What is God Like? Isaiah 6:1-3.

Can we know what God is like? We may guess by what we see around us or what we feel inside, but what can we really know? What if your guess about God wrong?

"In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying and they were calling to one another; "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty the whole earth is full of his glory." 

Isaiah 6; 1-3, NIV.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
The prophet had a vision of God and the angels surrounding him. Those angels were singing a song, which said "Holy, holy, holy."  The angles who observed God's acts for eternal ages would have witnessed his love, forgiveness, righteousness, justice, creativeness, power, and more- yet though they could have sung about more appealing character traits they sing of His holiness.

DEFINE HOLY:

Can We Know What God Is Like

"Holy" means more than we discuss here. It says someone or something is separated from everything else. Here, this tells us that God is so different from anything that we can think of that we will never comprehend him without his revelation. Holy also means clean, pure, uncontaminated, sinless, righteous, beautiful, and more.

THRICE HOLY:
The angels say "holy" three times. (To some this implies the trinity; a holy for the father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The threefold statement of holy is clear; it is the one thing you can know for sure. If they said holy only once it would be a trivial factoid, or twice it would suggest duality like the other gods of the day, four times it would suggest a square like completeness; but the three times is more powerful, there is no mistake that God is holy.  The triplet of Holy raises his holiness to the supreme. If you know only one thing about God it is that he is holy; everything God is and does is founded in his holiness. His love is holy, his power is holy, his wisdom is holy, etc.

HOLINESS SOLVES THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM:
His holiness is so significant that it separates God from everything else; therefore you can't compare him to anything else.  This creates a barrier, for how can sinful people know The Thrice Holy God? He could not allow our Sinfulness to contaminate his holiness. But a holy God would solve this problem, so since we can't reach up to him he came down to us in the person of his Son, Jesus, who while still being holy lived a perfect life and gave his life to perfectly pay for our sins therefore becoming the way to God, and the resurrection proves the sufficiency of Jesus to be the way to the Father.

©Adron 2/18/12

How Can You Tell If Someone Is From God 3 John 11

Our world is full of wickedness. We want to do good but how do we get away from the evil around us to be a positive influence?

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God, anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." 3 John: 11.

IS THIS A COMMAND FROM THE BIBLE?
It begins with the command, "Do not imitate..." A command is an imperative which must be followed. This command is simple, but we must still pay attention to it. Clearly, we can choose to "not do" evil and resolve to do "good;" we must not live reactionary lives where we act without weighing Gods opinion.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IMITATE?
To imitate is to reproduce the actions of another in yourself. A student learns how to play the piano by watching the teacher put their fingers here and there and moves them so; the student then repeats all those movements and creates the same sound. With practice, the teacher's actions become the students. It is the same when we imitate evil or imitate good, we become what we imitate. We must make doing good daily practice and avoid reproducing the actions that God does not approve of.

RESOLVE
There are thousands of opportunities to "imitate evil" every day, so there are thousands of opportunities to "do good." Opportunities like a saying a kind word, a smile, a gift, a donation, a minute spent in prayer, a hug, or a warm handshake, a little note, or a helping hand. We tend to slip into doing evil, but must resolve to do "good." It takes effort and concentration and awareness.

IS GOOD FROM GOD?
Only God is good, "Anyone who does what is good is from God." Evil is not true of God's people. We should pray for God to show us the good to do and look for it. We must not let our gaze rest on evil, but fill our vision with good- with God.

WARNING
The acid test is that "Anyone who does evil has not seen God." Do we make a habit of doing evil? If we do it maybe we have never come to God in faith in the saving work of his son on the cross, and our salvation is in doubt.

Resolved to take this verse to heart and really refuse to "do evil but what is good?"

To learn more about finding a personal relationship with God then follow this link to my other blog.\

(c)Adron Dozat 5/11/11

The Lord Was With Him, But Who Was He? 1 Chronicles 9:20

You might say someone is talented, smart, or attractive; but nothing beats the statement made about the ancient gatekeeper, Phinehas.

 "In earlier times Phinehas son of Eleazar was in charge of the gatekeepers, and the Lord was with him." 1 Chronicles 9:20. NIV.

What does the scripture mean when it says "The Lord was with him?" We know it means some blessing on Phinehas. Was the Lord like a companion to him? Was this ancient gatekeeper somehow more holy than the rest of us?

I AM WITH YOU
If a friend says "I am with you," it means he is supporting your cause or activity, or he agrees with your actions or ideas. If it gives courage and comfort to think our friends are with us, what if that friend is the Lord Almighty?

JUST PHINEAS
Phinehas was the chief doorkeeper, not a king or a prophet. It was a humble position in the community of the temple staff. He did not get to offer up sacrifices or prayers, he did not officiate any ceremonies or minister to the king, he was just a gatekeeper. In spite of the lowly position of gatekeeper Phinehas, son of Eleazar received the commendation that the Lord was with him.

