Knowing God Lesson 19

      Jesus tells us in John17:3(Amp), "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 God is far different from only hearing about Him from someone else's idea of Who He is.  Many have heard about Him and have accepted Jesus as their Lord, but they still don't know Him.  We need to have a personal relationship with God.  We need to know His heart and His character.  This is an awesome privilege, which many of God's children don't take part in on this side of Heaven.

     Many have failed to go to God's Word and come to the place Jesus described in John15:15(Amp), where He told His followers, "I don't call you servants, but I call you friends."  A friend knows us by relationship and not by what others say about us.  We need to make and spend time in fellowship with the Father, so we understand and know Him on a personal level.  This personal relationship comes by His Spirit and His Word, because "God is a Spirit (a Spirit Being) And those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality), John4:24(Amp).  

     Many of God's children only know God after the flesh or senses and haven't learned to know Him after the Word and the Spirit.  We still have the idea that we must be moved by the flesh, in order to be led by God the Father.  This idea of how  God deals with His family, has been passed down from generation to generation.  Rom.10:17(Amp) says that, "Faith comes by hearing."  This isn't just true about faith in God, but faith in anything.

     What we listen to the most, is what we will finally believe.  The doctrines that say, "Those things are passed away and not for us today, were only for the early Church and were only for the Apostles," have taken root in God's people because we've put faith in hearing and hearing by what we've believed is God's Word.  The family of God must have a personal relationship with Him, in order to know Him for ourselves and not just what we've heard from others.

     It takes time and effort on the believer's part, to spend time in God's Word and listen to His counsel.  We've accepted more of the doctrines of men, instead of the doctrine of the covenant.  Just because most in you church don't believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues, doesn't mean it's not for us today.  

     We don't build a personal relationship with God and His Word, in order to make us feel superior to others, but to make us secure in Him.  The same Jesus Who our Lord, is the same Jesus Who is their Lord.  All of God's children received the same Lord and inheritance in Christ Jesus.  The difference is that some don't know Him as their personal friend and Father, as much as others do.  We're still waiting for Him to lead us by the senses and the flesh.  We've deceived ourselves, believing God still deals with us like He did with those under the Law.

     Much of what we've been taught comes from the old, first covenant and the four Gospels, instead of from the new covenant, which came after Jesus' death and Resurrection.  Paul preached and wrote about the Revelation he received directly from Jesus.  This was about how God deals with His new creation family, through His Word and Spirit.  God had to deal with the people under the Law, from the outside-in, and not from the inside-out.  We must learn and know God, by renewing our minds by "God's way of doing and being right," Matt.6:33.

     God delivered His people, even under the first covenant.  When the plagues came upon the Egyptians, God's people were spared.  Today, we see judgment upon certain things in this nation, but God's people should take heart that He will keep and watch over us even amidst them.  We must come to know God for ourselves, so we won't fail to submit to the Word and allow the things of the world to come upon us.  We must stay under the Blessing and not go under the Curse, which is still here and active today. 

     Prov.17:10(Amp) says, "A reproof enters deeper into a man of understanding, than a hundred lashes into a self-confident fool."  God's new creation children must turn at the reproof of His Word, so we don't become fools and fall into trouble.  2Tim.3:16(Amp) says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."

     The accepted reproof of God's Word will keep us from suffering the consequences of the road we might be on.  If we listen to God's Word, then it will direct our steps from the traps the enemy has planned for us.  Psalm 23 tells us that, "He leads us in paths of righteousness, for His Name's Sake," but we must follow where the Word is leading.  When we stray from that path, God's Word will reprove and direct our steps.  We must not wait until calamity befalls us, but listen to the reproof and instruction instead.

     Is.1:19(Amp) says, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land."  What if we're not willing to receive the reproof of God's Word and are unwilling to be obedient to the Holy Spirit's leading?  Does this make God's Word void or do we need to be obedient?  We must listen to the Word and the Spirit, in order to stay under the covering of the Blessing and avoid the Curse, which is always trying to claim and devour us.  The Curse is still here, but God's Blessing is now ours.  We still must choose to follow the Truth of God's Word, in order to avoid the enemy's pitfalls.  We must choose to renew our mind and learn who we've now been made to be in Christ Jesus.  Rom.12:1-2(Amp) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs."

     Let's listen to the reproof and correction of the Word and Spirit and remain under the Blessing.  If we miss the mark, then we must repent, correct it and return to the covering of the Blessing where we belong.  It's difficult to stay under the correction of God's Word, if we don't spend time to know and understand what it says.  Remember Jesus' Words, where He says, "This is Eternal Life (it means) to know God, to understand, be acquainted with and perceive, recognize You, the Only True and Real God."  Jesus said, "My sheep know My Voice."  We need to know Him in this Eternal Life we're now living in, on this side of Heaven."

    

    

Knowing God Lesson 18

     Jesus tells us in John17:3(Amp), "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."

     The greatest honor, privilege and expectation any human could possibly hope for, has now been made available through our salvation and Jesus.  Knowing God our Father, the Creator and Eternal Being, is more than we've dared to believe.  We've been taught through the years that no one can really know Him, His will, His Voice or even His Word.

     God and His son Adam, walked together and Adam explored all that God made, according to Gen.2:19-20(Amp) and the Father brought all the beasts, birds, and every living creature to Adam, so Adam could name them.  Adam and the Father walked in perfect fellowship before Adam's transgression in Gen.3.  They walked in "unbroken fellowship from the beginning of man."

     We are now not just forgiven, but have been created new in Jesus Christ, according to 2Cor.5:17, which says, "Therefore if any person is (ingrafted) in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and Spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     We still see our old selves, instead of the new creations we've become in Christ.  In God's eyes, the old persons no longer exist and we have no past.  We couldn't be new creations, if we were left like we once were.  Jesus prayed in John17:17(Amp), "Sanctify them (purify them, consecration, separate them for Yourself, make them holy) by the Truth; Your Word is Truth."  Malachi 2:6(Amp) tells us that, "The Law of Truth was in Levi's mouth" and he "spoke only God's Word."  God's Word isn't only "a Truth," but is THE TRUTH.  God's Word tells us that speaking contrary to His Word is "perverse and twisted speech."

     God's Word is more Truth than what we feel or think.  It's absolute Truth.  Jesus tells us to Matt.6:33(Amp), "Seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."  The Kingdom of Heaven is a place where God resides and the Kingdom of Heaven operates by God's way of doing and being right.

