Relational Bridges

  Here is a question recently posed to me. “When might God allow us to live in constant unity with Him? Here’s what comes to heart and mind: a. I believe that the Word of God states clearly that God, Himself, has united us to Himself and that this unity is as constant and eternal as the Lord, Himself. b. Romans 8:31-39 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute,...

  "Attack me, this I do myself, but attack me rather than the path I follow and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any les s the right way because I am staggering from side to side!" -Leo Tolstoy

  1 Peter 2:11 says that we are aliens and strangers in this world. We are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are twice-born in a world of once-born people, and we're going to find ourselves going against the tide most of the time. It's like a deep-sea diver who is underwater and outside his natural environment. He could not live if he weren't linked to his life supply above. That's the way we need to live. If we are to survive, we must stay linked to Jesus who is our life. The Bible says we're not to set our affections on things beneath, but on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. (Colossians 3:1) It's time to check your lifeline...are you trusting in anything in this world? Are you making friends with the things of this world? They can't and won't meet the needs they promise to. They are a cheat. Jesus Christ is the real thing.

 TEMPTATION Truth is, sometime down the road or around the corner, we will find ourselves experiencing the pressure of temptation we may have never know. It’s because we live in a world ruled by sin. There is brokenness in others that can and will impact us. There is still residual brokenness in followers of Jesus (Scripture refers to it as “the flesh”) that tries its best to get us to collude with sin to keep it alive. The insidious lie, that we need something more than God has provided or can provide, is the same demonic presumption used every day by satanic forces since the Garden of Eden. Temptation is not sin. Internalizing, personalizing the temptation and acting on it, is sin. We will be shocked at what we have the capacity to do. God isn’t shocked. He knows exactly what we are capable of: pride, religiosity, fear, unbelief, lust, greed, rage, murder, gossip, malice, sloth, envy, bitterness, resentment, hatred, theft, sexual sin of all sorts, self-righteousness, unforgivene...

  Note from Oswald Chambers. Why ongoing change and transformation is a given for all who will follow Jesus. "Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in their service to God. "

  Think on this.  When you believed Jesus Christ, when you surrendered your life to Him, the Holy Spirit took you out of the kingdom of darkness where all humanity has been held prisoner since Adam’s fall. He then translated you into the Kingdom of God where you became new creations by the Power of the Holy Spirit; confirming your faith and the grace God had given you to respond to His love. Yes, you received Jesus Christ into your life, but greater still, God brought you and all that you are into the fullness of His life. When Jesus came to live His life in and through you by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, He came to live in you all that He is. Jesus is Life within you. He has brought His righteousness, His holiness, His faithfulness, His wisdom, His obedience, His own resurrection power, His goodness, His love, His peace, His patience, His joy, His kindness, His gentleness, His long-suffering, His self-control, His truth, His Eternal Life. All that He brought with Him (wh...

  Jesus told us that in the world we would experience great strife…that’s much more than a series of “bad-hair” days. It’s more than dealing with grouchy people ordering coffee at Starbucks. It’s a real battle with principalities, power, the rulers of spiritual wickedness in high places…not flesh & blood but cosmic evil. Though the battle is indeed played out in the shoe-on-pavement world and has physical consequences, its arena is nonetheless a spiritual one. It is a battle to harm us, discourage us, to try and get us to “stand-down” and stop reaching out to the world caught in the deadly grip of sin. That is why we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, soaked in God’s almighty power, clothed with Jesus as our armor, filled with Life that will never end to wage a war that our Captain as enlisted us in as His feet and hands on the earth.

  Jesus Christ intentionally built relationships with people who were totally unlike Him. He was and is the only bridge between Holy God and sinful mankind. It is written that the Word became flesh and made His home among us. People could hear Him, see Him, examine His life at close range and He was touchable, accessible. God has not sent you into the world as Christ’s ambassadors with out the necessary life-equipment to do battle for the hearts of those still held captive by the chains of sin and the lies of Satan. The King, Himself lives in you!

  Question..... What is important to the God? Is it robes or liturgy? Is it pomp and structures? Or is it people rescued by Jesus? Is it fancy names and the need for others to affirm us as membership-holders in a specific denomination? Or is it people rescued by Jesus? Is it hymns and a pipe organ, praise songs led by a rock band with music lyrics projected up on a wall, is it numbers and programs? Or is it people rescued by Jesus? Is it processions, altars and accouterments, coffee-houses, ware-houses, tents, bricks and mortar, pews or folding chairs, banners or bare walls? Or is it people rescued by Jesus? In themselves, none of those things is wrong, but they are not the reason we follow Jesus. They are also not the necessary means of following Jesus.

