That I May Know Him

I was talking to someone recently that asked the question, 'How do I know if I know God?' and I thought what a great topic for a study.  How do we know if we know Him?  How do we know Him?  Is there some kind of secret to knowing God?  Perhaps, but it is not a hidden secret, it is openly discussed by John in the Bible.

I remember years ago we got a new pastor in our church and when I saw his wife, I said to myself, 'I am going to be friends with that lady and get to know her'.  How did I go about achieving my goal of being her friend?  First, I started by just being friendly with her, then I started inviting them home for dinner quite often then we started spending time together, she taught me how to sew, and we spent time doing that, we joined a health spa together and spent a lot of time there, swimming and steaming.  We became fast friends, we spent time together and my friend if you are reading this today, I want you to know that I still love you and wish we could renew our times together.

What caused us to become fast friends?  Spending time together.  It is the same with God, if we don't spend time with Him, we shall never know Him, if we will know Him, we must spend time with Him, not just once in a while but every day, I think my friend and I talked every day.  Our families even vacationed together.
We spent time together.  That is the way we get to know God, spending time with Him. Abiding in Him.

John 15:4  "Abide in Me, and I in you, As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in Me."  We must abide in Him daily.

Verse 5  "I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."  Without Him we can do nothing."  That kind of tells it all doesn't it?  We must abide in Him because without Him we can do nothing.  Let me tell you my secret of abiding.  I get up early, so whatever is early to you and gives you some free time, then get up then.  I try very hard to remember to ask God to bless my time with Him, and He always does.  I then inquire of Him what do I need for this day?  And then you get this blog.  I get so wrapped up in my study that sometimes two hours pass and I can't believe it.  I put Him first and He never lets me down.  If for some reason things don't come together, I know that the fault is mine, I never blame Him because I know something is wrong in my life and I need to discuss it with Him and straighten it out so we can get on with our study.  You can do the very same thing, putting God first and when you do that, He honors your desire and verse 7 will come alive to you.

Verse 7  "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."  You don't have to do a blog, this is just my way of bearing fruit for His kingdom, but you can spend time with Him and if you do, you can ask what you desire of Him and it will be done for you.  What a great promise, we need to ask according to His will but isn't it His will to prosper us spiritually?  Of course it is, so ask Him to bless your study, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, ask Him to forgive all your sins and really mean it, ask Him for wisdom and understanding, ask Him to abide in you as you abide in Him, He will answer all these things because it is His will to see you grow in Him and spend time with Him.

That I may know Him and that you may know Him is my heart's longing, will you be blessed today with my desire for you?  Grandma Joan