Relational Bridges

 INVESTED GIVING Any "good" that is in our hands to give away has been placed there by God. The credit belongs to Him. When we do offer by giving to others what God has entrusted to us to pass on, we need to make sure that He gets the credit. We are a hose, not the water. When you give to the poor, best not to take a camera to record the event. Or as Jesus said, "Don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing." The analogy Jesus gave us in that the Life the Holy Spirit is living in us is to be an overflowing artesian spring, not a dammed-up reservoir. God has invested His Kingdom in you. There is wisdom, revelation, encouragement, insight for living, His authority and power that you steward. Stewardship is investing, not hording. Ask the Lord where He wants you to pass on what he has invested in you. Others need to see and hear what you have seen and heard from Him.

  NOT ONE BRICK! 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." A stronghold is a fortress built brick by brick, stone by stone. It is built to protect what is inside. It is a structure out of which forays are made to attack and wreak havoc on surrounding areas. St. Paul uses this analogy to describe an aspect of the spiritual warfare followers of Jesus Christ are engaged in. Doubts about God's intention toward us, His faithfulness, His knowing us, His caring; these thoughts, like flaming arrows, fired at us from our ancient foe seem to "make sense" when our eyes get fixed on our circumstances. And then, we are handed by our enemy a ...

  DIFFICULTIES Difficulties don't determine who we are, they actually reveal who we are. The same heat that will melt butter will make mud rock-hard. You find out what's inside a tube when it is squeezed. The question is whether your heart will become soft when God reveals His Word to you in an area He want to redeem and restore, or will it become resistant and hardened? Will you believe God and receive His Word? Will you accept that He knows what will make your life whole? Will you surrender whatever He is asking for, whatever He has put His finger on trusting that what He commands He also provides the Power of the Holy Spirit to help your obedience? Will the difficulties and struggles in life (and everyone has them; you are not the exception) turn you to the only source of Life and Peace or will you rely on the world's "solutions?" Matthew 15:8-9 ‘"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they te...

  WHY PERSECUTION? Satan hates the church, because we are the physical presence of Jesus in the world: The Body of Christ. Satan hates the church, God's people, because he knows that Jesus has given us absolute authority over him. Satan hates us because he knows that the Holy Spirit dwells in us permanently and empowers us to continue to do what Jesus was doing when He walked the earth. Persecution is satanic intimidation of the followers of Jesus Christ to try and get us to stop doing what Jesus does & to stop us saying what Jesus says. Persecutions, is, in a real way, a confirmation that we are running the right race. Keep living the truth. Keep doing the truth. Keep exercising the authority of Jesus Christ as you are led by the Holy Spirit. we are to dismantle the works of darkness in the same power and anointing Jesus walked in and ministered by. Do not be afraid of shocked when persecution comes your way. Jesus told us that IF we belonged to Him, it would come at us as it...

INTERCESSION Matthew 15:29-31 "Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down. A vast crowd brought to Him people who were lame, blind, crippled, those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus, and He healed them all. The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel." Folks, this is the essence of intercession and diligent prayer. You are bringing people to the Lord God and laying them before Him in Jesus' Name. The Lord alone can destroy the works of the devil, dismantling the kingdom of darkness and liberating folk from the effects of sin and rebellion against God. Praying in faith means praying with confidence in the One in whom you have faith. Believing the Lord Jesus, taking Him at His Word, and acting in the authority He has given by the Holy Spirit, your intercessions are setting c...

NO COMPROMISE There is a sliding away from Truth in many of the denominations that 100 years ago faithfully declared that Jesus Christ alone can save and redeem a human heart and life. There has been a growing cancerous accommodation to the idolatry, ideologies and deceptions the world has promulgated for ages. To turn from God's Truth to the doctrine of demons (humanity trusting in its own ability to make life work) is tantamount to turning from health to disease and death. Isaiah 29:13 God Almighty declares. ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ Salvation is of God alone. The Way into the Kingdom of God is through God, the Eternal Son, Jesus Christ. He alone is the Word of God made fully human to die the death we deserved so that we might turn from sin and death and be born into a new and eternal life by the power of God, not failing human effort. Listen car...