for me with all your heart.
JEREMIAH 29:13
KNOWING GOD
Did you ever wonder how you can really "Know God?" I don't mean to just know about God by things you've heard, I'm talking about actually KNOWING GOD!
We can know God just as we know our family member and our closest friends. Doesn't that stir up some questions about your own relationship with or without God?
THE PROMISE OF KNOWING GOD
God's Word instructs young and old in how we can find the knowledge of God, how we can understand the fear of God and yes, in how we can genuinely know the Lord our God.
We first learn by searching which will become more and more intense. First we "receive His words," opening ourselves to what God says. We learn to listen for that "still, small voice" of God.
Then we learn to "treasure up His commandments," that is to say, we internalize them, we hide His Word in our hearts, by memorizing it, and applying it to our lives.
THE JOURNEY BELONGS TO EACH OF US
We not only take in God's Word, we cry out to Him for light and understanding. One of my favorite Scriptures is: Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. PSALM 25:4-5
Which demonstrates God's ways, He teaches me to understand so that I can follow Him in the pathway of truth. He feeds me His word because He is the True God who has saved me. And I will wait all day long, hoping and trusting in Him.
GOING A STEP FURTHER
Are you eager for finding the path to God that you will raise your voice for it. "O God, teach me your way!" When we have call on God to teach us, it becomes more than desire, more even than prayer.
It is effort; it is action. We seek Him as though we were searching for silver or gold, as though for a hidden treasure. In other words, we learn to value the knowledge of God supremely. We devote ourselves to seeking after Him.
We make knowing Him the guest of our whole life. So great a treasure is God, that we are eager to find Him, so much so that we never stop searching!
A GIFT FROM GOD TO US
In what sense is knowing God a gift? In the first place, the Bible makes it plain that God will reveal Himself to us freely, as He chooses to do. He breaks the silence, He draws back the veil, and He lets Himself be known to us.
Think about that for just one minute. How could we possibly know God if He didn't choose somehow to disclose Himself to us? Where would we go to discover Him? With which of our senses could we discern Him?
Even if we could see Him, or touch Him, would that tell us who He is, what He is like, and how he feels towards us? I think not, we can't even know other human beings if they don't open up to us.
The Apostle Paul asks the question, "What person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is within him?" Only we know what is going on deep inside us.
GOD SHOWS US HIMSELF
The Bible bears witness from beginning to end that God has done just that. He has opened His heart; He has shared His life; He has revealed Himself to us.
He showed Himself to Israel as the God of covenant, as the One who visits and redeems His people, the One who hears prayer. He revealed His holy will through Moses, through the words of the prophets, and the songs of the psalmists. He also showed Himself in His mighty acts of judgement and deliverance.
GOD REVEALED THE DEPTHS OF HIS LOVE
In the fullness of the times, God revealed Himself uniquely and finally in sending and giving us His only Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus was the Word of God in the flesh. He was God translated into a human life. God's Word says: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
JOHN 3:16
He was the brightness of the Father's glory, the express image of His person. Jesus said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how say thou then,
'Show us the Father?"
JOHN 14:9
In His words of truth, works of mercy and supremely in His dying for our sins, God revealed the depths and wonder of His saving love for us.
THE CHOICE IS OURS
God not only sent His only Son to die for our sins, He raised Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to the throne of the universe. He has sent forth the Lord's own Spirit to dwell in the hearts of His people.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He breathes new life in us and recreates us, by the power of the Holy Spirit! Jesus has given us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to under-stand. He gives again what we have lost by our sin and hardness: the capacity to know God.
Without His working in us we would never truly know the Word; we would never taste and see that the Lord is good; we would never really know Him. And, everything I've stated here is absolutely a gift; everything is grace!
HOW DO YOU ACCEPT GOD'S GIFT
Simply bow your head, believe in Him, confess your sins to Him and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart! You are then a child of God and can come to KNOW GOD and have a personal relationship with Him.
Thank you God for giving us your Son Jesus! Because of Your
great love for us, we now have Eternal Life with You in
Heaven.
BELOW:
Give Thanks - Don Moen (LIVE WORSHIP SESSIONS)