It was so wonderful to study the names of God.  Looking back, here is the entire list we covered in the study: 

• Elohim – God as God, The Creator, present always as the trinity, the author of life and time, mighty over all things/Almighty God
• El Elyon - God Most High, He is sovereign over all and has rightful dominion over everything and everyone, we must not contend with Him
• El Roi – The God Who Sees, nothing happens without Him being aware of it, we never out of His sight or lost
• El Shaddai – The All-Sufficient One, He is God Almighty, I can rely on Him, He is able to accomplish anything that concerns me
• Adonai – The Lord and Master, if we truly know who Him – we cannot help but acknowledge His Lordship over us, His position requires a response from us of honor, respect and service to Him
• Jehovah – The Self-Existent One, I AM WHO I AM – always existed, was not created, all life is contained in Him, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, wherever we see “LORD” in all caps in the bible it is this name
• Jehovah-Jireh – The LORD Will Provide, He is the God who provided the ram as a substitute for the sacrifice of Isaac, the same God provided His own Son as a sacrifice in our place
• Jehovah-rapha – The LORD Who Heals, because He has dominion over all things He can bless or curse and He can strike or heal, being gracious and compassionate He brings reconciliation to mankind and heals body, mind and soul, He delivers us from the Curse/the Fall, He has authority over the good and the bad that happen so He is the One we must run to for help, there is no other help beside Him.
• Jehovah-nissi - The Lord My Banner, the One who goes before us against our enemy, The Flesh
• Jehovah-mekoddishkem - The Lord Who Sanctifies You, He had redeemed us by the ultimate sacrifice, the blood of the Lamb; and because of that sacrifice, we are sanctified/made holy.  Christ’s work in us is not finished at the Cross – it has only begun.  He sent the Holy Spirit to accomplish the sanctification process in us.  Because of all God has done for us, we are obligated to Him…we owe Him our lives!  Our holiness is “part of ‘a perpetual covenant…a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever’ (Exodus 31:16-17)” (p.119).  Our holiness is a sign of our relationship with Him.  The Holy Spirit embodies us and allows us to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
• Jehovah-shalom - The Lord is Peace, God has given us peace.  When we are not at peace, He is not the one who moved – we are!   The way to feel at peace with Him and have peace with others is to live an obedient life – constantly seeking to do His will.  Being in God’s will allows us to be at peace regardless of the circumstances
•  Jehovah-sabaoth - The Lord of Hosts, when we are in dire circumstances there is no one else to turn to than The Lord of Hosts…who better to go to when we are at the end of our rope than the God of the Universe – the One who commands the Heavenly Host?
• Jehovah-raah - The Lord My Shepherd, He cares for us tenderly.  He knows our weaknesses.  He foresees our difficulties and provides for us.  He fiercely protects us.  Whatever we need, He provides – He know best.  It is incumbent upon us to trust His judgement and allow that what He provides is enough and that He has our best interests at heart.
• Jehovah-tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness, He who accomplishes what we cannot – He provides us the mechanism to grow in righteousness…He promised to give a new covenant and a new heart – and in Jesus He fulfills this promise.
• Jehovah-shammah – The Lord is There, He is there with you when you are in trouble.  He is there when you are distraught.  He is there when you feel alone.  He is there when no one else is or can be.

Adonai – my Lord and Master.  I have loved the Lord from when I was very young.  I can’t remember a time when I didn’t talk to Him.  It feels like  I always knew Him personally.  But it was in college that I realized that a relationship with God required more of me than I had ever given before – and that bothered me.  It was clear to me that I was at a crossroads – knowing that God had dominion over me and that I needed to yield to His authority…but not really wanting to yield to anyone or anything but myself.  It took some painful lessons to help me choose the right path.   The walk has been steep at times and sometimes I have lost my way or gotten off track.  But I am thankful that Lord has not ever given up on me and instead has guided me along on this journey which has brought me closer to Him.  It is only His grace that has led me to the point today where I can say I really love Him and serve Him as my Adonai, my Lord and Master.  I have seen Him keep His promise: He who began a good work in me has carried it on to now and will continue to do so until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6). He is the rightful leader and I am blessed to be able to follow Him.

