Reading With the People of God #13 Nicene Creedਨਮੂਨਾ

Focus of the month: The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Jesus You Know

The truth of Jesus is offensive to those languishing in darkness. We all were once like corpses, dead in our sins. Rotting in our offenses. The more we read The Good News searching to know God The Father, God The Son, and God The Holy Spirit, the more He will reveal to us, deepening our intimacy with Him.

We grow based on the Jesus we know.

If you only connect to the Jesus who flips tables and not the Jesus who hung on the cross because of your sin, then your fruit will be immature and unripe. If you only connect with the Jesus who healed the lame and gave sight to the blind and not the Jesus who was beaten, humiliated, and tortured by people just like you, then your branches will yield tasteless fruit. If you only connect to the evangelist Jesus, seeing yourself as the one bringing the good news to those who truly need it, you will never know the true depth of being one with Him.

These are but a few conversations I have had with the Holy Spirit in the secret place of my heart while poring over scripture, searching for the God Who rescued me from me. I came to Jesus after I had several supernatural encounters with Him in my late 30s. Having lived a selfish, worldly, lust-driven pagan lifestyle for 3 decades, I was appalled when I came upon the scripture of Jesus’s crucifixion. Something within me was repulsed and simultaneously drawn to this son of man hanging on a cross. I couldn't relate to Him. I had never before cared enough about one single person to ever contemplate dying for them, let alone going through all that Jesus went through. It was unimaginable to me. Yet, here I was face to face with the realization that this God, whom I surely grieved 1,000 times over, was telling me that He willingly went through it all…for me. This broke me. I've never known a love like this before. My flesh wanted to deny it, but my soul and my spirit clung to it in a way that began to change everything. I was so thirsty, and here in the bloodied, broken body of a perfect Savior was the living water I so desperately needed.

You can not have an encounter with the beaten, tortured, maimed Jesus Christ and not be changed. Yes, I love embracing the Jesus that heals. Yes, I love the righteous justice of the table-flipping Jesus…but my inner being didn't truly start changing and growing until I embraced the Jesus who allowed Himself to be crushed for my sin. Seeing and recognizing the evil in those who hurled hatred at Jesus, smashing His beautiful face and shredding his perfect body, as the same viciousness that I housed within me did something to me. I can't go back; He has changed me, and I belong to Him. He bought me, paying infinitely more than I ever thought I was worth. I am His, and He is mine.

It's the Jesus you know.

*Primer contributed by Ardena Hamill, Celebrate Recovery Encourager.