Reality #4 Part 6 God Reveals Himself, His Purposes, and His Ways
Isaiah 55:8-9
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."
God speaks to His people!
When He speaks, what does He reveal?
Throughout the Scriptures when God spoke, it was to reveal something about Himself, His purposes, or His ways. God's revelations are designed to bring you into a love relationship with Him.
When God speaks through the Holy Spirit to you, He is often revealing to you something about Himself. He is revealing His name, His nature or Character.
Genesis 17:1
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty."
Leviticus 19:1-2
"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
Malachi 3:6-7
"For I the LORD do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts."
John 6:51
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
God speaks when He wants to involve a person in His work. He reveals Himself in order to help the person respond in faith. The person can better respond to God's instructions when he believes God is who He says He is and when he believes God can do what He says He will do! God reveals Himself to increase faith that leads to action. You will need to listen attentively to what God reveals to you about Himself. This will be critical when you come to the crisis of belief.
1. You will have to believe God is who He says He is.
2. You will have to believe God can do what He says He will do.
3. You will have to adjust your thinking in light of this belief.
4. Trusting that God will demonstrate Himself to be who He says He is, you then obey Him.
5. When you obey, God does His work through you and demonstrates that He is who He says He is.
6. Then you will know God by experience.
7. You will know He is who He says He is.
When did Abram know God was almighty?
Well, he knew it in his mind as soon as God said it. But he came to know God by experience as God Almighty when God did something in his life that only God could do. When God gave Abraham (100 years old) and Sarah (90 years old) a son, Abraham knew God was God Almighty.
God reveals His Purposes
He does this so you will know what He plans to do! If you are to join Him, you need to know what God is about to do or what He is already doing. What you plan to do for God is not important. What He plans to do where you are is very important! God speaks with a purpose in mind.
Take a look back at the stories of Noah and Abram! God spoke to them Always with a purpose in mind! Look at David, the Judges, the Prophets, the Disciples and Paul! When God was about to do something, He took the initiative to come to His servants!
Amos 3:7
"For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."
He spoke to reveal His purposes and plans. Then He could involve them and accomplish His purposes through them.
Psalm 33:10-11
"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations."
Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."
Your plans and purposes must be God's plans and purposes or you will not experience God working through you.
Planning is a valuable tool, but it never can become a substitute for God. Your relationship with God is far more important to Him than any planning you can do. Our biggest problem with planning is that we plan and carry out things in our own wisdom that only God has a right to determine. We cannot know the when, or where, or how of God's will until He tells us.
God wants us to follow Him, not just some plan!
Planning is not all wrong. Just be very careful not to plan more than God intends for you to plan. Let God interrupt or redirect your plans anytime He wants! Remain in a close relationship with Him so you can always hear His voice when He wants to speak to you. I have found that the best planning meetings are prayer meetings where we spend time with our Father finding out what He is up to around us!
Even the casual or uninformed reader of the Bible can see that God's ways and plans are different from man's. God uses kingdom principles to accomplish kingdom purposes. God reveals His ways to us because they are the only way to accomplish His purposes. His goal always is to reveal Himself to people to draw them into a love relationship with Himself. His ways are redemptive. He acts in such a way to reveal Himself and His love. He does not simply wait around in order to help us achieve our goals for Him! He come to accomplish His own goals through us -- and in His own way.
Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not you thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD."
Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Our ways may seem good to us. We may even enjoy some moderate successes. But when we do the work of God in our own ways, we will never see the power of God in what we do. God reveals His ways because that is the only way to accomplish His purposes. When God accomplishes His purposes in His ways through us, people will come to know God. They will recognize that what has happened can only be explained by God. He will get glory to Himself!
Mark 6:30-44
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
"The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, 'This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.' But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said to him, 'Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?' And he said to them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go and see.' And when they had found out, they said, 'Five, and two fish.' Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men."
Man's way?
God's way!
God's purposes accomplished in His ways bring Him Glory! We must do kingdom work in kingdom ways.
Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, the he may teach us his ways."
Let us always go to the Lord and clarify what I am absolutely convinced He is saying to us. Then, we can proceed and watch to see how God affirms it! To do this we must make our love relationship with God all-important. God reveals His ways through His Word! Seek Him out!
In Christ,
David
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."
