mjmjack's GOD~1

G O D

The God of my understanding

Thank you for joining me. This is the first of my bible study pages. I started reading the bible in January of 2003, I read it straight through from begining to end. I felt a need to find My Lord and I knew that He had done something for me that I had never thought anyone could do: He took away my obsession to use drugs. He did it when I was at my lowest and in the most needy of states, what we in the programs call our bottom. But I thought that I knew Him already.

Let me start with what I knew about God before:

He was an angry God!
He was going to destroy the world!
He was going to punish the sinners!
He hated sinners!
He hated me!

Okay, that's really how I felt. I looked at it this way: Why bother? The end is near. I'm doomed anyway. But one day I had a Spiritual Awakening in an alley of all places and I suddenly needed to know the real story about who is God? So, I went to the book filled with information about God: the bible. I started at the begining and read through to the end. It took some time and there were alot of things in there that I did not understand. I then started doing these "casting lots" studies: I would flip to a page and just start reading. This method seemed to always put me at a place where there was something I needed to hear. To me, this was a way to let Someone Else direct me to where I needed to be. I may not have heard what I was brought there to hear but it was a start.

Here are a few things that jumped out at me right away:

ZECHARIAH 9:12
"Return to your Fortress, O prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you."
MICAH 6:8
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
PSALMS 147:11
"The Lord delights in those that fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love."
1CORINTHIANS 13:4-7
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevers."

This does not sound like the god I mentioned above, I could find no anger in these words. Zechariah 9:12 said to me that I was in deed welcome to come back-more than that, I was to receive "twice as much" for my return. I was already back and those words of welcome were more than I had had before. I had twice as much already. This is also told in Luke as Jesus talks about the lost sheep and the lost coin.

LUKE 15:4-7
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."
LUKE 15:8-10
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says,'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

It again comes clear if we read Luke 15:11 that we are very important to our Creator and He would have us back with Him no matter what we have done. We are His children, there is no way that we can think that He does not care for us. If we choose to leave and go our own way, we are lost to Him. If we choose to come back to Him we are found and there is much rejoicing because we are no longer lost. And do you think that it was just chance that we are to find our way back? I know that it wasn't in my case. I was brought to a place where I had to make to choice. Oh yea, I was reluctant. I decided that I was going to find out who God is first before I was going to come to Him. I found that God was True. He was Honest. And most importantly, He was loving. He cared about me.

In the Psalms 147:11 verse, I hear that I am to always respect God and to place my hope in His "unfailing love". He delights in this. Even when I thought all that stuff before about God, I still had respect for Him. But the first and foremost way of showing respect is to follow His commands. Do what He asks of you. That brings me to Micah 6:8, here He tells me what He requires of me. It's a simple task, don't you think? Because He sees into our hearts, He knows what it is that we want to do. I want to be a good man. I want to be a trustworthy man. I want to be closer to my Lord. He sees this and will work to help me get there. I can trust in Him. He is God, He is Love. That brings me to 1Corinthians 13:4-7. God is Love. Do you believe this? If so, place "God" in every line where it says love. You will have to do this where it uses the word "it" referring to love as well. Does that sound like God to you? Just check out what Jesus said in John.

JOHN 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
JOHN 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

He went to great lengths to salvage me though I was totally going the wrong way. Because He is Just, we could not be worthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. He made it so that we could! He made the perfect sin offerring so we could be with Him in Heaven. He saved the world. But what of those that do not accept this offer? I am not the one you need to talk to about that. You see, I'm not going to refuse this gift and still hope that I can get into the Kingdom. I accept this gift and by doing so do my best to change my life, have a complete turn-around, repent of the life I was living.

But as I read I found out how much of a sinner I was. I was seeing that I was not worthy of the Love of God. I had broke just about all of the Ten Commandments, if not in action then in my heart. I have not killed anyone but I wanted to and have even tried to when I was in prison. That means I am guilty. I have got down on my knees to drugs, money, admiration of people, for all intents I have placed other gods before Him. I've done it all. How could I look to God without hiding my eyes in shame? Well, the bible has this all worked out in all of the other commandments that went with the Ten we hear about. How to make sacrafices for sin, to make peace with God for the things we have done. I don't know about you but I'm not going to be killing any lambs. So here I am again, lost. But I kept reading. And the bible kept talking about something Wonderful that was going to happen that would save the world.

I think of one of my friends that told me that I should not read the bible when I told her that I was looking for God. She said that I would only find that angry, smiting, vengeful god. But I did not listen. I knew that I was going to do this. I knew that there was going to be an effort to prevent me from finding God. You see, as I knew always that God is, I also knew that the evil one is. I hope that this does not turn you away but this is about what I believe and this is what I know to be true. Get ready for this now, I also know that there are angels on both sides, dark and light.

The first angel that I read about is in Genesis. They are all through the bible, from the beginning to the last book, Revelation. I have not ever seen an angel, but I do take His word for it that they do exist. I believe that angels are "true spirits". They are as God in that they are not temporal. I read that there are armies of them...on both sides. One of the things that makes it hard for me to tell the "whens" of events in heaven is that God being omipresent sees the past, present, and future as if it is now. But when the bible speaks of fallen angels, I feel that this is something that has happened because I do believe that we as men live in enemy territory. Occupied, may be a better word. We are always being pulled towards the other side.

