Living By Faith in His Name – February 8, 2017

No, the wording is not a mistake. I understand (from my husband’s sermon this past week and from my personal study) that the word  “Heaven”  in the Greek, is plural, according to many commentators. It may have to do with the “levels” of heaven as understood by the Jewish people. Some say there are 3 levels, some 7, and some 12 levels of heaven. We can know this, that God is above all and yet always near. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everlasting. For those who know Him, He is with us and in us. So as we go through our day, may we recognize His preeminence as the Great I AM, and His presence as our Everlasting Father who loves us unconditionally and completely. May we “Hallow” His Great Name, Living by faith (Romans 5:1-2) and in “the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:7) today and forever!

Living By Faith in His Name – February 6, 2017

YAHWEH…

Built from His Name, “I AM,” YHWH is the proper name for God, His eternal name, reminding us that God is. He always was, He always is, and He always will be. John MacArthur notes 10 things regarding the YHWH in his August 5 devotional on his website, Desiring God.  MacArthur explains God is an “absolute reality”, that He did not have a beginning and will not have an end. God is completely INDEPENDENT, while everything else is completely DEPENDENT on Him. In comparison to God, we are nothing, yet He is never changes. He is utterly reliable, “the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. He does whatever He pleases, but all that He does is right and good. And He deserves our complete worship and devotion.

 

Living By Faith in His Name – February 4, 2017

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In the beginning, God…Elohim…

No time is lost in Scripture in revealing Who God is. The fourth word of the Old Testament Scripture puts God at the beginning of time and creation, the Central Character of the Bible, Who existed before the foundation of the world, Himself, with no beginning and no end. And Wisdom was present. (Proverbs 8:25-32)

God, Elohim, the Creator and the Judge of the Universe. But the meaning does not end here. He is the personal God who interacts with His own creation.

The statement in Genesis 1:1 is so simple that even a young child can grasp it. That God created all things, the heavens, the earth, and all that they contain. Why do humans make this so complicated? Why do mere men attempt to explain away creation? It makes all the sense in the world, whereas every theory other than creation forces those who embrace those views to believe something that makes no sense. None of us were there. Only God. Only Elohim.

But, you may say, “It takes faith to believe such a thing.” I say it takes more faith to believe those who come up with other theories – a primordial soup out of which springs life…A huge explosion that results in the formation of living creature… Something bringing life from another planet (so where did that life come from?)

We do not see non-life morphing into life today or in the last several thousand years, nor has it ever been. Only from life comes life. And yes, it does take faith to believe that God created the heavens and the earth – because none of us were there and no one can “prove” it, but without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). And I choose faith in Him, God, Elohim, over faith in science and scientists who are mere men and were not present and can do nothing to explain the flaws in their theories.

Oh, that we might walk in the ways of Wisdom, believing WHO He is…Elohim…Creator, Judge, and the Personal God who loves His own creation. Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 8:25-32 (see below)!

Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,
Or the primal dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth,
Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;[a]
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.

Living By Faith in His Name – February 1, 2017

Faith…not just in faith itself but in a person. In the person of Jesus Christ. How can we live by faith if we do not know Him, if we do not know His attributes, his character? In order to have faith, we must first “believe that He is”. We must trust in WHO He is. When we find out WHO HE is, then we will begin to really KNOW Him. When we KNOW Him, we will know that we can trust HIM. And when we KNOW HIM, we will fall in love completely with HIM, because of WHO HE IS!

I think it’s pretty amazing how many names of God we find in Scripture. I wonder if the reason might be that one name could never begin to capture WHO HE IS, THE GREAT I AM!

So we begin this month of February, the month of “LOVE”, we will seek to discover WHO HE IS as we focus on some of HIS many names. I pray that, as we learn more about WHO HE IS, we will find ourselves Living By Faith in His Name.