Virtue

The next quality is one that is considered to be out-of-date now, but I don’t think it is out-of-date with the Lord. You can let me know what you think, ok? The definition of virtue is this: general moral excellence, right thinking and action, merit, value and can be specific moral excellence. I like that, excellence at anything is terrific but in moral matters it is especially noteworthy. Why? Because we are living in a time period when morals mean next to nothing, god moral conduct makes you a nerd or worse. Sexual morality is definitely considered out of date and old fashioned. Immorality starts very young these days, ad young as 8 or 9 years of age. And being promiscuous is commonplace. Multiple partners are something to brag about which of course leads to the spread of sexual diseases, unwanted multiple pregnancies, abortions, baby murders and many other things I have not listed…yet. I personally believe this is one of satans most prized weapons! And why? because it strikes at the heart of one of God’s most prized institutions, the family. In my career teaching inmates, it took awhile for me to adjust to the very idea that many, even most of my men had multiple children by multiple women, and generally were not married to any of them. This was new to me when I started 35 years ago, and frankly, I was shocked at first. Then as I began to listen and think about their situations growing up I realized that’s all they knew. That’s what they saw around them plus in many cases there was incest in their homes and among their extended family and friends. So immoral behavior to them, was the norm. I guess the biggest shock came when I understood most of them were raised “in the church” and among others including the pastors who had no problem with immoral behavior. In some areas a man would have one woman, usually married her, who would bear his children and keep his home and others for “other” reasons. Shocked doesn’t really tell the story, but I knew I had to get help from the Lord for myself spiritually/emotionally to be able to deal with these unfamiliar traits. Without understanding from the Lord, as well as instruction I could not cope, let alone teach and counsel. Of course He was faithful, and showed me “the way” for which I will be eternally grateful. It is possible to move forward in an area where every fiber of your being cries…cries because it has become clear just how great God was/is to bring men like these, raised in such circumstances, to Himself and enable them to grasp at an older age what being moral is all about and why God values it so highly. Marriage vows come into play here also…one man, one woman, for life is what I always taught them, knowing most of them had already transgressed that one. And so would come about conversations concerning the why’s, what’s such as God’s forgiveness but at the same time expecting purity of living in the future. That one was difficult to swallow also. But, I recognized I am not God’s policewoman, my job is to tell, and let the Holy Spirit take it from there.

Proverbs 31 tells of the virtuous woman…and she is highly commended. A good concordance can lead you to many characteristics of virtue but let me stress to you that it is an extremely important character quality to God…it has so many outworkings, but I think one of the primary ones is godliness, holy living! An unknown quality today, and even in the church, it is misunderstood. We have gotten so far away from godly living we do not even recognize when we are transgressing the holiness of God. Language, drinking, disfiguring our bodies, allowing our children and young people to hang out with and date unsaved individuals, dressing inappropriately for a Christian…I could go on and on but I won’t, I think you get the picture. God wants us to be different…different from the world in all these areas. Our “different” may bring criticism to us but it will bring glory to God. Remember, He is a jealous God and wants you to be like HIm…”be holy, for I am holy…” Lev 20:7-8.

