The name of God a noun or a verb?

Exodus 3:11-15: But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob-has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”

I came across a very interesting thought in my bible study yesterday.

The author, Catherine Martin, quotes from her own book “Trusting in the Names of God 30-day Journey”  explaining God’s name Yahweh:

When God revealed His name, I AM…He spoke His using Hebrew verbs, not nouns. The verb forms [used] are imperfect tense, implying continuing, unfinished action.

www.allwords.com define imperfect tense as:

A tense used to describe a past action that is ongoing, incomplete or continuous…

God could have used any word he wanted to describe Himself.  Words like awesome, powerful, forever, sovereign.  Yet he uses a verb, telling His people I am everything you will ever need, today and always.

I was studying this awesome thought yesterday as the tick, tick, tick… clanged on above my head.  I am so happy to tell you that the TMS is working!  I am starting to feel more like myself.  And I am so thankful to have a God who is constantly at work around me.  Even if I don’t feel Him.

It feels so good to be “back.”  I despise living as a shell of a human being void of life.  Walking, surviving, just getting by.  For whatever reason I find it extremely hard to study God’s Word when I’m feeling off.  Yet, it’s the very thing that I need.  Even more reason for me to be incredibly grateful that God defines Himself as a verb, not a noun or a thing of the past.

What verb defines what you need from God today?

• giving
• leading
• forgiving
• comforting
• filling
• ________

he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6

Thank you for your prayers,

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My TMS story

Quite space.  Sterile room.  Blank walls. 

Inside, four tan cushy recliners.

Pick one.

Sit.  Get comfortable.  Use the white neck pillow.

The hardest part is keeping still.

Behind me the doctor arranges the adjustable arm of the magnetic stimulator.  He positions the machine on the front left side of my head and away we go.

tick,tick,tick…

For 10 seconds it feels like someone is flicking their finger on my skull.

Then it goes quiet.  I wonder when it will start again.

tick,tick,tick…

Do you feel OK?

Good.  I’m going to turn it up.

Now the flicking changes to a slight hammering.

tick,tick,tick…

The room gets quiet.  The silence seems to get louder.

10 seconds of stimulation, 20 seconds of eery quiet.

tick,tick,tick…

This continues for 30-40 minutes. 

I read.  Check email.  Play solitaire.  Anything to keep my mind off the tick,tick,tick…

It makes me jump.  Even though I know it’s coming.

tick,tick,tick…

And yet the rhythm reminds me of the constant companion that I spoke of yesterday.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Jeremiah 29:11 

My companion reminds me in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to give thanks, to keep on praying, and to be filled with His joy.

Listen for His Word in your life’s rhythm today.

For more information on TMS here are 2 interesting articles:

• TMS Treatment for Depression Gains FDA Approval
• When Nothing Else Works: Therapy Approved By FDA For Treatment-resistant Depression

 

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Faith is not for wipmy women!

One loud cry I heard at The True Woman Conference ‘o8 from Dr. John Piper was “wimpy theology = wimpy women!”  He urged women to see their true role in Christ through scripture.

This past week, though silent online, was challenging in faith.

My Bible study is currently working through a video based teaching called Walking By Faith authored by Jennifer Rothschild.  If you don’t know her story, check out her website.  She is incredible.

During our last session we discussed 1 Thess. 5:16-18:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

If you are going through any type of challenge this is a hard passage to swallow.  Yet, Jennifer and the ladies in our group, shared numerous stories of hard times and how God gave them blessings through the trials.

Currently, my depression has become treatment resistant.  Thankfully, God brought me to a doctor who uses many different modalities to treat the problem.  Here’s my newest treatment: TMS.  The National Association for Mental Illenss states: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a technique for gently stimulating the brain. It utilizes a specialized electromagnet placed on the patient’s scalp that generates short magnetic pulses, roughly the strength of an MRI scanner’s magnetic field but much more focused. The magnetic pulses pass easily through the skull just like the MRI scanner fields do, but because they are short pulses and not a static field, they can stimulate the underlying cerebral cortex (brain).

Needless to say, I’m being challenged in my faith walk.

This weekend’s sermon was focused on the persecuted church.  Statistics show that when Christians are at risk, the church grows.  It seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it?  However, I think that is what Dr. Piper, Jennifer Rothschild, my pastor, God himself is trying to show me… when trials come – you will grow.  And that’s why Paul encouraged believers to give thanks, to pray always and to be filled with the joy that comes from the Lord.

Where are you today in your faith journey?  In all things, let’s give thanks.  In every situation, let’s be joy-filled.  And in all we do, let’s never stop praying.

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