Do you know who God is? Sure, we all know Him as Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, Emmanuel, the Good Shepherd, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Way, the Truth and the Life and etcetera, but do you really know He intimately and personally? All these titles do reflect a part of God but they cannot sufficiently describe, express or help us understand the full Person of God.
During His 3½ years of ministry in the cities of Israel, thousands of people saw, heard and talked to Jesus and even witnessed and received many miracles from Him, especially the twelve disciples. The feeding of the four thousand (Matthew 15:32-38) with seven loaves of bread and a few fish was one such huge miracle that the disciples witnessed. However, in Matthew 16:5-12, the disciples’ argument clearly showed that they did not know who Jesus was or what He was capable of doing despite His many miracles.
In Matthew 16:13-17, we once again see that neither the crowds nor eleven of Jesus’s closest disciples knew who He was. The crowds thought Jesus was one of the earlier prophets resurrected and only Peter knew who Jesus was. Verse 17 goes on to say that flesh and blood did not reveal this Heavenly truth to Peter, but God our Heavenly Father. Later in verse 23, Jesus rebukes Peter saying that he was mindful of the things of men and the world.
The truth is that we cannot know, understand or get closer to God with our natural minds. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 tells us that our eyes, ears and hearts have not known the ways of God and only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the deep things of God. Romans 12:2 tells us that we need to get away from the world’s patterns and mindsets that we may understand the good, pleasing and perfect will of God. Have you, as in the verse, tested and seen that God’s will is perfect? Have you known Him to such an extent that you trust God and surrender your all to Him completely? Are you set apart from the world?
Why do we need to know Jesus so well? Aren’t we saved already? Matthew 7:21-23 says that not everyone who claims to know Jesus will get to Heaven. We need to know who the real Jesus is so that we are not deceived (Matthew 24:24) or compromise with the standards of the world like the Great Prostitute in Revelations (The Roman Catholic Church), but do the will of our Father in Heaven.
So be faithful in cell group and church activities, focused on Jesus, passionate in knowing Him and disciplined in reading the Bible, praying and singing new songs to God daily. I’m reading the Old Testament, which has brought me into a deeper knowledge of who God is. Pray that God will draw you into a deeper knowledge of Him (John 6:44). And remember that you must know Jesus because John 10:14 says that Jesus’s sheep know Him. Above all, the sharing and practice of what we believe in will help us to know more about Jesus (Philemon 1:6).
Remember that your choices mean a lot to God.
A songwriter once wrote this song:
Trials come and trials go
With every test my heart is known
Would I trust the Lord and love Him more
Or would I turn away and return no more
When the world tempts me and nobody sees
What I do in the dark Satan could predict
But he’s wondering if I would fear God at all
Or would I love evil and be proud of it all
1 comment:
LIN YU XI ! u bloggeD ! hahaz..
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