I'm in one of those Anonymous programs, and I hear all the time how it is suggested that you use the group as your "higher power" until you find one that fits you. I know of people that do not have any "higher power" but the group and that is what has kept them sober for sometimes years. I'm not going to have anyone or any group of people as my temporary god. I know what God is. I've heard of people using objects as their "higher power". That won't work for me. I don't know of an object that cannot be destroyed by the hands of men. My God is the Creator of man, objects, heavens and earth. He is Love. He is also Justice. Something that I hear left out when folks in the program meetings talk about the god they have made for themselves. "My god finds me parking spaces." You'd be surprised at how many times I've heard that said at meetings. As well as, "I don't care if your god is a door knob, as long as you get one." A person needs to think hard when looking for God. A person or persons is not a god-don't even be drawn in to that. How can something created be the Creator? That is what God is, isn't it? Father of all things? I care a great deal about my home group, but they are not a god. They are often confused, sometimes misled, and even overpowered by controlling personalities at times. They are people. Damaged people to be sure, I know, I am one of them for this very reason. Look at what Paul has to say about making your own god:

2TIMOTHY 4:3-4
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

Are you looking for God? Have you been scarred by maybe childhood experiences with religion? Did someone tell you that following God means you are religious? I don't know that I have a religion. I do know that I am Christian-a follower of Christ. The church I am a part of is Baptist, I have no idea what it is to be a Baptist. I do know that the pastor there teaches from the bible, and we worship God there. I'm not going to sign any membership forms, pledging to any group of men unless they are only there to serve and praise the Lord. But I am a part of the Body of Christ. Is this making any sense to you?

I was baptised in a river in Idaho in the presence of over 600 people-but most importantly my sister was able to witness this arrival. For me it meant something, for the 600 it meant something, and for my sister it meant something. I don't know that it meant the same thing for all of us. If you feel that the Catholic Church is the place for you, I can't see the wrong in that. You are there to worship God. I know that there are so many sects out there, I get what I need from the church that I am a part of. I was going there for worship and bible study for over a month before I even found out it was Baptist. As long as they don't start showing me how to operate weapons and talk about spiking the cool-ade, we're going to be just fine. You have got to find God, and the easy part is that He is looking for you. Just like the One looking for the lost sheep or the lost coin, He wants you with Him. If you look for Him, you will find Him.

MATTHEW 7:7-11
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For anyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!"
JOHN 1:10-13
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all that received Him, to those that believed in His Name, He gave the right to become Children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but Born of God."
1PETER 1:20-21 "He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God."

It's not rocket science. At least it wasn't for me. I know in my heart what God is, I just had to make my way to Him. I will always be on this path: Walking closer to my Lord. It is something that many program people may say is impossible to really say, because it involves the future. But I see it as a committment. I will always fall short of what I could or should do or say but I will always keep trying to be better. "progress not perfection", there does that make my fellow programmers feel better? It is not about being, as much as it is about working to be, at least that is the way it is for me. I only know of One that was ever perfect, I ain't Him. But if I could just reflect Him in my walk through life, so others might see Him and seek Him, this would be too great to imagine.

What is the Word? The Word that I am speaking of is the Word of God. When God made the world, he spoke and these things were created. Jesus is the Word. "and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him." "Through Him all things were made;" God speaks-that's Jesus. The bible, though many say that it is over translated and missing pieces or is altered, is the Word of God. Where would the bible lead you? Do you feel the bible would draw you away from God? If you are even the slightest unsure of the answer, read it and find out for yourself. There are lots of versions of the bible to make reading easy, but some do seem to change the importance of some of the text I have found. You find what is best for you, remembering that He is looking for you as one of His lost sheep. If you really are wanting to find Him, you will! All you have to do is knock.

2CORINTHIANS 5:17-19
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation."

We have a new start, where here on earth would you really have that? They may say it but you know that they are just waiting for you to prove to be the same as you have always been. But God gives us a fresh start, a chance to live again-this time from the Spirit of Truth. The New Covenent we have in Jesus saves us from the law, something we all break. It was the only way we could be made clean in God's eyes, the shedding of the blood of the Lamb-perfect without blemish. Will you accept this gift? Don't you think that you are worth saving? God feels that you are. Why else would He have done all of this to His Son to save you? Are the things you've done too bad that you cannot be saved? If I can be saved, so can you. You are going to just have to trust me on this.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. John 1:1-5

LINKS

-Isaiah's Ranch
-Royal Family Kids Camps
- Living The Solution

PLEASE VISIT MY STUDY PAGES
Finding A Church/Your Choice/Chosen?

Jesus' Commands/A Warning/Temptation And The Holy Spirit

The Devil

Is Jesus God?/Demons Say So/The Miracles/Jesus Says So

Easter Morning/Two Travelers/Doubting Thomas/The Pentecost

Do We Choose?/Are We Chosen?/Many Used By God/Paul's Calling

Whose World?/Thy Kingdom Come

Can We Be Sure Of Our Salvation?

Bringing The Good News To Others

Fulfillment Of The Law And Prophets