JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q1. Your Shield and Suzerain - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q1. (15:1) What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"? What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"? What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign?

Pastor Ralph, on Sep 9 2004, 10:39 PM, said:

What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"?
It means that God is my protector

What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"?
It humbles me

What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign
It means He is my supreme ruler whom I worship and in whom gives me strength, wisdom, discernment, and life; someone who is with me always.

To personally call God my "shield" is caling him my "protector".

Being blessed to have someone or something to carry on for me. God will bless me with wonderous things.

Calling God "Sovereign" means to me is "God exercises supreme power".

God is my SHIELD means He is present with me, to secure me from all evils,
a shield around about me to protect me from the schemes of the enemy.

To promise me an exceeding great reward as a heir of the promises of Abraham, means that as God was to Abraham, He will be to me with His
everlasting care , guidance and protection.

To call God , my Soverign means that He is in control of my life as I release
it to Him, and that no matter how dark the times are in my life, I can have
the assurance that He will never leave me nor forsake me.

It is totally unbeleivable in my mind sometimes that an almighty God is actually my 'shield' and protector of my life and is good for building one's faith

God is my shield : This means I trust in him more than I trust in my own devises. It is a trusting and confident submission; an acknowledgement that He is Almighty, strong to save, and he is Sovereign in my life.


I am promised an exceeding great reward: This means new life in Christ Jesus to me.


God is my Sovereign: He is more than my boss or my CEO, he owns my life. "I am his". I get my marching orders from him. I run to him when I'm afraid, when I'm confused and to worship him. He loves me enough to point directly at my idols (to be confessed and repented of), my wounds (to be submitted and healed of) and to encourage me.
He is ever-gracious. He shines his Holy light on the darkness in my life. He has never forsaken me. I adore him. My Sovereign Lord is so good to me.

Q1. (15:1) What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"? What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"? What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign?

God is with me, no matter what problem or difficulty I am experiencing! At present, we are experiencing the trauma of selling our home and farm--and waiting to hear if the latest inquirer will want it at our price or not. Time is so short until cold weather will be here--making holding a farm sale for implements and things we will not need in a smaller home more difficult. But, we are calm and safe in His love! He is shielding us from any concern--no matter what happens! No, of course, this is not life-threatening, nor the depth of problems that many people have faced with His help! It just happens to be what we are undergoing at this particular time in our life--thus this answer.
Our greatest "reward" is He is our peace--our surety of the perfect outcome, in His will! He is with us! What more do we need?
Our Lord Jesus is Sovereign of our lives! I could not be happy anywhere but where He wants me to be! He has taken my husband and I to many mission stations to spend years serving Him by serving those in need there--and we always found that His love gave us much more than what we tried to give! He is the Joy of our lives and the thought of being with Him forever in Heaven gives me inexpressible peace!

Quote

[color="blue"]1a.) My eternal destiny is secure through my God. [/color][color="purple"]God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble[/color][color="blue"]. Psalm 46:1[/color]
1b.) (15:1) What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"?
[color="blue"]1b.) Why me? [/color][color="purple"]How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God[/color][color="blue"]. 1 John 3:1[/color]
1c.) (15:1) What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign?
[color="blue"]1c.) God is not my co-pilot, he is The Pilot.[/color]

[font="Geneva"]God shields me from those who might harm me. He provides me the armament to resist the calls of worldly temptation.

God offers “an exceedingly great reward” of salvation and eternal life with him in heaven. It is mine for the asking. There is nothing I can do to earn his unconditional love and grace.

As my “Suzerain” or “Sovereign”, God offers me limitless rewards (in the hereafter, not in the present) in exchange for serving him. God is my “Sovereign” by choice. He has not coerced me to serve him. Through my free will I have chosen to do so.
[/font]

What does it mean personally to call God your shield?
It means God Himself will personally protect me. The Bible says everything passes through Him before it can touch us. Since He has all power and is all kowing it means complete protection (in His sovereign will in my life)..

What does it mean to you that He promises to you (as heir to the promises of Abraham) an exceedingly great reward.
Knowing Him is the greatest reward. What ever else He chooses is up to Him. Sometimes I think money and security would be nice but He knows how to keep me close and how to make my life count for Him and that is more important.

What does it mean to you to call God your sovereign?
It means I willl love, honor and obey Him with my life.

Q1. (15:1) What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"? What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"? What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign?

[color="blue"][font="Optima"]Calling God my personal shield means that He is my protector against all the attacks of the enemy. I need not fear anyone because my God Himself will fight the battles for me. I need not lift a finger. Just trust Him to fight my battles for me and protect me. [/color][/font]

[color="red"]When God promises something, He never goes back on His word. It means that I have been privileged to be chosen by Him for the rewards. I am a very special person in the eyes of my Lord. This encourages me to work for Him in all sincerity and honesty and become worthy of the honor bestowed on me[/color].