MORE LATER

VIRTUE...
The next quality is one that is considered to be out-of-date now, but I don’t think it is out-of-date with the Lord. You can let me know what you think, ok? The definition of virtue is this: general moral excellence, right thinking and action, merit, value and can be specific moral excellence. I like that, excellence at anything is terrific but in moral matters it is especially noteworthy. Why? Because we are living in a time period when morals mean next to nothing, god moral conduct makes you a nerd or worse. Sexual morality is definitely considered out of date and old fashioned. Immorality starts very young these days, ad young as 8 or 9 years of age. And being promiscuous is commonplace. Multiple partners are something to brag about which of course leads to the spread of sexual diseases, unwanted multiple pregnancies, abortions, baby murders and many other things I have not listed…yet. I personally believe this is one of satans most prized weapons! And why? because it strikes at the heart of one of God’s most prized institutions, the family. In my career teaching inmates, it took awhile for me to adjust to the very idea that many, even most of my men had multiple children by multiple women, and generally were not married to any of them. This was new to me when I started 35 years ago, and frankly, I was shocked at first. Then as I began to listen and think about their situations growing up I realized that’s all they knew. That’s what they saw around them plus in many cases there was incest in their homes and among their extended family and friends. So immoral behavior to them, was the norm. I guess the biggest shock came when I understood most of them were raised “in the church” and among others including the pastors who had no problem with immoral behavior. In some areas a man would have one woman, usually married her, who would bear his children and keep his home and others for “other” reasons. Shocked doesn’t really tell the story, but I knew I had to get help from the Lord for myself spiritually/emotionally to be able to deal with these unfamiliar traits. Without understanding from the Lord, as well as instruction I could not cope, let alone teach and counsel. Of course He was faithful, and showed me “the way” for which I will be eternally grateful. It is possible to move forward in an area where every fiber of your being cries…cries because it has become clear just how great God was/is to bring men like these, raised in such circumstances, to Himself and enable them to grasp at an older age what being moral is all about and why God values it so highly. Marriage vows come into play here also…one man, one woman, for life is what I always taught them, knowing most of them had already transgressed that one. And so would come about conversations concerning the why’s, what’s such as God’s forgiveness but at the same time expecting purity of living in the future. That one was difficult to swallow also. But, I recognized I am not God’s policewoman, my job is to tell, and let the Holy Spirit take it from there.

Proverbs 31 tells of the virtuous woman…and she is highly commended. A good concordance can lead you to many characteristics of virtue but let me stress to you that it is an extremely important character quality to God…it has so many outworkings, but I think one of the primary ones is godliness, holy living! An unknown quality today, and even in the church, it is misunderstood. We have gotten so far away from godly living we do not even recognize when we are transgressing the holiness of God. Language, drinking, disfiguring our bodies, allowing our children and young people to hang out with and date unsaved individuals, dressing inappropriately for a Christian…I could go on and on but I won’t, I think you get the picture. God wants us to be different…different from the world in all these areas. Our “different” may bring criticism to us but it will bring glory to God. Remember, He is a jealous God and wants you to be like HIm…”be holy, for I am holy…” Lev 20:7-8.

MORE LATER

CHARACTER

Character…just what is it? My understanding is that character is who/what you really are, and the part of you that you take with you into eternity…the only thing we take with us. That being true, what an awesome responsibility that puts on us to be the very best we can be.

After 35 years of counseling, and teaching inmates the wonderful course on Healing for Damaged Emotions, I have to say I have truly learned a bushel about what we are by nature and what we can and should become as we allow the Spirit of God to sanctify us. The “old man” is naturally bent toward being and doing wrong, to be about anything that is anti-God, basically to live for self and satisfy the flesh. A good list of “fleshy” character read Galatians 5:19-21. That portion of Scripture is talking about living and acting “after the flesh.”  It goes on to urge us to walk “after the Spirit.” Then follows a list of Godly character qualities that will be evident in the life of a Spirit-led believer. That’s what I’d like to blog about for a few days.

In Galatians 5, the first quality mentioned is love. We all have knowledge of what “love” means, to some degree or another. Most of we believers know the Bible uses three words for love, eros, phileo, and agape. the meanings are pretty evident, eros is physical even erotic love, phileo is brotherly love one to another and agape is unconditional love, such as God has for us. As simply as possible those are the definitions. Eros does not really need much commentary, it speaks to physical or sensual love, pretty self-explanatory. Phileo is alittle more complex, but basically it is the type of love we should have for brothers and sisters in Christ, close friends, extended family members, etc. Agape is more complex and covers a good bit more emotion that the others. Romans says that God loved us before we loved Him. In most cases we were not even thinking about Him and yet He was watching over us, caring for us and keeping us safe and even alive. It is not in our nature to love unconditionally…the closest thing to it is possibly a mothers love, but even that because of our fallen nature can be conditional. We just naturally attach conditions to our love. In my experience with inmates, it is the one that  causes the worst damage to emotional growth because it sets up a series of re-actions to the “feeling” of not measuring up. Most of my men related that they spent most of their lives up to that point trying to please parents, or one parent. Usually it was dad, and in many if not most cases, the emotion they felt toward dad, they also felt toward God…it is an acknowledged fact psychologically that we all get our initial view of God through our relationship with parents/parent. Many of us have a difficult time trusting God…if we examine ourselves, we find we did not always trust that parent, and that emotion goes back to unconditional love…”if you don’t please me, I will withhold my love.” Consequently, it takes along time of walking with the Lord to learn just how trustworthy He is. Let me add, parents do not usually set out to handicap their children, it is a function of the fall, our old nature. Unless we are mature believers and have developed a good Spirit-controlled character, our parenting will be imperfect at best. More mature believing parents, controlled by the Holy Spirit will convey a much more complete loving attitude personally and a more loving and affirming home life. I once heard it said, “the best gift a father can give his children is to unconditionally love their mother.” I believe that to be a tremendous statement, and very, very true.

