The God I Know

It is a typical human endeavor to create labels for ourselves. We like to define things because we believe when we do we gain some kind of power over them. We give labels to everything. Just think of going to a doctor with some kind of health problem. The first thing we want to know is: what is it? Is there a name for what I have? If we can name it, then we must be able to do something about it. In a like manner we create idols, images of things the way we want them to be. We reduce things to images that we can comprehend. Sometimes we make our idols out of wood or stone or metal. But most of the time we create our idols in our minds. Think about when you’ve heard something about someone you’d never met. You probably created a mental image of that person only to find later, when you actually met, they didn’t fit your mental image. We all do that to some degree. The problems arise when we react to our mental image, or idol, instead of reacting to the actual person. We may have heard that someone was a liar or thief or some other dark, nefarious type. When we met them, instead of meeting the real person in front of us, we reacted to the image we had of a liar or thief. Someone who themselves may have been the victim of a liar or a gossip. That’s one reason why God tells us in His word not to gossip.

We do these things, create labels and images in our minds, of God too. If the labels or images we create in our minds are not those of the God revealed in the scriptures then we have created an idol. When we worship the image we have of our god, we are worshipping an idol. We can do this all on our own but we have to remember too that we have powerful enemies in the spirit realm. Satan and his demons are attempting to lead us away from the One True God. They encourage us to create false images of God with our hands and in our minds. They encourage us to worship that which is not God. The world is full of false gods that mankind worships. We hear about them every day. We can’t just unconsciously allow such things in our minds or they can slowly change us too. We have to study the scriptures, pray and obey God to come to know Him. When we hear or read someone else’s labels or images of God we need to consciously remind ourselves, That’s NOT the God I know.

Here are just a few of the common misconceptions about Our Heavenly Father:

God is not opposite but equal to Satan. Lucifer was the being created by God who rebelled and became Satan. God is not at war with Satan. Satan has made war on God and lost: he will do so again…and lose again. He is in NO way equal to God. We shold not mistake the fact that God allows him to do what he does, for now, as anything approaching equality with our Heavenly Father.

God is not desperately trying to save all of mankind. If he were He’d be losing. This is ‘A’ day of salvation. God is not calling all of mankind now. The day will come when He will.

He doesn’t punish people for breaking His commandments in the way many think. When someone touches a hot stove God doesn’t send an angel down to burn their flesh. Sin, breaking God’s law, brings it’s own punishment just like a hot stove does it’s own burning. Like a parent punishes a child for intentionally breaking a rule, God punishes those who willfully disobey Him.

God doesn’t make ‘deals’. He laid down His covenant, His B’rith, and we choose to follow it or not. He set before us life and death and He implores us to choose life.

God isn’t in nature. He is apart from and outside of the universe. He cannot be reduced to any form in time, space, matter, energy or any other thing He created.

God doesn’t absolve people from obeying Him for simply accepting Christ as their savior. Faith requires action. To Love God, to come to understand Him, we have to obey Him.

God doesn’t automatically send someone who hasn’t accepted Christ to hell. He wouldn’t send a young child, or anyone else, to hell for never having heard of, or understood, Christ. He’s not a vengeful old man waiting to punish sinners or unbelievers. He doesn’t take any pleasure in punishing disobedient children. He wouldn’t send, even a disobedient child, into an ever-burning hell fire. Those who consciously reject Him will be burned up and even their memory forgotten.

He doesn’t love some of His children and hate others…He loves all His children.

He is not a part of some mysterious trinity. His Holy Spirit is His power that emanates from Him not some ethereal being, more powerful even than God the Father.

God is NOT ‘the goddess’ or ‘our Higher Power’ or ‘the deity’ or any of our other euphemisms. God reveals Himself to us as our Heavenly Father. God will not be reduced to any form we can conceive. God’s name is hallowed. It is not to be taken casually or lightly. In a like way His sons name is not to be taken casually or lightly.

God cannot be defined. To define something is to categorize it; to group it with other like-things. There is only One God. There is nothing else in that category. Because we are mortal beings with three-pound brains our brains cannot contain or conceive of God in His totality. We can only come to know what He reveals of Himself. Because we are limited in our various languages He uses terms that we can understand to teach us.

Only the scriptures reveal to us the One, True God. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of everything there is. He is righteous, just, patient, merciful, everlasting…and so much more… God is a spirit. We must worship Him in spirit and truth. God is Love and Love is ultimately how we come to know Him.

The Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is without doubt one of the fundamental elements of Christianity. Perhaps it is the fundamental element. Forgiveness is the key to Gods plan. God forgives us our sins and we are commanded to forgive one another of the wrongs we do each other. Without forgiveness Gods plan would be pointless. There would be no hope for any of us. Without our forgiving each other we would be unable to live together in harmony or know any kind of inner peace. Forgiveness is the foundation upon which a Christian life is built.

