Some Thoughts To Ponder

Some Thoughts To Ponder

[This is quite different from what I have been posting in this blog but I have the intuition that perhaps we all need to read this and ponder the results in our own lives. I think this fits in nicely with our normal praise and worship! The following is a result of attending a Bible study where, when the question was asked, "What is God?", I decided to write these few words.]

What Is God?

God is "Spirit." He is invisible to us on earth. We are limited by time and space. God is limitless!

Since God is "spirit" it is of the utmost importance that we have a viable connection to God through the Holy Spirit dwelling in fullness within each of us. How else can we be guided and taught without the Holy Spirit guiding and directing us. The Holy Spirit is "truth" and "light" and always speaks for the Father of truth. The Holy Spirit prays for us, directs us, comforts us, and guides us - He leads us into all righteousness. He loves us, like the Father loves us, and as the Son loves us. What greater reason is there to have the full blessing of the Holy Spirit within each of us? Pray that we listen to the Holy Spirit speaking. He is our spiritual link with God and the Lord Jesus. He will insure that through our obedience and love of Christ that we become holy as God is holy and pure!

God is very large. All space is contained within Him. He surrounds His entire creation including the stars, planets, and heavens above. His largeness allows God to be everywhere at all times. He controls and maintains His creation. God is kind, patient and loving, but God is also sinless. God allows mankind to flounder around in his own pride and selfishness until such a time when God has had enough of our foolishness, and shows His wrath against all sin. Before the beginning of time, God and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit decided the fate of God's creation. In all past, present, and future centuries, God continues to control and insure that the outcome of His creation will be exactly what His plans govern since before time began.

God is also "light." (the light that overcomes darkness). How bright is God's light? Think of the sun shining down upon the earth. If we look at the sun without eye protection (which we certainly should not do), we would be temporarily blinded by its brightness. God is Light one hundred times brighter than the sun! This is why God would not allow Moses to see His face. God placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and put hand over Moses' eyes as He passed by. Moses, the trusted servant of the Lord, was allowed only to see God's backside!

God is "eternal." God has no beginning and no ending. Eternal always - without end.

God is "holy." What is "holy?" A short list on the meaning of holy is: pure, righteous, absolute love, kindness, trustworthy, truthful, merciful, just, filled with grace and mercy, honest, jealous, wrathful (when the time comes to remove sin of this world), omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere at all times), omniscient (all knowledge in times past, times present, and times in the future). God's attributes work together. None work against another. God can bless our obedience, our dependence upon Him, and He does so by grace. At God's timing, He will replace His love with His wrath. When God sees that the world will not respond to His continual calling in love, God will turn His love into wrath to rid His creation of the sinfulness of mankind. At that time it will be too late for prayer and forgiveness.

Because God is holy He can never allow any unholiness into heaven. There will be nothing in heaven which is not holy. (More on this shortly.)

God created mankind in His image. We were to be led by God into His wonderful likeness and dependence upon Him for our daily needs. In "His image" means the inward part of us, the spirit within each of us placed there at our birth. It was God's eternal plan that we humans would be taught by God the things of God and the nature of heaven. After the fall of Adam and Eve, when they ate of the fruit in the Garden of Eden, their spirit within each of them died. (The Spirit that was "breathed" into them by God, thus making them the only created beings that had a God-given Spirit). Since that time, no human being has an "alive" Spirit within them. That resulted in our now following our soul which is controlled by the devil. Our spirit must be brought back to its rightful place within again. How do we do that? When we realize that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour and when we truly repent of all our sins, our spirit begins to glow again - to come back to life. The Spirit of God and the flesh are in a constant battle for the new person in Christ. It takes a lifetime for our spirit to become full-grown but each step of the way leads us closer and closer to being righteous and holy as our God desired us to be from the beginning.

Christ sent us a "helper" after He was dead, resurrected, and His ascension. Our helper is the Holy Spirit residing within each of us. Obeying the Holy Spirit's voice, His teaching, and His guidance will insure that our life of faith grows progressively more solid each day. It is essential that we believe in Christ as our only Lord and Saviour, and that we repent of our sins.

So, what is "unholy?" A short list of things unholy: pride (pride is the first sin. It is what made Adam and Eve decide against God and try to live their own lives the way they thought it should be lived.) Other unholy attributes  are selfishness, lying, cheating, profanity, deceit, envying, taking the name of God in vain, anger, evil thoughts, drunkenness, causing strife, judging others, hatred, theft, adultery, homosexual relations, murder, false preaching, blasphemy, idolatry, ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ.

[This article came into being when attending a morning devotional. I was absolutely amazed that some of the members really didn't know about God - what He is like. I later penned this short article entitled "What Is God?" hoping that someone might be enlightened by these words. And it's all in the Bible!]
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The Spirit of True Religion

By: William Law

"You Will Receive True Power" written by William Law.

Quote:

I can think of one thing that is a common concern among all Christians and that should be carefully examined by them. I am sure that if it were either neglected, overlooked, or mistaken by them, there would be some sad consequences. This is something that is essential to Christian salvation.

What is the one thing? It is the renewal of the original life and power of the Spirit of God in us. Nothing else is needed by us, nothing else is intended for us, either by the law, the Prophets, or the Gospel. Nothing else can make sinful man become a godly creature again. Everything else, no matter what it is - however glorious and divine in outward appearance - is dead and helpless unless it has the Spirit of God breathing and living in it. All Scripture bears full witness to this truth. No angel, no person, no church, no reformation can do anything for us without the Spirit of God.

Everything written in the Bible was written only to call us back from the spirit of satan, the flesh, and the world, to be again fully dependent upon and obedient to the Spirit of God. Out of love and thirst for our souls, the Holy Spirit seeks to have His original power of life in us. When this is done, all that the Scriptures can do for us is also done. (According to Mr. Law, the Spirit of God brings back to life the corrupted spirit within us.)
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"The whole plan of redemption is to put the divine nature back into your spirit, as it was meant to be from the very beginning."

"Our salvation is in the life of Jesus Christ within us. This alone was the divine perfection of man before the fall, and it will be his perfection when he is one with Christ in heaven."

"Self is the power of satan living and working in us."

"A religion of "self" is the last and greatest manifestation of the mystery of iniquity."

"The devil is always where God is not, and that the work of the flesh is in every place where the Holy Spirit does not rule."