Hey :-) In this post we are gonna look at some attributes of God which will help explain how He acts and how He is soon to act in the near future.
God reveals Himself to people in various ways. Check out 1 Samuel 3: 21, "The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word." So yeah, God reveals Himself to us through His Word and He can also appear (or speak) to people through visions, dreams and other supernatural experiences (such as people dying and going to heaven/hell then coming back to life). And also through natural experiences (Nature/creation itself testifies God's attributes- And it's a pretty powerful testimony for those who take the take the time/ are still enough to listen. I know coz God used nature to reel me in. You can read about my experience in section c of The Bubble post) and also through our life experiences.
Here are some attributes we'll look at:
1. God is Love.
1. God is Love.
2. God is Holy.
3. God is Faithful.
4. God is Righteous.
5. God is Just.
6. God is Gracious.
7. God is Merciful.
7. God is Merciful.
God is Love so all the other attributes stem from His Love. I think this verse captures this well.
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, its jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." (Song of Solomon 8:6-7a)
Uhmm, I don't know how I'll go about this... so let's look at how He reveals Himself to us through His Word (aka Jesus aka God the Son aka The King of Glory).
Who is this King of Glory?
1. The Mighty Intercessor/ Mediator
"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel." (Colossians 1:15-23)
-Wow! Great passage! So yeah God is Love that's why He created us with free will coz love that is forced isn't really love. We were created for relationship with Him. But the first humans chose to reject God's perfect leadership in the garden of Eden by falling for the temptations they faced (post: Beauty & the Beast :Prologue) And because God is holy our sins separated us from Him (broken relationship) and because He is just He had to give us the punishment we deserved (by choosing not to follow God, the Source of Life, we were choosing death) :( So that sucked for everyone. But because of God's great Love for us He sent Jesus to break the cycle, to reconcile us to Himself by taking our punishment upon Himself. That's just how much God loves us!! And it's through Jesus that our relationship with the Father is restored! Yay Jesus! Thanks God! =)
2. The Lion and the Lamb. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So that's what the New Covenant (testament) is about. It's not about the Law (following a bunch of rules) but it's all about Jesus (relationship with Him and walking by His Spirit). The Old Testament foreshadows Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the Law. Wait a minute! So did God change in the New Testament times? NO. God doesn't change. He is still Holy. He is still righteous and He is still just. He hasn't lowered His standards. Then what has changed? The times have changed. God sent Jesus as a demonstration of His love and faithfulness to us and He extends His grace to us (giving us time to repent- to return to Him through relationship with Jesus).
And once again times are changing. These are the last days as described in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5. "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:37) In days of Noah the earth was full of corruption and violence (Genesis 6). And God, being a God of Justice and holiness had to act. And once again we are living in such days and God is going to act. Not just out of His Justice but also out of His Love and Mercy. You see, the Kingdom of Heaven is coming! It's almost restoration time (Jesus is coming back as a Lion. As the King of Kings and Lord of Lords) and by then there won't be much time to repent so that's why God wants to shake things up to awaken us before it's too late. Watch this for more insight on how these days are similar to the days of Noah and what was it about the days of Noah that caused God to act the way He did. It includes the nephilim. The devil's schemes. -> The Day of the Lord is at hand!
*Hebrews 12:22-29*"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, its jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." (Song of Solomon 8:6-7a)
"But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Colossians 5: 8-9)
Watch this clip. That's the Full Gospel. Let's put on the Full Armor of God :-)
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel." (Colossians 1:15-23)
-Wow! Great passage! So yeah God is Love that's why He created us with free will coz love that is forced isn't really love. We were created for relationship with Him. But the first humans chose to reject God's perfect leadership in the garden of Eden by falling for the temptations they faced (post: Beauty & the Beast :Prologue) And because God is holy our sins separated us from Him (broken relationship) and because He is just He had to give us the punishment we deserved (by choosing not to follow God, the Source of Life, we were choosing death) :( So that sucked for everyone. But because of God's great Love for us He sent Jesus to break the cycle, to reconcile us to Himself by taking our punishment upon Himself. That's just how much God loves us!! And it's through Jesus that our relationship with the Father is restored! Yay Jesus! Thanks God! =)
2. The Lion and the Lamb. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So that's what the New Covenant (testament) is about. It's not about the Law (following a bunch of rules) but it's all about Jesus (relationship with Him and walking by His Spirit). The Old Testament foreshadows Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the Law. Wait a minute! So did God change in the New Testament times? NO. God doesn't change. He is still Holy. He is still righteous and He is still just. He hasn't lowered His standards. Then what has changed? The times have changed. God sent Jesus as a demonstration of His love and faithfulness to us and He extends His grace to us (giving us time to repent- to return to Him through relationship with Jesus).
And once again times are changing. These are the last days as described in 2 Timothy 3: 1-5. "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:37) In days of Noah the earth was full of corruption and violence (Genesis 6). And God, being a God of Justice and holiness had to act. And once again we are living in such days and God is going to act. Not just out of His Justice but also out of His Love and Mercy. You see, the Kingdom of Heaven is coming! It's almost restoration time (Jesus is coming back as a Lion. As the King of Kings and Lord of Lords) and by then there won't be much time to repent so that's why God wants to shake things up to awaken us before it's too late. Watch this for more insight on how these days are similar to the days of Noah and what was it about the days of Noah that caused God to act the way He did. It includes the nephilim. The devil's schemes. -> The Day of the Lord is at hand!
*Hebrews 12:22-29*"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, its jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." (Song of Solomon 8:6-7a)
"But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Colossians 5: 8-9)
Watch this clip. That's the Full Gospel. Let's put on the Full Armor of God :-)
"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you, Jesus. Heaven must receive Him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." (Acts 3:19-21)
So after I got baptized by the Holy Spirit I wasn't the same after that. I experienced His love, freedom, joy and He started giving me messages to share with people (the spirit of prophecy). This was the first spontaneous song I received (song from the Spirit) back in the Fall of 2011. I recorded it right then coz I had a feeling I was meant to share it. So yeah, it's not for the musical quality or lack thereof lol but for the message that the Holy Spirit is sharing with us. Let's surrender our all to God. He loves us so much!! He wants to have a relationship with us; intimacy. He wants to set us free and fill us up with more of His Spirit of Love, power and Wisdom which we really need for the exciting times we're going into. Let's choose to soar with Jesus! Yay!:)
Love ya! Feel free to share your questions/ comments/ prayer requests. God bless! :-)
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:23)
Related posts: MAJESTY and REVOLUTION.
IV Church was going through the attributes of God in their Upper Room meeting so you can check out this audio about: God's infiniteness. "In this first teaching on the attributes of God, Erik reminds us that the reason we want to know the attributes of God is to know Him better. God is too big for us to imagine – this is his essence. God does all things infinitely, which defines his character. Lucas shares on the pleasure that comes from knowing God; since He is infinite, He can infinitely satisfy us with more of Himself."
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