MORE NEXT TIME.

NAMES OF GOD, (con’t)

Isn’t it interesting that to show all of the wonderful character qualities of God we have all these names to think about??? Here are a few more:

JEHOVAH-SHALOM…means “The Lord our Peace, “ or “Peace Giving One,” as used in these verses: “I am the God who gives you peace,” and in Jude, “You comfort my soul.” Gideon was the first to call God Jehovah Shalom in Judges 6:11. It indicates giving peace in the midst of conflict. The well known word Shalom translates to the concept of “total peace and well being, “ Phil 4:7. ”SAFETY IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF ADVERSITY OR CONFLICT BUT THE PRESENCE OF GOD!”

JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU, “The Lord our righteousness…”I am the God who teaches you justice,” Matt 5:13-16 and Jer 23:1-6.

JEHOVAH-JIREH, “The Lord our provider. “  One of the most commonly used and known names of God, one we are pretty much all familiar with. Here are some verse that speak about that name: Gen 22:13-14; Jn 3:16; 1:29; Rev 5:6-12; Rom 8:28; Phil 1:6; Job 3:14; I Thess 5:14; Phil 4:8; II Tim 1:7; Matt 6:25; Phil 4:13; Prov 18:24; and Matt 28:20.

JEHOVAH-ROPHE, ”The God who heals, “ Ex 15:26 speaks about the God who heals all there diseases.

JEHOVAH-NISSI, “in Ex 17:8-16 I am the God who leads you to victory,” also in I Tim 2:8.

JEHOVAH-M’KADDESH, “The Lord who sanctifies,” Ex 17:31:13, God requires holiness but had to provide it Himself…Heb 10:10; Jn 17; Lev 20:7-8; I Pet 2:5-9

JEHOVAH-SABBOATH, “The Lord of Hosts, “ I Sam 1-3; 17:51, speaks of warfare, service and power. This name of God is used in the Prophets, in Jeremiah alone, 80 times, in Israel’s times od great needs. “Host” refers to heavenly bodies, hosts god can marshall at any time because: “The battle isn’t yours, it’s the Lords.”

EL-ROI, “The God who sees.” Gen 16; Psa 121:3-8. Hagar was Sara’s maid, an Egyptian who had her own Egyptian household gods, stoney-faced idols that had never comforted her. Here was Abrahams God, the Living God, seeing her and intervening in her life. There was a rebuke, for Hagar had forgotten her place, that she was a slave girl. Her bad attitude toward her mistress is what caused the problem, and El-Roi told her to go back and submit to her mistress. In another illustration, Jacob in Gen 31:25, lamenting his 20 years in his uncle’s boot camp tells Uncle Laban “except El Roi  God, who has seen all my afflictions, that God who knows my 20 years of trouble, rebuke you, you would have sent me away empty handed. El Roi has seen my affliction and taken my part.”  Yet again, Moses in Ex 3:4-9 is told by El-Roi that He has seen the affliction of His people and has come to deliver them. It seemed to Moses, after 40 years of sheep-tending in Midian that God had forgotten His people. MANY TIMES WE FEEL FORGOTTEN, BUT EL-ROI SEES! We get one more look at El-Roi in Revelation, where John sees Him in glory with “eyes like a flame of fire, eyes that pierce and penetrate, from whom nothing is hidden.”

