Many years ago, the Lord told me that for me, self-promotion was illegal. I’ve wrestled with the implications of that word from Him ever since. For the sake of profitability for the publishers who produce my books, I’m required to do some promotion of my own, but there are limits. I’ve pondered what the apostle Paul had to say in Philippians 3:8 when he spoke of all that he had given up. He wrote: “Yes, certainly, I count everything as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have forfeited the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.”

“Rubbish” in the original Greek is actually a rather strong profanity that illustrates the depth of what the apostle wanted to communicate about the wonder of really knowing and experiencing Jesus. For this, he would pay any price.

In light of this, and after suffering some very painful losses of my own, I’ve come to the following conclusion in the form of a question: How many of us in Christian leadership are focused on building our careers at the expense of a focus on intimacy with our Lord? How many of us raise and spend large sums of money to promote and build large ministry organizations with all the glitz and glamour, but fail to promote a very simple focus on Jesus? How accessible to the average believer have we actually made intimacy with Jesus? How many barriers have we unwittingly erected by serving the star system based on the image of the spiritual hero on the platform or the television show?

I saw in a vision during prayer the hand of God grasping the trunk of a tree and shaking it with such power that a rain of debris was falling from it. The Lord Himself interpreted it: “The day is coming when I will shake out the dead limbs and the dried fruit, leaders who lead where I have not led and prophets who speak the profane, watered-down messages of peace when there is no peace. I have hovered over My people lightly. I am about to descend in storm and great shaking. Some will fall. Others will rise. Some who were unknown are about to be known. I am making a tall tower to proclaim My truth. All men will see and be vexed at My outpouring of grace and love. You will be surprised at the fall of many, but I have preserved My servants for such a day as this. A day of release, a day of mercy. Where mercy exists, the power will fall, and My name will be known. The leadership tree is mine to prune, and a pruning is about to unfold, not in judgment, but for increase. Some have already faded away, but I am bringing more. More will fade away and more will come, rising in the brightness of My shining.”

A great shift is coming in the body of Christ, a shaking-out of the tree of leadership. Great ministries that have garnered the attention of the church and the world but failed in humble focus on the heart of Jesus, will fall in days to come. In their place will emerge a new breed immersed in the Father’s love, obsessed with Jesus. While they don’t seek or care for the spotlight or the stage, they will be placed in the spotlight and stand on the stage precisely because they neither seek nor need these things for themselves.

In Matthew 19:12 Jesus made a troubling statement. “For there are some eunuchs who have been so from birth, there are some eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are some eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.” Ancient kings employed eunuchs to guard their harems because eunuchs would be immune to the temptation to attract the attention of the king’s women to themselves. They would guard the harem and keep it pure for the sake of the king. God seeks spiritual eunuchs in our day who will care for the bride of Christ for the sake of the King of kings, our groom, and will not sample her affections for themselves.

In the same way that the apostle Paul suffered the loss of all things for the sake of knowing Jesus and sharing in everything that Jesus is, God seeks now for humble and broken servants and mouthpieces who have nothing left to lose. They’ll be given great ministries with broad impact precisely because they don’t need great ministries with broad impact. Their singular desire will be to see the name of Jesus lifted up—not their own—and the bride of Christ in love with Him. These will deliver a pure word, and these will have God as their promoter. Our Lord is looking for friends, not handlers. The genuine, not the show. The heart, not the performance.

Hello Ken I would like to ask your help in starting a prayer chain for my wife. She was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia this week. She will be admitted Monday for treatment. Any and all prayers welcome.   Shane Johnson

SANCTIFICATION      “WORTH CONSIDERING    3/14/19   (Across my desk this morning:)
   
Today’s Scripture
“…Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. ”  (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT)

A New Beginning
When you gave your heart to Christ, you were changed on the inside. That’s what it means to be “born again.” The Holy Spirit now lives inside you. You didn’t change on the outside; the change is in your spirit. You may not feel any differently, but Christians know that they can’t base their lives on what they feel, but on what God says. And He says in His Word that anyone who trusts in Christ is a brand-new person. You may have been a Christian for a few months or a few years. But no matter how long you have known Christ, being a Christian never grows old. Does your life still reflect the changes that happened to you when you became a believer? Make today a day of new beginnings!

A Prayer for Today
“God, thank You for changing me and saving me. Help me to live the life in a way that reflects the change in my heart when I received You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

My Comments:
It is interesting to me that in the Greek it reads more like this:   2 Corinthians 5:17 Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament  (Bible Gateway)
“Therefore if anyone in Christ, new creation, what is old passed, behold new come! “
So it is not like a done deal, it is a process started by the Holy Spirit to replace the old with the new.  And of course a process can be interrupted and even terminated.   Acts 2:47  in the Amplified Bible:    AMP  “…praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.”

