God is who He says He is, not who I think He is.

I confess, my original belief in a higher power was 100% backwards. I molded an image of a god in my own mind. This image stroked my ego and helped me feel good about my ways. My spiritual information was coming from things ‘I’ wanted a god to be. This selfish belief conveniently justified my lifestyle. It made me feel good about the things I did and the person I was.

Who was this god I made? “God created this marijuana for a reason and put it here on earth. It’s all natural. I can smoke it!” – I justified my actions by creating a god to be who I wanted in order to feel good about smoking marijuana. “God just wants me to be happy! It’s ok, I’m not hurting anyone!” – Again, justifying my actions so I can feel good about the choices I made that were contrary to the real God.  The list goes on and on… I continued to believe in a higher power, a god, but the god that I believed in was fully based out of selfish motives. This god of mine so happened to fit perfectly into everything that I did in life. Worth repeating.. I created a god that so happened to fit perfectly into all that my life was. I fully justified myself.

Then, I asked Him into my life and I started to get to know the real God. He started to show me who He was via His own words, and I see now that He was nothing like the god I had created out of selfish reasons, not even close! He was the opposite. Imagine that!!!

He showed me this self-talk, self-reasoning, self-understanding, self-justification, self…self…self. The god that I created looked like me, talked like me, thought like me. It was me and my selfish desires. And He said, “I am the Creator…I created you in My image. I mold you, not the other way around.” I had it all backwards. Praise God for pulling me out of the pits of self.

If anyone is in the same boat, I urge you.. jump out of basing things on your own understanding & let Him tell you who He is, in His own words (the bible). Ask Him into your life, then watch the world as you know it turn upside down (right-side up).

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
(Proverbs 3:5-8, New King James Version)

8 ” For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 ” For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 ” For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:8-11, New King James Version)

17 “You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.
(Exodus 34:17, New King James Version)

Pertaining to the last passage, it is my opinion that it means both carved images as well as any other image we may form in our mind. If we believe in an invisible god, one that is nothing like the true God, is it not the same as molding a god for ourself?

Have you molded your own god at some point in life? I did.

As far as physical carvened images, the true God of Israel answered this question, in a blessed revelation. Watch the Lord God take a golden calf off from around my neck – Check out this beautiful testimony: Testimony – the golden calf.

God bless you and yours,

joseph

(taken from my blog post Who is God?)