Experiencing God-Lesson 3- The Nature of God

Introduction- I John 4:7-8

Have you ever experienced something in your life, some trial, some difficulty or some loss that caused you to question God’s love for you?

Many believers have experienced extremely difficult circumstances in their lives and each of them has responded to God either in bitterness and anger towards God or in faith and trust.

This response is determined by what each believed concerning God’s love for them.

Each of us as children at times longed to have our own way and it seemed that the only thing standing in our way was our parents stubborn insistence on restricting us and at times telling us no.

There may have even been times when we said aloud or to ourselves “My parents don’t love me.”

Yet now as we look back on those moments we realize that the restrictions that our parents put in place, though they may have seemed unreasonable at the time, were actually for our good and it was these very restrictions that protected us from sin and destruction.

When you face trying circumstances you may be tempted to question God’s love for you just as you once questioned the love your parents held for you.

Yet you can be certain that God loves you because He has already demonstrated the depth of His love for you upon calvary.

Romans 5:8 (KJV) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Your love for God must not hinge upon whether or not He allows you to have your way in a given circumstance.

There will definitely be times in our lives when we struggle to understand why God allows certain things to occur, but God does invite us to come to know His nature, the essence of who He is and what He is like.

In today’s lesson we will look at three aspects of God’s nature that dispose Him to act in certain ways. Each of these three characteristics has special implication for how you relate to Him and how you understand and do His will.

God’s Nature

God is love- His will is always best.

God is all-knowing- His directions are always right.

God is all-powerful- He can enable you to accomplish His will.

God is Love- His Will is Always Best

1 John 4:16 (KJV) And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

This scripture does not say that God loves, though He does love perfectly and unconditionally.

The scripture here states that God’s essential nature is love and we can be sure that God will never act contrary to His nature.

You will never experience God expressing His will except in a demonstration of perfect love.

Hebrews 12:5-11- even the discipline which comes from God is a demonstration of His love for you.

There are many scriptures that describe God’s love for us.

John 3:16 KJV 1900

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

1 John 3:16 KJV 1900

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Your confidence in the love nature of God is crucial. You must always view your circumstances against the backdrop of God’s love for you.

You must choose to base your trust in God on what you know-His love for you- and then choose to trust that in time He will help you to understand the confusing circumstances you may be experiencing.

Trust Him!

Have you ever heard someone say “I’m afraid to surrender my life totally to the Lord because He might send me to Africa as a missionary” or had someone caution you “Don’t say what you don’t want to do because then that is what God will tell you to do.”

These statements are and indication of a lack of trust and understanding of God’s love.

There are missionaries who love serving in the dark and dangerous fields where God has called them and this serves to illustrate that God’s will is always best.

When you trust that God always gives His best, you will devote your heart to whatever assignment God gives because you know in that role you can experience everything God has in His heart for you.

Those who are perennially unhappy and dissatisfied with God’s assignments exhibit their lack of belief that God loves them and that He is expressing His live in His guidance of their lives.

Airforce Families given an assignment at Cannon AFB. Some view it as a place to escape as quickly as possible and never consider that God may have an assignment for them here. Others view it as an opportunity to serve God in a new place where there is a great need.

If you really believe that God is love, you will also accept that His will is always best.

God’s Commands Are For Your Own Good

When you hear words such as command, judgment, statute, or law, your first impression may be negative.

God’s commands ,however, are expressions of His love as the scriptures clearly demonstrate.

Deuteronomy 10:12–13/Deuteronomy 32:46-47

God loves you deeply and profoundly and because of this He has given you guidelines for living lest you miss the full dimension of the love relationship He seeks to have with you.

Avoiding Land Mines

Life has some “land mines” that could harm or destroy you and God does not want you to miss out on His best so He places boundaries in your life to help ensure that you avoid them.

Suppose you were in a war-torn country and it was necessary to cross a field filled with land mines. If a local soldier knew exactly where each one of them were and offered to lead you through the filed would you protest and say “I don’t want you to tell me what to do. I want to be free to make my own choices.”

The Purpose of God’s Commands

God want you to live an abundant life and when He gives you a command, it is to protect you and lead you toward His blessings.

John 10:10 (KJV) The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

God’s instructions do not restrict, they free you to live for Him.

