Foundations February 1, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 18-21
2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NIV); Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we
are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He
has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant

All the ministries of Southland Community Church are propelled by our 10 Core Values. These ten
principles are at the very heart of who we are as a church, and are vital to every ministry within. Core
Value #9 is: Everyone a Minister. It is our firm belief that the term “minister” extends beyond the role
of senior pastor and to all Christians. Every single believer is called to be a minister. We are agents of
the gospel, appointed by Christ Jesus to do good works and to spread the Good News.
On our own we are nothing special. Whatever salary you rake in, whatever sport or art you excel in,
whatever achievements past or present – none matter if we are not in a vibrant relationship with the
One who gave us our passions and abilities to begin with.
Whatever excuses keep us from serving Him, we must lay them aside. Why do we worry about having
enough time when we serve the Author of time? Why are we anxious about giving and tithing when
we serve the Owner of the cattle on a thousand hills? Why do we fret that we might not be recognized
and applauded for our achievements when the very One who created us for greatness is infatuated
with us?

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Do you consider yourself a minister? If not, ask God to show you areas you are in where you
have an opportunity to minister
2. Ask God how you have been ministering effectively. How does He feel towards you in regards to
this?
3. Spend some time in thanksgiving. Thank God for the role He’s given you, and thank Him that He
has promised to make you competent for ministry as you continue to seek His will and direction.
Continue thanking God for other blessings in your life.
4. Do you need specific direction in an area or relationship of ministry? Spend some time listening
in prayer and seeking God’s will.

Foundations January 31, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 15-17
The Secret to Revival
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds
and praise your Father in heaven. (NIV)

All over the world, Christians are searching for God. They bounce from church to church, they
read book after book and watch DVD’s and TV programs but the secret to revival is actually quite
simple: Acquaint yourself with God. The God we must learn to know is the God of the Bible.
This devotional was designed to teach attributes of God, but knowledge of such a Being cannot
be gained by study alone. It comes by a wisdom the natural man knows nothing of, neither can
know, because it is spiritually discerned. To know God is at once the easiest and the most difficult
thing in the world. It is easy because the knowledge is freely given by the Lord yet it is difficult
because there are conditions that must be met to receive it. First, we must forsake our sins. The
Bible is clear that the pure in heart will see God (Matt. 5:8). Second, we must commit our whole
heart to Christ. This means that we obey Him in all things, keep His commandments, carry our
cross and love God and people. Third, we must live by the Spirit and walk in the Spirit (Gal 5).
Fourth, we must detach ourselves from the world and its pleasures. Fifth, we must mediate on the
majesty of God. God is a person and must become known to us in increasing degrees of intimate
acquaintance as we prepare our hearts to know Him more fully. Finally, we most love and serve
others. The knowledge and love we have for God can’t be kept to ourselves to be enjoyed selfishly.
We must translate our relationship with God into deeds of mercy towards humanity. As we do these
six things, we shine our light and begin to affect those around us!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Go through the six steps listed in today’s devotional. What areas are you doing well in? In
what areas do you need to improve? Ask the Lord to show you what He requires of you in
each of these areas.
2. As we conclude this study on the attributes of God, ask the Lord to give you a word, thought or
picture of what He has done in your life as a result of it. Then praise Him for this.
3. Pray that God would continue to grow you in these areas.

Foundations January 30, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 12-14
The Sovereignty of God
Daniel 4:35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold
back His hand or say to Him: “What have you done?” (NIV)

If God rules His universe by His sovereign decrees, how is it possible for man to exercise free
choice? God has sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice. Man
has fulfilled this decree by making a choice between good and evil. When we choose to do evil,
we do not countervail the sovereign will of God. God has sovereignly given man limited freedom.
Man is free because God is sovereign. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here but they
do not contradict each other. God moves unhindered and undisturbed toward the fulfillment of His
eternal purposes which He purposed in Jesus Christ before the world began. In the meantime,
within the broad field of God’s sovereignty the battle between good and evil persists. God will have
His way in the end and as responsible beings we must make our choice in the midst of the present
moral situation. God had decreed the law of choice and consequences for those choices. All who
willingly commit themselves to His Son Jesus Christ in obedience of faith shall receive eternal
life and become sons of God. He has also decreed that all who love darkness and continue in
rebellion against the Him shall remain in a state of perpetual alienation and suffer eternal death.
There is freedom to negotiate the side that we want to be on but no room to negotiate the results
of that choice. By the mercy of God we may repent a wrong choice and make a right choice. We
must all choose whether we will obey the gospel or turn away in unbelief and reject His authority.
Our choice is our own, but the consequences of that choice have already been determined by the
sovereign will of God, and from this there is no appeal.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. What are some wrong choices that you have made in your life in which God has mercifully
forgiven? Thank Him for this forgiveness.
2. Thank God for His sovereign plan of salvation and for the freedom that He gives us to choose
Him.
3. Pray that your life would inspire many people to choose Christ.

Foundations January 29, 2012

The Sovereignty of God
Isaiah 44:6 This is what the LORD says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am
the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. (NIV)
God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation. To be sovereign
God must be all-knowing, all-powerful and absolutely free. To be Lord over all creation, He
must possess all knowledge. To be sovereign He must be free to do whatever He wills to do
anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose in every single detail. God is absolutely
free because no one and nothing can hinder Him or compel Him or stop Him. He is able to do
as He pleases always, everywhere, forever. This means that He has absolute authority. Can
you imagine the Lord God having to request permission of anyone? To whom would He go for
permission? Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Where is the
great one to whom He would appeal? This is nonsense, it’s completely absurd. Today’s verse
tells us that He is the first and the last and apart from Him there is no God. The sovereignty
of God is well established in Scripture. We know that God will fulfill every promise made to
the prophets. We know that Jesus is returning to cleanse the earth of sin and establish the
New Earth. We know that the Father is then going to come and make His home among men.
The present imperfect order will be done away with and a new Heaven and New Earth will be
established forever. Towards all of this God is moving in infinite wisdom and perfect precision of
action. No one can dissuade Him from His purposes; nothing can turn Him from His plans.
PRAYER & MEDITATION
1. In what ways can you feel the sovereignty of God in your own life? How has God proven
Himself to be in control of all your circumstances?
2. How does the sovereignty of God comfort you? How does it grow trust and dependence on
Him?
3. Pray that you would align yourself to God’s sovereign will for your life, that you would
submit to that will and obey what He is asking of you.

