The Names of God: Adonai-Lord

Adonai-Lord: Master

Adonai-Lord indicates the sovereignty of God. The Master is the one who assumes control of a situation. The servant, seeks to know and to do the will of his Master.

Genesis 15:2 KJV
And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

Abram was in a pickle. He was old, rich, and had no heir. He knew if he were to die, all that he had worked for, all that God had blessed him with, would go to some servant in his household, not his own flesh and blood. Never mind that he was being less than grateful or faithful. God had already made a powerful and bountiful covenant with him in Genesis 12:1-3 and renewed that covenant again in Genesis 13:14-18. God had assured Abram twice now that his seed would number as the dust of the earth. But Abram, like the rest of us doubted after time had passed and he was still childless. Abram was flesh, just like you, just like me. His faith faltered a little. He stumbled a bit in his walk. 

Yet the knowledge that God was still God was clear when Abram called upon Him in Genesis 15:2. The Hebrew for Lord GOD in this verse is Adonai-Lord, Master. There may have been a little doubt creeping in and beginning to clutch at his heart but the truth remained, the truth that God is Master, He is in complete control. And because He is our Master, we are to serve Him, trust Him, and have faith in Him.

And like the loving and merciful Master He is, when Abram reminded Him that he was still childless, God, Adonai, promised him his heart's desire. But not only did He promise Abram an heir from his own loins, He promised for the third time that Abram's seed would number as the stars in the heavens. 

Three times now, God had spoken to Abram and told him he would be the father of many nations, and somehow this was still not sufficient for him. Once again he got impatient, restless, and he took matters into his own hands, and Ishmael was conceived. 

Astoundingly though, God once again renewed His covenant with Abram after Ishmael's birth. This was a sure sign of His love and patience with us. Were it any other father and son, I imagine there would've been much yelling and throwing hands in the air. But He remained long-suffering, even through His promise to Sarah of a son as she laughed at the absurdity of a child at her age. 

Finally in Genesis 21, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90, Isaac was born and the rest is history as they say.

It took 25 years for Abraham to begin to see the fulfilling of the covenant God had made with him in Genesis 12, but that certainly did not mean that God was not in control every minute of those 25 years. And when you think about it, to only have to be reminded 3 times in a quarter of a century that God is in control, that He is Master and you are servant is pretty astonishing. It seems He has to remind me at least a dozen times in 24 hours. 

But He is. He is Master. And He is in control of each and every situation, whether it be spiritual, financial, physical, or mental, He is Master. He created the heavens and the earth...He can cure cancer with a single thought. He breathed life into dust and made man...He can put life in even the most barren of wombs. Through His Son, He took 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and fed 5,000...He can see any bill paid, any mouth fed. 

He took one man's faltering faith and made him the father of many nations. 

Here I am Adonai-Lord, use me up, make me your righteous and faithful servant.

Adonai

One single drop of rain

Your salty tear became blue ocean

One tiny grain of sand turning in your hand

A world in motion

You're out beyond the furthest Morning Star

Close enough to hold me in Your arms

Adonai, I lift up my heart and I cry

My Adonai

You are the Maker of each moment

Father of my hope and freedom

Oh, my Adonai

One timid faithful knock

Resounds upon the Rock of Ages

One trembling heart and soul

Becomes a servant bold and courageous

You call across the mountains and the seas

I answer from the deepest part of me

Adonai, I lift up my heart and I cry

My Adonai

You are the Maker of each moment

Father of my hope and freedom

Oh, my Adonai

From age to age you reign in Majesty

And today You're making miracles in me

Adonai, I lift up my heart and I cry

My Adonai

You are the Maker of each moment

Father of my hope and freedom

Oh, my Adonai

Fruits of the Spirit: Gentleness

Galatians 5:16-25 KJV

16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Gentleness Is:
An attitude of humility (James 1:21) stirred by a grateful spirit (Numbers 12:3) revealed in a tenderness towards other (Ephesians 4:2) sustained by a growing trust in God (Matthew 5:5).

To avoid spoiling watch for bitterness.

Imagine yourself living in a house.

God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and fixing the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew those jobs needed doing and so you were not surprised. But presently, He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts and does not seem to make sense. 

What on earth is He up to?

The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of...throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage.

But He is building a palace.

--C.S. Lewis

So has been my journey of motherhood. I didn't mean to turn this series into one on parenting. And it may not continue to be so after tonight's post. But I suppose the Lord knew that this was the direction that I needed to go in the most. Aside from Him, I've never wanted anything more than to be a Momma. So on the days when being a Momma is the hardest thing I've ever done, on the days when I crawl into bed crying from exhaustion and fear that I'm doing more harm than good, on the days when I wonder how on earth I'm going to make it until Brandon gets home, on those days it is difficult to remember that my boys aren't a distraction from more important work, they are the most important work. They are the most important work because their souls hang in the balance (Proverbs 15:11). I have the promise that the Lord will become their Salvation if they but believe on Him. The most important job I have as a Momma is to point them to Christ in every single thing I do. I must live Him, breathe Him, walk and talk Him. They must know that He is the answer for every problem that they face.  

And just like the house that C.S. Lewis talks about, Christ is moving in and tearing down the walls I've built around what I think being a parent looks like. 

I struggle with being longsuffering and patient and in that same regard I struggle with being gentle. I am hasty to dole out discipline in the midst of frustration and anger. I have seen my boys flinch when I raise my voice, I’ve seen them cower in fear. Is this how I want to raise my children? In fear? With a broken spirit? How do I walk that fine line between instilling respect and causing true fear?

