Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday: Priorities 2/26/2012

So last week in Sunday school we talk about obedience to God... If you need a review here is that link. This week in Sunday school, we learned about setting our priorities straight as a christian. Here is my reflection on what we learned:

*** WARNING this is kind of a long post. :)***

• Our First Priority is: To seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness (aka Jesus).

Matthew 6:31-33

English Standard Version (ESV) 

 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

• Our other First Priority (which goes with the other first): Love the LORD with ALL we are!

Matthew 22:35-40

English Standard Version (ESV)

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.   

• Our 2nd Priority: To love others! 

Matthew 22:39-40

English Standard Version (ESV)

 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

• It is hard for us to keep our priorities straight. 

Matthew 9:11-13

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

The pharisees wanted Jesus to eat with them rather than the sinners. We need to recognize that we are sinners as well as others. The pharisees missed this. Mercy First.

Matthew 23:23

English Standard Version (ESV)

²³  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

The pharisees were tithing and not showing mercy, justice and faithfulness which are worth more to God than tithe.  The pharisees tended to focus on the little thing that they could do rather than the whole picture. 

Matthew 5:23-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

²³  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Reconciliation is more important to God and must come first before sacrifice. 

• Jesus Showed that when we think we have our priorities right, we really don't.

Matthew 23:25-26

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁵  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

We must be clean inside before we do works. We can only be clean by the Holy Spirit/God cleansing us. 

Mark 7:5-13

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

⁸ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

⁹ And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ¹¹ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)^[a]— ¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

In this passage we find the pharisees putting their own made up rules in front of the rules God put in place. Their original priority, soon became their own opinions and what they wanted.  
 Luke 9:59-61

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus^[a] said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

Here we find two different people not putting what God wants first, first.... instead they were putting others first. 

•  Jesus through his parables showed examples of what our priorities should be. 

Matthew 10:41-42

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴¹  The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. ⁴² And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

One of our priorities should be taking care of other believers. 

Mark 10:2-9

English Standard Version (ESV)

² And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” ⁵ And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷  ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, ⁸ and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

If one is married, their priority should be to care for and support their spouse.

Luke 6:35

English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁵ But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Yet another priority we should have as Christians is to love our enemies.

• Jesus taught us what our priorities should be when dealing with others.

Matthew 7:1-5

English Standard Version (ESV)

7  “Judge not, that you be not judged. ²  For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

James 2:1-13

English Standard Version (ESV)

2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ² For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³ and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” ⁴ have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. ¹³ For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We shouldn't be judging one another.... We need to remember, that we are SINNERS!  Yes, Christ now lives in us, but we were just like those who are lost before Jesus called us and revealed himself to us. Why are we judging others?

So a quick recap:

If we have our priorities straight Jesus/God is Number ONE in our Life. We put him FIRST.

If we have our priorities right, Loving others is Number TWO.

We show that God is number ONE by loving our spouse, showing mercy, loving others, being faithful

Only through the help of the Holy Spirit can we succeed in keeping these our priorities.

To Think ABOUT:

What are you priorities today?

What should you have first instead?

Who should be second after God in your life?

How can you change you priorities?

What would having the priorities God has look like in your life? 

Ang

Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday: Obedience to God 3/19

I learned/was reminded of quite a bunch yesterday... In Sunday school we learned about obedience to God's commands and in church we learned about Jonah and how God works all things to good and controls all things. I am going write my reflections from Sunday School.

Obedience to God

1. God  desires obedience over sacrifice. 

1 Samuel 15:22 "And Samuel said,“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams."

Psalm 119:4 "You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently."

God wants us to obey him rather than to do something else. He desires our obedience to Him and what He has commanded. An example in real life: a mom tells her son John to go mow the lawn. Instead, John cleans the porch and paints the fence and then brings his mom an iced lemonade. Did he obey? Will his mom be happy with him? NO!  

2. Gods law is Holy, righteous and good.

Romans 7:12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

God's law is holy righteous and good, we should not just forget about it because we are now saved from sin, on the contrary, we should seek to obey all he has commanded. That should be our desire.  

3. His law reveals our sin. 

Romans 7:7-11 "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”  But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.  I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.  The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me."

1 John 3:4 " Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness."

God's law reveals what sin is. Makes us acknowledge what we have done wrong, that we are truly sinners. 

4. We can only obey Gods law through the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Ezekiel 37:24  "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.^"

God gives Christians His spirit so that we can obey his commands; without it, we cannot obey. 

5. Part of obeying God's law is to train other Christians to obey Gods law as well. 

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. "

Psalm 78:5-7 "He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;"

Matthew 5:17-20 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." 
  
"teaching them to obey all I have commanded"- This is so important. We as Christians are supposed to be witnesses to others. We are called to disciple others and to teach them ALL God has commanded, not only to teach them what He has commanded but, to OBEY ALL.   
 

6. Obeying God's law does not mean we pressure non Christians to do what we feel convicted to do/ beat them over the head with it; because they do NOT have the Holy Spirit to help them. (How can we expect them to do, what we cannot do on our own?)

Ezekiel 37:24  "I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.^"


Romans 7:14-25 "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.  For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.  So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.   For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin."


The Holy Spirit is what enables us to obey Gods word.. How  then can we then expect unbelievers without the Holy Spirit  to obey God's words?

7. Obeying God's law does not save one, justify them or make them righteous.

Romans 4:3 "For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Romans 10:4 " For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

Ephesians 2:8  "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"

Romans 3:28 " For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law."

Salvation, Justification and Righteousness, all come through FAITH in Jesus Christ. 

 Based upon the above what should we be doing?

We should be ourselves seeking to obey Gods words AND we should be teaching other beleivers to obey Gods word.

Hear it on Sunday use it on Monday: How Many Kings

 

 

I have been thinking of this song a lot lately. Focus on the chorus:

How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only  ONE one did: Jesus Christ.

God is ____

God is Love.
AND
God is Wrath. 




Think about that. 

Ang

Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday. 9/19/11

This Sunday in Sunday school meditated on Psalm 145.

Psalm 145 ESV

Great Is the LORD

^[a] A Song of Praise. Of David.

 ¹ I will extol you, my God and King,
   and bless your name forever and ever.
²Every day I will bless you
    and praise your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
   and his greatness is unsearchable.

 ⁴ One generation shall commend your works to another,
   and shall declare your mighty acts.
⁵On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
   and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
⁶They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
   and I will declare your greatness.
⁷They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
   and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

 ⁸The LORD is gracious and merciful,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹The LORD is good to all,
   and his mercy is over all that he has made.

 ¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
   and all your saints shall bless you!
¹¹They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
   and tell of your power,
¹²to make known to the children of man your^[b] mighty deeds,
   and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
   and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

   

   [The LORD is faithful in all his words
   and kind in all his works.]^[c]
14The LORD upholds all who are falling
   and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵The eyes of all look to you,
   and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶You open your hand;
   you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways
   and kind in all his works.
¹⁸The LORD is near to all who call on him,
   to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
   he also hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰The LORD preserves all who love him,
   but all the wicked he will destroy.

 ²¹My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
   and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

The verse that stood out to me, and that I have been mediating on is Psalm 145:8:

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Something that Pastor Ray had us do with this verse was to put it into our own words. This is my version of this verse:

The lord is giving and doesn’t punish me as I deserve, He is full of Love and not anger (he is patient).

God really is gracious and merciful, he sent his one and only son to die for me, so that I might not have to be punished as I deserve, for I am a sinner. He is full of love; one of the ways that he shows it is by sending his son to die on the cross for me. He is slow to anger, He could have just punished us all, but instead, he sent his son Jesus. Everything he is points to Jesus and Love.

Sometimes it is easy to forget what Jesus has done for me. I get used to life and the rut of things…  and forget all that Jesus has done for me. So don’t be like me, take time right now to reflect and meditate on all that Jesus/God has done in your life.

Ang

Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday: Psalm 22

 

This week in Sunday school we learned about Psalm 22.

Psalm 22^[a]

    For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David. ¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from saving me,
   so far from my cries of anguish?
² My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
   by night, but I find no rest.^[b]
 3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
   you are the one Israel praises.^[c]
4 In you our ancestors put their trust;
   they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried out and were saved;
   in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
 ⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
   scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
   they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
⁸ “He trusts in the LORD,” they say,
   “let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
   since he delights in him.”
 ⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
   you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast on you;
   from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
 ¹¹ Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.
 ¹² Many bulls surround me;
   strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions that tear their prey
   open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
   it has melted within me.
¹⁵ My mouth^[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
   you lay me in the dust of death.
 ¹⁶ Dogs surround me,
   a pack of villains encircles me;
   they pierce^[e] my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ All my bones are on display;
   people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my clothes among them
   and cast lots for my garment.
 ¹⁹ But you, LORD, do not be far from me.
   You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver me from the sword,
   my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
   save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
 ²² I will declare your name to my people;
   in the assembly I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the LORD, praise him!
   All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
   Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or scorned
   the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
   but has listened to his cry for help.
 ²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
   before those who fear you^[f] I will fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek the LORD will praise him—
   may your hearts live forever!
 ²⁷ All the ends of the earth
   will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
   will bow down before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
   and he rules over the nations.
 ²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
   all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
   those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness,
   declaring to a people yet unborn:
   He has done it!

We learned about this psalm and how many of the verses literally describe what would happen to Jesus years later.  I dont remember ever correlating this passage with Jesus' death. So this was kind of eye opening to me. I dont know why I missed it. Its amazing how I can read the same passage every day for weeks and then a week later read it again and learn something new.

^{Ps. 22:18} They divide my clothes among them
   and cast lots for my garment.
^{Ps. 22:15} My mouth^[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
   you lay me in the dust of death. 

Luke 23:34

New International Version (NIV)

³⁴ Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Matthew 27:33-36

New International Version (NIV)

³³ They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴ There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵ When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.

ps. 22:  ¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from saving me,
   so far from my cries of anguish?

Matthew 27:46-51

New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁶ About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,^[a] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).^[b]
 47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
 ⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹ The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
 ⁵⁰ And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
 ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
 John 19:23-24

 ²³ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.^[c] But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, ²⁴so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

    "They divided my garments among them,
   and for my clothing they cast lots."

   So the soldiers did these things, 

John 19:28-30

 ²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." ²⁹A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday: Consuming Fire

Yesterday in Sunday school we learned about and practiced meditating on Gods word. We are currently going through the psalms and this week we looked at Psalm 100.

Psalm 100 English Standard Version (ESV)

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever

A Psalm for giving thanks.

 ¹ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
 ² Serve the LORD with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing! ³Know that the LORD, he is God!
   It is he who made us, and we are his;^[a]
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise!
   Give thanks to him; bless his name!
 ⁵ For the LORD is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.

Meditation according to the dictionary-continued or extended thought; reflection; contemplation.

Meditation on scripture- thinking about what the scripture is teaching about God, His creation and you.

In sunday school psalm 100 was split up by verse and given to each table to meditate on. Then after a few min our pastor asked each table to share what they had meditated about the Lord. Our table had verse 3. We meditated on the first phrase "Know that the LORD, He is God" (Psalm 100:3). We reflected on who God is and listed different things that God is.This caused me to begin to mediate on who God is and to find scripture relating to who God is.

For example, I have been meditating on the fact that "our God is a Consuming Fire" (Hebrew 12:29). So I began to look at what it means that "our God is a Consuming Fire."

Here is what I have so far:
1. He consumes everything. I want him to consume me and to burn away everything that is not of Him.  Isaiah 33:14 "The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?""

Zechariah 13:9 "And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”"

2. He is a jealous God who will destroy his enemies with his consuming fire. Deuteronomy 4:24 "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Psalm 97:3 "Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side."

3. He is worthy of reverence, awe and worship because He is a Consuming fire.  Hebrew 12:28-29

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire."