{"id":1962,"date":"2011-11-10T14:04:48","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T20:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1962"},"modified":"2012-01-11T22:45:30","modified_gmt":"2012-01-12T04:45:30","slug":"twrac-040-understanding-the-person-that-is-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrac-040-understanding-the-person-that-is-god","title":{"rendered":"TWRAC 040 (11\/10\/11): Understanding Personal God"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This Week&#8217;s Recovery Application Challenge<\/span><\/h2>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #663314;\">Please click on <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><a title=\"Open TWIRL 040\" href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/word-for-today\/twirl-040-111011-understanding-the-character-of-god\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">TWIRL 040<\/span><\/a><\/span> before continuing TWRAC 040&#8230;\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">The next four questions do not have right or wrong answers but are meant to challenge your perceptions of God as they relate to perceptions you have of yourself. Carefully consider your responses, especially if your score regarding your confidence in God&#8217;s love is higher than your score for His blessing, provision, forgiveness, and healing.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">If God does and will love you, why would He not bless you?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">If God does and will love you, why would He not provide for you?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">If God does and will love you, why would He not forgive you?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">If God does and will love you, why would He not heal you?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>God loves you and forgives you&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Earlier in the ADMIT section called &#8220;MEdom = Worship\/Idolize Self&#8221;, we observed the Scripture from Isaiah 57 that saw God speaking through the prophet Isaiah to His people about their choice to\u00a0invest in\u00a0their idols as their replacement for their relationship with God. The result was their addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, and alternative spirituality that even led to them sacrificing their own children to their gods. We explored how our addictive thinking and behavior is similar and leads to similar consequences. We came to understand that our destination in relationship with our idols, namely the addiction we have to self, leads us directly into broken fellowship with God. Broken fellowship and relationship with God is not his doing, it is ours. We know it, too. That is why we struggle to have confidence that God will bless us, provide for us, heal us, and forgive us. How can God forgive us for what we have done?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There is the tendency to believe that if God is about justice at all, he cannot possibly forgive this thing or that thing. Ultimately, we struggle to believe that God altogether loves us.\u00a0What it comes down to is the realization that\u00a0<em><strong>I<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0do not altogether love me. If\u00a0<em>I<\/em>\u00a0were God, I wouldn&#8217;t forgive me; I wouldn&#8217;t bless me. Yet it is in your nature to continually crave satisfaction in whatever form it takes, so you remain stuck in the dissatisfaction of not getting what you want, even you\u00a0realize that you are unworthy to have it and do not deserve it.\u00a0Thank God, God is not you. God is God and He loves and forgives and blesses and provides and heals according to His desires and standard for justice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The following from Isaiah 57:14-21 is God&#8217;s response to the addictive behavior of His people:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><\/strong><sup><strong>14<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0God says, \u201cRebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>15<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: \u201cI live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>16<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away\u2014 all the souls I have made.\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>17<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0I was angry, so I punished these greedy people. I withdrew from them, but they kept going on their own stubborn way.\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>18<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0<em>I have seen what they do,<\/em>\u00a0<em>but I will heal them anyway!\u00a0<\/em>I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn,\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>19<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0bringing words of praise to their lips. May they have abundant peace, both near and far,\u201d says the Lord, who heals them.\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>20<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0\u201cBut those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt.\u00a0<\/strong><sup><strong>21<\/strong><\/sup><strong>\u00a0There is no peace for the wicked,\u201d says my God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you remember from ADMIT what the rocks and stones represented? The rocks and stones were emblematic of the addictive behavior and idol worship of God&#8217;s people.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Who is God speaking to when we proclaims, \u201cRebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity\u201d?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Rebuild what road?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Captivity from what?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">What would say it means when God says through Isaiah, &#8220;For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry&#8221;?\u00a0-How did God &#8220;punish those greedy people&#8221;?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">What does it mean that God &#8220;withdrew from them&#8221;?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">How does God being angry, punishing, and withdrawing fit into your perceptions of God?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">As a parent, do you ever become angry with your children? Explain. (If you&#8217;re not a parent, respond to the question as though you are)\u00a0-Do you love your children any less when you become angry?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">As a parent, have you ever withdrawn or allowed some space from your children? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you love your children any less when you give them space?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">As a parent, have you ever withheld provision or gifts from your children while they were disobedient or broke fellowship with you? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">-Do you love your children any less when you have to withhold blessing from them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">As a parent, have you ever disciplined your children through some form of punishment? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you love your children any less when you have to discipline and punish them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">If you were to stay angry at your children, withhold blessing, and punish them permanently forever, what would become of them?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you believe, as\u00a0a perception of God, that He would choose to stay angry with you? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you believe it is the personality of God to continue to punish you? Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">Do you believe it is God&#8217;s intention to keep you in the consequences of your selfish mistakes?\u00a0Explain.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">As a parent, what does it take on the part of your children to be restored into the fullness of privilege after they have been selfish and made mistakes?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">What does it mean to be repentant?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">What does it mean to have &#8220;spirits&#8221; that are contrite, humble, and crushed?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">God said, &#8220;<\/span><em>I have seen what they do,\u00a0<\/em><em>but I will heal them anyway!\u00a0<\/em><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">I will lead them. I will comfort those who mourn.&#8221; How is this attitude of God, similar to the attitude you have to your children?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"color: #000000;\">When you view God in the context of a parent, how\u00a0is your perception of the person and personality of God affected?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"twttr_buttons\"><div class=\"twttr_twitter\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=TWRAC+040+%2811%2F10%2F11%29%3A+Understanding+Personal+God\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-via=\"\" data-hashtags=\"\"  data-size=\"default\" data-url=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrac-040-understanding-the-person-that-is-god\"  data-related=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Week&#8217;s Recovery Application Challenge Please click on TWIRL 040 before continuing TWRAC 040&#8230;\u00a0 The next four questions do not have right or wrong answers but are meant to challenge your perceptions of God as they relate to perceptions you &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrac-040-understanding-the-person-that-is-god\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-applications","category-twrac"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1962"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2110,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1962\/revisions\/2110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}