Counselor's Corner: RESIST AND FLEE

    

Counselor’s Corner

Resist and Flee

Dear Sir

I am a teenager, and a college student. I have been struggling in my Christian life because I feel that I am powerless to resist and flee from sin and Satan. There are failures in my life and feel sad about it. It leads me to serious guilt. I genuinely want to flee from sin and resist the devil. But I do not know how to do it practically. I shared this burden with another believer and was told that he also has such struggles and didn’t know what to do. Can we not find victory in our Christian life? Is there any hope for people like me? We do not know who to ask for help. Please guide us through the pages of your magazine.

Sincerely in Christ

Sam

Dear Sam:

Thank you for your openness in writing to me. I understand your struggles which a lot of young believers in Christ are faced with. The fact that you are sad and feeling guilty is the sign that you have a genuine interest and commitment to get victory in your Christian life. Please understand that all Christians, no matter how zealous and mature they are, have such struggles of varying degrees. This is because we live in a sinful body and in a sinful environment. The devil is out there as a roaring lion to devour us and make us fall into sin. If we are not careful, it is likely that we will experience failure and defeat. But God doesn’t want us to fall into sin and get defeated. He wants us to be victorious. In fact, we are declared more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Romans 8:37-40). He is our model and so we need to live by looking unto Jesus in all our situations and circumstances (Hebrews 3:1). He is our role model in defeating Satan. He always used the Word of God, that sharp sword, to defeat Satan. When the Bible gives us the commandment to resist the devil and flee from him and his sinful ways, (James 4:7) it necessarily means that our Lord will give us the power, strength and boldness to resist the devil. This means that we must use the whole armor of God and fight the devil (Ephesians 6:13-18).  Wherever and whenever necessary, we must also flee the environment and situation which might lead us to defeat and make us fall into sin. Please read the following verses to get encouragement: 1 Corinthians 10:13; Romans 13:14; 2 Timothy 2:22; Hebrews 12:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Colossians 3:5-10; Matthew 26:41; Galatians 5:16.

You might be aware of the fact that sin comes into our lives through our five senses.  So when we find victory by resisting sin in our five senses through the power of the Spirit of God, we will be able to overcome sins in our lives. This victory is ours as we continue to live with the filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives on a daily basis. When we are filled with the Spirit, we will have the power of the Spirit to resist sin and flee sin and Satan. We will also experience the control of the Spirit in our lives. If we try to resist and flee in our own strength and power, we will be susceptible to fall into sin and get defeat in the hands of the devil.

I am giving below a few suggestions for you to consider as you are confronted with the tactics of the devil to drag you into sin:

a.       If you are tempted to look at any object, picture, person or material that will create in you an unholy desire of some sort and entice you, the best course of action is to close your eyes and start praying for victory in such a temptation. Turn your head the other way. Fill your mind with godly thoughts as described in Philippians 4:8. Pray for victory and praise God each time you get victory.  

b.      Surrender your eyes and ears to the Lord continuously so that He would take full control of it. Thus your desire or craving for things that tempt you will come down and slowly disappear.

c.       Continuously examine your heart and mind to see if any of the 15 elements of fleshly life (Galatians 5:19-21) hit your mind. Rebuke it in the power of the Spirit of God and ask it to leave you in the name of Jesus Christ (Matthew 17:21). Such power will be yours as you pray intensely and also accompanied with fasting as appropriately.

d.      Pray continuously for God’s protection against the devil’s attack. Be always aware of the impending attack of the enemy to capture, manipulate and trap your five senses somehow to commit sin in your heart.

e.      Keep away from all spots which might lead you to sin. The nearer you are to these spots, the easier it is for you to fall to the temptation to sin. These spots might be places of the presence of certain type of people, institutions and media inputs like films, literature, music, pictures and any other sensuous elements in the environment.

f.         Always be conscious of the fact that your heart is given to Jesus to rule as the Lord of your life. Don’s allow anything like desire for power, prestige, prominence, position, possessions, worldly acclaim, recognition and appreciation to rule in your heart.

g.       Constantly remind yourself of the fact that you are not your own, but are purchased by Jesus Christ with His blood. As you belong to Jesus, your Master, every time your mind or thoughts lean towards any worldly or sinful ways, ask Jesus to help you not to fall and to protect you (Matthew 6:13).