[color="green"]Calling God my Soveriegn makes me humble in His presence. I am filled with a sense of awe as I humbly bow in front of Him. It gives me a feeling of security as I place myself at His disposal. I surrender to Him to be used by Him as He wills because He is my Lord and King. [/color]

Obedience to God (as an expression of my faith in Him) provides me with His protection from evil (as in deliver us from evil). This is wonderful as it brings me into the great reward.

The exceedingly great reward. When I was a child, all I wanted for my birthdays was a pony. My family were deliberately not into ponies, so I was disappointed. I don't altogether know why this thought came to mind in answer to this question. Perhaps there will be no disappointments in Heaven, only joy, (I don't know about ponies!) I do know it will be wonderful to know God, and be able to explore Him for ever.

God as my Suzerain is very secure. There will always be understanding and justice. His law is the Truth laid down before creation, and that is a mighty concept to me. To obey His law is my connection to Truth, the law of God, the way things work and were designed. To honour His law is my connection to the eternal, through the blood of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace. I am rooted and founded in love, from which the law was issued, (love God............ Love one another as I have loved you). I am living in a wonderfully sound structure, and am confident of all its outworkings. More than that, I am it's expression - the expression of love, by the grace of God, on the face of this earth. I have a wonderful task and purpose to my life, which gives me joy and peace in all circumstances. Nothing can touch me.

Holy is the Lord!

To call GOD my "Shield" means to me that nothing can come into my life without first coming by Him. It is as though I am in a circle and He is all around me. Everything must first pass through that circle, "shield" before it can get to me.

Even greater than (an heir of the promises to Abraham) is the fact that according to Hebrews 4:7 I am "no longer a slave, but a son; and since I am a son, GOD has made me also an heir."

To call GOD my Sovereign means that He is in complete control, the all powerful One Whom I love. I have nothing to fear when I have such an awesome GOD.

God is my protector, He is my refuge and my ever present help. Regardless of what I have to go through He is there. He is my rewarder. This gives me peace. I give Him all the praise and glory. I bless His name.

To be able to trust in power beyond mine as my protection is to allow for the sheilding I can not provide. But, to know that HE is capable and willing to shield me is not effective unless I hold onto the shield and stay behind or under HIS covering. I have to know to listen to HIS guidance to know where the shield ends so I don't get on the wronge side of it.
My safe keeping and promise of eternal worship in HIS presence is such an unimaginable reward as a catapiller can not image being a butterfly.
Having my Lord Suzerain, is not something we find in our independent culture. But, Knowing HE is HOLY and worthy of being Lord and I am not is a great reward in itself to be called HIS child, then all the other benefits are extra.

God is my protector. He is my Help in the time of trouble.

It means to me personally to call God my "Shield" that He is my protector. It means to me that he promises to me (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward" that my faith will be rewarded in heaven. It means to me to call God my Suzerain or Sovereign that He is the Lord of my life.

Calling God 'my shield' means that He is my protector. He will shield me against attacks of the enemy.
His promise of ' an exceedingly great reward' is humbling. It also makes me feel unworthy because I know I haven't done anything deserving of God's favor.
To call God my Suzerain or Sovereign is to acknowledge Him as my supreme ruler in my life.

To have God as my shield is to have the shield of faith. When doubts come I take the shield of faith and say “Christ is the truth. He is the basic revelation of things which really are. I cannot believe subtle philosophy which exalts man and makes God unnecessary in human affairs. I cannot believe sudden feelings of unreality. Our problem is that we have become so accustomed to believing our feelings, as though they were facts. Using our faith means we examine our feelings for truth. So many are defeated because they accept feelings as fact. Having God as my shield also means to me refusal to feel condemned or guilty. God loves me, nothing will change that, nothing will separate us and I believe that.

Faith is an exceedingly great reward. It could see us through if that were all we had. But that is not all we have because the Bible tells us that we are to be more than conquerors. We are not only to win, but win victoriously, triumphantly, abundantly. “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” 1 Jn 4:4.

God is my protector in that He has sent Christ to save me. Christ is the ground of my peace. He has come to carry me through every situation. I will not believe any attempt to destroy my peace. I have every confidence in Christ. This is resisting the devil. If we keep on resisting the devil he will flee from us. That is protection of the highest standard.

What does it mean to you personally to call God your "Shield"?

It means to me that God is constantly covering me, even when I'm not thinking about it, He's there, Jesus has promised to never leave me or forsake me. Nothing can happen to me that God does not allow for His divine purpose in my life.


What does it mean to you that he promises to you (as heir of the promises to Abraham) "an exceedingly great reward"?

I'm His child, that is reward enough, I'm promised to be able to live with Him forevermore...AMEN!

What does it mean to you to call God your Suzerain or Sovereign?

To me it means He is total perfection, Lord God of the universe, there is simply nothing greater!