Dr. Stephen Phinney | The name Nehemiah means “Jehovah comforts,” which means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are Comforters.
Dr. Phinney, good writing piece! Funny how the Body of Christ sometimes seems to get the same insights at the same time ( I blame God!!). Just yesterday, before our weekly Wednesday prayer groups (men's and women's) and the larger Discipleship group, I was sitting in the Fellowship Hall having coffee with a dear Brother in Christ, who was reading from the book of Nehemiah. He was seeking a verse that spoke of "the joy of the Lord is is your strength." I said "isn't that in the Psalms?" ( yes, a variation is but not the one he was seeking.) He continued to dig and found Nehemiah 8:10: "...neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Amen to that! I could not even function in this world if not for Papa God, His Son and Holy Spirit. How merciful He is to all of us laboring in His fields, longing for Home... God bless and keep you, Dr. Phinney. WEW
I must disagree with one of the statements: God uses terrible people to accomplish His will. Consider Samson, Jonah, and Balaam as examples. For that matter, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were hardly paragons of virtue. David? He broke every commandment. On a broader scope, God used evil nations to exact justice (see Habakkuk.)
To be honest, none of us is upright enough to stand in the presence of God; if that were possible, Jesus didn’t need to make atonement for us.
I suspect the God who uses donkeys to teach prophets will use whomever He chooses to accomplish His will. Our obedience to the moral and righteous code set at the foundation of creation is a gift through the Holy Spirit, and even then, we often fail miserably.
Stephanie, all of what you stated is true. However, all of humanity and His creation are used to accomplish His end. As an example, in Habakkuk 1:5-11, the Lord provides insight into God’s intention to raise up Babylon, a ruthless and dreaded nation, to accomplish His purpose. While this might seem perplexing, there’s an essential distinction to be made - God controls the degrees of evil, Romans 8:28 defines He uses "all things" for His good, the ordained captivity of Joseph to display the Old Testament depiction of Jesus returning to rule the earth, and over 300 other Bible references of God making use of the devil's child's play.
The primary illustration is God removing Lucifer, now Satan, from Heaven. He placed him on a formless planet He created. God then used Satan's prison cell to create Adam and Eve + the perfection of the Seven Day Creation. He places Satan in a tree (good AND evil) in the CENTER of the garden, one of two primary elements of His creation. He leaves the garden allowing Satan to do his thing. Satan goes after Eve, fulling knowing he couldn't directly deceive Adam. Eve folds, Adam submits to his woman, and humanity slips into the broken nature that honors evil. All for the Divine purpose of using evil to prove God's point - obedience is a choice. Satan made his decision in Heaven, Eve made hers in the garden, and Adam made his unto his wife by honoring the creation of God over the voice OF God.
God has used the devil since Satan's first decision to rise up against the Holy of Holies. God is likened to a master chess player; He uses every move of the counter player to set Himself up for the eternal "checkmate," which is the message of the book of Revelation. Very soon, God will prove His point that He has always been in 100% control of good & evil.
Oh, one more significant point. In the book of Revelation, we see Satan returning to his first sin, taking the seat of the Holy of Holies. As we know, this activates the "God of revenge." At this point God ends Satan's plans to lead the world as He once attempted to lead God's sovereignty on Heavens side. Our "opinions" of agreement, or not, matter not to God. Humanity's first sin was "in my opinion." God always remains focused on the beginning and the end, as well as the elements that He uses to accomplish such.
Dr. Phinney, good writing piece! Funny how the Body of Christ sometimes seems to get the same insights at the same time ( I blame God!!). Just yesterday, before our weekly Wednesday prayer groups (men's and women's) and the larger Discipleship group, I was sitting in the Fellowship Hall having coffee with a dear Brother in Christ, who was reading from the book of Nehemiah. He was seeking a verse that spoke of "the joy of the Lord is is your strength." I said "isn't that in the Psalms?" ( yes, a variation is but not the one he was seeking.) He continued to dig and found Nehemiah 8:10: "...neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Amen to that! I could not even function in this world if not for Papa God, His Son and Holy Spirit. How merciful He is to all of us laboring in His fields, longing for Home... God bless and keep you, Dr. Phinney. WEW
That is an awesome testimony, Wendy.
I must disagree with one of the statements: God uses terrible people to accomplish His will. Consider Samson, Jonah, and Balaam as examples. For that matter, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were hardly paragons of virtue. David? He broke every commandment. On a broader scope, God used evil nations to exact justice (see Habakkuk.)
To be honest, none of us is upright enough to stand in the presence of God; if that were possible, Jesus didn’t need to make atonement for us.
I suspect the God who uses donkeys to teach prophets will use whomever He chooses to accomplish His will. Our obedience to the moral and righteous code set at the foundation of creation is a gift through the Holy Spirit, and even then, we often fail miserably.
Thoughts?
Stephanie, all of what you stated is true. However, all of humanity and His creation are used to accomplish His end. As an example, in Habakkuk 1:5-11, the Lord provides insight into God’s intention to raise up Babylon, a ruthless and dreaded nation, to accomplish His purpose. While this might seem perplexing, there’s an essential distinction to be made - God controls the degrees of evil, Romans 8:28 defines He uses "all things" for His good, the ordained captivity of Joseph to display the Old Testament depiction of Jesus returning to rule the earth, and over 300 other Bible references of God making use of the devil's child's play.
The primary illustration is God removing Lucifer, now Satan, from Heaven. He placed him on a formless planet He created. God then used Satan's prison cell to create Adam and Eve + the perfection of the Seven Day Creation. He places Satan in a tree (good AND evil) in the CENTER of the garden, one of two primary elements of His creation. He leaves the garden allowing Satan to do his thing. Satan goes after Eve, fulling knowing he couldn't directly deceive Adam. Eve folds, Adam submits to his woman, and humanity slips into the broken nature that honors evil. All for the Divine purpose of using evil to prove God's point - obedience is a choice. Satan made his decision in Heaven, Eve made hers in the garden, and Adam made his unto his wife by honoring the creation of God over the voice OF God.
God has used the devil since Satan's first decision to rise up against the Holy of Holies. God is likened to a master chess player; He uses every move of the counter player to set Himself up for the eternal "checkmate," which is the message of the book of Revelation. Very soon, God will prove His point that He has always been in 100% control of good & evil.
Oh, one more significant point. In the book of Revelation, we see Satan returning to his first sin, taking the seat of the Holy of Holies. As we know, this activates the "God of revenge." At this point God ends Satan's plans to lead the world as He once attempted to lead God's sovereignty on Heavens side. Our "opinions" of agreement, or not, matter not to God. Humanity's first sin was "in my opinion." God always remains focused on the beginning and the end, as well as the elements that He uses to accomplish such.