January 29th Class

Hey Girls, I just have a few more errands to run and tasks to check off my To Do List for today and then I'll be able to pop in for a while and visit....!
By the way, if you are having trouble navigating the Comment Cafe, just e-mail me your comment by clicking here and I will post it for you... eezy-peezy!

(Two and a half hours later)...

Whew!  Got everything done and so here I am, just let me grab a hot mug of lemon tea and I'll be ready to chat for a bit...

(Three minutes later) OK, so here I am, and with a disclaimer!  ***There is absolutely no way that I could ever re-create the class that we had this morning, or any morning for that matter.  So I am not even going to try.  What I can do however, is just share some of my own thoughts and also some of my teaching notes and scripture references so that you can at least get a sense of what we covered.  

I'm relying on you girls that were in the class to jump right in and add your own insights, thoughts and take-away value of the time you spent with your sisters, never under-estimate the value of your voice, God can use it in powerful ways to bless and encourage one another.

Our jump in point this morning was the word "anthropomorphic" which basically means when God appears or manifests Himself in human form.  ANTHRO meaning "man" and MORPHE meaning "form".  In the O.T. we see Abraham talking to God, we see Jacob wrestling with God and we see Adam walking with God, these are all O.T. anthropomorphic revelations of Jesus Christ.  Due to the fact that no one can see the Father and live, these instances must have been Jesus Christ.  We looked at Isaiah 6:1 "saw the Lord", and 6:5 "eyes have seen the King".  In continuing to discuss the Trinity we also looked at some more of the "US" scripture references in Isaiah 6:8 and in Genesis 1:26 3:22 and 11:7, to see how God is continually revealing Himself in the plural throughout the O.T.

We also discussed how in Genesis 1 we see God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all involved in creation.  We saw how the Holy Spirit is the energy, the power and the moving of God (more about this is a moment!)

I wanted to spend a bit of time back again in Genesis 1:1-3, looking in particular at the phrase "Then God said,...".   The reason for the closer look is that it is here that we see the Spokenness of God, The Word of God, Jesus, The Son of God.  We see God the Father in this phrase, and then in the word "said" we see God the Son, the Spokenness of God.  Psalm 33:6 "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.  John 1:1 "In the beginning was the  Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  The Word, the Spokenness of God.  John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,..."  The Word, the Spokenness of God.

In Hebrews 1:2 and 11:3 we see God the Father as the Master Designer and God the Son carrying out the creative work.  "...through whom also He made the world."  "...the worlds (ages) were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."

So, in Genesis 1:1-3 we see God the Father, we see also the Spokenness of God, God the Son, The Word of God, the Son (Revelation 19:13 "...and His name is called The Word of God.")  We also see the Holy Spirit who is the life force, the germinator (I'm a gardener so don't go looking this word up in your concordance!).  We looked at Luke 1:35 where we see the Holy Spirit germinating the Seed of the Father into Mary's womb "...The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child will be call the Son of God."  We also looked at Acts 1 and 2 and saw how the Holy Spirit germinates us into salvation.

In looking at the Trinity we also looked at how we are to pray "In the Name of Jesus" to the Father.  Our prayers are to be directed to the Father, just as Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father, Who art in heaven...".  The Father of Jesus is now our Father and through Jesus, Who is the Gate and is The Door to the Father, we are to pray as He did.  1 Peter 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..."  The purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to reveal the Father and the will of the Father.  We looked at John 14:6-10 and highlighted the importance of understanding this passage and also the truth of it.  It will free us up in our intimacy, in our YADA with God the Father, when our focus is completely upon Him!

We looked at Luke 2:49, where Jesus addresses His earthly dad regarding His True Father.  It is important that we remember that Adam was made from the dust of the earth, Eve was made from Adam's rib, every one who came afterwards through all time has been made from an egg and a sperm and the Hands of God knitting them together in their mother's womb..ONLY Jesus was begotten of The Father.  There has never been anyone like Him on the face of this earth.