  God has revealed His Nature and Character (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to us in time, in space, by Word and deed. The Eternal Trinity desires to continue to display the fullness of His Character and Nature through His people. He has given us His Life, His Salvation, and the Power of His Spirit. We are meant not only to know, but to overflow. It’s not just for information or the formulation of dogma that He’s made Himself known! He did so to redeem us, unite us to Himself, fill us with His Presence...to rescue the crown of His creation from sin & death…to display His Glory.

  Perseverance in prayer (communication with God...talking & listening) is evidence of actually believing God. There is a difference between believing in God and believing God. One is about the accumulation of knowledge and information about God. That is important. The other is about an intimate relationship with God that is capable of transforming a life. That is crucial.

  There is a marked difference between those in whom Jesus lives His life and those who do not have eternal life working in them. When crisis hits, when the rains come down as a deluge, when the winds beat like a hurricane and flood waters threaten to wash the stuff of life away, some houses stand firm and some are destroyed. Followers of Jesus can stand firm because of the One dwelling in them. The Holy Spirit in us is the same life and power that raised Jesus from the dead. Standing in the storms of life is not a function of who we are or what we have done, but is solely due to Who Jesus is and what He has done. We are never alone. Jesus told us that in the world we WOULD have trials and great difficulties, to we are to take heart, because He has overcome the world. Temporal things swirling around us can never alter what Jesus has done and is doing in us. Nothing in life or death can separate us from the Love of God given us; that is for us an eternal artesian wellspring in Jesu...

  Hebrews 11:1 "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." Hope is not wistful thinking. Hope is grounded in something someone has promised to you. My faith is a response to something God has already said. All of the promises God has made find their "YES!" in Jesus Christ. I believe what He has promised and have faith that I shall see things that I have yet to see...like...Jesus is coming again...and...having begun a good work in me, He will complete it by the day He returns or calls me home...and...He is able to do more than I could ever ask of even imagine by the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is NOW at work in me...and...if anyone in in Christ Jesus, they are a new creation, and there is more than to come that I have yet to live into. God is eternally faithful to His Word. When you hear His promise, you can believe Him, trust Him and your faith is grounded in Who He is.

  I can't change anyone, including myself. That actually does mean that I'm powerless in and of myself. I can be an instrument of change only because Jesus has made His home within me. Nothing is impossible with Him. We all want someone to fix our crap...as long as we don't have to change. We want to remain victims; we hate being responsible...evidence that the Garden of Eden wasn't a myth after all. But there is hope to be freed from our well-crafted self-centered prisons. Through His sacrifice and resurrection, Jesus Christ offers us true humanity, restored identity, worth, purpose and meaning that have no reference to the evaluative tools of culture. The Holy Spirit comes to permanently live in all who will believe this Good News and He works the change and enables you to cooperate in His work of healing and restoring the broken Image of God in you to wholeness again.

  BECAUSE we have been forgiven by the grace of Jesus Christ, we are now in a place where God can show us what He wants to change in us. There is no reason for fear, because we are loved with a Love that no one and no-thing can separate us from.

  Forgiveness doesn't mean that what was done to you was OK. Forgiveness allows the wound to become glorified scar. Forgiveness keeps bitterness and resentment making a home in your head and heart. Forgiveness keeps the evil someone has done to you from shaping your life for the rest of your life. Forgiveness remembers that we have been forgiven for far more by Jesus Christ than has ever been done to us. Forgiveness gives us the freedom to no longer be controlled by the failings of others. Forgiveness brings us to the place where we can honestly say to the one who has harmed us, "You owe me nothing. You no longer control how I move forward in life. I have put you in the gracious Hands of Jesus."

  What To Renounce (Oswald Chambers) We have renounced the hidden things of shame… 2 CORINTHIANS 4:2 Have you “renounced the hidden things of shame” in your life— the things that your sense of honor or pride will not allow to come into the light? You can easily hide them. Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light? Then renounce it as soon as it comes to mind— renounce everything in its entirety until there is no hidden dishonesty or craftiness about you at all. Envy, jealousy, and strife don’t necessarily arise from your old nature of sin, but from the flesh which was used for these kinds of things in the past (see Romans 6:19 and 1 Peter 4:1-3). You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame. “…not walking in craftiness…” ( 2 Corinthians 4:2 ). This means not resorting to something simply to make your own point. This is a terrible trap. You know that God will allow you...

