He is Worthy of Praise because HE is Love and Truth

Probably twenty years ago, the LORD convicted me of treating Him like Santa Claus instead of Holy God. So I did a fast of asking God for anything. I took thirty days and I determined in my prayers to only praise God for what I knew about Him. 

I had no idea how this would radically change my life and how I pray. It gave me God confidence and I discovered that my prayer life was more fruitful. My faith and trust increased and others noted my prayer life. 

What started out as an act of repentance produced good fruit. I guess this is what John the Baptist and Jesus meant when they said, "Produce the fruit of repentance" (Matthew 3:8;Luke 3:8).

I am loving the slow process of writing out what I am learning about God as I read the Illuminated Bible. I first read the chapter and then as I color in it, I am listening to the Street Lights Audio Bible. I might listen to the chapter three or four times. It reveals truths I did not catch in the reading.

This week love and truth are the two characteristics that have stole my heart. God is love! God is truth! 

How might I give Him praise for these qualities? How might I repent for the lack of them? Or even repent for my family, city or nation for the lack of them? How can I encourage love and truth? 

Father, we praise You! You are the Light of the World that brings love and truth. Thank You that Your love and truth set us free. Thank You for these gifts that abound in You and are freely given to us so that they abound in us.

Truth & Love

Truth and love... these two character qualities can change any situation. There is power in them so much so that lies abound to destroy both. 

I am listening to an audiobook called REMEMBER ME. It is about the Spanish War in 1937. 

It is a historical fiction telling what it might have been like to be one of the 400 children that were shipped to Mexico to protect them from the war. 

Over and over truth and love were the factors that brought blessing. Hatred and lies only caused destruction. 

This book has really made me think about what is happening in the Ukraine, in the US, and well around the world. What would happen if truth and love were brought into the circumstances?

Did you know that in the Bible God is called Truth and Love? These are character traits of the Most High God and when we walk in them we most look like Him. 

Today, as I interact I am internally asking, How can I bring truth and love to this moment? When I do this right it shuts down my stupidity and makes me look so much smarter and more compassionate. Now that is a good thing!

What is spirit and truth?

I am studying the woman at the well again. I confess I have studied it a lot and wondered, “Is there anything more You can teach me LORD?” It seems like we have this one covered! Oh my! God sure has patience with me! 

 I hope I can trace what I discovered this morning. 

I asked the question, “What is spirit and truth?” I felt I had it and I did on a basic level. Spirit would mean that I worship God through His Spirit and truth would mean that I worship Him through His Son, Jesus. 

But, then GOD showed me a few new things that just gave me such an ah ha moment that I have to share it with you! I hope it blesses your soul as it did mine, this morning! 

First, I went to the Greek word aletheia and one commentator said it could actually be interpreted as truthing. So not just giving facts but living facts! Pretty cool! But then I noticed that “a” signifies the lack of something. I found that a bit interesting. What might we lack in truth? And then I noticed that “lethe” means forgetfulness. So, if I am living in truth I am living in a lack of forgetfulness! This means I live in remembrance. But then I wondered, “What must I remember?” Please keep in mind this is how I discover. I ask questions and research answers. 

This is when I turned to Hebrew and discovered that the Hebrew word for truth is Emet or Amet. In Hebrew this is spelled “aleph, mem, tav”. Essentially, there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Her Royal Roots points out that the three letters that spell the word truth are the beginning, middle, and end letters of the alphabet. So, aleph is the first letter in the alphabet while tav is the last letter of the alphabet with the mem being the very middle. Do you see how the spelling of the word for truth covers the whole of the alphabet? Her Royal Roots reminded the readers that the point of this is that truth covers the whole counsel of God. It must be all of Scripture from beginning to end. We cannot pick one truth or part of a truth. It must be the whole truth in order for us to be set free! 

But wait there is more! I kept asking myself, “Does the “al” in aletheia mean something? In my mind, I kept thinking if El means God. Does “al” represent a form of God? I kept researching and I could not find a single reference, so I was beginning to think that I was just off in my thoughts until I read about the Hebrew word in Her Royal Roots. She noted that if you remove the “aleph” in truth then you are removing “Yah” which represents God. The word that remains is “met” which means death. For there is no truth without God only death (John 14:6). Let that sit for a moment and maybe go back and reread it! 

So, when Jesus said, “The LORD is looking for those that will worship Him in spirit and in truth,” He was pointing out clearly true worship is not a place, a style, a method, but a person. Without Him, we have no worship. His truth brings us freedom (John 8:32), rest (1 John 3:18), love (1 Cor. 13:6), guidance (John 16:13), and grace (John 1:14,17). His truth is our firm foundation (1 Tim. 3:15) and it shows no favorites (Acts 10:34). His Word is true from the beginning to the end, and it endures forever (John 14:6). It is a wholehearted devotion to Him. 

What I love about the woman at the well is that she got it! She left her water jar, the very reason she went to the well that day and ran back to tell everyone that they needed to come and meet the One that knew everything about her! An entire village went out to see what Jesus had to say and they too confessed that they believed not because of what she said, but because they went to Jesus to find out for themselves. Once they heard, they believed. Why? Because they were searching for the truth that set them free and they finally heard it! They experienced firsthand worship through spirit and truth. 

I love that immediately both the woman and the villagers demonstrated that they would not forget what they had seen and heard. 

Can you say that you know what it means to worship in spirit and in truth? Would you be willing to simply ask Jesus to show you how to worship Him in spirit and in truth? It worked for the woman at the well. It has worked for me. I know it will work for you, too!

 

Shalom y’all!