God's Attributes A to Z

Many moons ago, when I was single, I was part of a wonderful Bible study. Each week we met, we had a prayer time beforehand.   We had a specific way in which we prayed:  we praised God for who He was, we thanked Him for what He had done and we petitioned Him for our needs.

If you are anything like me, I settle into my ways. I would find myself week to week praising God for the same attributes.  You are holy, holy, holy. Sometimes that is a good thing, if that is how the Lord is revealing Himself to you week after week. Other times, it is complacency to find a new attribute of the Lord from Scripture.

Since we were meeting for roughly 26 weeks, a friend of mine and I took the challenge to pray through the alphabet with God's attributes.  I can't tell you how fun it was to learn something new and to start prayer with praise.  What a way to get focused. (Psalms is a great place to find attributes)

Can you come up with an attribute for each letter?

Here are a few of mine.....

A:  Abba, Able, Anchor, Ancient of Days, Architect, Atones my Sins, Author of Life
B:  Banner, Beginning and End, Blessed, Bright and Morning star, Burden Bearer
C:  Captain of the Hosts, Caring, Cornerstone, Consuming fire, Counselor, Covenant Keeper, Creator
D:  Defender, Deliverer, Dependable, Directs, Dwelling Place
E:  El-Elyon; El-Olam; El-Shaddai, Emmanuel, Enthroned, Eternal, Everlasting Father, Ever Present
F:  Faithful, Father, Flawless; Forgives; Fortress; Fulfills His Purposes
G:  Gardener; Gate; Gentle; Glorious; God of all Comfort; God of all Grace; Great; Guide
H:  Hope; Healer; Helper; Holy; Hiding Place
I:  Instructs
J: Judge; Jehovah; Jealous; Just
K: Kind; King of Kings; Knowing
L: Lamp; Leader; Life; Light; Love; Living
M: Magnificent; Majestic; Maker; Marvelous; Master; Mediator; Merciful; Mighty; Most High
N: Name above All Names; None Like You; Near to Us
O: Omega; Omniscient; Omnipotent; Omnipresent; Orderly; Overseer
P: Patient; Peace; Perfect; Personal; Physician; Portion; Potter; Powerful; Praiseworthy; Preserver; Priceless;
    Promise Keeper; Protector; Provider; Purifiier
Q: Quiets you with His Love
R: Radiant; Reconciles; Redeemer; Refiner; Reliable; Rescuer; Restorer; Resurrection; Righteous; Rock;
    Ruler
S: Satisfies us; Slow to Anger; Superior; Sun and Shield; Strong Tower;
T: Teacher; Tender; Tower of Refuge; Truth
U:  Unchanging; Understanding; Unfailing Love; Upholds Us
V:  Victorious; Vindicator; Vinedresser
W: Warrior; Watcher; Wise; Wonderful; Worthy
X:
Y: Yahweh
Z:  Zealous
S: Sanctifies; Savior; Seals us; Self-Sufficient; Servant; Shadow; Shelter; Shepherd; Shield; Slow to Anger;  
    Sovereign  Steadfast; Strong Tower; Sufficient; Sun and Shield; Superior; Sustainer

Scripture A to Z

I love when the Lord is timely.  The other day I was thinking about something that a friend of mine and I did a few years back.  During our prayer time, we prayed the attributes of God using the alphabet. It was fun; it was challenging; it forced me to learn new things about our Lord.  I was thinking that I needed to do a post on it and I got sidetracked.

Then the other day, I picked up my daily walk Bible and was on Psalm 119.  The application was this:
When the psalmist wrote 119, he began each eight-verse section with a successive letter from the Hebrew alphabet, which has 22 letters.  From memory, can you think of Bible verses that begin with each of the 26 letters of the English alphabet?


I took the challenge....I was surprised that I came up with verses for almost all of the letters, but was not surprised that for most of them I only knew the book that they were found in. I knew very few actual addresses.   I took the time to go back and look them up. It also surprised me that a lot of the verses I know are just partial verses - the second half of verses.   Tomorrow I'll look at the attributes A to Z.