     When God's new creation people ask Him about His way of doing, He will always bring us back to His Word, because this is how His Kingdom must work.  God's way of doing is based on the Truth of His Word, which is the Law of His Kingdom.  John3:34(Amp) says, "For since He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own Message), God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the the Gift God makes of His Spirit."

     If we lined our words with God's Word, then do you suppose the Holy Spirit could use us more?  Instead of speaking what men say, you must speak Truth after what God says, so things would work differently in our walk with Him.  God watches over His Word "to perform it," so our words should line-up with the Word.

     We need to put aside many of man's ideas about God and accept what God says to and about us.  We need to learn to know Him as "Father."  We need to live in the new and Last covenant God has made through Christ, instead of expecting God to deal with us like He did with those in the old covenant.  We are new creation beings and God deals with us in the Spirit.  

     We cannot and never will know Him by our flesh, because He is a Spiritual Being, according to John4:26(Amp), where Jesus says, "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  God considers it worship, when we approach Him in Spirit and in Truth.  There are many ways to worship Him, but all must be in Spirit and Truth, in order to be received.

     Tithing is a form of worship, when it is one in and by, the Spirit and Word (Truth).  Offerings are a type of worship, when done in Spirit and Truth.  Singing is a type of worship, when we do so in Spirit and Truth.  When we do these things because taking up a collection and singing is just tradition, then we're not doing them in Spirit and Truth.  Doing this is more of an individual act and not just as part of the congregation.  God knows which is done by His Spirit and His Word. 

     This might upset some people, but God guides His people through His Word and His Spirit.  We should put money in the offering plate and offer it as worship unto God.  We mustn't just give ten percent of our income, but tithe by our words and His Words, as worship.  You might ask, "Aren't they the same amount?  Yes, but "those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."  Jesus says in John4:23(Amp), "The Father is seeking just such people as these, as His worshippers."

     Jesus told the people in the Temple, who were offering sacrifices, that "by their traditions, they made the Word of God of no effect."  Many today are making God's Word of no effect, by their traditions and rituals.  I seek to know God and not just know about Him by religion.  I want to know Him like Jesus knew Him and as Adam knew Him before his transgression.  I want to walk with God as my Father and hear Him when He speaks to me.  I want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, instead of being in the dark about Who He really is in me.  This is Eternal Life.  It means to know God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  What an honor.   

Knowing God Lesson 17

      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."

     This is awesome scripture comes with a realization that we have the opportunity to actually know and understand the Creator of the Universe for ourselves.  We have the opportunity to have a personal friendship and enter God's Presence, so we can know Him.  Many never pursue the open door into His Presence.  We prefer to stay in the Outer Court and believe that we can only enter God's Presence when we die and go to Heaven.

     We are God's family and He is our Father.  God's family was separated from Him by Adam's transgression, but Jesus' Resurrection restored us back to God.  God never stopped or forgot His quest to get His family back.  This cost Him everything He had, which was His Only Begotten Son, Jesus.  Why then, do we live like God is apart from us?

     Jesus said in John10:9(Amp), "I Am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out (freely) and will find pasture."  Through Jesus, we can do like Heb.4:16(Amp) which says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy for our failures and find Grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well-timed help), coming just when we need it."

     The sounds coming from the world today, are so loud and persistent that we can barely hear God's Voice.  Jesus said in Mark4:23-25(Amp), "If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him perceive and comprehend And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure (of thought and study) you give (to the knowledge) that comes back to you-and more (besides) will be given to you who hear.  For to him who has (ears to hear) will more be given; and from him who has nothing (no ears to hear); even what he has will be taken away (by force)."

     We know from John10:10(Amp) that, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy."  And we know Jesus' "The Parable of the Sower" in Mark4:4(Amp) that, "Satan comes at once, and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."  It's of utmost importance, that we know and have a personal relationship with the Father.  When we know, understand, perceive, recognize and become acquainted with the Father, then we can hold onto and understand what He says to us.  And, in order to do this, we must "have ears to hear."

     God is revealing many things to His people in these Last Days, so we can be more secure in His Word and His Love.  These times of Revelation have prove that many things we've accepted through the years are untrue.  Many of things were learned, pertained to the Law and not the new creation family we've become through Jesus.  God's ideas about His family aren't always what we were taught from man's ideas.

     When we allow God's Word and His Holy Spirit to reveal His Love, then we'll come into a closer fellowship and union with the Father.  Bad things still happen to people who know the Lord, so we assume it must be God Who is doing them.  We still live in a fallen world and satan is still the god of this world, according to 2Cor.4:4(Amp) which says, "For the god of this world has blinded the unbeliever's mind, that they should not discern the Truth, preventing them from seeing the Illuminating Light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ the Messiah, Who is the Image and Likeness of God."

     We might be believers who are born-again, but we still walk in degrees of unbelief, because satan has blinded our minds to many wonderful things about our salvation.  None of us wish to be "unbelieving believers," but many of today's Christians still don't accept things the Father has made available to us.  Jesus told the people that, "By your traditions and rituals, you have made the Word of God of no effect."

     We've established our own rituals and traditions in the Church today, and like those Jesus spoke too, we fight to maintain them.  It's difficult to deceive those who've built a personal relationship with the Father.  We not only hear, but we pray about what we're hearing, in order to receive confirmation from the Holy Spirit.  In order to know His Voice,  requires that we have personal relationship with Him.

     I believe that God will give us warning before something happens to us.  If we will listen, then He will "lead us in paths of Righteousness, for His Namesake."  God will help us avoid the paths of the destroyer and will guide us in His Light, if we will listen.  Jesus prayed for God to "deliver us from the evil."

Knowing God Lesson 16

     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."

     The Holy Spirit might be the most neglected Person of the God-Head, but He is the One Who has been sent into the world to reveal Jesus and the Father to the world and the Church.  When Jesus told His followers that He "must go away," they surely felt lost and hopeless.  Jesus explained why He must go and how they would be better off in John16:7(Amp), saying, "However, I am telling you nothing but the Truth when I say it is profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Stand-by) will not come to you (into close fellowship with you); but if I go away, I will send Him to you (to be in close fellowship with you)."

