Daily Archives: November 28, 2011

Names of God Series

Names of God – El Shaddai

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Okay ready for another post in our Names of God series?

So far we have looked at three names of God, Elohim which reveals God as our Creator God, El Elyon which reveals God as God Most High and El Roi which reveals God as the God who sees. Just the revelation of these names alone are enough to jump up and shout over, don’t you think?

Today we are going to discover our God as El Shaddai, God Almighty.

We first discover this name of God in Genesis.

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old,
 the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
   “I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
“I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly.” 
Genesis 17:1-2
We must always remember our context. Remember that Abram was seventy-five years old when he first was promised descendants. Then after waiting for a while and having no child, Sarai comes up with a plan and Abram goes into Hagar, Sarai’s hand-maid. And yes a child is conceived… but this is not the promised child. This is a child of fleshly efforts, not faith and divine power.
Now thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, the LORD appears to Abram again. Abram is ninety-nine years old. Ninety-nine. Which means Sarai is eighty-nine. Yes, eighty-nine years old. And now God appears to Abram and says, Abram, it’s time to do this thing. 
God then changes Abram and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah.
How does Abram respond?
 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed,
and said in his heart,
“Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old?
And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 
And Abraham said to God,
“Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”
Genesis 17:17-18
Abraham is belly rolling and says something like, Oh yeh God, that’s a good one! Then Abraham has a bright idea, God, just let Ishmael be the one, I mean really have you forgotten how old Sarah is? Hello, our stuff don’t even work anymore!
But God says
“No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son,
and you shall call his name Isaac;
and I will establish My covenant with him
for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Genesis 17:19
You see God had just introduced Himself to Abram as El Shaddai, God Almighty. God did not need any help from Abraham and Sarah’s physical and fleshly efforts. He is the All-Powerful, All-Sufficient, Almighty God. God is never in need of our ability. He supplies our ability, He just asks for our availability.
And He has said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is perfected in weakness.”
Most gladly, therefore,
I will rather boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses,
with insults,
with distresses,
with persecutions,
with difficulties,
for Christ’s sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
God would display His glory and His might and perfect plan in the not only weak Abraham and Sarah, but dead. There bodies were dead to the ability to conceive, but death has never stopped our God. There is no weakness that we carry, no struggle that we have, that God’s power cannot be perfected in and through. He is God Almighty.
For the material they had was sufficient
and more than enough for all the work, to perform it. 
Exodus 36:7
You see whatever God has called you to do, whatever you have, where ever you are, it will be more than enough to perform what He has called you to do. The power is not yours, it was never in you to begin with, it’s His and it’s in and through Him…
Not that I speak from want,
for I have learned to be content
in whatever circumstances I am. 
I know how to get along with humble means,
and I also know how to live in prosperity;
in any and every circumstance
I have learned the secret of being filled
and going hungry,
both of having abundance
and suffering need. 
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13
Book Reviews, Proven Path Ministries

>Living in Love Book Review

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This is my first official book review… so bear with me. I only hope I am able to do the book justice and some how encourage you to pick it up and read it. Trust me it will not be wasted time.

I finally finished reading Living in Love by James & Betty Robison. I say “finally” because it was so full of wonderful information that I would stop and take notes, then read over it again, and then stop again and take time to reflect on what I had read and evaluate where I was in light of what I had just learned. If you could see my copy, you would see that it is full of post-it notes marking things I want to go back over and over again.

This book was full of practical counsel. It was also full of hope. There was truth in every page. James and Betty openly shared their hearts. They shared where they had struggled in their marriage and where and how they began walking in victory.

The book is an easy read (an excerpt). It is broken up into manageable sections and chapters. Even someone who is not particularly found of reading would be able to make it through this book. The book is written in such a personal tone that I felt that I was sitting there talking with James and Betty instead of simply reading a book. At the end of each chapter is a few questions to hopefully kick-start you in the personal evaluation and application process, but for me it was easy to begin the evaluating as I read because of the way the book was so practically and conversationally written.     