Foundations January 28, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 9-11
The Holiness of God
Isaiah 6:3 Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory (NIV)

As we approach the subject of the holiness of God, let us be mindful of the importance of this
divine attribute. R. C. Sproul makes this insightful observation from today’s verse: “The Bible
says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy,
holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath,
wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of
His glory.” God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health
of His universe. Evil is a moral sickness that must end in death. God is holy with an absolute
holiness that knows no degrees and this He can’t impart to humanity. But there is a relative and
contingent holiness which He shares with angels and seraphim in heaven and with the redeemed
on earth. This holiness God can and does impart to His children. He shares it with them through
the blood of the Lamb. No one can honestly say “I am holy”, yet God is holy and relationship
with Him demands our holiness. Do you see this dilemma? What are we to do? We must like
Moses cover ourselves with faith and humility for the broken and contrite He will not despise (Ps
51:17). We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft
of the rock. We must take refuge from God in God. Above all we must believe that God sees us
perfect in His Son while He disciplines and chastens and purges us that we may be partakers
of His holiness. By faith, obedience and constant mediation on the holiness of God, by loving
righteousness and hating iniquity, by growing in our relationship with the Spirit, we can prepare
ourselves for the eternal companionship of God.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. What is the solution to the problem of God’s holiness and our unholiness? What sort of a
heart posture does this require?
2. How has God disciplined you in order to guide you to holiness?
3. Are you working on conquering sin on your own or are you taking refuge in God, asking Him
to empower you to live a holy life?

Foundations January 27, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 7-8
The Holiness of God
Psalm 47:8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on His holy throne. (NIV)
1 Samuel 2:2 There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides You; there is no Rock
like our God. (NIV)

There is a disease in both us and our environment and that disease is sin. Unfortunately for most
Christians, this doesn’t affect how they live. Most believers have learned to live with unholiness
and have come to look upon it as natural, normal and expected. Many aren’t even disappointed
when they can’t find truth and faithfulness in politicians or honesty in the business world. Yet
we love and serve a Holy God, of which we can’t even fathom the extent of His Holiness. God’s
holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing of the divine holiness.
It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible, and unattainable. Only the Spirit can
impart to the human knowledge of the Holy One. Theological knowledge is the medium through
which the Spirit flows into the human heart, yet there must be humble repentance in the heart
before truth can produce faith. It is possible to have some truth in the mind without having the
Spirit in the heart. Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He
is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that
is incapable of being other than it is. He is holy; His attributes are holy; whatever we think of as
belonging to God must be thought of as holy.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to show you conditions in the world that He grieves over yet we overlook. How
would a greater understanding of how God sees us cause us to also grieve over these
conditions? In what areas of your life have you learned to live with unholiness?
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to impart to you a deeper knowledge of God as the Holy One. Do you
have a humble and repentant heart so that you can receive this knowledge?
3. Spend some time thanking and praising God for His holiness, that all that He does is holy and
pure.

Foundations January 26, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 6
The Jealousy of God
Exodus 20:4-5 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You
shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
(ESV)

Jealousy is an ugly word. It has overtones of selfishness, suspicion, and distrust, and implies a
hideous resentment or hostility toward other people because they enjoy some advantage. It is
possessive, demanding, and overbearing and it stifles freedom and individuality, it breeds tension
and discord, it destroys friendships and marriages. So how can we say that God is a jealous
God? The root idea in the Old Testament word jealous is to become intensely red. It seems to
refer to the changing color of the face or the rising heat of the emotions which are associated with
intense zeal or fervor over something dear to us. In fact, both the Old and New Testament words
for jealousy are also translated “zeal.” Being jealous and being zealous are essentially the same
thing in the Bible. God is zealous—eager about protecting what is precious to Him. The truth of
His jealousy challenges us to give God a place above all else. But it likewise guarantees that He
is looking out for our best interests. Getting to know Him as a jealous God will increase our level
of devotion to Him, deepen our trust in Him, and strengthen our dedication to pray for others and
faithfully share His truth with them.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you had any reservations about thinking about God as being jealous? How has today’s
devotional helped alleviate those hesitations?
2. How do you feel about God being zealous for you and eager to protect what is precious to
Him?
3. God wants our full worship; we can see that in today’s verse. What are some of the things
that are keeping you from giving God everything in your life? Ask Him to show you some of
the idols in your life, then repent of putting those things before God and commit to putting
Him first in those areas.

