I am in awe of the vast depth and intricate layers of the awesome God we serve. Journey with me as we learn another title of God together—opening the door of our mind to a deeper knowledge of His nature and character. This week we'll explore the meaning of the title Adonai translated in the Bible as Lord in upper and lower case.This is not to be mistaken with the name translated LORD—Yahweh, all in capital letters which we will discuss at a later time. Adonai means the Head or Lord over all—The Lord and Master—The Sovereign Lord. Duet. 10:17 "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord (Adonai) of lords, a great God." This title ...

King of Kings—What A Wonderful God We Serve. 1 Tim. 6:15 The only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Does the idea of monarchy, kings and rulers conjure up disinterest in this age of democracy? Do you yawn at the mention of nobility, especially after witnessing the human failure of our modern-day monarchy—the Windsor family? Look in their eyes and you will see the evidence of mere mortality, flesh and blood, the same as you and me. I want to take you beyond the mortal, the rulers of this world; Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau, Xi Jinping, or Vladimir Putin—where moral corruption and the fight for earthly power reign. Lift your ...

YAHWEH-ROPHE​ Exodus 15:26 … For I am the LORD who heals you. Yahweh-Rophe means the Lord heals. This amazing gift of God will be looked at in the next two weeks. First from the Old Testament as God—our healer and next week in the New Testament as—Jesus our healer. Because we serve a triune God, meaning that the Father, Son and Spirit are one, and a God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, looking at old and new testament accounts are beneficial. The God we serve heals. He heals the physical, emotional, and spiritual sickness in our life. The title Rophe (Healer) was first given to the Israelites right after they had been deliv...

SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD ​2 Cor. 3:3 Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.​ God, Jesus, Holy Spirit—the triune One has many names. We are going to focus on the Spirit of the Living God today but not before I tell you a true story. I was 19, loving both life and Jesus. I had joined our youth group in an all-night wake-a-thon to raise money for hungry children. The next morning we all headed out knowing that we had 12 more hours to make our 36 hour goal. I felt oddly energized by the night of prayin...

My Deliverer "The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer." Psalm 18:2 How many times in a lifetime do we need a Deliverer? I believe more often than we know. At Christmas we were travelling from BC Canada, to Alberta (about a 8 hour drive) to share the holidays with family. With snow piled high on both sides of the highway we were well aware of winter conditions, but the roads looked deceptively dry. Out of nowhere we hit a patch of black ice. That song by Carrie Underwood "Jesus Take the Wheel," became a reality. We fishtailed into on-coming traffic with a semi bearing down. In the nick of time the tires caught traction and my...

YAHWEH-ROHI means The LORD - Yahweh my Shepherd Ps. 23:1 "The LORD is my Shepherd: I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters." Did you know you have a Shepherd? Most believers do, but we forget how significant this truth is. Fear enters. Fear grips. Fear controls. What is your biggest fear? Loss of money, health, children/spouse, a job. Is it divorce, a debilitating accident, death? Oh yes, there are so many things to fear and yet we, as children of God are told two things—we have a Shepherd and we are not to fear. The Bible affirms from Genesis to Revelation a resounding m...

God of Victory. "And Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner." (Meaning, the Lord is my Victory.) Who doesn't need victory in this world of many battles? New year's resolutions have been made and most likely already broken. What we started out so valiantly to do—to eat healthy, to exercise regularly, to spend quality time with Jesus and our family, to be more loving, to have more patience, to write at least 500 words a day … whatever the goal, I bet it's already lost to the world of reality. So why is the name of God, Yahweh-Nissi necessary to know and so powerful in prayer? Let's take a walk back through history. The first g...

YOU ARE NOT ALONE FOR IMMANUEL MEANS - GOD WITH US. With Christmas edging closer the amazing name of God—Immanuel is perfect to reflect upon and pray this week. Seven hundred years before Christ was born the prophet Isaiah proclaimed these words. Is.7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel." This time of year I reflect upon what it must have felt like for the scared young woman—Mary to be pregnant out of wedlock and for a man of integrity—Joseph (no more than a boy himself) to marry her despite the unusual circumstances. All this, so the ...

Have you ever failed a test? I did recently. How did I fail, you may ask, and how does this tie in with the names of God? Read on.Conflict is a fact of life, but how we deal with it defines our emotional and spiritual maturity. I recently fell under criticism sprinkled with untruths from someone I truly care about … my failure was in getting defensive. I took on the mantra that I had to stop shoving things under the carpet or I'd become a carpet dweller. But after refreshing myself with Scripture … I know I failed the test and needed God's loving grace.I didn't have to jump to my defence, I merely had to have&nbs...

