I can’t tell you how thrilling it was when I realized one day that God loved me and that Jesus died for me….and furthermore, that God wanted to know me intimately and be a friend to me.  I read this passage:

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. "

"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.  In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him."    - John 14:15-21

On what day?  On the day that you are enabled to see Him even though the rest of the world cannot.  On that day, I knew what He meant in saying that I would “know”.  This saying “in My Father and you in Me” began to make sense.  Keeping His commandments was troublesome for a while, until I realized that what He was referring to was the guiding voice of the Spirit and the result of this pattern of behavior is the disclosure of Jesus Himself to me!!!  Wow!  What a promise!

Now it is not enough to simply know scripture and know the names of God in my head, but now I “know” that I can know Him in my heart as a trustworthy friend and ally in the midst of trouble.  It is no longer satisfactory to understand with just my head, now my understanding goes deeper down into my heart.  Truth is I don’t understand everything with my head anyway, and no matter how much I study, my brain just can’t take it all in.

But my heart (spirit) has the capacity to absorb all of who God is as He chooses to reveal Himself to me and through all the questions and doubts I might have I am comforted by Him because of the trust we have.  This personal intimate walk is fueled by the practice of obedience to the Holy Spirit with the certain promised that in so doing He will reveal Himself to me.  As I receive this truth, I walk in freedom to do His will while I live.

In Him I live and move and have my being

Make a joyful noise, Sing unto the Lord

Tell Him of your love, dance before Him,

Hallelu, Hallelujah!

Ask yourself this morning…do I really know Him?

If the answer is no, then you can begin the journey of knowing Him through a simple prayer of faith…by inviting Him into your heart.  If you pray and ask Him to begin directing your life, the Bible assures us that by that simple act of faith, even small faith, can grown into a tree large enough for birds to roost in.

If the answer is yes, then you can step up to the next rung on your way to the kingdom of God by yielding your will to His.