Who is God?

Our time here is swift. Maybe twenty years we are students, then forty years we are rock stars on a stage, then we are old, but still going, because we are also young. Sixty, maybe? Seventy? Eighty? Ninety? How many years is that in the light of eternity? 

Even if we get one hundred years, forever is long. It goes on and on and on. There is no end. And so it is with man. We change, but we don't cease to be.

What is God? Something else. Who is God? Someone else. He is knowable. Like you know me or I know you, we can know Him too.

Isaiah 9:6 says he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Counselor: He hears you. Really hears you. Hears you and cares what you say. Do you hear Him? He is calling your name.

Mighty: Our world looks for strength. It is full of heroes, some with capes, others in suits. They are not really mighty, even those who seem to be.

Father: Protector. Leader. Do you know God does this?

Peace: Prince is a small word. It is tiny. A man. Royal. Royalty is usually a scam. I mean, who is more special than another? What is royal blood? It is just like yours or mine, really, but one of their ancestors did something big and now, well, now what? But peace. That's something. God is peace. 

Can you take a deep breath and know peace? Can you rest in it? It is real, this peace that He can give you. It is fulfillment and honor. It is a bright light on a dark day. It is refreshing and regenerating. It is a song to deaf ears, the sight of a mountain in the distance to the blind. It is my heart beating again, then again, and it is the path changing right before my eyes and leading me another way instead. It is life, abundantly. Do you know this? Do you know God? He longs for you to know Him.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Another Star Trek Quote

"Risk. Risk is our business!"

Captain Kirk

Fools

But God has chosen 

the foolish things 

of the world to 

confound the wise; 

and God has chosen 

the weak things 

of the world 

to confound 

the things 

which are mighty...

1 Corinthians 1:27

Baptism

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you 

and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his 

countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

It's too Late

He stood in the open field for a long time, an eternity and forever and then one more day. It was too late for him. He was spent, used up, a shell of a man, not even a man. He was indignity wrapped desperately in the world around him, fearfully and wonderfully made, but he did not know it. 

The tiger stood with him, telling him the truth. It was the color of a Tiger Lily. Black spots, vibrant fire-orange, not like a tiger should be, just as the man was not like a man 

should be. 

They watched the sun set and rise. They saw the dawn, but neither moved toward it or accepted its warmth. The tiger, because he was standing guard; the man because he didn't know how. 

"I am broken," he said, repeating over and over that he, 

"Got it." He was ingrained with a lie. It held him, whispered to him, froze him. He thought he was one thing, but he was another. The tiger growled and spoke and recited the truth, but the man would not hear him. He would not believe even a talking tiger.

No longer will you be called Forsaken...

Isaiah 62:4

So they stood, facing the sun, staring at it. One saw nothing. One saw hope. Then the sun moved. It reached into the man, deeply, to the spot in his heart he had hidden away, the protected place. The sun leaned in and whispered. The whisper was like a shout. A proclamation. "You," the sun said, "Are mine."

And suddenly the lie would no longer do. The man wanted to know what that meant.

Song

Jesus,

Jesus,

You make the darkness tremble.

Beautiful

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives,

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

and the day of vengeance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

They shall build up the ancient ruins;

they shall raise up the former devastations;

they shall repair the ruined cities,

the devastations of many generations.

Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;

foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;

but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;

they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;

you shall eat the wealth of the nations,

and in their glory you shall boast.

Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; 

instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;

therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;

they shall have everlasting joy.

For I the Lord love justice;

I hate robbery and wrong;

I will faithfully give them their recompense,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

Their offspring shall be known among the nations,

and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;

all who see them shall acknowledge them,

that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

my soul shall exult in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to sprout up before all the nations.

"What comes into our minds 

when we think about God is 

the most important thing about us."

A.W. Tozer

The Knowledge of the Holy

Here's How...

I am small...

With my whole heart I cry to the Lord

And He hears me.

"Whisper,"

He says.

He tells me,

"Your whisper will be as a scream."

When I say, "This is too heavy."

He lifts it and tosses it like a pebble.

When I say, "I can't see."

He says, "Look."

And I see it now.

"How?" 

I ask.

"If I told you that,

You would know everything

And you would never be afraid again," He says, 

"Here's how..."

Once Saved, Always Saved?

Sometimes Christian denominations have different ways of talking about or describing salvation, so I will only talk about my thoughts. I was baptized Lutheran as a baby, and later as an adult in a Messianic Jewish congregation, and have also attended services at other churches, including Wesleyan, Episcopalian, Catholic, Methodist, and a few more. Non-denominational churches are a good fit for me. Though there is something in each that I love, that's Jesus. One kind of church I have not been to, but want to, is Orthodox. I have a photo of a Russian Orthodox church on my fridge. It's blue, white, and gold and surrounded by snow. I have a similar picture I post on my blog. 

To me, to be saved means changed, transformed, once was that, now is this, freed, forgiven, doesn't even smell like smoke. There was a definite Before and After when I got saved. I went forward at a church. I was that and now I am this. I struggle to find words to describe the purity I felt wash over me. Jesus is real. A real being. Meeting Him changed me internally.

Like many things in life, maybe it can best be expressed by Star Trek. In episode 23 of season 3, the original 1960's series, "All Our Yesterdays," Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a planet whose sun is about to go supernova. They soon discover the inhabitants have safely escaped into the past. They meet a caretaker who wants to transform them with a machine called the Atavachron so they, too, can escape. But before any transforming can take place, Kirk goes one way and Spock and Bones go another. In the distant past of the planet's history, they discover that the people they meet have been transformed and cannot be changed back, and without transformation it is deadly for our heroes to stay where they are. With only seconds remaining they...well, I'll let you watch it.

The point is, once changed they cannot change back. I feel like that. It was a transformation for me. I am not the same. There is no back.

I think someone can reject the things of God or just simply not be interested in Him anymore, even no longer believe. But God is faithful. Even when we're not. Didn't He call us before we knew Him? 

Psalm 139:7-10

Where shall I go from your Spirit? 
Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! 
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

If I take the wings of the morning and 
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 

even there your hand shall lead me, 
and your right hand shall hold me.

John 6:39

And this is the will of him who sent me, 
that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, 
but raise them up at the last day.

John 18:7-9

So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” 
And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 
 Jesus answered, 
“I told you that I am he. 
So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 
 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 
“Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”

Romans 8:38

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 

neither angels nor demons, 

neither the present nor the future, 

nor any powers, neither height nor depth, 

nor anything else in all creation, 

will be able to separate us from the love of God 

that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But this one is my favorite:

John 10:28

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, 
and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

I know, I know. 
Old, bearded, wise men of the ages have argued this. They studied. They read.  
Maybe they would disagree with ordinary me.  
They thought deep, important thoughts. 


But what do you think? 
 

Bible

The bible is like no other book. Reading it changes us. Speaking it changes things. The words in it are life. 
I don't know how. But I have seen it.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.