     Praying in the Power of Jesus' Name and reading the Word are good, but when we meditate on God's Word and fellowship with the Holy Spirit, He will reveal the secret things of God.  Jesus explained why the Holy Spirit was so important for the Church in John16:3(Amp), saying, "But when He (the Spirit of Truth, the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His Own Message (on His Own authority); but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father) He will give the Message that has been given to Him, and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."

     God spoke to Joshua about the Book of the Law, which is the scripture and new covenant, for us today in Joshua1:8-9(Amp), saying, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night; that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success! Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you god."

     Believers today are to take this Word and meditate on it day and night, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal God's directions into our spirit too.  2Tim.3:16(Amp) says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His Inspiration) and is profitable for reproof and correction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness (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."

     When we mediate on God's Word, we're communing with the Holy Spirit and He will reveal the hidden Truth and give us the Spiritual Revelation that our intellect cannot perceive.  Paul wrote to the Church in Rom.8:5-6(Amp), "For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit, set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death, but the mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and peace, now and forever."

     Paul wrote about renewing our minds in Rom.12:2(Amp), saying, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs, but be transformed (changed) by the enter renewal of your mind (by its new ideals and its new attitude) So that you may prove for yourselves what is the good and acceptable and the perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."

     The renewing of our mind comes by meditating and being in close fellowship with the Holy Spirit.  When we remain in steadfast contact with the Holy Spirit day and night, He will reveal the plans and directions God has for our lives.  Jesus instructed His followers in Matt.6:33(Amp), saying, "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and all these things taken together will be given you besides."

     We know God's way of doing and being right, when we meditate on His Word and fellowship with Him.  1John2:20(Amp) says, "But you have been anointed by, you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from the Holy One; and you know all the Truth or you know all things."  The Holy Spirit, Who lives within us, is God Himself living in our born-again spirit and He will transmit all the Truth to us.

Knowing God Lesson 15

     Jesus says in John17:3(Amp), "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."

     We must develop our relationship with the Holy Spirit, in order to know God.  Just prior to His going to the cross, Jesus told His disciples about the coming outpouring of the Holy Spirit, in John16:13-15(Amp), saying, "But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth Giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth), For He will not speak His Own Message (on His Own Authority); but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father (He will give the Message that has been given to Him) and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future). He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you."

     Rom.10:17(Amp) tell us that, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."  When  believers hear the Truth, by and from the Holy Spirit, it will bring faith into our spirit.  Jesus said in John16:13(Amp), "He, the Holy Spirit, will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth)."  Most people can read God's Word, but only the Holy Spirit can reveal, disclose, declare and transmit the Truth of the Word to us.  If we don't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, then we will have very little Revelation of the Truth of God's Word.  If we don't have Revelation, then we will have religion and man-made ideals of what the Father truly says in the Word.

    In Prov.29:18(Amp) God says, "Where there is no vision (no Redemptive Revelation of God) the people perish; but he who keeps the law (of God, which includes that of man), Blessed (happy, fortunate and enviable) is he."  The law here is the Law of God and not the Law of Moses.  When man-made laws are contrary to the Law of God, we must follow God's way, which is the Law of Truth.

     God speaks about the new covenant in Malachi2:1-4,6(Amp) and about Levi, the Priestly tribe in Verse6, saying, "The Law of Truth will be spoken by the new Priests."  God's Word is the Law of Truth.  1Pet.2:9(Amp) says, "But you are a chosen race; a royal priesthood, a dedicate nation, God's Own purchased special people), that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfection of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light."  The Truth of Jesus' Resurrection and the marvelous deeds He accomplished for us, are the Law of Truth.  This Truth is about the new creation person of God, which sets us free.

     Jesus fulfilled the Law of Moses and we now live in the Law of Truth, through the Power of Jesus.  John8:31-32(Amp) tells us, "So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My Word (hold fast to My teachings) and live in accordance with them, you are truly My disciples And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free."

     Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the Truth to us about the new priesthood and the new creation child of God we've become.  Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit in John6:63(Amp) saying, "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."  This is the Law of Truth about the new creation we've become through Jesus.

     We've been taught and received what theological persons that have no vision of the Power of Redemption.  Only the Holy Spirit can transmit this Revelation into our spirits.  We might know this by our intellect, but not have the Revelation of it in our spirit.  We will not be set free, without this.  We will still be held in condemnation, will be unable to put faith in our prayers and will not enter into the Father's Presence without this Revelation of the Holy Spirit. 

     John writes this about the Church in 1John3:21(Amp), "And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us (if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us) we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God."  Only the Law of Truth can dispel guilt and condemnation from our hearts.  The righteousness we have in Jesus, is the Law of Truth.  

     The Holy Spirit might be the most neglected Person of the God-Head, in our Christian walk.  But, Jesus said that we will be better off when the Holy Spirit comes, even better than when Jesus Himself was on earth.  Jesus says in John16:7(Amp), "However, I am telling you nothing but the Truth when I say it is more profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter, Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessory, Strengthener, Stand-by, will not come to you (in close fellowship with you); but if I go away, I will sent Him to you (to be in close fellowship with you)."

    

Knowing God Lesson 14

     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." 

     It's been difficult for most of us to "know" God, because we've tried to know Him by our natural mind and it's way of thinking.  Jesus says in John4:24(Amp), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."

     After we're born of God through the Spirit, we have the ability to know Him by the Spirit Who lives in us.  Jesus says in John6:63(Amp), "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."

     So many believers struggle with our relationship with the Father, without connecting to Him like we wish.  We've attended different churches and fellowships of varying doctrines, hoping to be filled with Truth that will help us walk according to God's Word.  We can be taught the Revelation knowledge of God's Word, but it must get into our own spirit to become Revelation to us.  It might be Truth and Spirit, but it must go from our intellect and into our spirit, in order to make it ours.

     Everything Jesus spoke was "Spirit and Truth," but He spoke to those who walked by Law and sacrifice, so the hearers remained carnal in their thinking.  Paul wrote about those he ministered to in Rom.10:2(Amp) saying, "I bear them witness that they have a (certain) zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge."

     The people couldn't understand the Revelation Paul was preaching, because of their unrenewed minds.  They had "zeal and enthusiasm" for God and they truly wanted to know the Father, but that could only come through God's Word and the Spirit.  Like so many believers today, they fashioned religious reasons why it didn't work in their lives.  Many true Christian, born-again persons who attend church, still have little idea Who God is.

     Jesus said in John6:63(Amp), "The Words (Truths) that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."  We have the ability to read the Words by our intellect, but we don't have Revelation of them in our spirit.  This requires meditating on, reflecting on and allowing the Spirit Word to be revealed as Spirit and Life to our spirit.  God's Word must be received into our spirit, before it becomes Revelation knowledge to us.

     Spiritual Truth to a carnal, unrenewed mind, is just religion and not reality.  The people Paul wrote about had a zeal for God, but it was without knowledge.  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."  Prov.29:18(Amp) goes on, "Where there is no vision (no redemptive Revelation of God) the people perish; but he who keeps the Law (the Word of God), Blessed, happy, fortunate is he."  

     Psalm119:130(Amp) says, "The entrance and unfolding of Your Words give Light, their unfolding gives understanding, discernment and comprehension to the simple."  Paul writes to the believers in Col.1:9(Amp), saying, "For this reason we also from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom, in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."

     Jesus tells His followers in Matt.6:63(Amp), "Seek (aim at and strive after) first of all, His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right); and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."  We have our right standing and righteousness of God, by faith in Jesus.  If we don't have Revelation knowledge of this though, then we will struggle walking in God's way of doing and being right.

     The Kingdom of Heaven is a place.  The Kingdom of God is a method of doing what the Kingdom works by.  Jesus said in Matt.18:18(Amp), "Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth, must be what is already forbidden in Heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and unlawful on earth must be what is already permitted in Heaven."  Jesus told His followers in Matt.6:9-10(Amp), "Pray like this; Our Father Who is in Heaven, hallowed (kept Holy) is Your Name Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."  

     When we know the Father in Spirit and Truth, we will know what is proper or improper and what is lawful and unlawful.  We will know what is according to God's way of doing and being right.

Knowing God Less 13

      In John17:3(Amp) Jesus 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." 

     As part of His family, we should not only know Who our Father is, but also know Him by His character and His Person.  We shouldn't rely on the world or others to find out what His will and His Heart is, for Hi children.  We should be able to define our Father, His will and His Heart for us, without depending on what others believe.

     I never needed to ask my friends or neighbors who my earthly father was or what his will and heart were for me.  I knew my earthly father by my acquaintance with him.  I spent time with him and knew what he expected of me.  He taught me about good manners and respect towards my elders.  He provided all my needs and kept me safe, so I didn't need to be fearful or feel like I didn't belong.  I know he loved me, by association with him.

     2Peter1:2-4(Amp) says, "May Grace (God's favor and peace), which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, and Spiritual prosperity and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts be multiplied to you in the full, personal, precise and correct knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For His Divine Power HAS bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and godliness through the FULL,PERSONAL knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own Glory and Excellence (virtue). By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great Promises, so that through them you may escape by flight from the moral decay, rottenness and corruption that is in the world because of covetousness, lust and greed, and become sharers (partakers) of the Divine nature."

     We need to have a "personal, precise and correct knowledge of God and Jesus."  Without this, we only have the opinion of what others think about Him.  We've been swayed by these opinions, instead of relying on a personal, precise and correct knowledge of Him, which we gain by seeking Him for ourselves.  Some might criticize or be hostile towards us, and try to persuade us to conform to what they believe.  We've heard so many things that are untrue about our Heavenly Father and have believed these things, because we haven't spent time in His Word and Presence, for ourselves.

     Our Father isn't the Author of sickness and disease, even though one of His children falls ill.  Sickness and disease are still in this world, but it wasn't our Father Who brought them.  I can't find anywhere in Genesis, where Adam and Eve were sick, until they separated themselves from God and His Blessing on and for them.  How long do you suppose they walked with Him in Eden, before Adam's fall?  It could have taken thousands of years, before satan could deceive them into rebellion against God.

     There was no sin, sickness, hunger, poverty, or death before Adam's transgression.  Adam and Eve were immortal in their bodies and Eternal in their spirit, like Jesus is now.  Jesus came to restore us back to the Father, in the fullness of the joy He had when bringing forth His children.  God brought mankind forth, in order to Love and fellowship with us, in all His Glory.  During His earthly ministry, Jesus brought restoration to the body and soul of those who needed healing and deliverance.  Jesus brought forth the Fullness of restoration by the Spirit into our born-again spirits, by His death and Resurrection.  In the day of Resurrection, we will once again be restored to what the Father's Original Intent was, when He brought family into being.

     It's not a matter of only when we get to Heaven, like it was in the first covenant.  Now, it's a matter of Heaven has come to earth through Jesus.  Through Him, we can live here by the spirit while we're still in the flesh, by His Spirit and the Authority given us through the Power of Jesus' Name.  God has never changed from His Original Intent, when He gave man the authority and dominion over everything that creeps on this earth in Genesis.  This has been restored by and through, the faith in the Name of Jesus.

     The Name of Jesus isn't a P.S. we finish our prayers with.  Faith in His Name, is the Power by which our prayers are answered.  God didn't give Jesus a Name, but THE NAME.  I met several people in Mexico who are named Jesus, but that's not THE NAME.  We find Paul preaching, with miracles following and casting out demons, in Acts19:13-15(Amp), when some Jewish exorcists began calling on the Name of Jesus too.  Thus Verses`4-15 say, "Seven sons of a certain Jewish Chief Priest named Scerva were doing this, but one evil spirit retorted, Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?"  They commanded the spirit to come out, but used a name and even the Name Paul had used, but they didn't know Jesus and had no faith in His Name.  Knowing Whose Name and having faith in His Name, is what changes things.  2Peter1:2-4(Amp) says we need a "personal, precise, and correct knowledge of God and His Son Jesus Christ."  The Name of Jesus isn't magic, but is Power when we know Him.  His Name can change anything and everything in our lives, if we will seek Him for ourselves.  We need to have personal knowledge of Him, instead of relying on a religious opinion of others.   

    

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."

    

Knowing God Lesson 9

     What is Eternal Life?  Before going to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays in John17:3(Amp), "And this is Eternal Life; it means to know, to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand You (God), the Only True and Real God, and likewise to know Him, Jesus, as the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."

     Our salvation and Eternal Life are more than just going to Heaven, they are knowing God.  So many of God's children still don't "know" Him.  Carnal minded men have turned what Jesus did on Calvary's cross into a religion, instead of a relationship.  We struggle with man's idea of Who God is, because they're based on the first covenant under the Law of Moses and not on the Law of Love, which brought forth the relationship of Father and family.  We've missed out on coming into God's Presence, in order to know Him as Father, like God dreamed and planned.

     Many believe God is displeased and angry with our slightest mistake, instead of seeing a Father watching His children grow.  We keep trying to please Him with our efforts and works, instead of the prescribed way found in Heb.11:6(Amp), which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."

     Why is it so important to be in faith, when we seek Him out?  Because, the only way to really know God, is by faith in His Love and His Word.  When we approach the Father in any other way, it's by our own efforts, instead of the avenue His Love has provided.  When we come to Him in faith, we believe what He's done, more than what we have done.  We keep trying to become righteous in God's eyes by our own efforts, instead of by faith in His Great Love which made us righteous by Jesus' Sacrifice. 

     When we come to know God, we can, by His Love, trust Him as Father, instead of what man's opinions teach He is.  When we come to know Him like a child knows his/her father, we can stop reaching out to man-made religious laws and traditions.  We seem to forget that it was by God's Own will that He gave birth to His Own offspring.  It pleases God to have us in His House.

     Why do we continue working to earn or qualify what God has already provided two thousand years ago, when He raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him as Lord and the Firstborn of the family?  We don't have to earn righteousness, because it's already been provided.  We don't need to qualify for God's Blessing, because it's already been Promised and provided.  Man's quest for God has fostered "hoops" which we contrive to jump through.  Man's way lists certain tasks we're to perform, in order to make God move on our behalf.  These come from not knowing God.

     God's children still try approaching Him, like those under the Law did.  This fails to please Him.  If God had been pleased with this approach, then He wouldn't have needed a new and better covenant through Jesus.  God didn't want us in the Outer Court, but wants us to come boldly into His Throne Room of Grace, any time we wish to enter.  We don't need to work for God's Blessing, but need to receive it by faith in what Jesus has already paid for on our behalf.  When we try earning it through another way, then we're disregarding and not having faith in what Jesus did.

     When we spend time in the Father's Presence, talking and listening to His heart, we discover what the "rest" Jesus Promised is.  Jesus said in Matt.11:28-30(Amp), "Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and over-burdened, and I will cause you to rest. I will ease and relive and refresh your souls Take My yoke upon you and lean on Me, for I Am gentle, meek, and humble and lovely in heart, and you will find rest, relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet for your souls For My yoke is wholesome, useful, Good not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant, and My burden is light, easy to be bourne."

     Heb.4:9-10(Amp) says, "So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God; for he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors, peculiarly His Own."  Heb.11:1(Amp) goes on, saying, "NOW FAITH (no longer Law, sacrifice, ritual, tradition or observance of holy days), but NOW FAITH is the assurance (confirmation, the title deed) of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."

     It pleases the Father when we have more faith in what He has done and rest in this faith, rather than relying on our our works.

Knowing God Lesson 8

     Jesus prayed in John17:2-3(Amp), "Just as You have granted Him [Jesus] power and authority over all flesh (all human kind) now glorify Him [Jesus] so that He may give Eternal Life to all Whom You have given Him 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 Messiah, the Anointed One) Whom You have sent."

     So many of God's children still don't know Him as He really is today.  The Name and Reality of our Heavenly Father, has been profaned and mistrusted over the centuries, because of the teachings and religious traditions taught in the Church.  We don't know which part of God's Word we can trust, because we've been trained to doubt His Word, by carnal interpretation instead of the Holy Spirit.

     We don't know God's will, so we don't pray in faith.  God's Word instructs us to "know and trust" His will.  When we don't have teachers who know God's will, then we can't be expected to know it either.  This is like sending our children to school without having a teacher and then expecting them to know how to write.  God's children have been trained to learn and not taught to think.  

     The Apostle writes in  1John2:19-20(Amp), "They went out from our number, but they did not really belong to us, for if they had been of us they would have remained with us. But they withdrew that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been appointed from, and have been given an unction from the Holy One and you all know the Truth, or you know all things."

     So many teachings mix the old and new covenants, making them one.  Paul told Timothy in 2Tim.2:15-16(Amp), "Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved, tested by trial, a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing, rightly handling and skillfully teaching the Word of Truth. But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness."

     Col.1:8-15((Amp) instructs us to rightly divide the Word of Truth for ourselves, so we can know God's will for ourselves.  Verse 9 says, "For this reasons, we also, from the day we heard of it (their love in the Holy Spirit) have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things."

     The Holy Spirit Paul to pray the prayer above for the Church in Colossians and to reveal this petition for and to the modern-day Church, so that we could know and understand the Father's will too.  I read something and have held onto it throughout the years, which says, "Faith begins where the will of God is known."  If I don't know whether my prayer is God's will or not, then I'm not praying in faith, but I'm just making a wish, without expecting an answer.  We've fostered religious excuses for not knowing God and our own lack of faith.  This dishonors the Father and the Great Sacrifice that brought His Promises to us, through Jesus.  

     The Promises of the old covenant are now all "Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus," and we must find out what and who they are for.  We must understand how God dealt with the first covenant people and why He did this, while understanding why and how He deals with us in the new covenant.  The first covenant was with carnal, spiritually dead persons, so God established the Law and sacrifice which temporarily covered their sin.  The new covenant is for a new creation people who are now alive unto God, by Jesus' Sacrifice.  God deals with us by His Word and the Holy Spirit and our sins have been totally wiped away by Jesus' Blood.

     God no longer needs to deal with the flesh or senses of His people, but by and through our new creation spirit man/woman.  The Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write about this in 2Tim.3:16(Amp), which 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 disobedience, and for training in righteousness (in holy living), in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action. So that the man of God may be complete, proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every Good work."

     God doesn't use sickness, trials or calamities to teach us.  We grow by His Word and His Spirit.        

Knowing God Lesson 7

     Too many children of God don't know they have access to God's Throne Room of Grace and can receive Grace and mercy at their time of need, like Heb.4:16 says.  Many don't know we have the privilege of accessing the Presence of our Heavenly Father, in order to fellowship, receive Revelation and gain understanding from Him. 

     Rom.5:2-5(Amp) says, "Through Him, Jesus, we also have our access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor) in which we firmly and safely stand. And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God. Moreover, let us also be full of joy now, let us exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character, approved faith and tried integrity and character of this sort produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's Love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us."

