Give me a Q

In my Bible Alphabet Blog Series Q stands for Questions.

FAQ, or better known as frequently asked questions. Frequently asked questions addressed to God by all men, whether Christian or not.

Why is there so much suffering? Why do You allow this? Why don't You do anything about this? Why don't I experience You more often? Etc. etc. Do you recognize this ongoing record?

Going through the Bible we discover that we often talk before we listen, asking these same questions over and over again. In doing so, we tend to take up God's position. Yes, in a way we do, because it is God Himself who is asking the really important questions.

Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye? Why do you have such evil thoughts? Why did you doubt? Why do you ask me what is good? Why do you not do what I'm saying? Why do you worry?

Somehow we have developed this habit to call the Supreme Ruler of the universe to be accountable for every disaster, every pain, for everything that doesn't happen to our liking and for the many things we cannot comprehend with our finite minds. But if we take an honest look at His Word we can and will discover that God has many questions for mankind, especially for the Believers.

Are we able to answer His questions?

Give me a P

In my Bible Alphabet Blog Series P stands for Prophesying.

Prophesying (the gift of communicating revealed truth) comes from the Greek word προφητεία prophéteia i.e. prophecy.

Prophesying is not so much predicting the future, but more so the expression of the mind of God (as dictated by the Bible or the Holy Spirit) at a given moment.

1 Corinthians 14:1 says, follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. Especially prophecy ... How in the world can we make that practical today?

Prophesying is a spiritual gift which enables the believer to share a word of revelation from God (who is in Heaven) thereto urged by the Holy Spirit (who dwells in us). That word, therefore, is not a sermon prepared at home or a predicting of the future. Prophecy is the proclamation of God's will and the calling and encouraging of believers towards justice, loyalty and perseverance.

Some interesting facts:

• Uttering prophetic words is now something every believer can and should do (Acts 2:17).
• The gift of prophecy is distributed as the Holy Spirit decides (1 Corinthians 12:10-11), but we must pursue it (1 Corinthians 14:1).
• The appointment of a prophet for the edification of the church is done by Christ Himself (Ephesians 4:11).
• Nowadays, prophetic words are no longer infallible (as opposed to the OT), therefore, such words must always be weighed and tested (1 Corinthians 14:29 and 1 Thessalonians 5: 20-21).
• Prophesy is a matter of using our mind. Actually, it is one of the few times (maybe the only time) that the Bible says we must submit the spirit (1 Corinthians 14:32).

How do we strive to prophesy? I strongly believe by asking the Lord for it in prayer and by studying what the Bible says about it. God has always desired and still desires to speak through people like you and me. He wants to speak through His written Word ... but also LIVE!

Give me an O

In my Bible Alphabet Blog Series O stands for Overflow.

Oh (O) how I love that word in its Biblical context. It stands for an abundant and abounding outpouring, starting with Gods love and grace towards mankind. If the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! (Romans 5:15).

Overflow stands for the blessings the Lord will bring when we honor Him by giving joyfully and generously. Proverbs 3:9-10 says: Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

And yes, it stands for the sheer joy that we can experience when we are in Gods will, living by His Word. Psalm 119:171, May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. God is a God of healthy overflow, He always gives more than enough, whatever it is we need. And because He is so good and His love is so abundant, we can spill it all around us :)

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

Give me an N

In my Bible Alphabet Blog Series N stands for Name.

To be more precisely, it stands for the Name above all names. Obviously, I am not talking about the name we give to a new born child, or our first, last, middle or baptismal name. This is about the Name that God gave his Son ... Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2: 9).

What is so special about that Name? What is the power in that Name? ... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10) Such a picture is hard to imagine perhaps, but one day everyone will recognize that He is the highest God, the Prince of Peace, and all wars will be finished.

Jesus is the only name that can bring salvation (peace) to humanity. Not a president, not a political leader, not a leader in the UN, but only He can do this:  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4 : 12).

All power of heaven and earth is in that one Name. The power to heal, the power to witness, the power to save and to forgive. It is therefore no surprise that for more than two thousand years it has been prohibited in many nations to mention the Name, to talk about that Name or to pray in that Name. In Acts 4: 17-18 it is written as follows: But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name. Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

By prohibiting people to use the Name or to believe in that Name, the opposite will happen of course! Worldwide, there are millions and millions of believers in every possible nation under the sun, and more are added each day. A hundred million of them are being persecuted, tortured and slain for their faith in that Name. Despite the persecution they know that His name offers life!

John's Gospel ends with these words: Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Give me an M

In my Bible Alphabet Blog series M stands for Mankind.

Yes, mankind making a mess of this world, mankind cursing God and exalting himself above the Creator of the Universe, ... yes, the men and women forming the entire human race.

The Bible says that God made mankind in His own image. He thereby decided to distinguish between two different sexes, male and female, So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27).

What an awesome honor to be created in the image of a triune God (Father, Son and Spirit, and yet one God) and to resemble Him whether we are male or female (spirit, soul and body, yet one human being). David wrote about the creation of mankind: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well (Psalm 139: 14).

The same David lived in great amazement about the insignificance of man in comparison to the greatness of God, but acknowledged certainly God's purpose with the creation of mankind: what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet... (Psalm 8: 4-6).

God created mankind and gave us the earth as a residential area where we could rule over the things God had created [not over each other!]. If you have visited other countries, you must have noticed how every nation has a unique place, culture and atmosphere of its own ... sometimes land was taken by force, but that should not be necessary. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26).

Throughout history we can see over and over again how mankind became prideful and figured they could do things better than God. The Bible calls this sin or disobedience. In some way or other we have all sinned, but there is also forgiveness for everyone! Romans 5:19 puts it quite simple: For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. That "one man" is the Savior of the world, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

God loves the work of His hands, He saw that is was very good! He loves mankind, He loves you and me and I am sure His heart hurts when He looks at the mess we are making of this world. It is His desire that all people will come to the knowledge of an important truth, for there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people (1 Timothy 2:3-6).