Foundations January 25, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 3-5
The Love of God
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice
over you with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with loud singing. (ESV)
There is an emotional identification to love. Yes, love is a commitment that we make to people, and
yes, we know that obedience is a form of love (John 14:15) but love is more than that. We see this
constantly in our world – love and affection go hand in hand. Acts of self-sacrifice are common to
love, Jesus said “greater love has no one than this, that He lay down his life for His friends” (John
15:13). 1 John 4:10 tells us that “this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”. Today’s verse shows us that God takes pleasure in
His people, He rejoices over His children with gladness. God is happy in His love for all that He has
made. Many think of God as far removed, gloomy and mightily displeased with everything, gazing
down in a mood of fixed apathy upon a world in which He has long ago lost interest; but this is to
think erroneously. God hates sin and can never look with pleasure upon iniquity but where people
seek to do God’s will He responds in genuine affection. In Christ, all repentant souls are objects of
God’s delight. The Lord takes pleasure in His saints! He will rejoice over you with singing, He will
quite you with His love! The love of God is one of the greatest realities in the universe, yet His love
for you is personal and intimate! He loves you with a mighty love that has no beginning or end!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. As you read today’s devotional, what are some of your thoughts and feelings towards God?
What evidence is there in your life that you view God’s love this way?
2. Spend some time in personal thanksgiving and worship of the Lord for His love for you!
3. Ask the Lord to give you a deeper emotional identification of His love towards you. Pray that
this would motivate you to love Him back by being committed to Him and obeying His Word.
Pray that you would feel His pleasure over you as you seek Him with a repentant heart.

Foundations January 24, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Chronicles 1-2
The Love of God
Ephesians 3:17-19 17 …that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to
comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to
know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of
God. (ESV)

There is nothing in us that could attract the love of One as holy and just as God. Yet, God has
declared His unchanging love for us in Jesus Christ. There is nothing in us that can win His
love, yet nothing in the universe can prevent Him from loving us. His love is uncaused and
underserved. It is God Himself that is the reason for the love that we receive from Him. We
must pray that we will learn to believe and experience the intensity of the love that He has for
us. This is an eternal love and when we begin to feel it, it quiets our troubled hearts and brings
us to peace as we learn to trust not in what we are but in what He has declared Himself to
be. Because God is eternal, His love has no beginning or end. Because God is infinite, His
love has no limit; because He is holy, His love is pure and spotless – it has no wrong motives.
Because He is immense, His love is incomprehensibly vast. We do not know and we may never
know what love is, but we can know how it manifests itself. Love wills the good of all and never
wills harm or evil to any. Fear is the painful emotion that arises at the thought that we may be
harmed or made to suffer. We can never conquer fear without removing the causes. As long as
we are in the hands of chance we have every reason to be afraid. But to know the love of God
and to enter into the secret place of leaning on the arm of the Beloved – this and only this can
cast out fear. God is love and God is sovereign. His love disposes Him to desire our everlasting
welfare and His sovereignty enables Him to secure it. That is God’s love for you today!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to help you believe and experience the intensity of the love that God has for
you today.
2. Ask the Lord to show you a fear that you have. Then, give Him permission to show you
His love for you in that area. Ask Him how His love and sovereignty are working together
in that area in order to secure your welfare.

Foundations January 22, 2012

The Mercy of God
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant
of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. (NIV)
What right do we have to be in relationship with God? Didn’t we, by our sins, take part in an
unholy rebellion against God which sought to dethrone Him? Did we not walk in disobedience,
following the patterns of the world? Did we not give in to the lusts of our flesh? Yet we who
deserve banishment, enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell, will know the bliss of
heaven! Why? How? Because of the tender mercy of our God! Mercy is an attribute of God, it is
infinite and inexhaustible. Did you know that the Old Testament has more than four times as much
to say about God’s mercy than the New Testament? We must get out of our head that the Old
Testament is full of God’s justice and judgment and the New Testament is about God’s mercy and
grace! Whether in the Garden of Eden or in the Garden of Gethsemane, God is merciful as well
as just! Divine mercy is not a temporary mood but an attribute of God’s eternal being therefore
we need not fear that He will ever stop being merciful. Forever His mercy stands, a boundless,
overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion. To receive mercy we must first know that
God is merciful. It is not enough to know that He showed mercy to Noah, Abraham and David,
we must believe that God’s mercy is boundless and free and through Jesus Christ our Lord, it is
available to us now in our present situation.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Spend some time pondering this thought – you deserve to go to hell but you can know the
bliss of heaven because of the mercy of God. What is your response to God? How then
shall you live your life? Is complete submission too much for Him to ask? What areas do
you need to submit to the Lord today as a token of your thankful heart for His mercy?
2. We can only feel the mercy of God to the extent that we see the dreadfulness of the sin in our
lives. How can you grow in knowledge and experience of the mercy of God?
3. Praise God for His mercy, for His forgiveness when we repent!

Foundations January 21, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 20-22
The Justice of God
Psalm 97:2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him; righteousness and justice are the
foundation of His throne. (ESV)

In today’s verse the Psalmist writes of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in justice,
fairness and impartiality. It was prophesied of the Messiah that He would judge the people with
righteousness and the poor with justice (Ps. 72:2). Justice embodies the idea of moral equity and
iniquity is the exact opposite. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be
favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or
inequitable in heart and conduct. Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is,
nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion,
but simply acting like Himself in a given situation. God is God, always, fully God, and can never be
other than He is. Everything in the universe is good to the degree that it conforms to the nature of
God and evil as it fails to do so. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity and when He
sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced
by anything that is not Himself. Yet God is merciful. Is there a contradiction in His character? God
is a unitary being; He is not comprised of many parts working harmoniously but simply one. There
is nothing in His justice which forbids His mercy. God is never at cross-purposes with Himself. No
attribute of God is in conflict with another.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Can you see the necessity of God’s justice? Why is it so critical that God is both good and just?
Why can’t we separate His attributes?
2. Have you been critical about how God has treated you or someone else?
3. Are you willing to accept His goodness but wish He wouldn’t show His justice to you?
4. Spend some time thanking God for being a unitary being that we can completely trust. His
mercy and His goodness work harmoniously! Ask Him to impart into your heart a greater
understanding of this.