I’ve thought about writing an article on forgiveness for some time now. I first thought to do so in general, academic terms with a kind of dispassionate observers perspective. I came to realize that my own personal story may be the best way to approach the subject. Maybe there is someone struggling out there who needs a personal story to connect with. This is my testimony of forgiveness.

As a child I lived in a home filled with alcoholism, physical abuse and violence. The details aren’t important anymore. It was a long time ago. But it occurred at such an early stage in my life that it affected everything in my life for decades. For most of my life my relationships with other people have all been tainted by the abuse I suffered. I know that I’m nothing special. Unfortunately this is far too common a story in our world. Too many of us have had to deal with similar things, or far worse, in their own lives. The good news is that there is a way out of the darkness such things bring into our lives. The truth really can set you free…

For years I never talked about the darkness abuse brought into my life. It was too personal. I balled my feelings up and pushed them deep down inside me without ever addressing them. They kept me from getting too close to any other human being. They kept me from being able to trust anyone. They kept me from being hurt again. They made me prone to depression. And, they awakened dreams of revenge in me. Like a spiritual cancer those feelings slowly ate away at me. I clung to the hate they created in me like it was a personal treasure. That hate gave me a feeling of power, a power I didn’t have in my childhood.

I became a Christian some years later. With my efforts to seek God and obey His will I began to study His word. When I first read in the scriptures His admonition to love our enemies it was very hard to hear, but my heart knew it was the truth. I probably read the scriptures about how I should forgive my enemies hundreds of times, all without connecting what I was reading to my issues. It wasn’t talking to me it was talking to other people. I wasn’t ready to let go of my power. I wasn’t ready to let go of the dark feelings that felt good to me. The armor of God I wore was full of chinks.

One day, after professing to be a follower of Christ for years, I read about forgiveness yet again in Gods word. This time I realized He was speaking to me. I finally took it personally. In prayer I admitted that I didn’t have the ability to forgive, I just didn’t know how. But I knew that God, through His grace and the power of His Holy Spirit, could do it through me if I would get out of the way. So I prayed for God to work through me and forgive those who had hurt me. True to His word He worked in me to do it. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t an overnight event, it took me a long time asking the same prayer to finally let go of my hate and resentment. But it happened. God set me free of something that had pulled me down my whole life. I felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I began to feel Gods love. I still have scars on my body but my heart has been healed.

I had to repent of my dark feelings before God could forgive through me. Repentance is closely related to forgiveness. Repentance, admitting our sins, shortcomings and weaknesses opens our hearts and allows Gods forgiveness and love to flow through us. Only God’s light can drive out the darkness.

It seems a part of our human condition that we allow so many things to come between us. We want to see ourselves as separate. It makes us feel special. It also cuts us off from each other. But we are dynamic beings. Holding on to darkness only causes us to stagnate. It doesn’t allow us to grow. It pulls us down. God’s love, God’s light is dynamic. It flows through us and uplifts us.

I’ve made it a part of my life to study mankind by studying myself. I’ve learned that we hold on to hate and resentment because they feel good. They can give us a sense of power and control. God’s Holy Spirit working in me quietly taught me that that kind of power is an illusion. It only works to pull us down. Hate and resentment only hurt the one who holds on to them. They don’t cause the one hated to lose any sleep.

There’s a popular parable that says each of us has two dogs fighting inside us, one good; one evil. The one that wins is the one that we feed the most. I know feeding the one that holds hate in us feels good. I also know that road holds no inner peace. It only leads to destruction. Satan uses those chinks in Gods armor to constantly pull us away from God. I know that forgiveness is the only way to let it go. It feeds the good dog in us. Forgiveness is a part of love and real love flows from God like rivers of living water.

The truth is we are all connected. We all come from the same ancestors and they came from God. I wonder at people who question whether God even exists. I think they must live in a kind of prison. I want to shout to them from the rooftops that I KNOW God exists because of what He has done in me! I know that God is Love. He doesn’t exist ‘out there’ in some intellectual realm. He can live in us, if we make room for Him by allowing His light to drive out the darkness in us.

Because God’s love is dynamic we can’t just stop at forgiveness. We are called on to go further. We are called on to love our enemies. I knew that my heart had truly been healed when I was able to pray for those who hurt me and mean it.

I used to think of miracles, like calling down fire from heaven to destroy ones enemies, as the greatest proofs of Gods power to mankind. I came to realize that what He wrought in me by teaching me to forgive was a greater miracle. I don’t need any greater proof of His love…