It was a fun exercise and a challenge to read and memorize Scripture more.
Feel free to share your list!

A: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you.  Matt 7:7
B:  Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs shall be the Kingdom of heaven.  Matt 5:3
C:  Cast all your anxieties on him for he cares for you  I Peter 5:7
D:  Do not be afraid
E:  Enter His gates with thanksgiving, enter his courts with praise  Psalm 100:4
F:  The Fruit of the Spirit is... Galatians 5:22
G: Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life Prov 4:23
H:  Have you not heard? The Lord is he everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  Is 40:28
I:  I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6
J; Joy of the Lord is my strength.  Nehemiah 8:10
K:  Keep my commands
L:  Love one another as I have loved you.  John 15:12
M:  but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  Luke 2:10
N: Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.  Hebrews 13:5b
O:  Children, Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.  Ephesians 6:1
P:  Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.  John 14:27
Q:  I am sure there is one on Queen Esther...
R:  Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: rejoice!  Philippians 4:4
S: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God  Matthew 6:33
T:  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.
U:  Unto thee O Lord, do I lift up my soul  Psalm 25:1
V:  Verily I say to you.
W:  Worship  in Spirit and in Truth  John 4:24b
X:
Y: You are the light of the world...  Matthew 5:14
Z:

WFMW: Teaching Toddlers Biblical Words Part 2

Last week I shared some tips for teaching toddlers Biblical Words. If you want to read the first part, go here.

I talked about such things as calling things for what they are, using gestures to help them remember, relating things to their world. Here are a few more tips that I have found useful.

5. Incorporate it through their day. Repetition!

While driving in the car, standing in line, running through the park I might ask: "Is God here?"  They laugh and giggle.

When I say, "How do you know?" they tell me he's everywhere.

Then we go back to, "What's that called?"  Omnipresent

Usually they say, "trinity" to get me to say something silly back to them. It's our little game. We eventually get back to the real word.

Do you think God is powerful enough to do...? Yes.  He is!  He's omnipotent!

6.  Have fun with it.  

When we taught them that the Holy Spirit landed fire on the heads in Acts 2, they put their hands on top of their head and waved fingers to make fire.  Periodically I'll ask them, "who is your helper?" To which they answer with fingers on top of their head. I usually have to prompt them to give me the name; they think the waving fingers suffices for an answer.

We've played an exchange game - exchanging sin for righteousness.  I want them to understand that not only did Jesus take our sin, we got his righteousness (Have NOT yet taught them that this is called "double imputation.")

Role play!  We have risen from the dead, we have been in lion's dens, we have walked along a road. They love this!

7.  Sing it.

I can't sing and my kids don't care.  My husband can and usually corrects the tune.  

I have decided to teach them one song in it's entirety at a time. Sometimes it takes a few months to learn it. 

I usually start with singing one verse, saying it, having them repeat it and singing it again.

We do this in the morning as a way to start our day.

I sang Jesus Loves me to My Kids every nap time from  the day they were born.  They know it; all four verses.

I sang Holy, Holy, Holy to my daughter every night for 2-3 months.  One day, I heard her singing it to her dolls as she was laying them down.  I didn't know she knew it, but she did. It's amazing what singing will do for them.  Plus it exposed her to words like holy, purity, merciful, mighty, almighty, etc.

Play CDs while they play, in the car.  

Beware: they can and will correct you. My son corrected me on the third verse of one song. I laughed - I'm a Baptist and only ever learned. verses 1, 2 and 4.

8. Most importantly: don't force it.

There are days when I can see my 5 year old staring off in the distance completely uninterested in what I say. Some days it ends with me giving him a lecture about the importance of God's word (not the best idea) and some days it ends in the Tickle Monster showing up and tickling away.

For the record, I don't do this every day.

Use Your Words

As I watch the drought and wildfires that are consuming our great state, I have been thinking about all things Texas.  Bluebonnets, Blue Bell and the Birds.  In particular, the mockingbird.

