Thoughts about God (R, S, T, U)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1 (ESV).

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” – Revelation 21:13 (ESV).

R – God is royal, resolute, responsive and responsible.  He is our Rock.  He is Real.  He responds to the requests of his children offered in repentance and faith.  He restores.  He gives rest.  He is righteous and right.

S – God is Sovereign.  He is Savior.  His solace is boundless, His saving grace is all sufficient for this life and the next.  In Him we can abide in surety and safety.  Salvation is His free gift.

T – Truth and honor are His trademarks.  Thanks are due His holy name.  With thanksgiving I lift my voice to Him, morning, noon and night, in everything giving thanks.  True and faithful, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

U – Unsurpassed are his ways, His mercy unlimited.  He is the ultimate Judge and Ruler.  United in purpose and work are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Understanding and love are His to give, and underneath us are his everlasting arms.

Praise be to God!.

                                                                                                                        09.29.2013

Thoughts about God (M, N, O, P, Q)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” –Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” –Revelation 21:13

Continuing to use the alphabet in an effort to learn more about God’s character and nature, we proceed today with the letters M, N, O, P and  Q.

M – He is ever mindful of His own.  There is not a place we can flee where He is not in our midst, to make our way easier, our burden lighter.  Majesty is His clothing; mighty is His powerful arm.  Mighty are His works and majestic is His countenance.  He is the Maker of all things, Maker of me.  Because He made me and formed me, I am myself wonderfully made in His image.

N – None is like unto God.  He is noble and worthy to be exalted.  Nations shall rise up and call Him blessed.  Nothing or no one is beyond His nearness and His encompassing, loving nature.  He is nigh unto all who call upon his name.  His name is above every name.

O – He is omnipotent—all powerful.  He is omnipresent—ever present.  He is omniscient—all knowing.  Through His power I can overcome.  Through His presence I can operate freely.  Through his omniscience I too can learn and understand.  He requires my obedience.  He rewards me with only the best for me.  He brings order out of chaos.  He is the only One I need for life.

P-  He is full of power and might.  He breathes and the seas roar.  He unleashes His chariots and powerful thunder crashes.  “Day unto day utters speech and night unto night shows knowledge.”  He is present, not remote.  He is personal, whereby I cry “Abba, Father.”  His Presence is a reality.  His Person palpable.  His promises are faithful.  He is permanent, productive, protecting, preserving.  Because of His all-powerful nature, of whom should I be afraid?

Q – The quintessence of His nature is found in quiet moments, in the querulous, questing mind.  In quietness and in rest His qualities become known to me.

Praise be to God!   -Ethelene Dyer Jones  09.22.2013

Thoughts about God (H, I, J, K, L)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” –Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” –Revelation 21:13

Continuing to use the alphabet in an effort to learn more about God’s character and nature, we proceed today with the letters H, I, J, K and L.

H – He is God, high over all, who chooses to make His habitation in the hearts of those who hallow His name and honor Him.  He is holy.  He is honored among the people who love him.  Yes, He is honored in all the earth. Even though nations and people go their own ways and fail to honor and exalt Him, He remains the most high God.  He is!

I – He is an inviting God.  “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your soul.”  (Matthew 11:28).  He is the great I am.  He is interested in my welfare.  He invites me to rest in Him.

J – He is the great Joiner, bringing together those who should be joined in like pursuits and joint projects.  He is just in His ways.  He is a jealous God: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).  He brings justice and judgment.  Always, He is just a prayer away.

K – His knowledge fills heaven and earth.  He is all-knowing.  He is kind and tender-hearted.  He keeps that which is committed unto Him.  He is the keeper of His people.

L – He is Love.  His loving kindness is present in the morning and at noon, in the evening and in the night watches (see Psalm 39:7-12).  He created the sun for the day’s light and the moon and the stars for the night’s light.  His presence lingers like His love and His light.  He longs after His children like a Father for his children.  His long arm extends to lift up and to make level when the long journey is leading into difficult places.

Praise be to God!

Thoughts about God (D, E, F, G)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

“I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”  - Revelation 21:13

Whatever we say about God in seeking to know Him and His power, we can never exhaust the possibilities of His infinite nature.  In the first “Insights…” in this series of “Thoughts about God” using the alphabet to name his characteristics, I used words beginning with A, B, and C to describe God.