God speaks to His people!
When He speaks, what does He reveal?
Throughout the Scriptures when God spoke, it was to reveal something about Himself, His purposes, or His ways. God's revelations are designed to bring you into a love relationship with Him.
When God speaks through the Holy Spirit to you, He is often revealing to you something about Himself. He is revealing His name, His nature or Character.
Genesis 17:1
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty."
Leviticus 19:1-2
"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
Malachi 3:6-7
"For I the LORD do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts."
John 6:51
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
God speaks when He wants to involve a person in His work. He reveals Himself in order to help the person respond in faith. The person can better respond to God's instructions when he believes God is who He says He is and when he believes God can do what He says He will do! God reveals Himself to increase faith that leads to action. You will need to listen attentively to what God reveals to you about Himself. This will be critical when you come to the crisis of belief.
1. You will have to believe God is who He says He is.
2. You will have to believe God can do what He says He will do.
3. You will have to adjust your thinking in light of this belief.
4. Trusting that God will demonstrate Himself to be who He says He is, you then obey Him.
5. When you obey, God does His work through you and demonstrates that He is who He says He is.
6. Then you will know God by experience.
7. You will know He is who He says He is.
When did Abram know God was almighty?
Well, he knew it in his mind as soon as God said it. But he came to know God by experience as God Almighty when God did something in his life that only God could do. When God gave Abraham (100 years old) and Sarah (90 years old) a son, Abraham knew God was God Almighty.
God reveals His Purposes
He does this so you will know what He plans to do! If you are to join Him, you need to know what God is about to do or what He is already doing. What you plan to do for God is not important. What He plans to do where you are is very important! God speaks with a purpose in mind.
Take a look back at the stories of Noah and Abram! God spoke to them Always with a purpose in mind! Look at David, the Judges, the Prophets, the Disciples and Paul! When God was about to do something, He took the initiative to come to His servants!
Amos 3:7
"For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."
He spoke to reveal His purposes and plans. Then He could involve them and accomplish His purposes through them.
Psalm 33:10-11
"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations."
Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."
Your plans and purposes must be God's plans and purposes or you will not experience God working through you.
Planning is a valuable tool, but it never can become a substitute for God. Your relationship with God is far more important to Him than any planning you can do. Our biggest problem with planning is that we plan and carry out things in our own wisdom that only God has a right to determine. We cannot know the when, or where, or how of God's will until He tells us.
God wants us to follow Him, not just some plan!
Planning is not all wrong. Just be very careful not to plan more than God intends for you to plan. Let God interrupt or redirect your plans anytime He wants! Remain in a close relationship with Him so you can always hear His voice when He wants to speak to you. I have found that the best planning meetings are prayer meetings where we spend time with our Father finding out what He is up to around us!
Even the casual or uninformed reader of the Bible can see that God's ways and plans are different from man's. God uses kingdom principles to accomplish kingdom purposes. God reveals His ways to us because they are the only way to accomplish His purposes. His goal always is to reveal Himself to people to draw them into a love relationship with Himself. His ways are redemptive. He acts in such a way to reveal Himself and His love. He does not simply wait around in order to help us achieve our goals for Him! He come to accomplish His own goals through us -- and in His own way.
Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not you thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD."
Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Our ways may seem good to us. We may even enjoy some moderate successes. But when we do the work of God in our own ways, we will never see the power of God in what we do. God reveals His ways because that is the only way to accomplish His purposes. When God accomplishes His purposes in His ways through us, people will come to know God. They will recognize that what has happened can only be explained by God. He will get glory to Himself!
Mark 6:30-44
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
"The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, 'This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.' But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said to him, 'Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?' And he said to them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go and see.' And when they had found out, they said, 'Five, and two fish.' Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men."
Man's way?
God's way!
God's purposes accomplished in His ways bring Him Glory! We must do kingdom work in kingdom ways.
Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, the he may teach us his ways."
Let us always go to the Lord and clarify what I am absolutely convinced He is saying to us. Then, we can proceed and watch to see how God affirms it! To do this we must make our love relationship with God all-important. God reveals His ways through His Word! Seek Him out!
In Christ,
David
posted by Mark 1:17 at 8:31 AM
1 Comments:
Great stuff David, you're right on the money.
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