  Lord God, I thank You for Your holy angels. Thank you, Lord, that they always obey You and that You send them to fight on my behalf just when I need them. You tell them what to do and when to do it for my benefit and the benefit of my home, my family, my work and the sphere of influence You have assigned to me and all that I steward in Your Name. If You ask me to call them forth, Lord make that clear, as You see infinitely more of the battle engaged, even now, than I do. I humbly ask that they would be a hedge of protection, a fire-wall of grace and Power around me, my household and that they would minister to me in Your ministry. I ask You, Holy Spirit, to raise up and to stir up people who will support us and intercede in prayer for me, my family, your ministry through me and for all that touches my life. I declare and proclaim that Your Kingdom, Lord Jesus, Your everlasting Kingdom will permeate my home, my family, my household, and over the whole sphere of influence You have ...

  There will come a day, when you will need God’s grace in ways you have never needed it before. It's the truth. You won't be able to rely on what you feel, maybe not even what you think or remember. It will seem like the floor beneath you has simply dissolved. It will not be a matter of you figuring it out, but trusting in Love that is infinitely greater than what you know. It's about surrender. When Jesus came to live His Life within you by the Holy Spirit, He had already factored in that you would need ongoing grace in places you were yet unaware of needing it. Your circumstances have not and never will be an impediment to His power at work within you. The Lord wants you to believe what He has said. Nothing can separate you from His love, His forgiveness, His righteousness, His Truth, His faithfulness, His salvation, His Presence in you as the Living Word. SO, when, not if, that day comes when you need what you what have never needed before, trust Him. He has it all in h...

 

  The ultimate work of Justice and Mercy were done in the face of sheer rejection, utter abandonment and violent attack. If we only do good to those who love us, we miss the Love of the Father and the world misses it, too.

  Eternal, Victorious, Holy and Mighty Trinity, You alone are worthy of all the worship I can give, worthy of all the devotion my heart can produce; all my praise and trust are for You and in You, for You are the glory of my life. I love You, my Lord, and worship You here in this moment giving myself over to You that my life be opened by Your Spirit as I come to seek Your Face and the power of Your Life at work within me. It is You that enables me to follow You. Thank You, Lord.

  There is a poverty deeper that being penni les s. Poverty of the soul is like trying to paint with ashes. The Day of God's favor has come...yes, He has come. There is hope and the promise a new heart and a new spirit…a full-color palate to paint with for all who will believe...all who will receive.

  Holy Spirit, You have united me to the death of Jesus Christ, where I died to sin’s dominion, and no longer have to live under the rule of my flesh with its deceiving arrogance, unbelief, doubt, fear and any and all idolatry that has ever had a place of influence in my life. Holy Spirit, please expose any residual idolatry, in any form, so I may confess, renounce and abandon it. I declare that You have caused my “old man” to be put off, removed when You regenerated my life. This day, Lord Jesus, I yield to You, that all You have done may be practically applied to the whole of my life, spiritually, mentally, willfully, emotionally and physically. Lord, thank You for covering me with Your precious blood, uniting me to both Your death and to Resurrection Life.

You alone are Life within me. Life is only found in You. Therefore, I renounce any and all idols, all false gods and every thought that tries to exalt itself in pretense above the knowledge of You. I surrender and give to You the throne of my heart, this life that belongs to You alone. I ask Your forgiveness for my every sin. Holy Spirit show me what I need to confess, renounce and abandon. Thank You for Your faithfulness to cleanse and keep on cleansing me from all unrighteousness. Search me and try me, O Lord, that I may see where You are working in my life. I will trust You for the grace to cooperate with You: for true repentance, healing, deliverance, encouragement and the holiness You desire to work out within me.

  The sovereignty of God is not altered by the actions of man. He has absolute control over all things. Human attempts to describe His sovereignty with finality can make God look monstrously arbitrary. He ru les over all, but I do not presume to be able to say "how". I do know God is good and all He does is right. His character makes me trust his sovereignty. My hope is in God, not my understanding of God.

  A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow… John 7:38 Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all. When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask…of very costly oil…and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an a...