Encouragement

Jan 19 2023

Readiness

Readiness – The primary sense is to go, move, or advance forward.

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Luke 12:39-40‬‬ (NIV)

In the early 70’s when the book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” was released by Hal Lindsey, the awareness of the return of the Lord Jesus was front and center. There was also a very popular song, “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” that accompanied the message throughout the world.

Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
The son has come and you've been left behind
A man and wife asleep in bed
She hears a noise and turns her head
He's gone
I wish we'd all been ready
Two men walking up a hill
One disappears and one's left standing still
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
The son has come and you've been left behind
Life was filled with guns and war
And everyone got trampled on the floor
I wish we'd all been ready
Children died the days grew cold
A piece of bread could buy a bag of gold
I wish we'd all been ready
There's no time to change your mind
How could you have been so blind
The father spoke the demons dined
The son has come and you've been left behind
You've been left behind
You've been left behind
SONGWRITER: LARRY NORMAN

The back and forth between the coming of the Lord Jesus—how, when, and where—is not what Jesus is addressing. He tells His disciples the importance of understanding the gravity and the certainty of the Master’s return. The work of sanctification of the Holy Ghost is to make the Bride of Christ ready. Our willingness and being in a state of preparedness with the awareness of the Holy Ghost working in us is essential in these days. We are warned not to listen to those who say, “Where is your master, did He not say He was returning?”

“Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:3-4‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

I read this recently sent to me from a brother: “We can provide for present needs, yet fail to prepare for the future, or we can provide AND prepare.” Be not deceived God cannot be mocked, whatsoever you sow THAT you shall also reap.

“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

Romans 14:12 NASB2020

“Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.”

2 Peter 1:12 NASB2020

Readiness is the word I am hearing entering into 2023.

Hallelujah!

-KC

Jan 13 2023

50 Years!

Hallelujah! This is the day the Lord has made. Betsy and I will rejoice in it. January 13, 1973.

There was a chorus that we and the family and friends sang as we went out after our wedding vows. After we were pronounced husband and wife.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days all the days of their lives.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their lives.
And they shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and they shall feast at the table spread for them.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of the days of their lives.

Thank Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for your faithful promise to us.

-KC

Artwork: vecteezy.com

Jan 12 2023

One More Day Then Golden

“And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “At last this is bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called ‘woman,’ Because she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬-‭24‬ ‭NASB 2020

fashion — design, shape, mold, form, pattern, mould

leave — leave, desert, let go, abandon, forsake

cleave — adhere, stick, cling, cleave, join, gum

This morning I’m considering the creation of male and female. God distinctly separates them from the creation of Heaven and Earth. In the book of Enoch it is said that God did this to clearly show that creation was done for man.

Years ago Ern Baxter taught us this truth: God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are coequal but not cofunctional. In the same way, the creation of male and female are coequal but not cofunctional. This is God the Creator’s design and pattern for marriage. The word fashion is uniquely given concerning the woman. You can see it in the way she has been into fashion ever since.

The Creation of Adam, Michelangelo

The difference of how both came into being is very important. Man is dirt, breathed into by God. His beginning is, in relationship, connected to the earth. For the woman, being taken from the man’s side places her in a vital and strategic position. It has been said that Adam’s rib and Satan’s fib made way for woman’s lib. LOL.

Coming from and alongside, a picture of relational oneness and agreement. Much like our relationship to the Holy Ghost our Helper. She has been so positioned in God’s design that man has to be totally disobedient to not leave and cleave to her.

The making and keeping of vows to one another before God is holy and accountable to Him. When God woke up Adam and presented and brought Eve to him, He immediately related to her and named her woman. Not partner or significant other—woman. The cause of marriage was revealed instantly to him. He was leaving mother and father, in which he had none, and was to cleave to this glorious and wonderful creation. God’s gift to his loneliness, his need for relational help, and the place for his love to be given. This act of leaving and cleaving to one’s wife, for men, is the act of marriage.

Forsaking and actually divorcing himself from all others brings a continuing relational oneness that no man can put asunder. His eyes were to be only for her. His arms were to be only for her. His side reserved only for her. This is God’s design and she is fashioned for this place.

Tomorrow we will celebrate 50 years of Betsy receiving me—Hallelujah—and my leaving and cleaving to her and only her. He that finds a wife not only finds a good thing, but also finds God’s favor. What favor I was given and continued to have from Him. Thank you Holy Ghost for bringing us together on January 13, 1973. Eternal praise and thanksgiving forevermore.

-KC

Jan 10 2023

Three More Days Until 50 Golden Years of Holy Matrimony

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.””

Genesis 2:18 NASB2020‬‬

When God created the heavens and the earth and all that it contained, He pronounced it as good. Not just a Paradise, but filled with His goodness. But during the process, He saw in man one thing that was not good. It was not good for man to be alone.

God, who is good, went to work to resolve this flaw, this loneliness in man. His very words: it is not good for man to be alone. There is not a more helpless and hopeless feeling than to be alone. So, the remedy was to make a helper suitable for him. Exactly what he needed: help. The Scripture says, “suitable, fitting; according with; agreeable to; proper;” Just right for him, a helper.

It has been my experience when loneliness is in a person, it is the result of not receiving help or the difficulty of asking for help.

Since last Friday, I have been waking up and seeing Betsy lying beside me and the Holy Ghost flooding me with memories of His help in our lives. For men it is difficult to ask for help; for many reasons, but especially to ask or receive help from his wife. This is a good place to confess: there are very vivid memories where I missed God. Primarily because I did not receive Betsy as my helper. I have come to see that she is a type of Holy Ghost given to me. She is my helper and is called to be positioned alongside of me. He is our helper and comes along side of us also.

When God took away something that He gave me, that was so precious to me, I became very angry. I had forgotten it belonged to Him. I had lost relationships, house, possessions, vehicles, position, and was bankrupt. We left our home and both of our parents in Houston. As we drove off with the children waving to them out the back window of the van sobbing, I remember the anger that was burning out of control in me.

In fact, Betsy was driving because I couldn’t.

As we drove out of the city limits and I continued to burn, I heard her say, “Keith, I have only one question.” I thought, here we go, here comes the other shoe dropping. I said, “And what is that?” Her response was, “We are not mad at God are we? Because if we are, who will help us?” If I have ever heard a word from God, it was in her voice. In that moment she saved our lives. She never asked why I put us in this place. She just wanted to know how we were going to get through and reminded me that God was the only one who could help us.

I am eternally grateful for His joining her to me. Thank you Jesus for your divine appointment in our meeting. She was made suitable for me. In these 50 years, she has never left my side nor forsaken me. She is and has been my help. For she is Your goodness and help in my life. Glory to God.

-KC

Jan 08 2023

6 Days till Golden Anniversary

Yesterday I woke up and had a flood of memories fill my being, some I posted. This morning, I was remembering our period of engagement and the word given to us concerning our invitation. Besides the usual announcement and logistics one of the first words we received was concerning our invitation. After we were engaged, Betsy and I decided to put this word on the front of the invitation.

From July 1972 until November, we went to three conferences on marriage and received the revelational truth on marriage. In a series on the Kingdom God and you, the fourth teaching was on Ephesians 5:26.

““For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.””

Ephesians 5:31 NKJV

Marriage is not instituted or an institution. It is and was ordained by God before the fall. The Holy Ghost inspired Moses to write this eternal truth.

The definition of cause is as follows: That which produces an effect; that which impels into existence, or by its agency or operation produces what did not before exist; that by virtue of which any thing is done; that from which any thing proceeds, and without which it would not exist. Cause is a substance exerting its power into act, to make a thing begin to be. -Webster’s 1828.

The Pharisees came to Jesus asking him about divorce. He told them that because of the stubbornness of one’s heart, God gave Moses a writ of divorce. Jesus continues to say, “It was not so in the beginning.” Marriage was ordained in the beginning, where there was nothing but good.

The 60’s atheism movement, led by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, begin to erode the truth of creation. As this demonic attack on the word of God increased, that which was created came under man’s scrutiny and unbelief. That which was held sacred became secularized. In the beginning God created male and female, made He them. These are the only two beings that make up marriage. Only a male can be a husband and only a female can be a wife. These are the very genders they were made and given the capacity to function in this relationship.

If the Church is to have any cause it should be this truth. This should be our priority one. After all, we are the Bride of Christ. A mentor once said: if you have dysfunctional marriages you have a dysfunctional church.

Paul writes clearly concerning marriage. The three builders, Moses, Jesus, and Paul, all quote this passage in Genesis 2:24. If the Church should be an advocate of any cause it should be marriage. God hates divorce because of the stubbornness of men’s hearts. Stubbornness is rebellion and rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

We must uphold the sanctity of marriage without feeling we are condemning people who have been through divorce. Marriage is holy and ordained by God who is holy.

Onward and upward. Hallelujah!

-KC