Relational Bridges

 BECAUSE JESUS IN THE MESSIAH Because Jesus is the Messiah, because He is the Word of God made flesh, fully human while remaining Who He has always been, fully God, we can expect (and expectation is not demanding something; it is embracing the truth of who Jesus is) Him to always do what He always does. We can have this expectation that what the Lord did in His ministry on earth as the Incarnate Word He will continue to do because He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has chosen to do these things, to manifest the power and victory of the Kingdom of God through His present-day disciples, His followers, sons and daughters of God, the Father's own heirs, fellow Christians. Jesus clearly stated that the things He was doing His church would continue to do because He was going to the Father and the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all His people, saturating, anointing, soaking and indelibly dying us with the color of Heaven's glory. He even said that greater things would...

 HIS SHEEP In His Word, God calls us His sheep. Jesus Christ, Eternal God the Son, the Word of God made flesh, is our Good Shepherd. That is true. And so, I can trust Him to lead me through life. The sheep don’t lead, they follow. Trusting that God has both told us and shown us His Good News of rescue and salvation through Jesus Christ alone, we can follow. The real issue of faith is Who is the object of our believing, our faith? The strength of our faith is not in how we feel, but is grounded in the One who has called us by His grace to follow. It is Who we have put our trust in. Only God is worthy of your trust. A disciple is a follower, a learner. Our Savior’s Life and wisdom are infinite. Thus, I am assured that He will teach me, transform me, and lead me by the Holy Spirit. Always being a learner is a great freedom. It’s about Jesus Christ, Who He is and what He has done. I have Life because He is life within me. Adventure is before me! He enables my humility, my obedience, my...

 WHAT A WONDER Meditating in the Word of God today and I am as astounded at this moment as much as I was when Jesus Christ opened my eyes to see what He had done to rescue me from sin, death, hell, and the grave. The Lord saw my conception take place by His ordained plan. He saw my very beginning as well as my last breath here on planet earth. He saw every act of idolatry, rebellion, indifference, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, and everything His holiness revealed as vile and death-deserving. Nothing has ever been hidden from Him. He, faithfully and persistently, pursued me making Himself real to me at the age of seven and again at 19 rescuing me from demonic forces that were encouraging me to commit suicide. He intervened and grabbed ahold of me, bringing me back from the edge of eternal separation from Him. I have deserved nothing that I have received from Him. I can never and will never ever earn His love. I have it as a gift that, once given by His grace, can never be rescinded. ...

 WICKEDNESS The love of wickedness is a cheat. Its pleasure is fleeting because wickedness ends in debauchery, death, and the perversion of humanity. Wickedness mars and seeks to destroy any and all that is good and replace it with the love of lies and the delusion that, once embraced, brings about ultimate destruction. Ezekiel 20:13 "They wouldn't obey my regulations, even though obedience would have given them life."

 BEWARE OF LIES Satan destroys (lies), divides (counterfeits) and discourages (deceives). He is an accuser and a slanderer casting aspersions on the character and nature of God as if God is a liar and is not safe. The devil tries to deceive us, but what he does is to project his own evil intent and malevolent character on God. He wants us to doubt that God can save the least, the lost, the broken and the enslaved. But that is what the power of the Cross accomplished!

 PEACE God, You alone are that unique place of peace that cannot be disturbed!

 RIGHT WITH GOD Trying to become "right with God" indicates a lack of confidence and hope in the atonement of the Cross of Jesus Christ, God alone can make me right with Himself and He does so through the Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ and by Him alone. I am to accept and embrace the fact that salvation is of God alone!