GATEKEEPER
What is a "gatekeeper?" A gatekeeper did a lot of the menial tasks; such as cleaning up, locking doors, lighting lamps, sweeping floors, that is what today's gatekeepers do, we are ushers, nursery workers, building trustees, church janitors, and parking lot attendants. Even though our service is a meager one in the eyes of men it matters not to the Ruler of the Universe, He may still be with us.

GOD
Phineas must have been in tune with God. He must have had an ear to God's heartbeat, and meditated on God's laws and ways. No doubt he considered God his in decisions and made choices that were right by God's standard. He was careful to not do whatever offends God and thereby shut God out.

HUMBLE
Phineas stood outside the place of worship and held the door for others, yet he must have been inside in his heart. God does not come uninvited and Phineas maybe had a daily attitude of inviting God in. Perhaps opening the door for others to enter for worship was a model that he himself should have an open heart and invite God in. Perhaps in simple faith, Phineas just asked God to be with him.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have people say the Lord is with you?  May we all aspire to be like Phinehas.  Let's turn away from that which shut God out and keep open the door for the Lord to be with us.

(c)Adron Dozat 2/4/11

Modern Lessons From an Ancient Washing Ritual. Exodus 40: 30- 32.

I run to church without a thought about my spiritual attitude. I hurry through service to God without considering if I am soiled by the world or transgressions. The patriarchs did not approach God so casually.

“He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the alter and put water in it for washing, 31. and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. 32. They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the alter, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Exodus 40:30-32.

We have the same God but our generation has forgotten how holy God is. The patriarchs would wash “Whenever” they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar. There was no exception, they washed every time. They feared God.

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
They would wash when they entered “Tent of Meeting,” because it was a place of communion with God. They would wash before approaching “alter” because it was the place of service. Be it either worship or service they came cleansed. The washing was a reminder to lift up holy hands in service to God. It symbolized that they were cleansed spiritually by faith in the coming Messiah as we are saved by looking back in faith at the Messiah who died on the cross for us.

LAW OR GRACE/
Christians are not under Levitical law, but grace. The New Testament shows that the law was a teacher until it was fulfilled in Jesus. Aaron was anointed once as a priest, the washings did not add to the anointing but showed reverence to God. It is the same with the church- no act, ritual, or tradition will add more to God’s grace. These Old Testament verses remind us to approach and serve God with care and reverence, not with hands, or lives soiled by sin.

WHAT ABOUT US
Each day presents opportunities to do good to others, to serve God, and to commune with Him. Every little task may be done as an act of worship and service to God. We must serve and worship with clean hands and a clean standing before him. Since we step through a sinful world and our hands get dirty in the process, we should pause to reflect, confess, and put away the sins we pick up on the way before we come to the Lord's work or do any good deed in his name. Confession is not in an attempt to gain more grace but out of fear of the Lord.

They obeyed “As the Lord commanded.” They followed an external command but we should follow their heart example to show respect for God, and serve Him in holiness.

(c) Adron Dozat 3/16/10 

Did Jesus Really Mean I Must Give Up Everything to Follow Him? Luke 14:33.

God Loves You

Those “deny yourself” verses sound so demanding, but what did Jesus mean?

“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33 

BACKGROUND
Starting at verse 25 to the end of the chapter Jesus is saying we must count the cost.  He is stating a fact- that it does cost to follow him.

• The lure of wealth, status and possessions are so powerful that hardly anyone can have them and follow Jesus.
• Love of ourselves stands between us and our Lord.
• Relationships, romance, and marriage get in the way of following Jesus.
• Careers, goals, and dreams get in the way.
• Self-image, appearance, and fashion get in the way.
• Social status and pleasing friends get in the way.
• The list goes on and on.

We must be willing to give these things up if we want to follow Jesus.  It doesn't mean that we will have to but we must be willing to.

IT IS PERSONAL
It can be different considerations for one person than for another.  To one person giving up everything may mean emotional distance to possessions.  For another, it is saying, “I am only a steward of this stuff.”  For another, it may mean actually throwing things away, or sell them and give the money to the poor.  One answer does not fit all of us.  You could sell your car but have not given up status, dreams, or the desire to be loved.

The Christian life is a relationship with the Lord, not a set of rules. You may need to sell something today and tomorrow keep things and adopt a steward's attitude, and the next time may be different.  It does mean to be willing to take drastic steps.

The guiding principle is that if something is keeping you from following the Lord you must deal with it without mercy.  If wealth keeps you from following the Lord then choose poverty.  If popularity keeps you from being a disciple then choose disrepute.

REVOLVING DOOR OF CHOICES
You will forego one thing and another demands your affections.  You may censor a relationship and another pretty face pops up.  We drop hobbies and later start another.    We must to not get discouraged but renew our commitment to Jesus and give up things that get in the way.

RELATIONSHIP
You must be so sensitive to Jesus that we can tell when something is coming between him and you.  You will find blessing when you give up things for Christ, not only a cleaned out and a simpler life but you gain more of Jesus.  He is better than the treasure your paycheck can buy, better than the status, promotion or toy.  He is worth losing the things that perish.

If something keeps you from following Jesus pray about it and give it up.

To learn more about how to have a relationship with Jesus as savior see my other blog.

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(c) Adron