Who is God?
EVER PRESENT, ALL POWERFUL, ALL KNOWING
1) Communication between God and us
2) Counselor (Holy Spirit) - directions
3) Purpose in life
Introduction
Who is God to you?
God can basically be known as a Creator, a Judge and a Savior. As a creator, it reflects His sovereignty. As a Judge it reflects upon His holiness, and as a Savior, it portrays His loving-kindness.
However, do we really see these qualities in Him? Have we experienced it? How certain are you about it? How are you then able to worship a God when your experiential knowledge, your spiritual sensitivity towards God renders you uncertain about who He is?
Therefore, it is vital to know God personally, truly gain the first hand experience of the attributes of God, before we can fully overcome the skepticism within us and fully immerse ourselves in the heart of worship.
Role-play Scenario (Example of a Christian who does not know Jesus intimately)
Nuts and Tom are church mates. Jerry are strangers to both.
Nuts: Hey Tom, you know that guy? He looks like a new comer.
Tom: Yea man! He’s my BEST FRIEND!
Nuts: WHAT? Since when have you started knowing him?
Tom: Just a minute ago.
How many of us here today will go up to a stranger and say, “I love you man! You are my best friend! I know it deep in my bones” ?
In common cases, a majority of us will not declare one as our best friend before we have fully assessed the person left-right-up-down-in-and-out.
And if the person wants to gain our respect, he/she must show us that they are worthy of our respect before we even start to acknowledge them.
This works the exact same way when it comes to our relationship with God. How can we ever idolize Him, respect Him, if we know not who He is personally. If you do not find out His character by beginning your relationship with God, you will never EVER draw closer to God, much less “allow Him the opportunity to earn” the command of respect He deserves in you.
“Allow Him the opportunity to earn” because He has done all things needed to draw upon himself the upmost respect He deserves among His creations, but God is prefers/values the personal touch, the personal process of growth. He desires your interest in finding out who He is. He is gives all of us a CHOICE to build the command of respect He deserves, He allows you to slowly uncover your deep respect for Him.
Respect and awe does not come in a day, it comes by spending time with God everyday, knowing more about Him each day to build up that trust, that reverence. God promises that He will reveal Himself to those who hunger and thirst for Him.
Now that we have seen the need to know God for who He is personally, we will take the next step - building our relationship with God.
Many of us might find it hard to worship God, to communicate with Him because we can’t see Him nor feel Him. It might come across a little too abstract for some of us. (Personal experience where I felt like I was merely rambling to thin air, talking to oneself, spouting words that we doubt will ever be communicated to God. I.e.: prayers at dining tables.)
God may not have given us an image of Himself for us to look at to worship, but He has told us that He is Spirit. (John 4:24 God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in spirit and in truth).
As much as He does not have a body like us, he possesses all characteristics and personality, He thinks, feels, and wills.
It is essential we know God is Spirit because it is a factor when it comes to changing our perception of spending time with God. When we know He is Spirit, we know He will respond! He can talk to us, he can do things! We know we are not ignored. We know He EXISTS.
For an example, what determines a good/solid/close friendship with you and your friend? Quality Time spent together? Someone who hears you out? Someone you know who will always be there for you now and forever - a soul mate.
And why do you think they use the word “SOUL”? Doesn’t it tell you that someone you can anchor your life with is someone you know you have a far deeper connection with than the surface, the material things. He/ she is someone you communicate with your heart (authenticity) - It involves the Spirit.
God created us in His image. That means that his approach to relationship with us, is the same as how we approach our relationship with others! To draw closer to God means that our SPIRIT needs to commune with GOD who is a SPIRIT!
We can’t see Him, we can’t feel Him, we don’t need to, because the heart connection is far more powerful, He can give our Spirit assurance that He is here with us, He is listening to us, He understands us, etc.
When we know that He is a Spirit, we will be assured that someone acknowledges our prayer, it’s not some words we utter to just let us feel better that we prayed, but we know that this prayer of ours has been spoken to someone who is able to bring circumstance, bring things in our life, to change things, for the prayer to take effect!! And when it does, our faith increases even more as the power of prayer tells us that God is valid, existent powerful Spirit.
This Spirit of assurance is not an inner emotion or feeling that can be brought about as long as I make/force myself believe, or have some head knowledge of who God is. But this assurance can only be given by God to be felt by our own inner spirit. That’s why when you try to ask someone, how does he/she feels so assured of the presence of God, he/she probably can’t explain to you in words! Or he/she may say “You just know it.” Because it is not derived from a certain step of ways, or things we do for God, or even words we read in the bible, but it is God who puts in you the spirit of assurance.