What I have learned through experience and hard knocks makes me appreciate the careful research of Kay Arthur.  She has given us a closer look at what it means to know God as Adonai.  I see many “Amen!” moments in this chapter; I am going to list just a few here today.

• “Lord” is more than a title or name – it indicates a certain type of relationship where He is Lord and Master and I am in complete submission to Him
• A servant is totally dependent on his Master - the Master provides all things for the servant (care and protection)
• The servant is even dependent upon the Master for direction in day-to-day living
• From Psalm 89: 50-51…God is our Master and so He sees our situation and it is personal to Him because we truly “belong” to Him
• From Psalm 141:8-10…Our Master protects us from traps and snares and from wicked people
• From Psalm 119:125…Our Master instructs us
• From Judges 6:14-16…we can confide in our Master about our worries and concerns

So when did you first see the crossroads? When did you first know you had to really yield your will to Him? Where are you on your journey?

JustaGirl…just like you!

Ohhhh!  This is one of my favorite names.  El Roi – the God Who Sees…His eyes are not shut, He has not left His post, He is not unaware.  Have you ever wandered in the desert and felt like a throw-away, like Hagar did in Genesis 16?  Whether you really have been cast aside or not is another matter, but feeling that way…feeling so unimportant, or overlooked, or even despised, unloved…this is truly the place where you feel you must have fallen off God’s radar completely.  That was the way I felt at one point.  I cried out for help and there was no help…there was just emptiness.  No people to rescue me.  No oasis in sight.  Just barren wasteland.  Had God forgotten me too?  I thought He did.  But little by little I realized that I had just stopped listening for His voice.  Later, I read this passage (one I had read so many other times without taking notice), and Girls let me tell you, I wept.  I was overwhelmed.  I realized that He is El Roi.  He had seen me in my wilderness.  He never took His eyes off me.  He never left me.  I remember thinking, “He SEES me.  He sees ME!“.  With “seeing” me, came knowing me – I realized that He sees who we really are, what we really need, where we have been and where we are going.  What a mighty God we serve!

So how does the story of Hagar relate to your life? Have you had any desert moments where you felt like you were wandering, lost in the wilderness?  Have you come to know God as El Roi – the One who sees?

Please chat with me about this wonderful name of God…

JustaGirl…just like you!

ANOTHER difficult passage.  Here is a good time for me to get up on my soapbox a bit.  I think one of the reasons these recent lessons have been so hard to hear is that we NEVER hear about them in church or in the Christian community today. God has not changed – society has.  In old times people would say, “I will see you next week, God willing”.  They meant: you never know what God will do and it would be presumptuous of us to plan our lives without taking Him into account. The sense of entitlement was not as great as it is today. There was a better understanding of our smallness.

I had a conversation recently with an older man who had been badly inured at a young age (over 30 years ago).  ”I never got over the fact that God allowed my job to be taken from me when He knew how much I loved it.  How could He do that to me?” he asked.  While I sympathize with that feeling of loss – the greater tragedy was the lack of understanding (for over 30 years) of God’s purpose in our lives.  God is determined that His will for us, and for this world, be done.  His perspective is eternal while ours is temporal.  We cannot make sense of it, nor are we meant to – this is some of the mystery of God – He doesn’t answer to us (it is the other way around) and He doesn’t seek first to please us.  Real faith comes in when He takes us from our intended path and into the wilderness.  In a way, you could say He is ruthless: He will stop at nothing to accomplish His purpose in our lives.

With that in mind, my take-home message from the lesson today was this: God places a hedge of protection around those who are faithful to Him. Periodically, when it suits His purpose, He allows Satan to cross the hedge and inflict injury in that person’s life. God is always in control in these situations and He allows these things to happen for His glory and for a specific  period of time. Then God resumes His hedge against evil. We must be faithful during the good and the bad times.  We must remember something I tell my little peeps at home, “when we are NOT glorifying God by our words, thoughts and actions, who are we glorifying?  Remember glorify means to reflect like a mirror and to give others a accurate representation of HIM.

Tell me, how would you explain the story of all that happens to Job, to your children?

