Do you know God?
Hey, everyone, it’s Tatiana. I’ve got a question for y’all today. Do you know God? That might seem like a strange question. You’re a believer, of course you know God. But do you? Really? More importantly, does God know you?
I have had some things on my mind that I wanted to share with you. I’ve seen what happens when a teenager or a young adult thinks she is a Christian but she isn’t. I’ve seen those everyone thought were believers be pulled away by the world. I’ve seen this and more and seen the pain it has caused to them, to their parents, and to those who loved them. It’s heartbreaking.
Many “believers” don’t know God
I believe that the problem is that many of us don’t really know God. We don’t pray, we don’t read His Word, we don’t obey Him, and we don’t trust Him. We don’t really know God so we don’t care. If we did know God, we would pray, read His Word, trust Him and obey Him. So what can we do? How do we get there? Where do we start? Here…
Pray
And I don’t mean “Dear God, Please let this be a good day and please help me to get a good score on my math test. In Jesus’ name. Amen. ” No, I mean sincere prayers, ones that truly come from the heart. When we know God, we will pray like we know Him. You can’t play at prayer. It isn’t like you’re talking to your best friend and are able to make jokes and fool around; no, you’re talking to your Lord and Savior!
You’re talking to the God that makes it possible for you to wake up every morning, who makes every breath possible. Without Him, you wouldn’t even be here to read this post! When you pray ask that you may know God and His will. Pray for guidance, for wisdom, and for understanding. And give Him time to answer. Don’t worry if it seems slow. Some prayers get answered immediately and many don’t. But even if the answer is no, God always answers.
God always answers our prayers but it is on His timetable, and in His way. Sometimes they don’t get answered the way we want them to, but they always get answered in the best way possible–a way that brings glory to God and is absolutely best for us.
Read His Word
Most people today (or at least some of the ones I’ve met!) don’t truly read His Word as they should. They find five minutes when they aren’t texting, playing a video game, working, reading or something else that takes up a good deal of time, and they sit down and open the Bible to some random book and without praying beforehand, without taking the time to realize that in most countries they would be killed just for having the Bible, they just read.
But Scripture tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3: 5-6, ESV) But they don’t take any of it to heart, they think “Oh sure I trust Him!” but they don’t mean it. When you read God’s Word think how blessed you are just to be able to do so. Take it to heart because every chapter in His Book is important! Understand it! The Bible won’t do you any good if you misconstrue it in some way.
Live for Him
Jesus died for His people! He went to an excruciating death for your sake! His Father poured out His wrath on Jesus in order that men might be saved. Without Him doing that for you, you would have no hope! You would never be good enough, none of us would. We’re too sinful. But because of His blood, we have a chance to live forever with Him.
He died for you, now it’s time for you to die to self. Know what that means? It means putting all of your worldly loves, everything that pulls you away from Him in any way, aside. The things of this world can’t and won’t save you; it’s time you go to the One who can.
Trust Him
Give Him your trust, don’t worry about what tomorrow might bring, don’t kill yourself with the “What if?” question. He made the Universe, He made everything that there ever was or will be, don’t you think He’s capable of doing what is right, for your good, for His glory, and in His time?
Please don’t take this lightly. Please take a moment to really think and to pray. It isn’t enough to say you know God. You must live for Him. The Lord said that many will say on that day that they are His servants but He will tell them to depart from Him because He doesn’t know them. So we must know God because we are known by Him. Only then will we hear “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
Thank you,
Tatiana
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
