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When it comes to God, we've all been a little stupid...
1. I am
Who is God? How does one define the indefinable? That is the question that each one of us must answer for ourselves. No one can tell us who God is to us. However, a great many of us have allowed others to do just that. We have allowed our mother, our father, our grandparents, our friends, our Sunday school teacher and/or the pastor of our church to define who God is for us. Almost from the day we were born, someone has tried to convince us that their understanding of God is the only understanding that will get you to heaven. That is exactly why we do not understand Him, because we do not know Him personally.
Merriam-Webster defines God as:
God : the perfect and all-powerful spirit or being that is worshipped especially by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the one who created and rules the universe
: a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc., and that can affect nature and the lives of people : one of various spirits or beings worshipped in some religions
: a person and especially a man who is greatly loved or admired
Full Definition of GOD
1
capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as
a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe
b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2
: a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.
I don't know about you, but reading the definitions above do not give me warm fuzzies, nor does it make me want to go to heaven. There's a great fear among most of the human race to dare to be so presumptive as to define God in any way that differs from that which is commonly accepted by the masses. If your perception does not align exactly with that of your brother, you can easily be thought of as a sinner, or for that matter, downright evil. There have been many throughout history that has actually been put to death for their heretic beliefs. For some reason, many of us feel like those who seem to have it together and profess their faith in their religion/God, are somehow superior to us and have a secret knowledge of the Divine Father that we do not possess. We judge ourselves by that standard, and usually find ourselves unworthy of our Creator. The end result is most people never find a personal relationship with a God of their understanding, resulting in Him having no Power to affect their life.
I'm not saying that everyone has it wrong about God; actually it's quite the opposite. Each one of us has inside is a fundamental knowledge about Him\Her\It that automatically identifies with the truth when they hear it. (It is not my intention to assert whether God is a man, woman or thing, but for my own comfort I will refer to God as "Him" for the remainder of this book). We all fundamentally know what God is to us. That is exactly what He wants us to know. Who God is, is who He is to you. The Bible is very clear about this in the statement "... according to your belief..." The attributes of the God of your understanding is nothing less, nothing more, than that which you believe to be true of Him.
To fully understand God, you have to have a clear understanding of the following:
" What He is to you, His attributes & what Laws govern this understanding.
" What He is not.
" Who you are to Him.
" Who you are in relation to rest of the world.
I know this sounds complicated, but it really is quite simple. We already know on the inside exactly who God is. We know what he is not. What we do not understand is who we are in relation to Him and who we are in relation to those around us. We do not think about, or understand the laws governing this belief. Let's take it apart and look at each requirement individually.
I will use my own beliefs and understanding as an example of how this works. It is not my intention to in any way influence your personal understanding of who God is to you. I'm not placing any religion or practice in a place of superiority over another. I'm simply going to tell you what I believe to give you an idea of how you can determine what you believe. First, let's look at who is God to me:
God is:
God is omnipresent. He just is. He always has been. He is now, and he always will be. He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and everything in between. He is now, and eternal. A brief, but certainly not definitive list of the qualities I attribute to God are:
- God is Creative and the Creator
- God is Perfect Love
- God is Life, and the Giver of Life
- God is Mercy
- God is Compassion
- God is Truth
- God is Justice
- God is Law, and the Giver of the Law.
- God is Understanding
- God Sees all and knows things from all perspectives.
- God is not subject to the laws of Time and Space; He is above them & created them.
- God cannot break His own Laws.
- God and Not God (Evil/Sin) cannot exist in the same place. Each repels the other, like the opposite poles of a magnet. Where one is, the other cannot be simultaneously. (This is a most important and valuable piece of information to have in order to understand the nature and meaning of sin.)
- God is the (our) Rock
There is nothing but God, except not God (Evil/Sin). There has to be both in order for either one to exist. This is a universal law - it cannot be broken. We can use science to prove this.
Newton's third law of motion states:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Forces always come in pairs - known as "action-reaction force pairs." Identifying and describing action-reaction force pairs is a simple matter of identifying the two interacting objects and making two statements describing who is pushing on whom and in what direction. (This is an important law to remember, we will come back to this multiple times throughout our studies)
In order for power to exist and move, there has to be two points: power has to originate at one point and transmit to another in order for it to be considered a force. An example would be stretching rubber band between two points. In order for there to be any power associated with the rubber band, it has to transmit a force from one point to another. Let the rubber band go from one side, and it will move to the other. The power of God must move from God to not God. That is why it is important to understand what God is not. The Bible simplifies this by saying:
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Mathew 18:20 KJV
This is a most important aspect of God. God's power is dynamic; it must move/ transmit, it cannot be static. Common examples of this include:
- Love must move toward hate
- Knowledge must move toward ignorance
- Truth toward the lie
None of the concepts above can exist without its polar opposite, and movement from one pole to the other. Without movement, there is only potential power, which by itself is useless. That's like having a battery, but nothing to put it in. Power without purpose, combined with action, is not power. This brings me to my final characteristic for this section:
God is Purpose. He has Meaning. There is a reason for God and His Power in our lives. He is not an accident or a coincidence... and neither are we.
