Category Archives: Abide in Christ

ONE — A Life Connected to God

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Today let’s read John 14:9-14.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus came to show us the Father. Everything that Jesus did was what His Heavenly Father did. Jesus told His disciples repeatedly that He and His Father were one. He wanted them to understand something that is VERY important to us today. We are invited to participate in that relationship of being one with Him.

Jesus said:

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We were created for this very purpose — to live connected to our God, united to Him — one. As we live connected to Him — one with Him, we will do the things He does — His works. We will demonstrate and reflect God to everyone around us. So essentially Jesus was saying in the verses above, I’ve been doing God’s works and displaying who He is to this world. Now I am going back to my Father… Tag you’re it! 

When we come to Jesus our life is no longer our own. Our purpose is no longer to do what we want, when and how we want to. We are here to “do the works {Jesus} had been doing, … and greater things…” 

When we accept Jesus into our lives His Holy Spirit comes to live in us. He is in us and we are in Him. We now are empowered to do the works that the Father had prepared in advance for us to do.(Ephesians 2:10) 

Am I living my life connected to God in a deep and intimate relationship? 

Are His plans my plans?

Are His desires my desires? 

Am I doing His works? 

Am I living one with Him? 

Where I Am You May Also Be

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Today let’s read John 14:1-14.

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was a story of living with God in a close relationship. They had everything! they experienced God fully — walking and talking with Him. 

When they chose to sin, separation came i.e. death. It is hard for us to understand anything different. It is all we have known. God is perfectly holy — sin cannot exist in Him. Sin has separated us from Him. 

Jesus came to restore the relationship lost. His desire is for us to live connected to Him now and to one day be with Him in heaven. 

““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

He wants us to be with Him, where He is! What was lost in the Garden was restored on the Cross! When we accept Jesus we live our lives no longer separated by sin! 

Where Jesus is, we may also be! 

Am I experiencing the relationship that Jesus died to restore me to? Am I walking and talking with God every moment of every day? Or is sin keeping me at a distance from my God?

Leaving 2025 Behind — All Things New!

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““Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭18‬-‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus always makes all things new! What was dead always comes to life at the sound of His beautiful voice!

Today marks the last day of 2025. A New Year is a time of eager expectation of a new beginning. However, we do not have to experience newness just once a year! We can live our lives with each new morning as a new beginning as we pursue a relationship with God!

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV

In Jesus, our past is complete. Whatever happened there can be forgiven, restored, and healed. In Jesus, our present is full and alive. He never leaves us alone or forsakes us. He fills each moment with Himself— the true and abundant LIFE. In Jesus, our future is secure! We have nothing to fear of what is to come!

In Jesus, we can forget the troubling, former things of 2025. We don’t have to dwell in the could have’s, should have’s, would have’s… God is more than willing to do a new thing when we surrender our lives to Him! He has a way of turning things around. What was a dry deserted land inside of our spiritual hearts becomes a beautiful oasis with His living water flowing strong! Whatever was a wasteland and a total loss becomes NEW!

Walk with Jesus every moment of 2026 in the present! Spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer. Then on December 31, 2026 you will be amazed to see all the transformation (making all things new) He has done!

Leave 2025 in the past! Jesus is ever present in our now, and the hope (confident expectation) of what is to come!

A Happy New Year is found in Jesus alone!

The Romans Challenge: Established!

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“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past…to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭16‬:‭25,27‬ ‭NIV‬‬
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Life can feel like a whirlwind. Spiritual, emotional and even physical storms blow and shake us. They try to cause our lives to fall into shambles.

BUT there is one who establishes us, Jesus! As we come to Him and dwell connected to Him, we do not need to fear the storms! Jesus is the Rock upon which we build our lives. He is our Firm Foundation.

Paul finishes his letter to the Romans giving glory to the One who establishes us. 

“to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭16‬:‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s wisdom, His perfectly applied knowledge, in our lives keeps us secure. His Word will establish us, strengthening us. He will give us victory in our daily struggles!

Praise Him and give Him glory! He is all that we need to live secure and established!

