God's Surroundings
God could have chosen anything He wanted to surround Himself with. He could have made us completely obedient,never wavering in our devotion. He could have made us unflinchingly strong, never quitting to serve Him even to the point of death. Even men can train their children this way with the right mix of fear and instruction....but God is sooo amazing....sooo brilliant...God chose love, and then surrounded Himself with the objects of His love. Revelation 4 describes those closest to God as His people and His angels. He loves to be near us!
In a way only God could calculate, in His absolutely stunning brilliance, He knows how to accomplish everything He has planned, never violate the free will of the objects of His love, and STILL work all things for the good of those who love Him. Only the uncreated God of Heaven's Armies is this able!!
Humans and angels are the closest ones to Him, and the Bible says that He is bright fiery red light, indicating His zeal and desire. His is full of fiery love and strong emotion, but the most amazing truth comes next...and He could have picked anything...but the next thing...ugh...it blows my mind:
Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
He has surrounded His own zeal and desire with an "emerald rainbow."
Rainbows mean one thing in the Bible: mercy. Green is God's chosen color for life. God, in the ultimate display of love for you and me has chosen to tell us that everything that emanates from Him: His zeal, His desire, His sovereignty, His power, His words, His judgment...and much more...they are all "filtered" through the mercy rainbow He has surrounded Himself with.
The accuser, satan, constantly lies about God, telling us He is harsh, and rigid....unforgiving and un-understanding. This is a complete lie. Anyone who has ever heard God's voice of correction will tell you the same thing: He is so kind! God is gentle and kind. Quick to relent and not punish. Everything He does is right and just, and it all gets filtered through perfect life giving mercy.
God wants us to be like Him. He has surrounded us with a rainbow of sorts, if we will have it. 1 Corinthians 13 is our rainbow of life giving mercy, if we will put it on like God has.
The Bible says that I could know God's actual secrets...I could possess supernatural wisdom and insight, but if I don't filter it through love, it is worthless. I could know exactly what is going to happen in the future, but if I didn't make love first and knowledge second, it would be no good. I could see the speck in someone else's eyes, be right in my judgment, but without love, it wouldn't help them at all...it would just be noise.
God has chosen to put on mercy. I want to reach for the rainbow He gives me to put on like Him. Then my words will sound more like His words. My voice will be like thunder and my actions like lightning...full of the power of the Holy Spirit living in me and the unflinching kindness of God!
1 Corinthians 13: 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
In a way only God could calculate, in His absolutely stunning brilliance, He knows how to accomplish everything He has planned, never violate the free will of the objects of His love, and STILL work all things for the good of those who love Him. Only the uncreated God of Heaven's Armies is this able!!
Humans and angels are the closest ones to Him, and the Bible says that He is bright fiery red light, indicating His zeal and desire. His is full of fiery love and strong emotion, but the most amazing truth comes next...and He could have picked anything...but the next thing...ugh...it blows my mind:
Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
He has surrounded His own zeal and desire with an "emerald rainbow."
Rainbows mean one thing in the Bible: mercy. Green is God's chosen color for life. God, in the ultimate display of love for you and me has chosen to tell us that everything that emanates from Him: His zeal, His desire, His sovereignty, His power, His words, His judgment...and much more...they are all "filtered" through the mercy rainbow He has surrounded Himself with.
The accuser, satan, constantly lies about God, telling us He is harsh, and rigid....unforgiving and un-understanding. This is a complete lie. Anyone who has ever heard God's voice of correction will tell you the same thing: He is so kind! God is gentle and kind. Quick to relent and not punish. Everything He does is right and just, and it all gets filtered through perfect life giving mercy.
God wants us to be like Him. He has surrounded us with a rainbow of sorts, if we will have it. 1 Corinthians 13 is our rainbow of life giving mercy, if we will put it on like God has.
The Bible says that I could know God's actual secrets...I could possess supernatural wisdom and insight, but if I don't filter it through love, it is worthless. I could know exactly what is going to happen in the future, but if I didn't make love first and knowledge second, it would be no good. I could see the speck in someone else's eyes, be right in my judgment, but without love, it wouldn't help them at all...it would just be noise.
God has chosen to put on mercy. I want to reach for the rainbow He gives me to put on like Him. Then my words will sound more like His words. My voice will be like thunder and my actions like lightning...full of the power of the Holy Spirit living in me and the unflinching kindness of God!
1 Corinthians 13: 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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