Paul reinforces these connections by linking the love, knowledge, and glory of Jesus Christ: Christians know this love, are established in love ( Eph 3:16-19 ),and perceive the glory of God in his face ( 2 Cor 4:6 ). Psalm 119:105 - A Lamp to Our FeetFAQs: Frequently Asked Questions1. Step three is walk with Him. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.. Human reason would accuse such a God of being unjust (Rom. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. 1:18-20). But there is more, if we want the Lord to disclose Himself to us. How can we develop and maintain a passion to know God? To start with, a good summary definition of God is "the Supreme Being; the Creator and Ruler of all that . If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. While creation reveals His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature, unbelievers cannot know God through creation because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. Jesus words in John 3:6-7 were, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. He sent Him to this world on the greatest mission of all time. According to the Bible, our God is the Everlasting Father, the God of hosts, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. He desires us to commit our lives totally, and He will do the changing and the molding. These past few pages have covered the plan of salvation and the miracle of God, the new birth. There are two main ways to get to know anyone. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. When we are determined to serve the Lord, then the Lord can take what Satan has meant for evil in our lives and turn it to good. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. 27:46; John 20:17). Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I go to His word for strength and direction. S General revelation, God's universal revelation, still exists. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Matthew 11:29-30 says, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. You can also use a few resources to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. Know that the Lord Himself is God;It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Like a lot of other people, I was told about Him. Those who know God willingly practice his will and thus manifest his character by defending the cause of the poor ( Jer22:16 ; Hosea 6:6 ).In addition, the one following God's path becomes a co-worker for God's kingdom ( Isa 43:10-12 ). Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Psalm 138:2 says, You have magnified Your Wordaccording to all Your name. That means God ranks His revelation of Himself together with His name. If knowledge of God is the "path of our life, " this must manifest itself in godly relationships to others ( Matt 7:17-20 ; John 10:27 ; 1 Cor 12:31-13:2 ; Php 4:9 ; Col 1:23 ). M Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. 139 Jer 1:5 ; Eph 3:35 ). ), In studying the Gospels, we find that Jesus died an innocent death on a cross two thousand years ago to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. The first thing we must realize about God is that He loves us. It is: if you have not submitted to Gods sovereign right to be gracious to whom He chooses and to harden whom He chooses, you do not yet know God as deeply as you should. Do you know God, or do you just know about Him? For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. His Name is I AM, the Alpha and Omega, and the Holy One of Israel. This is the main target of the enemy: our faith. The Bible tells us about this in the book of Proverbs. Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. He did not deserve it; He never sinned. (If we fail to understand that, the problem is with us, not the Bible!) To know God, we must know Jesus. Then the Lord said that He would take away His hand and let Moses see His back, but His face would not be seen. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. For most of us, that would be more than enough, but not for Moses! I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. The quest of your life should be to know Him more and more. Can we know doctrine without knowing God? What does the Bible say about knowing God? In these Acts of special revelation, God chooses a people for his purposes and guides them back to himself ( Amos 3:2 ).For sinners can come into fellowship with God only through God's prior act, which objectively makes known his mercy, and subjectively makes us rightly related to Him. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Lord Jesus, I need You. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation, Steve served as the pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship from May, 1992 through his retirement in December, 2018. As Paul wrote (Col. 2:6), Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. We received Him by faith, and so we should walk daily by faith in Him. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. God does not want us to remain babies, but wants us to grow to maturity in Him. To engage in relationship with God, you must get to know Him. He simply changes our will and our desires and brings our personalities to bloom. Calvin attacked the Catholic Church, which (like many evangelicals today) granted that God must help us by His grace in part, but, for all that, they will still have man exalted and to attain to faith by his own doings. But Calvin calls this a devilish opinion and shows that it robs God of all the glory that He deserves in our salvation. While reading it, I discovered that God had a son named Jesus. John 17:3. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. In the last chapter, Job responded to God with: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;But now my eye sees You;Therefore, I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 1 Corinthians 8:1. Do you know the story of Job? These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. If you walk up to a stranger and start revealing personal matters, he will rightly think that you are weird. Im going to make a radical suggestion. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. This is not true. We need to be able to see God with the eyes of the Spirit to truly know Him. