Names of God

“In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)

Looking at the many Names of God, (continued)

Throughout the Bible, God has many names and titles. Each one tells us something important about Him—His character and how He relates to us. Here is another one of His many Names, which is Elohim.  

Elohim – The Creator

Elohim is the name by which God is introduced in the very first verse of the Bible. “In the beginning, God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). He is the Creator God who by His awesome power spoke the world into being. He is the infinite, all-powerful God who is the creator, sustainer, and supreme judge of the world.

Elohim blessed them with what He created for them (and for you today) and told them what to do with it

“God (Elohim) blessed them and said, “Be fertile, increase in number, fill the earth, and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.” God (Elohim) said, “I have given you every plant with seeds on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seeds. This will be your food. I have given all green plants as food to every land animal, every bird in the sky, and every animal that crawls on the earth—every living, breathing animal.” And so it was.” (Gen. 1:29:30)

Therefore

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Eph. 2:10 NLT)

Remember to thank Him for His kindness and to be a good steward with what He has put in your hands to use for Him.

Names of God

“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord (Adonai) of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God.” (Psalm 86:5)

 Looking at the many Names of God

 Throughout the Bible, we see that God has many names and titles, all of which have a significant meaning or highlight a certain attribute of God. Over the next few days, we will look at them.

 Adonai – Lord and Master

 Adonai is a Hebrew word that translates as “Lord” or “Lord Master” from its derivation “sovereignty”. Adonai appears 335 times in the Old Testament and is one of the most prominent names used for God there. In most English translations of the Bible it is translated as “Lord” with lower case letters, whereas the name YHWH (Yahweh) is written as “LORD” with all capital letters. Many Scripture authors used Adonai as an expression of humble awe, as in “O Lord, Our Lord,” or, “O God, my God.”

Adonai is also a term of respect people throughout the Old Testament used when addressing humans who were master or lord over them. Adonai is certainly an apt title for God. While there are other lords who hold sway over limited realms, God is the Lord of all the earth.

 Therefore

 You are invited to call upon Him as your own “Lord and Master” and to experience the benefits of having Him as your Adonai.

“For you, O Lord (Adonai), are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” (Psalm 86:5)

“Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again?” (Job 10:9)

The clay and it’s purpose belongs to the potter

The story of Job’s life is a demonstration of how a man of God should correctly deal with great loss and pain. Job suffered on multiple levels: he lost his children, lost his possessions, was stricken with devastating health issues, and was criticized and badly advised by his wife and friends, yet he remained faithful to God. Job had a firm understanding that he was formed by the hands of God as a potter forms clay, that he belonged to Him, and that he must honor Him no matter what.

“Behold, I belong to God like you;

I too have been formed out of the clay.” (Job 33:6)

Job’s response was remarkable because he started by worshipping God and never sinned or blamed God. And at the end of the narrative, Job not only receives a restored health but more possessions and a beautiful family, than that from which he’d begun in his former years (Job 42:12-17). Job had a positive outcome because he understood that God was his maker and that he belonged to God.

We are the clay, God is the potter

 “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand.” (Isa. 64:7)

“Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.” (Jer. 18-3-4)

Therefore

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.” (Psalm 139:13)

“But who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” (Rom. 9:20-21)

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10 ESV)

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26 ESV)

Failure is a part of the fallen “sin” condition

Failure happens to everyone from time to time, and there are great examples of it in the Bible, starting with the failure of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And that sin has continued to affect everyone in all future generations. There was David’s sin with Bathsheba. And Peter sinned in his denial of Christ, three times, even though he proclaimed passionately that he never would. The Apostle Paul described sin’s effects on him with these words: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Rom. 7:19-20 ESV)

Yes, we all do fail from time to time, but we must not allow sin to dominate us!

Each time you fail, get back up!

“For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” (Prov. 24:16 ESV)

Confess and forsake your sins

“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” (Prov. 28:13 ESV)

Therefore

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1 9 ESV)

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:8-10 ESV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (1 Cor. 5:17 ESV)

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36 ESV)

The most powerful word

The word “free” quickly catches the eye and produces the best results in advertising. Why is that so? It’s because everyone loves getting something for free. The funny thing, however, is that nothing is actually free; it costs somebody something. Someone at the store had to pay for the free widget they are giving away. We live in a country where we enjoy freedom, but that’s not free either—someone had to fight and pay for it.

Free through Jesus

The verse at top uses the word free two times. But notice that it says “if the Son sets you free” which lets you know who paid for that freedom. The cost was purchased by what Jesus did on the cross!

“Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13.38 ESV)

 Therefore

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Gal. 5:13 ESV)

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:37-38)

What Did Jesus mean?

When Jesus made the loud proclamation above saying that anyone who is thirsty should come to Him and drink, people didn’t understand what He meant. The passage went on to explain:

“By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:39 NIV)

People are still thirsty and confused today!

