ACCURATE
BIBLE
KNOWLEDGE!
QUESTION:
“WHO IS GOD?”
ANSWER: “WE
LOOK THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY … BUT WE CAN KNOW A
LITTLE OF HIS NATURE … GOD IS
JEALOUS” Ex
34:14
EXPLANATION:
HOW DO A
LOT OF CHRISTIANS TREAT GOD?
Christians
often treat God as a shoe rag to wipe their boots on their way
through
our life.
Christians
often treat God as a servant to pump up their tyres
Christians
often treat God as hired help to fluff up their pillows
Christians
often treat God as a taxi driver to whom they refuse to pay the
fare.
Christians
often treat God as a boarder to whom they sub-let a tent in the
backyard.
Christians
often treat God as a shopkeeper to fetch their ‘items’ on their
shopping
list.
Christians
often treat God as religious fashion accessory.
Christians
often treat God as a drover’s dog to round up their ‘sheep’
NOW ALL
THIS GETS HIM UPSET
As was once
said in a movie … “I’m feeling a little UNAPPRECIATED”
This is
what God gets from Christians … the people he has saved.
WHAT ARE A
LOT OF CHRISTIANS LIKE?
Christians’
prayers can be whining and whinging shopping lists …
boring and
endless.
Christians
can think their lives should go untested … “I’ve been good so
God will
bless me.”
Christians
can seem never happy and satisfied … they always want
something
Christians’
prayers are often like the importunate widow (Lk
18:2) … they go
on and on and on and on and on … on and on and on … “Heal my foot” … “I
want a
nicer house” … “Gimme gimme ….”
Christians
have not realized that the widow prayer was a kingdom of heaven
prayer
Christians
often believe God is slow and reluctant to act and
needs constant
reminding.
Christians
can be dreadfully self-centred
Christians
seem to have no fear of God
Christians
often look at the problem and the solution … and not to God.
Christians
often think they know what is good for them … but they don’t
Christians
are to be like Moses at the Red Sea Exodus
14:2 … thankful
Christians
are to be be like Shadrach at the furnace Daniel
3:26… thankful
God knows
what we want before we know.
God loves
to hear that we need him for things and solutions …
BUT God wants
to hear we need him for whom he is
… and not what he will do for us
God’s
thoughts and ways are not ours (Isaiah
55:8-9)
God scourgeth
every son he receives (Hebrews
12:6)
The more he
loves us the less we love him (2 Corinthians 12:15)
DEAR
READER, WHO IS GOD? WHAT IS HIS NATURE?
Read Job
and find out. Get out pencil and paper and make a list of things you
find.
SOME
SCRIPTURES TO MEDITATE ON
10 The four
and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and
worship him
that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne,
saying,
11 Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast
created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation
4:10-11
MURMURING!
“And when
the people COMPLAINED, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD
heard it;
and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them,
and
consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” (Numbers
11:1).
They kept
wanting their old life in Egypt. God was giving them manna from heaven,
but
they wanted the old life of Egypt – the fish, the melons, the cucumbers
and so
on.
WHAT’S
MURMURING?
It’s called
having a whinge and a whine, complaining, bleating, not being content
with what
you have, grumbling, sullen, frowning, upset with your lot in life,
being dealt
a ‘bad hand’ in life, walking around depressing others with any
upsetting details
of your life, seeing your glass as half-empty and not half-full.
“It’s
too hot today.” “I want more money” “I
wish I had a better marriage!” “I deserve better!” “Why me Lord?” “I’m
a
Christian Lord, you should be treating me better.” “Not rissoles again”
“Why
can’t we have a nicer house like our neighbours!”. “Look at my clothes.
Why
can’t I have better shoes?” Got the picture yet?
IT’S
ALRIGHT FOR YOU, BUT YOU DON’T KNOW THE CROSSES I HAVE TO BEAR!
Try this
one. What if, as an infant, your parents took you to the doctor to fix
up a
minor eye condition? The doctor put the wrong ointment on your eyes and
you
were made blind for life?
This was
the lot of Fanny Crosby who used her blindness to
write hundreds
of hymns for the Lord. She
found her work for the Lord through her
handicap. (Blind from a medical mishap when 6 weeks old!)
WELL I JUST DON’T FEEL LIKE
IT!
Well you are sinning if you
don’t
start praising and thanking the Lord for everything that comes your
way. God
says And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Romans
8:28
Giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Ephesians 5:20
Be careful
for nothing; but in
every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be
made known unto God. Philippians 4:6
Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give
thanks: for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
God is in
no hurry. Unless you get on his prayer program, you’ll just spin your
wheels
and sink further into the mud (Hosea
4:16).
Let me put it this way.
What does a father want from his children?
Thanks, gratitude and appreciation. Do you think that any good father
doesn’t
know what his children want and in advance as well? What parent likes
their
child to be on the whinge and whine all the time? “I want this and I
want that”
“My friends have such and such and I don’t” Their focus in on
themselves about
what they need and want.
God the Father is the same. He
knows what we need before we even ask. But most people just keep
bashing on
God’s door for their health and wealth and whatever else they want, as
though
God is ignorant of their needs.
What he wants to hear is
our praise and thanks for, and in
all, our
situations. – good,
bad and ugly. In his time, when and where he sees fit, his will, will
be done.
When we don’t do this we sin. God says And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and
perfect, will of God. Romans
12:2.
Our
thoughts must be his thoughts.
Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against
the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of
Christ; 2
Corinthians 10:5
I DON’T GET
IT
Look, God just loves to be
the first and last port of call in all matters
of life. He deliberately knocks out any form of self-support we have.
God hates
our independence. Our calamities are his
blessings to us in disguise. HE’LL
GET
ALL THE GLORY when he delivers.
WELL I STILL
DON’T LIKE IT!
And I’ll tell you why. You
still think it’s your life. You won’t have the
life you want. “If I was
a Doctor or a Lawyer I could serve him better.” You secretly
hate the fact your life is over, being put to death in Christ. You may
have a
fear about being sent as a missionary?
THIS WON’T
BE EASY
It’ll be as easy as you
want it to be.
God said to Paul “… My
grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness. Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of
Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's
sake:
for when I am weak, then am I strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
A QUOTE FROM MARTIN LUTHER
“Blessed is he
that submits to the will of God; he can never be
unhappy. Men may
deal with him as they will … he is without care;
he knows that ‘all things work together
for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose.’” – Martin Luther,
Christian
minister 19th Century
Harley Hitchcock
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