The Romans Challenge: Prayer

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“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“All we can do now is pray…” I don’t know how many times I have heard this said. What a sad reflection of the unbelief in a person’s heart. It’s as if we say, “I’ve tried everything on my own to fix it… now I’ll ask God to help.” How we undervalue our greatest privilege! How we doubt the God who not only listens to us when we pray, but answers us!

Paul was fighting a spiritual battle. He urged the Romans to join him in his battle. He didn’t ask them to battle by talking to each other about how big the problems were. He didn’t ask them to send positive thoughts towards him. He URGED them to join him in his struggle by praying!

Prayer is not our “all we can do now…” options. Prayer is our “we get to” option. WE GET TO talk to the God who holds all power, is in control, has our best interest in His heart towards us, complete in love, complete in wisdom, etc… the list goes on and on. We get to come to Him and tell Him about the struggle and the battle. We get to ask Him to help us in time of need. We get to ask Him to provide our every need. We get to do that for ourselves. We get to pray for each other.

Do you and I value our connection to God in prayer? It is my prayer that we do! The truth is we cannot do anything on our own. Our very breath is a gift from God. Why would we think that we should turn to Him only at a moment of desperate need? We need Him every moment of every day!

The people God has surrounded us with, who we are doing life with need us to join them in their battles with our prayer! God hears us when we pray to Him. He loves to answer us when we pray!

“Join me in my struggle by praying to God for me!”

The Romans Challenge: We Get to Participate!

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“I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.”
Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭18‬-29 NIV‬‬

We live in exciting times! God is working His plan out that He established before the creation of the world.

I know that these statements fly in the face of what the news reports present to us… shootings, turmoil, disunity, disease, wars, etc. It is very dark, but light shines the brightest in the darkness. People are looking for something real. They are spiritually ill, and as believers in Jesus, we have the Truth! We have the cure!

The Apostle Paul lived in a very dark time of history as well. Everywhere he went he shined the light of hope in Jesus Christ. In fact, he made it his “ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known…” (Romans 15:20) God used him in his words and actions to make Jesus known.

This is God’s desire for us today. We were created to know God and make Him known! God wants to use what we say and what we do to reach the broken, hurting, and lost. He wants us to shine His light. He wants to work through us. He will do this, if we will simply yield ourselves to Him, listen to what He says, and obey.

When God works, He works “signs and wonders.” He does things we cannot do on our own. His ways are miraculous. He does what only He can do through the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ accomplishes great things through us. We get to participate!

May we live our lives fully surrendered to God. May we totally obey Him. May we depend on Him for everything we do. Living this way will be exciting. Because God will use us when we are entirely, completely, and totally devoted to Him! We will see Him do great things in us and through us as we participate with Him!

The Romans Challenge: We Are The Lord’s

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“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is the most natural thing for us to think about what we want, when and how we want it. This is because we have inherited a selfish nature from way back when Adam and Eve decided to do what THEY wanted to do and not obey God. But when we Jesus becomes LORD of our lives, this changes.

We no longer live to ourselves or die to ourselves. We are the Lord’s. We are to live our lives in total submission to Him, total dependence on Him, and total obedience to Him. Where He wants us to go, we go. What He wants us to do, we do. We are His!

There is joy and excitement in living this way! What God does in our lives and through our lives is always good. His power will be displayed in us and through us. He has placed us where we are to represent Him and to carry out His great and awesome plan. In order for us to experience this we must recognize this truth, “none of us live for ourselves alone…we belong to the Lord.”

The Romans Challenge: Grafted In

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“If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Long ago Abraham received a promise from God of an everlasting covenant. “I will…be your God.” (Genesis 17:7) God established relationship with him and his descendants forever. God chose His people. God also promised Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3)

You and I (as non Jewish believers) are like a “wild olive shoot” that has been attached or grafted in to the true olive tree which is that same promise/ covenant that God made to Abraham.

Because of Jesus, we belong to God. We are attached to Him! We receive from Him all that we need to live life as God’s people. We are “grafted in” to Him. To be “grafted in” is to be inserted into a body to which it did not originally belong. (Websters 1828) All of us were separated from God. But He has taken us and attached us to Himself. We now live our lives not on our own, but supported by Him.

