God Is...

I’m thankful for the opportunity to share as we are praying about the attributes of God.  One of the verses that have impacted me the most this month was from June 12th:  God is Merciful – from Deuteronomy 4:29 – 31.

These verses say:  “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in distress and all of these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.  For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

Finding Him

-        I personally struggle with finding him if I half-heartedly seek him.

-        It’s when I have a sincere desire & devotion to know him, that’s when I find him by:  digging into his word, studying it, cross referencing what I read with other verses, and praying about his word.

Distress

-        We all have those times of distress.  When I find myself in those times of distress, it’s only when I follow God’s word, obeying him, that I find comfort in his promises and in the truth that God is merciful.

Merciful God  -  Verse 31 says “For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you….”

-        This is one of God’s promises that I love to stand on, and I find myself reminded of this promise when I seek him with all my heart, as verse 29 mentions.  I’m reminded of this when I come here to worship with my family, when I hear the pastor teach on God’s truths, when I get encouragement and wisdom from those in our church family.

-        My family and I come from a larger church where we didn’t feel connected for quite a long time.  Since coming here to His Way, we’ve found that sense of community and now feel connected and one way we see God’s promises is through our church family.  We are very thankful for that.

I don’t know if anyone else experiences this, but as much as I mess up and fail sometimes at this life God has given me, I’m so thankful that God is merciful.

--Lee Latimer

God Is...

The Name of God that spoke to me during the past weeks devotional God Is… study was Jehovah Sabaoth, The Lord of Hosts; traditionally translated Jehovah Tsabaoth from old Hebrew. This special name for our Lord can be found in Isaiah 6:1 - In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 - Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 - And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”

What may be an eye opener to some is how often we have read or heard the phrase “Lord of hosts” without truly understanding the significance of this names. Curiosity prompted me to look up the Biblehub.com commentaries and found: “… Tsabaoth, hosts or armies. JEHOVAH SABAOTH is the Lord of Hosts; and we are to understand the word hosts in the most comprehensive sense, as including the host of heaven, the angels and minister of the Lord; the stars and planets, which, as an army ranged in battle array, perform the will of God; the armies of earth, whose conflicts his providence overrules to the accomplishment of his own wise designs; the hordes of inferior creatures, as the locusts that plagued Egypt, the quails that fed Israel, and "the canker-worm and the palmer-worm, his great army," Joel 2:15; and lastly, the people of the Lord, both of the old and new covenants, a truly great army, of which God is the general and commander, 2 Samuel 6:2Psalm 24:10 Romans 9:29 James 5:4.”  - http://biblehub.com/topical/s/sabaoth.htm

From this commentary, began to realize that the word Host represents not only legions of waring angels but Host also includes us, His army of Christian solders. God leads us into battle alongside His angles.  Another reference for “Jehovah Sabaoth” can be found in 2 Kings 6, where this event happens: 17 - And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. What Elisha said to his servant is what God wants all of us to understand: when He has us engaged in holy warfare, we should ask for our eyes to be opened, to see the unconquerable army in which we are marching, with nothing to fear because are God is … Jehovah Sabaoth.

--Larry Russell

God Is...

               Our focus this month in church is the names of God. God is unique and has been given many names both from himself and his followers to describe who He is. With this He also has given us promises in the Bible that we can hold onto because of His character. For me personally, the name of God that I hold on to is El-Olam, The Everlasting God. This is seen in Isaiah 40:28-31 which reads “Do you not know? Have you not heard: The Everlasting God, the LORD the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired,They will walk and not become weary”.God is everlasting. This means He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is so easy for me to forget about God’s character. I find myself worrying in one shape or form about my life and how to live it. Sometimes it’s meant to be for God’s glory in how I live my life. I want to live righteously and follow His decrees but I do it on my own strength instead of His. I think about my own advice instead of waiting and asking for Him.

            Lately my struggle has been doing things on my own will. In a month or so I will be giving birth to my son. Because of this I feel I have very little time left to get things together. Matt and I just did a big move to a new apartment and things are still not all in order. There are many worries that I struggle with throughout the week. I worry about if I’m going to have enough strength to finish unpacking and organizing my house. I worry about if I’m going to have a healthy labor and have my newborn son stay safe. I get in these stages where I am strong and stable one minute and then one event can happen to me and I’m unraveled and in a state of panic. God is constantly trying to remind me that He is everlasting. This is a promise. God is not going to change His mind. He wants to help me. He wants to give me strength. He wants me to lean on Him. I find myself wanting to rely on my strength to get through a day because I want to put on a brave face but God doesn’t want that from me. He knows I am tired. He wants me to confide in Him what I’m feeling and ask for help. He is speaking to me and saying let me help you bear this load. I have been here since time began. I know what you struggle with. Let me be there for you. I hope this is an encouragement to you if you are in a state of tiredness or worry that God is El-Oham.

--Alison Hicks