Knowing God

“… but the people that do know their God, shall be strong, and do exploits.” Daniel 11:32

Did you ever feel this distinct hunger to know God? Does your heart beat in anticipation; does your mouth water in expectation of knowing our Creator, our Lord and our Savior?

Deep inside us, there should be a longing, a deep desire, an unquenchable, insatiable thirst and hunger to know this God whom we so humbly and most privlegedly serve.

Do we only want God’s benefits? Don’t we care to deeply know the ways of our Divine Benefactor? We must ache to know God. We must feel the fire that is within our bones – wanting to know God and His ways and His judgments and His statutes and His words.

There must be so much more than Him healing, forgiving, giving, providing, delivering, freeing!! After all, God is eternal and He created all things. There is much more to God that what we know and what we’ll ever know in our lifetime; so much to explore!

Let us seek Him with all our hearts. Words are not enough to give justice to the kind of yearning that we should have for God. This aspiration for God eats our entire being – we must be totally consumed by it – that we would yield all things to Him that He may reveal more of Himself to us, in us and through us; that we may please Him, be strong, and do great exploits.

Father, give us this deep hunger and desire and thirst to know YOU. We are not satisfied with what You can give alone, but we want You. We want to know You that others may see You in us. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.

Walk in Time, Live in Eternity

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Life on earth, with its many distractions and cares can lead one who is not grounded in the word of God to live in time, even though we now possess the eternal life in Christ that He died to give us. Many, though born again of His blood, water, and Spirit, continue to plan their lives on earth as though this is all the life they have. They seek out and claim all the promises of God for an abundant life in this world, completely assured of their salvation and God’s grace. But if we have known the Lord, if we have encountered Him and personally tasted of Him and His truth, we should no longer be feeding on milk (salvation and grace), but we should be feeding on strong meat (denying self and taking up our cross and following the Lord). The Word of God is very clear on the life a Disciple of Christ is expected to live and the costs he/she must be willing to pay. We, as Disciples of Christ, do not look forward to living out our lives here on earth, saturated in every material blessing our heart desires, but we look forward to something much greater. We look forward to eternal life in heaven with our precious Lord and Savior. We look forward to all the spiritual blessings He promised, which will position us in our spirits to gain victory over this world and our flesh, and prepare us for our life with Him in Heaven.

Yes we are spirits living in a physical body and we have physical as well as spiritual needs, but the Lord has promised if we obey His command to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” that “all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Although God, by His grace alone, can bless us anywhere, anytime He so desires, it is only when we seek after Him in sincere love, desiring only to honor and serve Him that we will begin to know Him. We will begin to learn of Him, to understand His ways, and to walk with Him. As a result, we will experience every spiritual and material blessing as a natural outpouring of our spirit life in Him. As we yield to the work of the Holy Spirit to expose our hidden motives and secret desires, He will bring repentance to our hearts. As we receive His truth and allow the Lord to cleanse and purify our hearts with no defense or denial on our part, the Lord will comply. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us will then begin to reveal the Lord Jesus in us, to us and through us, prospering our souls. Thus spiritual blessings are released. Love, joy, peace and all the fruits of the Spirit will begin to abound in us then all physical and material blessings will follow. These are a direct and natural result of our spirit life in Christ, and should never be our primary focus. John says…Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. (3 John 1:2). Not before, John is saying, but I wish that even as your souls prosper, so then shall you prosper. The life of Christ must be made manifest in us first. John knows that receiving physical and material blessings ahead of our souls prospering will soon destroy us. He knows that unless godliness is formed in us, we will bend to every temptation that comes our way. Our inner life, our character, must be able to sustain us wherever our blessings take us.

