We had a small but very good ladies group on Thursday night. We talked again about "knowing" God and what that means... Oswald talks a lot about having a "right" relationship with God... (here is an excerpt from Oswald's Aug 30th devotional: Jesus Christ is saying here, (in Luke 10:20) "Don't rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me." The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service --- rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour "rivers of living water" through you (John 7:38). And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it.Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1John1:7). So, with these conversations and Oswald's words, the Lord is really prompting me to think about and process this question a little more. When Tom and I were talking the other day about this subject I realized that I spent a huge chunk of time as a Christian thinking I "knew" God. I read the Bible and I believed the story's and served Him in the church... what more can I do? Then, I thought, "now, if I read an autobiography or biography about someone, would I "know" that person just because I read a book about his life?" I had read Oswald's biography and learned a great deal more about him and his life but I certainly couldn't say that I actually "knew" him! Is that what we do as Christians with God?? Do we read the Bible and then think we "know" God? Then Tom remembered an episode of Star Treck the Next Generation. Here is what he said (this was written by him):
There was a great analogy in a Star Trek TNG episode where Geordi is trying to do something with the Warp engines and needs the help of a woman who did the design work on them but she isn't on the ship so he creates a "holodeck" program of her and works with her to resolve the problem. As they work together they start to bond but this isn't a real person, just a compilation of the information the computer has on her. Later in the series she does come on board the ship and is very different from what Geordi had experienced of her on the holodeck.
That's how our walk with the Lord is too. We learn facts and information about Him from His Word and form an image of who He is but that isn't the same as actually KNOWING Him. Walking with Him, talking with Him, being with Him, letting Him reveal Himself through His Word is entirely different from just reading about Him.
Not that reading the Word isn't important but it has taken on a whole new dimension in my life as I allow Him to reveal His Word to me rather than my trying to figure it out and put things together.
That's how our walk with the Lord is too. We learn facts and information about Him from His Word and form an image of who He is but that isn't the same as actually KNOWING Him. Walking with Him, talking with Him, being with Him, letting Him reveal Himself through His Word is entirely different from just reading about Him.
Not that reading the Word isn't important but it has taken on a whole new dimension in my life as I allow Him to reveal His Word to me rather than my trying to figure it out and put things together.
The other difficult aspect of trying to get to know God is all the elements of how we perceive God and the things we learned about God from our childhood, our earthly father and the churches we attend... As I write this I wonder how we are not doomed to failure...!? How can we possibly tackle all of these elements and truly know God? But, the good news is, we do have hope in that it is NOT about us and our abilities to be able to figure Him out but all about God and who HE is! When we desire to seek and pursue to KNOW and love God with ALL of our hearts, ALL of our minds, and ALL of our strength, To desire and pursue to seek FIRST His Kingdom and righteousness, and to desire topursue to ABIDE and REMAIN in Him... I believe that is when He begins to reveal himself (I say "desire and pursue" in all those instances because as hard as I try, I am very unsuccessful at "accomplishing" these things most of the time!). God knows our hearts and He knows our desires better than we do and I believe He will reveal Himself through His Holy Spirit when we surrender our lives and our desires and trade them in for HIS desires for us. AND we have to remember that relationship with anyone does not happen over night but that worthwhile and real relationships are established over years of time! We can't be anxious about our relationship with God and we can't expect it to just "be there" because we read the Bible. We need to be "Mary's" and sit at the feet of Jesus, looking into His eyes and allowing Him to teach us about Himself over time.
Here is a question for you; Did you invite Jesus into YOUR life or did you GIVE your life and heart to Jesus? The difference being, trying to fit Jesus into the life YOU have decided for yourself, or surrendering your life to Him and desiring the life HE has for you?
Father, I thank you for showing me these little insights as to what truly knowing You is all about. Help us all Lord to set aside our incorrect idea's and reveal the lies we have believed in each of our lives that keep us from truly knowing You and having a real and "right relationship" with you! In Jesus name, amen!
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