Come & study God's Word with the ladies of Journey Christian Church of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Chapter 3: El Elyon - The God Most High

I certainly hope & pray that you are enjoying this Bible Study.  I know that I am.  I tried to keep up with the weeks and the chapters - but knowing that the pace of an online study is different than a local in-person study, we're not bound to "weeks."  So starting today, I will just list them (or title them) according to the chapter of study.

Chapter 3 rocked my world!  I don't know if you've ever studied the sovereignty of God before, but it can really impact how you view your God and truly impact your prayers in a positive way.

I hope that you saw in studying Elohim that you were created with a purpose!  Our God - Elohim - the Creator, created us to give Him glory and to do His will.   All that we do in our everyday-regular-life-stuff should point to His glory and that we are being obedient to His will for our lives.

Now in Chapter 3 we see that God is El Elyon - The God Most High.  This means that our God is sovereign.  I've listed here just a few definitions of sovereign (this is very helpful if the concept of sovereign is new to you):

1.  Not controlled by outside forces
2.  Greatest in status
3.  Chief ruler
4.  Permanent authority
5.  Absolute and independant authority
6.  Free from external control and constraint in action and judgment

On page 15, Kay says, "For if God is not sovereign, if He is not in control, if all things are not under His dominion, then He is not the Most High, and you and I are either in the hands of fate (whatever that is), in the hands of man, or in the hands of the devil."

After reading this I wrote in the margin of my book, "This leaves me no security!  What a scary thought!"  Ladies... I want my God to be Most High - I want my God to be sovereign!  Don't you?!

In this chapter Kay had us turn to many scriptures to see the sovereignty of God.  I do hope that you have a book and are actually turning to them in your own Bible.  If you do not have a book - I've listed them here for you.  Please take a moment and turn to them and see what a sovereign God looks like.
(Don't worry - they aren't long and they are worth it to see!  I promise!)

Daniel 4:34-35;  Isaiah 14:24,27;   Isaiah 46: 9-11;    Daniel 2:20-23;  Isaiah 5:5-7;   Deuteronomy 32:39;  1 Samuel 1:5-6;   1 Samuel 2:6-10;  Isaiah 45:6-7;   John 19:10-11

Stop for a minute and think about your own life.  Do you like that God is in control all the time?  That nothing can happen to you, to your family, to all the people around you without the ultimate permission of God?  Share with us how this makes you feel in the comment section today!

Ladies, it is so important to realize, especially after reading these verses, that God is totally and completely in control of your life!  There is great news here!  God wants you to follow Him - to do His will and to bring glory to Him and He will do and/or allow anything to happen to get to that end!

He will allow amazing miracles to take place to show His glory.  He will also allow horrible hardships to befall us - if it will bring us to our knees and recognize that He is Holy.  Remember - it's all about His glory and His will. 

I have often said that many times God will through small little pebbles at us to get our attention.  Please, ladies do not push Him to through a boulder at us!  Recognize when He's trying to get your attention.  If you miss it - in His sovereignty, He might just wound so He can heal! (from verse Deuteronomy 32:39 - go read it if you didn't before - it will really educate you!)

El Elyon is super powerful!  He is the Most High God.  Did you know that our prayers do not inform or educate God about anything?  Nothing surprises God!  He is bigger than anything you can share with Him.  He is bigger than your worst nightmare!  He is more powerful than your scariest monster in your life!  And the good news - He is so big that there's nothing you can do to make Him stop loving you!  He's more forgiving than your biggest mistake!  He has more love than you have mistakes.  His bag of do-overs never empties!  He is the God Most High!  

I want to close with a small exercise.  In Chapter 2, we read Romans 11:36 - "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever.  Amen."

I want you to list your "all things" to God.  In other words, what are you dealing with this morning that is quite frankly just too much for you?  Because remember - from, through, and to - is this thing!

Now - look at the verse for Chapter 3 - Psalm 57:2 - "I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me."

Here we see El Elyon - we can cry to Him with the "all thing" that you listed from Chapter 2 - and know that our God is able to accomplish it for us!

It is comforting to me to know that I can cry out to El Elyon and know that in His sovereignty He will accomplish good things in my life!

Continue reading - continue learning about your God - everything rides on this!  I promise that your prayers will become more effective and so will your life, as you study the names of your God!

your sis in the faith,
Pen

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Thank you so much for sharing your heart with us all! I look forward to praying with and for you as we study God's Word together.