Solid Foundation – Part 1

The title of a sermon, I heard nearly two decades ago, has always stuck with me: It was Keep Your Tent Pegs Light.

While I don’t remember the sermon, I realize God has highlighted this title to me recently to remind me of an important message for this hour: 

That we are to continue to walk in holiness as we move forward with God and grow in His promises.

First, we must believe that we have one solid foundation, which is Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Christ’s resurrection life within us (Jn 14:17, 1 Tim 3:15).

1 Corinthians 3:11 AMPC tells us, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).”

Acts 17:28 says, “For in Him we live and move and have our being…”

We know that Christ, as our firm foundation, doesn’t change; but He changes us. 

In this, we get to trust Him as we walk through the process of transformation to greater promise, which is God instilling His higher standard as He defines our path and delineates our boundaries—first inwardly, then outwardly.

Like Abraham and the Israelites, who moved with God into the unknown-to-them, we are to grow in the grace of pulling up stakes, departing from our past and moving from glory to glory as God continues to pour into us and out of us. 

We are to continually acknowledge Him and rely on Him during increase, as graciously held pegs re-set into holy ground (Is 22:23).

Move by move, every time the ancients of faith pierced the ground with their pegs of identity, purpose and commitment, their faith had an opportunity to grow; and their houses became increasingly established in a secure foundation of glorious new dominion with The Lord.

Like them, we are to go from Him to more of Him in our soul.

From more of Him to much more of Him.

And from much more of Him to much, much more. 

Psalms 18:31 TPT asks, “Could there be any other god like you? You are the only God to be worshiped, for there is not a more secure foundation to build my life upon than you.”

So, in this journey of consecration and fruit production, we are to keep our fierce focus on God and live in the honor of worship to Him alone, turning from all wickedness (Is 26:13, Pr 3:6, Is 19:13). 

As we align with our Chief Cornerstone, He will strengthen us, reveal what we need to know and ultimately deliver us into an expansive reward to make His Name great (Ps 119:38). 

Our full dependence on God invites His fulfillment of promise (Jn 1:16).

Just like Joshua, who was known to be carefully obedient, and Caleb, who was known to be wholehearted, our reality-walk will expand and go long from believing God’s promises; to acting on them; then to experiencing the manifest heart of God, which is to have and to hold Him in the possession of good, exponential fruit. For His glory.

It is a walk where we experience all the pieces come together.

We can be encouraged in this process by Ephesians 2:20-22 TPT, which say: 

You are rising like the perfectly fitted stones of the temple; and your lives are being built up together upon the ideal foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, and best of all, you are connected to the Head Cornerstone of the building, the Anointed One, Jesus Christ himself! This entire building is under construction and is continually growing under his supervision until it rises up completed as the holy temple of the Lord himself. This means that God is transforming each one of you into the Holy of Holies, his dwelling place, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in you!

So, in order for our reality to change for the better, we have to embrace The Lord’s higher ways and keep Him first and center as He reveals Himself and delivers us. 

We must believe God at His Word beyond our circumstances and trust that He sees us as deserving such an inheritance through Christ, our Savior, who makes a way by grace where we could not go otherwise.

We must willingly come to operate in the kind of balance that excels in both God’s Spirit and applied wisdom to the practical—remaining on solid ground.

This balance is the key to, and the fruit of, a life built on a firm foundation that is stable and, therefore, does not waffle or waver but produces what God intended.

For those who are not there yet, there’s hope for those who remember Him—the repentant and the willing.

He offers us an example in Isaiah 19:18-23, where we see people in five Egyptian (worldly) cities turn and commit themselves to God in worship and intimately knowing Him as their Lord. As a result, God revealed Himself as a promise keeper: He healed and restored them, and He called them His people. 

So, friends, how about you?

Are you ready to faithfully walk on the solid ground of wholeness, where you will see your life come together in purposeful ways?

Are you ready to trust God more in a greater role? To establish His Kingdom even more in the earth through you as you abide in Him? 