h.       Saturate yourself with the Word of God which is your best defense against sin and falling into temptations. Read it regularly and keep a regular ‘quiet time’ with the Lord. Study the Word and try to understand its deeper meaning. So when the enemy and temptations come knocking at the door of your heart, the Holy Spirit who is the writer of the Word will remind you of appropriate portions to strengthen you so that you can resist the devil and temptations to sin.

i.         I strongly recommend that you find a prayer partner with whom you may spend time in 2x2 prayer sessions on a regular basis. This will be a great support for your spiritual life and will strengthen you spiritually.

j.        Be filled with the Spirit of God which means to be controlled by the Spirit. It involves examining ourselves to identify our spiritual weaknesses, failures and sinfulness and confess it all wholeheartedly to the Lord in prayer. It means to confess and express your godly sorrow in grieving the heart of God with your sins and ask God to forgive all your known and unknown sins of omission and commission.  After this, deeply desire for the fullness of the Spirit and pray that you be filled. As you pray continuously and spend time with the Lord, God will keep His promise and give you the power of His Spirit and help you to experience the fullness and control of the Spirit (Luke 11:9-13). Thus you will experience the renewing of your heart and will be filled with the joy and peace which are the result of being controlled by the Spirit. You will then be able to bear the fruit of the Spirit. But please know that this experience has to be in your life in a continuous manner. Whenever you lose this control of the Spirit, you will fall a prey to sin and temptations and ultimately to the enemy’s enticing.

k.       Spend more time in fellowship with God’s people. Try not to be alone or get isolated, but be occupied with God, His people and His Word. When you are thus in regular fellowship with God, His Word and His people, your spiritual life will be further strengthened. This is the way to gain more strength on a daily basis to resist the devil.  

l.         Please conduct a Bible study about all your spiritual positions in the Lord and keep thanking God for giving you all these positions. This will remind you of your preciousness in the sight of God and work as a guard against the attacks of the enemy.

m.    Make sure not to feed your flesh with anything sinful, sensuous and materialistic. This means to deny your five senses anything that might tempt you to commit sin in your heart or with your body. Thus your flesh will be kept week and your spirit will be strong. This strength will help you not to fall into sin and temptations.

n.      Denounce anything temporal that the world and the enemy offer you. Remember how Abraham denounced to accept even what was legitimately his, after he defeated the enemy kings to rescue Lot and his family? (Genesis 14:22). Paul gave another great challenge when he considered all that the world offered him as garbage (Philippians 3:7).

o.      If you are caught in tight situations, the best course of action is to run for life and escape sensitive, sensuous and tempting situations before temptations and sin will overpower you.

p.       Keep praising God for every victory God gives you. At the same time, confess every failure and defeat in your life and ask for forgiveness and greater strength to resist situations which might lead you to defeat in your spiritual life.

q.      Remember, Christian life is a life of warfare. We must remind ourselves that we are soldiers, in the battlefield. Jesus is our Commander-in-Chief. He has given us the whole armor of God to use in the battle (Ephesians 6:13-18). Prayerfully learn to use the whole armor and never take this battle lightly.

r.        Please study all the verses in the Bible which speaks of spiritual warfare and the characteristics of the soldier of Jesus Christ so that you can become a true soldier (Luke 14:25-35; 2 Timothy 2:1, 3-4). Please also study the portions in the Old Testament pertaining to the wars led by Moses, Joshua and David and learn lessons about fighting the battle and engaging in incessant prayer (Ephesians 6:18-20; Colossians 4:12).

s.       Our warfare against sin, world and Satan is an inch-by-inch battle. It’s tough, but we are already declared victorious. So let us fight the battle by faith and claim victory in all areas of our life (Romans 8:37).

t.        No matter what you do in life, do it all in the name of the Lord and praise God for the enabling (Colossians 3:17).

u.      One of the ways to engage your mind in godly matters is to get involved in sharing gospel with the unsaved. It’s also good to get yourself occupied with some spiritual ministries in your local assembly. Thus your mind will be always be busy with spiritual matters. Remember: when you keep your life and mind idle, the devil will make it his workshop to make you fall into sin and unholy things.

v.       Keep committing yourself with your body, soul, mind, conscience, priorities, likes, dislikes and interests to the sovereignty of your Lord to use it all for His glory all through your life.

