the Father's heart

if what this person (Jesus) says is true, then He is Lord, and much more than a wise and moral teacher

... because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels. Isaiah 53:12 When Jesus died on the cross, He counted Himself among the rebels...the sinners or as many versions put it, the transgressors. He became guilty while on the cross when He bore our sins. Jesus was not a sinner, but He became sin for us. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness

Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Psalm 96:6 I woke up one morning with the line, "I'm just a beggar in the presence of a King" going through my mind. These words are from the song, Broken Things, by Matthew West. It caught my attention because I don't think of myself that way. I think of myself as a daughter of the King who has instant access to Him. I honestly wanted to understand why Matthew West used the word "beggar." The song is wr

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15 When I first began interacting with LDS missionaries, I was struck by their reasons as to why they believed Mormonism to be true. I started doing some research and was shocked by what Joseph Smith, their founder, claimed had happened. There was no historical evidence to back any of what he said, and yet Mormons believed him. When I approached two missionar

(Photo by Finan Akbar on Unsplash) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17 Nicodemus was a Pharisee and Jewish religious leader. He was also just a man. Intrigued by the authority of Jesus and the many miracles He was doing, Nicodemus went to see Jesus secretly, at night, in an attempt to discover who He really was. Nicodemus may have had another motive as well; to talk about the kingdom of God. He came as

(Photo by Adam Kring on Unsplash) Zeal for your house consumes me... Psalm 69:9 Did you know that Jesus cleansed the temple two different times during His three-year ministry? The first time was soon after His first miracle at the wedding celebration in Cana, and the second occurrence took place a few days before He was arrested. Both accounts happened at the time of Jewish Passover, and are similar, but there are some significant differences. Besides being almost three years

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana of Galilee. John 2:11 Jesus was going to a wedding! And so were His disciples. Mary, Jesus' mother, was also there. In a week, Jesus went from Bethany where John the Baptist was baptizing, added five disciples (Andrew, Simon, Philip, Nathaniel, and John), and traveled to Cana for the festivities. THE PREDICAMENT During the wedding celebration, the wine supply ran out. Having no more wine would have been a consid

(Photo by Edward Cisneros on Unsplash) These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31 When Jesus came out of the wilderness after being tempted by Satan, He left Judea and went to Galilee. He went in the power of the Holy Spirit into the synagogues to regularly preach the Good News: The time promised by God has come at last (Mk 1:15) The kingdom of God is near (Matt 4:17; Mk 1:15

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash) I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12 How can believers today do greater things than Jesus did while He was on earth? This verse is difficult to understand for sure and has been subject to more than one interpretation. In the last post on Jesus' divinity while on earth, I touched on this. WILL BELIEVERS DO GREATER MIRACLES? Some Bible teachers in

(Photo by João Silas on Unsplash) For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, Colossians 1:19 (NASB) When I grew up, I never questioned the divinity of Jesus or knew of anyone who did. To this day, I can hardly believe some prominent Bible leaders teach that Jesus was not divine; but rather just a man in right relationship with God. That we, too, as believers can achieve what Jesus did, including living a life free from sin, and performing mira

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1 John begins his gospel by introducing Jesus as the eternal Word. Eternal in that before time began, Christ lived in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He existed as God because He is God. The Word because, in part, that was an effective and meaningful way to communicate Jesus' deity, humanity, and relationship to the Father with his audience. The Greek word for "Word" is logos and

(Photo by Greta Punch on Unsplash) After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Matthew 4:2 Before Jesus' ministry officially began, He was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. If His baptism was His commissioning, then the wilderness was His time of preparation. The only thing we know is that the devil tempted Jesus for forty days and that He ate nothing and became hungry. The devil was waiting for the opportune time much like he does to

(Daniel Bonnell, The Baptism of the Christ) Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Matthew 3:15 After the story of Jesus staying behind in Jerusalem when he was twelve, we don't hear anything else about Him until He is around thirty years old and leaves home to find John the Baptist. Jesus is going to get baptized. But why? John made it clear that his baptism was for the repentance of sins. Jesus had never sinned and therefore had nothi

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash) And the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Luke 2:40 Each year Mary and Joseph went to Jerusalem for the Passover, and the year Jesus was twelve years old was no different. But what happened afterward was not expected. When the celebration was over, a group headed home. It was safer and more enjoyable to travel in caravans than alone. Mary and Joseph were going to Nazareth about 70 mi

(Photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash) He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child... Matthew 2:8 Jesus is born. The shepherds came to see the newborn king, and the Magi, also called wise men, brought gifts and bowed down and worshiped Him. But before these wise men from the east found Jesus, they stopped in Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews?" When Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea, heard about this future king

(Photo by Raechel Romero on Unsplash) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 After Mary found out she was going to give birth to the Savior of the world, and that Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age, she left home to visit her cousin. She stayed for three months. When Mary came back home, she was most likely pregnant. At some point, Joseph fo

(Photo by Zach Lucero on Unsplash) But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 You may recall the passage in Scripture where the angel Gabriel visits Mary and tells her she will bear a son and call Him Jesus. After a brief exchange where the angel explains how it will happen, Mary agrees to have this child (Lk 1:26-38). Was Mary familiar with the Old Testament passages that foretold of the birth of such a child? Did she know what she was a

(Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash) And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel. Genesis 3:15 (NASB) Long before Jesus was born, He was promised as the Messiah. We find the first prophecy of His coming all the way back in the garden of Eden. It started with a temptation. The serpent convinced Eve to eat from the tree God had told her and Adam not to eat from. Aft

(Photo by Li Yang on Unsplash) Save me O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. Psalm 69:1 I have been writing my story in hopes that it will help someone who relates in some way to what I went through, and will know there is hope. This post is part three. You can read Part one here and the part two here. I also want my readers to feel like they know me a little bit. I need to back up in my story because I left out a significant event, and that was forgiving the pastor

(Photo by Andrei Lazarev on Unsplash) If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me... even the dark will not be dark to you..." Psalm 139:11-12 Today I want to pause from my story and tell you some of the things I learned because of what I went through the first five years of my depression from 1987-1991. God is good, and He does not abandon His children. We are like sheep, and sometimes we go our own way, but as the Good Shepherd, He comes looking for us. He loves us too much