     Understanding the things happening in today's world requires faith in God's Word.  We must hold fast to the Truth of God's Word.  It's paramount that we stay in fellowship and have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father, so we can hear and recognize His Voice.  We must know that when hardships and troubles come before us, that it's the enemy and not our Father who is bringing them.  James writes about being "double-minded," in James1:8(Amp), saying, "For being as he is a man of two-minds, hesitating, dubious, irresolute; he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels and decides."  If we are double-minded, then we won't be able to know who our enemy is and Whom our help comes from.

     Many Christians believe that when troubles arise in their lives, that "God is testing them," instead of knowing the enemy is testing their faith and trying to cause them to give up their walk with God.  If we don't know who is the cause of our troubles, then we are "double-minded and unstable and unreliable in everything we think, feel and decide."  We must know the Father for ourselves, not just relying on the teachings and opinions of others.  We must spend time in God's Word and in His Presence.

     Most believers can quote Rom.10:17(Amp), but don't hold it in their hearts.  Thus, Paul writes, "So faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the Message that came from the lips of Christ, the Messiah Himself."  One can't have faith to come into intimate fellowship and understanding with God, if he/she has never heard it preached.  If we don't know God has invited us to be in His Presence at any time, then how can we know Him as "Father," and not just God.

     Our Father is the Almighty God and he has Blessed us and made us His family, through the Life, death and Resurrection of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus.  Surely, God would never deny our fellowship with Him after going to such lengths to return us to Himself.  We need to spend quality time with Him in prayer, conversation, and fellowship.  We have this open invitation to Him, through Jesus.

     It's marvelous to know we're going to Heaven when we die, but it's even greater to know Him while we're here on earth.  If we're double-minded, then we'll be uncertain we can know Him.  Faith comes by hearing, so our faith will be strongest in what we choose to hear.  It matters whether we choose to hear the Truth of God's Word or the world's lies, because that's where we will put our faith.  

     Go with me into God's Word concerning the "trials and tests" that come upon us in this world.  Choose what you're hearing for your life, here in this world.  Let's stop being double-minded and know where to stand in faith.  Is.54:13-15(Amp) says, "All your spiritual children shall be disciples taught by the Lord and obedient to His will; and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children. You shall establish yourself in righteousness (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." 

     Notice the above scriptures says that "You are to be the one who establishes yourself in His Righteousness."  This comes only be hearing and accepting the Word God speaks.  We choose whether we will listen to God's Holy Spirit and receive His Gift of Righteousness in faith or put our faith in what others say.  God has set forth an open door before us, according to Is.1:18-19(Amp), which says, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land."

     Not long after being saved, the Lord called me to move to New York from Illinois.  I left my home, my mom and siblings, my job and my roots, trusting that God will take care of my family and me.  I gave up everything I knew, in order to obey His request.  Nothing seemed to work for me and I was certainly not "eating the good of the land."  I brought my frustration to the Lord and in my own justification, quoted the above scripture.

     God's response to me was very simple.  He said, "If you are willing and obedient, then you will eat the good of the land."  He showed me how I had been obedient, but my will was against Him.  He showed me how I was continually murmuring and complaining about the move, while looking back to my former home.  God had looked at my heart and found me to be unwilling to be obedient to Him.  I was like those in the Wilderness, whose continual complaints grieved and limited God.  I have remained where God called me, through fellowship and an intimate relationship with Him.  I've weathered many storms by faith in my relationship with Him, choosing not to be double-minded in His Wisdom and guidance.  I choose to hear from God and not the world.

Knowing God Lesson 6

    Just before entering the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said in John17:3(Amp), "And this is eternal Life: it means to know, perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the Only True and Real God."

     Although Heaven and being in a place of God's Glory for all eternity are part of the Blessing, Knowing and walking with God on this side of Heaven in the intimacy of His great Love and Wisdom, are of great importance.  Many have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but still don't "know" Him and the Father Who sent Him.

     Paul writes in Phil3:10(Amp), "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him; perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and move clearly, and that I might in the same way come to know the Power outflowing from His Resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His Likeness even to His death in hope; That if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral Resurrection that it lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body."

     Many saved children of God only have a secondhand acquaintance with the Father.  We've been taught and heard many things that if we truly "knew" Him, then we would never believe.  Religion, with its carnal thinking and understanding, have only distorted the real natural and character of our Heavenly Father.  

     The only "natural" Image of our Father, is the Man, Christ Jesus.  Even after seeing Him in the flesh and as a Man, we're still unsure and view the Father as being an altogether different and separate Being.  We still can't distinguish the differences between the old and new covenant Father.  God dealt with the persons of the old covenant, who were spiritually dead, in a different way that He does with those of us who are Alive in Christ.  If we can't do this, then we will be hindered in knowing Him.  If we think our Father puts sickness and trials on His children, then we don't really know Him.  We know Who He really is, when we spend time in conversation and fellowship with Him.  We must sit at His table, hear and learn from Him. in order to overcome the misconceptions we have of Him.

     We can't really know anyone, unless we have spent time with that person.  If we don't know the Father, then our prayers aren't based in faith, because we don't know if He will answer them.  When we know Him and learn what His will is for us, then we will pray in confidence.  1John5:14-15(Amp) says, "And this is the confidence, the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in Him; we are sure that if we ask anything, make any request according to His will, in agreement with His Own Place, He listens to and hears us. And if since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him."

     This is a prayer of faith and not the "shoot the moon" kind of praying full of uncertainty it will come to pass.  Gal.5:6(Amp) says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."  When we know Him, we know the Love He has for us, which gives us confidence in Him."  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, and those who continue and dwell in love, dwells and continues in God; and God dwells and continues in Him."  

     Knowing God is  knowing His Love.  Most of us see God's Love through the natural love we have for one another.  Man's love is fragile and can be lost by an unkind action or wrongdoing against us.  God's Love is based on His Own Nature and Character.  God's Love "never failed."  We will know the Father and the Fullness of His Love, by spending time with Him in personal fellowship and intimacy.  God's children must talk with Him and ask questions of Him, while listening to Him and learning from Him. 

      If we don't ask questions, then we won't get the answer.  If we don't His will, then we won't be confident that He answers our prayers.  Jesus said, "My sheep know My Voice."  This comes by personally spending time and fellowshiping in His Presence.  God' Word, Jesus, is God's will and we can learnt to know God watching Jesus in the natural and seeing Him in the Word.