There is no need to fear; but there is a need for faith, as God raises a standard, does a new thing and helps us move past our past in His overcoming grace (Is 43:18-19).

Join me next week for Part 2 of Solid Foundation

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

Radiance Of God: Indwelling & Outpouring

Isaiah 60:1 TPT – “Rise up in splendor and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you!”

You’ve probably heard of the adage “tickled pink.” Well, did you know that the color of radiance, according to Webster’s, is a deep pink?

And just like a beautiful deep sunrise, we can experience a divine spiritual daybreak.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2020.

And we don’t have to look back, because you came to deeply understand Romans 13:12 TPT, which says, “Night’s darkness is dissolving away as a new day of destiny dawns. So we must once and for all strip away what is done in the shadows of darkness, removing it like filthy clothes. And once and for all we clothe ourselves with the radiance of light as our weapon.”

Beloved bride, what does God have in store for you?

For what mission has He readied you?

What promises will He manifest?

You learned, during times of testing, that God’s radiant light is both internal and external.

And now you’re ready for more external.

His glorious Presence that you reached for in your time of tribulation brought you protection from that which tried to ensnare you. Holy Spirit gave you revelation when you didn’t understand, and revival of your soul when you felt like so much in you was dying.

God was your lifeline.

He went after the gold in you to forge you higher.

In character and purpose.

To become light.

As glory.

As fire.

To be the light of Christ in a dying world.

Compassion.

Abundance.

Honor.

Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Glory, and the Spirit of Christ, who lives inside of His redeemed.

He is light as He is love.

He is omnipresent.

He is seated on His throne in Heaven, while He dwells in His redeemed through Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 1:3 TPT assures us that “The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image! He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of his spoken word.”

Just like He expands our soul to know Him more.

To receive Him more.

His Glorious Presence.

To drive out darkness.

In us and beyond us.

1 John 1:5 TPT reveals God’s nature and character of light, saying, “…God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him.”

Daniel 2:22 AMP reveals His enlightenment to us, His omniscience, and His glorious indwelling Presence, saying, “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him.”

God sustains us to do what He has called and assigned us to do.

So we don’t have to fear, but trust and follow the glory light of God (Love) to bring us into the new places He has for us, knowing that two of the qualities of His glorious light is protection and provision.

God is faithful.

Acts 17:28 TPT reminds us that “It is through him that we live and function and have our identity; just as your own poets have said, ‘Our lineage comes from him.'”

Our Father is for us.

By His Spirit, as we abide in Him, in His radiant light and love, He will continue to lead us forward into greater abundance–spirit, soul, and body.

We are to wrap ourselves in light (Rom. 13:12), just as God wraps Himself in light (Ps. 104:2).

We are to release wrongdoings, forgive others and fan the flame forward.

As the New Year’s folksong goes, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot,” 1 John 2:9-10 reminds us to hold only love and light in our hearts toward others. It says:

Anyone who says, ‘I am in the light,’ while holding hatred in his heart toward a fellow believer is still in the darkness. But the one who truly loves a fellow believer lives in the light, and there is nothing in him that will cause someone else to stumble.

Now, just past the midnight hour, for the Glory of God and for His great Name’s sake (Ps. 109:21), let’s remain in the light of Christ. Let’s remember John 12:46 TPT and Isaiah 61:10 TPT, which say, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world so that all who trust in me will no longer wander in darkness. I will sing and greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My whole being vibrates with shouts of joy in my God! For he has dressed me with salvation and wrapped me in the robe of his righteousness! I appear like a bridegroom on his wedding day, decked out with a beautiful sash, or like a radiant bride adorned with sparkling jewels.”

Friends, I pray that God will continue to reveal his mysteries that have been “difficult to grasp and understand” (Job 12:22) and that He will expand your sanctuary like a tent through this year. I pray God will continue to light up your path as you walk with Him into your promises, so much so that kings will be blinded by your radiance (Is. 62:2). In Jesus’ Mighty Name, God bless you. Amen.

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.