Is God All About Controlling People?

The way people talk, you think God was just looking for someone having fun and yelling, "Cut that out, obey my commandments, and just behave nicely." Is that our Heavenly Father?

The Bible actually says:
"The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to everyone, he shows compassion on his creation." Psalm 145:8-9.

MERCY
Mercy is an action. It is the act of showing kindness when it is in your power to do harm. We are all in The Lord's power. He is our creator, and he sustains our existence. He has the power to command storms, earthquakes, nations, and the movement of stars.

We are at His mercy since we have done things that offend him. We are in His power since he is the Holy Sinless One, and He has the right to demand that standard on his creation.

COMPASSION
God is full of compassion; compassion is to act out of mercy but with affection and sympathy. It understands the suffering of the one who is receiving mercy. His understanding of our struggles and hurts leads Him to compassion.

SLOW TO ANGER
Many have the hardest time with this. Those who think God does not get angry are wrong- He does get angry, just very slowly. Our Heavenly Father is slow to anger because He is merciful, compassionate, and loving.

Because He is slow to anger does not mean it won't come someday. Do not gamble on the patience of the Lord.

RICH IN LOVE
To be rich is to have a lot of something by comparison. God has a love that is so abundant over what we have for one another that it is beyond measure. His love is rich because...

     * He loves all people who ever lived or will live.
     * He loves those who do not return His love.
     * He loves those who hate him.
     * He loves the ugliest and evil person.
     * He loves no matter who we are or what we have done.
     * He loves the people who have done nothing to deserve love.

He loves so much that he "gave his only son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

GOOD TO EVERYONE
He does good for all people. He gives us air to breathe and food to eat. He gives us shelter and family, and love. He gives the blessings we enjoy every day. The sunshine, spring flowers, and winter snows are his ways of being good to us and more blessings than we could ever list.

He is worth knowing and obeying. If you want to know more about coming to Him who is merciful, compassionate, patient, and love, then click on this link.

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and encouraging.  For more like this, see the most popular post in the sidebar, or use the search box above.

(c) Adron 7/31/13

Why Does God Want Us To Fear Him?

The "fear of the Lord" sounds contradictory when we are also told to love the Lord our God.* Fear implies a dreadful or a bad thing. Doesn't God want us to be close to him not fearful of him?

"How abundant are the good things which you have stored up for those who fear you, that you bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you." Psalm 31:19. NIV.

People say, "Well, to fear God is just to say you respect him." Clearly, if you fear God you will obey Him and that will avoid judgment and sin. Obeying God also leads to blessing since His commands are good for us. That is a fine starting point but there is more.

ABOUT FEAR
Do not confuse fear with fearful, there is a difference.

Fearful is the unreasoning fear that overpowers our thoughts, and like a phobia cripples us, keeping us from experiencing confidence and success.

Fear is good in that we assess powers that could harm us and we respond wisely. This basic fear keeps us alive and safe, this is not the emotional form of fear but is an intellectual fear based on knowledge.

KNOWING HIM
God must be known in truth since He is truth and anything else is idolatry. Knowing God leads to several responses; one of those responses is fear because of His great power and authority. We become aware that He is powerful, vast, and that He commands angles, stars, and time. Understanding these truths about God cause an intelligent person to realize such power deserves a reverent and respectful fear.

God is also holy, good, merciful, kind, and forgiving; these things are true of God too. Knowing these truths about God cause us to draw near to Him in love.

It is not a contradiction- it is a relationship and relationships are always complicated. God wants a relationship with us. A relationship established on truth, our emotions of love follow our knowledge, not lead it.

GOODNESS
When we know God we learn by continual experience that he is good. He is storing up goodness and that suggests planning and intent. It implies that He has goodness in such abundance that the best way to deliver such massive goodness is in installments. His goodness is so vast we must grow into it and become prepared to receive such goodness.

REFUGE
A refuge is normally a place, like a fortress or country. We take refuge in the Lord not as a place but as with the ultimate person. We might find refuge in \Him for a crisis, but God being Ultimate is the ultimate refuge from the judgment for our sins.

*Deuteronomy 6:5.

(c)Adron Dozat

Why Can We Count on God? Psalm 86:5

Many things can be said of God. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, beyond time, but can we say God is right for me?

"You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you." Psalm 86:5, NIV. 

FORGIVENESS
God is ready to forgive those things that stand between us and him. Forgiveness is an act of the will and a decision. It is a response based on character, but with God forgiveness is something more. As one who is holy and righteous forgiveness would conflict with his holiness and righteousness; but he is good and sent his son to pay for the things that offend him so forgiveness is available without compromise.

