The word Omnipotent means 'having all power'. The word is derived from the Latin words of 'Omni' meaning 'all', and 'potens' meaning 'power'. This word is identical in its meaning with the more common word of 'Almighty'. If one likes statistics, it is interesting to find that this word 'almighty' occurs fifty-six times in the English Bible and only does refer to God. He alone is Almighty, Omnipotent. In Revelation 4:6 John says "Alleluia! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
Omnipotence is not a name given to the sum of all power, but it is an attribute of a very personal God, and a God who is infinite. Whatever He does is without limit; therefore He has limitless power, He is 'omnipotent'. He has no less power at one time than at another time; He is 'all power' all of the time.
With God having all power, He created this world and everything in it by speaking it into existence. In Psalm 33:6 it states that all came into being by the 'breath of His mouth'; just a mere thought or sigh. Paul states in Romans 1:20 that nature itself gives evidence of the eternal power of God.
This is the God we worship and this is the God who with all His power, with all His creation, is mindful of me, of you; and cares for each one of us with love, compassion and mercy. This is the God who provided a way for our salvation that we will be able to spend all of eternity with Him as His child. Thank you, Almighty Father, You are so good!
1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The Attribute of God/ online
4. The heart of CC
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
GOD IS 'HOLY'
Divine holiness stands apart. It is unique, unapproachable, unattainable, and even beyond our understanding. Holy is the way God is. He is pure, with absolute moral perfection. And because He is Holy, all of His attributes are Holy.
We cannot appreciate the holiness of God by putting it to any comparisons that we know. It is simply beyond us as mere man, incomprehensible to our finite minds. Only through the Spirit of the Holy One Himself can we be given a glimpse of His holiness.
Psalm 145:17 says: "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." The holiness of God is directly related to His righteousness and completely separate from evil. In I Samuel 2:2 it says: "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is no one beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God." In Leviticus 11:45 and in I peter 1:16 it tells us that we shall be holy for God is holy.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah had a vision of seeing the Lord sitting upon His throne with the seraphim crying to one another: "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." Isaiah suddenly realized his personal depravity and cried out "woe is me! for I am undone!...for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." After Job saw the Lord with his spiritual eyes (Job 42:5) he states in verse 6: "I loathe and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
When we see ourselves as God does, we know that we are not holy, and can never be holy as God is; yet He will never tell us to do something we are unable to do. When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive all that God is, and we know we can trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to be holy. We are put right with God, and Christ is our holiness.
We cannot appreciate the holiness of God by putting it to any comparisons that we know. It is simply beyond us as mere man, incomprehensible to our finite minds. Only through the Spirit of the Holy One Himself can we be given a glimpse of His holiness.
Psalm 145:17 says: "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." The holiness of God is directly related to His righteousness and completely separate from evil. In I Samuel 2:2 it says: "There is none holy as the Lord; for there is no one beside thee; neither is there any rock like our God." In Leviticus 11:45 and in I peter 1:16 it tells us that we shall be holy for God is holy.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah had a vision of seeing the Lord sitting upon His throne with the seraphim crying to one another: "holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts." Isaiah suddenly realized his personal depravity and cried out "woe is me! for I am undone!...for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." After Job saw the Lord with his spiritual eyes (Job 42:5) he states in verse 6: "I loathe and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
When we see ourselves as God does, we know that we are not holy, and can never be holy as God is; yet He will never tell us to do something we are unable to do. When we receive Jesus Christ, we receive all that God is, and we know we can trust the Holy Spirit to enable us to be holy. We are put right with God, and Christ is our holiness.
Holy, holy holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity! Amen
by Reginal Heber
1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The Attributes of God (online)
4. The heart of CC
Monday, November 16, 2009
GOD IS 'JUST'
"He is the Rock. His work is perfect, for all His ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He."
(Deuteronomy 31:4)
According to A.W.Tozer, in the Scriptures Justice and Righteousness are almost synonymous; they can scarcely be distinguished from each other. He is righteous in all His ways; He is Holy and cannot tolerate sin. The just penalty for sin according to Romans 6:23 is 'death'.
God, who is just and righteous, could not spare the sinner; yet in His goodness He can still justify the sinner. This is done through the work of Christ on the Cross. The penalty for sin was paid when Christ became our substitute. Now when a sinner casts himself on Christ for salvation, justice is done and the sinner is made Just by a Just God.
But if one does not accept Christ as His substitute, God's justice still stands against the sinner. He is Just and He has provided a substitute for our death penalty. We dare not ignore this.
His Justice needed to be satisfied, but He took care of it for all who will believe and accept.
Prayer: "We live, O Lord, because thou art just and merciful. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, righteous in all Thy ways and Holy in all thy works. Amen"
1. The Holy Bible (Amplified Version)
2. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
3. The heart of CC
(Deuteronomy 31:4)
According to A.W.Tozer, in the Scriptures Justice and Righteousness are almost synonymous; they can scarcely be distinguished from each other. He is righteous in all His ways; He is Holy and cannot tolerate sin. The just penalty for sin according to Romans 6:23 is 'death'.
God, who is just and righteous, could not spare the sinner; yet in His goodness He can still justify the sinner. This is done through the work of Christ on the Cross. The penalty for sin was paid when Christ became our substitute. Now when a sinner casts himself on Christ for salvation, justice is done and the sinner is made Just by a Just God.
But if one does not accept Christ as His substitute, God's justice still stands against the sinner. He is Just and He has provided a substitute for our death penalty. We dare not ignore this.
His Justice needed to be satisfied, but He took care of it for all who will believe and accept.
Prayer: "We live, O Lord, because thou art just and merciful. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, righteous in all Thy ways and Holy in all thy works. Amen"
1. The Holy Bible (Amplified Version)
2. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
3. The heart of CC
Monday, November 9, 2009
GOD IS 'IMMUTABLE'
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, the word "Immutable" means 'not capable of or susceptible to change'. However, all of creation is forever changing; it is impossible to escape this fact. The mountains with snowy tops in winter, lose this in summer as rivers melt down their sides, taking with it dirt and causing erosion, thus constantly changing the mountain. The ocean gives up water as the sun draws from it, forming storm clouds in the heavens. Man especially is in change as his body goes from youth to old age in a matter of a few years. Man will move from worse to better, or even better to worse; he can go from immature to mature.
All of creation is in constant change, but God remains the same. He is incapable of change; He is perfect and has always been perfect. He is Holy and has never been any less Holy. God is not a substance as we are, but a spirit--pure, essential, and ethereal Spirit--and therefore He is immutable.
Since God never changes, His Attributes never change. What He was in the beginning, He is just the same now. He is unchanged in His love, in His Faithfulness, in His power, in His Justice. Malachi 3:6 states: "I am the Lord; I change not..."
If there is any change in our relationship with God, it is on our part, not God's. God Himself is outside of mutation and thereby unaffected by any of the changes occurring in our world. Charles Wesley stated:
This should bring peace to our hearts, as we know we can come to our God at any time and know He is always receptive to our needs. His attitude toward sin is the same as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the Garden; and His attitude toward sinful man has never changed as He reaches out to him and says "come unto me..."
1. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
2. Sermons by Charles Spurgeon
3. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
4. The Heart of CC
All of creation is in constant change, but God remains the same. He is incapable of change; He is perfect and has always been perfect. He is Holy and has never been any less Holy. God is not a substance as we are, but a spirit--pure, essential, and ethereal Spirit--and therefore He is immutable.
Since God never changes, His Attributes never change. What He was in the beginning, He is just the same now. He is unchanged in His love, in His Faithfulness, in His power, in His Justice. Malachi 3:6 states: "I am the Lord; I change not..."
If there is any change in our relationship with God, it is on our part, not God's. God Himself is outside of mutation and thereby unaffected by any of the changes occurring in our world. Charles Wesley stated:
"And all things as they change proclaim
The Lord eternally the same."
This should bring peace to our hearts, as we know we can come to our God at any time and know He is always receptive to our needs. His attitude toward sin is the same as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the Garden; and His attitude toward sinful man has never changed as He reaches out to him and says "come unto me..."
1. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
2. Sermons by Charles Spurgeon
3. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
4. The Heart of CC
Monday, November 2, 2009
GOD IS 'FAITHFUL'
We have been considering God's Attributes these past few weeks as we seek to have a small understanding of 'Who God Is'. As we consider each Attribute separately, we must keep in mind these are not separate qualities of God, but merely facets of His Unitary Whole.
God, being self-existent, is also self-sufficient, and being infinite, He must be ALL of each of His Attributes. Therefore, He is not just part love, part power, or part Faithful, but He is ALL of each one. He is ALL Faithful and He never changes, so therefore He cannot be unfaithful--Ever! It is God's Faithfulness that saves us, and it is His Faithfulness that keeps us. Galatians 2:20 in the King James Version states: "...and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God..." I believe this is the proper translation, and it shows that our salvation is sure because He is Faithful.
It is only by having complete assurance in His Faithfulness that we can have 'peace' when we come to a bend in the road, or the way becomes rocky, or storm clouds blow into our lives. And it is only by having assurance in His Faithfulness that we can look forward to the life to come.
The Old Testament talks about the Faithfulness of God in Deuteronomy 7:9: "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." And In Psalm 92:1,2 we read: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your Faithfulness every night."
Our Lord who was Faithful to His Heavenly Father while on earth, is now Faithful to us; so we can press on with assurance in His Faithfulness for years and centuries to come.
Isaac Watts wrote a poem showing that God's Faithfulness will never fail:
1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The heart of CC
God, being self-existent, is also self-sufficient, and being infinite, He must be ALL of each of His Attributes. Therefore, He is not just part love, part power, or part Faithful, but He is ALL of each one. He is ALL Faithful and He never changes, so therefore He cannot be unfaithful--Ever! It is God's Faithfulness that saves us, and it is His Faithfulness that keeps us. Galatians 2:20 in the King James Version states: "...and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God..." I believe this is the proper translation, and it shows that our salvation is sure because He is Faithful.
It is only by having complete assurance in His Faithfulness that we can have 'peace' when we come to a bend in the road, or the way becomes rocky, or storm clouds blow into our lives. And it is only by having assurance in His Faithfulness that we can look forward to the life to come.
The Old Testament talks about the Faithfulness of God in Deuteronomy 7:9: "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." And In Psalm 92:1,2 we read: "It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your Faithfulness every night."
Our Lord who was Faithful to His Heavenly Father while on earth, is now Faithful to us; so we can press on with assurance in His Faithfulness for years and centuries to come.
Isaac Watts wrote a poem showing that God's Faithfulness will never fail:
"Happy the man whose hopes rely
On Israel's God; He made the sky,
And earth and seas, with all their train;
His truth forever stands secure.
He saves the oppressed; He feeds the poor,
And none shall find His promise vain."
1. The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W.Tozer
2. The Holy Bible
3. The heart of CC
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)