Thursday Thirteen Edition 2: Names of God
13 Names of God in the Old Testament and Their Meanings
1. El Shaddai - All-Sufficient One, Lord God Almighty
2. El Elyon - The Most High God
3. Adonai - Lord, Master
4. Yahweh - Lord, Jehova
5. El Olam - The Everlasting God, The God of Eternity
6. Elohim - God, Judge, Creator
7. Jehovah Sabaoth - The Lord of Hosts, The Lord of Powers
8. Jehovah-Shalom - The Lord Is Peace
9. Jehovah Jireh - The Lord Will Provide
10. Jehovah Mekoddishkem - The Lord Who Sanctifies You, The Lord Who Makes Holy
11. Jehovah Tsidkenu - The Lord Our Righteousness
12. Jehovah Shammah - The Lord Is There
13. Jehovah-Rapha - The Lord That Heals
*Source: Blue Letter Bible - Study Tools
Have You Every Wondered Why?
Have you ever wondered why God put you in the job you had? I did for 6 long years. I graduated college with an IT related degree and work in a couple different IT related jobs. Then I got married and moved to Maryland where I had a hard time finding a job in the IT field. In fact I couldn’t find one. So because bills had to get paid, I started looking in other areas for jobs. I ended up working as a legal and personal assistant to a blind attorney. This job was not what I wanted, not what I had gone to college for. I really just thought it would be a temporary job until the Lord gave me the one I wanted. I was wrong. I ended up working for this attorney the entire time I lived in Maryland, 6 years.
The job itself wasn’t hard. It was simple but just involved a lot of things. I was the attorney’s sole employee for a long time and at the most there were only 2 employees at any given time. I did everything from legal research, billing, correspondence, pleadings, etc., everything a legal assistant would be required to do, but my responsibilities didn’t end there. This is where the “personal assistant” part of my job came in. Because the attorney I worked for was blind, I drove him on errands, went to court with him, met with clients with him, even balanced his checkbook for him. I bought birthday and anniversary presents, wrote out cards and notes, and even took him to the ER once for a broken wrist. The point I’m making is that I did everything for him.
I liked the job at first. It was exciting to learn the legal field - how the courts works, the law, etc. I also learned I never wanted to be an attorney. It just isn’t something I wanted to do. About that time, I also realized I really wanted to get back into the IT field again. So I started looking for a new job. Still nothing. Still a legal/personal assistant to a blind attorney. About 4 years down the road, I was talking with my mother about the job. I was telling her what I had learned about working with a blind person and there was just so much stuff I did by instinct now. If we were walking outside, I walked on the side near the curb. I knew where to place a paper for him to sign, how to describe things to him, etc. After telling her all of this, she reminded me of my brother.
My brother has a a disease called cone dystrophy (among other issues), which is an eye disease that can lead to blindness. He is legally blind, but can see good enough still do most thing for himself with minimal help however he will never be able to live by himself. It was at that moment speaking with mother that I realized why God had put me in this job - to prepare me for the future. At some point in the future my brother will have to come live us. He won’t be able to live with my parents forever. God was teaching me what I would did to know in order to live with and help a person with very limited vision. Once I realized why God had put me in the the position He did, I didn’t mind the job so much. I now understood the importance of it.
A lot of times we may never know why God puts us in certain places at certain times but the point is to know that God has a reason and that is all that matters. Our God is a sovereign God and all we must do is trust that God will take care us as He promised.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” Ps 56:3
Cafe Chat: Heartbreak
“To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Knowing this, we are aware that there will be times when our hearts hurt and break. Each of us has experienced that heart break in one form or another. Thinking back on your life, what makes your heart break, and why?
The Lord has been good to me and my family. We have experienced little heartache. We have had no children serious injured, no deaths of close family members or friends, no problems with our families, etc. One thing that does break my heart is people that judge and condemn opthers for not believing what they believe. It is not our job to judge and condemn, it is Gods.
When we were leaving in Maryland at one point we were living in a basement apartment in the house of some friends from church. We were living in a bad area of town and when these friends offered us the basement apartment in their house, we were excited to take them up on the offer (We paid rent, utitlites, everything. Nothing was given to us). We got out of a bad part of town and into a good area. After we had been living there for over a year the church we were attending started to have problems. The pastor left and and a new one came on. I wasn’t thrilled about the new pastor, but believed I should give him a chance because The Lord put him there for some reason. Our friends immediately left the church when the new pastor came stating that they had heard bad things about him, etc.
So now the people we were renting our apartment from were attending a different church than we were. I didn’t think it would matter. Why should it? I was wrong. They felt we made the wrong decision by staying at the church under the new pastor. They started bad mouthing the pastor and church everytime we talked and wanting to know what was keeping us there. I decided I just wasn’t going to respond and hoped they would eventually move on. They didn’t and a couple months later told us to move out.
What broke my heart was that they were judging us on the fact that our decisions were not the same as theirs. They judged and condemned us because we didn’t believe what they believed. People do this everyday. People from different religions, ethic backgrounds, income level, etc. It’s not just one group, it happens all the time and in places you would less expect it. I know people will not always see eye to eye on things, but that is no reason to judge and condemn.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10
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Thankful Thursday - 6/19/08
Thanks to Iris at Sting My Heart for hosting Thankful Thursday.
