Kaitlin

The name Yahweh , reveals God as the self-existent, eternal God. In considering why God chose to reveal these characteristics of Himself at this time, I think it's important to consider some details regarding the Egyptian gods. I briefly looked at <http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/index.htm>. The first thing you notice as you look at the Egyptian gods, is that there is a quite substantial number of them. Secondly, (and I am no expert on this), but as I looked through a few of the earlier gods, it seems that most were created or conceived. (Except for ones like Atum, who created himself; or Ptah, who "simply is".) So in this aspect, Yahweh makes himself equal, if not above all Egyptian gods, as far as their origin and existence are concerned. The name Yahweh also reveals God's free will and power to determine and define Himself. As we look at the Egyptian gods, it seems that each god has a specific set of tasks that it is either given credit for doing, or assigned to perform. Moses, no doubt, being a part of the royal household, would have been well aware of the many Egyptian gods and their titles. So when he asks God what His name is, it makes sense. He was asking, What's your title that denotes your occupation? Are you an expert on crops, rain, warfare, helping us once we're dead, music, being in charge of the other gods, or what? So when God simply tells him-"I am.", he must have been puzzled and amazed at His response. A god not governed by a title, not to be known for a great things he'd done in the past? This was definately something new. Yahweh redefined what a god was. He made certain that both Israel and Egypt knew that none where or could ever be His equal. Bottom line, the name of Yahweh takes our understanding of God to a whole new level. He says, I am faithful, yet I am unpredictable. I am determined to see you through eveything that you will ever face, yet I am not limited to anything I have ever done before. I am always there, yet I am not boxed in. I am forever the same, yet through time, you will see me more and more as you begin to understand even just the surface--just the brink of My love for you. As we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to comprehend quite simply that we cannot comprehend Yahweh . We cannot put our finger on Him or draw a line around Him. He is greatly to be feared and to be praised. Job 26:14 And these are but the outer fringe of His works; how faint the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?

The knowledge that the battle is the Lord's, and that He is there to fight for me, is one of the things that I am most sure of in life. I do not doubt for a second that the Lord is with me, because I have determined to remain steadfastly in Him. However, the application of this is perhaps the geatest thing I am wrestling with right now in many areas of my life. This knowledge, in theory, should produce confidence, peace, and also humility in our lives. Now as I consider how both timidity and brashness can factor in, I see that one of my greatest problems is determining the line between brashness and boldness/courage. Many times, God places things in front of us to test our faith in Him, and when we follow, our actions may seem extremely brash to the world, although they are truly a beautiful picture of obedience and courage on a Christian's part. At other times, we may come against opposition, and it may not be a test, but disobedience, whether outright or subtle. This would be the time when the Lord will not take up our cause and fight for us. So the question is, how does one determine whether a difficult struggle is a test of our loyalty to/faith in our Commander or an indication that we have become disoriented in the battle, and either have become separated from Him, are no longer fighting with/for Him, or are no longer following/listening to His orders? I have not figured out the answer to this one yet, and I suspect I will spend my whole life learning. Mat 25:23 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' While trying to figure this out, I think the main thing to do do is be faithful in the small things. None of us will receive great, crucial assignments in the battle, until we have proven our worth in the small, humbling matters. We may be asked to serve our fellow soldiers before we fight on the front lines. We must prove that we exhibit the same character as our Commander in order to represent Him in great matters. Mat 25:31-40 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' We may be confident that as we fight with The Lord Our Banner raised high in our hands, we do not fight to the death, but through the death, and on to a glorious eternity with our Commander and King,

Moses' rod was a symbol of God and His power to the Israelites. It reminded them that the Lord was (and is) indeed the Strong and Mighty Warrior of Jacob. Earlier in the chapter, when the Israelites first pitched their tents in Rephidim, there was no water to drink, and they questioned whether God was really still with them, and why they wouldn't have been better off still in Egypt. Exo 17:4-6 And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go on in front of the people, and take with you the elders of Israel. And take your rod with which you struck the river, in your hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there upon the rock in Horeb. And you shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, so that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. This rod was significant. It was the same rod "with which [Moses] struck the river(verse 5b)". It was the same rod with which Moses had sruck the rock perhaps just days before. The Lord is our banner in many ways. He is an encouragement, a call to press on, a reassurance that we are not to retreat and that we have not yet lost. He is our anchor and point of reference. One further throught would be this, another word for the banners used in battle is standard. Like Jan said, "Soldiers would be encouraged greatly and fight all the braver and harder when they saw the banner/flag was still flying high." Exo 17:11 And it happened when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. In the battles we face everyday, are our standards held high, or have we lowered them? It seems to me like many Christians today are compromising their standards. It might not seem like that big of a deal, just "being all things to all men," right? Nope. That is not the case. When our standards aren't flying anymore, there is chaos and confusion. There is no more inspiration or the will to fight like we once did. Don't lower your standards.

