Jesus Is Mighty God

December 8, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Have you ever heard the phrase “in name only”? For instance, someone might say, “He’s the boss around here in name only, but the one who really calls the shots is someone else.” We might give the title “boss” to someone just for convenience because “The guy who thinks he’s in charge” is probably too awkward to keep saying! We know the true boss by what he or she says or does, and how people respond to him or her. 

I think this is true when someone says, “God,” you might wonder just what they mean by that. Sennacherib’s field commander appeared to be confused by this, as he uses both “God” and “god” interchangeably in 2 Kings 18:19-22, 32-35. But the foretelling of the Advent of the Christ makes it perfectly clear to Whom the prophets were pointing (Isaiah 9:6-7). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Let’s consider the title Mighty God. The word God is the Hebrew word el. It is translated many ways, but let’s find out which definition is correct in this foretelling of Jesus. 

  1. A god-like person  
  2. A mighty hero  
  3. An angel  
  4. A manmade god  
  5. The One True God 

We can eliminate “a god-like person” from Exodus 15:11.
We can eliminate “a mighty hero” from Psalm 82:1.
We can eliminate “an angel” from Psalm 29:1 and Isaiah 6:1-3.
We can eliminate “a manmade god” from Isaiah 14:12-15.

So it must mean He is The One True God! One of Isaiah’s favorite phrases is “the Lord Almighty” which he uses 61 times (e.g. Isaiah 47:4)! 

Isaiah 40 is one of the most descriptive chapters of the Lord Almighty. In here we see that…

  • He forgives sin (vv. 1-2) 
  • He is beyond description (v. 12)—holding the world’s 326 quintillion gallons of water in the hollow of His hand, fitting the 10 septillion stars of the cosmos across the breadth of His hand, and carrying the weight of the Earth (1.3 octillion pounds) easily in His basket! 
  • He is distinguished from manmade gods (vv. 18-20, 25) 
  • His strength is absolutely unrivaled (vv. 26, 28) 

How do we know these descriptive words in Isaiah point to Jesus? Look at these First Testament Scriptures compared to Christ’s First Advent: 

  • Isaiah 40:3-5 foretells the messenger who would herald Christ’s arrival. Zechariah is inspired by the Holy Spirit to make this connection to his son John (Luke 1:76-77), and then John lives this out (Mark 1:1-3).  
  • Remember that 40:1-2 says that The One True God forgives sins, which is what John the Baptizer sees in Jesus (John 1:29).  
  • In 41:10, 13-14 we read of God shining His light into darkness to set people free, which is another thing that Zechariah connects to Jesus (Luke 1:67-75). 

Jesus wasn’t God in name only, but His words and action—and the response of those who saw and heard Him—affirmed that He is the Mighty God that was foretold (John 8:48-59; Mark 14:60-64). 

Notice also how the early New Testament saints proclaimed Christ’s unique deity, stating clearly that He is the fulfillment of all of the prophetic words that point to Him as The One True God (Acts 4:8-10, 12, 18; 5:27-32). 

Peter and John said, “We are witnesses of this.” We too are witnesses of this if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We get to proclaim His Lordship by our verbal testimony and our lifestyle. As C.S. Lewis said, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great man or a moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool…or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.” 

In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul points out that Jesus has the name above every name and that every knee must bow to Him and every tongue confess that He is Mighty God! Today, let us bow our knee to Him and lift our voices proclaiming that He is Lord and God until our One True God takes us home or returns at His Second Advent. 

If you’ve missed any of the other message in our Advent series called Jesus Is…, you can find them all here. 

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Links & Quotes

December 6, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

When the Holy Spirit shines His light on a biblical promise, and you turn that into a prayer, write it down! You may need to go back to this again and again. When God answers your prayer, write it down again! This can become a testimony journal that you and others can use to recall God’s provision. 

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“The pathway to maturity and to solid biblical food is not first becoming an intelligent person, but becoming an obedient person.” —John Piper 

“Somehow or other an extraordinary idea has arisen that the disbelievers in miracles consider them coldly and fairly, while believers in miracles accept them only in connection with some dogma. The fact is quite the other way. The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them. The disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.” —G.K. Chesterton 

“At every moment, we always have a choice, even if it feels as if we don’t. Sometimes that choice may simply be to think a more positive thought.” —Tina Turner 

Every day should be a day of thanksgiving!

“We are strangers on Earth; our homeland is in Heaven. Our walk is here; our hearts are there.” —Dr. Henry Halley

Did Jesus “confess” He was God? J. Warner Wallace says He did, but not as some people define the word “confession.” 

I have already shared the first two posts in the latest archeological research on the biblical city of Jericho. Here is part three.

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” —Pelé 

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one who gets people to do the greatest things.” —Ronald Reagan 

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Kept From Self-Deception

November 28, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Keep me from lying to myself; give me the privilege of knowing your instructions. (Psalm 119:29 NLT) 

We all have a tendency to judge others by what they said or did, but we usually judge ourselves by what we intended to say or do. This is the essence of self-deception: lying to ourselves. 

