What is God Like?

The question is often asked, "what is God like?" The Bible simply states that GOD IS. The Bible itself does not argue the point. The first words in Genesis are "In the beginning—God." This is not God’s beginning, this is man’s beginning. This is the beginning of Creation and time. God always has been; He always will be! His eternal existence is powerfully expressed in two words: God IS. Look at Hebrews 11:6 (NASB) "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that HE IS…"

‘God Is’ can also be translated ‘God Exists’. God exists before time, He will exist forever. Now, I am very finite. I cannot think much before ‘time’. I always come to a wall, or beginning. But God always existed. Here is where faith accepts what we cannot understand.


God is incomprehensible, so why should I say that if I cannot understand it that it cannot be so. Here is what A.W.Tozer says about it: "When we try to imagine what God is like we must of necessity use that-which-is-not-God as the raw material for our minds to work on. Hence, whatever we visualize God to be, He is not, for we have constructed our image out of that which He has made and what He has made is not God. If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand."

How then can we know God? The Bible says simply "through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Matthew 11:27). Jesus said of Himself in John 14:9: "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father…"

God in His love, however, has declared certain things to be true about Himself. These are called Attributes, which I wrote about in 2009, October through December. To name a few: Love, Goodness, Faithfulness, Justice, Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotent. Because He is God, He is all of each one of these. He is not more of one or less of another, but all, of all of His Attributes.

Sovereign Father, heavenly King,
Thee we now presume to sing;
Glad thine Attributes confess,
Glorious all, and numberless.
--By Charles Wesley

Prayer: Oh Lord, Our Almighty God, Help us to realize that you are beyond our understanding. You are such a great and awesome God. How can we ever know the fullness of who You are? Open our eyes to see new truths as we worship and Praise you.
In Jesus’ name, Amen

Inspiration from the Psalms III

Psalm 136

Many receive blessings from reading the Psalms. I have been going through them as my Old Testament reading on my journey through the Bible once again. It has taken me several months, as sometimes I reread a Psalm for several days; or I will take a verse and ponder it and look up Scripture that links to it. I am truly inspired by the Psalms.

I felt especially thrilled when I read Psalm 136 a few days ago. Oh yes, I read it before, probably several times, but suddenly I saw it. There are 26 verses in the Psalm, and all 26 of them end with the phrase "for His mercy and loving-kindness endures forever."

I am not gifted with the ability to put my thoughts into verse as my Mother was, and which I have shared, but I do enjoy delving into words and meanings. So first we are going to look at "Mercy".

Mercy is an Attribute of God, which means it is one of His characteristics, and a fact about God. Because He is God, Mercy to God is not a temporary mood to be turned on when God has a good day. As an Attribute, Mercy has always been, from eternity past and throughout eternity future. It will never be more or less because it is infinite. So God’s ‘mercies’ will be always the same. When we think God’s not as merciful to us, it only means that man’s unbelief is keeping man from experiencing God’s mercy. God’s mercy does not change. In God’s mercy He provided a way of salvation, but we have a responsibility to believe, accept His mercy that is available to us through Jesus Christ. God’s mercies are forever.

God tells us over and over that He is merciful in both the Old and New Testaments, but the Old Testament has 4 times as much to say about it, and a lot of this is through the Psalms.

Next we have His "Loving-Kindness". Another one of God’s Attributes, or true a fact of God’s character, is Goodness or Kindness. It is this divine goodness that disposes Him to be kind, tenderhearted and take pleasure in His people. A.W. Tozer states that "the goodness of God is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us".

A saint who lived 600 years ago, wrote on "The Revelations of Divine Love", in which she lists some of the blessings God has given in our behalf. After each blessing listed, she adds "of His goodness", very much as the Psalmist does in Psalm 136 by adding "His loving-kindness" after each blessing and verse.

As an Attribute of God, Divine goodness is self-caused, infinite, perfect and eternal. And because God is unchanging, He never varies in the intensity of His loving-kindness.

Prayer:
O Lord, How can we thank you enough for your mercy and loving kindness, which reaches down to, our deepest needs? It gives us beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, and it changes our heaviness into a garment of praise! We bless and magnify thy mercy and loving-kindness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Inspiration From the Psalms II

A few months ago I used a poem my mother had written, inspired by a Psalm. This week I am giving another of her poems inspired by Psalm 130:1: "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord."

At a time when a loved one is taken from us through death, we feel we can not sink any lower in our grief; Or when we see our sin for what it is, we cry out with Paul: "O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:24) and we sink into the pit of despair. Yet our Lord sees us; He will reach down to our deepest needs and literally bring us up out of the depth of despair or sorrow. He reaches down to our deepest needs, and draws us up, placing us on the solid rock, and that Rock is Jesus:

Out of the depths of sorrow,
The midnight of despair,
I cried unto thee, my Savior,
And found Thee waiting there.
Oh, joy in the midst of darkness,
Oh, peace I can not understand,
For He reaches the depths of my sorrow
And holds me by my hand.