God is not: (also not comprehensive, but illustrative)
- Evil
- Prideful
- Jealous
- Envious
- Hateful
- Angry
- Slothful
- Lustful
- Vengeful
- Vain
- Darkness
- Lost
- Loss
- Sickness
- Death
It is equally as important to know what God is not. This is a common and very serious shortcoming of which each of us is guilty. Almost everyone knows some God-fearing soul who has been ill for some time. We've heard them say that God has sent this sickness for a reason. They truly believe that, and by so doing, create the sickness in their lives... ("...according to your belief"). If I truly believe that God is life, that God is divine perfect health, how then can He at the same time, send sickness? Remember Newton's law states that power cannot be in two places at once. God cannot be health and sickness at the same time. By believing that, we actually prevent God's power from healing us, by making our sickness from God (giving our sickness the power of God); God's healing power has been negated because we have made, Not God (sin), more powerful by our own belief. It is extremely important to know what you truly believe. It is not only possible to give Not God more power than God; it is unfortunately very common these days. Subscribing to the belief that God has sent any sort of trouble or sickness is in effect making that trouble or sickness more powerful than God. It's a mistake. The reality is that God and Nature always obey the law. Sickness can only exist in a place where God does not. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that because you're sick God is not in your life. I'm simply saying that you are inviting sickness into your life when you make it more powerful your belief in God's healing power. You can trust God for your prosperity and get results, while at the same time hold a belief that for some divine purpose He wants you to be ill and suffer. So long as you hold that belief it will not occur to you to ask Him to heal you and believe that He will, because He obviously wants you sick. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is a common belief. Ask yourself this; if God is glorious and something to be desired, all-powerful, and the solution for all wrong, why would he demonstrate this by keeping you sick? Would it not be a greater testament of his saving Grace to heal you as an example of his unmatched power? I use sickness as an example because it is most common and easily understood. But the same applies to all forms of trouble and strife in our lives. To believe that God can bring about something that he is not is to believe that God's law can be broken, which is incorrect. God cannot break his own laws. Good cannot be evil at the same time. Light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. It is of extreme importance that you understand for you what God is and what He is not - and believe it. "Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh". James 3:12
NEXT: Who Am I?
Who is God? How does one define the indefinable? That is the question that each one of us must answer for ourselves. No one can tell us who God is to us. However, a great many of us have allowed others to do just that. We have allowed our mother, our father, our grandparents, our friends, our Sunday school teacher and/or the pastor of our church to define who God is for us. Almost from the day we were born, someone has tried to convince us that their understanding of God is the only understanding that will get you to heaven. That is exactly why we do not understand Him, because we do not know Him personally.
Merriam-Webster defines God as:
God : the perfect and all-powerful spirit or being that is worshipped especially by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the one who created and rules the universe
: a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc., and that can affect nature and the lives of people : one of various spirits or beings worshipped in some religions
: a person and especially a man who is greatly loved or admired
Full Definition of GOD
1
capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: as
a : the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe
b Christian Science : the incorporeal divine Principle ruling over all as eternal Spirit : infinite Mind
2
: a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically : one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.
I don't know about you, but reading the definitions above do not give me warm fuzzies, nor does it make me want to go to heaven. There's a great fear among most of the human race to dare to be so presumptive as to define God in any way that differs from that which is commonly accepted by the masses. If your perception does not align exactly with that of your brother, you can easily be thought of as a sinner, or for that matter, downright evil. There have been many throughout history that has actually been put to death for their heretic beliefs. For some reason, many of us feel like those who seem to have it together and profess their faith in their religion/God, are somehow superior to us and have a secret knowledge of the Divine Father that we do not possess. We judge ourselves by that standard, and usually find ourselves unworthy of our Creator. The end result is most people never find a personal relationship with a God of their understanding, resulting in Him having no Power to affect their life.
I'm not saying that everyone has it wrong about God; actually it's quite the opposite. Each one of us has inside is a fundamental knowledge about Him\Her\It that automatically identifies with the truth when they hear it. (It is not my intention to assert whether God is a man, woman or thing, but for my own comfort I will refer to God as "Him" for the remainder of this book). We all fundamentally know what God is to us. That is exactly what He wants us to know. Who God is, is who He is to you. The Bible is very clear about this in the statement "... according to your belief..." The attributes of the God of your understanding is nothing less, nothing more, than that which you believe to be true of Him.
To fully understand God, you have to have a clear understanding of the following:
" What He is to you, His attributes & what Laws govern this understanding.
" What He is not.
" Who you are to Him.
" Who you are in relation to rest of the world.
I know this sounds complicated, but it really is quite simple. We already know on the inside exactly who God is. We know what he is not. What we do not understand is who we are in relation to Him and who we are in relation to those around us. We do not think about, or understand the laws governing this belief. Let's take it apart and look at each requirement individually.