Foundations January 20, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 18-19
The Goodness of God
Psalm 119:68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees (NLT)

Often our sin keeps us from believing that God is good. Sin makes us self-conscious and can
breed in us an unhealthy fear. Often these fears cannot be overcome in a day. The sinner
must come before the Lord not trusting in His own merit but trusting in the loving-kindness,
the goodness of the Lord. God will not hold your past against you if you are truly repentant!
Many people fear approaching God after they have done a really bad sin – they wonder how
God will treat them, what He will say to them, how He will act toward them. The hypocritical
and insincere will find Him cold and aloof but the repentant will find Him merciful; the selfcondemned
will find Him generous and kind. To the frightened He is friendly; to the poor in
Spirit He is forgiving; to the ignorant He is considerate; to the weak He is gentle; to the stranger,
hospitable. Our own attitudes determine how we receive Him. Though His goodness and
kindness is infinite, God will not force Himself upon us. If we want to be welcomed as the
Prodigal was welcomed then we must approach Him as the Prodigal came, in complete humility,
and there will be a feast of welcome for us, music and dancing as the Father takes back His
child! The greatness of God rouses fear within us but His goodness encourages us not to be
afraid of Him. To fear the Lord and not be afraid – that is the great paradox of the Christian
faith.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. How do you view God? Do you find Him cold or insincere or forgiving and merciful? Ask
the Lord to give you a word, thought or picture of your view of Him. Then ask Him why you
feel that way about Him. Ask Him how you can break down these barriers to have a right
view of God.
2. Ask the Lord to give you a heart of humility, one that comes to Him in meekness. Ask Him
to show you areas of hidden pride in your life. Confess these areas of pride as sin, asking
Him to forgive you.
3. Finally, ask the Lord let His goodness transform your heart so that you can feel His love
towards you and not be afraid of Him in spite of His greatness.

Foundations January 19, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 15-17
The Goodness of God
Psalm 31:19 How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which
You bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in You. (NIV)

The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good
will toward men. God does not act toward us as we deserve. We are sinners, condemned to death
yet because of God’s goodness we can have eternal life. He is tender-hearted and full of sympathy.
His very nature inclines Him to bless us and take pleasure in the happiness of His people. God’s
goodness is either taught or implied on every page of the Bible, it is the foundation for all right
thinking about God. If God is not good there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty.
The goodness of God is the drive behind all the blessings He daily bestows upon us. God’s
goodness is the basis for all of His acts. Since God is never changes, the intensity of His goodness
never fluctuates. He has never been kinder than He is now and He will never be less kind. He
makes His kindness shine on the evil and the righteous, rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matt
5:45). The cause of His goodness is Himself, the recipients of His goodness are all people –
without deserving it because there can be no merit in human conduct. Not even the purest and the
best deserve God’s goodness and love. Repentance, though necessary, is a condition for receiving
the gracious gift of pardon which God gives of His goodness. God hears and answers prayers
because He is good, not because He is obligated to for God cannot be in debt to anyone. Our
whole outlook would change if we could truly live out our belief that God is good!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Have you sometimes struggled with wanting better treatment from God than others because
you feel you are more righteous than they are? Do you try to earn God’s goodness?
2. Do you struggle when God sends rain (blessings) on the unjust? How is this not a conflict in
His character?
3. Thank the Lord for His goodness towards you, ask Him to give you a word, thought or picture
about His goodness towards you today.

Foundations January 18, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 12-14
Unity of the Attributes
Mark 12:29 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. (NIV)

Today we will take a pause from our study of the individual attributes of God to talk about the
consistency of His attributes. None of God’s attributes conflict with each other but all harmonize
and blend into each other. All that God does agrees with all that He is. God cannot act out of
character with Himself. For instance, the Bible teaches that God is love; some have interpreted
this in such a way as virtually to deny that He is just, which the Bible also teaches. Others press
the Biblical doctrine of God’s goodness so far that it is made to contradict His Holiness. Or they
make His compassion cancel out His truth. Still others understand the sovereignty of God in a
way that destroys or diminishes His goodness and love. We can hold a correct view of truth only
by daring to believe everything that God has said about Himself. We cannot and must not edit
out any of God’s attributes or minimize one at the expense of another. There is no conflict among
God’s attributes. Almost every human heresy has arisen from believing things about God that are
not true or from overemphasizing true things about God in a way as to obscure other things that
are equally as true. To magnify one attribute to the exclusion of another is to head into heresy, yet
we are all tempted to do that. That is why it is important that we spend time listening to the Lord,
giving Him permission to look deep into our hearts so that we can see if there are any subtle ways
that we are getting off track. In His goodness, He will show us these things, only as we let Him in.
Then we can move toward having a right view of God.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to reveal to you if there are any unbalances in your heart when it comes to His
attributes. Do you favour His love over His justice? Or His goodness over His holiness?
2. Ask the Lord if there is any Christian literature that you have been reading or watching that is
leading you to a wrong view of God. Give Him permission to speak to you about these things.
3. Ask the Lord to grow you by shaping your view of Him and giving you a correct view of truth.
Ask Him to protect you from wrong thinking, especially the thinking that comes from our
culture instead of His Word.

