BOOK REVIEW: WILL THE REAL GOD PLEASE STAND UP?

WILL THE REAL GOD PLEASE STAND UP?
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in mercy and loving-kindness. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are all over His works. Psalm 145:8,9 AMP
Ever since the Garden of Eden, the devil has been devising schemes to separate people from God. And the one scheme that seem to have worked the best for him is causing them to doubt God's goodness. He has been using it ever since it succeeded with Adam and Eve.
I'm sure you know the story. God provided a perfect place for Adam and Eve to live. He had given them everything they needed to live perfectly blessed and prosperous lives. There was only one restriction. The Lord told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning them that if they did, they would immediately die.
Do you remember what Satan told Eve when he tempted her to violate that one command? He said "You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing...good and evil" (Gen. 3:4,5). In other words, the devil said, "Listen, Eve, God lied to you. He's not trying to protect you from harm. He's trying to deprive you of something wonderful. He has pulled the wool over your eyes. He not as good as you think He is."
Eve fell for it, then Adam. By their sin the whole human race was sentenced to spiritual death. And the devil has been causing people to doubt God ever since.
Religions-even those based on Christianity - have portrayed God in ways that are totally contrary to the truths revealed by the Bible. Religious art, for example, often pictures everybody sad. It shows the Virgin Mary sad, baby Jesus sad, all the apostles and angels sad.
Religious traditions taught by long-faced, angry preachers have represented God as mad at the whole human race and looking furiously for someone to punish. The impression they give people is that God is in a bad mood, and you had better be very careful around Him because you don't want to irritate Him any further. Along those same lines, someone even wrote a song that the radio stations played some years ago. The chorus threatened, "God's gonna get you for that!"
Of course it is not just Christian religion that has depicted God as angry and vindictive. Heathen religions depict their gods that way too. The difference is, that is an accurate picture of their gods, because they are not gods at all- they are demonic spirits. People who worshipped demon gods throughout history often believed they had to hurt themselves or someone they loved in some way, in order to appease their god's anger. Heathen worship in the Old Testament times required people to sacrifice their own children, burning them in fire on the altars of false gods. It was a terrible thing.
Other pagan gods were not so harsh, yet it seemed they all needed something, offering of fruits or gifts of some kind, to make them happy. But our God is not like that! We don't have to do penance or make sacrifice to appease Him. He himself has already provided the sacrifice for son in the person of His son. In fact, the Bible says that God
Through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor; brought us into harmony with Himself]... It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of restoration to favor) 2 Corinthians 5:18,19 AMP
The moment we received Jesus as Savior and Lord, we find that God is already happy with us. We don't have to bring Him plates of fruit to make Him happy. He's already happy.
Actually, if you want to see most clearly what God is really like, all you have to do is study love because the Bible says, "God is love" ( 1 John 4:8). Many people equate God more with power than anything else. Though the scripture clearly teaches that God has great power, I am not aware of a verse that says He is power, but it does say He is love. First Corinthians 13 provides us with the description we need.
That should be easy for us to understand. We are the same way with our children... We love our children. It delights us to do good things for them... According to psalm 103:13 NASB, God is this way towards us: "just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him." He wants us as His born again children to do well in life. He is not trying to keep us under His thumb by making us worship and obey Him. He is endeavoring to get us in the place where He can safely give us every good and perfect gift.
If you have been living a disobedient and rebellious life, right now you might be thinking, well, that's it for me. I've been doing things God didn't want me to do for years. I've disobeyed about every commandment I know. I guess I can't expect to receive anything from God.
Yes you can! And if you will look back at that passage in 1 Corinthians 13 again, you will see why. It says love is "not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]." God is always forgiving. The blood of Jesus washes away every sin, and no mercy is held back when you turn to God in Jesus' Name to repent of the wrong done.
" But I've failed so many times" you might say. "God has had to put up with more trouble from me than you can imagine. I'm sure He's given up on me by now."
No He has not. I know He has not because "love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails." You and I might look at our lives and think there's no hope left for us. We might think we will never amount to anything. But God's hopes are fadeless where we are concerned. He sees what we can be in Him.
If you have been in bondage to fear of the wrath of God because of your shortcomings, you can return to Him today, knowing that He is not angry with you, but longing for you. Simply say this:
Lord Jesus, I know I have come short and sinned against you. But I also know now that you love me beyond my faults. You died and paid the ultimate price for my sins. Today, I receive complete forgiveness for my sins by faith in the finished work of Jesus. I declare that I am purified and cleansed by your precious blood, I am your righteousness in Christ Jesus today, and I receive your undying grace and mercy that brings the sweet relationship and fellowship of love between us in Jesus' Name. I love you lord, Amen.
Excerpt from: Blesseed Beyond Measure. By Gloria Copeland.