It’s the same way as how when we are going through a traumatic experience, or some nerve wrecking situation, and when we trust it in the hands of God, the peace that surpasses all understanding floods in. In the same way, can you understand how the peace came about? Is it something you do that caused it? No. It is God given.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” (John 14:27)
This spiritual sensitivity can only be awakened when we stop doubting and start walking with God in faith. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Once we have established our communication with God, we want to glorify Him, we will start to seek counsel for the directions or path to take when we are confronted with choices to make.
Since God is Spirit, that means He is omnipresent. He is here in this church now, and at this very instant, He is also all the way to the North/South pole, the whole earth, the space. He has the ability to be everywhere.
His eyes, his presence has never left you (Jeremiah 23:23,24 “Am I a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God faraway? ... Do not I fill heaven and earth?”) a single minute because in the bible it says, “In Him we live, we move and exist”. Like David said, we can’t flee from God’s presence, as “never will He live us, never will He forsake us”.
Better still, God gave a part of His trinity to each and everyone of us – Holy Spirit. Now, that means that everywhere we go, God’s “indwelling presence” resides in us. Please do not think that the Holy Spirit is a subset of God. Holy Spirit IS GOD, He’s just another form of God like how water has got 3 states and they all play a different distinct role. So Holy Spirit is equally powerful, equally almighty and sovereign. (That’s why we are not to defile ourselves because we ought to be a holy temple for the dwelling of God.)
The Holy Spirit as we know is also known as the Counselor. It can only be so He has the ability to know our thoughts, discern our motives, and understand our weaknesses. He knows when you stand, when you sit. He even knows what you are going to say even before you speak it.
Therefore, He CAN guide us, give us wisdom, and impress upon us the thoughts of God. “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go, I will counsel you and watch over you”
“Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you.”
When we are in line with the will of God, when we have started to trust God, to seek His will, we will yearn for His purpose/plans for us on earth.
With God in you, What are you not be able to accomplish??!
“Nothing is impossible with Christ who strengthens us.” “By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope”
Not only is he always and immediately beside you, He is also empowering you from within. The Holy Spirit that is moving in well-known Christians/pastors such as Bill Bright, Max Lucado is the same Holy Spirit within you. “The Holy Spirit is Christian’s power supply.”
Now how awesome is this, not only is He in you, beside you, the bible also says, “He will go ahead of you. He will never fail you nor forsake you.”
“Many are in the plans of man’s heart, but it is the purpose of the Lord that prevails.”
“I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.”
Some of us might question or plead with God, why do I have to be born in this family? Why do I have this weird feature on my face? Why do I have to go through all this hell? whY wHY and more WHY!!!
“God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes for them”
He never forsakes us, He knows the plans that are best for us.
The blue eyes parable
Amy Carmichael was one of the most beloved missionaries during the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. She served God for fifty-five years. Sherwood Eddy wrote: ”Amy was the most Christian-like character I ever met, and her life was the most fragrant, the most joyfully sacrificial, that I ever knew.”
When she was growing up in Ireland, she desperately wanted blue eyes. With the faith of a child, she truly believed that God would change her brown eyes to blue if she asked Him. One night, she prayed fervently for blue eyes, then confidently went to bed. When she awoke the next morning, she ran to the mirror. Her same brown eyes were reflected in the glass. How disappointed she was!!
Later during her years in India, she became aware of the tragic plight of many girls from poor families who were sold to Hindu temples as prostitutes. Amy began rescuing this young girls and bringing them to her home in Dohnavur to raise tem and teach them how much God loves them. She would stain the white skin with coffee grounds and dress in Indian clothing so she could sneak into the temples unnoticed. One day, as she dressed, she realized that her disguise worked only because she had brown eyes. Blue eyes would have been a dead giveaway!
At that moment, she realized that one of the reasons God said no the her prayer as a child was because He had a plan for her future that involved the lives of hundreds of other precious little ones. God had known her future – even when she was a little girl half a world away.
I have not gone missing, I'm having my fun.
I love School! (:
You and I.
Nobody knows
Just why we're here
Could it be fate
Or random circumstance
At the right place
At the right time
Two roads intertwine
And if the universe conspired
To meld our lives
To make us
Fuel and fire
Then know
Where ever you will be
So too shall I be
As much as I'm not in love, this is really a beautiful, flawless piece of love poem that deserves our ATTENTION. (:
Upwards.
By faith I climb.
I am a few climbs away from the "next floor" in my life.
A new clean page where an upcoming exciting adventure will be written for the eyes of many.
By faith I climb.
In everything I do, may you be exalted and glorified.
The higher up I ascend, I know your will will only become clearer.
So, let your purpose be done in my life.
By faith I climb.
There is something wrong with blogger.