Part 1 (1/2)

The True Nature of G.o.d.

by Andrew Wommack.

Introduction.

Did you know that if a person really knew G.o.d and understood G.o.d as the wonderful Father He is, there would be no trouble believing Him and His Word?

There has been a great emphasis in the body of Christ in recent years on teaching faith and confessing His Word to bring faith. I believe in speaking what G.o.d's Word says, and believers need to have faith in G.o.d, but I also believe many of us have missed an important key.

Having faith in anyone means developing your relations.h.i.+p with them to the point where you know them so well, you just completely trust them.

A minister friend of mine once said that as he carries his little girl around, she never has to say, ”I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that my dad will not drop me. And I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that my dad's going to feed me.” For that daughter, there is no striving to believe her father is going to be good to her. She just rests and relaxes in her loving relations.h.i.+p with him. She knows he is going to take care of her, because she knows him and his character.

In the same way, Christians will find it is easy to have faith in G.o.d to provide their needs by simply getting to know Him better. And since everything we receive from G.o.d comes through faith in Him (including our salvation), knowing Him intimately becomes very important! Really, everything we receive from G.o.d comes out of knowing Him.

One of the reasons the Christian life has been so hard for a lot of people - and I'm including people who have heard teaching about faith and confession - is because they haven't really developed a personal relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. They don't know Him intimately. When you really know a person is trustworthy, it's not hard to believe them. I personally believe that faith is a direct result of knowing G.o.d better.

It's not hard for a person who really knows G.o.d to believe Him and His Word. And when you believe G.o.d's Word, it's not hard to receive from G.o.d. But if a person doesn't know G.o.d very well, Satan can discredit G.o.d and say all kinds of false things about Him because that person doesn't know any better.

Before I get into more of this subject, I have to admit to you that I tend to minister by shock technique. One of the hardest things to get people to do is to pay attention, to really hear hear what you have to say. So to get their attention, I say things that paint me into such a corner that they're interested to find out how I'm going to get out of it. They start listening intently, and ultimately they get the point I am trying to make. what you have to say. So to get their attention, I say things that paint me into such a corner that they're interested to find out how I'm going to get out of it. They start listening intently, and ultimately they get the point I am trying to make.

The Word of G.o.d is simple. A minister I know says it's so simple you've got to have somebody help you to misunderstand it. There's nothing hard about the Word of G.o.d. The biggest problem is that people don't really hear it. People are thinking about what they had for breakfast, where they're going to eat lunch, or about this or that. So before I explain what I believe is the nature of G.o.d, I'm sharing with you first that some of my points may seem somewhat dramatic.

For example, once I was teaching that G.o.d is not the One Who puts problems on believers. There was a man at the meeting with his 12-year-old daughter, who was a paraplegic in diapers, paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. She was in such bad condition that she couldn't even relate to what was going on around her.

Because I had said G.o.d was not the One Who put that affliction on his daughter, this man got upset. The people who brought him to the meeting said to him, ”You at least owe Rev. Wommack the courtesy to talk to him after the service and let him explain himself.”

Afterwards, the gentleman came up to me and said, ”G.o.d did this to my daughter. She was born this way. This is G.o.d's will for her and He's getting glory out of this.”

I answered him, ”No, G.o.d didn't do this. It is not G.o.d's will that a girl be in a wheelchair and not be able to function normally. That is not the way G.o.d made people.” I started sharing scriptures with him, and he started sharing scriptures right back. I thought he was misusing his scriptures, and he thought I was misusing mine. It was getting to be a theological standoff, with n.o.body getting anywhere.

What finally broke the standoff was when I looked at him and said, ”What's the matter? Don't you love your daughter? What kind of father are you? Don't you care if your daughter ever gets out of a wheelchair or not? Don't you care if she's ever normal and can run and play?”

Well, if he was mad at me before, he really really got mad at me after I said that! I think he was at the point of punching me in the nose. He shot back, ”I love my daughter! I would do anything for her. I don't have much money, but I would sell anything, I would borrow, I would do whatever I had to do to come up with the money if it was within my power to produce healing in my daughter.” got mad at me after I said that! I think he was at the point of punching me in the nose. He shot back, ”I love my daughter! I would do anything for her. I don't have much money, but I would sell anything, I would borrow, I would do whatever I had to do to come up with the money if it was within my power to produce healing in my daughter.”