I mentioned, that in the gospel of John, Jesus mentions His Father over 120 times. Jesus said in John 4:34 that "...My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work."  Jan had earlier brought up a question that was in the workbook from a previous week regarding fulfilling the purpose that God had created us for... this verse spoke to her question so well.  

In John 5:18-20, when we hear Jesus saying, "Truly, truly,..." in the original Greek this means, "It is settled, it is settled".  Read these verses in the light of this!  Jesus reveals the Father profoundly all throughout Chapter 5, it is a major revelation of the Father and the Son.  God the Son is continually deferring to God the Father and in doing so, Jesus is revealing the importance of God the Father.  Throughout the book of John, Jesus refers to His love for the Father, His yielding to the Father, his desire and need of the Father... and that was Jesus!  God the Father is also our Father now if we have been saved by grace, could it be said that this position of Jesus is one that we find ourselves in on a daily basis?  It was this relationship that Jesus had with the Father that took Him to the Garden of Gethsemane, it was this relationship with the Father that took Jesus to the point of desiring the will of The Father over His own will.  It was this relationship with the Father that took Jesus to the cross.  It was this relationship that Jesus had with The Father that brought fulfillment in the purpose for which He was sent.

Jesus wants us to KNOW God The Father, He wants us to go through Him The Gate, The Door) into the very presence of God The Father, that we might YADA with Him.

My tea is cold... I'll be back in a minute...

(Ten minutes later) OK, I'm back!  Just had to chat with Edna for a second as she was wandering around in the Comment Cafe looking for a familiar face!  Coming all the way from Mexico, she at least deserves a sister or two to show up and visit for a while!  Edna, I'll be here live until 7:30pm!

So, back to the class this morning!  Last week we saw God as Elohim, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Creator of man.  This week we see God as El Elyon, God Most High. Knowing these two names of God, Knowing the God of these two names!, will completely change the way that we live.  In looking this week at our Creator God (Elohim) being Sovereign over all that He has created (heaven, earth, man) this must have raised some questions within you... or am I the only one?!?  Trust is a huge issue here... and trust, or the lack of it, is very telling of the kind of relationship that you actually have with God the Father.  Can we trust Him to protect what He has created, can we trust Him to sustain what He has created, can we trust Him to fulfill the purpose of His creation?  Now personalize those three questions. Can you trust Him with you... His creation?  We actually discussed this at some length during class time.  I'm hoping that you girls will jump in at some point over the next few days and share some of that discussion, I believe there is blessing to be had in the sharing!

I believe with everything in me, that To KNOW, to really KNOW God the Father as El Elyon will sustain us through every trial of life.  To truly KNOW God the Father as God Most High, Sovereign over all will enable us to live victoriously in the light of our past, present and future.  We looked at Genesis 14:13-22, seeing His Sovereignty, that He rules over ALL, that there is nothing in all creation that He does not rule over AND have absolute control over... nothing.  I believe that it is at this place, where our deepest questions and heartaches lie, and that if we would but go deeper, YADA with Him, that He would meet these questions and heartaches with Himself, the Truth of Himself, and it will be enough.  I also believe that it is these questions, these heartaches, these fears within us, that are our stumbling blocks to going deeper into YADA with God the Father.

Well, that was the basic overview of this morning.  Very basic, I am sure some of you are asking "but what about Melchezidek... what about Nebuchadnezzar?"  So glad that you asked!  How about we continue that discussion in the Comment Cafe?  I did leave the girls that were there this morning with a question though... ask them what it was and then I'll know that they wrote it down! ;)

Well, it's 7:25pm and I've just finished my second lemon tea, I'll pop in again sometime tomorrow, hope to see you here!

Love each one of you, stay in The Word!

Come on in, 

pull up a chair, 

and chat with your sisters this week in...

The Comment Cafe