Relational Bridges

  GOD FIRST Oswald Chambers "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them . . . for He knew what was in man." John 2:24-25 " Put trust in God first. The  Lord Jesus trusted no man; yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, never in despair about any man, because He put God first in trust; He trusted absolutely in what God's grace could do for any man.  If I put my trust in human beings first,  I will end in despairing of everyone; I will become bitter, because I have insisted on man being what no man ever can be - absolutely right. Never trust anything but the grace of God in yourself or in anyone else. "                                                                                              ...

 FAITH Romans 10:17 "Faith comes from hearing and that hearing from the Word of God being declared." Faith is not some quantifiable substance. Faith is a believing response to something you have heard from what to trust is a reliable source. I have "faith" in the peddle just to the left of the accelerator on my car because the vehicles manual tells me that if I step on it, the car will slow to a stop. The manual calls it the brake. I believe the manufacturer knows what the different parts of the car are for and how they work. I act on that belief, that faith, when coming up to a red traffic light. I step in it to stop. There is NO faith if there is no word given to you for you to respond to with a "Yes." Hebrews 11:1 " Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." God has spoken in many ways to His people through His prophets. In these last days, He has spoken through His eternal Son, the Word made fl...

 HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18 "The sacrifices under that system ( the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.   If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.   For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.  Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.   But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.   There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet.   For by that one offering He forever m...

 WIT'S END We have all grown up being taught to rely on our senses, and that has been necessary. We've learned to rely on our trained five senses; what we see, what we hear, what we can touch, what we taste, and what we smell. These have helped us navigate life from infancy. They have helped develop what we call our "wits". You've heard it said, when it seems danger might be afoot, "Better keep your wits about you." We learn that certain sounds do not bode well, certain smells indicate things are not right, if it's hot don't touch it, if it looks like a tornado, seek shelter. We learn early on to spit out strange tastes, like broccoli. The truth is, however, that life has never been fully defined by our five senses. We have been inculcated by the materialistic atmosphere of the world we live in. Its deception has been repeatedly pounded into the very fiber of human existence. However, that frame of reference is subtly polluted by an insidious lie...

 GOD'S PURPOSE IN PRAYER God's purpose for us in prayer is not merely that He answer our prayers, but that we might come to discern His mind for the things that He brings to mind for us to pray into, those things that concern us.

  WHY WE PRAY 1 Samuel 12:23 "God forbid that I should sin against the Lord by not praying for you." Samuel was the last Prophet/Judge that Israel had before demanding that they have a king like the nations around them. God had set them apart to be ruled by Him through His anointed Prophets like Samuel. God told Samuel that the Israelites were not rejecting Samuel's leadership. They were rejecting God's leadership in wanting to be like the nations around them who had a king. When God showed His displeasure to the nation, they were terrified...but not enough to repent and lay down their demand for a king. They were afraid that Samuel would not care for them in God's Name because of their lust to have a king. That is when Samuel declared,  "God forbid that I should sin against the Lord by not praying for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right." There are those who do not know the Lord because they have never heard. There are those wh...

 GOD'S CALL Isaiah 49:1 " The   Lord   called me before my birth;  from within the womb, He called me by name." It is astounding to think, an act of nothing more than believing what God has said that, foreknowing that I would respond to His grace by grace, I would receive from Him a new birth becoming a new creation. Mind-blowing that He would cause me to stand before Him, holy, blameless, and beyond reproach. In love, that He has destined me to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is a heritage from God. It is not due to anything I have ever accomplished or could ever even approach to do to any degree. He tells me that I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that He has foreordained that I should walk in, live into. That means that He will provide the grace, anointing, and His power to do what He has planned for me to do. It is an eternal truth that the will of God is either done by the power of God or it is not done at all....

  CHURCH BEING THE CHURCH Matthew 16:16-18   " And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven.  And I say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ." Jesus speaks of Peter being a rock, a small stone of the same substance as his confession. The Lord then states that upon the boulder that is the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, upon THAT foundation, He would build His Church. Then He declares that the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against His Church. Did you know that the gates of an ancient city were the last place of defense against attacking armies. If the gates were lost, the city would be lost, sacked and destroyed. Too often, this passage of Scripture...

  WHEN GOD SPEAKS When God speaks, what He declares takes place. He speaks and what He says happens. He calls into being things that do not exist and in speaking, they become where before they were not.

THE DOPAMINE DELUSION Porn = loneliness sold as sex Alcohol = escape sold as fun Fast food = poison sold as food Luxuries = emptiness sold as joy Video games = isolation sold as play Celebrities = empty souls sold as role models Drugs = numbness sold as happiness Social media = likes sold as friendship Smoking = addiction sold as relaxation Scrolling = distraction sold as downtime Cheap dopamine is the Trojan horse of modern misery. The more fake happiness you experience, the more depressed you'll get. Behold the smiling depressive. Sophia Andreeva

 THE ESSENCE OF WORTH Ephesians 2:8-10 " God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.   Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.   For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." What value would you assign to a corpse? Odd question? I doubt that anyone would apply any significant worth to something lifeless. Ephesians 2:1-3  " Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.   You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.   All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyon...