What Have We Learned?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.”So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:1-21 (and the rest)
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19 NIV
For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord's people. 1 Corinthians 14:23 NIV
God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. Hebrews 6:10 NIV
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24

In the beginning, God created all that was ever created and without Him, nothing was created. He created--took nothing and made something out of it. Man "invents" using what already is to change it into something else. God is not a man that He should lie, Man lies. God is not the author of confusion and chaos--Man is. God is not unjust--Man is fickle and justice is not equal for all when man makes decisions. All of God's promises are, "Yes and Amen." Man's promises waffle betwixt and between roller coaster emotions and constantly changing societal acceptances.

There is a difference between the God of Heaven and the god of this world for the god of this world--the arch enemy of God-- has created nothing but chaos and confusion in the minds of the weak and gullible.

When we know how God functions--from the beginning to this very moment--we know without doubt that He would not "choose" absurdity over wisdom and knowledge. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."Proverbs 1:7  "Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you." Proverbs 4:5-8 NIV  God creates, Satan destroys!

Until the gullible cease to say, "God chose Trump to be president" or "God elected him," I will continue to dispute it with everything in me, according to The Word of God.

God--not human--has no need for those things humans involve themselves--like "elections." When the Children of Israel cried for a king, God allowed them to choose--though He spoke to prophet-Samuel and had Samuel anoint David--the people still had to choose. And when we look at the history of the kings who ruled--sometimes those choices were not good ones and the kings were evil and committed all sorts of debauchery and wickedness.

As stated before and is being stated by many--this futile rhetoric about God choosing Trump--is driving more people away from God and church than drawing them to God. God doesn't have a problem with us making mistakes, but when we don't learn from the mistake and keep perpetuating it, then that's a problem and God will allow us to wallow in the consequences of our choices.

Now, what have we learned?

Of All the gods, You Alone are God!

"Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God." (Psalm 86:8-10 NIV)

Up in the hills, deep into the trees,
On the altars of ignorance were burned,
Wood, animals, children, as stomachs turned,
Making idol sacrifices instead of bending knees,
Praying to the One True God, who does marvelous deeds.

From the beginning and still now, people exercise the inherent desire to worship something and when they find something they think works, that thing they will worship, forgetting that there is One God who created all things and without Him, nothing was created.

Before we had the means to explore and examine our environment, we attributed events to certain other "circumstances" giving credit to the sun god, the rain god, the fertility god, the garden god, the angry god, the happy god, the moon god, the good luck god, the bad luck god, the pretty god, the ugly god, the god of hair, the god of baldness, the god of the fat people, the god of the skinny people, the water gods, the fire gods--and I'm sure there are many more like "the lottery god" (dream books), but all of these gods are manifested into carved, shaped, molded things that are made by the hands of man. Every symbol and image that people use to worship and give some magical attribute-- (by way of explaining events) was made by man or machines in our times. Now, if we made the things, what makes us think the things we made are greater than we who made them?

The Psalmist understood that with all the carved statues of trees or monuments of stones and worshipped as gods that among all those gods, there was but One, who was the greatest--the One who did marvelous deeds--the One all nations would worship. And then--as now--they had a name for all the gods. When Paul was speaking before "the learned men" he referenced all the gods who were represented and the "unknown god." He explained to them who the unknown God was and why He was unknown to them.

Now, if the statues and monuments could have created themselves without the benefit of man's involvement--I'd say worship them. If they could create themselves there is a great likelihood they could actually help somebody. But there's the rub--they were made by people and then the people decided--what they made, had power.

Think about the things children make out of paper, Popsicle sticks and other materials and then allow their imaginations to soar--giving the things they made power. The things empowered their imagination, but they had no power of themselves.

Our God--our awesome God--who no one created since He has no beginning and definitely no end. He created the universe without any help from man--the sun shines during the day without man's help, the moon makes it's way to shine at night without man's help, the earth turns on its axis, without man's help, so why would we continue to believe that any "thing" made by the hands of man has any power?

Among the gods that people worship--their jobs, their spouses, their money, and some even their children, there is only one God who does great things and even though we are ridiculed about our belief in the "invisible God" it makes more sense to worship Him, than anything we make or manufacture to worship. Our God is the only self-existing God who needs no thing to prove His existence; He is the only wise God--the One who was wise enough to do all He has done without consulting any of us. He alone is worthy of our praise.

You alone are worthy, O God, of all our praise and adoration!

Knowing The Ways!

