About My God

God is so much a part of who I am that my relationship with Him cannot help but spill over into what I write.  “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”1   How He loves me, disciplines me, speaks to me, heals me and leads me, every fiber of my being connects to His and I am, because He IS.  There are many definitions of God in our world today.  I wanted to make sure there is no question as to Who I am referring to when I write About My God.

About My God

I worship the God of Abraham & Sarah, Moses & Miriam, Esther, Naomi, Ruth, & Boaz and the nation of Israel as revealed to us in the Old Testament of the Bible.  I worship the God who became the Godman through His Son Jesus and was the God of Joseph & Mary, the prophet Anna, and all Jesus’ disciples as revealed to us in the New Testament of the Bible.  I worship the God who beautifully designed to leave with us His Spirit after Jesus left this earth and was the God of the apostle Paul, Priscilla & Aquila, and the Christian church as revealed to us in the New Testament of the Bible.

God is ELOHIM, Mighty Creator of all life and when all was created it was decided “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” 2   The One Who created me desires an intimate relationship me.

God is El ROI, the One who sees me.3  I may want to think God doesn’t see me or know my pain, that He is distant and doesn’t really care, that He may have purposes in this life, but those purposes are too big and do not include me.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God?”  Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless…but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength….Listen to me in silence.4

El ROI does see me and knows my pain.  My God is near to me and cares deeply for me.5  My God has a purpose for my life and is excited to  reveal it, if I will wait for Him and listen.6

Because God is my Creator and I am designed to reflect His image.  Because God is a God who sees me and desires a relationship with me.  Because I am faulty beyond measure and God alone knows my heart; God made a way for me.  I didn’t deserve it.  I cannot earn it.  God knew, all though He made me good, I am not perfect.  God knew there would be a gap between Him and me, His divine perfection and my humanness.

God is Love.  My God’s love is best manifested through His desire to make a way for me to connect with Him.  That Way became the Substance that filled the gap between my humanness and His divine perfection.  God loved me so much that He became like that whom He created in the form of His one and only Son, Jesus, that if I would believe in Him, I would not perish, but have eternal life.  God did not send His Son into the world to condemn me nor to make me work for His love, but to save me through His Son, Jesus.7

My God invites me into a relationship with Him.  This relationship is not forced upon me to accept, it is not conditional based upon my performance, but He offers this relationship to me as a free gift.  My first step in our relationship was and continues to be my faith that He is who He says He is, that He can do what He says He can do.   As a result of my faith in Him a growing reciprocal love has blossomed.

My faith has moved beyond my upbringing in a Christian home.  It has moved beyond my education in theology and biblical studies.  My faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three in One has exploded into a life filled with experiences that cannot be explained other than God.  These experiences through waiting and listening and being open to the One who created me have sealed my faith in the God of the Bible.

My God does not always make sense.  The pieces do not always fall neatly together for me.  I struggle greatly with the on slot of human suffering throughout time and the results that have stemmed from the wicked choices of humanity.  But my faith has moved beyond what I can see.  My faith is grounded in what I know and what I have seen, but my faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.  It produces hope against hope that God is God, He is faithful and He will do what He says He will do for those who believe.

My God is all about Jesus.  Jesus is the Logos, the Truth, the Word that became flesh and walked among us.8  My belief that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life is not a prideful bigotry, but rather a humble manifestation of God’s love for His creation.9  Other ways are self-reliant, insecure and lack hope.  God’s love is perfected for His creation through His Way for all those who will receive Him, who believe in His name, He gives power to become children of God, who are born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.10

What is true for me and my God is true for you, if only you will believe, wait on Him, listen for Him and then take that step to follow Him.

 

1 Acts 17:28, NRSV
2 Genesis 1:26, 27
3 Genesis 16:13-14
4 Isaiah 40:27-29, 31a, 41:1a, NRSV
5 Psalm 34:18
6 Jeremiah 29:11-13
7 John 3:16-17, Ephesians 2:8
8 John 1:1-18
9 John 14: 1-6
10 John 1:12-13

About the Bible

The Bible has been laughed at, ridiculed, picked apart and discounted.  Yet if you are open to it, its majesty and sheer brilliance can be seen.  Skeptics scoff at the Bible ignoring the very scientific non faith based method, when applied to the Bible to determine its reliability, proves the Bible to be extremely trustworthy.  These truths are not emphasized by those who are nonbelievers and other points are readily magnified.

According to scientific method, a historical document’s state of reliability increases with the number of original copies that exists.  The Bible may be picked apart by many, but it has the most copies ever discovered of any ancient writings making it, according to scientific method, –the most reliable document of all time!

The Bible has been belittled for historical discrepancies.  However, as time has unfolded many of these discrepancies have been proven true.  People and places like the city of Nineveh mentioned in the story of Jonah, were scoffed at due to the lack of evidence of its existence until the mid-1800’s when archeologists discovered the city’s ruins and records of an Assyrian King.  Archeological evidence is another scientific method by which a document’s reliability is judged.  Archeologists continue to unearth evidence that sanction the Bible’s dependability.

The prophetic nature of the Bible has also been the brunt of many skeptics debating and discounting the Bible throughout time, yet again as time unfolds prophecies are proven true.  One of the most astounding prophecies in the Bible to come to fruition is the restoration of Israel as a nation.  In the history of all humanity it has never been recorded that any other people group who had been without their land for thousands of years has even survived.  These people groups have faded away and no longer exist.  Yet the Jewish people have defied history.  They have survived as a race and also did the unprecedented by regaining possession of their land in 1948.  These events were foretold in the Bible adding to this unmatched historical event and adding another building block in the case for the Bible’s trustworthiness.

Out of all the compelling evidence from using the scientific method approach to the reliability of the Bible, there is one truth that stands out above the rest for me.  The Bible is believed to be written by approximately 40 different authors over a span of 1600 years.  The captivating part is that the Bible consistently has a unifying theme of redemption from Genesis to Revelation.  Nonetheless there were no collaborative efforts on the part of the authors.  Most authors did not even know each other or even live in the same time frame or would have had the awareness that another author was penning events at the same time.  Yet the message of redemption between the Creator and His Creation is present from beginning to end.  There are no statistics with which to even compare such a feat.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14, NRSV

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. Isaiah 53:5, NRSV

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved…For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Romans 10:9-10, 12-13, NRSV

The Spirit and the bride (Jesus) who say, “Come.”  And let everyone who is hears say, “Come.”  And let everyone who is thirsty come.  Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”  Revelation 22:16, 17, NRSV

Despite any scientific test that the Bible may or may not pass, it has been my experience with it that seals the deal for me.  God has used the Bible and its truths to transform my life.  I have also witnessed this transforming power in others.  It has been my experience that the more I listen, read, study and meditate on the Bible, the more I abide in the Word and the Word abides in me; it burns into my heart a new song and new dance a new way of looking and seeing, hearing and smelling the world around me.  It springs up life with in me that defies explanation other than supernatural.  My experience exemplifies the Creator’s redemptive work in His creation through the use of His Word.

My experience with the Bible is the only real evidence I need to know that God’s Word has a life changing message and is trustworthy. This can be true for you as well, if you will open your heart and mind to God’s message for you through His Word.

“Thus says the LORD (Yaweh – the One Who Saves):  Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know Me, that I am the LORD; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness, for in these things I delight, says the LORD.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24, NRSV