JustaGirl…just like you 

Elohim is God the Creator.  KA reminded us of a very important thing in this chapter…God created everything, He is the Author of Life.  Too easily we are able to separate, in our minds, the Creator from the creation.  We love God and want to honor HIm and serve Him yet we do not honor His creation – we murmur against our circumstances and when we do, we are  murmuring against Him.  All the while He is saying, “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent,children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of life.” (Phil 2: 14-6).  Still we criticize ourselves and others; we complain about the way our lives are going; we strain and pull against His yoke. But He says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls.( Matt 11:28-30). Sadly, we have an innate inability to accept that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). Here are two verses to keep in mind (and a larger passage down below that I love):

But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7

“It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:26

Please watch this video about someone who knows Elohim as good in every circumstance, Lt. Scotty Smiley, and reflect on these questions from the Small Group Discussion Questions on p. 14 (or anything else you would like to discuss!)…

#1 Elohim identifies God as Creator. From your study, why do you think it is important to know Him as Creator?

#7 What is currently happening in your life or circumstances that is easier to deal with now that you know God as your Elohim?

Just a Girl…just like you!

Isaiah 55    The Compassion of the LORD

¹“Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love forDavid.
⁴Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵ Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
anda nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.

⁶ “Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
⁷let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
butit shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²“For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

There is something important I want to be sure to mention. In Genesis, Adam (the first man/human) was named by God and he, in turn, named Eve (the second human) and also all the animals. After that, children were named by their parents. Sometimes people were re-named by God (Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Saul to Paul). But did you know that when asked His name, God gave no “name” for men to call Him? Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD [According to Biblegateway.com, the Hebrew word for LORD sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew word for I AM], the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. Ex 3:13-15. Did you catch a name in there?  Neither did the Hebrews.  They considered the actual name of God to be sacred and unknown to man.  I love that, rather than calling Him a name, calling Him “I AM” is a description of constant action, a positive state of being; it is a present tense verb and is constantly current. Paul said, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8.

But since I AM was so active, there arose the need to discuss Him and tell His story, and to refer specifically to Him and to describe Him. So God was given many descriptions, which we would consider His “names”.  Remember that Kay Arthur also mentioned that names had a special significance in Hebrew culture because they described the character of a person.  So here is another thing I love: God is not defined by one name or description. In this study we will learn about the descriptions of God that occur through both the Old and New Testaments. Another thing to interject here, and this may be something you already know, but in case you never thought of it, or are apt to forget about it – when we read the bible we are reading a translation from either Hebrew in the Old testament or Greek in the New Testament to English.  Whenever another language is translated to English, the English word that most closely matches the word in the original language is used.  Sometimes English is pretty limited in the choices and this is the case with God.  We basically use “God” or LORD” for all the names of God which are translated from Hebrew or Greek.  In this study we will uncover the richness of these other languages and learn that, though we have settled on pretty much one name for Him, God cannot be contained in that one word.  He is too amazing and wonderful to have just one or two names.  We will learn the meaning of who HE IS – I AM.

So for Day Four we begin to study the Creator, Elohim. Kay Arthur packs a lot into a short lesson.  Here are some of the highlights for me: El means strong or mighty; Elohim means Creator God; the him part is plural, and shows the trinity was present at the beginning of creation (as we see in Genesis 1 where God refers to Himself as Us and John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. ).  And Kay says that since the all-powerful triune God created the earth and all that is in it – that means He created us too, for His glory and pleasure, just as we are. She reminds us of a difficult concept: God is God and He is flawless and He is in charge over all.  He makes no “mistakes”…nothing happens out of His control. All that happens is according to his plan and is designed to bring glory to Him (to reflect who He is).  So often when hard times come or life “isn’t fair”, people feel like God has lost sight of them or the devil has gotten the better of them.  We will explore this issue in much more depth later, but for now think on this: God Elohim, the Creator, designed you and your life. You are not a mistake, and for good or bad, you are not where you are by accident. This is a hard thing to accept, especially during trying times…today please share with us about the difficulty of accepting God’s plan for you or someone you love OR please share about how you have  seen God’s goodness in your own adversity OR share something else.  It would just be good to hear from you!

Just a Girl…just like you!