The word “thirst” means different things. One of the definitions says it simply means to have a craving for something. It could be for water, food, or even other things such as wealth, power, or fame. A lot of people have a thirst but don’t know what they really want, and they go from thing to thing trying to discern what it is. Jesus, in his statement above, pointed out that the answer to their thirst is Him! He is the only one who can satisfy their thirst!

Therefore

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matt. 5:6 ESV)

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free!” (Isa. 55:1 NLT)

“But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 1:6 NIV)

Be a finisher!

One of the most important things I was taught growing up is the importance of finishing things. If I started something, I must finish it, that was the rule. And my dad said any job wasn’t finished until the related mess was cleaned up and the tools were put away. Those have been excellent rules that I have tried to follow all my life, and I have tried to teach the same principles to my children because it is an important habit to develop at home and anywhere you work. Nobody likes to clean up after you!

Jesus always completed what He started

Jesus finished what He came to do, even though it was incredibly difficult, causing Him to sweat great drops of blood, suffer greatly, and die on the cross. It was necessary to redeem us, and He didn’t quit! After He completed what He was sent to do on the cross, He cried, “It is finished,” and then he died. He had successfully and totally completed the job God had sent Him to do! (John 3:16). 

He will complete what He started in you, too!

The verse at the top says that the good work God has begun in you “will be brought to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.” That’s a wonderful promise! I heard someone say, “Please be patient with me; God isn’t finished with me yet.” I think he was thinking of this promise.

Therefore

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4.13 ESV)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (Heb. 12:1 ESV)

“So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have.” (2 Cor. 8:11 ESV)

“Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. (Eph. 6:1-4)

Obey and honor your parents

When my children were little, and when the situation warranted it, I would remind them that the Bible says, “Children, obey your parents because it is the right thing to do.” And this always seemed to work pretty well most of the time until my oldest son, Matthew, who had apparently started reading the Bible for himself, answered back one day with, “Yes, it does say that, Dad, but if you read a little further, it also says, ‘Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.’ And dad, you are provoking me.”

After he said that, I told him that if he would continue to read even a bit further, the Bible also says to “bring them up with discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.” And that meant I was commanded by the Lord to use discipline and instruction to bring him up properly. I also told him that that command also had a promise attached to it: that if he honored his father, things would go well for him and he would live a long time; but if he didn’t, it would be just the opposite for him.

I smile when I remember some of our old conversations from so many years ago, especially now that he’s an adult himself, and has grown children of his own. I enjoy overhearing him say the same things to them on occasion.

Some verses about love and obedience

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15 ESV)

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3 ESV)

 Therefore

“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’” (John 14:23 ESV)

“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.” (Prov. 16:9 NLT)

 God, who is the creator of everyone, has the ability to direct everyone, whether they are aware of His directing them or not. For example, in the Old Testament, we read about Cyrus, who was God’s servant, even though he didn’t know God and wasn’t aware that God knew him (Isa. 45:4). God also directed the people all around Cyrus to accomplish many things He wanted done.

God still directs people today!

When you pray about things, you never know who He may be putting in your path as help. So, be alert!

Those interesting encounters

There are many instances in my life where people “just happened” to be in the exact place at exactly the right time they needed to be to help me dramatically. Such as when I met Jean Dawkins at a bar in Alaska when I had stopped there on my way to commit suicide. He talked me out of it, gave me the help I needed, and he brought me with his family to Washington State, where I eventually met Christ. Looking back over the situation, I had encountered several people who affected my direction that day. If any one of them hadn’t been in their exact place, I would have never gotten to where I needed to be in order to get me to where I am now. Looking back, I can clearly see that God’s hand was at work in so many people’s lives back then, even though I’m sure none of them knew it. The fact is, God connects people together in order to perform His purposes. Years later, I found out that a Sunday school teacher of mine, Mrs. Willa McGrew, had been praying for me every day for years! I had only attended her church a few times because the church’s Sunday school bus had come through my neighborhood and invited the children. I’m sure her fervent prayers for me had moved God to arrange for so many things to be in place for me. (James 5:16)

God has put some people in your life to assist you in fulfilling your destiny. Even if they don’t know you well, or maybe not at all, they might introduce you to someone or make a good impression on someone you need to connect with. They might have knowledge or guidance that will help you advance in life.  

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them.” (Isa. 42:16)

God organizes divine appointments

The folks who show up for divine appointments are frequently unexpected. In actuality, they often appear in unexpected places—a woman in the grocery store, an intern at work, or someone who might seem to have less clout. But God is able to inspire everyone.

Everyone can be a connection that God uses

We ought to always be willing to accept help from others. Every person we come into contact with deserves to be treated with respect, honor, and dignity. You can never predict who God will use in your life. Therefore, be welcoming, friendly, and loving so that He can use you to open doors for His heavenly appointments.

Therefore

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28 ESV)