What do you know, anyway?

I have watched, studied and made notes (yes, for you people that were or are a little strange, I may have a spiral notebook or two with your name on it...and they are full! Actually, just general mental notes is all) on people through the years.  For example, I know a pastor that thinks he is "free" but rules the church, he is supposed to be watching over, like his father ruled and absolutely dominated him. A friend and I reviewed the people our own age and generally found that the ones that grew up in a household DOMINATED by the wife/mother had a hard time with God through the late teens and at least through the twenties (please note I didn't say a strong mother, but one that ruled over the father/husband)  Anyway... without seeing and getting free. a lot of us feel and relate to God the Father as we see or perceive Him through our parentage, more specifically our fathers.

Daniel 11:32 ... but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

The key words in this partial verse for us is "know their God".  What do you really know of Him?  What is your perception?  Is He a hard task master?  Unloving?  Unforgiving?  Do you have to continually work to get His approval?  Getting past our Book knowledge may be harder for some  (which I find is most of us) and realize what it is that we really think, act and respond to.  If we think He is unforgiving we may frequently deal we past sins by repenting over and over for them even if they are in the past.  Is your worth to Him what you can do for Him and it's only as you keep busy that you feel loved or accepted or worthy?  We all for the most part have an incorrect perception of Him and act or think accordingly toward Him and others.
God recently took me to this verse:


Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

The part that He was after me to see and understand was "He ever liveth to make intercession".  A drug addicted person ever liveth for the next fix.  Anyone addicted to anything is consumed for the "fulfillment or acquisition" of the act or substance and will do about anything to get it.  This verse says that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us!  Who cares if we have a praying mother (not diminishing or discouraging any of you to pray) we also have Jesus doing it for us and He gets His prayers answered, if any of us do.  It is His passion! And He has the Fathers ear!  Selah (stop and think about that, shall we?  Yes, we shall!)
Why or how could you fail on your next God thing that you do because Jesus is interceding for you while you do it!  You talk about a new found boldness and confidence!  If you don't know this you may just wimp out and not even try because you really don't know how passionate and motivated He is about you.  Again in Hebrews 12 it says ..."for the joy set before Him endured the cross"   What is that joy?  It was the reward of having you and I with Him forever and seeing us be with the Father that drove Him to endure.
So, I ask again what do you know...anyway?

Are you ready… ?(the rest is not… for some football, if you don’t get that, just move on)

I have been working on renovating my future son-in-law’s house for the last couple weeks.  On the way, to and from the house, I pass by the Fox Creek Christian Church.  They, in their infinite wisdom, bought one of those signs that lights up their catch phrase of the week.  To say that it is prominent is an understatement, domineering to totally obnoxious would be getting closer (especially at night).  I have had four eye surgeries in the last 18 days or so because my retinas have been burned out by the overly bright and blinding bulbs that make up the individual parts of each letter (I now have to wear special “sun” glasses to shield my eyes during the night hours as I drive by that thing).  The brightness and coloration of the sign makes you want to stop and… beat the hell out of whoever is responsible (because no one in heaven would have had anything to do with making it therefore you would beat the hell out).  Anyway……..

Past signs have been “Been to church lately”, like I said to do what?  kick some #$@? (for the overly bright sign) and “God answers knee mail” isn’t that cute? Their sign for this week has been, “Are you ready to meet God?”.

Now, I know that they mean “If you were to die today…” .  What is in most “Christians” thinking is that when they die they will be meeting God, but they don’t realize the joy and experience that they can have with Him now.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Please note,  in this verse Jesus is not even bringing up the Holy Spirit, He is talking of the Father and Himself making a home in you!  Yes, we have the Holy Spirit and He resides in us, but don’t realize the potential of relationship or, as the sign says, “meet God” time that is available.  So often we limit the “relationship” to church time, prayer and reading time and the comfort it can provide, but we can have a continual communion with all three members of the Trinity.  We see such phrasing in the Bible such as “Abraham was a friend of God” or “Job walked with God” or “Moses talked with God face to face” and skim over it or put them in a “special men of God” category.  Look again at the part where He says “we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” this is talking of you and me and seems not something that is an automatic, this comes to someone that “loves me and keeps My words”, it speaks of a growth in relationship first then comes the live in relationship, almost like a marriage.  You thought you knew them before… just wait when you live with someone... you will find things out… (you discover things that you did not know  or even conceive about them) the good news is God has no down or weird sides, only goodness! Our relationship with God is often so restricted to our upbringing that we often limit it to that prior experience.  It is not until we hear of or see someone else’s relationship (and are challenged by it) or see a verse like John 14:23 that we can conceive what we have been missing and are awakened to a potential.  We must be careful and not get defensive because we have “missed out” or dismissive because of our traditions, but realize that “iron does sharpen iron”  (others will challenge the status quo in our life so that we can experience more of God). 

It really all starts with seeking Him.  It is not all that hard, but will involve time.  Look at it the same as  someone you are or were dating… there is a lot of just hold hands and walk time, without a lot of talking going on.  It will happen.