Characteristics of God


Prayer: Dear Lord God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be Your name on my lips all day long. Fill up my heart with knowledge of You and a better understand of who You are so that our relationship might be strengthened daily. Pour out Your Spirit so that I may believe with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Read: Isaiah 9:1-7
http://www.esvbible.org/Isaiah 9:1-7

Thoughts: What would the Christmas season be without a reading the stunning prophecy of Isaiah 9? Besides the actual oft-read text from Isaiah these words have also been immortalized in music (Handel’s Messiah being the most famous) and so are very recognizable and easy to remember. Most of us could recite these two verses without looking at them! (And if you can’t, well – maybe a little homework assignment .)

     These are words worth knowing for they give us a glimpse into the personality and make-up of the Messiah who is to come.  Let’s look at them in a little bit of detail, as they are alive with hope, redemption, and peace.

  1. “A Child is born.”  An actual human child. This is a huge concept for the God of the universe has come to us in the flesh to live with us as one of us to carry out the perfect will of the Father.
  2. “A Son is given.” Jesus was always God’s Son, from the beginning. A human child is born, but the Son of God is given, for He already existed.
  3. “Wonderful Counselor.” Astonishingly wonderful; almost beyond description, possessing the wisdom of God Himself and more than willing to bring it to us if only allowed to do so.
  4.  “Mighty God.” Our strong champion. Nothing is bigger or stronger than our God.
  5.  “Everlasting Father.” Continually eternal Daddy. Yes, that’s the word – Daddy; with all of the connotations of warmth, love, compassion, and enduring care that the word Daddy possesses.
  6.  “Prince of Peace.” The ruler and bringer of Shalom; perfect unbreakable peace.
These are the characteristics that Isaiah prophecies about the coming Savior. Granted, this was a prophecy from the distance. Jesus wouldn’t be born for 700 years, and yet by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he pens these words about the One who is promised to come and save us. An often over looked practice of Christian disciple is that of meditating on the characteristic of God. Here we find a perfect list to ponder and marvel at as we think about who God is and what we can expect from Him.

What does this kind of meditation bring to us? Knowledge about the One we love. Here in a few short words we find a portrait of our God that builds faith, strengthens our courage for everyday living, and deeps our intimacy with Him in this verse of amazing revelation. Dwelling upon these traits can only lead to good places for us in our relationship with Him. When we are worried we can look to our Mighty God. When we have questions or doubts, we seek out or Wonderful Counselor. When we are afraid, we can climb onto the lap of our Everlasting Father. And when our peace is shattered we can run under the wings of the Prince of Peace. Do yourself a favor and integrate these Words into your vocabulary about God and dwell on them often throughout the day.

Prayer: Dear Lord God, please help me to know and understand these characteristics as described by Isaiah. When I am troubled, please bring these names quickly to mind and help me to know that You can fulfill every one of these roles on my behalf. In the name of my Prince of Peace I pray. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The...
Read more

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv...
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl...
Read more