Life has been good, but satan has been attacking me lately. I have been in a lot of pain, unable to sleep, and surrounded by satan’s lies. God is not going to heal you… You will never walk normal… God has not forgiven your past…God is not listening to your prayers..(etc)
When Satan lies , we must go find the truth : GOD’s WORD. And I have been soaking it up. I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and random passages the New Testament. I am in 2 Kings now and it is incredible, but I have much more to go!
God is so powerful, faithful, and funny.
The Old Testament has had me laughing and crying. It also had me yelling at the Israelites for being so dumb and continuing to sin (until I realize, I do that too and God is so patient with me). I couldn’t put it down. From Elijah outrunning the chariots, to God speaking through a donkey, to the rape of Tamar, to the earth swallowing up people, to Jephthah having to sacrifice his only daughter, to the crazy battles, to punching the prophets, to Jael hammering the king with a tent peg, to Samson setting fire to the Philistine camp with 300 foxes. Ha. These stories are amazing. You should read them (again if you have already). It shows how God fights for his people, doesn’t allow injustice, does miracles, heals people and much more. God has been showing me to look for not just what God does, but WHO HE IS. What is God’s character? I’m going to give you some of the amazing things He has shown me through His word (sorry it is long, but it the verses are so good!! Some are convicting and some are just beautiful truths we should cling to).
GOD IS:
FAITHFUL: Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel
was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true (Joshua 21:45).
FORGIVING: Then He says, ‘I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds. And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices (Hebrews 10:16-17).
SOVEREIGN: “Look now; I myself am He! There is no other god but Me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one can be rescued from my powerful hand (Deuteronomy 32:39).
So the king paid no attention to the people. This turn of events was the will of the Lord, for it fulfilled the Lord’s message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh (I Kings 12:15).
VICTORIOUS: For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you the victory (Deuteronomy 20:4).
(Also, just read all the battle stories of God doing amazing things like making the Philistine army kill each other and walls fall down on the other enemies of Israel)
LOVING: We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them (I John 4:16).
O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of Heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion (I kings 8:23).
OMNIPOTENT: For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of Lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God (Deuteronomy 10:17).
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:1-3).
FUNNY: (this is when the philistines captured the ark of God) They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again. But the next morning the same thing happened- Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of the body was left intact.(God continued to send plagues on the philistines until they returned the Ark of God, God will not be likened to anyone else). (I Samuel 5).
PERFECT: He is the rock; His deeds are perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is (Deuteronomy 32:4).
JUST: Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, He will grant justice to them quickly” (Luke 18).
(King Ahab had been so wicked and led Israel into sin, so it was prophesied that he would die in the next war. So he went to war) “An Aramaen soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the troop of Israelites and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor…the blood from his wound ran down to the floor of his chariot, and as evening arrive, he died” (I Kings 22:34-35).
JEALOUS: You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you (Exodus 34:14).
HOLY: (the Lord said) You must be holy because I am holy (Leviticus 19:2)
INTIMATE: “Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am their God. I am the one who brought them out of Egypt so I could live among them. I am the Lord their God” (Exodus 29:45).
We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people (I Thessalonians 1:4).
FATHER: God sent Jesus to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out “Abba, father.” Now, you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir (Gal 4:5-7).
INCOMPREHENSIBLE: Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory (Romans 9:20-23).
I want to encourage you all to read God’s word. Look for His Character, his attributes, on each page.Get to know Him more.
