HOW BIG IS OUR GOD?
by Pauline Milhouse
East Point, GA
Is God a great God in the Bible only? Or is He living and real in you, and in your life?
God never changes; but people change. What about you? What are you confessing about God, and about your situation?
I Corinthians 3:16.
3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Your body isn’t just "this old body of mine." It’s not just a pack of skin and bones that you’re dissatisfied with when you look in the mirror. It is the place that the Most High God has chosen for His dwelling.
I Corinthians 6:19.
6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
You’re not your own. This means that no longer is your purpose in life pleasing yourself. Everything you do needs to be done to please Him who owns you.
Malachi 3:6.
3:6 For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
Our God never changes. He is consistent. If we’re not seeing God do the great things that He did in Bible times, it’s not because He’s changed. We are the ones who change.
Proverbs 21:1
21:1 The king's heart [is] in the hand of the LORD, [as] the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
God has the power to work within a king’s heart to accomplish His purposes. What about your heart?
James 1:22.
1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
The key to walking with God is doing what He says do. We are to be doers of God’s word, not just hearers. That’s easy to say, but it’s a big deal to do.
I Corinthians 6:20.
6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
We no longer belong to ourselves because we have been bought with the blood of Christ. That’s a big deal!
We have not even begun to scratch the surface of how big our God is. I am determined to get to know God, and to walk with God, to see His mighty work in my life. Those who got to know God in the past saw His great power at work in their own lives.
John 14:8-11.
14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou [then], Shew us the Father?
14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
14:11 Believe me that I [am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Jesus asked that people believe him, not just because of the words he spoke, but because of the works that God did through him. People could look at him and see evidence in his life that God was walking with him, and working through him.
Matt. 11:1-5.
11:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
11:2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
11:3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
11:4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
11:5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them
These people were able to see what God was doing through Christ, and make up their minds on that basis concerning who he was, and his relationship with God.
John 14:12.
14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater [works] than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
This kind of walk with God didn’t stop with Jesus. You and I have been given the authority to do the works that he did. Can you heal somebody? Can you raise the dead? What are you waiting for? Whatever it takes for you to get excited about your God, do it!
We can church it here forever and never know God. We have one of the best foundations anywhere. We have an excellent knowledge base on God’s word. But what are you going to do with what you know?
My God is the God of Gideon, of David, of Paul. But the key to their success wasn’t their own great ability, but their reliance on the mighty God.
Make God your strength. Let crying unto the Lord be an everyday thing with you. Either God is the same God that He was then, or He’s not God at all. God doesn’t change.
When you get a hold on God, you’ve got to hold on tight. Cry out to God for your country, your job, your neighborhood, your family. Be faithful and fervent in your prayers.
Jeremiah 32:17.
32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, [and] there is nothing too hard for thee:
Every time I decide that "I can handle this myself," I decide that this thing is too big for God. Is God big enough for you to trust with EVERYTHING in your life?
You have a personal adversary out to kick your butt. You need to take him seriously. You need to take God even more seriously.
I spend much time in prayer because in and of myself, I have nothing, and I am nothing. God is IT in my life!
Isaiah 40:12-14.
40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or [being] his counsellor hath taught him?
40:14 With whom took he counsel, and [who] instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?
God takes counsel with no one. The whole purpose of taking counsel is to learn something that you don’t know!
Isaiah 40:15-18, 22, 26, 28-31.
40:15 Behold, the nations [are] as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
40:16 And Lebanon [is] not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
40:17 All nations before him [are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
40:18 & To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
40:22 [It is] he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof [are] as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these [things], that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that [he is] strong in power; not one faileth.
40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding.
40:29 He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.
40:30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.
Since we have such a mighty God, let’s get in the habit of trusting God for everything. When you get a headache, make it a habit of running to God instead of running for aspirin.
Get in the habit of doing things exactly the way God says do them. You insult God when you say, "That sounds good, God, but I’m going to do this my way."
Be faithful in your prayer for your family. You’ll be amazed at what God will do for them. God never gets tired of us coming to Him with the same problems.
Let’s look at two examples of people who walked with God.
The apostle Paul knew where to go when stuff hit the fan. Do you? Or do you panic?
II Corinthians 12:7.
