Names of God: Jehovah Rophe

Today we're going to talk about a name for God that everyone loves. Even non-believer's love this name for God because when they're sick, they don't mind us praying for God to help them and heal them.

Read or listen to Exodus 15 to get the background on the God who heals us.

If you read that chapter looking attentively for today's name for God, you probably realize that it occurs at the end of the chapter. So why read the whole chapter? Why not skip to the last section? Well, this chapter details God's deliverance for His people in the "Exodus". And that story is vital to our understanding of God's healing.

The Exodus story tells of the mighty miracles God performed through Moses and Aaron to deliver his people. It tells of the sickness and plagues that God sent upon the people of Egypt. And it provides us with the contrast we need to understand God's healing. This is God's charge for us, "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."

Once again, God challenges us to develop our relationship with Him, living our lives according to His word and His laws. And if we will do that, He will be for us the God who sustains us and heals us. Sometimes, as in this story, we will be afflicted with an ailment so that God can test us and develop our character. Will we continue to be faithful and follow God even in the midst of affliction or will we grumble and complain?

I don't know about you, but I'm sort of a wimp when it comes to these kinds of tests. I just can't handle the pain, discomfort, and general yuckyness.

God's promise is for those who love Him and are following Him. He will work in our lives.
Does that mean God will always heal Christians? And we should never expect to get sick? Of course not. Some would say that the ultimate healing is dying in this life and rising in the next life where there is no more pain, suffering, or death.

My challenge to you is that when you do go through an affliction or need God's healing, draw nearer to God. His promise to you is that if you and I would draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.

Blessings!
Pastor Arlen

Names of God: El Shaddai

Today let's look at Genesis 17 to discover what it means that God calls Himself "El Shaddai" or God Almighty.

That name may sound familiar to you because of the recent movies Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. (On a side note, I would recommend seeing Evan Almighty. It's an interesting take on God's interaction with humans, and it's not about Noah's ark.)

Click here to listen to or read Genesis 17.

The first two verses are crucial in our understanding of God Almighty. But to fully grasp what's happening, we have to know a little about Abram (aka Abraham). It might help to read Genesis 12-16 to gain some background information.

If I were to give you "Cliff's Notes" on Abram, it would be something like...
God appears to Abram and makes him a promise. The problem is that the promise doesn't come true for a long time. Nearly 24 years after the initial promise from God, Abram is greeted by God in our story, Genesis 17, and God confirms that He will fulfill the promise He made to Abram so many years ago.

This is important in our understanding of God Almighty because it shed light onto why God is called Almighty.
According to this story, God is the God who calls us to walk blamelessly with Him. And as we do that, He is sufficient and powerful to fulfill his promises.

Yes God can do anything. But that's not the point of Him being God Almighty. The point is that He is able to fulfill what He has promised. And He is able to work miracles and amazing things in our lives. What God asks from us is that we would "walk with Him" in other words, cultivate an intimate relationship with Him.

Pray to Him and don't just do all the talking, take time to also listen when you pray. Read God's word, the Bible, and learn about Him. Allow Him to direct your life according to His ways.
If we will commit to developing our relationship with God, He will do amazing things in our lives. And we will be a part of His masterplan for the universe.

If you desire God Almighty to work in your life and fulfill his promises to you, walk with Him and obey Him. It might even be a good idea to see that movie, "Evan Almighty".

Blessings to you!
Pastor Arlen

PS- Here are some other thoughts from this passage...
1. God is able to do the impossible just like He did for Abraham. God gave Abe a son at age 99.
2. God desires an intimate relationship with us and with our family. Pray about leaving a spiritual legacy. Are you leading your family to follow God long after you're gone or they're at college?
3. In order for God to work, we must also work with God. He will do His part, will we do ours?

Names of God: Elohim

Our first name for God is a common name. When you see the word "God" in your Bibles, it is this word.

Elohim is the name of God in Genesis 1. Take a few moments to read Genesis 1. Click here to go to biblegateway.com. Bible Gateway is cool because you can either read the bible, or listen to it.

Facts about this name:
Gramatically, Elohim is a plural word. So in Genesis 1 God says, "Let us make man in our image..." This is the first reference in the Bible to the Trinity (the fact that God is three persons in one, each person is God, and yet there is only one God). This could also be a plural of majesty. Basically that means that by using a plural word to describe God, the Bible is saying that He is our king and worthy of honor and loyalty much like we would give to a king or the president.
Elohim refers to God as creator. God is shown to be all powerful, and very creative.

What's the point?
When we pray to Elohim, we are praying to God who is creative and all powerful. Let that thought encourage you whenever you face challenges and trials. God can help you with a creative solution to whatever situation you're going through. And He's proven that He's powerful in creating the world. Let that thought encourage you that He is in control and He is able to help you.

Let these thoughts about God encourage you greatly in your quest to know God more intimately!

=)

Knowing God By His Names

I've been reading this fabulous book called "Knowing God By His Names- A 31-Day Experiment".
I wanted to drop you a line about it because it's great! This past Sunday I preached about how sometimes we can think we know God and are close to God, but we might not know Him as well as we think.
I'd like to use our blog to talk about some of the Names of God and how we might know God better. I believe you'll be really blessed and you will know God more intimately, you will pray with deeper conviction and power, and you will grow in your relationship with God. So, join us as we get to know God's names...

My Philippines Adventure

The Philippines is a third world nation. You can tell just by driving down the streets and seeing how people live and work. But the Philippines is also a place where God is moving and people are being saved and changed!

Our ministry partner, Pastor Rolando Santiago, had the vision to partner with JCCY to hold Pastor's conferences. This past conference, I taught about Bible Study Methods and Preaching to an incredible crowd of pastors. 54 Pastors in all attended the training. It was a tiring, but very rewarding week.

With little training available to them, some came 12-14 hours by jeepney & bike. Others came from the Manila area, about 7-8 hours traveling. Needless to say, these pastors and church leaders were hungry to know God and hungry to be equipped.

Thank you JCCY for sending me and allowing me to impact these pastors.

Here's a group shot of all of us and several pictures of gradutes from my class. Amazing, they're still alive after listening to me for 4 days of teaching! (Sorry, just noticed someone got cut out of the picture)

For further information on how you can support missions around the world, contact me, or JCCY at www.jccy.org or call (808) 674-9977.

A Quick Stop in Oregon

Hey gang, today's a fun post. Just stopped by to see some friends of CCAK. For those of you who don't know them, these are the Helvie's. They moved back to Oregon a few years ago.

After a nice promotion, Renee's car also got one too. Eat your heart out Lori.

=)
Til we talk again!
pastor arlen

On the Road again

Well, I'm on the road again. I'm writing this in Narita International Airport. I should be on my way to the Philippines, but yes, my flight is delayed, so what better thing to do than blog.

I love Japan. The internet even in the airport is really fast, like way faster than at home. And it was cheap too. I'm using the bizporta service at the airport and it was like $4.00 for a whole day of internet access. Hopefully I won't be here much longer, but that's a great deal.

This Sunday I preach at Pastor Rolando's church in Santa barbara Pangasinan. And all next week I'll be teaching about preaching and bible study to about 40-50 pastors and church leaders. Keep me in prayer.

I'll write more later. For now... Sayoonara!

=)