Foundations January 17, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 9-11
The Faithfulness of God
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping
His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.
(NIV)

The Bible teaches that God cannot act out of character with Himself so all His words and acts
must be and must remain faithful. People become unfaithful out of desire, fear, weakness, loss of
interest, or because of some strong influence on them. Yet none of these forces can affect God
in any way. The Book of Psalms rings with glad thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God. The New
Testament also takes up this theme and celebrates the loyalty of God the Father and His Son
Jesus Christ. In Revelation Jesus is seen as riding a white horse towards His triumph and He
bears the names Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11). Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand
and His promises be honoured. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may
we live in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come. The tempted, the anxious,
the fearful, the discouraged may all find new hope in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father is
faithful. He will be true to His pledged word. He will never remove His loving-kindness from us
and His faithfulness will never fail!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. In what ways are you depending on His faithfulness today? In what areas do you trust in His
faithfulness? Pray that He would release peace in your heart as you trust in His faithfulness.
2. Spend some time thanking Him for His faithfulness and that you can depend on Him.
3. In the light of God’s faithfulness to you, how are you responding in faith back to Him? Is it
more important to please God rather than achieve success or acceptance of others? Do you
share your faith with others? Dialogue with God a little about these things and then ask Him
if there is anything else that He wants to say to you.

Foundations January 16, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 6-8
God is everywhere
Psalm 139:7-10 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I go
up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. 9 If I rise on the
wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there Your hand will guide me, Your
right hand will hold me fast. (NIV)

In today’s verse, David contemplates how God knows him inside and out, he wonders where he
might go to hide from the Lord. Heaven, hell, east, west, the far side of the ocean—it doesn’t matter
for the Lord is already there. What about the darkness of the night? The darkness will not deter
God, for “darkness is as light to you” (Ps. 139:12). The story is told by Canon W.G.H. Holmes of
Hindu worshippers in India tapping on trees and stones and whispering “Are you there? Are you
there?” to the god they hoped might reside within. In complete humility the enlightened Christian
brings the answer to that question. God is indeed there. He is there as He is here and everywhere,
not confined to a tree or stone but free in the universe, near to everything, next to everyone and
though Jesus Christ accessible to every human heart. This should bring us much satisfaction for
we are never alone. He is always with us. The knowledge that we are never alone calms our
troubled lives and speaks peace into our souls. Yet, the knowledge of His presence is one thing,
feeling His presence is nothing less than sheer happiness.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Where are you today – are you experiencing happiness or sorrow in His presence? Are you
letting Him comfort you and calm you when you experience sorrow? Dialogue with God about
this.
2. What are the things that you run to when you are feeling down or a bit depressed? Do you
find it easy to turn to God or do you turn to other things? Ask the Lord to help empower you to
turn to Him in the midst of dark or dreary circumstances.
3. Praise the Lord for His Divine Presence that calms our troubled hearts. Ask Him to pour this
knowledge not just into your mind but also into your heart.

Foundations January 15, 2012

God is everywhere
1 Kings 8:27 But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot
contain you. How much less this temple I have built! (NIV)

Spurgeon teaches that “God is everywhere. His circumference is nowhere, but his center is
everywhere. He goes on to tell of a man, a blasphemer, profane, atheist who was converted
singularly by a sinful action of his. He had written on a piece of paper, “God is nowhere,” and
ordered his child to read it, because he wanted to make his child an atheist too. The child spelled
it, God is N-o-w H-e-r-e—God is now here. It was truth instead of a lie, and the arrow pierced the
man’s own heart.” We are always in the presence of God. There is no place where we can hide
from His presence. This personalizes our relationship with the universe and gives meaning to
our lives. God is present, near us, next to us, and God sees inside us and knows us through and
through. Most people are not comfortable with an omnipresent God. They want a god they can
see and feel and touch. A god they can understand. A god they can control. A god made by their
own minds. But you can’t do this to the God of the Bible. And you certainly can’t control him. Tozer
writes: “The doctrine of the divine omnipresence…gives meaning to all other truths and imparts
supreme value to our lives…He is near to everything, next to everyone and through Jesus Christ
immediately accessible to every loving heart…”

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Has the Omnipresence of God ever comforted you in a time of struggle? Do you tap into His
presence on a regular basis throughout the day? What can you do to move in the direction of
being in His presence more each day?
2. In what ways have you been guilty of making God fit your idea of who He should be or trying
to subtly control Him?
3. Thank the Lord for the truth of His omnipresence; ask Him to impart a greater understanding
of His Divine Presence into your heart.

Foundations January 14, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 4-5
The Transcendence of God
Isaiah 55:8-9 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares
the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (NIV)

The idea of the transcendence of God runs through the whole Bible and gives colour and tone to
the character of the saints. It gave the characters in the Bible a feeling of personal insufficiency
in the presence of the Almighty God, which we call the Fear of the Lord. However intimate
their communion with God, however bold their prayers, at the base of their religious life was the
concept that God was awesome and dreadful. Whenever God appeared to men in Bible times
the results were the same – an overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation
of sinfulness and guilt. When Moses saw God in the burning bush, he hid his face. When
Isaiah had his vision of the Lord he cried, “Woe is me, I am undone, because I am a man of
unclean lips.” Daniel lifted up his eyes and saw a vision of a God who is so great that there was
no strength left in him and he fell into a deep sleep. The self-assured modern Christian shows
shocking disrespect for God. Many call themselves Christians and pray sometimes, maybe even
do devotions now and again but evidently don’t know who He is. Proverbs 14:27 tells us that the
fear of the Lord is a fountain of life but this healing fear is hardly found among today’s Christians.
The poet Goethe said;
‘People treat the incomprehensible Most High Being, who is beyond the reach of thought as their
equal.” May God forgive our lack of reverence and understanding of who He is!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to show you the connection between the fear of the Lord and the lack of
consequences in today’s society. How can we balance having a healthy fear of the Lord with
the love of the Lord?
2. Have you ever experienced terror or dismay in the presence of the Lord or a wrenching
sensation of your sinfulness and guilt? Should we feel this way before Him? Is there a
balance that we need in our relationship with Him?

