Knowing God

These few days I have in my heart to find out about this God for whom my ancestors(great grandfather's parents I guess) gave up their idols. I have felt His feelings towards me being of love, kindness, gentleness and forgiving. I want to know Him as to who is He.
After an intense show of power and might from God on behalf of the Israelites, do you know what Moses asked God for? In Exodus 33:18  "...Moses said, I beseech You, show me Your glory." Glory when used as a noun means- something that is a source of honor, fame, or admiration.
Being with the Lord through so much, Moses still wanted to know God's glory and he was granted a glimpse of it. He did not ask amiss for he had seen God's actions, all that God can do, but he wanted to know the Person doing those things, the source, the origin. Too many times we are content with God's actions in our life, healing, protection, deliverance, guidance, salvation, love...etc. and we never stop to ask Who are You God? Its like we have a best friend only because he or she has money, fame, power, giving us gifts, talented but we never really try and find out the heart of our friend, in that case what kind of a friend are we? So let me get on this adventure to find out from His Word Who God is!

God's Composition

• FIRE 
• Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 
• Hebrews 12:29 For our God [is indeed] a consuming fire.

• LIGHT  
• 1 John 1:5 And this is the message [the message of promise] which we have heard from Him and now are reporting to you: God is Light, and there is no darkness in Him at all [no, not in any way].
• SPIRITUAL BEING 
  • John 4:24 God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). 
   
• LOVE  
• 1 John 4:8 He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love. 
• 1 John 4:16 And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.

God's Nature 

•  MERCIFUL 
• Deuteronomy 4:31For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them. 
• 2 Chronicles 30:9 For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and He will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him. 
• Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the Lord, and [rigidly] righteous; yes, our God is merciful. 

• MIGHTY
• Deuteronomy 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe. 
• Job 36:5 Behold! God is mighty, and yet despises no one nor regards anything as trivial; He is mighty in power of understanding and heart.

• FAITHFUL
• 1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
• 1 Corinthians 10:13 For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. 
• 2 Corinthians 1:18 As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes [that might mean] No.
• AGELESS
• Job 36:26 Behold, God is great, and we know Him not! The number of His years is unsearchable. 
•  HOLY
• Psalm 99:9
  Extol the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy!
   

God's actions toward us

• OUR REFUGE 
•   Psalm 62:8 Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! 
• Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever. 
• Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy! 
• Psalm 46:1 [ Psalm 46 ] [ To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of the sons of Korah, set to treble voices. A song. ] God is our Refuge and Strength [mighty and impenetrable to temptation], a very present and well-proved help in trouble.

• DEFENSE 
• Psalm 59:17 Unto You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my Defense, my Fortress, and High Tower, the God Who shows me mercy and steadfast love.  
• Habakkuk 3:19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]! [ For the Chief Musician; with my stringed instruments. ]
• Psalm 59:9 O my Strength, I will watch and give heed to You and sing praises; for God is my Defense (my Protector and High Tower). 
•  2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strong Fortress; He guides the blameless in His way and sets him free.
• Psalm 84:11 For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. 

• FIGHTER/WARRIOR 
• Deuteronomy 20:4 For the Lord your God is He Who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.

• HELPER 
• Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 
• Psalm 54:4 Behold, God is my helper and ally; the Lord is my upholder and is with them who uphold my life.

•  RIGHTEOUS JUDGE 
• Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day. 
• Psalm 75:7 But God is the Judge! He puts down one and lifts up another.

•  GOD of any manmade gods AND KING of kings 
• Psalm 47:7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding. 
• Psalm 74:12 Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

Do you know God? or What about God do you know and what intrigues you about Him?

New Living Translation Giveaway

A new year and a new Bible now thats a good beginning.

If you need to have a new way to look at the words you read from the Word of God you could try New Living Translation Bible. There is a giveaway happening right now on Facebook.

Check out the giveaway here!

God Bless

Easy Returns

I have been doing some wonderful Bible Studies by some amazing women of God. Oh how I wish I could be like them.

In the last few months I had the opportunity to learn from two of Beth Moore's studies
-Inheritance
-Revelations

Recently I have been studying the book of Jonah, from Priscilla Shirer. She is so simple in her speech and yet so emphatic in her delivery of the message from the Word of God, it is awesome! Through this study, which I initially miss-classified as "may not be applicable to me but good to know study" , I discovered, I am oh so similar to Jonah that its not even funny! Yet I have learned some very very precious lessons from this book as taught by Priscilla Shirer, that I know I will NEVER forget this study, EVER.

One beautiful lesson I gleaned from the study of Jonah is as follows:
When we are wandering away from God, or have wandered far away from Him and kinda presume that it would be impossible for God to save me at all. Or that, I am way to undignified/immoral/filthy /far gone from God to be saved. I cannot return to God now, its too late. You know even at that place where you are, at that seemingly infinite mental distance from God, He is able to find and reconcile you to Him. God is so awesome and amazing that when He has sought you and found you, like the parable of the lost sheep, He will not make you walk back home. ^"5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home." Luke 15:5-6
How beautiful it is that you are carried on God's shoulders as He finds you. When Jonah had run away, in the opposite direction of his calling and realized he should have rather obeyed, God had made his return easy too, by providing the giant fish.

Dear friend, no matter how impossibly out of reach you may think you are from God, He is seeking you out, wherever you are. He loves you so much that when He has found you, He will carry you on His shoulders and bring you home. Stop running and let Loving Jesus find you wherever you are, in whatever situation you are, no matter what reason you have for your distance from him. Be it disobedience or just plain having lost direction and wandered away, Jesus is seeking you out. Its easier to return to Him, than staying lost.

Coming Back To It

Praise Him from Whom all blessings flow!

It is wonderful when God reminds us gently that, even though we asked and forgot, He still remembered our request. I had made a prayer request for my husband 2 years ago and now things are stirring in our lives. Good things of course. While talking to my mom on a closure of this new work stuff in our lives, the Holy Spirit began reminding me of a request I had made nearly 2 years back and had not re-asked that request ever. That prayer is answered.

How wonderful and awesome it is to know that we have a Living God, who has not forgotten us and our prayers, even when we have made the request to Him, but only once! He has taken my request seriously and worked on it, on my behalf. This gives me a reason to believe and treasure the unchanging fact that Jesus Loves Me, He hears my prayers and He answers them in His time. This gives me the hope and unwavering assurance, that the prayers I pray now for the salvation of my loved ones is also in queue to be answered soon!

Thank you dear Lord Jesus!