Knowing God

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So we have faith. We believe! We recognize He has rewarded us and blessed us with wonderful gifts and we thank Him every day!

But where is He? How come sometimes I feel like I’m alone. I want to know God. I want to experience Him. How do I do this?

Phil 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

Paul’s greatest desire was to know God. Even in his incorrect persecution of the Church prior to his conversion, he did so to be closer to God. When Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, Paul came to know Him and from that point on, he realized that knowing God meant more to him than anything else. His life changed dramatically after that.

Isn’t that how it is with us? Before we knew Christ, we tried to know God on our terms in our own ways. But we found out that we were heading down the wrong path. When we came to Christ – or better, when Christ came to us and we finally allowed ourselves to see him and who he really is – we realized that we were going down the wrong path and we turned 180-degrees. We stopped following our ways and we started to follow God’s ways. If you haven’t stopped following your own ways and continue to avoid God’s ways, you might need to take a closer look at yourself. Have you really known Jesus? Have you really understood what he has done for you? Have you really accepted his work on the cross for you? If you have, then why haven’t you followed his ways? Why are you holding on to your own ways? Isn’t it time you stopped and followed?

If you really want to know God, you need to know Jesus.

John 7:29 But I know Him, for I am fro m Him, and He sent Me.”

God sent Jesus to this earth for a reason.

John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

If you want to know God, then you need to know Jesus. You cannot know God without knowing Jesus. It is impossible. “But I read my Bible,” you say. You cannot know someone just by reading about him. You can read all you want about Tiger Woods or Billy Graham but you’ll never really know them unless you meet them. How can you meet God?

John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

God has given us His Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives in us. It is because the Spirit lives in us, that we can know Him! You want to know Him? You need to know Jesus. When you know Jesus, he places the Holy Spirit within you. When the Spirit lives in you, you can know God!

1 Cor 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness t o him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

But you cannot know God by natural means. God is Spirit and He can only be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth. Once you receive Jesus into your life, you need to live spiritually. It is not that physical is bad, but that spiritual is where we can connect to God in this pre-resurrected body. How can we worship in spirit?

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

1 John 2:3-5 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.

We keep His Word. We keep His commands. We want to know God by having a spiritual awakening and having a mountaintop experience all the time. Although that is something that we all encounter during our lives, it is not the way God has determined for us to know Him constantly. We need to follow His commands. We need to do unto others. We need to love our neighbors. We need to turn the other cheek and forgive. We need to go out and tell the good news to our family, friends, acquaintances and strangers. It is by keeping His commands that we know Him. God is always working in quite the opposite way than the world does. The world would have us think that if we take care of ourselves, then we make ourselves happy. But God says that we need to take care of others - physically, mentally and spiritually - and then we find joy. And then we find God.

1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

When we find God, when we accept Jesus as our Lord and we have the Spirit living within us and we know God, then we have eternal life. Then we have joy. Then we have God. And that is what we want more than anything.

Send mail to david@TheArkNY.org with questions about the church or comments about this site.
Last modified: Sept 17, 2006