1Co 13:2 "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."
Psa 27:4 "One thing have I desired of, the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."
Psa 27:8 "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."
A form of H3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: -
About 10 years ago I prayed one of those prayers where you THINK you know what you are asking for -- but as the answer unfolds you begin to realize you may have asked for more than you (originally) had bargained for! My prayer seemed simple enough - and it came out of a deep longing for closer fellowship with my God and Savior, "Father, I want to KNOW YOU - NOT for who men say you are - NOT for what my limited understanding of your Word says you are - and NOT for what my experiences try to say you are --- but, I want to KNOW YOU for WHO YOU TRULY ARE!" This prayer was birthed from a multitude of frustrations I had experienced in trying to make God "fit" into my understanding, experiences and what others had said about Him. I was truly hungry -- so I thought. Little did I know so much had to be "shaken" both IN and AROUND me in order for God to even begin to reveal Himself to me as He truly is!
To move ahead as quickly as possible to the topic - To Know HIM - I will only briefly describe the next several years. EVERYTHING I knew and believed was shaken to its core. Especially my faith - which I truly had thought was in God - He proved to me had not been so fully in Him as I believed! A whole church fell to pieces (through means of a pastor who had become corrupt in many ways). All the "service" I had given to God up to that point I came to learn was because I still thought I had to "earn" His approval. Although I believed Jesus had died for MY sins - and I did have a personal relationship with Him - I learned I still had a "Debt Mentality" (as if something I could do could in any way "add" to the sacrifice of God's only son!). And toward the end of this journey I found out all the "lies" that had been built into today's "Christianity" all the way back to the early days of the Catholic Church. (Everything from pagan holidays covered up with "Christian" celebrations - to the truth regarding "marriage"!) Needless to say, God brought the "house of cards" down in my life - in order "that those things which cannot be shaken, may remain."
Psa 27:4 "One thing have I desired of, the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple."
Psa 27:8 "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."
A form of H3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything: -
About 10 years ago I prayed one of those prayers where you THINK you know what you are asking for -- but as the answer unfolds you begin to realize you may have asked for more than you (originally) had bargained for! My prayer seemed simple enough - and it came out of a deep longing for closer fellowship with my God and Savior, "Father, I want to KNOW YOU - NOT for who men say you are - NOT for what my limited understanding of your Word says you are - and NOT for what my experiences try to say you are --- but, I want to KNOW YOU for WHO YOU TRULY ARE!" This prayer was birthed from a multitude of frustrations I had experienced in trying to make God "fit" into my understanding, experiences and what others had said about Him. I was truly hungry -- so I thought. Little did I know so much had to be "shaken" both IN and AROUND me in order for God to even begin to reveal Himself to me as He truly is!
To move ahead as quickly as possible to the topic - To Know HIM - I will only briefly describe the next several years. EVERYTHING I knew and believed was shaken to its core. Especially my faith - which I truly had thought was in God - He proved to me had not been so fully in Him as I believed! A whole church fell to pieces (through means of a pastor who had become corrupt in many ways). All the "service" I had given to God up to that point I came to learn was because I still thought I had to "earn" His approval. Although I believed Jesus had died for MY sins - and I did have a personal relationship with Him - I learned I still had a "Debt Mentality" (as if something I could do could in any way "add" to the sacrifice of God's only son!). And toward the end of this journey I found out all the "lies" that had been built into today's "Christianity" all the way back to the early days of the Catholic Church. (Everything from pagan holidays covered up with "Christian" celebrations - to the truth regarding "marriage"!) Needless to say, God brought the "house of cards" down in my life - in order "that those things which cannot be shaken, may remain."
)............ a LOT of knowledge - both from His Word and from historical documents (revealing to us the "traditions of men" that had made His Word "of no effect"). We both still study God's Word for knowledge (b/c God does say His people parish for lack of it)....... BUT, all of this was not so I could just be made "knowledgeable" - for as I Cor 13 states above - without love, it is all meaningless (I am nothing). God's purpose in all the "shaking" and then giving true knowledge was not for me to pursue knowledge more than Him, it was only the path that He had to form in order to bring me to a place where I could truly get to "know HIM for WHO HE TRULY IS". 
