#godscharacter

The Lord speaking to the prophet Habakkuk about His righteous judgments declared, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14)

If we want to behold God's glory, it can be seen and known in His character. Moses besought the Lord to see His glory and the Lord said to him, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." And He said, "Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see me, and live." And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and You shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:19-23) So the Lord hid Moses in the rock and passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6 & 7) In the Book of John: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.(John 1:14) Praise God who has saved us by His grace, whose glory fills the lives of His children. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." (1 Corinthians 13:12) "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2) Glory to God! The day cometh, when we shall behold Him face to face, in all of His glory. Live for Jesus; proclaim His name in all the earth. Amen.

A Walk In The Garden Devotions

Hi everyone!

Hard to believe it’s already December! This week's devo topic is very similar to Joyce's devo from last week, but I'll be focusing on some specific attributes from Psalm 18 (and if you haven't checked out her visual devo yet, definitely go back and check it out!!).

For this devo, I’m hoping this will be short but sweet because a lot of us are probably pretty busy around this time of the year and I hope you can spend some time in prayer and reflection, so I just want to share a short piece of encouragement with you :)

Psalm 18:1-3

“I love You, Lord, my strength.”

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my savior,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I was saved from my enemies.

For a little context, David was praising God for delivering him after going through much loss and suffering. But, even though he had gone through all of that, he still clung to God as his source of strength and life. He calls God these attributes, and it indicates that he relied fully on God as his strength, his rock, his fortress, etc.. The way he says “my” before every attribute/title for God makes his relationship with God seem so personal, affectionate, and intimate. I’ll try to briefly go over some of these titles:

My strength: God empowers

My rock and fortress: God is the foundation and place of safety 

My deliverer: God saves

My shield: God defends

Horn of my salvation: God strengthens and defends (this sounds like a strange term today, so here is an article that will provide more details about it: https://www.gotquestions.org/horn-of-salvation.html)

My stronghold: God is the tower of refuge and protection

With this year being full of loss, isolation, and heartache, I hope that you find these attributes of God comforting. Even through the tough times, our God is still holding on to us and is able to sustain us. Being in a close relationship with God as our strength, defender, and foundation enables us to push forward through the good and not so good times. Let’s always hold fast to God and find hope and strength in our Saviour, Jesus. And because of His wonderful faithfulness and almighty power, let’s praise and love Him for who He is and how good He has been to us!

I hope you’ll take some time now to pray and reflect on these attributes of God. Spend some time with Him, seeking for His strength and presence in your life and thanking Him for being our God and Saviour. I pray that you will find comfort, joy, and peace in Him!

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Lili

Hi everyone! Hope you are doing well :) Please start with a word of prayer. Invite God to speak to you through His Word.

Today's visual devo will be a little different from the previous visual devos — instead of focusing on visual imagery, we will be meditating on the actual words of Scripture, specifically words that describe God’s character. You can always use this method for other topics, but I found that a lot of passages in the Bible focus on praising God for His many amazing attributes, so I chose to study Psalm 103 today! You’re free to choose whichever passage you want to study :) and if you’re out of ideas, here are a few suggestions: Exodus 15:1-21, Psalm 18, Psalm 145, Ephesians 1, 1 John 1-2:2. Here are the steps for today’s visual devo:

Step 1: Read the passage. Psalm 103 is a pretty long passage, so I’m not going to post it on here (feel free to read the entire thing if you want!). Reading it once or twice all the way through will help you get a broader understanding of the passage before going more in-depth.

Step 2: Write out all of the attributes you see. Some of these attributes will be directly listed, but some of them might be implied, or they even might be an unspoken theme, so you may have to read in between the lines to really dig deep!

This is the visual part! Try to make a word cloud with the attributes you found. You can design it in any way, shape, or form that you want — get creative with it! Here is my word cloud (I did this digitally because I'm way too clumsy with physical art):

There is no right or wrong way to do this, and you don’t even have to be super artistic to do this. While it may be fun to get creative with it, that isn’t the main point — our next step is the goal of this devo.

Step 3: Reflect on how God has shown each attribute in your life. Some of them might involve some extra thinking, but really try to focus on moments you can look back and say, “wow Lord, You really showed Your _____ through this experience!” This step can also be done while you’re creating your visual piece!

Take some time to thank Him for exhibiting this attribute through a specific action (like answering a prayer, opening the door to a new opportunity, forgiving you for a specific sin, etc) and praise Him for simply being that way (praise Him for being faithful or loving or forgiving, whatever it may be!). I find that this really helps me to truly worship God for who He is, and not just simply worship Him because I’m in a worship service, or I’m praying to Him, or even because He has done something specific in my life that I can noticeably see. We shouldn't praise God only when we see Him doing good (or at least, our definition of "good") - God is worthy of our praise no matter what the circumstances around us.

Step 4 (Application!): Pick one attribute to work on exhibiting this upcoming week! (and if you want, share your artwork by replying to this email!). The Bible says 1) we are created in His image (Genesis 1:27), and 2) as followers of Jesus, we are called to pursue Christlikeness (Romans 8:29-30). Naturally, we are meant to reflect these characteristics! Some of these will definitely be harder to exhibit than others, but this is a step in showing Christ’s love and character to those around us. This also helps us realize and appreciate God even more (and to think He’s never-changing!).

Again, there are so many different ways you can do this. You can focus on a different passage, you can reflect on just a couple attributes, or you can even pray over and praise God for one specific characteristic that He has shown in your life! The possibilities are endless, but the practice is the same: take some time out of your day to meditate and worship our Lord for being the amazing God that He is. When we do this, we gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for His character.

I hope you get something out of this exercise, and I’m excited to see what you come up with! :) Have a blessed Thanksgiving weekend!