There are many "Gods" but only one Jehovah God also known as the Living God. So where is Jehovah?
You can't visit Him (God is genderless but we have no way to refer to God personally in a gender-neutral way in English) because He is Spirit. You are a spirit housed in a body made of humus or dirt. You are a humus-man or human. The man is spirit but the humus, also called Adam, is dirt. You can't stand in God's presence and live.
But God can find you. Therefore, the question should be, Where Am I? Can God find me? Clearly then, the task is turned reverse: Don't look for God, rather position yourself where God can find you.
If God is truly the all-powerful maker of the universe, He is also truly sovereign which, in simple terms, means He does what He pleases. But He is also a God of Promise and covenant. He has indicated how He will deal with us and keeps to that promise. Therefore, God is very predictable even though sovereign.
By now you may have realized that God's true nature and modus operandi contradicts our natural mind's assumptions about God. He describes himself as humble and meek! The designer of life considers himself meek! He gives us a choice to follow Him or reject Him but provides consequences for each path you chose. It matters not whether you BELIEVE or not. After all, it will matter not whether you believe in gravity or not - if you jump off a building, you will probably break a few bones. It matters not whether you believe in HIV/AIDS, it will get you if you are careless.
In summary, the first step in re-positioning yourself so that God can find you is to recognize that God does not operate like Man. His ways of doing things often are upside down of our natural expectation. He says that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
The second step is to accept that God is LORD over you, that is, accept Him as your LORD and God and tell Him so audibly (yes, He can hear!). By taking this step which may appear somehow degrading, you have in fact elevated your position considerably in the spiritual realm. You are head and shoulders above every proud person who is unable to acknowledge that God created him or her and not only created but set a purpose for that creation.
The third mystery of God is that, despite being all-knowing, all-powerful, He is motivated in all He does by His love for us. Because we are made in His image, we tend to behave like Him only that we are not usually conscious of this aspect of our being. As an example, men will work for hours and hours to provide for their family. The intensity of their work is motivated by their love for their family. This kind of love is the kind that results in caring, reverence, and honor. Strangely though, this same love causes a parent to discipline their children when they start to wonder into bad habits and behavior. They do not discipline the child because they hate the child but because they love the child and would not wish to see the child get lost. Therefore, in a similar manner, God disciplines those whom He loves and the more He has favored you with gifts and talents, the hasher and quicker His disciplinary action.
The third step towards re-positioning yourself to increase your spiritual visibility is to start doing the things that God has asked you to do. In short, know and observe His commands. God does not make requests. He commands. You chose to obey or disobey, and hence, you chose the eternal path that you desire. It's as simple as that.
You have wronged God terribly by all the acts of disobedience you have committed. He even remembers the disobedience of your ancestors. But all these wrongs have been paid for. Even though He judged and condemned you, He made arrangements to have someone else pay the price for your wrongs. The price was death. Therefore, someone else died in your place. However, for you to receive forgiveness, you must accept this gift of life by acknowledging the person who died on your behalf and accepting that you deserved to die. In simpler terms, confess your sins to God and ask for forgiveness.
The person who died in your place was Jesus Christ, also called Immanuel who is the Son of Jehovah. Though He died, He did not remain in that state but overcame death (death is a spirit) to return to life. Jesus died as a human being. He came to earth in human form just as we are. He suffered bodily pain, anguish and death by hanging on the Roman cross - an instrument of terrible death and humiliation. They whipped Him, struck Him, spat on Him, tauted Him, dragged Him, stripped Him naked, nailed Him to the cross by the roadside, and speared Him. Jehovah, His father, forsook Him while He hang on cross. He died of a broken heart, rejected by both Man and God His father. This was the way your sins were paid for. When you reject this offer by God, you automatically chose eternal death, the only alternative.
Is this a fair deal? You may not think so but then again, did you chose to be born? He that purposed your existence surely has a right to chart a path for your life. In the same way you make decisions about how that which you have created should be used. Computers have no capacity to think: They do exactly what their creator tells them to do. There is no such thing as a "computer error." All computing errors are human errors. But remember, unlike humans who do not ask computers whether to compute or not to compute, God gives you the choice to follow His way or the way of the rebel angel called satan also known as the devil. This fallen angle was once called Lucifer and occupied a high office in heaven, but he fell from grace due to pride - Lucifer wanted to become like God. No wonder God hates pride with a passion.
These are the facts. Accept them or reject them but you can't change them. You have before you two choices: Life and Death. Chose Life.
More later. Next time, I shall peel back some mysteries of God and the messages that are embedded in our universe. Many of God's principles are hidden in what we call "Nature." Nature has no independence existence part from God. Many awesome mysteries are revealed by God through nature which is God's handiwork.