I love this imagery. It teaches us a truth. “Without Jesus, we can do nothing.” We need to live our lives attached and connected to Him, depending on Him for everything! When we do we will experience relationship with Him and we will live in His blessing.

Father, help us to know what it truly is to live connected to You… “grafted in.” We know that Jesus came so we could experience a relationship of oneness with You — attached, united, connected, indivisible, and inseparable from You. Your desire is for us to receive Your “nourishment” and to be supported by You. We are not meant to live apart from You. This connected relationship is new to us. It’s not something we understand because all we have known in our lives is the separation that sin caused. But we desire to know You and experience You in this relationship You have provided for us more and more each day. In Jesus name!

The Romans Challenge: Super Conquerors

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“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭37‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I went to see the new Superman movie. I’ve been a fan of Superman since I was a kid watching the old black and white TV show. I watched Christopher Reeves as Superman in the 80’s. This ought to date me… Ha!

One thing struck me as I watched the movie. Different actors, different time period, BUT same basic theme. Things will get really bad. Superman will have an encounter with Kryptonite and ALMOST be destroyed, then he will be who he has been all along… Super! He will overcome. He will save the day.

As I was reading the verse above, the phrase “more than conquerors” stuck out to me. So I did a little exploring on Bible Hub. This phrase in the Greek is “hypernikomen” or “hyper” conqueror. Hyper means “over and beyond. Excess.” (Websters 1828 What came to my mind is the definition of “super” is exactly the same. You and I are “super conquerors” through Jesus who loves us!

What does this mean? Before you invest in a blue stretchy suit and a red pair of underwear to go over it. Let me explain. We, much like the fictional hero Superman, will encounter hardship. BUT ours is REAL LIFE… Paul described the hardships of our world as the possibility of famine, nakedness, danger and sword… BUT this is not going to be our defeated end. Through Jesus we will always overcome!

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) This is the reality of a believers life! This is because “NOTHING can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

As a believer in Jesus, we are His! He has conquered the greatest of all enemies — death, hell and the grave. His victory has become ours! Our circumstances here on earth may seem very dire and may overwhelm us, but they are not the final say over our lives. No matter what we encounter, we are loved by the God who spoke the planets into being. He has set His affection on us, “and we know that for those who love God all things work together for the good…” (Romans 8:28)

Ok, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get a T-shirt with a Superman “S” on it and start to wear it. But if we do, may it be a reminder, not that we derive some kind of superpowers from a fictional planet that our parents sent us to earth from. We are much more than that! We are “Super Conquerors” through Jesus, the God of the universe and beyond! He holds ALL power in His hand. No matter what we go through His love for us never changes. He is at work, and we can be confident that our end will be victorious in Him!

The Romans Challenge: Jesus Image

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“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Last month, my husband and I went to Mt. Rushmore for the very first time. As we were driving through the Black Hills of South Dakota to get to its location, we were taking in the beauty of the mountains. Then the thought came to us, “who is it that just looks at a mountain and sees a monument with the faces of the Presidents? But not only that, they create it?” You and I are similar to that mountain in South Dakota. God looked at us and predetermined that He was going to create the very image of Jesus in us!

Though it is hard for me to comprehend and believe at times, this is exactly what God had planned for me, “before the foundation of the world…” (Ephesians 1:4 ESV) God has had a plan for you and me. He doesn’t see us as we do…sin scarred, messed up, worthless, etc. He sees us fully conformed to the image of Christ— beautiful. In fact, we can be assured that He has begun a good work in us and He will finish it! (Philippians 1:6)

God predestined. He marked out beforehand (Greek for “predestined”) what we will be. This predestination is a present process of a future hope. (Berean Study Notes — Bible Hub) What we are going through today is being used to produce our future that has a confident expectation of good. What is the good we expect? The greatest good we could ever experience is to be just like Jesus. God called us, or invited us (Greek for “called”) to this. He justified us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He provided the way for us to be cleansed of our sin and placed us in right relationship with Him. He has glorified us — made us His image bearers. This is what we are now, Jesus Image, here on earth. This is what we will become more and more of as we surrender our lives to Him!

What a wonderful promise for us now and the not yet! Being just like Jesus is our glorious future in Him!