Knowing God
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:3
It seems the more the Lord reveals to me about himself, the more I realize I don’t know about him. It was like that when I went to college for communications engineering, thinking I would learn all about the subject, but found the more I learned the more I realized I didn’t know, especially working in a research laboratory. It is the same in knowing Christ. There are infinite things to know about God and he will continually feed us information about himself at a pace we can handle. Once we are in heaven we will know in full. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) Do you think this verse implies that when we see face to face we will know God as he know us?
In this life we will know all God wants us to know, and if we seek to know him, he will slowly reveal himself. I have found nothing more fulfilling and exciting than getting closer to the Lord and knowing him more. So how do we get closer to the Lord and know him? The answer is in scripture where God reveals himself and through obedience to his commands and experiencing him in our life. From his Word we learn the personality of God from the Old Testament and in the New Testament we learn from the life of Jesus. We read the Word taking the time to study and meditate on his Word. We don’t read the Bible just for information, but for understanding the heart and emotions of God.
Scripture says we come to know God if we obey his commands. If we know the heart and emotions of God we will experience the heart and emotions as we minister personally to others, because we will have the same response from those we minister, as God did as he ministered to the Israelites. Just as God told Hosea to marry Gomer a promiscuous women who would break his heart, so he could experience how God felt about the Israelites. Nothing will bring us closer to the Lord than experiencing what the Lord experienced. I want to know Christ–yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. (Philippians 3:10) Paul desperately wanted to know the Lord to the point of participating in his suffering.
Summarizing, we come to know about the Lord, when we learn about him in his Word, and our heart and emotions are the same as the Lord’s as we personally minister to lost souls, enduring through trials and tribulations. Paul wanted to know Christ so much that he wanted to “participate in his suffering.” If we live as Jesus lived we will experience what Jesus experienced. This brings us close to the Lord and we fall on our knees in prayer, just as Jesus fell on his knees in the garden. And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, (Matthew 26: 39)
Today seek to know the Lord, through his Word and walking in obedience to his Word. Read the words of Jesus and seek to understand his heart and emotions and visualize his surroundings. Identify the experiences in your ministry and events in your life, with the life of Jesus. The more we can identify with Jesus the more we are drawn to him, for strength and guidance.
Prayer: Lord, guide me in the Spirit so I can experience your heart and emotions. Help me to be more Christ-like so I can know you more each day. My goal in life is to point souls to Christ and to be strongly drawn to you. In Jesus name, Amen