Jesus Wants to Save You, Not Condemn You

By the grace of God, this blog is reaching the four corners of the earth.  I am both humbled and stirred with a renewed and urgent sense of responsibility to proclaim the message of Christ's love for all people.

That message is this:  Jesus Christ came to this earth to save you, not to condemn you.  Because of Jesus Christ, the wrath of God the Father has been appeased.  You may now approach the Father in the Name of Jesus and ask the Father to receive you into His family, and He will. Gladly.

While God the Father is the Judge, Jesus the Son is the Attorney who pleads your case before the Judge.  When the Father sees that you have accepted Jesus, He acquits you of your sin and sets you free.

All you need to do to be saved is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.  You cannot save yourself.  Your good works cannot save you.  Only Jesus Christ can save you.

If we could be saved by our good works, we would not need a Savior. If we could be saved by our good works, how would we know if we had done enough good works to be saved?  What is "good enough"?

No, the truth is that we are all in need of a Savior.  And the good news is that Jesus has offered Himself as our Savior.  Scripture says there is no greater love than this: that a man should lay down his life for another.  Jesus laid down His life for you and for me.  Now He offers you the gift of eternal salvation that He earned for you by laying down His life to pay the price for your sin.

You now have a choice to make.  Will you accept Christ's gift of salvation or will you reject it? 

I urge you to accept Christ's gift of salvation.  Remember: He came to save you, not to condemn you.  When you come to Him, He will never turn you away.

Come now!  Do not delay, for today is the day of salvation for you! 
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Copyright 2014 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio.  All Rights Reserved.

How Do You Envision God?

How do you envision God? The one and only true God? Do you see Him as distant, uncaring, or irrelevant to your life? Do you see Him as ready to punish you for the slightest offense? Do you even wonder if He exists?

Your view of God will determine your relationship to Him. It is imperative, therefore, to have a correct view of God so that you can have a fulfilling relationship with Him.

So, who is God, and what is He like?

God is Love.  This means that His very essence is love.  Since His essence is love, everything He says, thinks, and does is motivated by love. 

Because God is Love, He must give love, for the nature of love is to give itself.  Love must have someone to love.  God has chosen to love you.

Consider this:

• God loves you just as you are.
• You do not and cannot earn God's love. He freely gives it to you.
• God demonstrated His love for you by sending His Son, Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach, to pay the price for your sin by giving His life in exchange for yours.
• God forgives you of every and any sin when you repent and come to Him.
• God created you for a unique purpose that only you can fulfill. You are not an accident as the evolutionists would say.
• You were created to worship. If you do not worship the one true God, you will worship a false god, a creature, an ideology, or an activity.
• You will never know who you truly are until you return to your Creator through Jesus Christ.
• Jesus Christ is the only way to be reconnected to God the Father, your Creator. Despite what is currently being proclaimed throughout the world, all paths do not lead to God. Only one path leads to God, and that way is Jesus Christ.  He Himself said so (John 14:6).
• God has written a personal love letter to you. It is called the Bible.
• The Bible is your manual for living. Just as you receive a manual when you buy a car, so do you receive a manual when you are born into this world. That manual is the Bible.  In it you will find everything you need to know to live a happy, healthy, prosperous life in this world.
• You can choose to know God. He has given you a free will because He wants you to love Him freely. 
• God wants a personal relationship with you.  He wants to be your Father.  He wants to bless you, to heal you, to set you free. 
• You can choose to be reconnected to your heavenly Father.  To do so, accept the only path to re-connection:  Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is God the Son.  He will reconnect you to God the Father.  Jesus alone has provided the way for reconnection.  He did so by coming to earth as a man while still being God.  Jesus bridged the gap between God and man. He paid for your sin and my sin in our stead.  He took the punishment that we should have suffered for our sin against God.  In exchange, Jesus gave us eternal life.

To be reconnected to God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son, pray this simple prayer:

Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God.  I accept You now as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for reconnecting me to God the Father.  I embrace You, Father.  I receive Your embrace. Make of me what You created me to be.  Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, please leave a comment or write to me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Copyright 2014 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio.  All Rights Reserved.

The Empty Tomb

The Cross is both the pivotal point and the focal point of all human history.  The Cross marks the dividing line between time before Christ and time after Christ. The Cross is the juncture at which Jew and Gentile became one in Christ.

