What is God Like

What is your God like?

How big is your God? Can He do anything? The image we have of God is central to our faith and Christian life. We need to have a clear understanding of our concept of God. The way we think about God shapes our whole life. We may have many wrong concepts of God which must be cleared away before we can really know the God of the Bible. Many of our concepts of God come to us from our past before we were a Christian. Our thinking of God must be changed if we want to be followers of the true and living God.

I enjoy reading about new discoveries in science. People are just finding out what God did thousands of years ago at the beginning of our universe. Sometimes their conclusions are wrong but they often tell us many wonderful things about our universe. Genesis 1:1 - 3 tells us that our God created not just this world but the whole universe. Have you seen recent photos of parts of the universe. They are awesome. People do not know how many stars God created in the universe. They can only estimate but those estimates tell us that there are between 10 to the power of 22 to 10 to the power of 24 stars in the Universe. (1 with 22 zeros after it 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to 24 zeros behind it) To understand how many stars there are, if every single person of the 6 Billion people in the world today counted 3 stars per second all day long for their whole lifetime, we still could not count all the stars in the universe. This is only an estimate of how may there are based on the closest galaxies, but obviously not all galaxies are the same some are bigger. Many honest scientists who used to claim that everything happened with a big bang realize that their theory is no longer true. Scientists are still discovering new sets of stars. God must have had a lot of fun creating all those stars. That is the big picture of creation.

On the other hand, God created human life. Now that man is studying the human body, they are discovering such detail which destroys the theory of evolution. There are about ten to the 14th power" (that's 100 trillion) cells in the human body. 100,000,000,000,000. Inside each cell in your body is a nucleus. Among other complicated things, inside that nucleus are chromosomes. Inside the 46 chromosomes (23 pair) are genes. The 24,500 different genes are attached to chromosomes like beads on a chain. nside each gene is the complicated chemical structure we call DNA. In the chromosomes of each cell are about 6 billion DNA ladders. Maybe you are not interested in science but this information tells us that it is impossible to have our cells have evolved by chance. God must have thought carefully before he started our wonderful creation.

The question that many people have is, “If God is so powerful to be able to create the universe and the complex human body, why is the world in such a mess?” If He can do anything, why doesn’t He just change the world instantly? Many people have given up their faith in God because they could not reconcile the fact that God allows evil to grow. Some years ago there were some theologians in the United States and Europe who had a very solemn service in which they officially declared that God was dead. For some of us, our God is not dead but He is not very alive either.

Right from the beginning God gave people a choice. They could follow and obey Him or they could choose to disobey Him. Genesis 2:15 - 17 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

When we follow and obey God we will receive his blessings but when we disobey Him we can expect His punishment. The promise of blessing is found in Deuteronomy 28:1, 2 & 29:9 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 9 Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do.
God’s curse follows in Deuteronomy 28:15 & 20 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him.

Although Genesis 1:27, 28 tells us that God created man in His Image, Man has been trying to create a god with his own imagination. People like to create their own God, but it is God who has created them. God has tried to show who He is but most people do not pay attention. Romans 1:20-22 says “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools “ People who have not taken the time to look at the universe are without excuse. Everyone should be able to see God in the world around them if they take the time to think for themselves.

How powerful is your God? What is the greatest thing that you think he can do? ( allow for response) One of the greatest things that I have seen God do is to change my life. That takes a lot of power! there's a lot that needs changing and I am quite stubborn. God is really powerful. He isn't something or someone to fool around with. We've got to realize that we have a mighty God able to do any miracle. Our brand of Christianity is often boring with no sense of excitement or understanding of the power of God.

We were at Fujigaoka a couple weeks ago. The group Sora was singing and the singer was in a lot of pain. She managed to get through the morning service but was still in pain when she was rehearsing for the afternoon concert and still in pain. A prayer was offered for her healing and after the concert when I checked with her she said that she had no pain and God had healed her.

We must realize that God is powerful and He can change us. Is God working and changing your live very dramatically? Sometimes I do not allow him to change my life very much either. If we allow God to change us He will work dynamically in our lives and transform us to have the same character as His Son Jesus.

Before God can do anything in our lives however, we must first give over every part of our life to Him. If there is any sin in our lives God cannot work the miracles through us that he would like us to experience. We need to be very sure our lives are cleansed and that we have a clear conscience. If we have sin in our lives God cannot work and he will not hear our prayers unless it is the prayer of confession. (Ps. 66:18 ) Let us ask God to show us any sin in our life that we need to confess and ask Him to purify us with his Holy Spirit. Then let us ask him to fill us with his Spirit and be willing vessels for His service. Do we want God to do mighty things in our lives? Jesus said to his disciples that we would be able to work even greater miracles than he did in his lifetime here on earth. (John 14:12)

Very few of us are living that kind of life! Why not? Have we offered all our life to Him? Romans 12:1,2 says that we are to be a living sacrifice blazing on the altar of the world burning up for Him. The promise of God's presence and power is clear. Maybe you did not realize or dream of what God could do through you. If you will allow him God will use you in a mighty way. Begin to pray for mighty things to happen and then God can begin to work through you. We usually pray for ourselves but God wants us to be praying for our family, the whole community and the country. We need a big vision.

As we consider the great power of God, think of it in this way. Some of you are hungry. What would it be like if you had not eaten for a week or several weeks and you see a beautiful banquet table laid out with all of your favorite food in large quantities. Because you have not had food for sometime you think that this is a mirage or dream so you do not go to the table to eat. You might think that it is a trick and you walk away to die. You might say that you would never do such a thing but if you do not feast at the spiritual table laid out with spiritual power, spiritual gifts and wonderful changes for your life you are just as foolish.

What is your God like? Is He the all powerful creator? Is He the loving Father? Is He a wonderful Saviour, one who forgives and pardons? Is your God getting a place ready for you in heaven? Do you want to experience his love and filling? Just ask Him to give you a vision of building His kingdom and He will give you the power to do it.

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. What doors will God open for you? I am excited to find out how God is going to use each one of you for His Kingdom sake. May God give you the strength to carry on.
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