Foundations January 13, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Kings 1-3
The Transcendence of God
Psalm 33:13 From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind. (NIV)

The pocket dictionary of theological terms tells us that transcendence is the “attribute of God that
refers to being wholly and distinctly separate from creation (although always actively involved
in and with it as well). The declaration that God is transcendent means that God is “above” the
world and comes to creation from “beyond.” During the medieval era God’s transcendence was
especially emphasized, as is evident in the architecture of the great gothic cathedrals with their
high, arched ceilings that lift one’s gaze upward.” God is high above all other beings, yet we must
not compare God with any other as we compare the mountain with the grain of sand. We must
not think of God as the highest in an ascending order of beings, starting with the single celled
creatures and going up from the fish to the birds to the animals, to man, then angels and then
God. God forever stand apart, He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar for the
distance between the archangel and the caterpillar is finite. The gulf between the archangel and
God is infinite. Think about that for a moment or two. That is how exalted God is, we can’t even
think to compare Him with any of His created beings, and we can’t even to think to imagine the
gap between us and Him. That’s how great the God who loves you is!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Ask the Lord to give you a word, thought or picture about His greatness.
2. Pray that the Canadian church would grow to know and understand the greatness of God
and that this would motivate people toward evangelism.
3. Thank the Lord for His involvement in our lives, that even though He is high above all, He
still loves you.

Foundations January 12, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 21-22
God is all-powerful
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. (NIV)
Although we have a God that has infinite power, we often fail to give Him the chance to use that
power through us. God wants us to rely on Him instead of doing things on our own strength. When
we do things on our own strength we may be successful in the short term but we miss out on
learning how to depend on God. Then when bigger stuff happens we haven’t grow in this area and
therefore get weighed down and overloaded very quickly. It is like this for many things in our lives.
We can fast on our own strength, we can avoid temptation on our own strength, we can even try to
love and bear spiritual fruit on our own strength but those things are all counterfeit. Jesus wants
to empower us through the Holy Spirit to do the things that He has called us to do. What does this
mean; it means that you need to learn to rely on God’s power when Satan tries to tempt you. It
means that you need to learn to call upon the name of Jesus to provide you with the protection and
the peace He promises to those who call upon Him, because He is powerful enough to keep that
promise. It also means that you need to learn to pray every day, asking Him to help you obey His
Word and follow through on what He is asking you to do! This is what it means to make Jesus the
functional Lord of your life! He gets to call the shots and then empower you to do what He is asking
of you! There is no better way to live the Christian life than that!
 
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. It doesn’t actually make sense that a God who possesses all power is a personal God that
we can know at a personal level. Yet, this is His will. Amazing Grace! Spend some time in
thanksgiving to God for all that He has done for you. Worshipping Him is our great privilege,
not a duty. He has designed it so that we can fellowship with Him…what a truly magnificent
blessing. Spend some time praising Him…write it down…
2. Pray that you would learn to tap into the power that He has available for you to help you grow
in your walk with Him, avoid temptation, obey, etc.

Foundations January 11, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 18-20
God is all-powerful
Revelation 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters
and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. (NIV)
God possesses what no creature can – an incomprehensible plenitude of power. Since God is also
infinite, whatever He has must be without limit therefore God has limitless power. He is omnipotent.
God is also the source of all power. God delegates His power to His creatures but when He
does this He does not give any of it away because He cannot lose power. In today’s culture we
sometimes forget who God really is. In the Bible times, God was alive, personal and ruled their
world. Yet today, we often see God as dead, impersonal and apathetic to our world. There are
many errors in that attitude because God hasn’t changed; it’s us who have changed. We have
replaced God with science and scientific laws and theories. Science observes how the power of
God operates, discovers a pattern and then fixes it as a universal scientific law. The orderliness
of God and trustworthiness of His behaviour is the foundation for all scientific truth. Religion on
the other hand goes back to the nature of God. It is concerned in the One who is the source of all
things. The men of Scripture conversed with this God and found Him warm, intimate and deeply
satisfying. Nothing is too hard for God because He possesses all power; all His acts are done
without effort. He expends no energy therefore never needs to be replenished.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Do you sometimes put limits on God’s power? This may not be easy to recognize; it probably
is very subtle – like making excuses for Him when He doesn’t heal someone or when your
prayers aren’t answered. God is not the root of these problems; we are…in what ways have
we incorrectly blamed God when He doesn’t do what we ask? Spend some time confessing
that we have not submitted fully to Him.
2. Have you reduced God down to principles or commandments to obey? Where are you at in
your personal, intimate relationship with Him? Do you find Him deeply satisfying and warm? If
not, invite Him to speak truth into your life in this area.

Foundations January 10, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 15-17
God is wise
Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind
of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?” 35“Who has ever given to God, that God should
repay Him?” 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory
forever! Amen.

God is infinitely wise. The testimony of faith is that no matter how things look in this fallen
world, all God’s acts are made in perfect wisdom. The incarnation of Jesus in flesh, the cross
and the resurrection were all parts of God’s perfect plan. God’s wise plan includes atonement,
the sending of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate overthrowing of evil and the final establishment of
His Kingdom on earth. There is no flaw in God’s ways. We must hold onto the wisdom of God
in our everyday lives by exercising faith. Our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us
providential circumstances that work for our present good. Many people go through life praying
a little, planning a little but never being quite certain of anything. Many are secretly afraid they
will miss out but there is a better way to live. We must leave at the foot of the cross our own
wisdom and take instead the wisdom of God. We must let Jesus be the functional Lord of our
lives by letting Him take over the management of our lives. What happens when we let God
lead our lives? Isaiah tells us; 16 I [God] will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along
unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the
rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them (42:16).