At that point I said, ”And you think G.o.d loves her less? You think G.o.d, with all His power, is going to just sit back and withhold His healing from her because He wants to afflict her to teach somebody something?”

You see, that man could argue with my doctrine, but when I presented G.o.d as a father to him, he saw G.o.d's will to heal his daughter. When I applied the concept of G.o.d as a loving, caring father, the man didn't have anything left to argue about. He saw that G.o.d is our good Heavenly Father Who doesn't want His daughter paralyzed. It just wiped out all of his anger.

Understanding that G.o.d is a good G.o.d and that He loves us takes away the effectiveness of Satan's weapons against our faith. You may have been believing and praying for healing, and you know that the Word says, ...by whose stripes ye were healed ...by whose stripes ye were healed (1 Peter 2:24). You probably know all about faith teaching, how to confess the Word, and all the related principles. Yet you've got this nagging doubt that you can't overcome. It is a fear inside that makes you wonder, ”Is G.o.d really going to heal me?” (1 Peter 2:24). You probably know all about faith teaching, how to confess the Word, and all the related principles. Yet you've got this nagging doubt that you can't overcome. It is a fear inside that makes you wonder, ”Is G.o.d really going to heal me?”

Did you know fear would be totally cast out of your thinking if you understood the perfect love of G.o.d for you? First John 4:18 says, Perfect love casteth out fear. Perfect love casteth out fear. If a person becomes fearful, wondering if G.o.d's will for their life is actually going to come to pa.s.s, then they don't really understand and know G.o.d and His immense love. If a person becomes fearful, wondering if G.o.d's will for their life is actually going to come to pa.s.s, then they don't really understand and know G.o.d and His immense love.

If G.o.d loves you enough to send His only Son to die for you, then doesn't He love you enough to bring about His will in your life if you are being obedient to Him? You may know some things about about G.o.d, but if you really G.o.d, but if you really knew knew G.o.d's love for you, you wouldn't doubt Him so easily or question His willingness to help you. He couldn't be discredited so easily if you really understood how much He cared for you. Can you see that? G.o.d's love for you, you wouldn't doubt Him so easily or question His willingness to help you. He couldn't be discredited so easily if you really understood how much He cared for you. Can you see that?

Our human relations.h.i.+ps are imperfect, so they aren't a perfect parallel to your relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. But I have good enough relations.h.i.+ps with some people that if you came to me and told me they were criticizing me and saying negative things about me, I wouldn't believe it. That's because I know them. We've got such a good relations.h.i.+p established that, if they were upset with me, they would come talk to me about it. I know they would do that, so you just couldn't lie to me about them.

If somebody came and told me that my wife Jamie had been unfaithful to me while I was traveling in ministry, you would just be ”barking up the wrong tree.” I know my wife so well. I know my wife. I know my wife. Somebody may think, ”Well brother, you just can't be sure; you never know.” Well, if that's your reaction, it just shows the lack of relations.h.i.+p you have with your mate. It is possible to come into relations.h.i.+p with someone to the point that you know what they would be like and what they would do in any set of circ.u.mstances. Somebody may think, ”Well brother, you just can't be sure; you never know.” Well, if that's your reaction, it just shows the lack of relations.h.i.+p you have with your mate. It is possible to come into relations.h.i.+p with someone to the point that you know what they would be like and what they would do in any set of circ.u.mstances.

Our relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d is no different. He wants us to be a.s.sured that we can trust Him to act in our best interest no matter what the situation. And that is what this book is all about: getting to know G.o.d so well that no one can talk you out of His goodness towards you.

Chapter 1

Is G.o.d G.o.d Schizophrenic? Schizophrenic?

One reason G.o.d can be so easily discredited is because people don't really know Him by His Word. The only way you can truly know anything about G.o.d is through the Bible. Everybody on the earth has an opinion about what G.o.d is like and what He will do. But the only thing He gave us to know Him - and the only source that is truly reliable - is His written Word.

Most Christians don't read G.o.d's Word on a regular basis. They just get a little here and a little there - maybe some from a preacher on TV TV and then a little on Sunday morning from their church. But that is not going to be enough to make a real difference in their life, and specifically in their understanding of G.o.d and His nature. and then a little on Sunday morning from their church. But that is not going to be enough to make a real difference in their life, and specifically in their understanding of G.o.d and His nature.

Some people do read and study G.o.d's Word on a fairly regular basis. But even then, there are a lot of pa.s.sages in the Bible that appear to give a ”schizophrenic” revelation of G.o.d. I'm just being honest with you! Of course, G.o.d is not schizophrenic, but that is the way it appears to some people from a casual reading of the Scriptures.