I would go so far as to recommend that every married couple and every couple engaged to be married by two copies and two hi-liters. Then both read through it and hi-lite the things that spoke to their own heart. Then trade books and see what the other saw as important and sit down and talk about the why’s. But don’t take just my word, there are videos and another sneak peak into the pages of Living in Love to encourage you even further to seek out the benefits of reading this book.

I would give my hind-tooth to have been at a place in my life to have read this book before I ever entered into my marriage. I cannot even begin to imagine the struggles and hurts that could have been diverted or at the very least lessened and shortened had I known the information that is in this book beforehand. However, I can start today to apply what I have learned to the life of my marriage. One of my favorite quotes in the book, “No pit is too deep or too dark that God cannot rescue you from it, if you’re willing.” No matter where you think you are in your marriage God can use this book to reach you where you are and build up and strengthen your marriage.   

I must share a word of caution to any married person who reads this book, please remember that James and Betty have been on this journey for many years. I have walked the marriage journey only a short twelve years. I can’t compare my marriage to theirs. I can’t compare my spouse to them. I can’t read this book in a spirit that only marks where I see my spouse has failed or is failing. I have to read this book in a spirit that is focused on me and God. Allowing God to show me where I need work, where I need change, then trust God to move in my marriage. It is after all His design. He more than anyone wants to see us living in love.

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FTC disclaimer
“I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review”

Devotional Studies Through the Bible

>A Time to Run

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How then could I do this great evil
and sin against God?
Genesis 39:9
 
We return now to the life of Joseph, sold into slavery and bought by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh. Now Potiphar saw that Joseph was someone special. He recognized that the Lord was with him. He recognized that he had begun to prosper since Joseph had come into his charge.
 
Potiphar made Joseph his personal servant and placed him as overseer of his house and all that he owned. Potiphar could trust in Joseph, and so he worried about nothing while Joseph was in charge.
 
Potiphar had a wife, and his wife took quite a liking to Joseph and she pursued him. Joseph, however, would not return Potiphar’s wife’s advances. Day after day, she pursued him, and day after day, he refused her. He replied that Potiphar was his master, he trusted him, and he would not violate this trust. Even more, Joseph professed that he would not go into Potiphar’s wife and commit this great evil and sin against God.
 
This adulteress female did not want to accept Joseph’s no, so she grabbed his garment and commanded that he lie with her. Joseph ran, leaving his garment in her tightly gripped hand. In 2 Timothy 2:22 we read, “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
 
Joseph did just that; he fled!
 
When this woman, in her rejected anger, went to her husband and demanded that Joseph be killed because he violated her, I believe her husband knew the truth because he knew his wife and he knew Joseph. The Scripture says that “his anger burned” (Genesis 39:19).
 
I believed it burned not against Joseph, but against his wife, who had forced him into this situation. He had to address the charge, and he could not place the word of a slave over his wife. I believe Potipher’s belief in Joseph’s innocence is made evident in the fact that instead of killing Joseph, he placed him in the king’s prison.
 
Joseph knew that all sin was against God. He also knew that he could not hide himself from God. Joseph did not want to be the kind of person who would need to hide from God. He did not desire to be a man who could not look his master in the eyes.
 
Are you living your life today fleeing from youthful lust?
Are you able to call on the Lord from a pure heart?
Today, could you look your master in the eyes?
 
Oh Father,
 
Sometimes doing the right thing does not always give us the result we expect. Yet the right thing is still the right thing. Oh Father, that I would know, as Joseph knew, that all sin is against You. I pray that I will always have the strength of conviction to turn away from sin, to run away if need be. Oh Father, how I desire to be true to You. My Jesus, may I always be able to look You in the eyes. The seductions of this world might grab me with tightly gripped hands, but my feet are shod with the glorious gospel, and you will my clear my way as I turn from the grip and run toward You. Your grace will be sufficient, and You will always have a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).
 
My Jesus, I love You, and it is in Your name I pray,
Amen.