     We must not rely on the opinion someone else has about God's Word and will.  We must spend time in His Word and Presence for ourselves.  Is God the One Who puts sickness, tries and tests us, in order to teach us something?  Or, is He the One Who put all that on Jesus for us, so He could deal with us by His Spirit and Word?  Jesus came to do the Father's will.  Did He ever make someone sick, put hardship on someone or tell someone that their sickness "came from God?"  Did Jesus ever put the Curse of the Law on the people?  No, Jesus said He came to preach the Blessing, healing and liberty from the Law and the Curse, quoting Isaiah 61 in Luke 4.  Gal.3 tells us that "He bore the Curse of the Law, so the Blessing could come upon us."  2Tim.3:16 tells us that, "God now directs, corrects, convicts, and teaches us by His Word." 

     We must learn to know Him, so we can walk in the Fullness of His Love, in unbroken fellowship with Him, even while we're here in this world.  Jesus said in John17:3(Amp), "And this is Eternal Life; it means to know, perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand You, the only True and Real God."  It's up to every individual to know Him.  He wants to know us. 

    

Knowing God Lesson 5

      Jesus said 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 tells us in John6:63(Amp), "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."

     Gen.1:27(Amp) says, "So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them."  Gen.2:7(Amp) says, "Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the Breath or Spirit of Life, and man became a living being."

     Notice that man was in the Image and Likeness of God, before his body was formed from the earth.  Our bodies aren't made in the Image and Likeness of God, our new creation spirit is.  Jesus was Spirit, before He was flesh.  Jesus said, "When you have seen Me, you have seen the Father," referring to the works the Father did through Him and not to the way He looked in His Human Form.

     All of mankind is spirit, made in the Image of God, but Adam's transgression caused us to be separated from God.  Jesus said in John10:10(Amp), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (the the full, till it overflows)."  Jesus was speaking to people who were alive in their flesh, but were dead in spirit.

     When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree in the Garden, they died and were separated from God Who is Life, in their spirit.  They were still made in God's Image and Likeness as spirit beings, but their spirits were no longer united with the Holy Spirit and the Father.  Remember, Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life-Giver), the flesh profits nothings."

     Jesus is the Firstborn and is the Head of His Body, the Church, according to Col.1:18(Amp) which says, "He also is the Head of His Body (the Church); seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the Chief Place (stand First and be preeminent)."  Jesus wasn't the first person raised from physical death, but Spiritual death.  Jesus Himself raised many from physical death during His earthly ministry, so He wasn't the Firstborn from physical death, but Spiritual death.  Jesus was separated from His Own Father on the cross, like Adam was.  Jesus took our place and bore our punishment.  He was judged as a man and was pronounced "not guilty," by the Judge of all creation.  Jesus was raised for our justification and through Him, we can now be made alive again, to and through God the Father.

     Adam was created a spirit, in the Image of God.  Adam was an individual spirit, but through Jesus, the new creation people have been made to be "one Spirit with God," according to Col.2:9-10(Amp) which says, "For in Him (Jesus) the whole fullness of Deity (the God-Head) continues to dwell in bodily form, giving complete expression to the Divine nature. And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of Life, in Christ you too are filled with the God-Head (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and reach full Spiritual stature, and He is the Head of all rule and authority of every angelic principality and power."

     1Cor.6:17,19(Amp) says, "But the person that is united with Christ the Lord, becomes one spirit with Him. Do you not know that your body is the Temple (the very sanctuary), of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received as a Gift from God? You are not your own."

     1Cor.15:44(Amp) says, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a Super-natural, a spiritual body, As surely as there is a natural body (physical body), there is also a spiritual body."  We're born-again, new creation persons who have already received a new spiritual body which has become the very natural and Presence of God.  God's children will receive a new body from the natural body, when it's raised at Jesus' Return.  1John3:2(Amp) says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children, it is not yet disclosed and made clear what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifest, we shall as God's children, resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is."

     The physical bodies are a house that our spirits live in while we're still on earth.  God says it's already "the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Ark of the Covenant and God's home on earth.

Knowing God Lesson 4

      John8:19(Amp) says, "Then they said to [Jesus], Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me; If you knew Me, you would know My Father also."

     Many of God's children still debate the "mystery" of creation and Eden, saying they are "Parables."  They question why God made mankind and gave him dominion over all this earth.  Some wonder why there were two trees in the Garden and who was in control of them and why?  And, how did the serpent get into the Garden of Eden?

     If you don't know God, then you don't know the mystery of these questions or know the answers to them.  Did God intend for Adam to fail or did Love give Adam free will to choose for himself?  Let's remember that Jesus was and still is, the Word of God and that He was crucified before the foundation of the world.

     When God put forth His Word over Adam and this earth, it was irreplaceable and "forever settled."  When God spoke His Word, there was no other choice but to "watch over it to perform it."  The Word was made flesh, which was crucified and fulfilled in Jesus.  God's Promise of His Word was made to man and it still stands today, just like when He spoke it.  

     God's Word, Jesus, is still in place like it was in the beginning, whether or not we know or believe it.  Heb.1:5,6(Amp) says, "For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are My Son, today I have begotten You, established You in an official Sonship relation, with Kingly dignity? AND AGAIN, I will be to Him a Father and He will be to Me a Son?"

     Verse 6 goes on, "Moreover, when He brings the Firstborn Son AGAIN into the habitable world, He says, Let all the angels of God worship Him."  It was God's Word that brought His Son to begin with and it was His Word that fulfilled itself when God said, "Today I have begotten You."  The "again" is the fulfilling of God's Word when He said, "Let Us make man in Our Image and Likeness," that created him.  

     God didn't crucify Jesus before creation and before making mankind.  His Word created mankind and it was His Word that maintained itself through Jesus, the "Word made flesh," which cannot fail and is exalted even above His Name.  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."  If His Name is not good and proven, then His Name wouldn't hold honor either.

     When God made mankind and put forth His Word which created him, then God's Word was on the line to perform what He had spoken about mankind and His Word, Jesus, which brought forth mankind into being and was crucified in order to uphold what the Father spoke and was exalted even above His Name.  Mankind would need to be in the true Nature of God, in order to be in His Image and Likeness.  God gave mankind a will, so he/she could make decisions and be sons and daughters, not servants.  God didn't make puppets who would be obedient to the one who pulled the strings.  God made sons and daughters who would walk with Him out of love, honor and respect.  God made mankind to be His family and not servants.  