In one scripture, G.o.d commands you to be stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day (see Numbers 15:32-35), and then in another He forgives and does not condemn a woman caught in the very act of adultery (see John 8:3-11). Examples like that have given people a rather strange impression of who G.o.d is.

The Old Testament Is Incomplete .

The Word of G.o.d does not contradict itself. There is a perfect harmony to it all. Much of what is in this book purposes to harmonize the Old and the New Testaments to reach a better, more complete understanding of the nature of G.o.d.

In the Old Testament, we see a picture of G.o.d that is incomplete. It is not incorrect; it is just incomplete. People who create their understanding of the nature of G.o.d only from the Old Testament usually do not end up with a fully accurate picture. The Old Testament is only a partial picture. It is not a perfect representation of G.o.d. Unless you understand the New Testament and are able to harmonize it with the Old Testament, you are going to end up with a misunderstanding of the love of G.o.d and the whole nature of G.o.d.

One night I had a dream that I was Joshua in the Old Testament. I was going into the Promised Land, and G.o.d had commanded me to kill everybody in all of the cities, just like He commanded Joshua. That was hard for me to do! No women, children, or anything that could breathe were to be left alive. But I couldn't justify it. I was nearly to the point of saying, ”G.o.d, I just can't do it.”

To make the situation worse, I discovered that one of my very best friends was in one of these cities, and I was supposed to kill him, his wife, and his kids. I woke up from the dream thinking, ”G.o.d, I can't do it. G.o.d, there's no way I can do it.” I thought about the dream all morning, meditating on it and praying about it. I was thinking, ”G.o.d, how could these things have happened?”

My answer was found by looking at the Old Testament through the revelation of the New Testament. G.o.d began to show me that if Jesus had lived in His human form in the Old Testament, He would not have done things the way Joshua did. That is not to say that Joshua was wrong. He was obedient to G.o.d and G.o.d was operating in the manner He had to operate during that time period.

Still, all that G.o.d did through Joshua was not a true and complete representation of His nature. Nor was it Who G.o.d has revealed Himself to be to believers in the New Testament. And yet some people have the impression that G.o.d is a G.o.d of wrath Who will wipe out anyone who gets in His way.

Wanting to be a great man or woman of G.o.d, many Christians go back and begin to emulate some of the Old Testament examples. Any time you start talking about somebody being a prophet or say they have the anointing of a prophet, that person usually begins getting hard and cruel. They think they are acting like Elijah, an old bony-fingered prophet who would stick his finger right in your face and let you have it. People think of Elijah as someone who would rebuke you, lambaste you, starve you out with famine, or burn you out with fire to teach you something.

Now there are some examples of true prophets who were not hard and cruel, but when people think of the typical prophet, they usually have an impression of someone like Elijah. Young believers who think they are prophets believe they are G.o.d's lightning rod in the earth - they are going to attract all of the judgment and wrath of G.o.d and smite people if they get out of line. But that's not a total understanding of the ministry of the prophet - and certainly not of G.o.d's nature.

Under the Old Testament, you see some things being done in that manner, but that is not the whole nature of G.o.d. It is vital to know Who it is we are really dealing with. If you don't know G.o.d's nature or really understand Him, then you'll never effectively walk in the blessings and the power of G.o.d. I don't care what scriptures you learn or whose teaching you sit under. As I have said before and will say many times throughout this book, you have to come to a place where you really know G.o.d and have an intimate relations.h.i.+p with Him.

Religious ideas, arising from a misunderstanding of Scripture, block people from entering into a close relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. Many of us are really afraid to come before G.o.d because we have been taught or have gotten the impression He is going to ”hit” us with something. So many believers feel they have to bow and sc.r.a.pe and duck every time they come before G.o.d. That's not the relations.h.i.+p G.o.d desires or that His Word teaches.

Old Testament Judgment .

In 1 Kings 21:1-24, Ahab and Jezebel are probably two of the most wicked people in history, and certainly the most corrupt king and queen of Israel. They conspired together to kill an innocent man named Naboth in order to acquire his vineyard. They had Naboth stoned to death and his body thrown into a field, where the dogs came and licked up his blood. While Ahab was walking through his new vineyard, he saw Elijah the prophet and said, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

Elijah replied, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

Then Elijah began to rebuke Ahab and said, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.