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I’m Getting To Know God

Genesis 6

68)  The Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal.  His days will be 120 years.”

69)  The Lord saw how how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.  (God sees us and hears our thoughts!)

70)  The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.  (God feels emotions.)

71)  So the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved I have made them.  (This after 1,056 years.  He waited patiently for man to change his ways.)

72)  Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.  He was a righteous man, blameless among the people, and he walked with God.  So God told Noah that He was going to put an end to all people, for the earth was filled with violence.  God told Noah to build an ark, because He was going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens. (God was merciful to Noah.)

73)  But God would establish a covenant with Noah. (The very first covenant!)

74)  God told Noah to bring into the ark his family, and also two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive.

75)  God also instructed Noah to bring food for both the people and the animals.

Having Greater Knowledge of God

Genesis 4

56)  The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering (perhaps because Abel didn’t hold back his best, but gave it to the Lord as thanks for His blessings).

57)  The Lord spoke to Cain, as He did Adam.

58)  The Lord said to Cain,  “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?  But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”  (Good lesson for all of us!)

59)  The Lord spoke to Cain a second time, after he killed Abel.

60)  The Lord asked Cain what he had done, but I think He was giving Cain a chance to confess and repent.  God knows all things.

61)  The Lord told Cain that Abel’s blood was crying out to Him from the ground.

62)  The Lord cursed Cain for killing his brother — a consequence of sin.

63)  The Lord told Cain that if anyone killed him, the murderer would suffer vengeance seven times over.  God put a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him (proving God still loves a sinner).

64)  God granted Eve another child in place of Abel (Seth).

Genesis 5

65)  Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.  (That’s a long time on earth!)

66)  Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away!

67)  Lamech said the ground was still cursed by the Lord … 1,056 years later!

How Much Do You Know God?

Genesis 3

42)  God walked in the Garden of Eden.

43)  God spoke to Adam!

44)  God cursed the serpent for deceiving Eve.  (Don’t listen to Satan; listen to God!)

45)  God put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between their offspring.  (Reason I dislike snakes!)

46)  God told Eve that He would greatly increase her pain in childbearing.

47)  God gave Eve a consequence for her sin.

48)  God told Eve that her husband would rule over her.  (Another consequence.)

49)  To Adam, God said,  “Because you listened to your wife (over Me) and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”

50)  Adam would return to the ground, since from it he was taken, “for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

51)  God punishes disobedience.

52)  God made clothing for Adam and Eve.  He provided for their needs.

53)  God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.”  (Further proof of the existence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.)

54)  God didn’t want man to live forever (by eating from the tree of life).  So he banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

55)  After God drove them out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim — guardians of the Lord’s honor — and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Getting To Know God

Genesis 2

25)  On the seventh day, God rested from all his work.  (He rests!)

26)  God sent rain on the earth for the fields.

27)  God formed man from the dust of the ground.  He breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life. 

28)  God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and he put the man in the garden.

29)  God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground.  In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  (Why did God put them there?  He knew how weak man is.  Maybe everything has worked according to his plan!)

30)  A river watering the garden flowed from Eden.

31)  God thought of everything!

32)  In the land of Havilah, there was gold.  Resin and onyx were also there.  (Why did God create them?  He must have had a reason.)

33)  God put man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  (We are to care for the things entrusted to us!)

34)  God warned the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when he eats of it he will surely die.  (Clear instructions!)

35)  God tells the truth!

36)  God saw the need of man to not be alone, so he made a helper suitable for man.

37)  God cares about us!

38)  God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.

39)  God brought the animals and the birds to the man to see what he would name them.  (That was a huge job!)

40)  God saw that for Adam, no suitable helper was found from the animals and birds that he named.

41)  God put Adam to sleep and took one of the man’s ribs.  He closed up the place with flesh.  Then God made a woman from the rib and brought her to the man.  (Amazing!)

**More names of God:

c)  the Lord  (Genesis 2:4)

Do You Know God?

Here are more notes I’ve taken from Genesis about Knowing God:

14)  God created living creatures for the water.

15)  God created birds that could fly above the earth.

16)  He created these on the fifth day.

17)  God created living creatures for the land.

18)  God created man in his image, in his likeness, to rule over the fish, birds, and livestock — every creature.  (That makes us special!)

19)  God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”  He was not alone.  Jesus and the Holy Spirit were with him.

20)  God created both male and female (he gives the reason later on).

21)  God blessed them and told them to be fruitful and increase in number.  Subdue the earth.  Rule over the fish, birds, and animals.  (God told them!  He spoke to them!  Can you imagine?)

22)  God gave them every seed-bearing plant and every tree that has fruit with seed in it for their food.  (He knew they would need to eat to survive.)

23)  He created these on the sixth day.