I hope these insights will help you to understand how you can resist the devil and flee from sin.  

May God strengthen you to RESIST SIN AND THE DEVIL and to FLEE before you might fall into sin! May God help you to find victory on a daily and hourly basis! Its available for those who ask God (Psalms 9:10; 86:5).

I am praying for you to enjoy victory so that you will have a joyful Christian life.

Yours sincerely

Oommen Philip

Today in the WORD

Unique Calls @ Critical Times

 

Unique Calls @ Critical Times

                Youth characteristically challenge others with their vigor, vitality, enthusiasm, intellectualism and creativity. They think, assimilate, move and act at unprecedentedly fast pace and beat every imagination. They are innovators with ingenious spirit and adventurers with courage and charisma. So the world is after them through technology and mind manipulations. Flesh is after them through temptations. Satan is after them through popularity, prominence and possessions. Opportunities knock at the doors of their lives with promise of achievement and recognition. Knowledge is after them with elation. So they run the race for all these mirages and become disillusioned about life itself. It is then that they are offered ways to feel ‘high’ with substance that work in their bodies and minds to drain them of purposefulness in life. In the process, they challenge many others to travel their ways, but little do they realize that their followers reach the same destination that they are bound to arrive at – feeling of emptiness in life.

                Youthful years are full of energy and ideas. They have an answer to every puzzle and a way out of every mountain trail. They have a whole life time to work on it all with best prospects. They have plenty of free time, with less responsibilities and very little accountabilities. They are invariably their own bosses. They don’t like anyone telling them what to do, eat, dress, study or accomplish goals in life. They think they are right and others must learn to become wise like them. They often forget that youthful years are the ripe time to consider the Creator and see what His ultimate plans for their lives might be.

God’s focus on the Youth

                If one examines the account of creation in the Bible, one would easily see that man was created as a resourceful youth and his wife a beautiful young lady. Considering the present life expectancy, most of those whom the Creator called thereafter to work for him were young. Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Nehemiah and the prophets were all called when they were quite young. When one looks into the gospels, it would be easy to see that the disciples of Jesus were all young men, in their late teens or early twenties. Then we are presented with an array of young people like Timothy, Titus, Silas, Epaphroditus and others in the early church who were young men.

                Why God especially calls young people for His mission? It is because they have the energy required for special missions. They have the life span to establish and accomplish great things to touch the lives of people through the hands of God. They have the will to make a life-time of commitment. They have the capacity to develop a long term vision and the strength to see that it is implemented. They learn the ways of God in His school of faith as they work for Him. They have the drive to go after their vision relentlessly.

Look into the history of the church

                History of the church tells us that God has called scores of young men and women to accomplish His purpose in building up His kingdom here on earth. So God called a young lawyer named Charles Finny to lay the foundation for revivalism. He called a young shoe salesman named Dwight Moody to train young people for world evangelization. He called William Carey, Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor as founders of modern missionary movement. He made Martin Luther the founder of Reformation. His call to John Calvin and Zwingli was to interpret the Bible and to establish doctrinal foundation for the church. He called Billy Graham who founded Youth for Christ and to start mass evangelism using multimedia to preach to the entire world. God picked Jim Eliot and four of his friends to reach out to the savage mountain tribes. When they were martyred, God used their lives to call over 5,000 youth to obey His call for world missions. He called George Verwer to establish literature evangelism through Operation Mobilization in unreached shores of the nations. They were all young men who were totally committed to Jesus Christ.   

                During the last five centuries, God called scores of His men and women to write hymns, translate the Bible, develop music, write books and tracts, launch magazines, start training centers, establish mission hospitals and orphanages and innumerable other evangelistic and church planting ministries. For evangelizing India, God raised up missionaries like William Carey, Amy Carmichael and Silas Fox, native young men like Sadhu Sunder Sing, Bhakta Singh, K.V. Simon and others. These were all called at their prime youth. 

Critical Times

                If we examine the times at which God called His choice instruments for His mission, it was always during critical times.

·         When human race was utterly perverse, God called a young man named Noah to preach and warn against it and to build an illustrative ark to show God’s salvation.

·         When idolatry was rampant and faith utterly unheard of, God called Abraham to prove his simple and unquestionable faith in God and in His mighty power and faithfulness.

