Scriptures on the Living God, Elohim Chayim

Each name of God holds precious meaning. Each powerful. All equally important. Yet as I typed this reading plan for Elohim Chayim, The Living God, I was struck by the significance of this name.

God is the Living, breathing God who created our world.

He cannot be poured into an idol made of wood or silver. He is not a fleeting dream or treasure of this world that rusts with age, needs new paint or loses value. He cannot be stolen. He will never grow old. The Living God cannot be lost.

The God who fashioned the earth and set the universe in motion is alive and gives life. He still breathes the breath that blew life into Adam’s lungs and gusted through Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. That breath filled His disciples with His Holy Pneuma, holy breath that still fills our spirits, directing, comforting, and empowering today. Beloved, He is alive and active. His life is activated in our lives by our faith in Him. The greater our assurance, the more powerful His life in ours.

The Beauty of the Name Elohim Chayim

Elohim is the first name for God in the Bible. It’s in the very first sentence: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” Genesis 1:1. This name, though used as a single noun, is actually a plural noun always used with singular verbs. It is a Hebrew “majestic” noun. Not only is it majestic, but those who believe in Jesus and Holy Spirit can see the inclusion of all three beings of God.

Then God (Elohim) said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Genesis 1:26 (addition mine.)

When God fashioned Adam, He did not say “me” or “I”. Elohim said, “Let us make mankind in our image…” I love this. Can’t you just envision Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together as they fashioned Adam and Eve in their likeness?

The Creator God that Lives Forever

But He is not only Elohim. He is Elohim Chayim, the Creator who was, is, and will be. He did not create the world and leave. He lives forever as the psalmist writes:

Before the mountains were born

    or you brought forth the whole world,

    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:2

Notice the verb are. “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” This is a present tense verb. (Sorry for the grammar lesson.) The Psalmist did not write, “from everlasting to everlasting you were God.” No, in the psalmist’s day God was present and active. The psalmist experienced His presence. And hundreds of years later, one dark and cold night He came to this earth. Poured into skin, Elohim became a tangible man named Jesus. God’s life was proven by His Son.

Jesus, the Tangible Living God

Scripture describes Jesus as the touchable God. He touched the lepers, rebuked the demons, and ate with the outcasts. Fully God and fully man, the living God climbed a hill called Golgotha to die for our sins and defeat death.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Hebrews 1:3

Somebody say, “AMEN!” Oh, my goodness, does this not make your heart swell? Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory! How is the life and rule of Jesus the proof of the Living God? He’s on the throne! Jesus, Elohim Chayim, is alive and well sitting next to the Father in the throne room, but He’s not an aloof God. He’s active in our lives still healing our hearts and making us whole by the power of His Holy Spirit living in us.

The Temple of the Living God

We are the temple of the Living God. Take a few minutes through out the day to stop, close your eyes, and proclaim (with your inside voice or outside) “I am the temple of the Living God, Elohim Chayim.” Paul proclaimed this truth:

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will live with them

    and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

    and they will be my people.”

2 Corinthians 6:16

I don’t think we can fathom how revolutionary this was. God no longer lived only in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple. He was no longer only residing in the Tabernacle in the wilderness. His Presence resided and now resides within all who believe.

Elohim Chayim is in us.

Scriptures on the Living God

Beloved, I believe with all my heart that this truth could revolutionize our lives. Most of us live fully human never (or rarely) partnering with the divine. We’ve been given a turbo charger for our engine but we’re still driving in the slow lane playing it safe. It is my prayer that if you download this reading plan to soak in the Truth of the Living God for thirty days, His life will swell within you. Your faith stronger, hope brighter, and life lived with greater joy and purpose.

Sneak Peek of the Reading Plan with Prompts

I offer two ways to use this reading plan. You can print of the list of scriptures on the pretty printable above, or if you would like help spending more time in the word and journaling your thoughts on each scripture, I’ve made a ten-page printable with each scripture and a prompt. Here’s a sneak peek of three days of this printable.

Day 10: John 1: 1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome (understood) it. [insert mine]

• This is probably one of my favorite passages about Jesus. In him was life. . . . and that life was the light of all mankind. Meditate on this nature of the Living God for a few minutes and journal your thoughts about His life being our light.

Day 11: Hebrews 1:1-2

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

• Elohim Chayim speaks. Have you heard Him speak to you lately? What did He say?

Day 12: Ephesians 1:18-20

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. . . .

• Power. His life gives us power. That power gives us life. And Christ is alive and well sitting on the throne. Elohim Chayim is alive! Write a prayer of praise.

Join Me on Instagram for Faith Friday

I hope you can join me on Fridays at 9:00 AM ET on Instagram @wordsbyandylee to unpack these scriptures and further our hope in the Living God. Bring your coffee, Bible, and journal. Come be encouraged! If you miss it, I always put it up on my feed. And when I can, I post new teachings on my YouTube channel. Beloved, He is alive! It’s not a proclamation we only make on Easter, but every. day. of. our. lives. He is Elohim Chayim.