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. In what ways have you been keeping the control of your life instead of trusting and
submitting to God? Ask the Lord to show you a specific circumstance where you trusted in
yourself (your planning, etc.) instead of submitting to Him and letting Him lead. Confess as
necessary.
2. Spend some time thanking the Lord for His infinite wisdom. Pray that you would leave your
plans at the foot of the cross and submit fully to Him.
3. Pray that as a church we would submit and follow God’s wise plans.

Foundations January 9, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 12-14
God is wise
Daniel 2:20 Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. (NIV)
A.W. Tozer, in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, defines wisdom. “Wisdom, among other things,
is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees
the end from the beginning, so there can be no need to guess or estimate. Wisdom sees everything
in focus, each in proper relation to all and therefore He is able to work towards predestined goals
with flawless precision.” All God’s acts are done in perfect wisdom and cannot be improved upon.
Throughout the ages, many people have found it hard to believe the wisdom of a world where so much
appears to be wrong. As Christians we understand the huge calamity of the Fall of Man and how
creation now groans under the shock of sin (Romans 8:22). Yet in God’s wisdom we await the hour of
Christ’s ultimate triumph. When the present age ends and the new age is ushered in and the universe
will see that God has indeed abounded toward us all in wisdom. In the meantime, we rest in the hope
of the all wise God, our Saviour, and wait with patience the development of the rest of His purposes.
God says; what I am is all that need matter to you, for there lay your hope and your peace. I will do
what I do and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is my secret. Trust Me, and be not afraid!
 
PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. When bad circumstances come into your life are you quick to blame God and question what He
is doing?
2. What circumstances in your life do you see as “bad” yet God in His infinite wisdom has allowed?
3. Are you willing to trust Him with those circumstances and trust in His perfect wisdom? What
would that look like in your life?

Foundations January 7, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 10-11
God never changes
Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I do not change (NKJV)
Psalm 102:25-27 25 In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of Your hands. 26 They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like
clothing You will change them and they will be discarded. 27 But You remain the same, and Your years
will never end. (NIV)

Why can God never change? God cannot change for the better since He is perfect. Neither can
God change for the worse because that would be ludicrous, God can’t deteriorate and become less
than He is! There can be no change in the moral character of God. Only a being composed of
earthly parts can change. God has no parts to be altered since He is whole and perfect. So what
does it mean for you when we say that God never changes? How does this affect your life? It just
so happens to have a huge impact on your life. Nothing that God has ever said about Himself will
ever be modified; nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about Him will be overturned.
It should bring great peace to our hearts to know that God never changes. He never differs from
Himself; neither does He change His mind about anything. We don’t need to wonder whether we will
find Him in a receptive mood or not, He is always receptive! He feels towards His creatures, towards
children, the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His Son to die on the cross!
God never changes moods or needs time to cool off, He never loses His enthusiasm. His attitude
towards sin is the same now as it was when He drove Adam and Eve from the garden. In a world
full of compromise, you can be assured that God does not compromise. He cannot be coaxed; He
cannot be persuaded to alter His Word or talked into answering a prayer. With this being said, we
must remember that all change must be done on our part, we must bring our lives into accord with His
revealed will!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Thank the Lord for being unchanging, that you can depend on that!
2. Ask the Lord to show you a few changes that you can make in your life so that you can grow in
your walk with God.
3. Pray that you will grow in trusting the Unchanging God.

Foundations January 6, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 8-9
God is limitless, measureless and boundless
Job 11:7-9 7 “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the
grave—what can you know? 9 Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. (NIV)

It is impossible for our limited minds to comprehend the Unlimited. In trying to comprehend God
we need to envision something that is foreign to us and unlike anything we have ever known.
God is limitless, He is far greater that what we can comprehend, His greatness cannot be
conceived. He is greater than all language therefore no statement can express Him. God knows
no bounds, He is measureless. Measuring is the way we account for things, it describes limitations,
imperfections and cannot apply to God. We cannot speak of size or weight and at the same time
speak of God. Because God’s nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also. As
humans we have limitations which frustrate us. Yet God has no limits, His love is measureless, it
is boundless. His love is something He is and because He is infinite that love can enfold the entire
created world in itself and have room for then thousand times ten thousand worlds besides ours.
Knowing this God is up to us, He has done His part in ensuring that we can have a relationship
with Him. We just have to seek Him diligently and He will come and manifest Himself to us. This is
not a journey for the feet but for the heart.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Take some time to mediate on the limitless love that God has for you. Ask Him to give you a
word, thought or picture about that love.
2. In what areas do you need God to extend His infinite mercy? Are you truly repentant in those
areas? If so, He will extend that mercy.
3. Spend some time thanking God for doing His part in making a way for you to have
relationship with Him. Confess that you have not always done your part. Ask Him to show
you what your part is today?

Foundations January 5, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 6-7
God is eternal
Psalm 102:12 But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures through all
generations. (NIV)
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from
everlasting to everlasting You are God. (NIV)

Time marks the beginning of created existence but since God never began to exist it can have no
application to Him. Because God lives in an everlasting now, He has no past and no future. Time
refers to us, not Him. God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God. He has already lived all our
tomorrows and all our yesterdays. C.S. Lewis gives the following helpful illustration. He suggests
that if we think of a piece of paper infinitely extended, that would be eternity. Then, if we drew a
line on that paper – that would represent time. As the line begins and ends on that infinite expanse,
so time began in God and will end in Him. God appears at the beginning and the end of time
simultaneously. God sees the end and the beginning in one view. God is eternal; He is and always
will be a safe home for His children. We can trust God because of this. God and only God can see
the big picture. When trials and sorrows come our way, we don’t always understand what is going
on but He knows the plan. As Christians we should remember and take comfort in that. We need
to keep in mind that God has eternity in site when he deals with us. God created time He is beyond
time, this means that the things of God are eternal, especially the promises of God. And most
importantly God’s salvation through Christ Jesus is eternal, and that the only way to spend eternity
with God is through our acceptance and relationship with Jesus.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Are you going to spend eternity with God as a result of accepting Jesus as your Saviour? If
not, take a moment and get right with God.
2. How does the eternity of God put perspective on the things going on in your life? Do you trust
the big picture that only He sees?
3. Pray that you would learn to give up needing to know and understand every little detail and
learn to trust God in all areas of your life.