Out of the depths of sinning,
All hopeless, lost, undone,
I cried unto Thee, my Savior,
And there the victory won.
My heart is weak and wayward,
My soul is wounded and sore,
But He reaches the depth of my greatest need,
Restores His joy once more.

Out of the depths of suffering,
The darkness of physical pain,
When weakness and need engulfed me,
I cried unto Thee again.
Oh, help in the midst of weakness,
Oh, courage He doth impart,
For He reaches the depth of my suffering,
Pours healing into my heart.

Into the depths of sorrow
My Savior went for me;
Into the depths for sinners
He went to make me free;
Into the depths of suffering
He went for me indeed;
And He went that I might not cry in vain
Out of my depths of need.

---Written by Marjorie S. Paton

Self-Control

Our very last ‘fruit of the Spirit’ is called "Self-Control", or may be referred to as ‘temperance’. When we have our whole life under the control of the Holy Spirit, then we will display ‘self-control’. This is the mastery we must continually strive for.

As I read the papers, watch the news on TV and look around at our present generation, it would seem we have no concept of self-control. Here are examples of what I mean: rise in credit card bankruptcies, rise in divorces, mini-riots, road rage, sexual promiscuity, as well as all sorts of addictions. We have lost the concept of ‘temperance’, which is listed in the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22,23. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, self-control."

The Bible tells us of several areas where ‘self-control’ needs to be applied:
1. Self-control of what I do and how I behave. Paul was fearful of being disqualified due to out of control fleshly desires. In I Corinthians 9:27 he spoke of controlling his body as an athlete must do: "but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself will be cast away".
2. Self-control is needed over what we say. Did you know that over 150 times the Bible speaks about the tongue? It likens it to a fire, and in Ephesians 4:25, 29 it tells us to not let any corrupt communication come from the mouth.
3. We should have self-control over our feelings. This is against today’s culture where we are told that if we want something, or it feels good, it can’t be wrong. In Proverbs 25:28 wise Solomon said that he that had no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
4. We need self-control over our thoughts. The mind is where it all begins. If a person’s thoughts can be controlled, the person can be controlled. This is the premise behind ‘brain-washing’. In II Corinthians 10:5 it says we must "cast down imaginations and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Temperance is not simply self-control at all, it is Spirit-control; and here are some simple steps to help us tap in to this power of the Holy Spirit. First we need to identify the problem areas. Find the weak spot. Second, we need to confess any sin to God. Thirdly, we need to make ourselves accountable. Find a prayer partner to help with accountability. Ecc. 4:12 states "two are better than one." And last, we must ‘die’ to our desires. Crucify self every day. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20) and it must be every day. II Corinthians 4:16 says the inner man is renewed every day.

In closing, here is what Max Lucado says about letting the spiritual reign supreme:
"I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I refuse to let what will rot rule even today! I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be fattened only by love. I will be impassioned only by faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control!!"

Meekness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, self-control; " (Galatians 5:22,23)

This week our Fruit of the Spirit for discussion is Meekness, often referred to as "Humility’; and true meekness is a humility coupled with strength.

Again we go to Jesus as our example. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus says of Himself "…I am meek and lowly (humble) in heart...". Moses is the only other person in the Bible who is referred to as ‘humble. In Numbers 12:3 it states: "Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and humble) above all the men who were upon the face of the earth." Both Jesus and Moses were very strong men, physically and spiritually.

Humility can be characterized by the absence of pride. Humility is being able to understand that God can work through others, or even that others may get the glory for something you did, in order to accomplish His will. An example of what I mean here comes from my father. His occupation for many years had been taking the sermon preached by a well-known radio minister, and rewriting it to put it in book form. He also would write articles and books on certain subjects that would be published in the name of the better known minister. Someone asked my father one time if it bothered him to have what he wrote being published and glory given to another person. He simple smiled, pointing heavenward and said "Oh no. You see, I know who keeps the books." He was just willing to be used in any way that God’s work would be the most effective.

True meekness is humility learning to be submissive to the sovereign will of God. True humility is able to love, and love is the very first fruit listed. True love is a humble love as that person is ‘other-directed’, always wanting to serve. True humility will want to encourage others, and enjoys seeing others succeed.
As we allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit of humility in us, we learn to forget ourselves. We will be able to say as John the Baptist did in John 3:30: "He must increase; but I must decrease."

True Humility will be able to say:

"Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted.
Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard;
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action,
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.
--Unknown