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.

Magnificent Multiplicity – Part 1

We are in a fitting time that will bring great change in our lives for the better—an expanded season for God’s sons and daughters who continue to follow Holy Spirit’s lead and make Godly decisions.

It is a time when God’s Name will be great in the earth, and we will see the exponential multiplicity of His goodness manifest—a great harvest (Jn 15:8).

This kind of increase honors God and builds His Kingdom on earth.

For many who have come out of a season of long-suffering, know that God is fitting you into a season of longstanding. 

God’s sons and daughters, who have adjusted their lens to see what God sees for them and who continue to align with and magnify The Lord, will experience His magnificent manifest opportunities.

The increase of faith in our made-whole heart will now begin to fit into these greater opportunities, which are promised roles and specific assignments God has reserved for each of us. 

This is banquet-level intimacy and honor, where as we continue to trust and rely on God, He will extend His favor for the completion of longtime promises through revealed mysteries and strategies, divine connections, contracts, etc.

This is a time, and these are places where our enemies will not be able to stand against our solidity in Christ, as we step farther along our firm foundation into new roles of authority to rule and reign with God and take greater dominion. 

False shields, such as city walls of unholiness and giants of unbelief, will not stand against God’s power.

We will be exponentially ahead of those obstacles in supernatural power and authority.

As we carefully obey God, none of that will be able to hold us back or prevent God’s will from coming forth. 

We and God make for a double door that fits perfectly together and operates in synchronicity in this wide-open space (Ps 24:7, 18:19).

This special collaboration (or co-labor) requires us to hold God’s hand of authority in glory-to-glory levels of decision-making and follow-through. For every element of promise forward. 

Done right, we will go long and experience Psalm 92:12-15 AMPC, which says, 

The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful]; they shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic, stable, durable, and incorruptible]. Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. [Growing in grace] they shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap [of spiritual vitality] and [rich in the] verdure [of trust, love, and contentment]. [They are living memorials] to show that the Lord is upright and faithful to His promises; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. [Rom. 9:14.]

As we take a closer look, there are some key elements that we can learn and understand from the Israelites in their journey:

Exodus 1:12 AMP tells us, “But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, so that the Egyptians dreaded and were exasperated by the Israelites.”

In the Bible, Egypt represents worldliness.

So, in this particular scripture, when the oppression of the world came against the captive Israelites, the Israelites broke through and grew more fruitful in number. They spread to the point that their captors grieved, dreaded and feared them. 

Note that their spreading is a Godly principle, as opposed to scattering, which is ungodly. 

So, as they came together in Godliness, or God’s way, the worldliness that surrounded them literally “could not stand” them (God’s Word Translation).

God made a way through the Israelites and for them when there appeared, otherwise, to be no way. 

As the Israelites turned to God, He broke open their turnaround. And He will do the same for you and me.

King David understood this breakthrough.

He says in Psalm 18:19 TPT, “His love broke open the way and he brought me into a beautiful broad place. He rescued me—because his delight is in me!”

We know that, where there is brokenness, miracles of multiplicity occur when we hand our pieces over to The Lord (Mk 6:41-44) 

God receives those pieces and provides for our needs supernaturally, making us and our circumstances better than before. 

Now that God has strengthen us, and will continue to do so as we progress with Him into our Promised Land battles and blessings, we will, increasingly, be able to stand stronger and longer against worldly attacks.

In this way, God has made us stronger for victory-battle forward as we take courage and carefully obey Him, like Joshua’s army, which was empowered and favored by The God of Angel Armies.

Since God has healed our hearts in the secret place, what once wounded us will not stop us any longer. 

We are wiser, freer and more in tune with God as Lord of our lives. 

We now trust God more to reveal His mystery strategies, giving us specific directions and tactics that we need, when we need them, for each mission forward. 

We can now go forth in confidence. To make His Name great.

So, pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for positioning me for Your multiplication. I repent of all compromise in my life that has adversely affected Your Kingdom-building in and through me. I’m sorry, Lord. I release all deficit to You. And I choose to receive Your forgiveness. I now choose to be committed to your principles and follow You entirely. I choose to receive Your blessings of multiplicity in every area of my life for Your glory. Thank You for Your extravagant love, favor and reward. 

In Jesus’ Mighty Name. 

Amen.

Join me next week for Part 2 of Magnificent Multiplicity

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