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Archive for the ‘Attributes’ Category

Knowing God (He hears and delivers)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, Crying out to God, Devotional, God, In times of difficulty, Old Testament, Prophets, Psalms, Relationship with God, the LORD, Walking with God, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2010|

David tells us of his relationship with the LORD, I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.  Psalm 34:4.  The things we learn about God from this verse are

  • God hears
  • God responds when He hears
  • God delivers us from ALL of our fears

One of the reasons God hears us is because He stays near to us.  God tells us in Jer 23:23, “Am I a God near at hand . . . and not a God afar off?”

Not only does God hear us, but He then does not leave us where we were.  God tells us, through the prophet Jeremiah, “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.  Jer. 33:3.  Some people like to say that this is God’s telephone number.

In Psalm 40:1-2, we read the Psalmist saying, “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry.  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”    We learns some additional things from this verse including:

  • I may have to wait for God (I should do so patiently)
  • God moves closer to me to hear me and is not unmoved by my cries
  • God delivers me from the places that I have allowed myself to fall
  • God puts me on a firm spot, a rock (Jesus is the Rock)
  • God gets me started on my way and makes paths for me to walk in

In thinking over the scriptures that I wanted to use for this post, I realized that the God who hears makes the best deliverer.  The last thing you want in your time of trouble when you are calling out to God is a God who has a hearing impairment.   On the other side of the coin, having a God who hears well, but ignores me or makes my deliverance a low priority on His list is also distressing.  Praise God that He hears well, sees well and desires to deliver me out of my trouble and calamity.   Blessed be the name of the LORD!

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Knowing God (Leader/Faithful Companion)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, Deuteronomy, Faithful Companion, Friend, God, Old Testament, Relationship with God, tagged , , , , , , on November 2, 2010|

As we continue in our endeavor to know God more, consider Deuteronomy 31:8:  “[The LORD] is the one who goes before you.  He will be with you.  He will not leave or forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

I find the following attributes of God described in this verse:

  • God as Leader (“goes before you)
  • God as faithful companion (He will not leave or forsake you)

God goes before me to lead me.  He shows me the way not by pointing to it on some map or instruction manual.  He leads me Himself.  This speaks of His personal and intimate involvement in my life.

God asks the rhetorical question (the answer is obvious)  through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Am I a God near at hand, . . . And not a God afar off?”  Jer. 23:23

In addition to leading me and going before me, God is a faithful companion along the way.  He will not leave me or forsake (abandon, desert, or give up on) me.  Because He wants to make sure that I know He is near, He repeats the promise “I will never leave or forsake you”  many times in the Bible.  He knows that I am afraid of this.

  • Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”
  • Deuteronomy 31:8 “And the LORD, He is the one who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
  • Joshua 1:5 “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.
  • 1Chronicles 28:20 And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the LORD God-my God-will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.
  • Heb 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.“

No person can make this promise and ever hope to be able to keep it.  Having lost my father at age 3, I learned early that people leave and forsake us despite the best intentions.  Only God can make the promise to always be with me and really carry it out.  He alone is God.

To the only true God, my leader and ever faithful companion, be honor and glory forever!

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Knowing God (“Let there be light!”)

Posted in Attributes, Bible, God, Knowing God, Light, Walking with God, tagged , , , , , on October 31, 2010|

In the last post, I looked at the attribute of God as Elohim, the creator.  This time, I will explore God as the Light of the World and having the power to speak light into circumstances and lives.

Genesis 1:2-3 tells us “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” The amazing truth of this verse is that God merely spoke and light entered where no light had been before.

I have experienced God’s power to speak light personally.  My life without God was without form, void, and darkness enveloped me.  God, however, was not far from me.  You might say He was hovering close to me.  One day, God said, “Let there be light” in my life, and there was light – the Light of the World.   That light now shines forth through my life (not unlike light  from a candle placed in a cracked pot), illuminating the darkness in my heart and the darkness of the world in which I live.

Jesus came to “give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  Luke 1:79 Without a relationship with God, we are all sitting in darkness and the shadow of death (spiritual death).  When God speaks light into a life and converts a soul, He dispels the darkness and light floods that life, that heart, that soul.

Jesus said of Himself,  “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  John 8:12  Sadly, not everyone loves the light.  According to Jesus,  men are condemned because “light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil [and] everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”  John 3:19-20  It is no wonder that bars, nightclubs and similar places are all dimly lit.

Take heart, because for the overcomer, the one who lives and dies for Christ, John tells us the following about our future with God, “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”  Rev. 22:5

May the Light of the World shine forth His light in your life.  May He chase the darkness away permanently and use you to bring light to a dying world submerged in darkness.

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