Yet the Cross is not the end of the story.  If it were, the Cross would represent abject failure. No. The Cross led to the Resurrection three days later. And the Resurrection is the event that gives profound meaning to the Cross.

Without the Resurrection, the Cross would be meaningless. But because of the Resurrection, the Cross has become the salvation of humankind.

No other belief system can boast of the resurrection of its founder.  Buddha did not rise from the dead. Mohammed did not rise from the dead.  Joseph Smith did not rise from the dead. None of the pagan gods worshipped by many rose from the dead.

Only Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

In whom will you put your faith?  In a person who died and remained dead? Or in the One Who died for you and rose from the dead, proving thereby that He is God?

The answer seems quite obvious to me.
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Copyright 2014 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

Have you ever wondered what happens to a person when he dies?  Some people believe that death is the end of everything, that there is no life beyond this life.  Others believe that there is something after this life but that we cannot know what it is.  Still others don't care.

But what about you? Do you wonder what happens after a person dies? Do you wonder what will happen to you after you die?

The answer to this most important question is found in the Bible. The Bible teaches that a human being is made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body (I Thessalonians 5:23).  Your spirit is who you really are at the core of your being. Your soul consists of your mind, your emotions, and your will. Your body is your earth suit, the earthly housing for your soul and your spirit.

When a person dies, his soul and spirit leave his body. As a result, the body becomes lifeless and is buried or disposed of in some way.  But the soul and spirit go to one of two places: Heaven or Hell.

According to the Bible, Heaven and Hell are real places.  Heaven is where God and His angels dwell. Hell is where Satan and his demons dwell.  Where your spirit and soul go after you die is up to you. But you must make that choice while you are still alive on this earth.

How do you make this choice? How do you decide where your spirit and soul will go after you die? The answer is very simple.  You do so by an act of your will.

To be saved simply means to be rescued from eternal damnation. But who rescues us? Only Jesus Christ can rescue us from eternal damnation. This is the reason He is called our Savior. We cannot save ourselves. We need someone to save us. That Someone is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came to earth as a man in order to pay the price for our sin. Because He is both God and man, He was able both to stand before God as a man and to stand before God as God.  In other words, His human nature represented all of humanity while His divine nature fulfilled the perfect price of righteousness required to satisfy the wrath of God.  Jesus did this because of His love for us. He knew we could never pay the price for sin on our own. So He paid it for us by giving His very life for us.

Salvation is a gift that Jesus offers to every human being. In order to experience salvation, we must accept Christ's gift.  When we accept His gift of salvation, we receive the assurance that we will go to Heaven when we die.  But more than that, we begin a relationship of ever increasing intimacy with the God Who created us.

Please accept God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.  He is the answer to your every need. In the 44 years since I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord, He has never failed me.  He has only loved me.

To receive Christ's gift of salvation, pray this prayer:

Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am.  I thank You for accepting me just as I am.  You do not condemn me. You only love me. I choose to receive You now as my Savior and Lord. Accomplish Your purpose in me and through me.  In Your mighty Name I pray and receive. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, please let me know. You can reach me at maryann@maryanndiorio.com
I will be happy to offer you further help in growing in your relationship with the God Who loves you.

For more information on salvation, click here.

Godly Intervention

There can be no healing of the heart without the intervention of Jesus Christ. Scripture reveals the following:

• Psalm 147:3 - "He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds."
• Psalm 23:3 - "He restores my soul."
• Luke 4:18 - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because  He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

If you are hurting today, Jesus can heal you. Not only can He heal you, but also He WANTS to heal you. 

Think about this for a few moments. Jesus WANTS to heal you! It is His desire that you be whole, that you be free from the hurts of the past. He died on the Cross and rose from the dead for that very purpose: to set you free in sprit, soul, and body.

What Jesus Christ did for you is called Salvation. The word "salvation" comes from the Greek word sozo which means wholeness.  

Salvation is a gift from God to you. But you have to accept the gift of salvation in order for it to bring healing to your life. This gift of salvation is Jesus Christ Himself.

If you have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, why not do so now?  Here is a simple prayer you can pray:

Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I believe you died and rose from the dead for me so that I can have a relationship with You and be made whole. I accept You now as my Savior and Lord. Make of me what You created me to be. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, welcome to the Family of God!  You have just made the most important decision of your life. Please let me know, and I will send you some information to help you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

God bless you!