     Adam had free will to choose for himself, just like we do today.  We're free will agents, who make the decision to walk with God as sons and daughters.  Through Jesus, we decide to accept God's offer or deny it.  God's Word has given us this right.  The serpent in the Garden wasn't a tool God used to test Adam and Eve.  Adam failed to use the authority God gave him, to guard and protect the Garden.  Adam. instead, allowed the serpent to enter.  

     1Cor.3:9(Amp) says, "For we are fellow workmen, joint promoters, laborers together with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under construction, you are God's building."  Like it was with the First Adam, through Jesus, we've been placed back into what the Father did in the beginning.  We have dominion restored through Jesus.  We have the same job that Adam had and are to guard, tend and keep the garden like Adam was to do.

     Prov.4:23(Amp) says, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of Life."  The serpent is still loose and uses the same weapons against God's children.  We must guard the Garden God has chosen.  Matt.18:19(Amp) says that what we "bind or loose, is what God will bind or loose."  Our job is to guard and protect our garden, and not allow the serpent to enter.  Even today, we find there is a Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God never told Adam and Eve they couldn't partake of the Tree of Life in the center of the Garden, but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Adam and Eve had the choice and we have the same choice today.  Jesus is the Word and Spirit, and the Tree of Life.  The Tree of Good and Evil is still here too, as is the same serpent.

     Rom.8:6(Amp) tells us, "Now the mind of the flesh, which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit is death, death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter. But the Mind of the Holy Spirit is Life and soul peace both now and forever."  Both Trees are still present today, so we must guard our hearts and choose to eat from the Tree of Life that God offers.

     Gal.6:7-8(Amp) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned, disdained or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by his precepts being set aside, he inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap."

Knowing God Lesson 3

     Most Christians have some understanding of Jesus did on the cross, when He took our place.  However, we've lost sight of what Jesus did for us in His Resurrection.  Jesus became what we were, so we could become what He is.

     Jesus was separated from the Father, so we could be united with Him again.  Jesus took our failures and spiritual death, in order to give us Life and unite us with the Father.  God made us to be the Righteousness of God, in Christ Jesus.  The most awesome thing that came through Jesus and His Sacrifice, is that He made it possible for be where the Father created us to be, before the transgression in the Garden.

     The Father fashioned us to be His family and to always be in His Presence.  The first Adam fell under the lies and deception of safe, when he accepted the lie satan offered him.  Jesus went into the same place of temptation, but never yielded to it.  He did what Adam should have done, which is use God's Word as His defense against sin.

     We have that same defense that Jesus used, against the trials and temptations of satan.  Eph.6:17(Amp) says, "Take the helmet of salvation and the Sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God."  We must use Spiritual weapons, in order to do warfare in the Spirit realm.  We'll lose every battle that satan brings, if we try to defeat him by carnal weapons.  The first thing a person does in boot camp, is to learn how to use the weapon issued to them.  

     We must know God's Word, in order to use it as a weapon against the enemy and that comes by knowing and trusting the weapons issued to us.  Many believers aren't familiar with the Word, which leaves them defenseless against the enemy's strategies.  We must know God's Word, so we know whether God is putting sickness on us or the enemy is trying to steal, kill and destroy us, so that we can confidently use the Word as a Spiritual weapon against the sickness.

     When we're double-minded about our Heavenly Father and His Word, then we can become prey for the enemy.  We learn the what the weapons of God are and how to use them in 2Cor.10:3-5(Amp).  This scripture tells us that if we don't know the Father for ourselves, then we can be swayed and conform to what others say.  Thus, Paul writes, "For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (weapons of the flesh and blood), but they are might before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. In as much as we refute the arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God, and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

     Many theories, arguments and reasonings have been taught and passed down through generations, but simply because they're generational, doesn't mean they're true.  Man's reasonings and theories have no power to overcome the enemy, because they are carnal weapons.  God's Church is in a place of doubt and unbelief in God's Word, because we haven't learned God's Word.

     We don't know whether God is our problem or if He's our Answer.  We don't know if God uses trials and sickness to teach us or if He has provided the way to overcome through His Word.  We don't know whether God uses His Word to lead and correct us or if He use the things of the world and flesh to do so.  Some think that God uses satan to fulfill His Plan of Redemption, instead of doing this by Himself.  Why would God even think about using satan to teach or correct His Own children?  Why would God use the very thing that Jesus bore on the cross to redeem us, in order to teach us?

     We somehow still see ourselves as old covenant people, who God deals with by the flesh instead of by the spirit.  We need to be trained by the Word and Spirit.  We must believe in God's Promises and believe what His Word says about who we are now in Christ Jesus.

     Is God still our Healer or does He use sickness to teach us?  Is Jesus still our Redeemer or are we still under the Curse of the Law?  Are we still walking under the Law or did Jesus fulfill all the Law and the prophets, like He said?  We know God through His Word and through Jesus, according to Heb.1:3(Amp), which says, "He (Jesus) is the Sole Expression of the Glory of God (the Light-Being and Outraying or Radiance of the Divine): and He (Jesus) is the Perfect Imprint and Very Image of God's Nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His Mighty Word of Power. When He, by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sin and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the Right Hand of the Divine Majesty on High."

     We know God the Father, by knowing Jesus.  Jesus said, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father.  Jesus didn't mean that He "looked" like God, but that everything Jesus did was God doing the work.  If Jesus didn't put or use sickness on people, then God doesn't do it either.  If Jesus didn't hold back mercy, truth or Blessing, then God doesn't do it either.  Jesus taught His disciples about their being cleansed, in order to bear fruit like He did, in John15:3(Amp), saying, "You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the Word which I have given you (the teachings I have discussed with you)."  

     If we wish to be cleansed and pruned, in order to bear more and better fruit, then we must let God's Word and the Holy Spirit to do the job.  We've already been judged and acquitted by Jesus' Blood, so we mustn't look for trails or sickness to do so.  Jesus told us to look to the Word to cleanse and prune us.  Jesus is the Word become flesh, Who is our Source.  Jesus is the Exact Likeness of God.  If Jesus didn't do it, then God doesn't do it either.  We must know Him."