The   Lord   Is   My   Banner     [   Jehovah - Nissi   ]                                        follow Him & you will triumph

In returning and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:15   NKJV

God's Promise:
    "Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him"
    Psalm 91:15   ESV
I. Goal

II. Introduction
• Do I know about God, or do I know God?
• Is my God absent, distant, or impersonal? Or is He present,
  close, and personal?   David vol.i 129

• You will notice, that the following names of God (about 80 of them)
  were given by His children, at places where they experienced Him!!!

• After opening the Door we are ready to enter into our Father's
  presence, AND tell Him that we really want to experience Him!

• Asking Him the help us to put first things first

• What is your source of real joy, that's deep and lasting?
• What holds center place in your heart?

• Hearing His voice!
  It is good to enjoy children, friends, a wonderful vacation;
  a powerful ministry, and an intimate friendship, or a meaningful job.
  But if all those good things (what I call "second things") have found
  their way into the center of your heart, if we are using them to fill up
  that empty space reserved by God, for God, then we'll not hear the
  voice of God. PAPA   142-145

III. Issues
• first, there is no water
• second, the Amelekites are ready for a fight them

VI. The Lord is My Banner [ Jehovah - Nissi ]
• The Study

• Who Really is HE?!!! [ a trust building / practical study ]

  God's Promise: "I am the Lord your God" Exodus 20:2

• Background

  The story is taken from Exodus 17
  The children of Israel pitched their tents at Rephidim (near Mt. Horeb)
  They have been traveling through the wilderness

  There is no water! AND
  the Amelekites are ready to fight the Israelites.

• Articulating the Battle Strategy

  Moses took the problems straight to the Lord and said:
  "What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to
  stone me." v4

• He did not run to some textbook on church administration,
  or some leadership expert

  First, they needed water and God told Moses what to do
  "strike the rock."

  Then the war with the Amelekites
  After assembling an army: "tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill
  with the rod of God in mine hand." v9

  Moses knew that the Lord wanted them to enter the Promised Land
  Because he knew that, he was not afraid.

• After the Israelites defeated the Amelekites, Moses build an altar (v15/16)
  to commemorate this great victory. Names 112ff

V. What is Your Banner?!!! Where do you put your trust???
• In your cleverness - brain!
• In your great physique!
• In your money / arrogance!

• God's Rightful Place

• Victory over

  God gives you victory over sin
  God gives you victory over habit slavery
  God gives you victory over self
  God gives you victory over sorrow

  
  
• Assignment:   if you didn't yet
  What is God to You? Give Him your own name!

• Assignment:   Spiritual Exercises - Answers to Questions

• Identify the two names or images that are most powerfully at work
  in shaping your understanding of God.

• What do these names reveal or conceal about the presence of
  God in the world?

• Evaluate why they are so significant for you.

• Should you nurture other names of images of God?

• Identify some specific areas where you see God at work in the world.

• How could you participate in what God is doing?

• Experiment for a day with limiting the number of times you draw
  people into a conversation about your life.

• Try instead to ask as many people as possible about their lives
  and the challenges they face.

• In what ways does that kind of disciplined attention to the
  needs of others move your own conversation beyond a
  preoccupation with I-questions?   Schmidt chapter 1
  
  

• Also consider these questions:
  • Review the above by recalling major principles and ideas

  • Examine the above through critical thinking and questioning

  • Apply the principles to your life

  • Compare the principles with biblical examples and instruction

  • Think more deeply and in different ways about the above

    [ = this may be viewed as "extra" study for the serious student ]

VI. My Prayer:




Going Deeper / Sources

• Crabb, Larry. The PAPA Prayer. The Prayer You've Never Prayed.
      Integrity, 2006.   BV 210.3 C73 2006   ISBN 1-59145-424-7

• ESV  - English Standard Version. Good News Publishers, 2001.

• Lucado, Max.The Great House of God. A Home for Our Heart.
      Word, 1997.   BV 230 .L73 1997   226.9   ISBN 0-8499-1295-4

• Lichtenwalter, Larry. David, a Heart Like His. Vol. 1. Review, 2003.
      BS 580.D3 L53 2003   221.4   ISBN 0-8280-1720-4

• Schmidt, Frederick. What God Wants for Your Life. Finding Answers
      to the Deepest Questions. Harper, 2005. BV 4501.3 .S35 2005
      248.4   ISBN 0-06-059821-2

• Sumral, Lester. The Names of God. God's Character Revealed
      Through His Names. Whitaker House, 1993.   ISBN 0-88368-224-9
  
  




Wolfhard Touchard, M.L.S.   Retired Reference & Database Librarian Andrews University - October 2015