Who
is God?
The
"Who is God?" series is dedicated to research and
attempt to understand what God has told us about Himself in
His creation, in His written Word, in His reincarnation and
the evidence of His Presence in the lives of His followers.
Jesus
said, "--true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth" (John 4:23, 24, NKJV).
"God
is Spirit" - as the infinite Spirit being, God is not
subject to the limitations of finite material beings and consequently
is not so much concerned with formal places and forms of worship
as He is with the spirit in which men worship Him (see SDA
Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 941).
Is
it hard to find and to worship God? Not according to Jesus,
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will
find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks,
it will be opened... Your Father in heaven will give good
things to those who ask Him" (Matthew 7:7-11, NKJV).
God
is Spirit and He is very willing to share with us the gift
of His Spirit. It is a gift and it has some conditions. "You
will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all
your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13, NKJV). Where do we seek
for Him? The Bible is a good place to start. He shares Himself
with us through His Holy Word.
What
other condition is there for receiving the fulness of His
Spirit? "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I
will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor
knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will
be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you"
(John 14:15-18, NKJV). Jesus promises that the Father will
send His Helper, the "Spirit of truth" to those
who love Him and obey His commandments. He reinforces this
statement when He says, "The man who has received my
commands and obeys them - he it is who loves me; and he who
loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and
disclose myself to him... Anyone who loves me will heed what
I say; then my Father will love him, and we will come to him
and make our dwelling with him" (John 14:21, 23, NEB).
What
a promise and what a gift. Will the Holy Spirit really live
in us and speak to us? "Do you not know that you are
the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
(1 Corinthians 3 16, NKJV). Yes, the Holy Spirit will live
in us and speak to us, if we will listen. "Your ears
shall hear a word behind you, saying 'This is the way, walk
in it,' whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you
turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21, NKJV).
"This
is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will
be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the
ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you'
" (Jeremiah 7:23).
"For
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and
a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me,
and I will listen to you" (Jeremiah 29:11, 12).
God
is Spirit! Our God cares, and He is seeking for those who
will worship Him in "spirit and truth" (John 4:23,
NKJV).
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