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
Since we just moved to Oklahoma last month that meant we also left our church in Maryland. This week I am thankful for the churches in the community that we are visiting in our quest to find the church home The Lord wants us at. I feel at a loss not being a member of a church yet, but I think this past Sunday we may have found the one, but I’m still keeping it in my prayers.
My husband also started his new job (the reason we moved to OK) yesterday. I’m thankful that the Lord has allowed him to follow his dreams and work in the field he has always wanted.
I am also thankful that my two kids seem to be adjusting to our move just fine. They love being in a house now instead of an apartment and are thrilled to have their own rooms. I’m just thankful the move happened without any problems.
What are you thankful for this week? Be sure to visit Sting My Heart to visit other participants.
Thursday Thirteen Edition 1: Prayer in Psalms
13 Verses About Prayer in The Book of Psalms
I believe prayer is one of the most importance aspects of faith. Prayer can work miracles. It can restore hope, resolve conflict, and bring peace. I chose verses from The Book of Psalms because they all describe prayers I have prayed one way or another before.
- “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me [when I was] in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” Psalms 4:1
- “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct [my prayer] unto thee, and will look up.” Psalms 5:3
- “The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.” Psalms 6:9
- “Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, [that goeth] not out of feigned lips.” Psalms 17:1
- “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I [am] a stranger with thee, [and] a sojourner, as all my fathers [were].” Psalms 39:12
- “Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.” Psalms 54:2
- “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.” Psalms 55:1
- “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.” Psalms 61:1
- “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.” Psalms 102:17
- “For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give myself unto] prayer.” Psalms 109:4
- “When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.” Psalms 109:7
- “Let my prayer be set forth before thee [as] incense; [and] the lifting up of my hands [as] the evening sacrifice.” Psalms 141:2
- “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, [and] in thy righteousness.” Psalms 143:1
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My Daddy Prays For Me
This was poem on the back of the church bulliten today.
My Daddy Prays For Me
Author unknown
When Daddy prays, the house gets still,
His voice is slow and deep;
We shut our eyes, the clock ticks loud,
So quiet we must keep.
When Daddy prays, he doesn’t use
Those words the preacher does;
There’s different things for different days,
But mostly it’s for us.
He prays that we may be good boys
and later on good men;
We fellows squirm and think
We’ll have no quarrels again.
You’d think, to look at Dad,
He once had tempers, too;
If Daddy needs to pray,
We youngsters surely do!
His prayer gets awful long
And hard to understand;
So I just wiggle up quite close
And let him hold my hand.
I can’t remember all of it,
I’m little yet, you see;
But one thing I cannot forget,
my Daddy prays for me!
Cafe Chat: God’s Sovereignty
What is one of your favorite attributes of God, and why?
One of my favorite attributes of God is His Sovereignty.
“Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.” 1 Chronicles 29:11
“For the kingdom [is] the LORD’S: and he [is] the governor among the nations.” Psalm 22:28
It is such a relief to me to know that God is in control of everything. Nothing is done without God allowing it to be done. While I don’t always know why God allows certain events occur, it is a blessing to me to know that God has a reason for it happening.
God’ sovereignty is also a great stress reliever. Knowing that God is in control prevents worry from ruling my life. I don’t worry about things I cannot control. I know that God will take care of it all. God will provide us with everything we need.
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A Father’s Role
With Father’s Day being tomorrow I thought it would be good idea to post about a father’s role to train and educate his child in the ways of the Lord.
“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4
According to Dictionary.com, nurture means to feed and protect, support and encourage, and to bring up, train, or educate. Admonition literally means “a putting in the mind,” according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
Ephesians 6:4 is very clear in what the father’s purpose is in a child’s life - to teach the child to follow and love the Lord. This is no easy task. As adults we struggle with this everyday. So how is a father suppose to teach a child to follow and love the Lord? Here are some ways a father can help teach his child to follow and love the Lord:
Read the Bible together everyday
When reading the Bible there are three important verses to keep in mind: 1) “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4 ); 2) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 ); and 3) “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2 Timothy 3:16 ). These three verses explained the importance of the Bible. It is God’s very own word! The Bible is what the Lord gave to us as a survival guide. It teaches us everything we need to know on how to live a successful life in this world, which includes serving the Lord. Parents want a user manual on how to raise their kids? We have one, it’s called The Holy Bible. By reading the Bible together, a father can help train his child in serving the Lord.
Pray together everyday
I can never overemphasize the importance of prayer. Prayer can work miracles. Prayer is our direct connection to the Lord. By encouraging daily prayer a father can instill the importance of taking trials and praises to the Lord in prayer so that they can be dealt with correctly. The Bible makes it very clear that we are to bring everything to the Lord in prayer. All of our questions, fears, temptations, requests, desires, and needs. The Lord always answers prayers. May not be when you want them answered or how you want them answered, but they are answered. It is with prayer that one can overcome temptation, help others in their time of need, and bring peace to your life. Some verses to remember are: 1) “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive [them], and ye shall have [them].” (Mark 11:24); 2) “Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly [is] ready, but the flesh [is] weak.” (Mark 14:38); and 3) “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” (Luke 6:28).
Make serving God a priority in your life
Live by example. If a child sees his father serving the Lord, then that child is more likely to serve the Lord. Attend church, don’t use foul language, read your Bible on your own, pray on your own, treat others with kindness, etc. It’s amazing what a child learns just by watching. If a father is serving the Lord, then the child will learn how to as well.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
