Encouragement

" this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent…" John 17:3

These last two weeks (school holidays) have been enjoyable for my wife and I as we have experienced days on end with our eldest grandson. Getting to know him better through living life, working with him and enjoying our interactions with him.

Now what has this to do with knowing God? Well God is our Father. Is there no comparison?

No question that each of us desires to be strong in our faith and carry out great exploits for God. No question either that each of us has approached the Lord individually to receive eternal life.

Why then do we constantly fall back to complacency and habit in our faith, rather than a vibrant and enriching experience WITH God? The problem is that so much of our spiritual learning and sharing is only ABOUT God. Knowing about Him, rather than experiencing Him personally.

With our friends, and especially family, we would never confuse assembling facts about them, with getting to know them or enjoying their presence. Nevertheless, this often happens in our relationship with both the Father and the Son, from those of us in the family of faith.

We parade our 'knowledge' both in teaching, and outreach, and sometimes worship with mere facts and repetitions. Then we wonder why we lack strength, joy, and vision.

Daniel was given the above advice to know His God (Dan 11:32) by "…a certain man… his face like lightning, his eyes like torches of fire… the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude…"(Dan 10:5) The same man called Daniel "O Daniel, man greatly beloved…understand the words that I speak…fear not…be strong, be strong."

Does that man sound familiar? Could He be the same man that declared in the book of John that eternal life was to know YOU, the only true God and Jesus Christ the sent one? This conversation was not ABOUT God, but was spoken directly TO God.

So, we need to be like the ones on the road to Emmaus, whose hearts burned within them, while HE (Jesus) talked with them on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to them.

To know someone to the point your heart burns within you, is not simply about facts. It is about love and relationship. It is about caring for that person, that they may have joy in our presence, and we have joy in theirs.

It is about the longing that our current relationship with Jesus, through the means of faith, will shortly change forever into an immortal relationship in His presence, with each of us in glorified bodies like His own. With no hindrance or distraction from His thoughts, His ways, His purpose and above all, His love.

It is this focus of knowing Him better through our experience of Him, and the searching out of His Word to us, that will make us strong in His service.

Great exploits will occur as they have done through the ages in the lives of simple believers like you and I, who have gained the strength to serve from the experience of the love and presence of Jesus in their lives.

You have a blessed week.

Kind regards in Him

Doug