In verse 18, the psalmist asks for his eyes to be open to the truth in God’s Word; in verse 29 the prayer is for him to see if he is truly applying that truth. We could personalize this prayer: “Give me the privilege of knowing that I am really applying Your instructions to my life.” 

Give me understanding and I will obey Your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart (v. 34). May the Holy Spirit prompt me to do this today. Amen!

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Review Your History

November 24, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.  

We saw in part one of this two-part series that we quickly go into crisis mode when we forget that God is in control, so we need to remain full of thanks all the time (Ephesians 5:20 AMPC). We called gratitude our inoculation against the pull from contentment to crisis, but inoculation doesn’t mean that we never experience some pangs of anxiety when a moment of darkness hits. Maturing Christians are learning how to spot the beginning of anxiety and move back into the contentment zone earlier and earlier (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2, 12). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

James says we “will receive the crown of life” from Jesus. There’s no doubt about that! In a trial, it’s important to be reassured that the trial can never cause us to lose out with our Heavenly Father (Romans 8:38-39). 

Psalm 107 starts out with this same assurance—“those He redeemed” (v. 2) is in the perfect tense. It’s complete and irrevocable! We walk out our redemption in circumstance after circumstance in a way that bring glory to God and draws others to Him as well. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say” is in the imperfect tense, which means giving thanks is an ongoing practice (v. 1). 

Redeemed once, but giving thanks always! 

Romans 8 gives a little snapshot of some of the situations that could have sent us spiraling into crisis mode, but remember the conclusion: None of those things can separate from God’s love. 

Last week we saw how the psalmist linked prayer and gratitude in a repeated theme. This practice is backward looking (vv. 7-8, 14-15, 20-22, 29-32). When we look back to see how God has moved and then we contemplate Who He is (Hebrews 13:8; Isaiah 59:1). 

Look at the closing verse (v. 43): 

  • heed = guard, watch over attentively; this is an imperfect verb—which means we keep on doing it 
  • consider = discern: to take apart the evidence and harvest the lessons 
  • great love = God’s limitless lovingkindness 

I love this verse in the New Living Translation: Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.

That means we… 

  1. Review the history of God’s faithfulness 
  2. Rejoice over it 
  3. Apply it to your current circumstance 

We can pray, “God, You have been faithful—You have rescued me. Now help me to see that You are still Sovereign over this current situation—You are doing something in the midst of this crisis.” 

In Romans 8:28, Paul tells us that God is working together all of our circumstances for His glory and our our good. Oswald Chambers noted, “In the Christian life we have no aim of our own, and God’s aim looks like missing the mark because we are too shortsighted to see what He is aiming at.” Reviewing our history and then giving thanks helps assure our anxious heart that God is going to hit the mark (Philippians 1:6). 

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with His godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them. Everything He does reveals His glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember His wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! (Psalm 111:1-4 NLT) 

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Remember Who’s In Control

November 17, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

I love the Fibber McGee and Molly radio broadcasts! One of the running gags on this show was Fibber’s closet: People who mistakenly opened the closet door got buried under a pile of stuff that Fibber had stashed away. 

In one episode, Molly is determined to grow through all of the items that were strewn across the floor before they got shoved back into the closet. One by one Molly asked Fibber about all of the odd knick-knacks and he had a good explanation for every single one justifying why he couldn’t possibly part with it. One of my favorites was this—“What’s this bamboo pole,” Molly asked, and Fibber said, “Why, that pole is very important. If I was ever offered to be Joe Louis’ sparing partner, that’s the ten-foot pole I wouldn’t touch it with!” 

I’m afraid that many of us have closets like this in our minds. We’ve accumulated a lot of just-in-case stuff for each and every scenario that may come upon us at some point in our lives. 

All of our contingency plans implies that something is going to go wrong and that only the prepared and well-stocked will make it through. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Psalm 107 is the first psalm in Book 5 of the Psalter—the book that focuses mostly on praise. This author is recounting the history of Israel through the times of crisis: 

  • lost and homeless (v. 4) 
  • hungry and thirsty (vv. 5, 9) 
  • trouble and distress (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28) 
  • darkness and deepest gloom (vv. 10, 14) 
  • prisoners in chains (v. 10) 
  • knocking on death’s door (v. 18) 
  • terrorized (v. 26) 
  • at their wits’ end (v. 27) 

We quickly go into crisis mode when we forget that God is in control! 

In God’s Kingdom there is no emergency, no crisis, no Plan B. God is sovereignly in control—Isaiah 46:10. 

  • God is in control of the macro—Genesis 1:1; Job 38:4-11 
  • God is in control of the micro—Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 29:11 
  • God will use what we call a crisis to display His glory—Exodus 14:4 NLT 

When you feel yourself spiraling into crisis mode—when you feel you’re at your wits’ end—you can get back into contentment mode. 