EPHESUS…”I know thy works, labor and patience…”

SMYRNA…” I know thy works, tribulations and poverty. “

PERGAMOS…”I know they works, and where thou dwellest and that thou holdest fast My Name and hast not denied thy faith.”

THYATIRA…” I know they works, and love and service and faith and patience.

For me as an older, single woman, it is a great comfort to know that I have a Heavenly Father that “sees” me, wherever I am, whatever I am doing, wherever I am going, and He is watching over me.

Names of God, con’t

EL SHADDAI…One of the most beautiful names of God,and my personal favorite is “El Shaddai.” It means “almighty, all-sufficient One…”but it also means “father-mother God.” I read years ago that this meaning of the name shows that God had to create two humans to reveal His full character, a male and a female. I don’t know absolutely if that is true or not but in many ways it makes sense. Adam and Eve were created very different on purpose. They were to compliment each other and perhaps…to fully show God as He truly and completely is. It is an interesting thought to ponder isn’t it?

God uses these frail vessels of ours to accomplish His work and will chasten if if we can bear more fruit through discipline, Hebrews 12:1-6 makes this clear. A good illustration is the story of Ruth. Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons went to Moab to escape famine and and “forget” God. Moab was a land cursed by God because of the incest of Noah and a daughter. The daughter had a child by her father, named him Moab and was cursed forever by God. Noah had another daughter who also had an incestuous relationship with her father, producing a child named Ammon. He too was cursed by God for the same reason, and his descendants, the Ammonites carried the curse. Elimelech died,  the two two sons married Moabite women. The two sons also died so Naomi decided to return to her people. Daughter-in-law Ruth went with Naomi because she loved her and her God. Ruth met and married an Israelite named Boaz whose story concerning Ruth is a picture of Christ as our Kinsman-Redeemer. It is a truly beautiful story, full of solid biblical truth…read it for yourself! Ruth is only one of four women named in the lineage of Christ. It clearly illustrates god’s dealing with individuals…Israelites were forbidden marriage to Moabites but because of Ruth’s heart attitude, God showed her mercy. All of this shows that God is loving, merciful and has so many wonderful character qualities two humans were needed to full explain Him.

JEHOVAH-SHAMM’AH…meaning, “the Lord is there,” “I am God who is there,” the present One, the One who delights to be where His people are.

The great desire of the heart of God is to dwell in the midst of His people. This is not just words, it is an integral part of the character of God. He could not fellowship with His creation until He made man…made in His own image, (1) one who could understand God (2) one who could talk with God (3) one who could fellowship with God (4) one who would desire to fellowship with the Creator who made him. God wanted someone who could walk and talk with Him, be appreciated and learn to appreciate God. He made man to be WITH Him!!!! In Gen 3, it was God who sought Adam and Eve. God always does the seeking, Jesus said so in John 6:44.v God does the seeking, man runs and hides. Enoch “walked with God”…that’s it! Abraham was “a friend of God.” Can He say that about you?  Abram had to break all ties and relationships in order to truly develop a strong reliance on God and learn to walk with Him. Jehovah-Sham’mah wants that kind of relationship with us very, very much. A friend shares your hopes, dreams, desires, problems and cares. Between true friends there is agape love! Love where you seek the will of God for the object loved. The tragedy of human history is that there are too few humans willing to be that intimate with God. Jehovah Sham’mah reaches out today wanting us to come, walk and talk with Him, but we are too busy. To Israel God revealed Himself visibly ad the “Shakinah Glory.” We read about this through the Old Testament. In the New Testament He is known to us as the Holy Spirit.

God is awesome, no doubt about it. The more you understand, the more you want to understand…and the more you love Him!

Names of God, con’t

The names of God are a rich treasure, meant for us to “dig” out! Most young Christians are not too interested in digging deep… that comes from knowing the Lord for awhile an wanting “more.” The first two or three blogs gave you the pieces you can refer to get the most out of these names, most of which are combinations. Many begin with “el” which means “strong one.” You’ll see as we go along.

EL-OLAM…eternal, everlasting, indefinite in time, forever and ever, hidden secrets. In Joshua 24, Joshua told the people about their forefathers serving other gods in “olden times.” Olam means way back when…The Hebrews searched for a word to use for the idea of eternity, hidden time, secret and yet unrevealed things. Bottom line?…”From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God…from Olam to Olam, Thou art God!”

EL-ELYON…”The Most High God”…Possessor of All, The Strongest, The Distributor of Blessing. In Genesis 14, we find the first mention of El-Elyon, as Abraham meets Melchizedek, King of Salem, who uses this name: El-Elyon, Most High GOD, Possessor of Heaven an Earth. There are two special characteristics of El-Elyon: (1) He faints not, He never wearies, He lives forever, He never ages. (2) We cannot search His understanding, we cannot reason Him out. We can only know “El Elyon” as He chooses to reveal Himself to us. Remember, “eye hath not seen,nor ear heard”…1 Cor 2. In the New Testament we have ‘SECRETS”…(1) The Church revealed at last, (2) the Rapture, (3) parabolic teaching. Down through the ages we have mysteries and secrets revealed to us as El Elyon sees fit!

When life is a mystery to you, and life is taking a course you do not understand, remember El Elyon, Who does not always show us the way when we think He should…He is sufficient and His names alone should be reassuring to us that He is in control and is working things around to His glory and our good.

GOD’S SUFFICIENCY COMES IN OUR EXTREMITY!!!!

Names of God, con’t

ADONAI…Any study of the names of God is a real adventure into his true character, which we shall see as we discuss the names themselves and the meaning behind each one. He Himself revealed and gave the writers these names so we could better understand Him. We will see revealed for us His Divine Attributes and all the richness of His personal character, the very character we are destined to “put on” and become. God makes very clear in His Word what He is like, He gives us specific illustrations and stories of His dealings with men made in His image. By this, we can know He is a trustworthy God and if all else fails around us, He CANNOT!

The meaning of Adonai is Lord, Master, Sovereign…and refers to God and His relationship to us as our Master. Jewish history and especially during the time of the Romans, tells us the story of the “bondservant.” If a slave serves his time according to Levitical law, and is happy with his relationship with the master, he can tell the master he will become his bondservant, and work for him for the rest of his life for no pay, but the master will take care of him as he has in the past. The master will then take him to a wooden doorpost and put a hole in his ear and a gold earring through it to tell the world that this man is “free” and has chosen to belong to his master. It is a relationship of love and devotion. It is born out of loving respect, and obedience is given heartily. In return for the obedient service, the servant expects and receives direction, supervision, an provision. In Exodus, Moses argued with the Lord about going back to Egypt, but the Lord prevailed in His love and Moses called Him ADONAI, signifying that he understood and received the commission. Disobedience was out of the question. In Joshua 5 we read that Joshua encountered ADONAI and fell on his face! The master has the right to expect his needs to be met.

Studying the character of God is like examining a fine diamond. The various hues and points are all beautiful but when you put them together, you see a jewel so fine it has great value to the one to whom it belongs. So it is with our God!

JEHOVAH…REVIEW, this is His most used name, it signifies redemption and covenant-keeping…it is a very holy name. Remember back in Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned and hid from god? Who did the searching? God did, He sought the sinner and so it is until this day…if God does not draw us to Himself, we would not come! John 6:44. As redeemer, Jehovah revealed His holiness and His just demand for righteousness on the part of His creature. Then…he hastened to display his love for us by providing the sacrifice that covered sin with perfect blood. He did it all…He even knew before the foundation of the world what was going to happen, the Triune God declared the plan among themselves and proceeded with creation. Proof????  Where did your immune system come from? Think about it…you were born with it, right? Guess what, Adam and Eve were CREATED with it, because God knew they would need it after sin entered the world! I think that is awesome! Thanks to my son Pastor Bill for that fact, preached in  message at his church last month. Now salvation is prerequisite to full appreciation of the blessing God and His names bring to our lives. Until we become part of God’s family by accepting and acknowledging His plan of salvation, we do not have the Holy Spirit to teach and enlighten us to these wonderful character qualities of the Triune God. He is a wonderful God and Father!!!!