Foundations January 4, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 1 Kings 3-5
God has no needs
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
(NIV)

Whatever God is, and all that He is, He is in Himself. All life is in and from God; no creature has
life on its own. Life is a gift from God. To admit that God needs something would be to admit that
God is incomplete. Need is not a word that can be used to describe God. God has a voluntary
relationship with all of His creation but He has no necessary relation to anything outside Himself.
His interest in humanity stems from His pleasure and not from any need that we can fill in Him.
People meet and marry to fill needs in their lives; they often have kids to fill holes in their hearts.
God does not have these sorts of needs, He is complete in Himself. He did not bring the world
into being to meet some unfulfilled need in Himself. Our relationship with God does not bring
Him to completeness. As humans we need air, we need food, we need water and sleep. To God,
nothing is necessary, He has no needs. In our pride we can find it quite easy to begin to believe
that God needs us. The truth is that God needs no one. This is a blow to our egos, we wonder,
how can this be? Doesn’t God need me to do some great evangelistic work and what about the
ministry that I do? These things make us feel important and necessary to God. Yet the only claim
to importance that we have is the fact that we are created in His image. God exists for Himself and
we exist to bring Him glory. Yet this concept doesn’t paralyze ministry, in fact it stimulates it. While
God does not need us to do anything for Him, He has in sovereignly willed it to work in and through
His obedient children. He needs no one but yet when faith and love is present He works through
anyone. Praise the Lord!

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. Think about your ministry involvement. Have you slipped into the wrong thinking that God
“needs” you?
2. Meditate on the reason for your existence – for His pleasure and to bring Him glory. Is this
aligned with the choices that you are making?
3. Praise God for His sovereign will of using obedient Children in ministry! Although He doesn’t
need you, He still uses you! What a great God!

Foundations January 3, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Samuel 22-24
God has no origin
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from
everlasting to everlasting You are God. (NIV)

When we look at the world around us we can see that everything has a beginning and will have an
end. It’s hard for us to think of something that has no beginning and will never end. That’s often
why we have hidden fears about eternity – what will it be like to be there forever? It scares us. Yet
God has no origin, He has no beginning and will have no end. God is self-existent, He has always
been. Our minds can’t fathom this; it’s too hard for us to understand. Doesn’t everything have a
beginning? Not God! God is responsible to no one; He is self-existent, self-dependent and selfsufficient.
Philosophy and science hate that about God. They are in the business of accounting for
things but how can one account for something that refuses to give an account for itself? To admit
that there is someone that lies beyond us, who exists outside all of our categories, who will not
appear before the bar of our reason or submit to our curiosity requires a great deal of humility. It
absolutely drives the philosophers and scientists crazy! God is the “I AM”. So what does this have
to do with the problems of your everyday life? Since we are God’s creation and are made in His
image so it is safe to assume that all of our problems and their solutions are theological. We can
never know who we really are until we know something of who God is. Man is a created being who
is completely and utterly dependent on God, the One who created him. God’s self-existence means
that He is not answerable to us or to anybody, and we don’t like that. We want God to give an
account of Himself, to defend His actions. Although He sometimes explains things to us, He doesn’t
have to and often He does not. God doesn’t have to explain Himself to anybody.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. How does your life reflect dependence on God?
2. Have there been situations in your life where you have felt like you wanted God to explain
Himself to you? Are you willing to let go of this and let God rule and reign according to His
plans and purposes?
3. Pray that you would grow in listening prayer so that God can rule your life and you can live in
dependence on Him.

Foundations January 2, 2012

History Books in 90 Days: 2 Samuel 22-24
What is an Attribute?
1 Corinthians 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit
within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (NIV)

An attribute of God is anything that God has revealed about Himself to be true. Many theologians
over the years have come up with lists of the attributes of God. Before we even start looking at
His attributes we must agree that we can’t possibly know all His attributes for He is an infinite God
therefore He would possess attributes that we cannot fully comprehend. With that said, we can
conclude that this devotional series will not be exhaustive in nature. Instead we will just barely get
our feet wet. God loves to reveal Himself to us, not just to satisfy our intellect but to overwhelm
our hearts with love for Him. Answers about who God is, what kind of God He is and how He acts
towards us are all sought by prayer, mediating on the Word and by self-disciplined labour. We must
remember that God reveals Himself to those that are prepared to receive Him, “Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God.” As we look at studying the attributes of God this month it is
important to remember that God is not made up of parts. God is complete and One with Himself.
Between His attributes no contradiction can exist, for in Him all His attributes are one. An attribute
is not a part of God, it is how God is. For example, love isn’t something that God has which can
grow or diminish and cease but rather when He loves He is simply being Himself. It’s the same way
with all the other attributes.

PRAYER and MEDITATION
1. What are some of the ways that God has revealed Himself to you in the past?
2. Receiving a revelation of God is not for the faint of heart, it takes prayer, mediation and
discipline to know the deep things of God. Are you willing to commit to seeking God for the
long haul?
3. Pray that you would persevere in seeking God, that you would gain understanding throughout
your life as you faithfully seek Him.