A
Anonymous
Guest
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
· We can suppose that God is.
· We can know about God.
· We may even recognize His presence.
But do we really KNOW God?
· We do not get to know Him by attending church services and programs.
· We do not get to know Him by reading the Bible.
· We do not get to know Him by praying.
By these activities we may get to know about Him. I am not discouraging scholarship, it is very important, but not the means to know God. I am not encouraging any religious activity or sacrifice to aid in knowing God. They are all insufficient to introduce us to the God of Heaven. It is impossible for the finite human mind, at it’s best, to comprehend the infinite God, our creator. Our initial introduction to God is through His Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ. He became a man to reveal God and His plan of redemption to mankind. Our first and only effort to get to know God is our responding to the Holy Spirit’s calling of us to repentance and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He paid the penalty for our sin and satisfied the justice of God to enable God’s grace to be poured out upon us. Before we came to Christ and were born-again we were, all of us, at enmity with God. We treated Him as our adversary, both consciously and unconsciously. It was impossible for us to know God. We were “dead in trespasses and sins” and totally incapable of knowing a righteous and holy God.
Thank God for Calvary and redemption. Thank God that you were saved, born-again, converted, regenerated, became a new creature in Christ Jesus. You pick the term you like. But, sadly most Christians never progress beyond the “new birth”, never get out of the spiritual nursery. Paul told the Corinthians that he could not feed them spiritual meat, because they were still babies needing milk. Bible reading and prayer, witnessing and giving are all activities for the growing child of God, but they are not the means for knowing Him. Knowing God is more important to Him than any of the activities we may perform. C.H. Spurgeon said this “Many hours are spent with friends, but how many are spent with the creator?” To really get to know someone it is essential, vitally so, that we spend time with them. We will never get to know Him without spending time with Him, not just minutes, but hours and days. In our hectic world, ruled by the clock, we are rushed to and fro at a rapid pace to get done all that is required of us. Then at the end of the day we are too exhausted to spend alert time with our creator and redeemer. It is time for us to turn off the TV and music, say no to activities that robs God and us of the time He deserves and we so desperately need. If He is to truly be the LORD of our lives, we must treat Him with the honor and respect He is worthy of. He calls us to KNOW HIM. How will we respond? Here are some examples of how brethren in the Bible got to KNOW HIM.
1. Be still, “Ps 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Have quiet times and just listen, not talk. Do we want to know or be known?
2. Shut out the external world; enter into your “closet”. Look and listen with your spirit as did Elijah, when God wasn’t in the storm, fire or earthquake. Listen to the still small voice spoken by God into your heart. I Kings 19:11-13.
3. Sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary of Bethany. Listen and get to know God, it is needful. Luke 10:42.
4. Meditate on the Word of God like King David, not study but meditate. It means to think about it and see what God is saying.
5. Devalue the world and esteem Christ as true wealth as did Paul. Jesus said we cannot love two masters. Who shall we love? Philippians 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”; Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”.
6. Listen and not speak, like Moses. He was forty days on the mountain with God. Who do you think did all the talking? Did God enquire about Moses opinion about the Law? Doubt it.
7. Submit to God and His will, authority and power, as did brother Job. Job 13:15-16 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.”
8. Remain in His presence, as did Joshua. He stayed after others left. We must spend time. Exodus 33:11 “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.”
When we come to really KNOW HIM, we will never again be satisfied with casual Christianity. We will also begin to recognize that relationship in the lives of other believers. We will be able to discern the genuine from the false, and the shallow from the sincere. The only way to tell the difference is to know the real thing, HIM!
To know Him is:
· To be in total awe of Him.
· To be defenseless before Him.
· To be without excuse or resistance to Him.
· To be devoted to Him.
· To be fully surrendered to Him.
· To love Him with all our being, without reservation or resentment.
I plead with you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God. Know Him, that you may truly LOVE HIM. Many say they love Him, but I say they do not know Him. It is evident in the lack of peace and gentleness of their spirit. To know Him is to love Him, but we cannot truly love Him until we know Him.
· If we do not have peace, we do not know Him.
· If we are complaining and bitter about our life, we do not know Him.
· If we prefer this world to His Kingdom, we do not know Him.
· If we do not love the brethren, we do not know Him.
We may know about Him or recognize His work or presence, but God’s heart desire is that we know Him and love Him. We may be saved and just as ignorant of our Lord as an infant is of the world around it. For your sake and God’s glory, KNOW HIM.