"For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish." (Psalm 1:6 NKJV)
When I rise and when I raise up,
When I sleep and when I fall tired,
When and why I laugh,
When and why I cry,
When and why I raise my hands in praise,
When and why I drop my head in guilt,
Whatever I do, say, see, or hear,
Whatever moves me--to love or doubt,
There is nothing I can do or think,
That He does not already know about.

He knows all about me and should
Since He is The One Who created me
And chose me before I was ever born,
Knew while I still a thought in my parents' minds,
One day, they would be gone, and I would be left behind.

But because of His love and the path He planned,
Even when I fell short, I could count on His Loving Hand,
Bringing me back where I belonged, so He could teach
Me all I needed about right and wrong so I could preach
His Word as He taught, and walk in His anointing, ordained
By His love, saved by His grace, kept by His mercy,
Forever grateful for His favor, unearned, but given,
Like wisdom and faith, without measure, my choice in choosing,
Following Him and allowing Him--to have me in using,
All He's given to promote, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Just like He knows about me, He knows about you, and you, and you! Hallelujah!

He Has Not Changed!

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:8 NLT)

Before time was measured--He was.
In the midst of time revolutions--He is.
At the end of time, as we know it--He will be!
He is our self-sufficient, all knowing,
Ever-present, Awesome God.

There has never been another like Him,
Nor will there ever be--one like Him.
Not one god--has ever created all that was created,
Not one god--can move mountains or create the seas.
Not one god--can love man like He does,
Not one god--can be merciful and forgiving,
Though man may worship many gods,
There is none like Our God.

Though some may think He exists in the imaginations of man,
They cannot refute--all of creation--and if imagined into existence,
Why cannot man sill imagine--things into existence, where nothing was?
He was not created by the hands of man,
Nor should He be worshipped with things man makes,
Those who know--worship Him in Spirit and in Truth,
Those who do not know--create symbols and images--
With the things that man has made and gives them power,
There is no power on earth like His
And there is no god who responds to the cries of man like He does.

Statues cannot respond to our pleas,
Holding beads or stones in prayer on our knees,
Will never accomplish what He can through
Our faith in Him--the only wise God!
He needed not man, but desired him to be,
The object of His affection, loved into life,
Guided along life's journey, and waiting for him
For all eternity to live with Him!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah to the God of Heaven
Who was before, is now and forever will be--
Our soon-coming King, taking us Home--
Our Awesome God!

Praise The Name of Jesus!

"Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven" (Psalm 148:13) .

Who is the "them" referenced in this statement? The them is everything and everyone mentioned in the previous verses--the stars, the heavens, the elements, the oceans, the earth, everything in the earth, on the earth, and everyone--young and old alike. In other words--all of God's creation should praise Him.

The birds sing their praises, the squirrels and I'm sure other animals praise Him; I just haven't had an opportunity to observe them all. The most amazing thing about animals is the fact that they do exactly what they were intended to do. The stars shine in the night, the sun provides warmth and light, the moon does what does, the clouds do their thing, the rain, snow, ice, all do what they were meant to do. Everything and every animal knows their role. What happened to us--the human beings--the higher order of intelligence--why can't we do what we're supposed to do?

Perhaps, for some--their intelligence deludes them into believing they are wiser than God. Perhaps, this is the reason they refute all belief in God. Perhaps.  Perhaps, human beings are not the higher order of intelligence; we just think we are.

But then there are some--who attempt to do just what we're supposed to do--love God and love others. We don't always do things right or perfectly, but our hearts are sincere and our desire is open before God. It is our openness to God that makes a difference between those who believe Him and those who don't. We who believe don't make excuses to not serve Him, we simply do it to the best of our ability. Those who do not believe use their unbelief to ignore Him and when we praise Him, they simply do not understand.

We were created to praise Him--to give Him all glory for it truly belongs to Him and Him alone. When we praise man and self more than God, we have created other gods. When we give credence to things rather than God, we have created other gods. Nothing made by the hands of man deserves our praise. For we cannot create anything we need in order to make anything--He has already created all that is created for our benefit, not our praise.

Lord Jesus, we give You all the praise for You are the only One worthy of it. We will praise You from the mountain tops to the valleys and raise our voices in praise of You until the stars and heavens rejoice with us in our praise to You. We will cause a movement in the oceans so strong with our praise that every deep thing in it will praise with us. No one like You, Lord! No one who could ever do the things that You do for those You love! No one can love us the way You do! No can provide for us the way You do! No one can heal us like You do! You are everything we need and You are more than enough!