Do You Know These 32 Facts About God?
Knowing and embracing facts about God:
Strengthens our heart.
Gives understanding and peace to our minds.
And keeps us focused on spiritual things.
So I believe all the Lord’s children benefit from these absolutes that remind our hearts and minds who God is and what God does.
Facts To Know About God
(1.) The One true God. Oh, there are other gods. But there’s no other god like our God. “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9b (ESV)
(2.) Living. Jeremiah compares man-made idols to the living God. “But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God.” Jeremiah 10:10 (ESV) How sad and foolish when we bow to idols without breath or believe in gods who are dead.
(3.) Creator. Genesis 1:1 tells us in the beginning God created…. God existed first. Then He created everything else, all of creation, and humans in His image.
(4.) Holy. The Blue Letter Bible shares, “God is holy means there is no trace of evil in his character. Only God is holy.” Further, “There is no one holy like the LORD.” 1 Samuel 2:2a (ESV)
(5.) Sovereign. God rules as the supreme authority, doing what pleases Him (Psalm 115:3), His kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19).
(6.) In control. “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” Isaiah 14:27 (ESV)
(7.) Majestic. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:9 (ESV)
(8.) Almighty. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” Revelation 1:8 (ESV)
Absolutes That Make God, God
(9.) Love. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8 (ESV)
(10.) Judge. God judges righteously, tests hearts, repays evil, and holds vengeance. (Jeremiah 11:20)
(11.) Most high. In Psalm 83:18, Asaph petitions God not to be silent against enemies, “That they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.” (ESV)
(12.) Reigning King. The Lord reigns over all (Psalm 47:8), reigns forever (Exodus 15:18), and sits as King forever (Psalm 29:10).
(13.) Light. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5b (ESV)
(14.) Magnificent. Impressively beautiful, elaborate, or extravagant; striking (Google). “God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough. There are no boundaries to his greatness.” Psalm 145:3 (MSG)
Read More…January 26, 2023 at 8:30 am | Uncategorized
God’s Consuming Fire Over Modern Idolatry
Our God is the one true God, a consuming fire.
I stepped into the oversized paws and pulled the furry costume over my legs and inserted my arms.
An excited group of pre-schoolers gathered around me to meet Smokey Bear. My son, Caleb, three-years-old at the time, hugged one of my legs.
While I patted his head, he remained clueless Mom stood underneath Smokey’s fur, blue jeans, and forestry hat.
Smokey spent the last 75 years telling kids not to play with matches and how to prevent wildfires.
Although my bear-costume-wearing days ended, I still possess a healthy fear of fire.
Consuming Fire From Heaven
A favorite Bible story describes a showdown of epic proportions involving fire from heaven.
King Ahab reigned over Israel. Sent by the Lord, the prophet Elijah told Ahab he troubled all of Israel because he “abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals.” 1 Kings 18:18b (ESV, emphasis added)
Elijah called for all of Israel to gather at Mount Carmel along with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (verse 19).
Then, Elijah spoke on God’s behalf.
“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.’” 1 Kings 18:21-22 (ESV, emphasis added)
Now, for the showdown details.
The prophets of Baal and Elijah each prepared an altar with wood and a bull by cutting the animal in pieces—with no fire put to it. Instead, Elijah gave instructions to “call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” (verse 24, ESV, emphasis added)
Though the prophets of Baal began by preparing the altar and offering. And calling out to their god from morning until noon, there was no voice, and no one answered. (verse 26, ESV)
Calling Down Fire
Read More…January 19, 2023 at 8:30 am | Uncategorized
God Calls Us to Trust: He Does the Rest
Is trusting God difficult for you? Or, would you prefer to place your trust in yourself or others?
And have you ever wondered:
How will I get through this?
Where do I turn?
What are we going to do?
Several times in my life, it felt as if I were free-falling. Like an amusement park ride, the bottom fell out from under me.
Such as the times my husband or I lost a job, our livelihood. And when I miscarried our second baby and hoped to have another child. Also, when my father passed away. In all those cases, insecurity locked arms with me as my unwelcome companion.
Because I not only panicked about our financial situation with a job loss, but I also wondered: what do we do now?
Trusting God Will Bring Good
And honestly, I struggled to believe God would get us through this and bring about our good in some way. Even though my trust waned in the past, we had indeed made it through the same hardship before.
After the miscarriage, the Lord blessed us with another child. But, if I never carried another baby to full term, would my trust in God seem futile? When a loved one passes away instead of receiving a healing, is trusting God still possible?
While we may desire to place our full trust in God’s care, power, control, purpose, plan, and believe He has our best interest at heart, it’s not an easy thing. In fact, it’s super hard.
So is it possible to fully trust our heavenly Father, no matter our circumstances?
Oh, sure, I trust God when life is going along without a hitch. But what about when life isn’t good?
I’m realizing the Lord grows my faith and trust in Him more when life seems unknown than when things are going as planned.
Here’s what I’m learning.
Our Job is Trusting Instead of Worrying
Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes.
And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy-lifting.
Read More…January 12, 2023 at 8:31 am | Uncategorized
Good News About Love for a New Year
I’m not going to say, I have good news and bad news, since that’s not true.
But I am going to share good news and God news about love to remember all throughout this year. And it’s based on an extraordinary love story.
Last week we talked about the best hope for a new year. This week we look at love.
So, what is love?
Love is one of those loose and hard to define terms we overuse and misuse.
Instead of like, we use love for everything from possessions and food to our favorite sports teams and celebrities.
We love ice-cream, brands, songs, books, and our favorite movies.
News That’s Not New
Honestly, I use love to describe my affections for cinnamon rolls, pasta, Chai tea lattes, boots, Hallmark movies, and sunsets. But that’s only a few of my loves.
Still, we struggle to understand love—a feeling or an emotion?
In life’s hard moments, we may lose the loving feeling. For me, abandonment extinguished the emotion. Like when my dad vanished from my life for a few years.
Furthermore, culture woos us with a shallow love from people, things, and false ideas and religions.
Sometimes love fades when hearts break. My heart broke after friendships dissolved and family members died including a baby in utero. I lost hope in love.
Good, Good News
Read More…January 5, 2023 at 8:30 am | Uncategorized