·         When morality and truth were unheard of, God called Joseph to stand for, holiness, faithfulness and hope in Him and to protect His people Israel.

·         When God’s people were experiencing hopelessness, oppression and suppression, God raised up Moses to fearlessly face the Egyptian Emperor and his nation to release God’s people and lead them to worship the only true God.

·         When the enemy destroyed God’s people and their livelihood, God raised up Gideon to fight and demolish the enemy as the leader of the army of God.

·         When monster-like Goliath became a threat to God’s people, He called David to kill him and defeat all His enemies to establish a kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.

·         When the power of God disappeared from His people, He called Isaiah to preach and to warn people and to give them the good news that Jehovah lives to save them.

·         In the midst of hopelessness, God raised up Jeremiah to cry for His people as the great intercessor.

·         When the enemy tried to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth, God called Esther to intercede for them and to reestablish hope.

·         God called Peter and John with their brethren to follow the way of the cross against the pseudo-religious forces.

·         God called Paul to take gospel to new territories and to complete the writing of the New Testament.

·         God called Timothy to build up the church when commitment was unknown among people.

These men and women were willing to take risks for God and for faith. They gave up everything they had and sacrificed their lives to stand for God.

Need of the hour

Our times are critical in many respects. The world and its agents flesh and Satan, are after the minds of young people. We live at a time when many young people faint under the scorching heat of the world and its evil system. We see young people captured by Satan, flesh and world. Their minds are being manipulated to perpetuate the evil that is around them. We see youngsters shattered emotionally and confused spiritually and drifting away from God. Who will deliver them from the clutches of sin and the world? Who will train up young men and women to help them fight spiritual battles to salvage the lost youth around them?

God is still looking and calling

·         God wants somebody to stand in the gap for the youth around us (Ezekiel 22:30). If not, people will perish.

·         The prophet is crying and asking as to whether there is anyone to intercede for the lost (Isaiah 59:16)

·         God is looking for the Nehemiah’s around us to rebuild broken lives, character and families (Nehemiah 1:11)

·         God is looking for youngsters who are willing to listen to Him and obey unconditionally (Haggai 1:1 & 3; Luke 14:35)

·         God wants people to respond willingly and voluntarily to go for Him and capture lives for Him (Isaiah 6:8)

What does it cost?                                           

Obeying God’s call involves your time, holidays, weekends and evenings, your money and most of all yourself. God wants you to work hard for Him to reach out to the lost youth. He wants your abilities, talents, intelligence, enthusiasm, energy, education, profession and passion that you might be using for temporal gains and fame of this world. He wants you to pray, talk, cook, serve, walk, climb hills, encourage and counsel the youth around you. He wants you to be available and avail the opportunities around you. Open your eyes and see that there are youth all around you who are drifting away into a Christ-less eternity. Many youth are captured day by day by the world, flesh and Satan. Will you be concerned about them? Will you give God the freedom to call you right now to go after the Youth who are escaping His fold?

     

BIBLICAL TENETS IN FAMILY LIFE - IV

 

IV

Biblical Tenets in Family Life 

 

There are a lot of areas in day to day life where conflicts might emerge in family life. These may cause disagreements, arguments and fights between husbands and wives, and among parents and children especially when children grow older. When these conflicts increase in intensity, it takes away the unity and happiness in family life. Believers’ families also experience such conflicts at times. Often it affects mutual love and develops mutual hurts and hatred. In many families, family prayer and unity get ruptured. In some families, quarrels occur in the presence of the children and sometimes in the presence of grandchildren also. These realities need to be examined and handled in a spiritual manner.

 

If only the couple and children handle these differences of opinion with much prayer and waiting on the Lord will they be able to maintain family unity, mutual love and mutual understanding. In other words, spiritual solutions to the emerging issues will only help the families to maintain unity and happiness and for sustaining Christian witness. There’s need for mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21) and humility on the part of the spouses in all families to avert conflicts and for resolving fleshly issues. They should take efforts to find out the inner needs of each other and exercise patience and mutual forgiveness. The members of families need to build each other up through intensive prayer for each other. The same is the solution when parents and grown-up children experience conflicts. Wherever there are difference of opinion, waiting upon the Lord in prayer and frank and open discussion will only help the couple and children to reach a mutually satisfying solution.

 

Let’s examine some of these issues and how these may be handled. 