· We can suppose that God is.
· We can know about God.
· We may even recognize His presence.
But do we really KNOW God?
· We do not get to know Him by attending church services and programs.
· We do not get to know Him by reading the Bible.
· We do not get to know Him by praying.
By these activities we may get to know about Him. I am not discouraging scholarship, it is very important, but not the means to know God. I am not encouraging any religious activity or sacrifice to aid in knowing God. They are all insufficient to introduce us to the God of Heaven. It is impossible for the finite human mind, at it’s best, to comprehend the infinite God, our creator. Our initial introduction to God is through His Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ. He became a man to reveal God and His plan of redemption to mankind. Our first and only effort to get to know God is our responding to the Holy Spirit’s calling of us to repentance and salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. He paid the penalty for our sin and satisfied the justice of God to enable God’s grace to be poured out upon us. Before we came to Christ and were born-again we were, all of us, at enmity with God. We treated Him as our adversary, both consciously and unconsciously. It was impossible for us to know God. We were “dead in trespasses and sins” and totally incapable of knowing a righteous and holy God.
Thank God for Calvary and redemption. Thank God that you were saved, born-again, converted, regenerated, became a new creature in Christ Jesus. You pick the term you like. But, sadly most Christians never progress beyond the “new birth”, never get out of the spiritual nursery. Paul told the Corinthians that he could not feed them spiritual meat, because they were still babies needing milk. Bible reading and prayer, witnessing and giving are all activities for the growing child of God, but they are not the means for knowing Him. Knowing God is more important to Him than any of the activities we may perform. C.H. Spurgeon said this “Many hours are spent with friends, but how many are spent with the creator?” To really get to know someone it is essential, vitally so, that we spend time with them. We will never get to know Him without spending time with Him, not just minutes, but hours and days. In our hectic world, ruled by the clock, we are rushed to and fro at a rapid pace to get done all that is required of us. Then at the end of the day we are too exhausted to spend alert time with our creator and redeemer. It is time for us to turn off the TV and music, say no to activities that robs God and us of the time He deserves and we so desperately need. If He is to truly be the LORD of our lives, we must treat Him with the honor and respect He is worthy of. He calls us to KNOW HIM. How will we respond? Here are some examples of how brethren in the Bible got to KNOW HIM.
1. Be still, “Ps 27:14 “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” Have quiet times and just listen, not talk. Do we want to know or be known?
2. Shut out the external world; enter into your “closet”. Look and listen with your spirit as did Elijah, when God wasn’t in the storm, fire or earthquake. Listen to the still small voice spoken by God into your heart. I Kings 19:11-13.
3. Sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary of Bethany. Listen and get to know God, it is needful. Luke 10:42.
4. Meditate on the Word of God like King David, not study but meditate. It means to think about it and see what God is saying.
5. Devalue the world and esteem Christ as true wealth as did Paul. Jesus said we cannot love two masters. Who shall we love? Philippians 3:7-8 “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”; Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”.
6. Listen and not speak, like Moses. He was forty days on the mountain with God. Who do you think did all the talking? Did God enquire about Moses opinion about the Law? Doubt it.
7. Submit to God and His will, authority and power, as did brother Job. Job 13:15-16 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.”
8. Remain in His presence, as did Joshua. He stayed after others left. We must spend time. Exodus 33:11 “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.”
When we come to really KNOW HIM, we will never again be satisfied with casual Christianity. We will also begin to recognize that relationship in the lives of other believers. We will be able to discern the genuine from the false, and the shallow from the sincere. The only way to tell the difference is to know the real thing, HIM!
To know Him is:
· To be in total awe of Him.
· To be defenseless before Him.
· To be without excuse or resistance to Him.
· To be devoted to Him.
· To be fully surrendered to Him.
· To love Him with all our being, without reservation or resentment.
I plead with you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God. Know Him, that you may truly LOVE HIM. Many say they love Him, but I say they do not know Him. It is evident in the lack of peace and gentleness of their spirit. To know Him is to love Him, but we cannot truly love Him until we know Him.
· If we do not have peace, we do not know Him.
· If we are complaining and bitter about our life, we do not know Him.
· If we prefer this world to His Kingdom, we do not know Him.
· If we do not love the brethren, we do not know Him.
We may know about Him or recognize His work or presence, but God’s heart desire is that we know Him and love Him. We may be saved and just as ignorant of our Lord as an infant is of the world around it. For your sake and God’s glory, KNOW HIM.