Yes we live in a physical world and we do have to work. Again our focus should not be outward on the physical work we do and its rewards and failures, but we must focus inward and upward to the spiritual work we must accomplish for our Father in Heaven; winning souls for Christ. This is the only work that is done both on earth and in Heaven, and its rewards are everlasting. We must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into God’s service by way of the Cross. There is no other way beloved and there are no shortcuts. We must become partakers of Christ’s suffering in order to become partakers of His glory. We must set our eyes heavenward, patiently enduring all things, be they blessings and victories or persecutions and trials, knowing that we do not work for earthly things, but we contend for heavenly rewards. Paul says “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things”. (Colossians 3:2). These are the things that are eternal. Earthly things will pass away for these things are temporary. Matthew warns "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).

The word of God expounds the life of a born again Christian throughout the New Testament. The only life we are to live on earth is by way of the cross of Jesus Christ for we must die to self in order to possess our eternal life. Why is it that we find it so easy to believe the word of God for every promise God has ever made concerning blessing us, but we find it very hard to believe that we can live the way God says we should in order to possess these blessings. John says, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith (1 John 5:4). We can live the way God says we can beloved. We can overcome, no longer living our lives according to the dictates of our flesh which is limited by time and will soon be consumed, but living according to the dictates of our spirits, fully surrendered to the Holy Spirit, which will live forever. In fact Paul says, “our spirits groan and are burdened” because we, as born again Christians, no longer want to live our spirit life internally in our corruptible bodies, but we want to live it externally in Heaven, in incorruptible bodies. So we continue to live our spirit lives on earth, desiring no earthly thing, but eagerly looking forward to the time when we will leave our mortal bodies (this tent) and be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (our immortal bodies). The time when “what is mortal may be swallowed up by life”, that is our internal spirit life will become life internally and externally since our mortality will then be totally consumed by our spirit life.

Though we walk in time beloved, we must live in eternity. For this is the life we now have in Christ Jesus.

Overcome

OVERCOME [to get the better of; win; surmount; conquer]

“Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” [1 John 5:5]

Among all the authors in the bible, the apostle John wrote the most about overcoming. In the first epistle written by John, there were six instances where he wrote “overcome.” The same is true in the book of Revelation, there were six instances of the word “overcometh” as spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ.

If you would notice, the books written by John were the last books written in the bible, it’s the last Gospel, the last of the epistles and indeed the last book – Revelation.

In the book of Revelation, “him that overcometh” within the seven churches were promised many good things by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As we know, the first three churches have already passed away [Ephesus – first church in the days of the apostles, Smyrna – church after John the apostle died when there were many persecution, Pergamum [gk, gamos] – means marriage, where the church and the world were married together because of Constantine.

However, we also see that the last four churches are here to stay based on the words of Christ Jesus. Thyatira [gk, high tower] – the Roman Catholic Church, committing adultery with Jezebel [idolatry], Sardis [remnant church] – the Protestant Church, living name but a dead body; spiritually dead, Philadelphia [gk, brotherly love] new move of the Holy Spirit, keeping the Word of the Lord, not denying His name [Christian] – they have the love for the brethren. Finally, Laodicea [gk, people’s rights or opinions] – when love turns to opinions, then we become lukewarm, there is regression.

How do we know that we have overcome? How do we have this blessed assurance that indeed we have overcome the world? That we have passed death to life? Saying that we know we have overcome because the bible says so is too vague, if anyone says he has life, he must give an evidence of it. John tells us, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brethren abideth in death.” [1 John 3:14]

Believing Jesus, that is, faith… has to stand the test. It must be alive, with works. The real test of faith is not in words, but in action – in our way of loving the brethren. Love is something that you know deep in your heart – that no matter how different a person is, how different his character, attitude, opinions, nor his ways are – you love him nonetheless!

There is a higher power that governs our lives as Christians and this is LOVE. We all should love the brethren, if you don’t love your brother, if there’s any tinge of hatred or jealousy or envy, then you cannot say you’re a Christian. The bible is clear, “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” [1 John 3:15] We should show our love to all through our deeds and actions, not only through our words.

