I Am The LORD Thy GOD (Part V)

God is the God Almighty, the El Shaddai that told Abraham in Genesis 17:1 to walk before Him and be blameless. The LORD has a place prepared Himself and for those in His kingdom. (Ps 103:19) Why? I am told in Psalms 145:12, “To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” He doesn’t have to, but all He does is to demonstrate His greatness. To demonstrate to those that He has a kingdom that is unlike any other on earth. (John 18:36) His power is that He transcends all worlds. He knows all things. He has created all things. And He built a kingdom for His people, both of the House of Jacob (Luke 1:33) and later the church (Matt 16:28, Matt 6:10) It is so important that as a Christian, I live as though I am under His kingship, because I am under His kingship. His kingdom is the church, which transcends any human kingdom. Think of it, right now, right here on earth, those who have come to Him and say they believe Him are in His kingdom. Already. Those who believe in Him have that opportunity because we are His portion, (Deut 32:9, Is 62:12) He walks and talks with us, (Ezek 43:7), and we are His building in which He dwells. (1 Peter 2:5) He knows we are going to sin, and if we are adamant about it He will give us what we want, which only leads to our destruction. (Jer 12:11) But to those who believe on Him, His strength helps us to live through captivity. (Ps 78:61) We are His temple, as Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 3:16,17. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” Much as the physical temple was in existence before Christ, it is now an internal spiritual one, because in God we are a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17-20) God never intended for us not to be conjoined to Him, but because of our free will, which He allows us to make choices we often choose to go the wrong way. And so many times when we bring idols into our temple and do not worship Him as He wants us to, we forget whose body this is. (2 Cor 6:16) We forget He is on the throne, not us. We forget that He can and will destroy those who are not obedient to Him. (Matt 21:41) We forget that He gives us over to our own desires and we are laid open for satan. (Rev 3:9) And God is in control. Isaiah 55:1-13 so aptly describes how God will care for and take care of all who He supplies, all who need comfort. He will protect, He will provide leadership, and He forms His people into a nation. Truly, one nation under Him. He also commands those in need to look for Him and to look to Him. He tells me and others to seek Him, not just when we are in trouble, but always. He tells me and others to repent of evil thoughts as well as evil doings, to put aside selfishness, to love justice and mercy and to be fair to all and to walk humbly before God. God indeed looks for this and will bless me in this if I do as He says. He wants me to realize that He is in control, not just say it.

I am the Lord Your God (part 5)

And God answers me. In Ps 50:15, He promises to deliver and He knows I will glorify Him in this. He hears me when I ask of Him mercy. (Ps 61:1,2, Ps 64:1,2)He will save me, only He can save me, and when I acknowledge this over and over, that He is capable of saving me and is capable of incredible mercies (Ps 54: 1-3; Ps 57:1,2; Ps 70:1,2) He is also capable of dreadful judgment, meaning those that cause dread and fear within my soul for fear of Him casting me and my people away from Him, leaving us in realm of shock, and in which I acknowledge that no one but God can help me and us. (Ps 60:1-3,11) When I realize that God answers me and that He hears me, then can I truly say the words of the psalmist, in Psalm 71:1,2,4,9,12, “In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me and save me. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the unrighteous and cruel man. Cast me not off in the time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth. O God, be not far from me. O, my God, make haste for my help.” And in faith, I can ask “Why, God? Why me? Why us?” (Ps 74:1,3,10,11,19,21-23) because I know He will hear me and He will answer in a way only He can. He knows my suffering, He knows when I am overjoyed. For He is the God Almighty and powerful. And He knows my heart. And He promises me redemption, mercy, and grace, even when I don’t think I am worthy of any. And He tells me that I am to be holy as He is, that I am separated from the world so that I can come to Him and so that I can come into His presence. (Lev 9:22; Deut 10:8) and He gives me a responsibility that as one of His chosen I must perform (Deut 11:29,30; Deut 21:5) And the whole key to this is not only for God to minister to me, but also for me to minister to God and by doing so, minister to His people. And there are things about me that pleases God and will bless Him and things about me that don’t and He will cut off from Himself. (Deut 27:11-13; Joshua 8:33) And what I don’t realize is that every time I say God I cannot do this or that, He says yes I know, do it, because the less is blessed of the better. (Heb 7:7). That is, I am made complete in Him, and am incomplete without Him, and all my inadequacies show themselves when I don’t allow Him to be in control. But when I willingly submit my will to His, knowing His judgment is best then I can truly be blessed and separated from the world that insists on telling me that I cannot.

