Today’s Scripture: I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. Psalm 82:6 AKJ
Do you believe YOU are a child of the Most High God? What responsibilities come to us because we are His children?
It appears to me here in Psalm 82 He was reminding us of our abilities and our responsibilities. As His earthly children we have Him and His power to do His will. We have God’s power to defend and help those who are too weak to defend themselves.
Because of our Heavenly Father we can help those that are oppressed and destitute. We can rescue the poor and helpless from evil people. He makes us as gods to those we can help.
God in us and through us during our days left on earth can change the lives of others and help them realize they too are children of the Most High No longer poor and needy but god’s to those they can help.
What will we do as children of the Most High?
Today’s prayer: Father God, You are the Most High God. Thank You for being my Heavenly Father. Live in me and through me Father. Use this earthly vessel to show Yourself to others. Help me to defend those who are defenseless. Help me to rescue others from evil by helping them to know You. Amen
Tom Raines
Christian Affirmations 4 Life
Well said and so very true. We are to make disciples of others as we are disciples through our God. We are to be fishers of men. We’ve been told many times in the bible how we are made in God’s image. I LOVE being a child of the most high God!! Praise be to Him 🙂
Amen Sheryl, God created us in His image to live as His child. I pray we all do this more and more:) Blessings my sister, I love you:)
Tom, This verse is very interesting. “You are gods; and all of you are children of the most High,” jumped off the page at me. The reason that this word god, jumped out at me was that just this past week I was reading something but cannot recall the source. So that I can explain, why this disturbs me so, I googled to find some an explanation that coincides with what is true to all scripture. This copied explanation helped me to understand this scripture. You are such a friend that I almost hesitated to expound upon this but the Spirit compels me to do so otherwise, there may be those who would begin to believe an untruth. So please bear me out…
The teaching that believers in Christ are “little gods,” is patently unscriptural. It is an erroneous interpretation of the Scriptures promulgated by a number of high-profile pastors and teachers of the Word of Faith movement. Those who promote the false teaching that believers are “little gods” use as their primary proof text a passage in Psalms which reads, “You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High” (Psalm 82:6). They further claim that Jesus affirmed that we are “little gods” when He quoted this passage in John 10:34. Then they take Hebrews 1:3 (Jesus is “an exact representation” of God’s being) and John 14:12 (“anyone who has faith” will do what Jesus did) to say that believers today can do everything God can do, and more!
Such an interpretation of Psalm 82:6 is a classic example of taking Scripture out of context. This passage addresses the judges of Israel in the Old Testament. Psalm 82:6 does not say “you are gods” because the judges were divine but because they represent God when they issue judgment and exercise civic power. Psalm 82:6 is a warning to the “gods” of this world that they are still under the true God’s authority.
Isaiah makes it clear that God is the only true and living God, that there are no “gods,” little or otherwise, except Him: “Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me” (Isaiah 43:10). The apostle Paul affirms this truth: “Even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:5-6).
No, believers are not “little gods” despite what the Word of Faith teachers proclaim. In essence, these people are calling God a liar: “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'” (Isaiah 44:6).
Supporters of the “little gods” idea twist the Scriptures and contradict what the Bible actually teaches. They should be reminded of what the psalmist says of those called “gods”: “You shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (Psalm 82:7). In other words, the Bible affirms the humanity of so-called “gods” in this world.
As believers we reflect His image through our love for one another and our faithful obedience to His will (John 14:15; 1 John 3:24). Only God is divine. Man is not divine and never will be. Only God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Only God can create with words. Only God can save.
By declaring ourselves to be “little gods,” we attempt to make ourselves equal to Him. Without question, this is the very height of arrogance and is nothing more than self-worship and self-glorification. There is nothing new under the sun. The lie that we are “little gods” is the same lie the serpent told Eve in the Garden: “You will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Read more: http://www.compellingtruth.org/little-gods.html#ixzz2UDz4o58Z
Scripture tells us that our identity is in Christ, but we are not a “christ.” We manifest the qualities and character of God because he is in us, (the good to other’s you were talking about) but it is only because the Holy Spirit produces in us the ability to do the works.
Patsy, thank you so much for sharing this! Your spirit and your heart are always welcome here. As one of my first readers of Affirmations of God and know I do not profess to be a theologian nor debate the understandings of man. I am very comfortable in professing how little I know and the more I study the scriptures the more I know I don’t know. Quite frankly I think mankind and Christianity is best served in humbleness and acceptance of the fact that NO ONE really knows as much as they think. The Spirit of God is so much greater than the minds of man. I prefer to defer to His Spirit but welcome the wisdom and discernment that God has given to my fellow believers. I respect you Patsy and appreciate your concern that the truth be known.