Jesus says himself why he does not call on the Host of Heaven at Gethsemane: Mat 26:54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?" Again in verse 56a, it says: "But all this happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Christ is the only one who can qualify for the job He was given. it was of the utmost necessity that He accept the position of Savior. In addition to this reason, it seems to me that this is an amazing example of Jesus' obedience and humility. Prior to the betrayal and arrest, we find Jesus asking His Father in earnest, three times,in verses 39, 42, and 44, that the cup might pass from Him, yet each time, He puts His Father's will above His own. Because He could have called 10,000 angels makes this act of obedience and humility even more significant. When Jesus calls on the Armies of Heaven and they arrive on the battlefield, Armageddon, the largest and most one-sided battle in history ensues, leading to the Millennial Reign of Christ.

Elisha's servant could only see the physical realm, and was only counting on the fate that would be evident based on the apparent circumstances. Elisha could see the overwhelming power and strength of Yahweh-Sabaoth and His army. In 1 John 4:4, we see that Yahweh-Sabaoth accomplanies us today as we face this world, in no way less powerfully than He was to Elisha. What does it take for our eyes to be opened? It seems to me that this will vary for everyone, and also even differently for the same person at different times in their lives. Having our eyes opened could range form anything as supernatural as literally seeing an army of angels, or as simple as only being able to see how God has worked after the trying circumstance has passed, sometimes even if you never had the faith or trust you should have had at all. What I would like to add is that many times, we must be content to place our trust in an invisible, yet everpresent God. Trust is built in the dark, and when we our surrounded by the burning radiance and glory of God, often the only way to have the darkness needed to practice trusting is to go into or through things with our eyes still shut. Joh 20:29 Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.

God's will and purposes are higher than any individual or group's purposes will ever be. In declaring his neutrality, God is in no way saying that he'll just sit around and wait for an advocate for his side. However, God chooses to work through people and not just for them, and He will always find a person willing to serve him. Consider the saying "The center of God's will is the safest place to be." I'm thinking about this in the case of Joshua and the Israelites. There were so many times that they felt following God through the desert was way too difficult, and they often wished they would have stayed in bondage in Egypt. When they chose to desert God's side time and time again, it was because they thought they perceived a better, easier, or more comfortable route. Time and time again, they found that God was no longer fighting with them if they fought for themselves. So is God's will the safest place to be? Physically, not always, but spiritually, we could not be any safer. Luke 9:23-25 And He said to all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for My sake, he shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses himself, or is cast away? Joshua left that meeting encouraged, knowing that God was for him--or rather assured that his choice of sides was right, that he had chosen to stand with and for God. Yet as we apply this to our lives, we see (such as in the case of martyrs and those persecuted for their faith) that we must not expect to come out of the fight with anything but our souls within us, covered by the blood of Christ. Yet truly, this is everything, because anything--huge amounts of wealth, a long, healthy, happy life, the whole world for that matter; when the sum of these, no matter how great it would be, is placed as a fraction over infinity (which is representative of eternity), and then divided by infinity, the numerator [top number] (which is representaitve of our earthly life), comes out equal to zero. Bottom line, proven mathematically, our entire life on earth in light of eternity comes to nothing, zero! It is but a split-second decision that determines everything. With this in mind, no matter what lies ahead on the battle field, let us stand and fight and emerge victoriously with

To quote a portion of what MarkH said: "[That God is the]Father of Glory tells you he has children." This means that we are indeed the Children of Glory!

As King of glory, not only is God characterized by glory, but it seems to me that He is the ruler of glory, if you follow me. Glory is at the command of God, it is His to do with as He pleases. Also, not only His personal glory, but that which he bestows on others. Likewise, in the more intimate role of Father of Glory, not only is God characterized by glory, but He is the source of all glory--without him, glory is nonexistant. 2Co 3:18 But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit. (MKJV) How does God's glory infiltrate our lives? ~by us first unveiling our faces. - This unveiling is brought about by turning to the Lord (2 Cor 3:16). This is symbolized by the ripping in two of the temple curtain at the time of the crucifixion. ~through the mirror. What is the mirror? James 1:23-24 - For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man studying his natural face in a mirror. For he studied himself and went his way, and immediately he forgot what he was like. The mirror is the Word of God, The Bible. It reveals to us our true character is the light of God's glory. ~by the Spirit of God. If we continually keep looking back in the mirror, we will slowly see ourselves being transformed from one glimpse of glory to another, until that glory is revealed. Phillipians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.

This brings to mind the last word of Blindside's song - Silver Speak: "I'm an ant trying to protect my dinosaur friend." God is indeed the High and Lofty One, and as Christians, it's our job to represent Christ (who is likewise the High and Lofty One) to the best of our ability. To do this justice is indeed comparable to the protection of an ant, yet God's grace and strength can make us dinosaurs ourselves, if we will just allow Him to work in and through us.

It's quite fitting that God chose to reveal himself to man as

Hi - My name is Kaitlin, and I'm from Minnesota. I just started college this past fall, and I go to the local Assemblies of God church. Some of my main hobbies are guitar, karate, and snowboarding. Lately I've just really realized how shallowly I know God. I went to a Christian school for a while, and to church, so I am quite familiar with the christian religion, but the other day when I was praying, I just asked God- Who are You? So basically, I really think it's time to know God's heart in a more intimate way. Hence, the Names of God.