S7 Bonus | What Do You Believe About Who God Is?
It’s bonus episode time!
Today Carla takes a conversation she had recently with one of her 1:1 coaching clients and brings the question to you - What do you believe about God? Who do you think he is?
What you believe about God will shape the way you approach him, what you believe about yourself and how you go about Christian living.
The Multidimensional Nature of God:
Carla highlights the danger of seeing God in one dimension. Understanding God's multidimensional character, including His almighty nature, love, grace, and justice, is essential for a balanced and intimate relationship with Him.
Balanced Beliefs:
She emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced view of God, neither reducing Him to just love and grace nor focusing solely on His judgment. This balanced understanding helps us approach Him appropriately in various aspects of life.
Challenge for Self-Reflection:
Carla encourages listeners to journal about their beliefs regarding God's character and how they perceive God's view of them. This self-reflection is vital for building a secure faith and trust in Him.
Examine your beliefs about God and align those beliefs with God's character as revealed in His Word.
Connect With Carla:
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Join In His Image Wellness Collective ---> carlaargeswellness@gmail.com
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] Carla: Hey friends, welcome to Affirming Truths. I'm your friend and host, Carla Arges. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode and it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review.
[00:00:30] Carla: I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
[00:00:37] Carla: Hey, friends. It is Carla here with your bonus episode. No, bonus episodes are not moving to Friday. They will be on Thursdays. Guys, I'm just trying to do the best that I can while my dad's in the hospital. I'm taking care of my mom. I'm doing all the things and God has been good through it all. We're a day [00:01:00] late to starting season seven off that way.
[00:01:02] Carla: That's okay. Um, you know, I take on one on one clients and I had a one on one session today and we were really looking at what her core beliefs about God were. And Going through that exercise with her made me realize that so many of us, and this used to be me as well, have the wrong idea of who God is and operating me.
[00:01:38] Carla: Mm hmm. With this incorrect vision and knowledge of who God is actually shapes how we approach Him, how we live, the decisions that we make. We sometimes think that it's only what we think about ourselves that matters. And yes, I spend [00:02:00] a lot of time with my clients on rewriting the scripts that they have about themselves and helping them root their identity in Christ.
[00:02:09] Carla: But that is only part of it, right? It's one side of the coin. The other side is what do you believe to be true about God? And in our session, my client mentioned he's all knowing, all powerful, almighty. Um, he, he looks down not nicely on sin and all of these things she was saying were true. But they're only one aspect of God, and we put ourselves in not a great position in growing in our relationship with God if we only see him in one dimension.
[00:02:56] Carla: When he is so multidimensional, you [00:03:00] see, when you only see God as this almighty, majestic figure, which he is hating sin, which he does. And not see him also in the intimate and personal way he wants to see you. It affects how you go to God, right? Like, would you go to the president of the United States the same way you would go to your father?
[00:03:34] Carla: Assuming you have a good relationship with your father, would you ask the president of the United States on a personal intimate level to support you and help you in certain areas? Like you might your father, if you have a good relationship with him? No, you wouldn't. And when we see God only as this almighty [00:04:00] authoritative figure, it takes away the intimacy.
[00:04:06] Carla: And the personal relationship aspect that he wants to have with us. And, you know, it, it, it's interesting to see what places of God's character people latch on to, and let me tell you, there's. Just as much a danger in only seeing God as love and only seeing God as grace and not Respecting his character as justice, right?
[00:04:37] Carla: That leads us to live Unrepentant lives when we only see God's grace and mercy So it's important for us to have a really well rounded View of who God is and what his character is And you could absolutely do a character study on [00:05:00] God in the Bible. And if you don't know how, you should be checking out Bible Study 101.
[00:05:06] Carla: Today's the last day to enroll. But you could do a character study on this. Get to know the names of God. Get to know who he is. Yes, he is all powerful, but he's all loving. Yes, he is justice, but he is mercy. Yes, he is a jealous God. But man, is he a provider, right? He is all of these things and he is good.
[00:05:41] Carla: That is the underlying thing. In his justice, he is good because his justice is perfect. In his love, he is good because his love is perfect. In his wrath, he is good because his wrath is [00:06:00] perfect. Right? Do you see what I'm saying here? So I have a challenge for you guys. This weekend, I want you to really consider who you believe God to be.
[00:06:14] Carla: I want you to get out your journal and I want you to really start journaling. Who do you believe God is and how do you believe he looks at you? What do you believe God sees when he looks at you? This will be shaped in part by what you believe about God and also in part What you believe about yourself, because here's the thing, if you want to thrive in your faith, if you want to thrive, especially in the hard times, if you're like me living out with mental illness, struggling with your mental health, if you want to thrive and [00:07:00] overcoming trauma in a secure faith, you got to know who God is for real.
[00:07:09] Carla: And we can't afford. To have a skewed view of who God is, because how can we ever trust who we are in him if we don't fully know who he is? If we only believe that he's judgemental, if we only believe that he's only love, if we only believe one aspect of his character, we miss out on the fullness and it impacts the way that we come to God.
[00:07:41] Carla: Because yes, we come like children to our loving father, but yes, we also come to reverence with our, our savior. Yes, we also come in surrender to our King. It's multifaceted and I really want to encourage you [00:08:00] to examine. What do you believe about God and does that line up to his word? Because it is in his word.
[00:08:10] Carla: He has chosen to reveal himself to us How do you believe God sees you and how does that line up to the word? That's your homework guys Because it is so important, you know exactly Who God is and he has not kept himself hidden and if you struggle in this area book a discovery call with me Let's work one on one or even if you just have one question You want to run by me guys my DMS at Carla arches on Instagram are always open Yes, I live in my personal Instagram account way more than I do for the Instagram account for the podcast So Carla arches Shoot me a question in your [00:09:00] DMs, in my DMs.
[00:09:03] Carla: I want to help you grow in your faith. I want to help you thrive. I want to help you stand firm. I want you to know that you know that you know who God is and who you are in him and have an accurate view of that so that you can walk in the trust, in the faith, in the hope, in the authority that he has given you.
[00:09:31] Carla: All right. So you're going back to school, you got some homework. What do you believe to be true about God? And what do you believe or how do you believe God sees you? And come find me on Instagram and share your answers. I'll talk to you next time.
[00:09:53] Carla: Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on [00:10:00] Instagram at Carla Arges or at Affirming Truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye friends!