 

Family Relationships:

·         Parents’ Relationship with children

-          United Parents to deal with children (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20; Exodus 20:12; Proverbs 1:8, 6:20, 30:11, 17)

-          Children’s caring for parents in their old age (1 Timothy 5:4; Leviticus 19:3; Proverbs 23:22) is a need-based responsibility of grown-up children.

-          Parents ought to help the children to grow in godly fear and admonition so that it would cause the parents to rejoice (Proverbs 23:24-25; 2 Timothy 1:5) in them.

-          Parents and children ought to grow in holy worship together (Job 1:5)

-          Parents and children ought to make united commitment to the Lord as did Joshua and Isaiah (Joshua 24:15; Isaiah 8:18).

Family Goals

A Christian family ought to have spiritually oriented and biblically sound goals so as to lead a united spiritual life together.

Important Spiritual goals for the Family

-          Daily Family Worship Time

-          Keeping a Family Prayer Journal and pray together

-          Memorizing Scripture together

-          Trying to share the Gospel as a Family

-          Using our words to encourage the community with appropriate  communication 

-          Practicing Biblical hospitality wherever possible

-          Being generous with others

-          Get spiritually healthy and focus on united spiritual growth for all family members.

(Joshua 24:15; Job 1:5; Exodus 12:22; Deuteronomy 22:8; Psalms 78:5-8; Proverbs 22:6)

Evangelistic goals

§  Praying for the unsaved around the family and around the world

§  Developing a missionary-minded family (Acts 21:8-9; Isaiah 8:18)

Social goals 

Showing Christian love to neighbors, colleagues and friends (Mark 12:30-31)

 

Church goals (Psalms 128:3; Ephesians 5:21; Acts 2:42)

-          Attending church gatherings without fail

-          Getting involved with church fellowship and building up relationships

-          Showing spiritual loyalty to church doctrines and practices

-          Sharing from material blessings for the church’s ministries

 

Family Timeframe 

-          Setting apart priority and quality time of family members for God and spiritual matters (Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5)

-         Developing family time for the common interests and goals of the members with primary focus on spiritual matters (Psalms 128:3; Isaiah 8:18)

Family Income

Financial matters often cause difficulties in family life. Sufficient, surplus or insufficient income may cause different types of conflicts in families. The following may be kept in mind when handling financial matters of the family:

·         Who between the spouses makes how much is often a matter of sad comparisons and related superiority or inferiority in attitude. This may be carefully guarded against.

·         True spousal partnership may be understood in such a way that all income is pooled together and considered as “our income” given to us by the Lord rather than “my income” and “your income”.  

·         There may be clear, prayerful and united understanding about spending responsibilities for basic necessities and needs of the family. As disciples of Christ, all possible luxuries and extravagance may be brought to the minimum so that it can be set apart for the Lord’s work.

·         It is good to prepare a family budget so that the family may live within the means, without creating debt. This may be done with united and individual prayer and in mutual consultation, agreement and consent with responsibility and accountability.

·         All secret or hidden use of money may be avoided and any payment in emergencies may be communicated to the spouse at the earliest opportunity.

·         There may be a systematic way to give to Gospel work, missions, Christian workers, the church, family members in need and the poor. It may be done with much prayer and waiting on the Lord.

·         All decisions to support elderly parents and other relatives on the basis of need may be done with mutual consultation and united prayer by the spouses.

·         The family has the biblical responsibility to follow the principles of Christian Discipleship about earning, spending, saving, debt and investment.

 

Addictions of Family Members:

 

-          Overindulgence in sports/work/business will reduce quality family time and will take its toll on the spirituality of the Christian family. It will also affect the opportunity of the family to attend to gatherings in the church (Acts 2:42). 

-          Possible addiction to Television viewing, watching secular movies, spending time for entertainment, use of the Internet, indulgence in non-prescription drugs, consumption of intoxicants and anonymous alcoholism are all the work of the flesh. A Christian family may teach biblical truths about these to the children. If there is a failure on the part of any member of the family, the matter may be handled with intense prayer to get spiritual victory over these fleshly insurgencies in Christian families (Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:15-20).                          

Divorce

Separation and divorce as two major consequences of un-spirituality and fleshly attitude and subsequent conflicts in Christian families. All Christians and churches must guard against these menaces in Christian families.

