The phrase “Intimacy with God” falls awkwardly upon our modern ears. It shouldn’t because it reflects the perfect relationship Jesus won the right for us to have with God, and it is the profound relationship that He prayed for us to have, in John 17:20-23 (NAS):
Tag: Jesus
If all the words we ever spoke became embodied in a new human being, what would that person be like? They would look different from us, but they would be an exact representation of us.
Imagine: all the good words, all the comforting words, all the encouraging words, and all the other words standing in front of you. That’s a scary thought … for me anyway. Words are selected, carefully sometimes, thoughtlessly most of the time. They are a mirror of thoughts and emotions, a window into our soul.
Ever since Jesus ascended into heaven, people have claimed to receive spiritual gifts, dreams, visions, and special revelation. How do we determine if a spiritual experience is genuinely from God? In the Middle Ages, the number of reported spiritual experiences reached a feverish level. Folks got attention for such reports, and in some cases money and a large following. We’re in a similar environment today. Are all spiritual experiences false?
Leo the Great, best known for persuading Attila the Hun to stop invading Italy in AD 452, penned the most succinct and profound explanation of how the divine and human natures of Christ worked to reconcile us to God.i This is a timeless must read:
The son of one of Herod’s royal officials was close to death. The official traveled 18 miles up to Cana in the hope of successfully pleading with Jesus to return with him to Capernaum to heal his son….
People die without water. When someone is far beyond thirsty, a glass of water is worth more to them than all the world’s gold. At age 16, I got heat stroke in Florida…after fishing all day in the hot sun because I forgot to bring drinking water. That was just a single day.
John the Baptist was a humble guy, but some of John’s followers became jealous when some others began to follow Jesus. They didn’t like the competition.
God the Father sent us His One and Only Son, so that through our faith in Jesus Christ, we could be born again by the Holy Spirit. We who believe in Him, have turned from the darkness of this world’s lies to the light and glory of Christ’s truth. We have moved from death to life. Therefore, we are no longer condemned by God, and we will not perish—unlike those who refuse to believe. Continue reading “From Death to Life – John 3:1-21”
The miracle of water into wine was, according the Apostle John, a ‘sign’. Was it a sign that Jesus cared about weddings? He does, but there’s a lot more going on here than catering a wedding. When John designates a miracle as a sign, he’s stating that that act, in particular, displays the glory of God in Christ.
The backdrop of this miracle is the Old Testament passages depicting Israel as the unfaithful vine that produced bad fruit (Jer 2:21; 12:10). Jesus, however, is the true vine of God (Jn 15:1–3), and we are the branches. His fruit will be the finest God’s vineyard ever produced. In other words, God saved His best wine for last. This sign declares that Jesus is the faithful Messiah. His ministry will end by dying on the cross—when His hour has come (John 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1)—but this first sign, signaled its inauguration.
Let’s allow the Father to prune us, so we may produce more fruit (Jn 15:2). “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” (Ps 139:23–24, NIV).
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Dr. Rob Oberto is the award-winning author of “Intimacy With God: Extraordinary miracles that opened a skeptic’s heart to God” available from Amazon.
©2017 Rob Oberto, All Rights Reserved.