I am not sure if this is your response or one you said you “copied” from somewhere on the internet. I don’t believe my blog nor this scripture says “little gods” anywhere. I do agree that this scripture does refer to the judges in this era that were “as gods” and were flesh that passed away. I do think we must be careful with taking this out of context. In addition, although I know I am not God, I do know God lives in me. I know that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would dwell in me. Jesus Himself said He did not expect us to grasp the fact that He was one with the Father and the Father was one with Him (Phil 2:6)….guess what, I do not know what any of that means. I choose to follow after Him with all my heart, know He lives in me and His Spirit resides in me. Living in the Spirit screams to my mind that I really do not know the majesty and supernatural nature of God.
We all know we are not God, yet I do not think it is within our cerebral abilities to fully grasp God in us. I just pray He lives through us in spite of our understanding and that He will be honored and glorified. I am not afraid of allowing God to judge and to humbly admit, I don’t know. Although I am not God, I am God. How is that for clarity:)! God created me, His Holy Spirit dwells within me and His Son came to live and die for me to come to know the fullness of God. I don’t understand it but I welcome the love of Christ and the presence of the Spirit….
I pray we grasp what God intends for us and none of us fall to the “height of arrogance” of thinking our current understanding in the cerebral matter in our earthly minds can possibly comprehend the God who gave us this beautiful day and all that is in it. No “little gods” did that. Yet I know God can speak to me through you, Patsy. That does not mean I think you are God but I do believe God can be in you. I also pray now that you will also hold me accountable to the truth of scripture. Please continue to share with me what God in you leads you to share if I am misrepresenting His will.
Clear as mud?:) I love you,
Tom
Tom, I wanted to respond out of respect to you and to your readers. I did not mean to sound arrogant or all knowing. I have supported and encouraged you and you have me through the years. We can say we need to hold each other accountable, or to sharpen each other but when it comes down to it, we can seem arrogant and all knowing. That was not my intention.
I reread my comment and it was rather, sharp. So I went back and reread your post to see how and why I responded as I did. It was the comment, “He makes us as gods to those we help,” that jumped out at me. I guess serving churches as we have over the years, I have seen the danger of people idolizing individuals rather than God. More often than not people are following their spiritual leader, minister, or helper instead of looking to and thanking God/Jesus/Word as the teacher, authority, and giver of all good things. We as believers are “children of the most High.” And our responsibility is to minister to, encourage, teach, disciple, and mentor each other, but even the smallest of our deeds should point others to Christ. If others look to us as “gods” the glory is ours and not His. This does not mean that we cannot receive a person’s thank-you for our kindness to them, but as we receive we are to turn the glory back to God.
Our responsibility is to lead others to Christ. I am thankful to you, Tom, my brother, for allowing me to learn with you as we learn to walk in freedom, to walk worthy to our calling. I am thankful to those in the cyber world that choose to follow blogs that are written for the sole purpose of edifying God and Jesus Christ. Let us all study, meditate, and share the Word of God so that other’s will be drawn to Christ. To God be the glory.
Thanks Patsy I didn’t intend to say you were sounding arrogant just that I had to confess I don’t know. I have to agree with your reaction to that statement “He makes us as gods to those we help”. I sooo appreciate you holding me accountable. I recall my spirit reacting to that statement as well. Unfortunately in my attempt to keep the term used in scripture I have “added to scripture” and I do not want to do that. I agree that we should all be pointing others to God. They should see God in us but not god as us…so to speak. I love you and I appreciate your care, love, courage and boldness to hold me accountable to the Word of God. We can all work on the sharpness and empathy we reflect when discoursing with those we may not see eye to eye with. I apologize if I came across too sharply as well. I am thankful God has made us all many parts of the same body. Your love and correction are encouraged and welcomed here:) To God be the glory!
Tom, to be a vessel of His love and to be in communication with the Father so He can prompt me to do whatever He needs me to do is how I see my role as being His child. I love the truth of that but it’s not always easy to walk it out. Blessings my friend
Thank you my friend. Robin, it is NOT easy and as a teeter totter I seem too easily to go from my understanding and desires to turning all over to Him. I too love the truth and pray we live there more and more. May our increased of love for Him keep the tetter totter weighed down with Him:) Blessings and the fullness of being His vessel!
Just so you know, brother Tom–I didn’t misunderstand or misinterpret the verse. Joseph Prince, whose Bible teaching I benefit from daily, was just teaching from this verse recently. God bless you So BIG, and the fam too! love, sis Caddo
Big….I am not sure if the “little gods” piece is yours or Patsy’s….it shows up as Patsy’s comment yet this makes me think this was from you…I love you too if so and you can see my LONG response to Patsy:) Ha, I am comfortable in my confusion:) I trust God BIG TIME over my understanding!
Tom