by Psalmist Doris Stokes Knight GET TO KNOW WHO GOD IS! I t is important for us to realize as people of God just how important our character means. It’s important for others to know who you truly are by your character because it will precede you in a lot of cases in life: in school, in the workforce, in business relationships and in the NEW relationships you forge throughout your life. What amazes me are the many people who claim to be Christians, believe in God and state they love Him but they don’t really know or understand His character. Why the amazement?...because just like with people, you can’t truly “love”, “know” or appreciate someone without some type of relationship being developed. You have to know something about them: what they like, don’t like, what they’re good at, their strengths, weaknesses, attitudes, behaviors, educational background, profession, what kind of family they came from, etc., these are all windows into what kind of person they are. When it comes to The Lord, the Bible is instrumental in helping us to know and understand WHO our Creator is. Why is that?...because it would be hard for us to come to know Him, love Him and understand somewhat how He operates and TRUST Him as God without understanding the “Isness” of God. Now understand that we will NEVER fully comprehend all there is TO know about The Lord but there is enough about His character written in scripture to validate why we should accept and respect Him for the well-deserving God that He is. By reading in context the Word and how He interacted with the people of the Bible, we come to gain an understanding of how deeply He tends to love, what makes Him angry, how giving He is and ready to release blessings over our life, how protective He is over His people and how He doesn’t tolerate foolishness and disloyalty. Yes, these are character traits of who He is! For those that know me, they know I’m a VERY mild-mannered person, funloving and enjoy being around fun people. Several years ago a friend of mine told me that another person that just happened to have attended the same church I did (several years previously) but I had absolutely NO relationship with this individual, had informed her she didn’t “like” me because I had slapped her one Sunday in front of the whole church. So to my friend’s surprise, she said “I was so shocked she said that, I told her, in all the years I’ve known Doris NOBODY I know has EVER said anything even remotely close about her fighting, being violent or getting in any loud arguments or confrontations with ANYBODY!” She said, “Doris that was THEE FUNNIEST thing I had ever heard because I couldn’t imagine in my mind you raising your hand to slap or hit somebody!” See, what this other person didn’t RECOGNIZE is that “slapping anybody” is NOT a characteristic belonging to me. So naturally we had to have a good laugh about it because there obviously was NO TRUTH to her claims. Besides, usually before events escalate to a “slapping phase” wouldn’t the parties involved have to know each other, have had some type of disagreement, argument or SOMETHING before a punch or slap would be thrown into the equation? And, if I had “slapped her in front of the whole church” (which was a pretty large sized congregation) as she claimed, wouldn’t 4 DEVINE GLORY MAGAZINE there obviously be witnesses to that fact...especially since my own Mother attended that church as well? Although I knew who the person was, we had NEVER even had so much as a conversation before; it was pretty much a “hello” and “goodbye” relationship! The point is this: if the character my friend had already known about me had not preceded me, she may have believed the lie coming from this other person who instigated this “story.” But since she had known me for YEARS, she had history about who I was, my consistent behaviors, personality traits and reputation and her RELATIONSHIP with me directly instantly raised a RED FLAG on this accusation against me, so she knew there couldn’t have been much if any truth to this other person’s claims. This is why it is sooooooo difficult to get those that have a genuine relationship with God for themselves to be “turned around” from what they KNOW about Him. They’ve already experienced Him in some POSITIVE way; the God of miracles, signs, wonders, doors being opened or closed, protection, ways made, debts canceled, healings, prayers being heard and answered, as the old saints use to say; “THEY KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT HIM!” When you allow yourself to understand and gain the wisdom of what makes God be God, you learn to never under-estimate Him nor to pre-suppose what He may or may not do. You’ll never figure Him out but your FAITH in Him will always act on your behalf to encourage God’s hand to move in your favor. His character stands by itself, once you gain a REAL ENCOUNTER with Him no one can tell you how mean He is, or He doesn’t care about us or that He doesn’t exist. All it takes is for you to open your eyes in the morning to see a NEW day or for you to continue walking in divine health and having a reasonable amount of strength, to hear birds singing, rain falling, the sun shining to KNOW He exists! If you’re breathing by the grace of God, that means He’s merciful enough to provide the oxygen you’re taking in to sustain your life, so He cares for us and we can depend on Him by the character He has exhibited and displayed throughout the ages. The Bible itself is an account of His history. In your walk with The Lord, make a conscious effort and promise to yourself that you will actively take the time to KNOW and learn His character. Think back on situations in your own life and see if you can identify HOW you were delivered or how your situation got resolved or turned around especially if you couldn’t figure things out for yourself. What character trait of God showed up on your behalf?: was it Jehovah Jireh (the God of provision); was it Jehovah Ropheka (the God our Healer); or was it Jehovah Nissi (the God of Victory)? See, He’s such a BIG God, He can’t be characterized or contained by one Name because He can and will become the God you need at the time you need Him! He’s a multi-faceted, multi-breasted God that you can’t place in a box and He won’t operate on your terms! Knowing the character of God will FREE you and give you the liberty necessary to believe God for the impossible! You can trust WHO He is, WHAT He is and WHAT He stands for because His character is SOUND; our God is simply.... AWESOME! ~Selah. I’m lovin’ you to life!
5 Publizr Home