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.

Doors of Opportunity – Part 2

We know that Jesus is the Door, who stands in the gap (doorway) on our behalf. He alone holds the key and is the One who rules sovereignly over our entrance. 

Isaiah 22:22 AMPC tells us, “And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; he shall open and no one shall shut, he shall shut and no one shall open.”

One meaning of the Word “doorway” is “opportunity,” which is a means of access or participation (Webster’s), “a means of achieving or escaping something” (Encarta).

As the bride of Christ, we have just entered into our Promised Land, escaping that which was behind us. We are now able to achieve God’s purpose forward in submission to Him.

Jesus has opened the door. 

But not all opportunities are of God. 

We must be led by Holy Spirit and carefully obey as Joshua did in his Promised Land.

In Philippians 3:13 TPT Paul shares wise strategy, by saying, “I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.”

Friends, it’s time to lay down what God is finished with in former seasons. Let it go and fiercely focus on Him and what’s before us.  

It’s time to step into more of our God-given manifest inheritance.

2 Samuel 22:2 AMPC reveals a three-phase strategy that King David walked through on his way to his coronation. It says, “…The Lord is my Rock [of escape from Saul] and my Fortress [in the wilderness] and my Deliverer; [I Sam. 23:14, 25, 28.]”

This is also the process that the Israelites walked through from Egypt (Saul), through the Desert (Wilderness) and into their Promised Land (Delivered).)

It’s the same three-phase process of enthronement that we walk through along our journey to greater power and authority to rule and reign with God on earth as it is in Heaven.

The Lord has brought us through the first two phases, which was about coming to know Him as:

  1. Our escape from Saul (salvation).
  2. Our fortress in the wilderness (sanctification).

And now that we have entered into the third and final phase with The Lord, He is revealing Himself to us as:

3. Our deliverer (into and through our Promised Land), which is the fulfillment stage of promise for our inheritance-reward and much fruit (harvest).

With every step forward in this Promised Land, God will honor us as we honor Him to establish His reign on the earth by His Spirit. He will enable us to rule with Him in greater authority to impact nations. While evil self-destructs by its own sword, like Saul.

Just like King David stepped into his Kingdom inheritance of rulership, we, too, will receive promises fulfilled for Kingdom impact when we stay the course and obey God (Jos 1:7).

We will need a constant flow of living water from the Word and Spirit of God to sustain our position of enthronement here on earth (Re 22:1).

As God’s sons and daughters, we are to remain in the Vine, guard our hearts and be led by Holy Spirit for fruit production in this new season (Re 22:2).

We need to sync with God’s vision as He continues to open up the doorways to new life. 

We can acknowledge God as David did and thank Him as Daniel did when he saw and heard from The Lord.

Daniel 2:20-23 says:

Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.

As we worship God and follow His lead, we can declare Psalm 24:7 TPT, which says, “So wake up, you living gateways! Lift up your heads, you ageless doors of destiny! Welcome the King of Glory, for he is about to come through you.”

As we progress in this new cycle of the transfer of power, wealth and authority to God’s sons and daughters, we will witness God unseat evil and deliver territory from darkness to light for Kingdom impact (Is 22:19-22). 

God will grow His Kingdom, and we get to participate. 

Just as He did for King David and Daniel and Joshua, God will show us the way and protect us.

He will reveal His vision to us and give us strategy as we go with His Presence. 

As we remain in Him and continue to trust Him along this exciting journey, we will taste and see that He is good in all things. We will have eyes to see and ears to hear. 

So, my questions to you are:

  1. Have you had a Saul in your past that chased you closer to God (deeper, higher)?
  2. Have you found yourself in a wilderness (intimacy) season that prepped you for greater promises forward?
  3. Are you ready to experience your deliverance into those greater promises as your destiny continues to be revealed to you?

If your answers are “yes,” then you are well on your way to greater dominion His way. 

To God be the glory. 

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