Today is my Birthday, and such a day deserves a reflection on who, how and why we are on planet earth. I shudder to think our origin came from a cosmic big bang up through the chain from tadpoles to apes and poof humanity is born with no more meaning to the universe than a sickle cell. Seems like one would have to entertain a whole lot of misguided faith to embrace Darwinism. I love this quote by David Berlinski, it brilliantly puts into words the sheer improbability of evolution. "At some time in the history of the universe, there were no human minds, and at some time later, there were. Within the blink of a cosmic eye, a universe ...

THE ROCK    Names of God # 8 When I googled the question "who is the rock?" Dwayne Johnson came up. The successful American Actor/Producer, former college football player and wrestler is nicknamed the Rock. His 121 million Instagram followers tune in to whatever he posts as if he a rock to lean upon. Though built like a brick house, I assure you he is a mere mortal like the rest of us. He will live. He will die. And the only question that really matters for any of us is … do we know the true "ROCK?" After many long years of waiting for a child in a culture that shunned a barren woman, Hannah prayed these words.1 Samuel 2:2 says, "Th...

FATHER OF COMPASSION AND THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT  (Names of God #7) One of God's wonderful names which displays His character and love towards humanity is the Father of Compassion, and The God of all Comfort. Why does this world need a God of All Comfort? Shocking news of shooting after shooting hit the airwaves in a recent ten-day span. -Synagogue in Pittsburgh PA, 11 died. A hate crime against Jews. -Yoga studio in Tallahassee FL, 2 women died … the shooter had made numerous posts of his hatred toward women. A hate crime against women. -Supermarket in Jeffersontown KY, 2 black people died. The shooter was reported to have walked right b...

YAHWEH-SHALOM IS WAITING FOR YOU.  Names of God #6 In this world of worry and constant change one of the greatest gifts to have ... is peace. The dictionary states that peace is the freedom from disturbance; a quiet and tranquility and/or freedom from war or violence. I say peace is larger than that definition, it is freedom from ALL fear. The first time in the Bible that God introduced Himself as Jehovah-Shalom is in Judges 6:23,24. (Yahweh-Shalom pronounced shah-LOME means The Lord Is Peace.) For God to be the source of peace, or the peace giver to mankind, He has to embody perfect peace. In other words, nothing can disturb, ...

Isn't it fun to sit down with a book and from the very get-go the story pulls you in? Page after page, all the way through, you can hardly put it down. Life seems to take a back seat until you get to that oh so satisfying end—happily-ever-after with all tension tied up into a beautiful bow a top a brightly wrapped gift of dreams come true. Then back to real life you go where there is no script, nor author to tidy up the complexities of life. FOR THE SEEKER AND SKEPTIC But what if I could share a truth that embodies the wherefore and why of your existence.? What if there was a powerful poet, playwright, and author...

 WHAT IS TRUTH? I randomly picked up my old King James Bible I received in 1974 at the age of twelve. The yellowed pages fell open to scribble marks my toddler son had made, who is now thirty-two. A truth struck me as my eyes filled with a sheen of sentimental tears, I'm getting old. This is a truth. What is truth? Is my truth, or your truth, or whatever we perceive to be truth, the bench mark for truth? We live in a world where absolutes are considered narrow-minded, prejudice, and even hateful. Messages are mixed. Money and possessions are the gateway to all truth and a good life, knowledge or science elevates a select few in...

El-Shaddai (God Almighty) I was driving down the road today and an old song by Amy Grant came to mind, called El Shaddai. I started humming the tune and remembered this song was my first introduction into the vast array of the names of God. All those years ago my interest was piqued enough to explore what El Shaddai, El-elyon na Adonia meant translated from Hebrew to English. (God Almighty, God in the highest, Oh, Lord.) Why, you may ask, should I be interested in the names of God or understanding them in Hebrew?  They are a portal, a window, an illumination into the very character of God. If God seems distant, you are not read...

NAMES OF GOD #2 ABBA FATHER How many names of God do you think there are listed in the Scriptures? And what is the significance of knowing them or understanding them? Like a treasure hunt of vast proportion…the unveiling, unearthing and unraveling of each name not only helps us understand the character of God, but gives us strength and power as we use them. This week we are going to delve into the power and treasure of the title "Abba Father," which is an Aramaic word of affection for "father" meaning Daddy or Papa in English. Abba means exactly that … God is our affectionate, loving, perfect Daddy. One without f...