12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
Paul was being buffeted, or battered, by the messenger of Satan. Could you stand that kind of pressure? Not in your own strength; but you could with God!
What kind of buffeting was he going through?
II Corinthians 11:23-28.
11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I [am] more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.
11:25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
11:26 [In] journeyings often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils by [mine own] countrymen, [in] perils by the heathen, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;
11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
11:28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
What did Paul do about this relentless attack against him?
II Corinthians 12:8-10.
12:8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Paul was able to do all things through Christ, who strengthened him. Paul’s testimony wasn’t, "I tried this, and I tried that;" but, I besought the Lord." Paul knew where his strength was. No matter what he was going through, his strength was in the Lord.
God is bigger than anything you’re facing. If your eyes are on your circumstances, that means that you’ve taken your eyes off of God.
God is not only bigger than any external enemies you face; God is also bigger than any strongholds lodged within your mind.
II Timothy 3:11.
3:11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of [them] all the Lord delivered me.
We know that the Lord delivered him, because he lived to tell us about them. The Lord proved Himself faithful in Paul’s life. Despite all obstacles, he lived to successfully complete all that God had given him to do.
Gideon was another man who walked with God.
During the time of Gideon, Israel was being oppressed by the Midianites because of their disobedience to God. But don’t look at Israel with your nose up. The more you know God, and the better you know yourself, the more you realize that we’re not doing much better than they did.
Our God is big, and He wants to show Himself big in your life.
Judges 6:11-12.
6:11 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which [was] in Ophrah, that [pertained] unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide [it] from the Midianites.
6:12 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD [is] with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
What a sad sight! This was one of God’s people hiding food so the enemy wouldn’t take it. But it is while he is doing this that the angel of the Lord appears to him and calls him a "mighty man of valor."
Judges 6:13-14.
6:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where [be] all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
6:14 And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
Gideon wanted to know what God was doing in the midst of this desperate situation. God’s solution was to call and equip Gideon to deal with the situation! Gideon had a choice to make. He could believe God, and see for himself if this is the same God his fathers had told him about; or he could "use common sense" and try to make the best of the bad situation he was in. Gideon chose to trust and obey God, and see Him work on his behalf.
Judges 7:1-2.
7:1 Then Jerubbaal, who [is] Gideon, and all the people that [were] with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
7:2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that [are] with thee [are] too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.
God knew what Israel would do if they thought they had won this battle through their own strength; and He knows what we do when we think that we’ve won our battles through our own ability.
Judges 7:3.
7:3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever [is] fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
Gideon had raised an army of thirty-two thousand men, to go up against an army of at least a quarter million. So what did God do? He decided that the odds weren’t high enough! To fix this, He gave everyone in the army a God-given excuse for avoiding what was obviously a suicide mission! More than two-thirds of the army took Him up on His offer.
But God decided that the odds were still too good!
Judges 7:4.
7:4 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people [are] yet [too] many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, [that] of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.
At the water, the people divided themselves into two groups: those who stayed watchful, and those who concentrated on meeting their immediate need.
Judges 7:5-9.
7:5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.
7:6 And the number of them that lapped, [putting] their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
7:7 And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the [other] people go every man unto his place.
7:8 So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all [the rest of] Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.
7:9 And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand.
Now God had the army down to the size He wanted it. I’m sure that sending away all those men made no sense to Gideon. But God was handling this situation His way. When it was time to fight, it was God, not Gideon, who provided the strategy. What was the result?
Judges 7:19-23; 8:4, 10.
7:19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that [were] with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that [were] in their hands.
7:20 And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow [withal]: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.
7:21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.
7:22 And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, [and] to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
7:23 And the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after the Midianites.
8:4 And Gideon came to Jordan, [and] passed over, he, and the three hundred men that [were] with him, faint, yet pursuing [them].
8:10 Now Zebah and Zalmunna [were] in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand [men], all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword.
Gideon and his men were faint, but they kept up their pursuit. Gideon was on a mission from God. He knew who had his back. Do you? Or do you spend your time asking, "Where He at?"
God worked overtime with Gideon, with Samson, with others, because they were obedient to Him, and because they put their trust in Him rather than in themselves, or in others.
Take another look at God. How big is He in your life? God never changes. Any changes in our relationship are the result of changes on our part.