Loyal
Knowing God
There are three different ways you can get to know somebody.
The first way is by reading things they have said in the past. Reading the Bible, and learning what someone has said is very limiting. Knowing what God has said in the past in the Bible is not the same thing as knowing the person who said it!
The second way which is much better than the first is by having fellowship with the person who said the things in the Bible. There are limits to this kind of knowing also because you do not know what they are thinking or feeling as you communicate with them, only what they are telling you.
The third and ultimate way which far exceeds the first two is this. Having that person live inside you, and allow them to live their life through you. How many times have you heard people say, “You never know what God is going to do, because the Bible says, in fact, God himself said...
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, SO ARE MY WAYS HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS AND MY THOUGHTS THAN YOUR THOUGHTS.
We have to ask ourselves, “who was God speaking to in this verse?
Isa 55:7 LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAY, AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS MAN HIS THOUGHTS; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa 55:8 FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS, NEITHER ARE YOUR WAYS MY WAYS, DECLARES THE LORD.
Obviously, those who are doing wickedness, don't know God's ways, his thoughts, or they would NOT be doing those things. We can never say this is true to everyone. Jesus knew his Father's thoughts, and his ways, because his Father showed them to him!
Sometimes we read in the scriptures about the love of God, and then tell ourself's we should copy, and do these things too!
1Co 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
1Co 13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1Co 13:6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1Co 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1Co 13:8 Love never ends.
We do NOT copy these things in our lives, because that would be the impostor, the fake, the not real love. To walk in love is to walk in God because God is love. He alone is love, and the love of God has been shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have real love which is a person living on the inside. Love is NOT a feeling or an attitude, and it is not an emotion we feel, it is a person! 1 Cor 13:4-8 is a description of God who is love!
The description of love in 1 Cor 13 is NOT something we do, it is what God does as he lives his life within us!!! God today is reconciling the world unto himself through his body the Church! We all should experience these things as God lives in us. The Lord loves other people through us. It is not our love, it is his love. If we want to know what God feels, then we just let him love others through us with his love.
What about God's thoughts? How can we know his thoughts?
1Co 2:11 For WHO KNOWS A PERSON'S THOUGHTS EXCEPT for THE SPIRIT OF THAT PERSON, WHICH IS IN HIM? So also NO ONE COMPREHENDS THE THOUGHTS OF GOD EXCEPT THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
1Co 2:12 NOW WE HAVE RECEIVED NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD, BUT THE SPIRIT WHO IS FROM GOD, THAT WE MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE THINGS FREELY GIVEN US BY GOD.(ESV)
Nobody knows the thoughts of a man except for the spirit within man. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit of God so we might know the thoughts of God!!! A man, woman who is filled with the Spirit of God is filled with the thoughts of God!!! We have the mind of Christ, and the last time I checked, Jesus is God!!!
How can any born again Christian ever say we don't know God's ways or his thoughts when we are filled with his thoughts which reveals to us his ways?
Maybe we should remember this scripture...
Gal 2:20 I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: nevertheless I live; yet NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and the life which I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Curtis Wilson died two thousand years ago on the cross with Jesus, and the life I am now living in the body I am living BY the FAITH of the Son of God!!
Not only is Jesus my new life, but I also have his faith that has already overcome this world!!
This is the only way to know God. I would call this “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”
There are three different ways you can get to know somebody.
The first way is by reading things they have said in the past. Reading the Bible, and learning what someone has said is very limiting. Knowing what God has said in the past in the Bible is not the same thing as knowing the person who said it!
The second way which is much better than the first is by having fellowship with the person who said the things in the Bible. There are limits to this kind of knowing also because you do not know what they are thinking or feeling as you communicate with them, only what they are telling you.
The third and ultimate way which far exceeds the first two is this. Having that person live inside you, and allow them to live their life through you. How many times have you heard people say, “You never know what God is going to do, because the Bible says, in fact, God himself said...
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, SO ARE MY WAYS HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS AND MY THOUGHTS THAN YOUR THOUGHTS.
We have to ask ourselves, “who was God speaking to in this verse?
Isa 55:7 LET THE WICKED FORSAKE HIS WAY, AND THE UNRIGHTEOUS MAN HIS THOUGHTS; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isa 55:8 FOR MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS, NEITHER ARE YOUR WAYS MY WAYS, DECLARES THE LORD.
Obviously, those who are doing wickedness, don't know God's ways, his thoughts, or they would NOT be doing those things. We can never say this is true to everyone. Jesus knew his Father's thoughts, and his ways, because his Father showed them to him!
Sometimes we read in the scriptures about the love of God, and then tell ourself's we should copy, and do these things too!
1Co 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
1Co 13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1Co 13:6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
1Co 13:7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1Co 13:8 Love never ends.
We do NOT copy these things in our lives, because that would be the impostor, the fake, the not real love. To walk in love is to walk in God because God is love. He alone is love, and the love of God has been shed abroad into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We have real love which is a person living on the inside. Love is NOT a feeling or an attitude, and it is not an emotion we feel, it is a person! 1 Cor 13:4-8 is a description of God who is love!
The description of love in 1 Cor 13 is NOT something we do, it is what God does as he lives his life within us!!! God today is reconciling the world unto himself through his body the Church! We all should experience these things as God lives in us. The Lord loves other people through us. It is not our love, it is his love. If we want to know what God feels, then we just let him love others through us with his love.
What about God's thoughts? How can we know his thoughts?
1Co 2:11 For WHO KNOWS A PERSON'S THOUGHTS EXCEPT for THE SPIRIT OF THAT PERSON, WHICH IS IN HIM? So also NO ONE COMPREHENDS THE THOUGHTS OF GOD EXCEPT THE SPIRIT OF GOD.
1Co 2:12 NOW WE HAVE RECEIVED NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD, BUT THE SPIRIT WHO IS FROM GOD, THAT WE MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE THINGS FREELY GIVEN US BY GOD.(ESV)
Nobody knows the thoughts of a man except for the spirit within man. No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit of God so we might know the thoughts of God!!! A man, woman who is filled with the Spirit of God is filled with the thoughts of God!!! We have the mind of Christ, and the last time I checked, Jesus is God!!!
How can any born again Christian ever say we don't know God's ways or his thoughts when we are filled with his thoughts which reveals to us his ways?
Maybe we should remember this scripture...
Gal 2:20 I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: nevertheless I live; yet NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and the life which I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Curtis Wilson died two thousand years ago on the cross with Jesus, and the life I am now living in the body I am living BY the FAITH of the Son of God!!
Not only is Jesus my new life, but I also have his faith that has already overcome this world!!
This is the only way to know God. I would call this “CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND”