The Holy Spirit – Sarah Guldalian

Receiving Jesus as your Savior

“Thomas said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:5-7).

We all want to know where we are going when, one day, our earthly bodies fail us. We know we are finite. And none of us can deny we have failed — sinned. We know our own failings greater than anyone. We all, at some point, feel lost.

The GOOD NEWS is that we are not groping around in the dark for the answer — for the path.

JESUS. He is THE way. Jesus is the answer. There is simply no other way back to the Father, to eternal life — to the life God designed us to have. There is no other way but Jesus.

Thankfully, Jesus loved us so much so that He freely gave His innocent life – in the most gruesome death – to pave the way for us back to the Father, back to Himself (as God) to spend eternity with Him.

Do you know Him? He is not some far off entity. He is near. He is one sentence away. Call out to Him. Say His name, “Jesus.” He desires a relationship with you.

The Bible says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

It doesn’t matter where you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. You are never too far gone to receive Jesus as your Savior. And, when you do, you can have full assurance of where you are headed at the end of this earthly life.

And, oh, how freeing and peace-giving it is to have the assurance of eternity with Him!

If you have never asked Jesus to come into your life, but you are ready to ask Him to be your Savior, I invite you to pray this prayer today:

Dear Jesus,

I need you. I need your help and your healing in my life. I invite you into my life to be my Lord and Savior.

I repent for my sin — for the things I have done that have separated me from you. I repent for trying to make myself, others, and things gods in my life. I confess that you, Jesus, are the only way, the truth, and the life.

I receive your free gift of salvation today. Please remove my sin from me and make me a new person. Please forgive me. Please heal me and show me the way to walk.

In your name I pray, Jesus, Amen.

If you just prayed this prayer, congratulations! You just made the biggest and best choice of your life — one that will impact you for eternity!

I want to encourage you to download the YouVersion Bible App to your phone to hop into the Word of God, God’s love letter to us, where He speaks directly to us on every area of life! Start in the New Testament, in the book of John, and read through the Gospels. You will be encouraged and nourished through the words of Jesus Himself!

And, if you are a woman who would like to walk alongside other women through Bible Study, I encourage you to invite me at The Rooted Sisters online or in-person, where we meet for Bible Study the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:30 am central and for Prayer every Friday morning online at 7:30 am.

Sending you the love of Jesus! – Sarah Guldalian

Jesus: Light of the World

This world is dark, yet you do not need to fear the dark. Instead, put your trust in God.

“Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God” (Isaiah 50:10).

His light and His power are far greater than the darkness. Jesus has already defeated the devil.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Jesus is the light. He was not and will not be overcome.

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). – Jesus

And, He invites us, those who believe and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior, to shine brightly in this dark world for Him.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

The Bible also gives us a warning:

“But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment” (Isaiah 50:11).

We are not the source of light. On our own, we are still groping around in darkness. If we attempt to lead others in our light without Jesus as the source — the Authority in our lives, we lead them into darkness, as well meaning as we may be. It is a dangerous venture.

But, when we invite Jesus in – Light Himself – He shines into our depravity, exposes what is hidden, floods us with healing, and fills us with His light. We become the light of the world as He shines through us.

And, as we go out into a dark world each day, His light radiates through us. We become vessels – conduits – of Christ, shining for Him everywhere we go. And this can lead others to Him, leading to eternal life for them!

Though some places might alarm us, by how very dark they are, we can feel confident remembering that light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Therefore, we need not fear the dark. Instead, we become bringers of the Light when Christ dwells within us. And, in doing so, others will experience His powerful light and be brought out of their darkness into the glorious light of Christ.

So, wherever you go today, shine. Shine everywhere you go. Shine always, knowing He will always be with you, lighting the way, when you make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and follow Him.

The Tangible Presence of God

Before God descended to earth and revealed Himself as a human in flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, He revealed Himself to the people living in Old Testament times in numerous tangible ways all throughout.

He was tangibly experienced as a pillar of smoke, a pillar of cloud, unconsumed blazing fire, and wind. He is seen and experienced over and over by His people in a tangible way.

He is very practically seen by Moses and the Israelites as He travels with them on their journey as the cloud by day and fire by night: “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night” (Exodus 13:21).

God’s presence is so supernatural, and yet He comes to us through elements we can see and sense in this life, with the power and comfort of His presence, and the functional help of light and protection.

The Bible tells us that, in the case of the Israelites, He served tangibly as a cloud for covering and as fire to illuminate the dark: “who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:33)

As time moved on, and we moved further and further away from God, God came down to us in the form of a human – as Jesus – to walk with, live with, to physically see and touch. And He left His divinely miraculous handprint on the earth through tangible healings. Most importantly, He used His divinity, His humanity, and His never-ending love for us to break us free from spiritual bondage.

Then, when He ascended and went back to heaven, He left His presence with us through the Holy Spirit — a tangibly seen and experienced mighty rush of wind at the day of Pentecost.

And He left with us a physical representation of Himself with us, through His divine power at work every day, in the form of food – something we can hold, taste, and smell – through communion, as a regular reminder of His available healing and forgiveness for us every single day as we move through life.

God is close to us, and He wants us to very tangibly experience His presence in every decade, era, century, and millenium. So, He comes to us as fire, wind, a cloud, in the flesh, and even as bread.

God is real, and He is speaking to us. He desires to have a relationship with us, because of His unconditional, unconsumed love for us as a present Father who provides for and protects His children. His love for us is powerful, mighty, undeniable and unending. He is so, so good.

Prayer Thank you, Father, for always being present, for always loving us, and for always providing for us – your children. I love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, Amen.