this is Mari’s confession of faith.
Jesus is the lord of my life.
Let me start by saying I don’t believe these things because I memorized a creed or intellectualized a process.
I met a Man and He changed my life.
He refused to abandon me. He came and knew me.
He has saved me, in every sense of the word.
I cling to Him.
However, here are some of the finer points of theology because it’s fair to ask.
I believe Jesus is God, the Creator of our world.
He came to earth, was miraculously begotten by the Father of a virgin woman, stepped into our story as a physical human and then shattered sin, death, hell and the grave by dying on the cross for our sins. He rose on the third day in body after defeating all darkness.
He offers eternal, abundant life to anyone who asks Him.
If you believe what I just wrote, say it out loud and ask “Jesus, would you come and be Lord of my life?” I promise He will answer you.
But that’s not all.
God is 3-in-1: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are wrapped into this divine family when we choose to be adopted as sons and daughters.
When we choose Jesus, we are instantly wrapped into a family.
Below are some other verses that sum up my belief in Jesus better than I ever could:
Christ is central.
Colossians 1
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have
first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have
all his fullness dwell in him,
and through him to reconcile
everything to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace
through his blood, shed on the cross.
Christ is the only way.
“So Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and outlaws, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.
― John 10
CHRIST WAS BORN, DIED AND ROSE PHYSICALLY
1 JOHN 1-5 IS FULLY AFFIRMED AND BELIEVED. Read it by clicking the link.
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things[a] so that our[b] joy may be complete.
Fellowship with God
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesushis Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in usThe light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2 This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus[p] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.
4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
God was there from the start
John 1
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
The Word was with God in the beginning.
Everything came into being through the Word,
and without the Word
nothing came into being.
What came into being
through the Word was life,
and the life was the light for all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
“The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension - above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.”
― St. Athanasius,
On the Incarnation
God is 3-in-1
Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, I was there. And now the Lord GOD and His Spirit Have sent Me. Isaiah 48:16
God is father,
Son & Spirit
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
“I and the Father are one”
-Jesus in John 14:9 and 10:9“The Lord is the Spirit... where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17–18
HOW TO MEET JESUS for yourself.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
JESUS IN REVELATION 3:20Realize jesus is knocking
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life”
Jesus in John 3:16be known by jesus + do the father’s will
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23