“When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with Reality.” —Oswald Chambers 

That’s what Job finally did—Job 42:1-2. 

And that’s also what the psalmist did—Psalm 107:6-8, 13-15, 19-21, 28-31.  

Prayer is a great rescue in trouble, and ongoing thankfulness is a great inoculation against going into crisis mentality. Notice that those four repeated phrases have both cried out to the Lord AND Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love. 

Let’s strive to remain aware of His unfailing love by cultivating consistent gratitude. I like v. 2 from the NLT: “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others He has redeemed you from your enemies”. When you are preoccupied with telling others and yourself how good God is, there isn’t room in your heart for the worry that leads toward crisis mode. 

Remember: We can quickly go from contentment mode to crisis mode when we forget that God is in control, so remain full of thanks. “At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20 AMPC). 

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What To Do In A Crisis

November 13, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Look back through the pages of history and you will see a common theme. Whether it’s world history or your own personal history, you have so much for which you can give thanks. 

In tough times, we tend to become forgetful because we are so focused on the intensity of the moment. But if we will simply look back in time, we will see just how faithful God has been to us. We bring our focus back to Him in our trying times when we remember and rehearse “the wonderful things He has done” (Psalm 107). 

The season of Thanksgiving is a good time for us to be reminded of the powerful resource we have when we are giving thanks for our blessings. Thankful people are confident people because they choose hope in God’s faithful provision over grumbling about their current circumstances. 

Join me at Calvary Assembly of God for this short series of messages as we prepare for this Thanksgiving season. 

Remember Who’s in control

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Responding To The Ugliness

November 12, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

The Bible calls on Christians to behave counter-culturally to…

…those that slander you—pray for them. (Psalm 109:4) 

…those that fight against you for no reason—love them. (Psalm 109:1-3) 

…those that hate you—do good to them. (Luke 6:27) 

…those that curse you—bless them. (Romans 12:14) 

…those who vilely mistreat you—forgive them. (Luke 23:34) 

…those who insult you—treat them as you want them to treat you. (Luke 6:31)

(Read the Scriptures I referenced here.) 

Check out my video:

And you may also like these blog posts: 

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“Were” To “Are”

October 15, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

In the first ten verses of Ephesians 2 Paul talks about the amazing transformation from who we WERE before we met Jesus to who we ARE now with Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

Before Jesus we…

  • were dead
  • used to live in sin
  • used to follow the world
  • were living to gratify fleshly cravings 
  • were following only earthly desires 

The result of this lifestyle is quite clear: We WERE deserving of God’s wrath (see vv. 1-3). 

Verse 4 opens with an amazing word: “But” here is what our new life looks like. We are…

  • made alive with Christ 
  • rescued from death
  • raised up with Christ
  • seated with Jesus in heavenly realms 
  • benefitting from God’s kindness

The bottom line: We ARE saved by God’s grace from God’s wrath (vv. 4-8)! 

It’s only now that we can realize that we ARE God’s handiwork, created to be in Jesus, to do good works, and to bring God glory. Our lives now ARE a display of the “incomparable riches of His grace” (v. 7)—we ARE a living testimony of His love for lost people. 

Being transformed from what we WERE to who we ARE allows us to echo the words of the psalmist—Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles He performs for people! (Psalm 66:5 NLT). 

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God’s Infinite And Eternal Love

October 7, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists, as the mother can love the unborn child.”

God loved you before you were born. He had a plan in mind for your life before you were conceived. 

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10) 

Even as God formed you in your mother’s womb, He implanted in you all that you would need to live for His glory. 

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16) 

God couldn’t love you any more than He already does because His love for you is infinite and eternal❣️

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The Enemy Within

September 17, 2025 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.

Confuse them, Lord, and frustrate their plans, for I see violence and conflict in the city. Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders, but the real danger is wickedness within the city… (Psalm 55:9-14 NLT) 

David sees violence and conflict, but he is quick to conclude that the enemy is not “out there” but “in here.” Notice the phrases “in the city” and “within the city.” 

This is why Jesus tells us to deal with the plank in our own eye first (the things in here), and then I can see clearly to address what may be out there (see Matthew 7:1-5). He also tells us to pay attention to the clear indicators that something is wrong “in here” in Matthew 15:18-20. 

Yes, we should address false gods and evil practices. But G.K. Chesterton warns us to make sure we are addressing the right things—

“Idolatry is committed, not merely by setting up false gods, but also by setting up false devils; by making men afraid of war or alcohol, or economic law, when they should be afraid of spiritual corruption and cowardice.” 

God-fearing leaders must always address their own areas of corruption as the first and highest priority. It’s only after this heart-check that we can truly lead people away from things which are holding them back from fully following God. 

Holy Spirit, if I feel the need to point my finger at what’s wrong “out there,” may I first yield to Your finger pointing out what’s wrong “in here” in my own heart. Once I have recognized, confessed, and corrected what’s wrong in me, equip me to be a lovingly-strong and empathetic guide to help others around me. 

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