I Am The LORD Your God (part III)

What are the commandments for? What purpose did God have behind giving Moses the ten commandments? Can I say, this is nice, but I just don’t know how this can possibly refer to me? And truly, if I think of God as changing between old and new testament then yes I can possibly say this, that the ten commandments were just given until Jesus came. That is not true because Jesus himself said he didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17-20) And what is the fulfillment of the law? Love. Love comes from God, and obedience to the commandments comes from loving God. “If you love me, you will obey my Father’s commandments.” (John 14:23-24) And so all the charges that Moses dictates to the Jews in Deuteronomy 27:11-26 have to do with people doing their utmost to please God. And it tells me that I need to do my utmost to please Him as well, to the very last. And He must be the first and foremost in my life. Nothing must keep me from Him, not even if to the naked eye it would appear fine and dandy. (2 King 23:11-13) If it keeps my mind from Him and doing His will then I must rid myself of it. Just as all people of Moses’ and Joshua’s time knew what God expected of them, so should I( Josh 8:32-35). God is explicit, plain, and simple. While His will may not always be clear, the way He wants me to conduct myself always is. Do not murder, Do not covet thy neighbor’s wife, honor my parents…etc. And the purpose? “You shall love the LORD, your God with all your heart, soul, mind and body.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) In loving Him, I follow the commands He lays out for me. I do not follow His commands because I want to perform for him or try to demonstrate that I am worthy of being called His. No. I do not follow His commandments to appease Him. Certainly not. I follow His commands because I love Him and this is the way to show my love for Him. I also know that Father knows best, and so regardless of my feelings and desires to go another way, if I do as He desires me to do, then all will be clear to me in time. In time. I am as accountable to following His law as the Jews of the time of Moses, Nehemiah, David, and Jesus. God makes me thus when He calls me and leaves the choice up to me when I want to clothe myself with Jesus. When I say yes and decide that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, then there are things that I must still act like His child and to do that there are certain things I must do, and certain things I must not do. But above all I must keep remembering that He is holy. (Nehemiah 8:1-18). I must remember the purpose behind calling His people out of the wilderness and calling them to rebuild the temple. I must remember the whole purpose behind Christ coming and dying. I must finally remember the purpose behind His church is not for me, but to bring more and more and more to Him, to the realization of the collective “I”. And to bring me to the point where I can say with the Psalmist in Ps 44:4, 23-26, “Thou art my King, O God: Command deliverences for Jacob. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppresion. For our soul is bowed down to dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” Not just for me, but all my brethren.

I Am The Lord Your God

Tied in with what I ask of God and how much do I believe Him is the next question: How seriously do I take the communal time together with my brethren and with God? Do I say, “God won’t mind if I skip this service”? I don’t care how many posters I make so that others can see what our latest mission trip was like, how much money I send to help fund the Christian growth of unwed mothers, how many meals I serve the homeless. God wants time with me. He has said it in Leviticus 19:30: Ye shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary. I am the LORD. He has said it through David in Psalm 77:13: Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? And Psalm 84:4: Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising thee. He had reaffirmed His desire to be with us through Isaiah, in Isaiah 56:7: Even them will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. He wants me to give myself to Him, as in Romans 12:1 where I am called to make myself a living sacrifice, and not to forsake the body of Christ, (Heb 10:25) whether in church or in getting together for a meal or whatever reason. My purpose for doing this, is to fulfill what Jesus said, where two or more are gathered in my name there I am. And if Jesus is there, so is God. God longs for that relationship, daily, constantly, every second. And the test of my loyalty is whether or not I have that same longing to be with Him. That takes honesty and courage to say yes or no, because it means getting to the grass roots of who I am and how much my relationships really mean to me. But if I don’t be honest with God, then the time I spend with Him is just religion, and not true relationship, just going through the motions.

I Am The Lord Your God: Part II

What do I ask of the Deity? Knowing that He is the Lord my God and will empower me to do anything, almost, what do I want of Him? Do I ask for riches, for fame, or do I ask to be wise in how I live? Where is my faith? It is after all hard to push a mule in direction it doesn’t want to go. Where is my faith, and where is it taking me? God allows me sojourns so that I can see what I want is not necessarily a good thing, and what I need is not necessarily bad. Do I realize that I am sick? (2Kings 20:1-7) I cannot be healed if I don’t realize that. Do I realize that He is the one with the power to heal? (Daniel 2:19-23) Where is my righteousness defined? He has all the power and all the glory. (Matt 8:5-13) Do I truly believe that my righteousness is where my faith is and that God has said that my faith saves me, because He saves me?