I look forward to his posts; they are rarely anything less than excellent!
I pray that you will be as blessed by this wonderful exhortation as I've been.
Perhaps you might even consider friending Glenn on Facebook? I know you'll want to read more of his writings and you can! Check out his EMBASSY of PRAYER blog! Well, without further delay, let's get into Glenn's post!
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Let's keep our focus in the midst of massive psychological and spiritual warfare being engaged against the people at the moment.
Church folks, and others, often tell me what their god is like. They tell me, “My god doesn’t judge people”, or ,”My god wouldn’t send people to hell” etc. I tell them ,”You are right. Your god wouldn’t send people to hell because your god doesn’t exist. He/she/it is just a figment of your imagination. A vain hope and a frivolous faith in wishful thinking. (I usually say it nicer than that)
But for the benefit of those who invent gods instead of worshipping God; let me tell you of my God
My God is the living God, the Most High, the Holy One of Israel.
The god spoken of in many churches today is not my God. Their likeable god safe and unthreatening leaves me cold and unmoved. My God is not in heaven wringing his hands in fear that men won’t like Him. My God doesn’t bow to the carnal desires of carnal men. His goal is not to make us happy, prosperous, successful or influential. His goal is our holiness and a better resurrection.
My God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He is the God of the prophets, the apostles and the martyrs. The God of the Bible.
My God hates sin… and defines sin….and forgives sin; if we ask.
Whether men agree or disagree with His divine perspective worries Him not at all. He simply commands all men everywhere to repent. No amount of tantrums, no amount of politically correct preaching, no positive confessions and no arrogant decreeing or declaring will change what He has declared and decreed.
My God dwells in unapproachable light and then provides a way to approach. He lifts men by calling them to their knees. He deals with our low self-esteem by rebuking the pride behind such thoughts.
My God whispers and the universe trembles. Stars and planets and galaxies were flung into place by the power of just His word and He holds them in place without raising a sweat.
He is the light of the world; a blazing, blinding, fearful brightness to those who love darkness and a soft, warm, illuminating glow to those who want to see.
The hardest of hearts melt at His glance but no amount of religious posturing or prideful works can deceive Him.
My God scares me, He confronts me, He comforts me, He challenges me and He corrects me (sometimes all at once) and I love Him for it.
My God is incomprehensible in His majesty, wisdom and power…and yet He grants understanding.
My God brings His will to pass by using impossible circumstances and improbable people.
He is the Ancient of days whose mercies are new every morning.
He dwells in Heavenly glories and in the hearts of heaven birthed men.
He is fearsome and utters terrifying judgements and yet is full of compassion to the sons and daughters of dust.
He wrote His eternal and perfect word through the use of temporal and fallible men.
Angelic warriors bow in His presence and yet arrogant men blaspheme Him to His face and He holds His peace… for now, while He graciously offers amnesty to such rebels.
My God can not be outwitted, can not be manipulated, cannot be deceived and can not be sidetracked.
No excuse can stand in His presence.
To those who say, “show us yourself,” He says, “Behold the Lamb of God.”
When men say, “You don’t understand the pressures of earthly existence”, He shows us Immanuel on a Roman cross.
For those who say, “You don’t comprehend the subtleness of temptation,” He shows Jesus tempted in every way just as we are, and yet without sin.
There is no greater field of study than the Person and ways of God, no greater joy than reconciliation to He whom we’ve offended and no greater tragedy than to die without His pardon.
My God mocks proud mockers, laughs at the well thought out conspiracies of His enemies, and is an impenetrable shield for the most humble saint.
My God never goes back on His word, never changes His mind, is never blindsided and never wonders what to do next.
This God, my God, will take more than an eternity to fully know and yet can be known in an instant at the cry of a repentant heart.
He demonstrated His power in creation, His mercy in redemption, His perfect wisdom and justice in justification and His divine perseverance in sanctification.
He is complete in Himself and needs nought from any. He is separate from and greater than any part or all of His creation.
All will bow to my God one day, including the demons behind the false gods infesting our planet…and infecting the minds of so many religious observers.
His love is perfect, untainted by the fear of offending men. His holiness would fry me if He didn’t shade His glory in the Rock of Ages. His compassions are endless and His patience beyond the comprehension of humanity. No god can compare to Him, no idol can stand up to Him, no king can impress Him and no hypocrite can deceive Him.
He is True and Truth
He is loving and love.
He is good and goodness.
He is Judge and advocate for the defence.
All the praise that men lavish on that which is not God will wither on their lips when they stand in His Presence. On that day all praise will be directed to Him and to Him alone. All worship, adoration and glory will rise to His throne from His grateful friends… as well as from His doomed and despairing enemies.
The triune God may mystify, yet this perplexity, when governed with the Holy Spirit’s humility, brings a heavenly tranquility. We can not get our minds around Him but that is great comfort to His children for He is exceedingly, abundantly above all we can think.
My God is not in all things as some wrongly declare. He is above all things, beyond all things and greater than all things. He uses all things for His purpose, even the wrongful acts of wicked men and fallen angels.
There are not enough words in all the languages of all the tribes of all the nations to adequately describe my God. There are not enough books in all the world to recount all His wondrous deeds. There is not enough gold in all the mountains of all the earth to buy His favour.
You may speak of your god if you so desire. You may with distracted voice tell of your god. But I and my brethren yawn at the invented gods of men for we have known the God of the Ages in whom there is no shadow of turning. The Ancient of Days who calls on all to kiss His Son lest He be angry and we perish in the way. I would not exchange my God for a thousand of your puny drab deities.
And to top it all off my God in Christ died for me…and You. He was raised; raised to life, raised to heaven and raised to the highest place of authority and now you can abandon your weak, powerless and humdrum idols and joyfully bow your knee to the greatest authority in the universe.
You may say it sounds as if I’m boasting, and I guess I am, for He Himself said:
“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches but let him who boasts boast in this, that he knows Me, that I am the LORD exercising loving-kindness, judgement and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight”, says YHWH. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
My prayer for those who hold to weak and defiling idols is that they may know the God who lives… and brings life.
As simple and flesh-crushing as it is may sound, my God promises that all who will call upon the Name of Jesus will be rescued from His wrath to come.
Note from James: Excellent, wasn't it?
For something similar in tone to this exhortation check out the following:
SHOW ME by James Fire and
WARRIOR's CREED by Greg Reid.
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