Shalom.
You can't visit Him (God is genderless but we have no way to refer to God personally in a gender-neutral way in English) because He is Spirit. You are a spirit housed in a body made of humus or dirt. You are a humus-man or human. The man is spirit but the humus, also called Adam, is dirt. You can't stand in God's presence and live.
But God can find you. Therefore, the question should be, Where Am I? Can God find me? Clearly then, the task is turned reverse: Don't look for God, rather position yourself where God can find you.
If God is truly the all-powerful maker of the universe, He is also truly sovereign which, in simple terms, means He does what He pleases. But He is also a God of Promise and covenant. He has indicated how He will deal with us and keeps to that promise. Therefore, God is very predictable even though sovereign.
By now you may have realized that God's true nature and modus operandi contradicts our natural mind's assumptions about God. He describes himself as humble and meek! The designer of life considers himself meek! He gives us a choice to follow Him or reject Him but provides consequences for each path you chose. It matters not whether you BELIEVE or not. After all, it will matter not whether you believe in gravity or not - if you jump off a building, you will probably break a few bones. It matters not whether you believe in HIV/AIDS, it will get you if you are careless.
In summary, the first step in re-positioning yourself so that God can find you is to recognize that God does not operate like Man. His ways of doing things often are upside down of our natural expectation. He says that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
The second step is to accept that God is LORD over you, that is, accept Him as your LORD and God and tell Him so audibly (yes, He can hear!). By taking this step which may appear somehow degrading, you have in fact elevated your position considerably in the spiritual realm. You are head and shoulders above every proud person who is unable to acknowledge that God created him or her and not only created but set a purpose for that creation.
The third mystery of God is that, despite being all-knowing, all-powerful, He is motivated in all He does by His love for us. Because we are made in His image, we tend to behave like Him only that we are not usually conscious of this aspect of our being. As an example, men will work for hours and hours to provide for their family. The intensity of their work is motivated by their love for their family. This kind of love is the kind that results in caring, reverence, and honor. Strangely though, this same love causes a parent to discipline their children when they start to wonder into bad habits and behavior. They do not discipline the child because they hate the child but because they love the child and would not wish to see the child get lost. Therefore, in a similar manner, God disciplines those whom He loves and the more He has favored you with gifts and talents, the hasher and quicker His disciplinary action.
The third step towards re-positioning yourself to increase your spiritual visibility is to start doing the things that God has asked you to do. In short, know and observe His commands. God does not make requests. He commands. You chose to obey or disobey, and hence, you chose the eternal path that you desire. It's as simple as that.
You have wronged God terribly by all the acts of disobedience you have committed. He even remembers the disobedience of your ancestors. But all these wrongs have been paid for. Even though He judged and condemned you, He made arrangements to have someone else pay the price for your wrongs. The price was death. Therefore, someone else died in your place. However, for you to receive forgiveness, you must accept this gift of life by acknowledging the person who died on your behalf and accepting that you deserved to die. In simpler terms, confess your sins to God and ask for forgiveness.
The person who died in your place was Jesus Christ, also called Immanuel who is the Son of Jehovah. Though He died, He did not remain in that state but overcame death (death is a spirit) to return to life. Jesus died as a human being. He came to earth in human form just as we are. He suffered bodily pain, anguish and death by hanging on the Roman cross - an instrument of terrible death and humiliation. They whipped Him, struck Him, spat on Him, tauted Him, dragged Him, stripped Him naked, nailed Him to the cross by the roadside, and speared Him. Jehovah, His father, forsook Him while He hang on cross. He died of a broken heart, rejected by both Man and God His father. This was the way your sins were paid for. When you reject this offer by God, you automatically chose eternal death, the only alternative.
Is this a fair deal? You may not think so but then again, did you chose to be born? He that purposed your existence surely has a right to chart a path for your life. In the same way you make decisions about how that which you have created should be used. Computers have no capacity to think: They do exactly what their creator tells them to do. There is no such thing as a "computer error." All computing errors are human errors. But remember, unlike humans who do not ask computers whether to compute or not to compute, God gives you the choice to follow His way or the way of the rebel angel called satan also known as the devil. This fallen angle was once called Lucifer and occupied a high office in heaven, but he fell from grace due to pride - Lucifer wanted to become like God. No wonder God hates pride with a passion.
These are the facts. Accept them or reject them but you can't change them. You have before you two choices: Life and Death. Chose Life.
More later. Next time, I shall peel back some mysteries of God and the messages that are embedded in our universe. Many of God's principles are hidden in what we call "Nature." Nature has no independence existence part from God. Many awesome mysteries are revealed by God through nature which is God's handiwork.
Shalom.
