Mission Faithwalk

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless . ( Genesis 17:1) He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty . ( Psalm 91:1)   EL-SHADDAI “The God of the mountains or God Almighty”           For most of my life, if I turned something on and it didn't work, I called, "Da-ad." Do you have one of those MacGyver, mechanical sort of people in your life? You know, the ones you're sure they can fix anything. It's amazing how much stress that removes from your life. Have a problem? Go take a long, hot bath and when you're done luxuriating, the problem doesn't exist. Ah...that's the life. I miss it.           While I dwelt in the shelter of my father's household (and his ability remained), I rested in the shadow of his mechanical skill. That "Da-ad" response and that "Ah" response is what Psalm 91 is tal

She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)   EL-ROI “The strong one who sees”          "Daddy-- watch   me, Daddy."           "Are you coming to my soccer game?"          "How do I look?"          We all want to be seen. Somehow, being seen makes us real. It makes us important. I'm not quite sure how that works. It's a paradox for me, because I also want to be invisible.            Hagar started out invisible. She was an Egyptian slave girl taken from her homeland. One day her mistress noticed her, and decided to use her to solve a problem. When it became noticeable that she was pregnant, she saw herself in a different light. She started trying to be seen in that different light by others, which led to her being driven away, out into the desert where she again became invisible. Not only was she invisible, but she was unprotected,

In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)   JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU “The Lord our righteousness"         This is one of those things that blows my mind. We've all heard of guilt by association. Anyone who voted for Mr. Trump is hateful, phobic, etc. Anyone who voted for Mrs. Clinton is hateful, corrupt, etc. We can probably provide evidence that one or more of those statements is true. But, God works in the opposite direction. He attributes righteousness by association. Abraham believed God, and it was attributed to him as righteousness. The nation of Israel was told over and over that God didn't choose them because they were righteous - because they weren't. He was their righteousness just as Christ is ours today. It's not that we do nothing wrong. It's not even really that we are learning to do what is right (though I hope we are.) It is all about Hi

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.   (Genesis 14:18-20)   EL-ELYON meaning “The Most High God”            Melchizedek, king of Salem...priest of El-Elyon. Someday, we need to spend a day or two looking at Melchizadek. Today, we're looking at his God, El-Elyon, the "God Most High" or "Most High God." Looking at the words, another way to say it would be that He is the God of gods. We begin to see this in Genesis and it continues through the rest of Scripture. El-Elyon destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah and the other towns in the area. Their gods didn't stop Him. He mocked the gods of Egypt in Exodus. As you continue to read, He defeated the gods of the Promised Land. In David's day, He

He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD , who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)   JEHOVAH-RAPHA meaning “The Lord our healer”          I don't like to go to the doctor's office. The biggest reason is that they put me through tests, examine me and then give me orders about how I should be living my life. I will have greater health if I follow those orders. Isn't that what healing is? The problem is that I don't tend to want to follow the orders. Even when I want the benefit of good health, I don't want to do what's needed to have it.          The Lord, who heals you promised the Israelites the same thing. If they lived a spiritually healthy lifestyle, they would be healed. Today's passage says so. So does II Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, wh

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “ Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory .” (Isaiah 6:1-3 NASB)   JEHOVAH-SABBAOTH meaning “The Lord of Hosts”        In the year that king Uzziah died. Transition of power...sound familiar? Uzziah had been a good king, for the most part. His son had already been regent for several years due to the king's illness, but there was still the question: now that there's no one who has authority over him, what will happen? It turned out that Jotham was also a good kind, but that was disclosed in the future.        Isaiah saw a vision of Heaven, where God is on the throne and angels humbly declare how triply holy He is. The name &

  So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:24) JEHOVAH-SHALOM “The Lord is peace”             Yesterday morning, I read a letter to the editor that said that the writer would come together with the new administration when the new administration realized that it works for the writer, and addresses the writer's concerns. It seemed to me the writer was saying that there would only be peace between him and the new administration when the new administration did what the writer wanted. I can't fault the writer. I had the same feeling of being ignored and oppressed for the past eight years. But this opinion illustrates what keeps us from peace. We want peace on our terms, and if the last eight years taught us anything, it is that peace on our terms isn't possible, because peace on our terms brings others into conflict with us.           For there to be peace, there has to be

