Annie
Scriptures:
John 17:3
John 4:22
Luke 15:11
1 John 1:1-4 ; 2:3-6; 4:17-19
Psalm 139
Isaiah 55:8-9
As we enter this new year, 2023, we are going to be focussing on a different topic each month. We are beginning by looking at what knowing God means, for, as Jesus tells us, “this is Eternal Life, that they may know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You sent”. So, Eternal Life is not something that we will attain after we leave this life, it is right here and now, ours to live in as we grow to know God more deeply.
How amazing is this, that the God who knew each of us before time itself was created, offers us the privilege of knowing Him personally, intimately and in a depth of love and joy that is beyond our understanding. Within the pages of our Bible we find so much to know about God, and it is good and right that know all this, but knowing the One True God personally is the unimaginable gift that has been offered to us all. To be able to address Him as Abba in the absolute assurance that we have the right to do this as His child, is so far above our understanding and fulfils what Isaiah said “for My ways are higher than your ways”.
Taking our first tiny baby steps into this journey begins with the revelation that we are loved beyond measure by our Father God. Do you remember that moment when you realised with laser like clarity that God loves you, insignificant, broken, little you? Or are you struggling to accept that this could ever be? We are not a mistake, an accident of happenstance that God has stumbled across. We, each of us uniquely and individually, are His intentional creation, specifically designed as body, soul and spirit so that we can deeply, fully and joyously know Him.
We are so good at building walls around ourselves. In this world of greed and selfishness it is so easy to lose sight of the goodness and love of our Father God whose earnest desire is for us us to know Him. Why? Because the enemy who roams around like a roaring lion, knows that if we allow our guilt, our shame and our fear, to encompass our thoughts, we will, almost unconsciously, begin to build a barrier between ourselves and God. This is why this revelation of how much God loves us is so precious, and so powerful. John, the disciple who Jesus loved, is so right – we love God because He first loved us. As this becomes our reality, we are able to get to know God, as our Friend, our wonderful Father, our Guide, Teacher and our Bridegroom.
God is the only One who is able to break down the walls, and set us free to know Him more deeply, more joyfully than our imagination can conceive of.
It can never be with our understanding that we intimately know God, for we cannot ever presume to understand Him fully. With the woman at the well in Sychar, in place of the water that temporarily quenches our thirst, we are offered the pure water of Life, so that we will never thirst again. From the depths of His Being, God poured out Himself through Jesus Christ to us, so that the Joy that filled Christ would also fill us. This unspeakable Joy that is God Himself overflows in such a river of the water of Life, that we are swept up and into the flow. This is knowing God, not head knowledge, but a total immersion in Him, and it is His delight that we do know Him this way.
Prayer: Abba Father, may we always intentionally choose to know You more deeply as we seek Your Face, so that we may overflow with rejoicing, so that we may be refreshed and renewed in the flow of Your Love, totally immersed in the Living Water, enjoying You as we will for all Eternity, through our Lord Jesus Christ we pray, Amen
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