It doesn’t say though that we should go with our brothers in every way and not correct them when they fall. How do we know we love the children of God, through these words, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments.” [1 John 5:2]

We have a direct order to correct our brethren, we have a commandment from God in Matthew 18:15-17 to correct gently and with only one motive, that is to gain our brother back. No remorse, no condemnation and no gossip! Always remember that we all grow in righteousness, just as Christ has given us His own righteousness – but in exercising righteousness, we must be careful not to offend love – because once we do, our righteous act becomes an act of self-righteousness.

To love, oh what a wonderful thing! We have this great teaching in 1 Corinthians 13. We could tell so much about love, but let us stress this one thing in verse 5 it says: love “doth not behave itself unseemly.” It means love is never rude in words, deeds, thoughts, manner of dress, or even tone of voice. We know what is love, because God is love. It is more than a feeling or an emotion – it is a knowing. Love is an exercise of will, it is never about the person who is the object of our love. We love because we want to. It is our will to love.

Let us therefore, love one another, as Christ Jesus has commanded us that we may overcome this world until He comes again.

The promise to the church of Philadelphia:

“Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him My new name.” (Revelation 3:12)

One Thing I Desire

“One thing I desire is eyes for only you” the songwriter wrote. His words echo the one desire that burns deep in my heart. One thing I desire from my innermost being is eyes to behold only my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to intimately know the one who loved me so much that He gave His life for me, to dwell in His radiance and glory, and to seek the depth and width and height of His compassionate heart. What is the one thing you desire?

We all had many desires, hopes, plans, and dreams for our lives while we were yet lost. Then, by the grace of God, we were found. We became born again and our desires changed. We now truly seek the will of God for our lives and proceed to walk in obedience to God, under submission to the Holy Spirit, to fulfill the call on our lives. We become Disciples of Christ, all called into God’s service doing what Jesus Himself did when He walked this earth. We proclaim our love to the Lord often, and worship Him with all the sincerity of our hearts. We even seek Him in our quiet times to pray, meditate on His word, and listen for new revelations, new words of prophesy, words of knowledge etc. We act on what we hear and the will of God unfolds.

But, is it only life and the call on our lives that we desire and seek from God? Is not the Giver of life Himself so much better? Not the things that He can personally give to us or do for us. Not the things of Him (gifts, miracles, power). Not even our service to Him, but our Lord Jesus Himself. The beauty of Him, the majesty, and the incomparable grace we have not even begun to experience as yet. The fullness, holiness, deep compassion, and heart full of dimensions of love we never imagined nor will understand until we come into that intimate place with the Lover of our souls. David barely glimpsed this reality of the living God, and he hungered and thirsted for more. “One thing I ask of the Lord”, says David, “this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord” (Psalms 27:4). David longed to know God, and spend each and every moment close to Him. His desire was so strong, he would often cry out from the depths of his soul. David was a king who lacked nothing yet he desired none of these things, only one thing He desired.

Paul walked the path ordained for Him by God Himself, and accomplished much for the glory of God, but he was not satisfied. His pressing goal was Christ Himself. ”What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ”(Philippians 3:8). Paul had such a revelation of the Lord, that he considered all things, including self, worthless in comparison. He willingly gave up everything…that I may know him (Philippians 3:10) he says. Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus, seeking Him, rather than serving Him and His disciples with her sister Martha. When Martha complained, the Lord replied “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42). Mary desired the one thing and it was the thing that would not be taken away from her… knowing Christ. Moses was a man God knew by name and was pleased with. He was full of faith and integrity and served God mightily. He obeyed, communed and bargained with God for God’s mercy towards His people always, but for himself he asked only one thing of the Lord , he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory (Exodus 33:18). All he desired was to behold the Lord in all His glory.

David, Paul, Mary and Moses knew something few of us have caught hold of so far. They knew that not only was God the giver of life, but He was the very meaning of life. Without God Himself, without deep, deep intimacy with God, without total oneness with God, we can never truly experience His life. God’s one desire is to share His meaning of life with every believer. But, we must desire Him only, we must seek Him only, we must have eyes for Him only. What is the one thing you desire?