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.. Teach me Your way, O Lord,And lead me in a level pathBecause of my foes. If he gave us His most priceless possession, do you think He would deny us any good thing? Some parts of the world are blessed to hear more truth about God than others. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. This is the true God and eternal life. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. In His humanity, Jesus trusted in the Father as His God and He often prayed to the Father. W John 12:44-46 tells us; Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. We can commend those who are walking in faith and love, but we must be quick to divert all the praise and glory to God alone, because if we were left to ourselves, we would never be inclined to faith and love. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. The Word sanctifies (purifies, cleanses) our hearts so we can live a godly life. Then why does Jesus say that He will love the one who obeys Him? Then you will discern the fear of the LordAnd discover the knowledge of God. This does not mean to look at His physical appearance because God is Spirit, and He says in John 4:24 these words: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Reflecting the messianic promise of knowledge ( Jer 24:7 ; 31:33-34 ),there is a finality to the Christian's knowledge of God ( Matt 11:27 ; Rom 16:25-27 ; Eph 1:9-10 ; Col 1:26-28 ). It was Gods great love for us that allowed His Son to suffer death. Considering that the Bible is deemed as the Word of God, you could say to better know God is the entire purpose of scripture! Some may even view Him as a kindly old man with a white beard and robe, sitting on a golden throne someplace out there called heaven. In repentance one recognizes the holy God who demands righteousness: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ( Psalm 25:14 ; 111:10 ; Prov 1:7 ; 2:5 ; 9:10 ). 5:6), Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Hunger and thirst are pretty strong desires! With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! Pray this prayer of Paul for other believers and for yourself. However, eating from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil decisively shaped humanity's future ( Genesis 2:9 Genesis 2:17 ). If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Seeking God is dependent on the proper perspective. If we discover Who God is without the other two revelations, we may have an abnormal view of God. Either Job knew God, or they did. 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.. Topic:What the Bible Says about Knowing God Each man has a different way his own way. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. So, you need to pray with Paul for yourself and for other believers, that God may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (1:17). And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. The Bible makes no attempt to prove that God exists. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The point of studying God's Word is to know Him. And yet there is another sense in which we need to know God far more deeply than we do. Gods Word isprecious,valuable, and a treasure. We should pray that God would grant that His people know Him more deeply. The greatest attribute of God is that He is a God of Love. 33:19-20): And He said, I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion. But He said, You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!. Someone says, Knowing God sounds like a difficult process. What kind of works was Jesus doing? So, if faith and love come from God, we should thank Him in our prayers for these things. Help me to do well in school. While there is nothing wrong with such prayers, they are rather shallow. H The following is a suggested prayer. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. We desire that nature when we have seen the beauty of the Father. That his readers would know God more deeply is the main theme of Pauls prayer (Eph. Jesus conquered sin, death and hell on the cross because He fulfilled the Fathers demand for a perfect sacrifice which was an innocent Man without sin. John 3:16-18 tells of this love: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Listen to a single verse or a selection of inspirational verses. This is evident when we research the Greek manuscripts. He changes our old natures to His new nature; old desires pass away and we have new desires. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. His friends thought they knew God. How could I ever attain anything in God, knowing all my faults and failures? Publisher: OpenBible.info. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 33:18), I pray You, show me Your glory! The Lords response is very interesting (Exod. It may mean we never have answers for the troubles we have faced like Job. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. God had to forsake His own Son at His most agonizing moment because He, being Holy, could not look upon sin. I John 17:3 Isaiah 11:9 shows that during the Millennium, the knowledge of God will cover the earth like a vast ocean. Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Their relationship grew. Used by permission. Confusion results when one voice is saying, this is the way, and another says, no, this is the way. Most of our problems in understanding God stem from things we have heard other people say about Him. With Paul, you should be able to say (Phil. Let us defend the Father and place the blame for evil on Satan where it belongs. We must desire these blessings and seek God for them, both for ourselves and for all of Gods saints. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. To view titles or purchase those books visit our bookstore. The Bible's history goes back a long way. Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Or does our image of God seem so ethereal that we cannot even imagine that, as humans, we could possibly see Him? Two kinds of people populate our world: those who know God in Christ, and those who do not. The advantage we have in developing our relationship with God is that He tells us about Himself in Scripture, His self-revelation. We see this prevalent in many different belief systems ranging from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and others. If we spiritually understand this, we will know that any man that really sees God will die.
Achieve Personal Loans, Articles W