Who is He?

"…but the people that do know their God shall be strong,…"

Daniel 11:32

I love taking walks. I think it is so romantic just to take a walk. Imagine walking hand in hand with the one you love down a tree-lined path, his hand warm in yours.

Now imagine you don’t know the guy! Yikes! We have a relationship with someone based on a knowledge of that person. That seems simple and obvious doesn’t it?

I believe the primary reason we struggle in our relationship with God is that we don’t know Him. Far too often, we base our Christianity on how we “measure up” to the Christians around us, especially those Christians we feel are more spiritual.

Then we are left feeling empty and disillusioned when one day, we find out our measuring stick—that so-called spiritual person—isn’t who or what we thought she was.

Our emptiness and disappointment comes from the fact that we were trying to find fulfillment in the practice of the religion and not in the Person of the relationship.

So, who is God? Why does He care about me? And how do I get to know Him?

For thousands of years, philosophers and theologians have pondered and debated the concept of God. Go to the philosophy or religion section of any bookstore and there will be shelves full of man’s musings on the person of God.

When I first met my husband, I heard others talk about him­—some good, some terrible. But I didn’t get to know him based on the opinion of others. When we started dating and were engaged, he began writing to me and I read those letters over and over. We would sit and talk for hours about nothing. (Now we think that if we get 10 minutes alone to talk we have had a special treat!) I got to know him and his heart through his words.

It’s the same with God. We get to know Him through His Word. God has personality, attributes, and feelings and He conveys all that to us through His Word.

When I think of God, one of the first things I think of is His Holiness. The other thing I think of is how much He must love me.

I took a doctrine class in Bible College and it was b-o-r-i-n-g. It seemed so mechanical to memorize:
God is holy.
God is omnipotent (all powerful).
God is omniscient (all knowing).
God is omnipresent (everywhere at one and the same time).
God is immutable (never changing), etc.

However, that boring class gave me a starting point from which I could take my Bible and get to know God.

What does it mean that He is holy and how does that effect me? One of my girls was taking doctrine in her homeschooling and I gave her an assignment that she found difficult at first. She had just read about the attributes of God and I asked her to write me a one-page essay on the subject of “How one of God’s Attributes effects me.” She had never thought about how the person of God had anything to do with her. When I made the assignment, it seemed like a no-brainer to me. But, I’ve been saved for 42 years and I’ve been through some minor fires and I’ve had to get a glimpse of who God was and what that meant to me.

All of that was an introduction to what will be a series of articles on who God is.

Lift up someone else today

"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."

1 Thessalonians 5:11

“Christians are like the flowers in a garden, that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other's roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.”

John Bunyan
1628-1688

Be still

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

"But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

Habbakuk 2:20

"Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation."

Zechariah 2:13

"That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth."

Psalm 83:18

"Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."

Psalm 100:3

"Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them."

Exodus 18:11

"This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

1 Samuel 17:46

"And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word."

1 Kings 18:36

"Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power."

Psalm 21:13

"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth."

Psalm 57:5

"Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all."

1 Chronicles 29:11

"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day."

Isaiah 2:11

"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day."

Isaiah 2:17

"But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness."

Isaiah 5:16

"Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD."

Ezekiel 38:23

"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest."

Revalation 15:3-4

A Thousand Generations

"Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;"

1 Chronicles 16:15

In my last entry on the thought of "Be ye" I posted this verse. That phrase "a thousand generations" really caught my attention. That's a long time.

In the genealogy of Christ listed in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3, we can calculate that the time from Adam to Jesus was 63 generations. A time period of roughly 4,000 years covered only 63 generations.

I have often sat bewildered trying to understand a generation that assumes that God should adjust Himself for the times. But He said He commanded his word to a thousand generations.

I for one am immeasurably grateful that I have a God who never changes.

We Have an Anchor
by Pricilla Owens

Chorus:
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love."

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?

It is safely moored, ’twill the storm withstand,
For ’tis well secured by the Savior’s hand;
And the cables, passed from His heart to mine,
Can defy that blast, thro’ strength divine.

It will surely hold in the Straits of Fear—
When the breakers have told that the reef is near;
Though the tempest rave and the wild winds blow,
Not an angry wave shall our bark o’erflow.

It will firmly hold in the Floods of Death—
When the waters cold chill our latest breath,
On the rising tide it can never fail,
While our hopes abide within the Veil.

When our eyes behold through the gath’ring night
The city of gold, our harbor bright,
We shall anchor fast by the heav’nly shore,
With the storms all past forevermore.

Be ye mindful

"Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;"

1 Chronicles 16:15

We live in a world where mindless seems to be okay. One of the late-night talk shows has a segment where they randomly interview people on the street and ask them questions that seem to have obvious answers. I guess the answers aren't quite so obvious.

Question: "Who is the president of the United States?"

Answer: —blank stare—

This happens more times than we want to think.

Mindless eating … mindless entertainment … mindless violence … mindless work … mindless behavior … (you get the picture.)

But God wants us to be mindful — mindful of His covenant: His covenant which He commanded to a thousand generations.

How much of His covenant are you mindful of? Did you read your Bible today? Have you studied it this week? this month? this year?

Are you passing His covenant on to the next generation?

Be mindful.

Be ye thankful

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."

Colossians 3:15

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;"

Ephesians 5:20

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

Philippians 4:6

"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;"

1 Timothy 2:1

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."

Hebrews 13:15

"Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."

Revelation 7:12

Be ye kind

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you."

Ephesians 4:32

"She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness."

Proverbs 31:26

"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."

1 Peter 3:8-12

Whatever happened to kindness? We live in a culture that prides itself on being in your face! Rude is the rule rather than the exception. But God said "be ye kind."

Kind just means pleasant and gracious. This really is one of the easy be ye's. Do you know if you cultivate kindness in yourself, you will be much more likely to behave yourself as a Christian showing God's love to those around you? A kind woman will speak pleasantly to the checker at the grocery store who may be speaking rudely to you. You never know, maybe she is having a terrible day and your kindness can make all the difference. I have experienced that many, many times.

If you are a kind person, you will act with kindness towards those around you.

Be ye kind.