Who is God?

"What comes into our minds when we think about God,

is the most important thing about us." - A.W. Tozer¹

Ever feel like you want to know more about God but don’t know where to start?  How do you think about God?  What is he like?  Where do we begin when thinking about God?  I mean it’s not like you can flip open your Bible and go to the section marked “all about God.”  I hope to talk about who God is here in these articles and I would like to suggest some extra reading.  A. W. Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy is excellent reading on whom God is.  I read somewhere recently that you could get a great deal of understanding who God is by looking at one of my favorite Psalms.  Let me encourage you to sit down for a few minutes and read through Psalms 103.  While you are reading, consider the following questions and write down your answers.  These are good questions for you to ask any time you are reading a passage of scripture from the Bible.

Bible Study Questions:

How does God reveal Himself in this passage?

Are there commands to follow, actions to take or to avoid?

Are there promises to claim?

How can I apply these truths to my everyday life?

Write out your answers and then compare them to the ones I found below.

How does God reveal Himself in this passage?

Lord	Healer	Righteous	Slow to anger	Knowledgeable
Holy	Redeemer	Just	Merciful (does not treat us as our sins deserve)	Eternal (from everlasting to everlasting)
Benefactor	Crowner	Compassionate	Abounding in love	Faithful
Forgiver	Satisfier	Gracious		Sovereign (Ruler over all)

Are there commands to follow, actions to take or to avoid?

Praise the Lord, O my soul

Fear (revere) Him

Are there promises to claim?

Forgiveness of sin

Healing of diseases

Redemption of life

Satisfaction with life

Righteousness and justice on our behalf

God would make Himself known to us

God treats us with grace, not as our sins deserve

God has great love for us if we revere (fear) Him

God has removed our transgressions from us

God has compassion on us

God’s love is with us for eternity if we fear Him and keep His commands

God rules over all

How can I apply these truths to my everyday life?

Ask Him to forgive your sin and fill you with love.  Ask Him to purify your desires and fulfill them.  Ask Him to make Himself known to you.  Ask Him for healing He has promised you.

Thank you, God, for revealing yourself to us in your Word, the Bible!  Help us come to know you better every day.  Help us to find You, follow You, claim your promises as our own and apply Your truths to our lives.  We trust in you.  Amen!

Footnotes

¹ Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. 1. Print.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV).

Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Tozer, A. W. The Knowledge of the Holy: the Attributes of God, Their Meaning in the Christian Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1961. Print.

Live by Faith

We have been studying faith and this month is more of the same.   Our key verse is Heb 11:1 (ALT)  “Now faith is [the] assurance [or, substance] of [things] being hoped for [or, being confidently expected], [the] confident assurance [or, proof] of things not seen.”  Our working definition is: “Faith chooses to see and believe in what is not seen.  It chooses to possess a moral conviction that its subject is true.  Faith chooses to believe in, to substantiate, to have confident assurance in, to count as the evidence, demonstration, and convincing proof of what God has promised.” 

Now let’s look at New Testament heroes of the faith.  Of course, you can find a great list of O.T. heroes in Heb 11, but let’s look at N.T. examples.  Acts 6:8 describes Stephen as “full of faith and power” doing great wonders and miracles.  Acts 11:24 describes Barnabas as “full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”  In 1 Tim4:12, Paul admonishes Timothy to be an example in faith.  2 Tim 4:7 has Paul proclaiming he has “fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”  2 Pe 1:1 Opens “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”  More generic examples are 1Tim 6:11; 2:22 which shows the man of God being led by faith,  1 4:6  shows the good minister of Jesus Christ is nourished up in the words of faith and Heb 11 shows us heroes of the faith, Heb12 the great cloud of witnesses, and Jesus as author and finisher of the faith.  Wicked men are perceived as men who have not faith (2 Th 3:2,8).  1 Tim 5:8 portrays those who do not provide for their own as having denied the faith. 1Tim 6:10 shows the love of money as having erred from the faith. 

Next let’s look at what faith does for us.  What happens to us if we are people of faith?  God counts as just, righteous, and forgives all those whose faith is in Jesus (Rom 3:26; Rom 5:1-2; Gal 2:16).  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” Eph 2:8.  We have confidence in God.  “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Heb 10:22-23.  He is the source of our faith.  “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" 1 Cor 2:5.  The we learn that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” Rom 14:23.  We put our faith in God, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” Eph 3:12  and He lives in us “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” Eph 3:17.  We become His children, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” Gal 3:26.  We learn we must “…walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Cor 5:7.  Then we come to understand “faith works by love” Gal 5:6 and “if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing” 1 Cor 13:2.  Rom 12:5 tells us to use our spiritual gifts in proportion with our faith because “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” Jam 2:17-18.  So let us “ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”  Jam 1:6 and “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked”  Eph 6:16.  Finally, “…let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” 1 Thes 5:8. 

Let’s appropriate by faith what God has purchased for us at the cross.  Let’s find the promises of God in the Scripture and claim them as our treasures.  Let’s call things as not as though they were.  Let’s be people of faith.  Remember “…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” Heb 11:6.



Oh Author and Finisher of our faith help us in our unbelief.  Help Your love in us to activate our faith and focus our minds on You and having faith for Your Kingdom.  Help us to live by faith.  Help us to trust in Your awesome character.  Help us to call things that are not as though they were and things that are as though they were not - though faith.  Reward our diligent seeking of You.  Amen!

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.