I choose gentleness. If I raise my voice, may it be only in praise. If I clench my fists, may it be only in prayer. –Max Lucado

In Jesus Christ’s three and a half years of preaching and teaching, not once did He turn away someone in anger or frustration. The only time we see Him raise a hand in anger is to turn the tables over of the moneychangers and cast them out of the temple because they had defiled the house of God, they were profiting off of the sins of God’s chosen people. (Matthew 21:12)  Instead, He gently rebukes them and tells them to go and sin no more. (John 8:11)

1 Peter 3:4 tells me that a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God a great price. To be meek not only means to be quiet and gentle but to be obedient.

I am not gentle by nature but I can be gentle by obedience. –Lysa TerKeurst

If I want to be a Godly Momma, I have to learn gentleness. I have to have an attitude of humility that is stirred by a grateful spirit. Grateful that God has chosen me to be the Momma to my boys. Grateful that He has blessed me with 2 of the most beautiful and magnificent blessings I could ever hold in my heart. I must reveal a tenderness towards them that is sustained by a growing trust in God, a trust in God that believes that He will guide me in pointing them towards His Son. A trust in God that puts my skill in parenting in His hands to be taught love, joy, peace, longsuffering and gentleness. And I must turn to God with any bitterness or resentment that I may feel on the difficult days to avoid spoiling my gentleness. If I let those take up residence in my newly built palace then it will crumble around me. I may not ever be a perfect Momma, but Christ covers my flaws with His own gentleness.

In His gentleness, He gives us grace.

Grace has a face. It is the face of compassion, of comfort, safety, and acceptance. It is the face of unconditional love. It is the face of a parent. Grace has a face…It’s yours. –L. R. Knost

Who Are You Lord? : I Am Strength, I Am Power

Exodus 14:14 KJV
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

2 Samuel 22:33 KJV
God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

Psalms 68:35 KJV
O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God.

Psalms 73:26 KJV
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

When I Lay My Isaac Down

Abraham prayed for the day 

God would give him a son 

Blessed Isaac was his name 

The greatest gift he’d ever known 

Then came the day, who would have dreamed 

God would say “You gotta give him back to me

And on this mountain you will prove, 

That it’s you and Isaac, or it’s me and you”

So when I lay my Isaac down 

With a broken heart but my Fathers proud 

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

Now most of us I’d dare to say 

We've got an Isaac standing in God’s way 

But it's on this altar you too can prove 

That it’s not your Isaac that God wants 

But He wants you

And when I lay my Isaac down 

With a broken heart but my Fathers proud 

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

And when I lay my Isaac down 

With a broken heart but my Fathers proud 

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

All to Jesus I surrender; 

All to Him I freely give; 

I will ever love and trust him, 

In His presence daily live. 

I surrender all, 

I surrender all, 

All to thee, my blessed Savior, 

I surrender all. 

And when I lay my Isaac down 

With a broken heart but my Fathers proud 

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

And on this altar where he lays 

Just to find it wasn’t him, God wanted me

I cannot imagine being Abraham or how he felt when God called on him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  The Bible says nothing about Abraham's emotions, only of his obedience.  God called and he answered, "here am I". God gave him instructions and he immediately began to pack for the journey to the mountains of Moriah.  No questions. No arguments. Just obedience. Just faith. Just strength and power from God to do what He'd asked of him.  Exodus tells us that God will fight for us, we must only hold our peace, be still, keep quiet, and let God work.  Abraham did not have the faintest idea of what God was doing when He told him to offer his only son as a burnt offering but he held his peace because he knew God was fighting for him.  And when Isaac questioned him about the missing sacrificial lamb on the way up the mountain, he simply said that God would provide.  God gives His strength and His power to His people, and Abraham surely needed it in that moment.  It took that God-given strength and power not to jerk Isaac up against him and run like mad down the mountain toward home.  That is almost assuredly what Sarah would've done had she been in Abraham's place.  It's what I'd have done, if I'd ever finished arguing with God about going in the first place.  But Abraham didn't.  They traveled on until they reached the top and then they built the alter.  Abraham bound Isaac...and Isaac let him...more obedience, more faith, more strength, more power.  Isaac could've run, he could've fought, he could've done everything in his will to try to escape his father when he realized that he was to be the sacrifice.  But he didn't. He willingly let Abraham bind him and lay him on that alter.  And as he laid there he watched Abraham raise the knife above his head.  My flesh and heart would've failed in that moment, but not Abraham's.  God's strength and power made Abraham's way perfect and just before he brought the knife down, the angel of the Lord called out to him, stopping him.  The Bible doesn't tell of it, but I can just see Abraham's knees sagging with relief, I can see him cutting the binding on Isaac's body and hugging him tight, I can see him crying out to God with thanks for sparing his son and sending the ram.

Three times was Abraham called upon in Genesis 22, by God, by Isaac, by the angel.  And each time he answered, "here am I."  How do we answer when God calls upon us? Do we answer with obedience and faith? Do we answer with strength and power? Or do we answer in fear?  I am guilty of answering in fear more often than not, that is if I'm not trying to hide from Him completely. But God may be calling on me to see if I'll lay my Isaac down, if I'm willing to surrender all to Him.  Because if I'm not, if I've got an Isaac standing in my way, then I can never reach God's full potential for me. I'll never be given the full strength and power meant for me without my faith and obedience.