 

Marriage is a covenant for a life time together. It centers on the following divine stipulations:

           

·         God hates divorce: (Malachi 2:13-17) A Christian believer ought to have the same attitude to divorce.            

·         Jesus taught against divorce: (Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:3-12; Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18). We must adhere to what is taught by Jesus if He is the Lord of our lives and our marriages. 

·         Apostolic teaching is against divorce: (Romans 7:2-3: 1 Corinthians 7:39).

·         The marriage oath is for a lifetime and will be terminated at the rapture or at the death of one of the partners. No human authority has any right to sever what God has joined together (Matthew 19:6; Mark 10:9).

·         A three-fold chord (husband-wife-God) will not be quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12). If this truth is adhered to, a Christian couple could weather away any storm that might beat against their family life. 

 

Apostles received these instructions from the risen Lord and passed it on to Christian believers to obey and follow without altering it in any way.

 

When early symptoms of disagreements between husband and wife appear, if they cannot resolve it themselves, they may seek biblical counseling to resolve the issues and problems. If there is any issue related to sickness of any sort (physical or emotional), its best to get medical help or counseling, as appropriately. But one should not be tempted to use it as a reason for separation or divorce. Whatever causes might be seen in a family, it has to be addressed with patience, mutual forgiveness and united prayer.

Remarriage of divorcees

The Bible allows remarriage if only one of the spouses is no more alive. If one of the partners leaves (earns a divorce through a court for reasons of faith or any other), the believing partner has to remain unmarried as long as the first party is alive (Romans 7:2-3). As long as both parties are alive, (even if they are divorced through a court of law or separated involuntarily), they are still married in the sight of God. (“For what God has joined together let man not separate” Matthew 19:6). A believer cannot break this principle because any remarriage when the original partner is alive will make the remarried person and the new spouse adulterers. For it is a grave sin when a person becomes one flesh with more than one person as long as the original spouse is alive.

 

Biblical Solution for marital discord

No matter what the issues in family life are, God’s children are to forgive and accept each other through reconciliation and leave the consequence for God to handle. All issues which have caused emotional hurt to the life partner ought to be confessed and repented of. Subsequently the partner who caused hurt to the other partner ought to ask for forgiveness from the hurting partner. Sufficient caution may be exercised to guard against repeating such atrocities against each other in the future. The partner who felt hurt ought to forgive the offence and pray for the spiritual strengthening of the offending partner. Mature believers and the church ought to help the couple get reconciled to each other when early symptoms of discord appear. No one, including parents and in-laws, should enter the scene to take sides and add oil to fire, but only pray and open channels of communication. Believers and friends of the spouses may be asked to desist from spreading assumptions and gossips about the couple who face conflicts which might otherwise increase the intensity of the existing conflicts.

 

Every life partner ought to realize that they are to redeem their spouse and children and live in the fear of the Lord. We must realize that we are all under serious attack of the enemy (John 10:10). We must help our spouses and children to get a release from the attack of the enemy and live a victorious family life for the glory of God through intense and burdensome prayer of importunity.

 

May the Lord Jesus Christ strengthen the Christian families to adhere to the biblical principles of family living and live with mutual love and forgiveness so that our families may be strengthened spiritually and emotionally! May it all be for the glory of the Lord Jesus who is our Heavenly Bridegroom!

 

Remember:

Jesus Christ is the answer to all our problems in this world;

He can give us solutions if we pray and commit ourselves to obedience.

Jeremiah 8:22

 

 

 

MY BRIDGE!

 MY BRIDGE

He built a bridge for me to come to Him and for Him to come to me. 

Better yet, He Himself has become the BRIDGE.

He became the BRIDGE over my troubled waters. 

When things get rough

When the going gets tough

When I am down and out

When friends just can't be found

When it's stark dark outside

When I seem to get lost and lost my way

When I wander down dark avenues

When it's dusk and I'm all alone

When tears roll down my eyes

During my sleepless nights

When I need comfort, compassion, hope and a touch of love

He is my BRIDGE

HE ALWAYS COMES, EVEN WHEN I THINK IT'S LATE

HE PUTS HIS NAILPIERCED HAND AROUND ME

HE Sings a love song into my ears

That's my Jesus

Forever the one and only true  never-changing FRIEND!

HALLELULIAH! WHAT A TRUE FRIEND AND BRIDGE!