God's Character

We just thought we'd share a little bit with you about what we were learning :)

This week we learned about God's character, what He is like and some common misconceptions about how He is percieved by people. If there are misconceptions about the nature and character of God then people will be left confused in what He expects from us in our day to day lives in how we relate to Him, ourselves and others in a relationship concept. The speaker described God as a personal God - that means he is intelligent, self concious, reasonable, imaginative and he has a memory (we also share these same characteristics). God also feels, joy, grief, anger, compassion and humility for example just as we do. You can't have a personal relationship with a God who is impersonal.

We also learned about the Will of God, in the big things and the little things. Gods Will is whats best for us, its up to us to choose to listen or not. It's our choice, whether it be in dealing with family members, friends or our life decisions - this is not the be all and end all however because God can be reasoned with in a loving way- if it is in his Will and we have a passion for somthing He can make it happen, we just need to ask. We are called to become more loving, holy, wise, faithful, just, merciful, gracious, good, kind and forgiving - all the things that GOD IS and wants US to become (these things are not always easy to do as a humans - but we need to try). If don't try or we go against any of these things (which are going against Gods Will then we are technically Sinning) - Sin hurts God because He sees what it will do to us and He feels what we feel. However the beauty of God is that no matter what mistakes we make He will always provide doors for ways in which we can get back on track e.g. if we need to apologize to someone or we know or follow through on somthing major in life He can make it happen if it's in His Will, it's never too late with God. There is also a difference between conciously, blatently choosing to ignore Him regularily because we are not acting loving, holy, wise, forgiving etc... OR we just honestly are missing his instructions (if thats the case he will somehow work with us in a loving corrective manor to try and get us back on track in relationship).

Finally, only He is infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and holy (we are not these things, nor are we expected to be). We are also not called to Judge people because we are not God, we are only called to do our best in becoming the characteristics that make up God's true character; loving.....merciful, forgiving, good, kind to one another etc) Finally I learned that when you truly love God, you will love yourself because of all that He is and wants us to be (all that He is are the things that make up His characteristics). Finally the coolest thing i found out was that - The bible is a Record of God's Will, Man's response to God's Will and God's response to mans response (He sent us Jesus to restore the broken relationship that was happening to all humans recorded throughout the bible). I thought it was really really cool and although i maybe knew some or most of what the speaker was saying already, it was a nice refresher course in life with God if anything. I also thought that He is a friend that wants a relationship with me just like i want with you guys or Lyd or anyone and it's never to late to say just say "HEY" and ask what HE thinks of me and how i am doing and possibly let some things go in my own heart (that is what i have been processing since i've got here). What i just talked about is in scripture and i have verses to illustrate the points i made.