Knowing God Lesson 12

     John17:3(Amp) says, "And this is Eternal Life; it means to know, to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the Only True and real God, and likewise to know Him, Jesus, as the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."

     Mankind has been on a quest to know God, for thousands of years.  We've fostered religious ideas and traditions from the carnal mind of the flesh, but to no avail.  We continue struggling to know Him by our own standards, without having any idea of Who or What, He really is like.  Many see Him as an angry God of the old covenant, Who still inflicts His family with sickness and plagues, but this isn't true according to His Word.

     Is.54:14-15(Amp) tells us, "You shall establish yourself in righteousness, rightness, in conformity with God's will and order; you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is not from Me. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you."

     Jesus tells us in John4:23-24(Amp), "A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth (reality); For the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."

     Jesus prays in John17:17(Amp), "Sanctify them, purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them Holy by the Truth, Your Word is Truth."  Only God's Word is Truth, everything else is speculation and opinion from the carnal realm of man's imagination.  We haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to bring the Revelation of Spiritual Truth and have replaced the Truth with our own ideas.

     1John5:7-8(Amp) says, "So there are three witness in Heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, the water, and the Blood; and these three are in unison; their testimony coincides."  God, His Word and His Spirit are all exactly the same, when it comes to His Promises and His covenant through Jesus.  If you don't know His Word, then you don't know Him by your spirit, but only by the dictates of the world.

     Is.53:11(Amp) says, "He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself which He possesses and imparts to others shall My uncompromisingly Righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous, upright and in right standing with God, for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt with the consequences, says the Lord."

     God tells us from His lips of Truth, that He and His Word are One.  God has "exalted His Word even above His Name," so we can stand on this Truth.  Psalm138:2(Amp) says, "I will worship toward Your Holy Temple and praise Your Name for Your Loving Kindness and for Your Truth and Faithfulness; for You have exalted above all else Your Name and Your Word and You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name."

     2Cor.1:20(Amp) says, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes Answer in Him, Christ, For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it), to God through Him, Jesus, in His Person, and by His Agency to the Glory of God."  God's Promises in Isaiah, were made to the new covenant people, through the coming of Jesus and all His Promises are "Yes and Amen through Jesus to the Glory of God."  

    This is more than just going to Heaven, through faith in Jesus, it is God now coming back into this earth through His people and bringing Heaven's rule once again into this earth.  We're only requires to believe His Promises and not limit the Lord in His ministry among mankind on this planet.  Many Christians still believe today, that God is behind all we see happening around us and surrender to what satan is trying to do.  Those in the old covenant weren't born-again in their spirits, so God had to deal with and correct them by the flesh.  If God's people think that God is behind their suffering, then we will not resist it and become passive in our faith of His Promises.

     God's new creation family are no longer only in the flesh, but are born of His Own Word and Spirit.  We're Spirit beings and are to be corrected and disciplined by His Word.  2Tim.3:16-17(Amp) says, "Every Scripture is God-breathed, given by His Inspiration and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every Good work."

        

Knowing God Lesson 11

      Jesus prayed in John17:3(Amp), saying, "And this is Eternal Life; it means to know, to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the only True and Real God; and likewise to know Him, Jesus, as the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah) Whom You have sent."  How many believers don't truly know the Father for themselves?  We've trusted in the knowledge and relationship of others, instead of knowing Him for ourselves.  Being unsure of what God's will is, being void of understanding His nature and not knowing how He corrects and disciplines His people, poses a downfall for many of His children.  We've believed that God disciplines His new covenant family, like He did those under the old Law and the old covenant.  By doing this, we've allowed the world and the enemy to direct us and steal God's Word from us.

     Believers today must be able to differentiate between the old and new covenants.  We must know that the people of the old covenant weren't born-again and God needed to deal with them by their flesh.  John4:24(Amp) tells us that, "God is Spirit (a Spirit Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  In John6:63(Amp) Jesus says, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it); The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." 

     We've educated our intellect with God's Word, without allowing it to penetrate into our new creation spirits.  This has left us with very little Revelation, because the flesh "conveys no profit."  Religion has overruled Revelation, leaving us to make excuses for why God's Word doesn't work for us.  Prov.20:27(Amp) says, "The spirit of man (that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God), is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts."

     Knowing God doesn't come from being in His Word alone, but understanding what it says, by Revelation through our new creation spirit.  I don't just spend time in God's Word, but in His Presence, fellowshiping, listening to and asking Him questions.  I ask Him for His Wisdom and understanding, according to James1:5(Amp), which says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly (without reproaching or faultfinding), and it will be given him.

     Many say, "I wouldn't dare question God."  We're not questioning God or His integrity, but asking our Father for instruction and seeking His Wisdom for our lives, just like any child would ask of our earthly father.  We've mostly been taught about our Heavenly Father from religion, so we don't know Him by the Spirit.  We've created our own ideas about why things don't work, instead of asking His instructions how to to them correctly.  

