{"id":770,"date":"2015-11-20T08:51:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T08:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegospelplant.wordpress.com\/?p=770"},"modified":"2016-06-25T07:18:49","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T07:18:49","slug":"how-can-i-truly-know-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/how-can-i-truly-know-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I truly know God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true.\u201d
\n\u2013 2 Samuel 7:28<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As an early Christian I asked myself, \u201cHow can I truly know God?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I allowed the philosophies and ideologies of the day to influence my knowledge of God and myself. I was blinded by what tickled my itching ears and what my heart believed to be right in knowing God, but my heart is deceptive, as is yours. (Jeremiah 17:9<\/a>, Mark 7:21<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I assumed that life was about me, and not about God and His ultimate glory \u2013 after all that\u2019s what the world told me!<\/p>\n

I did not read God\u2019s word regularly but instead listened to the views of friends<\/a>, YouTube videos, and pithy books, as my source and foundation for \u201cknowing\u201d God. This lead to an incorrect view of God and myself. This is not knowing God, friends; this often\u00a0veers us away<\/em> from truth.<\/p>\n

It is like eating ash thinking it will satisfy. Living off the world views of others won\u2019t sustain or lead to healthiness, but will instead lead to a dry, parched, and tasteless view of God.<\/p>\n

Getting\u00a0To Know God, Myself<\/h2>\n

Let me explain: Growing in my faith and knowing the one true God meant reading His word. It was painful at times and took discipline in the early hours<\/a> whilst I got ready for work, held my newborn sons, rubbed the sleep from my eyes, and got breakfast ready.<\/p>\n

However, as I devoted myself (imperfectly) to diligently reading God\u2019s word, prayer, and seeking His face, I came to understand more of the Creator and myself as the created creature.<\/p>\n

Jean Calvin said in his preface to the Olivetan Bible,<\/p>\n

\u201c[The Bible] is the \u2018key that opens for us the kingdom of God\u2019, the \u2018mirror in which we see God\u2019s face\u2019 and the \u2018testimony to his good will\u2019. It is also the \u2018way\u2019, the \u2018school of wisdom\u2019, the \u2018royal sceptre\u2019, the divine \u2018shepherd\u2019s staff\u2019. And it is the \u2018instrument of his covenant\u2019, which God has made with us by entering, through his free grace, into the obligation of being tied to us in eternal covenant.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Calvin was right; scripture is a mirror in which we see the face of God. So why do so many of us settle for a muddy puddle that distorts the image? Our hearts should not be okay with murky images, ideas, and shaky concepts of God. We should be driven to know<\/em> God through scripture \u2013 the only true authority.<\/p>\n

What authority do you rest your knowledge of God on?<\/h3>\n

The Westminster Confession states,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe authority of the holy scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the word of God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If God is truth, we can safely say that knowing his Word brings about the opportunity to truly know God. However, knowing God is a God-initiated act of saving grace \u2013 a grace that redeems, loves, chooses, calls and preserves. God\u2019s work and His Word bring about the faith and the possibility of knowing Him by His Spirit.<\/p>\n

It is the truthful master and creator of all things who, by His grace and mercy, makes friends with us; not the other way around. (Romans 5:10<\/a>)<\/p>\n

God\u00a0has made his character\u00a0known and has shown His love to us through the cross. (Romans 1:19-20<\/a>, Romans 5:8<\/a>)<\/p>\n

What difference does your knowledge make?<\/h3>\n

However our desire has not been for knowing Him but for carnal self and fleshy desires that have wasted away at us like some disease (we call this, sin).<\/p>\n

\u201cScripture is from God. Whoever knows God listens to it\u2026\u201d (1 John 4:6<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God\u2019s Word is the bread of life (John 6:35<\/a>), the light of the world (John 8:12<\/a>), the gate (John 10:9<\/a>), and the good shepherd (John 10:11<\/a>); it is the Christ that brings meaning, liberation, knowledge, truth and life (2 Peter 1:16-21<\/a>).<\/p>\n

We must read His word and allow it to invade every facet of our life.<\/p>\n

We must be willing to be singled out by His grace, lean on His work of grace, and live in light of that grace. Knowing God is a work of mercy on His part and living in light of that mercy is the most radical, liberating truth known to man.<\/p>\n

So when you read the word of truth, the knowledge of the Creator<\/em> and the created<\/em>becomes clear. That is when the Holy Spirit reveals and opens the eyes of the sluggard to the Christ of scripture. Christ then comes to the table, invades your space, and becomes the center and substance of all that you see before you.<\/em><\/p>\n

As Martin Luther said,<\/p>\n

\u201cOur conscience should be subject to the word of God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You want to know the only God, His character, His plan, His relationship with His creation? Then go to the source of truth: His Word, the Bible, that\u2019s he\u2019s given us! Don\u2019t settle for a murky man made concept as I used to do.<\/p>\n

Lastly, in the word\u2019s of my hero (the man I named one of my sons after),<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God.\u201d \u2013 J. I.\u00a0Packer<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNow this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.\u201d \u2013 John 17:3<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Do you know Him or just know things about Him?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true.\u201d \u2013 2 Samuel 7:28 As an early Christian I asked myself, \u201cHow can I truly know God?\u201d   I allowed the philosophies and ideologies of the day to influence my knowledge of God and myself. I was blinded by what tickled my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[142,132,120,127,68,119,97,16],"tags":[77,2,3,21,7,9,14,15,17,146],"class_list":{"0":"post-770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christianity","8":"category-church","9":"category-discipleship","10":"category-evangelism","11":"category-faith","12":"category-gospel","13":"category-leadership","14":"category-religion","15":"tag-bible","16":"tag-christ","17":"tag-christian","18":"tag-faith","19":"tag-god","20":"tag-gospel","21":"tag-jesus","22":"tag-leadership","23":"tag-religion","24":"tag-word","25":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}