Moses built an altar and called it "The LORD is my Banner" (Exodus 17:15) JEHOVAH-NISSI meaning “The Lord our banner”           Where I live right now, I get to see lots of banners. Some are American, Canadian, CanAm or other national and provincial flags. Some announce in what branch of the military someone served or are POW/MIA flags. Others are pretty pictures or holiday greeting. Some are sports-oriented. A few say things like "Wine about it a little," or "It's 5 o'clock somewhere."   A lot of people use wooden banners (AKA plaques) with their names, home towns   and lot numbers on them. Mine says 74A.            Banners tell you something about who owns it, whether or not they're friendly, what their interests or obsessions might be, their past associations, their names, addresses, hometowns, citizenship and level of patriotism. What mine tells about me is that I don't really care if anyone knows who lives here, but I do wa

          Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”            “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.            “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”          Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.           But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”            “Here I am,” he replied.             “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”                 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went

“The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE. (Ezekiel 48:35)             JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH “The Lord who is present”           I have to begin this with a disclaimer. It seems to me that this passage says that the name of the city is Jehovah-Shammah, not that a name of God is Jehovah-Shammah. That being   said, Scripture makes it clear that God is Jehovah-Shammah even if this passage doesn't. Jehovah-Shammah was present in Abraham's life, and Isaac's, Jacob's and Joseph's, in Moses' and Joshua's. Read Hebrews 11 as a Cliff Notes version of the Bible with regard to God's presence.           There are many times when I fail to keep Jehovah-Shammah in mind, times when I don't see His face or hand, and when I don't hear His voice. The fault is mine, whether through weakness or through the willful ignore-ance of spiritually putting my fingers in my ears, closing my e

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,   he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:1-3) JEHOVAH-ROHI “The Lord my shepherd”           These verses are among the most well-known in Scripture. They have brought comfort to many people. There's a book called A Shepherd Looks At The Twenty-Third Psalm by W. Phillip Keller that gives insight into the truths of this song. I recommend it.       For now, notice some of the verbs. The Shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures. We aren't given an option about what we're going to eat or where we're going to lie down. Yes, it's a green pasture. There is "food" all around us, but after a while, grass gets boring. We want something else to eat. Not only that, once we've eaten, we don't want to lie down. We want to play. The Shepherd doesn't give us that option.      Years ago, Dad

“Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD , who makes you holy." (Exodus 31:13)             "Jehovah-Maccaddeshem" means "The Lord thy sanctifier," or "The Lord who makes you holy." In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve rebelled because they wanted to be "like God," knowing good and evil. The sad part of that is that God was teaching them about good and evil, and therefore how to be more like God when He commanded them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Lesson One: doing what God tells you not to do is evil.           That's a problem we still have. We want to be like God, but we don't want to become more like God according to God's plan. We don't want to endure sanctification or to be made holy. We want to drive the car even though our feet don't reach the gas pedal or brake and we c

God said to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’ ” (Exodus 3:14)             Yahweh. The "I AM WHO I AM" of Exodus 3:14 is said to sound like "Yahweh." This is the name by which God bound Himself to Israel. It means "He who is" or "He who is truly present" or "I will be to you all that I am."   For me, this is a more majestic name than Elohim. I always imagine it said in a deep base, with echoes.           Those echoes reverberate through the book of John as Jesus said:           Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:26)           Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)           At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” (John 6:41)          I am the bread of life. (John 6:

           “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.   Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’   Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)               Some people emphasize God's love and mercy. God is their friend. I've been told by people that they would never worship a God who was   ___________ . Others have said that the god they worship is _________ not _____________. Of course, they get to define the terms and determine whether or not God fits into any of those categories. The problem with these statements is that the person who says them is claiming lordship. They get to decide what God is permitted to do. They get to decided whether or not he has lived up to their standards.           Some people see the off

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.( Psalm 19:1-4)           The word translated "God" in this verse is Elohim. It's a plural noun. The singular is "El." My resources say that the plurality refers to the plurality of majesty, sort of like using the royal "we." It also allows an understanding of the Trinity within the Old Testament. This is the name most often used for God in the Old Testament. It is used of other gods, and even of people, but overwhelmingly, it is used in reference to the true God.                In America, we don't tend to think of our leaders in terms of majesty. Sadly, our "royalty" tends to be our entertainers. Do we treat our God at least as wel

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.   For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)             When we hear about someone doing terrible things to another person, we get angry. That person deserves to have terrible things happen to him!   In fact, some people would be delighted to be the instrument of wrath on that person. We would teach that person a thing or three. When we believe that God's wrath is being measured out at a level we approve on someone we think deserves it, it's a cause for joy. But when we don't approve, then we believe we are just in measuring out our wrath against God. In short, God's wr