Today, we look at D, E, F,  and G.

D – God is dependable, delightful, desirous of my fellowship with Him, deliberately and dutifully keeping the delights of following Him in store for every day.  He is a magnanimous donor, revealed in how He provided manna in the wilderness to feed the Israelites freed from Egyptian bondage and how He provided water from the rock.  Likewise, daily He is ready to supply my needs.

E – God and Emmanuel are one.  Emmanuel is God with us.  He excels above all gods and is exalted above all gods; there is none except Him.  Some others called god exist in the minds of those who do not acknowledge the existence, exaltation and eternal nature of the everlasting God.

F – God is Father, faithful, forgiving, formidable, yet forever forming us into the image of His Son through the forge of life’s perplexities and trials.  As Father God, He never fails to love me, seek me, find me and forgive me.  He is forever near, as close as breathing.

G – God is God.  He is great and greatly to be praised.  He is full of grace, extending His unmerited favor to me.  He is glorious.  His glory fills heaven and earth.  He is generous, giving and gentle.  He goes beyond my greatest expectations to gather me (and all his children who choose to go to Him) into His gentle bosom.  How great is God and greatly to be praised.

                                                          -Ethelene Dyer Jones  09.08.2013

Thoughts about God (A, B, C)

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – Genesis 1:1 (ESV).

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” – Revelation 21:13.

I would never claim to have any special insight about God the Creator, the Sustainer, the Provider, the God and Father of us all.  I pray to God, I love God, I seek to serve Him, I rejoice that I am one of His own, created in His image, endowed with a spirit that can reach out and communicate with Him.  Recently I’ve read some old journals I’ve written through the years, I found a meditation I wrote July 7, 2001 which I entitled then, “God from A to Z.”  Going through our English alphabet A through Z, I sought to enumerate characteristics of God that I wanted to think upon and understand.

The thought to do this exercise came when I read Revelation 21:13.  I studied classical and New Testament Greek when I was a student of Dr. Edwin Johnston years ago at Mercer University.  Alpha and Omega, the first and last letter of the Greek  alphabet, also stand for “the beginning and the end.”  John, in writing the Revelation, seeking to get to the truth of God, had God remind us:  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” –God, A to Z.  Could I seek to draw closer to God, to understanding His nature, if I myself wrote a tribute to God using all the letters of the alphabet?  Rereading what I wrote, and remembering from that time twelve years ago, I realize how inadequate my tribute, how past finding out are God’s ways.  But there are some things we can know about God.  Recorded history began with God.  What we say or write about God must be said in human terms, and in the light of our own personal understanding of Him.  He is unique and infinite, so much greater than our minds and the words expressing our thoughts can reach.  But here are the beginnings of that long-ago meditation; for form, using words of the letters of the alphabet.  For extent—limited to my understanding and my capability of expression.  Since it is long, I will give you a few letters at the time in my tribute to God.  I hope you will write your own meditation and think deeply about the marvelous attributes of a loving, omniscient, omnipotent God who knows each of us by name.

A – God is Almighty, above all and in all.  He is Abba (Father).  He is awesome in all aspects of His nature.  God is ageless and for all ages.  He is the Alpha, the beginning, the One who was and is and forever shall be.  God is alongside me as I write this, encouraging me to anchor my life in Him and ask Him for whatever I need.  He is aware of, awake to, and attentive to each person’s needs.

B—God is beyond our comprehension but at the same time He assures that he is behind us, below us, and bearing us along.  God is benevolent.  His beauty is infinite, His bounty limitless.  He bears long with the belligerence of His created beings.  He is the Burden Bearer.  He is the Beginning and the End.  He is broader than our thoughts can reach, yet He invites us to believe in Him, to know Him and to embrace Him.

C—God is creator.  “Without Him was not anything made that was made.”  He is consistent, “the same yesterday, today and forever.”  He is caring, “for He careth for you.”  He is considerate of the failings and shortcomings of His chosen ones, forgiving and restoring them when we call on Him.

Prayer:  My A, B, C’s, God, fall far short.  But as I offer this tribute, it is from my heart, in gratitude that I serve one who is unique, infinite, limitless and Almighty.  Thank you Lord that You smile on my efforts and continue revealing Yourself to me and to anyone who seeks You.  Amen.