24)  The heavens, the earth, and everything on it were completed in six days!  Doesn’t that tell you how powerful God is?

Knowing God

I’ve been reading Genesis with my focus on God alone, and I’ve learned a lot about Him.  I received a request to share my notes.  Here is a start:

1)  God was there in the beginning.

2)  God created the heavens and the earth.

3)  The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters of the earth.

4)  God created the light just by speaking!

5)  God separated the light from the darkness.  He called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”  (Did you catch that?  God named the day and the night!)

6)  God created these things in the first day.

7)  God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.  He called the expanse “sky.”  (Again, God named something we see every day!)

8)  God created this on the second day.

9)  God gathered the water to one place, and let dry ground appear.  He called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters “sea.”

10)  God created vegetation on the land, seed-bearing plants and trees that bear fruit with seed in it.  (Food for us!)

11)  God created this on the third day.

12)  God created lights in the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the sky to give light to the earth.  He made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day (sun), and the lesser light to govern the night (moon).  He also made the stars.  (He thought of everything we would need to live on the earth!)

13)  God created this on the fourth day.

**More to come!  We’re just getting started!

Oh, I also started a list of the Names of God.  So far we have:

a)  God  (Genesis 1:1)

b)  the Creator  (Genesis 1)

Before We Became Christians

Before we became Christians, did events happen in our lives that would turn us to God, or make us seek knowledge about heaven?  Take a grieving mother.  If you lost a child, wouldn’t you want to believe there is a heaven, and that is where your child is?  And if your child is in heaven, wouldn’t you want to get there some day?  Wouldn’t you go to a local church and ask the pastor how you can get to heaven?  God would not have any of us perish.  He is trying His very best to reach us.  For some, this takes a still small voice.  But for others, it takes a good hard shake.  What better way to shake us up than a tragedy?  Blessed are those who listen to the still small voice!

I’ll See You In Heaven

I lost a precious child fourteen years ago today.  But instead of mourning for Jacob, I want to focus on the fact that he is sitting in Jesus’ lap today.  That thought makes me smile.  How can I be sad when he is with my Savior?  No, I will smile today.

Want to see the greatest list of all time?

The Names of God:

1)  God  (Genesis 1:1)

2)  the Creator  (Genesis 1:1)

3)  the Lord  (Genesis 2:4)

4)  God Most High  (Genesis 14:18)

5)  Sovereign Lord  (Genesis 15:2)

6)  the One  (Genesis 16:13)

7)  God Almighty  (Genesis 17:1)

I especially like the sixth one.  It really says it all, doesn’t it?  It captures exactly who God is. 

Did you notice I’m only on the 17th chapter of Genesis, and I’ve already learned so much?  I’m telling you, going through one book of the Bible and focusing only on what you can learn about God is eye-opening.

What We Are – What We Can Be

In my Bible study, I’m learning about God. This morning, I read about the Tower of Babel. It was during my reading that I realized who the builders of the tower reminded me of … my children! And I came to see that the Lord’s love for us is tremendous! He has such patience for us. We’re such willful children, always getting ourselves into trouble. How many times in our lives has He bailed us out? And how often did we thank Him for it? Maybe like the builders, we didn’t know we were building a tower of difficulty for ourselves. But this only means we should say a prayer of thanks Every Day! We don’t need to see the pit in our path that we’re saved from falling into. We just need to know Who saved us!

I highly recommend the exercise I’m doing. Starting in Genesis, I’m reading a chapter every day and recording what I learned about God alone. I don’t write down anything but what the verse tells me about the Lord. I’ve read the Bible many times, but I’m getting so much out of this. I’m just taking it slow. I’ve already learned a lot about God in a short amount of time. You’ve probably heard the expression, “To know me is to love me.” I believe, to fully love the Lord, we need to know Him. This is His desire for us as well. He wants us to know Him. So let’s get started!

Can We Figure This Out?

I know that our faith is tested during trials and tribulations here on earth. But is there a reason why particular things happen during our lifetime? Are they all just random incidents, or were they chosen for a purpose? Look back on your own life. I’m sure there are unpleasant experiences in your past, some worse than others. Why did it happen to YOU?

In writing fiction, the writer needs to look at the hero and think, “What type of person would the crisis impact the most?” What constitutes a crisis depends on who it’s happening to. An incident occurring to one person may have crippling effects, while it hardly phases somebody else.

When I look back at the difficulties I’ve endured, I’m starting to ask, “Did that make me stronger in my faith? Did I handle the situation in the right way? Did I try to lean on my own ability instead of leaning on God? What would Jesus have me do?” We need to question what happens to us and learn by it. That is how we grow as Christians. We need to have a different mindset than the world.

With Timothy, we want to say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.” 2 Timothy 4:7