GOOD
Good is a value judgment that reflects a standard, but God's goodness is more. To say God is good is to say that there is no evil in him. God's goodness is not temporary and does not change or else it would not be truly good. We can count on God because he is good.

LOVE
To say God abounds in love is different than the emotional love we feel as human beings. Often our love is self-centered and needs gratification. God's love may have passion but it is a choice of favoring mankind. God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for our sins, see Romans 5:8.

LORD
The title given to God in this verse of the Bible is not merely poetic, it is the Lord. Lord means one who rules and has authority. It is a great encouragement to think that the one who commands the sun, moon, and stars is also forgiving and good.

ABOUNDING
Abounding is something that is overabundant, it means there is so much of something that it breaks the boundaries. God's love goes beyond all the boundaries; it is measureless and is limitless. Nothing we can say or do will use it up, nothing we feel or experience can diminish it, there is as much love for us in our worst days as our brightest.

WAITING
God's love is waiting. It is unloving to force yourself on someone- in fact, it is arrogant. God is waiting for us to call to him. To call on the Lord may be a prayer; it may be a desperate cry of anguish, it may be faith, but it must be from the heart and it must be in truth.

We can count on him, he is the God we need; he is waiting, let us call on him.

To find out more about calling on the Lord see my other blog follow this link: click here.

(c) Adron 3/1/13

Where Is The Good In Life. Psalm 16:2

Where is the good in our lives? Where does it come from and how do we get more?

"I said to the Lord, "You are my Lord; apart form you I have no good thing.'" Psalm 16:2, NIV.

These words come from an ancient psalm written by David.

GOOD
David acknowledges the good he had rather than seeking good.  We should acknowledge the good in our lives.  We have many good things in our world, at this time in human history.  We have advances in technology, and science to give safety, health, comfort, personal meaning, and peace in our communities.  Even the poorest person has material possessions undreamed of by earlier generations. Of course, God is the All-powerful Author of all good things, and it is by His will these good things are permitted to exist.  Therefore, we should be grateful to the Lord for all these blessings we currently have, and we should give Him thanks.

GOD
The author was so wrapped up with God that any good he had or knew was one and the same with God.  He was saying, "God is good- if something is truly good it must come from God."  When he says, "Apart from you I have no good thing," he does more than just acknowledges that God is in all, but God and good are one.  Often we see the good in our lives as being the result of our own sweat, creativity, and work, but it ultimately is from God.  The good things we have are God's expressions of Himself to us.

THE PSALMIST
He felt that if The Lord left him there would be noting good left.  He clings to God saying, "You are my Lord." He is not passive but takes ownership of his relationship with a commitment to God; he will not be separate from God.

We should see the good things in our lives as from The Almighty, and the best thing we can do is to be close to Him.  We should say like the psalmist, "I do not want to be apart from God."

We want good things, a good job, a good marriage, a good home, a good reputation, good health, and a good bank account, etc. but we need to find those things in and through God. It begins by  saying, "You are my Lord."

(c)Adron Dozat

Why Should We Praise God? Psalm 107:8

God has been good to men, many see it and many do not.  It makes the heart of the poet cry out saying...

"Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men." Psalm 107:8, KJV.

THE POET'S LONGING
The first three words, "Oh that men..." expresses a longing for mankind to do what they ought.  It is the voice of one who longs for it to be so and wonders why that it is not happening.  To read these words you hear the psalmist saying, "If only men..."   He is aware of something that is being missed by the multitudes of men.  If we would do this thing one wonders what would happen.

TO PRAISE GOD
To praise God is the right thing to do and is the best response to our blessings.  Here we are faced first with God himself being the blessing; it says, "praise the Lord for his goodness." In other words praise God for God.  Of all the right things there is to do there is none more right than this, to praise God for his goodness.

GOD IS GOOD
That God is good is something we should be thankful for because what if God were not good?  If God were anything else he would be wicked.  As the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God who has all authority to command the entire universe to be anything but good would be too horrible to imagine. We should thank God that he is good.

GOD DOES WONDERS
God is good and is doing good, he is not idle as if being good alone was enough; indeed, if God was idle he would not be good.  God lavishes His goodness on us; He gives us the air we breathe, food we eat, the world we live in, the abilities and talents we possess.  God not only spares us from immediate punishment for our sins but sent his One And Only Son to pay for our sins by dying in our stead on the cross.