Aside from the fact that it is our state bird, and that it mocks other birds, that was about all I knew.

Dr. Google says the following:

Ask any Texan, and you will no doubt learn that the mockingbird has the prettiest song of any bird native to North America. That's perhaps the chief reason the "mocker" was adopted as the state bird of Texas in 1927. Legend has it when Texas chose the mockingbird as its state bird, the resolution stated that the bird is "a fighter for the protection of his home, falling, if need be, in its defense, like any true Texan..." Its species name comes from the Greek mimus to mimic, and ployglottos for "many-tongued.�  (http://www.shgresources.com/tx/symbols/bird/)

A mockingbird can have up to 25-30 songs in its repertoire at one time (http://www.lsjunction.com/bird.htm)

For some reason, the mockingbird has stuck with me and how often do I feel like this bird?

A beautiful song I may at times play, but how many times do I feel that it is because I am mimicking 25-30 women in my life.  I want to blog like Missy, do crafts like Katie, sew like Sharyn, create like Suzanne, teach like Leanne, and the list goes on.  You will hear me say, "I can copy, but not create." I feel like a mocker, hiding behind other's songs. Mimicking at it's best.

Do you ever feel that way - like all you are doing is mimicking those around you? It's left me with the question, "What am I good at?"   What is the song that God has created me to sing?  What is my song?  I don't want to merely imitate those around me that I respect.  I want to flourish in the way He has created me. I can learn from others as we are told to seek wise council, but the Lord did not create me to be just like them.  He created me uniquely.

First and foremost the Lord has shown me that I am ultimately to "imitate" him as I am conformed to the image of His son.

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children ; 2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.  Ephesians 5:1-2

Ephesians 4:29-32 gives me a glimpse of what this looks like:

vs 29  Speak helpful, edifying words

vs 32  Be Kind

vs 32  Be Compassionate

vs 32  Forgive as Christ forgave you

I don't even want to stop and think about how well I am doing there.  Does my song merge together the melody of edification, kindness, forgiveness?  Oh, I dare say not as I blow it so many times a day with my children. Yet they are first and foremost the very people I am a reflection of Christ for.  I need work. I need help. I need Christ. Daily. Hourly. Minute by Minute.

Then there is the part of the melody that I have been praying for.  Lord, what am I passionate about? 

As I have been reading through the Psalms, the same thing has been jumping out at me:

"Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, Till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."  Plsam 71:18

"My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long." Psalm 71:24

"...I will tell of all of your deeds." Psalm 73:28

Ultimately I am to sing His song, to tell of His deeds, His power, His righteous acts. To glorify Him.

In our house, due to the insane amount of temper tantrums these days by all 3 kids, the summer mantra has become, "Use your words. You have words, so use them."  As I read through the Psalms, it was if I heard, "use your words.  You have them. Use them."

It starts with telling my children of the great and mighty things God has done: most importantly of sending His Son to give them a right relationship with Him. It is telling others of the great and praiseworthy things He has done. My life is His life. My story is ultimately His story. It is for His glory and yet I fail each day to tell it.

How is the Lord weaving together your song?

Book Review: Free Yourself to Love

A friend of mine, Gillian Nichols, took a challenge this summer to read a book a week. (I took the challenge to read a book a month!)  You can check out her blog here.  I respect her and her opinion so I asked if she would mine sharing some of her book reviews for my blog.  Here is what she has to say.  Thanks Gillian!  I'm looking forward to reading this and to hearing more of what you have to say in the weeks to come.

