{"id":806,"date":"2010-07-16T02:35:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-16T02:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.convergingzone.com\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/"},"modified":"2010-07-16T02:35:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-16T02:35:00","slug":"stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/","title":{"rendered":"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \u201cYou are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.\u00a0 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free\u201d <\/em>John 8:31-32 NLT.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span> <\/div>\n
I can remember the first few steps of my baby daughters, especially our daughter Amy.\u00a0 She had crawled around for a while and eventually learned to stand on her feet holding onto something. One evening we were sitting in the living room of the little apartment we had outside Hershey, PA. Amy was holding onto the coffee table (one whose sharp corners had been removed by me so that she would not fall and bump her head on them).\u00a0 She navigated the territory around the table then got this look of delight on her face as if to say, \u201cwatch this.\u201d\u00a0 She was, as they say, \u201cfull of herself.\u201d\u00a0 In a moment of sheer delight and purpose Amy stepped away from the table toward one of us, though I do not remember who at the moment.\u00a0 Amy stepped away from what once was her security and into the waiting arms of someone who loved her and was as excited as she was to see her motor across the warm, burnt orange carpet.\u00a0 (It was the 80s after all)<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Life is filled with first steps, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 The first steps of our babies; our first steps into the kindergarten classroom; our first steps as husband and wife; perhaps our first steps walking across the platform at graduation from college or university.\u00a0 Life is a succession of first steps.\u00a0 We are a people in motion going somewhere.\u00a0 Our life in Christ is no exception.\u00a0 There was that first step in our following Christ.\u00a0 It was not the last.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
There is a freedom that comes with those first steps just as there was when our little Amy, now with two little ones of her own, stepped away from what was familiar and safe and into the delight of new life and amblitude.\u00a0 Jesus said to the folks who came to believe him that they too must step away from old constructs and earthly life to a new life from above; a kingdom coming kind of life.\u00a0 (John 8:23) That step would bring them to a life of freedom\u2013a life no longer holding onto the coffee table so to speak and into the arms of the One who loved them so extravagantly.\u00a0 He would be as delighted at those steps as the spiritual babe taking the steps.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Jesus said, continue, walk in what we understand then we become free.\u00a0 Freedom does not come from declaring truth regardless of how loud, eloquently or how often we do so. Freedom comes with the change of direction, away from the old life with its wounds and consequent limitations.\u00a0 As we take those steps, truth moves from the realm of the head to the realm of the heart\u2013it becomes reality to us.\u00a0 We cannot hold onto what seemed secure yesterday where our souls were misinformed about the nature and intentions of God.\u00a0 We will find that He is good and compassionate filling our hearts with wonder.\u00a0 Once we step onto the path and into the journey we will never go back to holding onto whatever our particular coffee table was.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Our healing journey is a succession of first and next steps into the arms and excited embrace of the one who calls us to Himself.\u00a0 With each step we move into a new realm of life and discovery of the ancient heart which longs to hold and heal us.\u00a0 Step away\u2013step into Christ!\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"Thom Gardner <\/strong>is the president and pastor of Grace and Truth Fellowship, Inc., a ministry and local assembly dedicated to equipping and healing the Body of Christ, preparing them to minister the presence of Christ to the wounded who surround us. Thom is a graduate of Cornerstone Seminary in Harrisonburg, Virginia and travels internationally to heal and teach the Body of Christ in the mercy of God. Visit his website: www.graceandtruthfellowship.<\/span>com<\/span><\/a><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \u201cYou are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.\u00a0 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free\u201d John 8:31-32 NLT. \u00a0 I can remember the first few steps of my baby daughters, especially our daughter Amy.\u00a0 She had crawled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ricciardelli"],"yoast_head":"\nStepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Robert Ricciardelli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.graceandtruthfellowship.com\/images2010\/thom.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"editorconvergingzone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"editorconvergingzone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/\",\"name\":\"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/6172744eba8e77868fa7c5e32bcc9693\"},\"description\":\"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \\\"You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/\",\"name\":\"Robert Ricciardelli\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/6172744eba8e77868fa7c5e32bcc9693\",\"name\":\"editorconvergingzone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6caef43b6ab6108600ca2cbdf4334ab3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6caef43b6ab6108600ca2cbdf4334ab3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"editorconvergingzone\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/author\/editorconvergingzone\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner","description":"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \"You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner","og_description":"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \"You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/","og_site_name":"Robert Ricciardelli","article_published_time":"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.graceandtruthfellowship.com\/images2010\/thom.jpg"}],"author":"editorconvergingzone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"editorconvergingzone","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/","name":"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-07-16T02:35:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/6172744eba8e77868fa7c5e32bcc9693"},"description":"Jesus said to the people who believed in him, \"You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth, and the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/stepping-into-christ-by-thom-gardner\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stepping Into Christ by Thom Gardner"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/","name":"Robert Ricciardelli","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/6172744eba8e77868fa7c5e32bcc9693","name":"editorconvergingzone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6caef43b6ab6108600ca2cbdf4334ab3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6caef43b6ab6108600ca2cbdf4334ab3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"editorconvergingzone"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/author\/editorconvergingzone\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}