1 John 5:3 (KJV) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Deuteronomy 6:20-21 & 24-25

Marriage- God provides a loving spouse who will love and cherish you. Your relationship with this person will bring out the best in you. It will give you an opportunity to experience some of the deepest and most meaningful dimensions of human love that are possible. That individual will walk alongside you to encourage, challenge, and strengthen you when you lose heart. Within that realtionship you mate will love you, believe in you, and trust you. Out of that relationship, you will be blessed with children and those children will grow up to love you wil all their hearts. But then He cautions “Do not commit adultery” (Matthew 5:27) Is that command meant to limit your happiness? No! It is to protect you so you can experience love at its human best. What if you begin to view your marriage vows as restricting, choosing instead to ignore God’s command and to be unfaithful to your spouse? The love relationship in your marriage will be ruptured. Trust will be undermined and guilt and bitterness will fester. Your children will feel the pain as well. Emotional scars may severely limit the future dimensions of love you and your family could experience together. God knows what the horrific result of sin is, so He clearly warns you not to succumb to it.

God’s commands are designed to guide you to the best He has to offer, but you will struggle to obey Him if you do not trust Him.

You will not trust Him if you do not love Him, and you will not love Him unless you know Him and the love that He has for you.

If you do not obey him, you do not really love Him, regardless of what you may claim.

John 14:24 (KJV) He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

God is All-Knowing- His Directions Are Always Right

By His very nature God is Omniscient-knowing all and His knowledge is not limited by the dimension of time-He knows the past, present, and future.

He created all things, so nothing is outside of His knowledge.

When God gives you direction, you can be sure that He has considered every factor for God has never made a mistake or failed to account for some variable.

You can have absolute confidence that when God tells you to do something it is the right course of action.

As you seek to know God’s will, you must wait to proceed until you clearly understand what God wants you to do and how He wants you to do it.

Once you have heard God speak, you don’t need to continue waiting to seek other alternatives, God always gets it right the first time.

There have been many times that believers have undertook tasks at God’s direction that seemed impossible from man’s perspective and yet each time God’s direction proves right.

Church of 17 members intended to plant three other churches to reach distinct groups of people. Humanly speaking this would seem to be against reason but being sure that God had directed them, they undertook the task and at key moment God proved that this was done at His direction as He provided for the need.

God is All-Powerful- He Can Enable You to Accomplish His Will

Our all-powerful God created the universe out of nothing, He breathe life into creatures of dust. There is nothing beyond His ability to accomplish.

Isaiah 46:10–11 (KJV) Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, The man that executeth my counsel from a far country: Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

If God asks you to do something, be sure that He will work through you to do it.

Some biblical examples:

God enabled Noah and his sons to build a massive ark that spared the live of every animal species during the worldwide flood. (Genesis 6-9)

God used Gideon and three hundred men to defeat an army of one hundred twenty thousand (Judges 7-8)

Jesus empowered His disciples to heal people and to cast out demons and ultimately to make a powerful impact on the world (Matthew 10)

God equipped Paul to carry the gospel to the Gentiles and to establish church throughout Asia all the way to Rome (Acts 9:13-28)

As God directs you, you will often realize that the task He assigns you is far beyond your power or resources to accomplish.

As soon as you recognize that the job appears humanly unattainable, you need to be ready to believe God and to trust Him completely.

You must believe that He will enable and equip you to do everything that He asks you to do.

Take God at His Word and turn to Him for the power, insight, skill, and resources required to complete the task.

Far too often believers look at what God is moving upon them to do and respond in doubt and fear insisting they are not able to do what He is leading them to do.

When you declare it’s impossible for you to do what God told you to do, you show your doubts about how powerful God really is.

As you set out on your walk with God, He will initially make Himself knwon yo you quite simply. As you respond with a childlike trust, an entirely new way of viewing life will unfold. Your life will be fulfilling and you will never have to live with a sense of emptiness or lack of purpose. He will always fill your life with Himself. When you have the Lord you have everything you need.

Summary

Knowing and doing God’s will depends on how well you know Him and His nature.

Because God is love, His will is always best.

As you follow and obey Him, He will direct you in ways that are best for you and for the situation into which He calls you. Since God is all-knowing, you will never have to question the wisdom of His direction, even when they don’t make sense to you.

God is all-powerful, so you need not doubt your ability, strength, or resources to complete His assignments. He will equip you to accomplish all He calls you to do.