Free Yourself to Love, The Liberating Power of ForgivenessBy Jackie Kendall co-author of Lady in Waiting

This is first book I’ve ever read of Jackie’s, but it won’t be the last. Having had the blessing of meeting her in person at one of church’s women’s event I have one word to describe her: firecracker. She is a firecracker of a person. Set off to ignite your passion and make you laugh simultaneously, i.e. my kind of people! I even got the chance to tell her, “Thanks for bringing the fun bus!”
After the event was over I was helping out with the book signing table, not really helping but just standing there waiting to help, and I just felt the need to buy this book. Forgiveness has been a sort of pop-up word in my life this year, popping up all over the place when I really thought I was “over it”. Oh Gillian, you’ve got a lot of baggage, but thankfully forgiveness is not one of them! Or is it? Could that just have been a lie the enemy (for those of you who don’t know the enemy is what Christians refer to to mean Satan) wants me to believe? He’s so tricky like that and I don’t mean tricky in the ‘my four yr old is so tricky’ sense, but tricky to your ultimate peril. 
So I tried to purchase it and wadya know- there weren’t any copies left. As I was lamenting this to Jackie, she mentioned “Even the sample?” “Yes! Oops we sold the one marked Sample!” In short, she actually had the one marked SAMPLE and it was in her purse, and now it’s on my computer desk. I love food samples and now I love book samples.
Reasons I’m glad I read this:
• She brings it all back to the Word. You don’t have a moment where you don’t think her words are aligning with The Word! Love that. There are so many scriptural references I wrote down in my prayer journal and I was so thankful to the Lord for each and every one. 
• She is great at putting visuals, thus making it very easy to apply the truth you learn in your life. To demonstrate here’s an excerpt:
In fact, I envision this gigantic warehouse where God stores a bounty of gorgeously wrapped packages of grace just waiting to be delivered to those who are knocked down but not knocked out. … As I described, these bags com in all shapes and sizes, because authentic forgiveness addresses offenses of all shapes and sizes. p. 60
• This book is rich in tools and application and the part that makes the most sense is that it’s coming from a person who has truly forgiven the unforgiveable. She is real folks. Real means relatable. 

Summing it Up:
To sum it up I think a sentence from her book states it perfectly on page 168 

“Remember, I am like Jesus not when I am perfect, but when I am forgiving.”


Recommend to Friend?
Amen!

WFMW: Teaching Toddlers Biblical Words Part 1

I have been told that if you want kids to be bilingual, start teaching them the second language when they are young. I just got back from a family reunion in which J's 2nd cousin, who is 2, could understand and communicate in both English and Japanese.  I saw first hand that children have the capacity to learn. Yet when it comes to teaching them about the Bible and things of God, we think we have to water it down for them, that they can't learn it.  I disagree. If they can learn a second language, we can teach them from the Bible, using the language of the Bible.

I wish someone had taught me.  I don't ever remember hearing the words, omnipotent, sanctified, justified, etc. until I was in my 20s.  For the record,  I grew up in a church. I think we are afraid to call things what they are for fear of turning people away.

However, the Bible uses words such as these. Why shouldn't we know them and why shouldn't we teach them to our kids? So, here are my tips as I am on this journey called motherhood:

1. Don't be scared of using "big" words.
Call sin, sin.
Call sanctification what it is.
Call justification by name.
Trinity is trinity.
Call God's attributes what they are: omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign, faithful, just, etc.
You get the point.  Just expose them to the words.


2. Use simple words to define the big words.
Sometimes I just expose them to the big words and wait until they ask to explain.
Sometimes, I explain.
Sometimes, they get a small little English lesson on prefixes:
Omni means all. all present, all powerful, all knowing.
He knows everything you are thinking, even before you say it (Ps 139)
Tri means 3.  That's about as simple as I can boil down the trinity.  3 persons, 1 God.
Someday they will thank you on their SAT because you have taught them prefixes.
Holy - clean

3.  Relate it to their world.


4. Use gestures to help them remember.

I am finding that my kids love to make hand motions. We stick one arm in the air Superman like when we yell, "Omnipotent." To which my kids ask, "Is God more powerful than Superman?" Keeping it on kid terms around here.

When I ask them, "where is God?" They point around the room like mad-men and mad-women. I say, "Use your words." They giggle and say, "everywhere." 
"What's the big word?" I ask.
They stumble over it, but will eventually say, "Omnipresent."


Part 2...next Wed