a perspective on how they interpret everything they see, hear, smell, taste or touch. That perspective will then lead to what they do in any situation.

There is only one philosophy that is rooted in absolute truth. That truth is the very person and being of Jesus. He is the way, the truth and life. Truth literally means reality. Jesus and his kingdom are reality and will never pass away even though created things will one day pass away. Therefore, the true philosophy is to believe that God is good and that his love endures forever.

Authority is the right to do something. I grant authority to whatever I give agreement to. When I give agreement to philosophies that are not based in Jesus I give the spiritual forces and people behind those philosophies the right to control me by their hollow and deceptive thoughts.

I pray that the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth, will bring light into my being that will expose whatever hollow and deceptive philosophies I have given agreement to. I pray also that I might then reject those philosophies and that I may embrace the only true philosophy that leads to the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.

Blessings,

Kevin

June 26, 2019

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14

Eschatology is the study of what is called the end times. There are many conflicting views, both religious and secular, about the end times. I do not have closely held beliefs about the end times except the scripture above which was Jesus’ answer when he was asked about the end times. In addition I hold closely to the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 9 which speaks of the government of the kingdom of heaven resting upon the shoulders of Jesus and that there shall never be an end to the increase of his government.

That kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the power of the Holy Spirit and it is advancing daily. Darkness has no substance, it is the absence of light. In Jesus is life and that life is the light of the world and God our Father has anointed us be ministers of light in his kingdom.

When considering variously held views of the end times it helps me to look at those through the lens of hope. Does that view give hope to my grandchildren who will likely outlive me, depending on when Jesus returns? Romans 15:13 says “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Blessings,

Kevin

June 23, 2019

“The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul “Therefore I have hope in Him.”” Lamentations 3:22-24

Jesus stated many times that he and his Father were one and that he only said and did what he heard and saw from his Father. That is how he worked to reveal the true nature of our Father to both the religious and the non-religious people who had a wrong understanding of God’s nature. The truth is that God our Father is the God of all comfort and the Father of compassion.

Jesus was and still is moved by the compassion of our Father as his response to the brokenness of humanity in all its various manifestations.

A man who was an expert in the Old Testament scriptures demonstrated his wrong understanding of God when he asked Jesus who was his neighbor in an effort to justify his self-righteousness. Jesus responded by telling what we call the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Sometimes I am moved by compassion but too many times I find that I respond to the brokenness of humanity the way the priest and the Levite did in the parable, by looking the other way and doing nothing. I want to be moved by compassion as Jesus is to do something about what I see. Not out of religious duty but out of experiencing the love of God my Father.

Blessings,

Kevin