Oh! That We May Truly Know HIM – 3

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Beloved, Jesus came to reveal God as ”Abba” Daddy to us and to reconcile us to Him. Now the very word “Abba” (or the English equivalent would be “Daddy” how little kids would call their dads, not so much the formal “Father”) is a rather intimate relational word. It implies a closeness, a special bond and likeness if you will, between the one calling and the One being called Abba.

Today, many people, believers and even unbelievers, casually refer to God as “Father” without even thinking twice. Many are clueless of what such a reference implies. Back in those days no one dared to call God their Father, no wonder the Jews wanted to stone Jesus, for He called God His Father, and by doing that He (Jesus) made Himself equal with God.

¹⁸ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but (JESUS) ALSO SAID THAT GOD WAS HIS FATHER, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD. – John 5:18 NKJV (emphasis added)

Now, remember the “Lord’s Prayer” – Jesus instructed His disciples to address God as “Our Father”  and after His resurrection from the dead, He said to Mary Magdalene:

                

¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to MY FATHER AND YOUR FATHER, AND TO MY GOD AND YOUR GOD – John 20:17 NKJV (emphasis added)

Now that you are a child of God, you can boldly call God your Father and enjoy the Father-child privileges that are now rightfully yours and of course as with any normal functional family, there are family chores and responsibilities that are part and parcel of your Family life.  

You become a child of God by believing in Jesus, believing that He took our sin which had come between us and God on His own body on the cross and put it away once and for all and in doing so He reconciled us to God. When we believe in Jesus we are accepted and pleasing to God, not because of anything we have done but because of what Jesus did. We do not need to perform to earn brownie points with God; we are His beloved children, so we can come freely and boldly before him knowing we are eternally and perfectly loved.

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. – Galatians 3:26 NKJV 

   

As children of God, sons and daughters, we are led by His Spirit who now resides in us.

¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of         God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, - Romans 8:14-16 NKJV

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Now having been made children of God, His Spirit lives in us, we have become His dwelling place, His habitation, His address if you will. In the Old Covenant they had the Tabernacle and later the Temple and God’s presence was in the Holy of Holies. Today, God lives in you, He said it and He meant it. These are not just some nice words to make us feel good, no, this is as real and as true as it gets beloved!

It is therefore in our best interest not to just get acquainted with Our Abba Father who now lives in us, but to get intimate with Him. So getting to know God and to live this life with Him is what we should be majoring in. Blessings!

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

Oh! That We May Truly Know HIM – 2

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Beloved, as we continue to explore how we can actually know God this side of eternity, let us take a look at the Scriptures and establish a few things. I believe and am fully convinced that God wants us to know Him, that’s His heart, that’s His desire and that to us is Eternal Life itself. Even though we are we've all heard phrases like “God works in mysterious ways”, “we can never really figure God out” and we even quote those popular verses in Isaiah that say, and I quote:

                ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
         neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
                ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
        so are my ways higher than your ways
        and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV

See there it is, we can never really know God, we can never really know His thoughts nor His ways, all we can do is just trust Him! So we conclude and console ourselves….but is it so, beloved? Well, I think not…at least not quite, not exactly…just hang on now!

When reading the Good Book, it is important to keep in mind a few things:

One – What Covenant is operational at that time,

Two - Who is speaking,

Three – Who is the intended audience,

Four – What is being said and

Five – Is it applicable to us today? If yes, then how?

Not paying attention to these pointers will almost always result in us incorrectly dividing the Word and that to our own detriment.

Moses asked to know God and God said sure and that was under the Old Covenant, Moses spoke from the understanding that he had God’s grace on Him and was pleasing to Him, I mean the Lord spoke to him “face to face”, isn't that close enough? Not to Moses, he couldn't get enough of God…

Here’s how the exchange went…

² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me.Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, SHOW ME NOW YOUR WAY, THAT I MAY KNOW YOU and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”

¹⁴ And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”       – Exodus 33:12-14 NKJV (emphasis added)

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Moses’ request was granted, for the psalmist records:

⁷ HE MADE KNOWN HIS WAYS TO MOSES,
His acts to the children of Israel. – Psalm 103:7 NKJV (emphasis added)

Moses wasn't content with just God knowing him intimately; he also wanted to know God more and more. The grace of God on his life was not in vain. Beloved if Moses was favored (graced) and pleasing to God to the point of being that bold in his communion with the Lord, shouldn't we – who have a better Covenant, built on better promises – be bolder in our pursuit of knowing Him to whom all praise is due?

TO BE CONTINUED >>>

Oh, That We May Truly Know HIM!

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¹⁷ Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

When we hear the Good News of what God has done for us through Christ and we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and confess Him as our Lord we become brand new creations. On the outside we might still look the same, have the same physical features and all, but inwardly we have been transformed into a brand new species that has never existed before. Our spirits are alive and joined to God, we've become one with Deity! As mind boggling as it may sound, that is exactly what happens when one is born of God and the Scriptures are pretty clear…Paul didn’t mince words when he said:

                ¹⁷ But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with     Him. – 1 Corinthians 6:17 AMP

Now that we are one spirit with God, we have His Spirit in us, we can and should endeavor to know Him and the best way to know someone is to start hanging out with them, spending time with them! Let us make it a priority to spend time with God through reading, studying and meditating on His Word, in prayer and in fellowship with other like minded saints. Let’s find out what our Abba Father is up to and be part of it where we are. Let us allow God’s Word to shape our thinking and our lives, and if we do, the Word will renew our minds and then we can confidently say with the Apostle Paul, “we have the mind of Christ”!

Beloved, through knowing God and His promises to us we become partakers of His divine nature – 2 Peter 1:3-4 comes to mind. The importance of knowing Him and that is – knowing Him correctly – cannot be overemphasized, for Jesus

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Himself while praying to His Father said this:

        ³ And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only  true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.– John 17:3 NKJV

We now have this awesome privilege of knowing the Father and knowing Christ intimately; and that my friends, is eternal life, which shouldn't be limited to or confused with living forever. Knowing God now becomes our never ending pursuit and delight; and will be throughout eternity.

The more we pursue knowing God and knowing Christ, the more we realize there is still much much more of Him to discover and enjoy...never a dull moment...life becomes a whole lot more exciting and fun, not to mention the impact on us and those we come across is eternal and the Father receives all the glory! Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul's one desire was "that I may know Him..." (Philippians 3:10), even after all the revelations and encounters he had experienced? 

May knowing God and knowing Christ our desire, preoccupation and obsession in 2015! Blessings!