Does it matter what I think of God? Whether I think He is a stern judge, taskmaster, or indulgent sugar daddy; isn't it alright just as long as I think about Him? It matters because how I think creates how I live. My ideas produce my actions. Even if I think He does not exist, how I think of God affects everything that has to do with me. My thoughts, my actions, my desires, my eternal destiny rests on what I think about God. To know God is to love Him. Our understanding needs to be increased so we can draw closer to Him. This book is the result of years of study and observation. It is not an effort to be exhaustive, but to stimulate thought. The book is designed so it can be read in one sitting, but then the reader can go back to meditate on and discuss the concepts and ideas presented. From stories and events recorded in the pages of the Bible are drawn revelations of the character of God that will lift the spirit, bringing encouragement and hope to we who often feel so separated from the life God wants us to live.

Living God's Life

Meditations on the Character of GodBy Daniel Manzano

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Daniel Manzano
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-8302-8

Contents

Introduction...............................................1Chapter 1 - Such As Yourself...............................7Chapter 2 - To Whom Will You Liken Me?.....................28Chapter 3 - I and My Father Are One........................44Chapter 4 - Servant of All.................................62Chapter 5 - Your King Is Meek!.............................80Chapter 6 - He Humbles Himself.............................100Chapter 7 - He Saved Others................................115

Chapter One

SUCH AS YOURSELF

Since the beginning of sin, efforts have been made to explain God. Before sin, God "just was". The great "I Am". All creation existed in the perfection and harmony that was the universe God had created. All intelligent beings rejoiced in the love that flowed from God, and each in turn gave back that love in fulfilling the purpose of their creation. The idea of a law saying you had to do this or could not do something else was unknown. The joy and happiness each shared was just "the way things were". Lucifer, as the "covering Cherub" (Ezekiel 28:14), the highest of the created beings, had the privilege of extolling the virtues of God. His position next to God gave him unique insights into the character of the Creator. He was privileged to share insights into the ways and works of the Deity. The love that he experienced flowing from God was beyond parallel.

In some mysterious, unknowable way, Lucifer began to covet the loving service given to God. He began to think of himself. This is the root of all evil. We who are sinful can hardly imagine NOT thinking of ourselves. It is our nature to think of self, defend self, and put self first even in the most subtle of ways. This selfishness which is so natural to us is the beginning of sin, the root of all that is wicked and evil. And it is totally contrary to all that God is, and all He has created.

Lucifer wanted to receive love and service for himself. He wanted to exalt himself into God's position. In order to exalt himself, he had to discredit God. He had to explain God in a way that would undermine Him while lifting himself up in the eyes of others. As selfishness began to grow into rebellion, he began to go around "explaining" God according to his "new" understanding. His goal was to convince the angels that God was proud and self centered. The attributes Lucifer was developing in himself, he began to charge to God. Through innuendo, deceit, and subtle questions, he began to make a picture of God that was a projection of his own developing sinful character. Since "love thinks no evil", it was hard for holy angels to understand where Satan's lies were leading. "What is God really like?" became the huge issue in heaven. Are things as they appear to be? Is God really the loving Being we have always thought He was, or is there a hidden agenda? Are we really free, or are we slaves? What kind of image did holy beings have of this God they served?

Since the beginning of sin on this planet, we have also had a problem with the image we have of God. Lucifer, now the Devil and Satan, interposes himself between us and God and continues to project his own character traits as God's. We also project our own sinful and imperfect ideas onto God. This is why one of the eternal principles God gave us, in order to help us know who He is, commands us not to try and make Him into anything we already know, or can even imagine. "You shall not have any other gods before Me. You shall not try to represent Me with any image you can make." Do not try to make anything you see in heaven, earth, or sea as a representation of Me. The only things you can know about Me is what I reveal about Myself.

Still we try to explain God. We think we can know Him and "figure Him out" on our own. We often think we know all we need to know about God.

Hear God calling to Adam after he had eaten from the "tree of knowledge". "Adam, where are you? Have you learned something new about Me Adam? Why are you hiding from Me?" Do you think there is some hidden knowledge, a secret I have kept hidden from you that now tells you Who I Am in reality?

So we see the first man, now sinful, with his sense of guilt now seeking to protect himself and blame others for his sinful choice. "Because now I know the real You. You are an Accuser and are going to accuse me of doing something wrong. Then you will probably punish me, or even kill me. But it is really Your fault because You made this woman. So it is her fault and Your fault. But most of all it is not my fault!" (Genesis 3:9-12)

Eve?

"It's that snake that You made." (Genesis 3:13)

I am the one who feels guilty, but I throw that off onto You and accuse You of being the guilty one.

We think we have learned so much, but the only thing that has happened is we have become blind to reality. The twisted picture of sin that is the devil becomes our picture of God.

So today we see the world sunk into a morass of accusations and self justification. In every area of life the aim is to blame someone else. We project our own accusations and deceptiveness onto others.

God says in Psalms 50:21: "Because I have kept silence so far, you thought I was just like you. But now I am going to set you straight on the matter. I am going to show you that I am not like you at all."

Lucifer was the first to begin to think he could be like God. The problem was he was looking at God through his own pride and selfishness and projecting those qualities onto God.

"God tells the angels what to do and we do it. I tell the angels what to do and they do it. It must be nice to just sit around and tell everyone else what to do and have it happen. And to be worshiped too. Yes, I could get used to that. "Actually, I could BE God, not just like Him"

Once we begin to make God into our own image, we soon think of ourselves as God. In our own area of influence we begin to act like our image of God. Harsh or soft, happy or angry, whatever we are is what we project onto Him and so we make an image of God and act accordingly.

We need God to reveal Himself. It is impossible for us to learn anything about God on our own. Anything we imagine on our own does not come anywhere close to the reality that is the Living God. We can only know what He reveals to us. We need a picture of what God is like that is outside of ourselves. And so He promised: "I will set the record straight."

One example of God showing what He was like, and not like, is found in the experience of Naaman and Elisha. The story is found in 2 Kings 5. Naaman was the general of the Syrian army that had been raiding and generally giving the Israelites a terrible time destroying their crops, taking them as slaves. Then Naaman, the general, came down with leprosy. A young Israelite girl who was a slave in his house told him if he was with the prophet in Israel he could be healed. What a preposterous claim! Leprosy was a deadly, incurable disease. No one was ever cured of leprosy. It was "the curse of God".

Lepers were not being healed in Israel. So there was no precedence to go on. And Naaman was an enemy of God's people. He was a heathen, a non-believer. How could he ever expect to get a blessing from a God he did not serve, and Whose people he was killing?

Then to top things off, he was being victorious over the people who claimed to worship...