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"Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in
Him." (Proverbs
30:5)
God's
nature and relationship with man: Through Christ's revelation, I came to know the
true God, the God of the Bible and who really He is. There are three of the major Biblical
aspects of God that touched me and led me to be willing to draw close to Him and to
establish an intimate personal relationship with Him.
* Father:
God's purpose for creating humans was to form a one family with them. The biblical
accounts and the secular history are full of examples that reveal that God has been and
still acting toward mankind as the loving Father. From one side, in His deep love for us,
He came to earth in the form of the man Jesus to reveal His nature to us in a visible way
that we can comprehend. He was willing to carry all of our sins and to pay them by Himself
on our behalf. He chose to carry the cross and to go through pain and death so that we may
get eternal life. In His unconditional and impartial love, He demonstrated to us that He
is our sustainer and provider of our needs as individuals and as nations and generations,
regardless of our status and actions. From the other side, in His though love, He showed
us that He is a Father who disciplines His children and who don't let them go without
punishment when they rebel against Him and against their fellow brothers. My conviction
about God being my Father didn't result from only what I learned about Him, but also from
my experience of Him. Through countless events, I have seen Him acting as my personal
Father and treating me as His very son. Such image and manifestation of God changed my
suspicious and hostile attitude into trust and willingness to gladly obey His commands and
to follow Him.
* Friend: Although God is a
Holy Father and a Mighty King who reigns exalted on high, He desires to treat us as
friends with whom He wants to interact with openness and freedom. In the Bible we can see
that God referred and treated several men as His friends. He spoke with them face to face.
He revealed His plans and shared His feelings and thoughts with them. He sat on tables,
eat and drunk with them. He walked and lived among them. He shared in their emotions,
laughed and wept with them. He even allowed them to yell at and to wrestle with. As one of
the least of His servants, I personally had the privilege to know Jesus as my personal
friend. I always found Him by my side in time of loneliness, sorrow and pain, often
listening to my silly complaints and comforting me. Whenever I am in need of advice,
direction or explanation I find Him present there ready for ministry to me and council.
According to my personal experience of Him as my friend, He is faithful, comprehensive,
compassionate, humble, tender, friendly, loving and sometimes full of humor and fun. Those
characteristics of God allowed me to totally open up myself to Him and share with Him
everything that is in my heart in honesty and without any fear or shame. Later on, even
when I see myself having a sin in my life, I found no more reasons to hide myself from
Him. Instead, I run to Him directly, openly confess my sin or struggle, repent and ask His
forgiveness, which He gladly offers.
* Fiancé: One of the most
powerful pictures of God (Yahweh/Jesus) is the fact that He regards Himself as being
the believers (Israel/Church) Bridegroom (Fiancé) and only Husband. As a male, who lives
in the midst of a perverted generation, it was very hard for me to picture myself as His
bride. Knowing my weakness, God led me through a tough and painful experience where He let
me feel His emotional feeling and understand the deep nature of relationship and closeness
He wants to have with us. God's ultimate desire for us is to be one with Him in spirit,
mind and heart although we are two different beings of two different natures. Through
God's emphasis of such kind intimate relationship, I realized that His desire for us is to
be His partners who share with Him in everything He owns, even Himself. As result and
response to that I let myself to submit my will to Him and to entice myself in a loving
relationship with Him full of love and adoration. When I attained such conviction and
understanding, I began to understand what the Song of Solomon really means and intend to
communicate to us.
God's character and ways: The
Bible is full of amazing stories and beautiful descriptions that talk about the character
of God and about His ways of dealing with his creation. Through the study of God's word, I
began to understand the mind of God and why He acts in a way or another or why He commands
us to do certain things and to abstain from others. However, my knowledge of certain
aspects of God didn't come to its correct measure until I saw Him taking some literal
actions and moves first in my life and second among those around me. The main characters I
have personally experienced and seen about God are: meekness; gentleness; patience;
self-control; unlimited forgiveness; faithfulness; kindness; unconditional love;
diversity; humor; slowness to anger; perfection; righteousness; justice; long suffering;
compassion; holiness
True Submission: After
knowing my place in Christ and in the family of God, my whole philosophy about the act of
'practicing religion' changed. Performing works to attract God's attention or doing things
to pay Him so that I could earn His satisfaction and favor became meaningless in my eyes.
From Cain (Gen.4:3-7), Moses (Exo.2:11-15) and the Pharisees (Gospel) examples, I learned
that men's own work of righteousness leads them to pride and arrogance and usually ends up
in making out of them murderers and deceivers. If God clearly stated several times and
demonstrated that we have to receive everything He has prepared for us in faith and
thanksgiving only and not through our own toil, why do I have to try to earn it,
especially when it doesn't please Him nor serve His purposes? Actually, what pleases God
is to open ourselves to be totally used by Him in the way He chooses and finds pleasure.
This is the true submission, which God wants and this is what true Christianity is all
about. Through my personal experience, I realized that submitting myself to God in the
proper way and letting myself to be led by His Spirit is not only the greatest religious
fulfillment, but also the most wonderful and exciting adventure a human being could have.
Freedom in God: Submission
to God in Christ and becoming just a vessel of His use sounds like becoming a slave and a
robot, but that is not true. Submission to God is actually learning true freedom and fully
experiencing and enjoying all the riches and blessings that God has created for me.
Because the Spirit helps me to distinguish between what I may have and what I better not
and to discern when it is appropriate and when it is not. Therefore, I am now free to eat
and drink anything I desire to, in faith and away from fear of conscience or torment of
guilt, I can wear whatever cloths I want to and chose whatever style I like to... When it
comes to fulfilling my duties toward God like praising Him and giving Him thanks for what
He has done for me, I now have the freedom to do so in the way I feel more comfortable
with and prefer. There is no more need for me to practice some specific religious rituals
and to follow some legalistic laws and traditions to try to please Him. In Romance 8:1-2
the Bible says: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of
sin and of death.
  
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