This devotion is a monthly ministry of the Pee Dee Baptist Association, comprised of 31 Southern Baptist churches in Dillon and Marlboro Counties.  For more information call 774-8062.
Featured this month is Rev. Rob Pierce, the pastor of Latta Baptist Church, Latta.

What Do You Believe?
What do you believe about God?
What do you believe about people and our relation to sin?
What do you believe about salvation?
What do you believe about angels, demons, and Satan himself?
What do you believe about the end times?
It is absolutely important for you to know what you believe and why you believe what you believe. The Apostle Paul wrote it this way in Ephesians 4:11-20:  (11) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, (12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (14) As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; (15) but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Let me ask you a question: what do you believe about God? I mean, our world today has made the term God sort of generic, but He is anything but generic.
What is God really like? When we discover how He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture, then we can begin to form our own personal belief system. And, if our personal belief system is based on the Word of God, then we’ll know what is false and what is truth in our world.
One of the terms that describes God is “transcendent” and it means that God is far above and beyond His creation. He is self-existing and not only has life in Himself, but He is life and He is the source of all life.  Isaiah 57:15: For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” You see, God is transcendent in that He is high above creation, yet He is not so much so that He just set the world into motion and let it go. This is not what Scripture teaches us. In fact, in the passage we just read, God says He dwells with the contrite and lowly of spirit. That tells me that God loves you and He wants to help you regardless of where you are at in your life.
God is also “immanent.” That means He is near and always involved in creation, just as Isaiah described. Another attribute of God is that He is “omnipotent.” That means that He is all-powerful – there are no limits to His power.  Romans 1:18-20:  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, (19) because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. (20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Understand that although God is all-powerful and can do anything, there are things that God cannot do as He cannot and will not go against His word. The Bible says that nothing is impossible with God (in Luke 1), but in Hebrews 6, it says that it is impossible for God to lie.
Another attribute of God is that He is “omnipresent,” which means that He is fully present, all the time, everywhere. God is also “omniscient.” He knows everything as nothing surprises God. Psalm 139:2 says: Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar.
God is also eternal. He is without beginning or an end. There never was a time that God did not exist. His existence preceded time as we know it. God is also infinite, which means He is unlimited. Now, He can place limits on Himself. Think about when He came to earth in the form of Jesus Christ, as a baby, in order to accomplish HIS purposes. He did what needed to be done.
God is also unchangeable – He does not vary. He is the same in His nature, His character, and His purpose. Now, there are times when we read Scripture and may say God changed His mind. For instance, with Jonah (who preached to the people in Ninevah to warn them) it appears that God changed His mind about destroying them, but the fact is that they surrendered to God. God hadn’t changed  – the people changed when they repented.
God is also natural. He is a person, not some impersonal force or man upstairs. No, He is God and, because He is sovereign and personal, you can have a personal relationship with Him!
If you’ve never surrendered your life to Him, now is the time! If you need some help in this decision, feel free to call 1-800-633-3446, and someone will help you with this life-changing commitment to Jesus Christ. If you are having trouble with what you believe, go to truelife.org and take a look at some of the videos regarding rough questions we deal with I life.