I will use my own beliefs and understanding as an example of how this works. It is not my intention to in any way influence your personal understanding of who God is to you. I'm not placing any religion or practice in a place of superiority over another. I'm simply going to tell you what I believe to give you an idea of how you can determine what you believe. First, let's look at who is God to me:
God is:
God is omnipresent. He just is. He always has been. He is now, and he always will be. He's the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and everything in between. He is now, and eternal. A brief, but certainly not definitive list of the qualities I attribute to God are:
- God is Creative and the Creator
- God is Perfect Love
- God is Life, and the Giver of Life
- God is Mercy
- God is Compassion
- God is Truth
- God is Justice
- God is Law, and the Giver of the Law.
- God is Understanding
- God Sees all and knows things from all perspectives.
- God is not subject to the laws of Time and Space; He is above them & created them.
- God cannot break His own Laws.
- God and Not God (Evil/Sin) cannot exist in the same place. Each repels the other, like the opposite poles of a magnet. Where one is, the other cannot be simultaneously. (This is a most important and valuable piece of information to have in order to understand the nature and meaning of sin.)
- God is the (our) Rock
There is nothing but God, except not God (Evil/Sin). There has to be both in order for either one to exist. This is a universal law - it cannot be broken. We can use science to prove this.
Newton's third law of motion states:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Forces always come in pairs - known as "action-reaction force pairs." Identifying and describing action-reaction force pairs is a simple matter of identifying the two interacting objects and making two statements describing who is pushing on whom and in what direction. (This is an important law to remember, we will come back to this multiple times throughout our studies)
In order for power to exist and move, there has to be two points: power has to originate at one point and transmit to another in order for it to be considered a force. An example would be stretching rubber band between two points. In order for there to be any power associated with the rubber band, it has to transmit a force from one point to another. Let the rubber band go from one side, and it will move to the other. The power of God must move from God to not God. That is why it is important to understand what God is not. The Bible simplifies this by saying:
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Mathew 18:20 KJV
This is a most important aspect of God. God's power is dynamic; it must move/ transmit, it cannot be static. Common examples of this include:
- Love must move toward hate
- Knowledge must move toward ignorance
- Truth toward the lie
None of the concepts above can exist without its polar opposite, and movement from one pole to the other. Without movement, there is only potential power, which by itself is useless. That's like having a battery, but nothing to put it in. Power without purpose, combined with action, is not power. This brings me to my final characteristic for this section:
God is Purpose. He has Meaning. There is a reason for God and His Power in our lives. He is not an accident or a coincidence... and neither are we.
God is not: (also not comprehensive, but illustrative)
- Evil
- Prideful
- Jealous
- Envious
- Hateful
- Angry
- Slothful
- Lustful
- Vengeful
- Vain
- Darkness
- Lost
- Loss
- Sickness
- Death
It is equally as important to know what God is not. This is a common and very serious shortcoming of which each of us is guilty. Almost everyone knows some God-fearing soul who has been ill for some time. We've heard them say that God has sent this sickness for a reason. They truly believe that, and by so doing, create the sickness in their lives... ("...according to your belief"). If I truly believe that God is life, that God is divine perfect health, how then can He at the same time, send sickness? Remember Newton's law states that power cannot be in two places at once. God cannot be health and sickness at the same time. By believing that, we actually prevent God's power from healing us, by making our sickness from God (giving our sickness the power of God); God's healing power has been negated because we have made, Not God (sin), more powerful by our own belief. It is extremely important to know what you truly believe. It is not only possible to give Not God more power than God; it is unfortunately very common these days. Subscribing to the belief that God has sent any sort of trouble or sickness is in effect making that trouble or sickness more powerful than God. It's a mistake. The reality is that God and Nature always obey the law. Sickness can only exist in a place where God does not. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that because you're sick God is not in your life. I'm simply saying that you are inviting sickness into your life when you make it more powerful your belief in God's healing power. You can trust God for your prosperity and get results, while at the same time hold a belief that for some divine purpose He wants you to be ill and suffer. So long as you hold that belief it will not occur to you to ask Him to heal you and believe that He will, because He obviously wants you sick. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it is a common belief. Ask yourself this; if God is glorious and something to be desired, all-powerful, and the solution for all wrong, why would he demonstrate this by keeping you sick? Would it not be a greater testament of his saving Grace to heal you as an example of his unmatched power? I use sickness as an example because it is most common and easily understood. But the same applies to all forms of trouble and strife in our lives. To believe that God can bring about something that he is not is to believe that God's law can be broken, which is incorrect. God cannot break his own laws. Good cannot be evil at the same time. Light and darkness cannot exist in the same place. It is of extreme importance that you understand for you what God is and what He is not - and believe it. "Can the fig tree, my brothers, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh". James 3:12
NEXT: Who Am I?