Mark Salazar's Blog

God is Sovereign- The word sovereign means chief, highest or supreme.  When we say God is sovereign, we are saying that Hs is the number one ruler in the universe.

Psalms 103:19, 2 Samuel7:28, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

1 Chronicles 29:10-13
¹⁰ Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said:

“ Blessed are You, LORD God ofIsrael, our Father, forever and ever.

¹¹ Yours, O LORD, is the greatness,
The power and the glory,
The victory and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD,
And You are exalted as head over all.

¹² Both riches and honor come from You,
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In Your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.

¹³ “Now therefore, our God,
We thank You
And praise Your glorious name.

God is Eternal-There has never been a time when God did not exist.  He has no beginning and has no end.

Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:8, 1 Timothy 1:17

Isaiah 44:6

⁶ “ Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:

‘ I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.

God is Omniscient- God possesses all the knowledge there is to have.  Nothing ever takes Him by surprise.

Hebrews 4:13, Job 42:2, Isaiah 40:12-14

Hebrews 4:13

¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

God is Omnipresent- God is infinite and everywhere present through all time and space.

Jeremiah 23:24, Proverbs 15:3, Deuteronomy 31:6, Colossians 1:17

Jeremiah 23:24

²⁴ Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the LORD;

“ Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

God is Omnipotent- God is all powerful, having more than enough strength to do the sum total of all things.

Philippians 3:20-21, Psalms 147:5, Ephesians 3:20

Ephesians 3:20

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

God is Immutable- God never changes in His nature of attributes.

Numbers23:19, Psalm 102:27, Hebrews 13:8

Hebrews 13:8

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God is Righteous- It is impossible for Him to do or cause anything that is wrong.

Deuteronomy 32:4, Isaiah 45:20-25, Psalm 111:1-3, 2 Corinthians 5:21

Deuteronomy 32:4

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.

Isaiah 45:20-25

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁰ “ Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
²¹ Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the LORD?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.
²² “ Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
²³ I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath.
²⁴ He shall say,

‘ Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him.
²⁵ In the LORD all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and shall glory.’”

Psalm 111:1-3

¹ Praise the LORD!

I will praise the LORD with my whole heart,
In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

² The works of the LORD are great,
Studied by all who have pleasure in them.
³ His work is honorable and glorious,
And His righteousness endures forever.

2 Corinthians 5:21

New King James Version (NKJV)

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God is Just- It is impossible for Him to do anything that is unfair, either to Himself or to man.

Revelation 15:3-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10, 2 Timothy 4:8

Revelation 15:3-4

³ They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“ Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
⁴ Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”

God is Love- God is perfect infinite love. His love is given freely and without any consideration of the loveliness or merit of the object.

John 3:16, Romans 8:37-39, 1 John 3:16

Romans 8:37-39

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is Veracity- He is absolute truth.

Psalm 33:4, Titus 1:2, John 8:32

Psalm 33:4

⁴ For the word of the LORD is right,
And all His work is done in truth.

Titus 1:2

² in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,

John 8:32

³² And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Yesterday we did a short devo @ C3 to finish our study in James we read James 5:7-19.  Our discussion was about patience and fervent prayer.  I don’t know about you, but it seems that we live in a society that is driven by results.  We want things fast and we want them now.  For example, think about what you have to do to get a cheeseburger.  Drive down the street and go through a “drive thru” and you got one in a minute.  Think about the slogans such as Burger King, “Have it your way”. Better yet, here in America you can have food delivered to your house!  What’s the point?  As Christians we tend to do the same thing with people!!!  We pray for people for a week, month, if you’re super spiritual a year!  When was the last time you or myself prayed for the same person for over one year?  We give up.  We stop because we don’t see results.  Let me encourage you to be resilient in your prayer life.  Let me encourage you to be resilient in serving the same people over and over again.  People are on different types of soils and sometimes they need help being transplanted!  I know God was patient with me, therefore, I need to be patient in serving His precious people.

Now prayer.  James 5:17 states that, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours”. Did you get that?  What is the difference between Elijah and us?  His nature was like you and me.  But it says that he prayed fervently!  Fervent means having or displaying a passionate intensity.  Hot, burning, or glowing.  Let me ask you a question?  Is your prayer life passionately intense?  Are you hot or on fire for God in prayer?  Elijah was and he prayed that the rain would stop and it did for 3 1/2 years.  Then he prayed that it would rain again, and it did.  What’s the point?  Be on fire for God and pray with passionate intensity!  Ask God for BIG things that you cannot do, but only He can do!  And do not give up!

Radical Experiment
This year I felt that God was calling me to read more.  I am pretty picky on my reading so let me explain how I choose what I read.  First of all I like to read different books at the same time with four different categories.  Let me explain.  1) Personal Christian growth.  I enjoy reading books that challenge me to grow as a Christian.  2) Leadership.  Any book that can help me grow as a leader is valuable to me.  Currently I am reading 10 Things Every Minister Need To Know by Ronnie Floyd.  3) Church Growth.  I enjoy looking at different strategies, learning from others and checking out what others are doing for the Glory of God.  4) Devotional.  I love having an extra something as I start off my day in God’s Word.  I really enjoy learning from other people and their insight and wisdom in God’s Word.

Recently I finally finished a book called Radical by David Platt.  If you haven’t read it yet, please do so asap.  At the end of the book there is a 1 year challenge.  I am accepting the challenge and I am asking you for prayer as I start this challenge April 1, 2011.  In accepting the 1 year challenge, I am committing to:

1) I will pray for the entire world. http://operationworld.org
2) I will read through the entire Bible.
3) I will sacrifice my money for a specific purpose.
4) I will spend time in another context. (overseas mission trip)
5) I will commit my life to a multiplying community.