GOD'S WORKS
Work is effort, costly, and involves risk; this is true of God's works for us.  He is active on our behalf: he is planning, watching, and seeing to it that the goal is met.  We might think that our lives are a chance but God is working in every detail.  This alone is a marvel, but more amazing is that he is doing wonderful works on our behalf and for our good.

To praise God is not to manipulate or ingratiate ourselves to God, but to do what is right. When someone does something nice to you then you express gratitude, why do we treat our Creator less well than strangers?

(c) Adron 7/18/12

Can We Be Thankful for Everything? Ephesians 5:20

Can we give thanks for everything? It is easy to give thanks for the good, the happy circumstances, or prosperity. When we feel happy and grateful for blessings we find giving thanks to be natural, but when bad things happen can we still give thanks?

"Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 5:20. NIV.

EXCEPTIONAL

Always giving thanks. Ephesians 5:20

This verse uses both words, always and everything, and that combination teaches an attitude of thankfulness that is unnatural to the common person.  To be thankful in all circumstances, good and bad, is more than character or emotion- it is a conviction.  The words always and everything includes bad events and sorrows.

Thankfulness in itself is a pleasant quality in a person, but thankfulness directed to God the Father is saintly. To focus thankfulness to the author of the circumstances in our lives we raise the affairs of daily circumstances and life's milestones to divine interest and holy activity.

GOD
Since God is sovereign He has right, power, and will to exercises His control over circumstances in the world he created, therefore the events of our lives are in his control. Since God is good the events of our lives ought to be good. The finite mind of man cannot comprehend the infinite mind of an all-knowing and all-wise God, so it must by faith in the truth that He is good that we know He must have a good purpose in the seemingly bad events of our lives.

People may see evil as evidence that God is weak, indifferent, or capricious. These views ignore the gospel of redemption where God came in bodily form as Jesus to die on the cross and buy redemption for mankind. His death seemed the act of evil yet the purposes of God were for this very tragedy to be the basis of salvation by His substitution of himself as payment for our sins. God has given us free will where we may sin or choose Him.

GOOD
Knowing that God is good we must believe that whatever happens in our lives is motivated by His goodness; even if we do not understand the circumstances we do understand (even only if just slightly) the goodness of God, so we can be thankful for everything- the good and painful.  We must hold on to the view that God is good; this is the basis of noble thinking. To be thankful for everything becomes the basis of noble living. To give thanks is the basis of noble doing.

We must always give thanks.  There is little that creatures created by God can give to God. Strangely he wants is our thanks which we are able to give.

(c)Adron Dozat

How Can I find Out What God Is Like? Psalm 34:8

Do you ever wonder what God is like? How do you find out- really find out?

“Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8 NIV.

TASTE
God invites us to taste Him, to get to know Him.
To taste something requires several things.
     • Willingness.
     • Decision to put it in your mouth.
     • An action to actually put it in your mouth.
     • Openness to set aside previous opinions.
     • Conclusion, “is the taste good or bad?”
     • Someone else can’t do it for you.

A "taste” is a sample, not a big gallop. It is a start.

How can you sample God? Read His Word The Bible. Find people who are living for God and get acquainted or attend their worship. Spend time in prayer.

SEE
Tasting leads to seeing, to see something is to look with perception. You have to be open, and willing to let God change your ideas.

GOOD
When we taste we find that God is "good." The Psalmist could have said God is righteous, God is holy, or God is all powerful; and these things are true, but he wrote, God is good, because it is the foundation of all the other truths about God. If God is not good He is not holy or just or all powerful.

Because God is good He does what is good. We may not understand His actions in our lives but we can know they are motivated by good.

TAKE REFUGE
The goodness of God draws our hurting hearts and painful lives until we find He is our refuge.

We must "take" refuge in Him, the choice is ours, He does not force us to come to Him, He invites us.

GOD'S INVITATION
God makes an invitation. He calls us to know Him, and if He calls us to know Him then He must be knowable and willing to be known.

Maybe it is time to "taste and see;" maybe it is time to reexamine the God of the Bible and the message of his Son. If that is the case see my other blog about the gospel.

A prayer

Dear God, You alone are good,
You say, "come and be welcomed."
I am prepared to be open.
I am ready to give You a chance.
Please conquer my prejudice
About the kind of God you are.
Show me the true You.
I am willing to make the effort.
I ask that I may know You
As God who is truly good.
May I know Your blessing.
May I find You as my refuge.
Thank you Father.
Amen

(c) Adron