    Are you tired of praying prayers that don't seem to get answered and then blaming God for not answering them, instead of going to Him for Wisdom to pray correctly?  It's like making a phone call without knowing all the numbers and then expecting the phone company to know who we're calling.  If only takes one incorrect number to make the call incomplete.  

     The Spiritual Laws that govern God's Kingdom are "forever settled in Heaven."  We're expected to learn how God's Kingdom works and walk in His way of "doing and being right."  When we learn to do things the Kingdom way, then it will work every time.  Jesus said in John14:13-14(Amp), "I will do, I Myself will grant, whatever you ask in My Name as presenting all that I Am, so that the Father may be Glorified and extolled in and through the Son. Yes, I will grant, I Myself will do for you whatever you shall ask in My Name as presenting all that I Am."

     Do you desire to have this scripture be true in your life or are you content to continue making the religious excuse of "Well, it must not be God's will for my life?"  If answering the prayer wasn't God's will, then Jesus would never have made the above statement.  Will we continue on like we have or will we choose to spend time in God's Word and in fellowship with Him, asking for Wisdom, so we will ask in Jesus' Name, presenting all that He Is?

     Psalm119:130(Amp) says, "The entrance and unfolding of Your Words give Light, their unfolding gives understanding, discernment, and comprehension to the simple.  Psalm105:8(Amp) says, "He is earnestly mindful of His covenant and forever it is imprinted on His Heart, the Word which He commanded and established to a thousand generations."

Knowing God Lesson 10

      John17:3(Amp) says, "And this is Eternal Life, it means to know, to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand You, the Only True and Real God, and likewise to know Him, Jesus, as the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."

     Knowing Him as God and knowing Him as "Father," is knowing the difference between the first and last covenants.  Many believers still only know and see God by the way He dealt with those under the Law and first covenant.  We must go back to God's Original Intent when creating mankind in the Garden, in order to know Him as Father.

     1John4:16-18(Amp) says, "And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of), by observation and by experience, and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on), the Love God cherishes for us. GOD IS LOVE; and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. In this union and communion with Him Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us; that we may have confidence for the day of judgment with assurance and boldness to face Him, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in Love (dread does not exist), but full-grown, complete, perfect Love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror. For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and so he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of Love, is not yet grown into Love's complete perfection."

     Those who only know God by the old covenant don't see Him as Father God.  Many take for granted that He is Father and expect Him to deal with mankind like He did before the new creation family.  Old covenant people were spiritually dead, so God had to deal with them by and through the flesh.  Jesus has made God's new creation family again in the Image and Likeness of God, Who is Spirit.

     When God first created family in Adam, Adam was made in God's Likeness, according to John4:24(Amp), which says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  No one knows how long the Father walked with His son Adam, before Adam's sin brought spiritual death to God's family and separated them from God.  When sin of temptation entered into Adam and Eve, they became separated from the Life in the spirit and they fell into spiritual death.  They were separated from God Himself.

     God is Love and needed a way to share His Love with His family, in order to fulfill Love's very Nature.  We see this in Gen.2:18(Amp) that tells us, "It is not good, sufficient, satisfactory that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper, suitable, adapted, complimentary for him."  Adam was made in God's Own Image and Likeness and having God's Love in him, needed someone to love and be complete.  We have now become again, created in and by Him.  We're the recipients of His Love and not His wrath.  Jesus commanded us to, "Love one another as He has Loved us."  This is the new commandment to the Church.

     God's Church (family) isn't supposed to be separated by ritual and the external things man's ideas of the Church fabricate.  Jesus prayed in John17:23(Amp), saying, "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have Loved them even as You have Loved Me."  God's Church should give and demonstrate God's Love to one another.

     Love is a Spirit, for God is Love.  The natural man functions in a small portion of Love.  If mankind walked in the fullness of God's Love, then there would never be divorce.  God's angels respect and obey Him in His Great Power, but they don't have the capacity to love.  We're supposed to know Him and His Great Love.  God is Love, so if we don't understand this Great Love, then we will have difficulty knowing His will and His heart.

     We can't make someone love us.  We must respond to the great Love the Father has for us, in order to have it work in our lives.  John3:16(Amp) says, "For God so greatly Loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His Only Begotten Son, so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to and relies on Him should not perish (come to destruction, be lost), but have Eternal Everlasting Life."

     When we don't understand God's kind of Love, we withdraw from His desire to Bless and heal us.  We don't approach Him and spend time with Him, when we don't understand His Love.  1John4:16(Amp) says, "And we know, understand (recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to, and put faith in and rely on the Love God cherishes for us. GOD IS LOVE."