So we all have an eternal soul which will live either in absolute light or darkness (Jude),  the choice is up to us.  And each day we can embrace the light and in the end find your way to our Loving Creator or not,  it is up to us.
 Revelation 22:17   And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.  Need to read the whole  22nd chapter…

FRUIT    3/11/19    “WORTH CONSIDERING”    Across my desk this morning…

Today’s Scripture
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”  (Matthew 12:33, NASB)

What Kind of Fruit Are You Producing?
God wants you to spend time doing meaningful things. But how can you tell if what you’re doing is really the best way to spend your time? One way to find out is to take an inventory of your life to see where your time is going. It’s not only important how you spend your time, but with whom you spend it. The next step is called pruning, and it may cause discomfort. Pruning is necessary to not only keep healthy growth, but to also make sure that the growth is in the right areas and direction. It may mean you have to prune off some relationships that are not adding value to your life. Your thought process should start with, “How can I make more room in my life for God’s best?” God’s best is so much greater than anything else that you could ever put your time into. Go through the pruning process to produce all that God has for you; the very best!

A Prayer for Today
“God, thank You that You have the very best in mind for me. I know that I must go through some uncomfortable pruning, but when I finish, I’ll be ready to spend my time with you! In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

My Comments:
Fruit is expected to produce and match the seed from the same kind of fruit that made the tree that produced the original fruit.  It is interested that the Holy Bible even tells us what HIS fruit will taste like.  “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” in Gal.5:22.  So actually as I became a Christian in 1955 the seed of Christ Jesus was planted in my soil.  And upon maturity I am destined to be like Jesus,  1 John 4:17:   ^“ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

That was the seed that was planted in our soil by faith by Christ Jesus and HE even prayed for us here today:  John 17:20-26

^“20 Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,  ²¹ That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.  ²² I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:  ²³ I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.  ²⁴ Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  ²⁵ O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me.²⁶ I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very ^[a]Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.”

So if Christ Jesus is in us by faith,  How Then Shall We LIVE?  Shall we not try to learn how to be like the seed from which we have been born into the Kingdom of God?  Shall we not have the same vision and concerns as the seed that was sown into our spirit by the Holy Spirit.  

John 12:24-26 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

²⁴ I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.²⁵ Anyone who loves his life loses it, but anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. [Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life here on earth, but despises it, preserves his life forever and ever.] ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [^[a]to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Yours, in HIS great love and wonderful grace and mercy,   Ken<><  www.Trinity-Aloha.org

(P.S.  Barn/shop/ohana is now dried in and ready for the iron roofing.  Picking up the roofing today… PTL…  So very close now to having an additional shelter at the True Vine Farm.)

Today’s Scripture    (Nice Thought came across my desk this morning: )  6/26/18
“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession…”  (Exodus 19:5, NIV)

Obedience
Sometimes God asks us to do things that don’t make sense. It doesn’t seem logical. It doesn’t fit into our budget. It doesn’t line up with our schedule. “God, You want me to go back to college? I’m 40 years old.” “God, You want me to give them a gift? I was saving those funds for my own dreams.” Or, “God, You want me to leave this secure position that I’ve had for years and start my own business?” Too often we over analyze it. We debate it; look at it only in the natural. We end up making excuses, talking ourselves out of it, “That couldn’t be God.” But if you’re going to reach your highest potential, you have to have bold obedience. That means you obey even when you don’t understand it. You just do it even when it doesn’t make sense. That’s what faith is all about.

If you can understand everything and have the time, the money and it’s all lined up, then that doesn’t really take any faith. God will ask you to do things that seem far out, unusual, not practical. With every act of obedience, there is a blessing attached to it. When you do what you know God wants you to do, a blessing will follow. God rewards obedience!

A Prayer for Today
“Father, today I choose to obey You. I let go of trying to reason it all out in my mind and choose to trust You. Thank You for Your faithfulness and for rewarding my obedience in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

My notes:
It seems to me that the importance of this message in not only Obedience but also Knowing what GOD is asking us to do?   I often think of Abraham being so very sure that GOD had ask him to sacrifice his only son who had also had a supernatural birth.   How did Abraham really know that it was GOD talking to his heart of hearts?

When I talk to GOD (Prayer) which is a lot of the time, that I first have to filter out the other voices in my mind, some demonic.    And what others have said to me in my related memories.   And my own voice of rationality and then finally perhaps, way down deep in the quietness and stillness of my soul I just might hear GOD’s loving and kind voice of truth.  I am learning that HIS voice in my soul is found in a place of quietness where I choose to shut down every other voice.  And when I do get the right connection he is never in a hurry or is short on words and always has consideration of my space in HIS great love for me.  And I wonder how HE can be that way with every other soul on planet earth but then,  HE IS GOD and holds my atoms together by the word of HIS power.  He has my hair counted (much simpler these days) and has the Universe totally under control to do HIS bidding along with every national leader.  So it is not easy but can be done to hear and talk to GOD but it is not easy shutting everything else out. 

So Abraham must have totally mastered filtering out the world to know the voice of GOD that well.   So well that he was willing to build an alter,  place the kindling on the alter,  tie up his only son and raise the knife before he was stopped and found the ram sacrifice provided by GOD in the thicket.   My thoughts are that GOD already knew what Abraham would do but that Abraham needed to know, in fact, as well, what he would do.  And thus Abraham became the father of faith in the Bible.  So first we learn to have faith,  then we find God’s will for sure and then we come into obedience as above.  And fight our carnal nature all the way.  We must be patient in seeking, asking and knocking on HIS Door but when we do our homework HE is always at HOME….

Of course the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life will try to keep you so busy that you don’t have time for this eternal exercise.

Yours, in HIS great love and wonderful grace and mercy,   Ken<><    www.Trinity-Aloha.org