To Know God

Exodus 33:13
If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.


Whenever I need to be reminded of what I want my life to look like in relationship with God, I look to Moses. All my close friends will tell you that he, aside from Christ, is my ultimate hero of faith. I love Moses, and all he represents for me! All I have to do is think about how God spoke with him face to face, and my heart goes into tumults – it thrills me to think that sort of relationship is possible (even if not for me). This is one of the verses pulled from his story that I find myself praying over and over in my life – perhaps it should be my life verse.

Something struck me in this verse, as I read over it today, something that God has been working with me on for a little while now. Moses wants to learn the ways of God, so that he can know Him better, and continue to please Him. I sometimes find myself studying the Bible simply in the pursuit of knowledge – to know more. I begin to talk to God as though He was no different (or bigger) than the wall in front of me. Everything becomes trite, and I forget the whole purpose is to know God. And when that happens I crash, hard.

We must keep our eyes on the goal, our prize – knowing Christ, knowing the living God, however incomplete our knowledge or finite our minds. Because He is infinite and unfathomable, we have a lifetime of getting to know Him, and we will still get a wonderful surprise when we get to Heaven!

I find it interesting that the KJV uses the word "grace" instead of "pleased," and "favor." It reads, "Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight." If we have found grace in His sight, which, thanks to the work of Christ, grace pours down in abundance, then God will show us His ways, so that we can know Him, and find grace in His sight. Kind of a circular pattern. I think I like the use of the word grace here, simply because it denotes unmerited favor, and that’s exactly what knowing Him is – unmerited favor. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. Yet, it is a privilege beyond any other. He allows us to know Him, because that is what He desires, and there is no other reason. If He did not desire it, it would not be available to us.

So let’s pursue Him in all we do, and when we study, pray, fast, worship, etc., let us do it not for the sake of simply doing it or just learning more stuff, rather, let us do it all in pursuit of knowing the Almighty God more fully than when we first began.

Loving God

Acts 17:24-28
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.’


There is nothing God needs from us – there is nothing that we can give Him that He did not give us first. Even the love within us comes from Him, for He is love.

What He desires is the return of that love – however imperfect, however flawed – that is what He truly desires. That love should manifest itself in so many ways – obedience, service, study, and prayer are just a few of the ways our love for Christ can manifest itself. But we must be careful even here.

I often hear people say, "We do this because we love Him." We must always remember that even this is not of us – it is His love, and His power that drive us to seek Him and serve Him, not our own.

So, let’s fill our lives with the love of God, that we can more effectively and efficiently love and serve Him, and those around us. Until we receive the love, we will have nothing to offer.

Who's Your Daddy?

Matthew 16:19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be (has been) bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be (has been) loosed in heaven.


I have a picture of my, then, 20 pound daughter, Regann, pointing her finger at and telling our 50 pound pit-bull to sit down, to which our dog, Augustine, is aptly responding by sitting with her ears back. That dog listens to my daughter almost better than she listens to us – she is on the verge of being terrified of Regann! It’s really kind of humorous! Regann is nothing to Augustine. The dog could chomp her up in a matter of seconds, but she doesn’t dare. To my great amusement, Augustine puts up with much from Regann – from pulling tails and ears, to sitting on her back while Augustine’s trying to sleep. God has most definitely blessed us with a patient and wonderful dog. Incidentally, as Regann grows older, Augustine grows more and more fond of her – they are really becoming quite good friends.

My point? Well, let’s think about this for a minute. Augustine does not listen to Regann simply because of the consequences from Regann is she doesn’t listen. Augustine is no dummy; she knows she could take Regann if it were ever up to that. No, Augi doesn’t listen because of who Regann is, but rather, because of whom she belongs to. Regann gets respect because Augi is afraid of her daddy. The dog knows that she has the backing of the most powerful guy in the house – if she crosses Regann, she crosses Chris.

Oh, that we would see how that applies to our spiritual lives! Christ has already conquered Satan. The only reason he can even attempt to bully us around is that we really don’t take a stand under our Daddy. And when we do, we need to remember, in much humility, that Satan doesn’t cower from us because of who we are, but because of whose we are.

We have the backing of our Daddy – let’s start using it and living the victorious lives Christ died to grant us! Stand up to Satan, who no longer has power over us or in us. Let’s imagine that he has gone from a 50 pound pit-bull to a 5 pound chihuahua – lots of attitude, but not much bite! "Get thee out of my way!"

Our Big God

Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.


We tend to get pretty comfortable with God, sometimes. We call Him Father, Friend, even Lord and Master all of which have common definitions – there is an earthly equivalent. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to be close to Him, and comfortable with Him and our relationship. The problem arises when we begin to think of Him as our “size.” We bring Him down to our level in such a way that we forget how big He is, how immense and out of our control. He is God, He is sovereign, and there are times when I think it would do us much good to remember who God is, really.

We need to learn a healthy fear of the Lord – come to a point where we see that He is completely in control and can do whatever He pleases. It’s more like a respect, an understanding that compared to Him, we are nothing. We are only “something” because He has chosen to make us so. There are times when we need to remember that for everything we think we understand about God, there is so much more that our minds simply can’t understand. Even some of the mysteries that He has tried to explain to us cannot be simply reasoned out – we must believe in faith that they are the truth. Ultimately, we are small and He is big.

Let’s spend the day thinking and meditating on the Lord’s greatness, on His great sovereignty, love, and might. Meditate on the vastness of His power, and control. Think on how big God really is. Then, when you have completely overwhelmed yourself, trying to contemplate the unimaginable, remember that this huge, mighty God loves you. He knows you by name, and holds you by your right hand. He knows you better and loves you more than anyone else could ever possibly even try. He is a wild, passionate God, and He is wild and passionate about you!

Precious Cargo

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.


I spend a lot of time, these days, considering what I do, or don’t do – what and when to eat, when and how much to sleep, I consider even my actions and my thoughts. I feel as though somehow, everything I do will affect the child growing in me. I think about almost every little thing, I’m carrying precious cargo, after-all.

Funny that I would only be this way when I’m pregnant, when, really, I am carrying "precious cargo" with me wherever I go, at all times, pregnant or not. That is one of the great mysteries of Christianity – Christ lives in us.

We are so careful to do what’s best when it affects others, especially ones that we love. Now, we claim to love Christ, and our bodies are now His, we belong to Him, and He dwells in us. So, how can we live the way we do? How many of us have our little, pet sins that we carry around with us? Nobody else knows, and it doesn’t hurt anyone, so what’s the big deal – it doesn’t matter. Or does it? First Corinthians 6:15 says, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ Himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!" Of course, "prostitute" in this passage could be replaced with any number of sins, and still the answer from our lips should be "Never!"

We must come to a full and complete realization that we carry with us precious cargo – the very Spirit of Christ. If we can’t envision Christ doing it, then we shouldn’t be. Big or little, doesn’t matter – sin is sin, and God sees no difference. Let’s take the time today to get on our knees and ask the Almighty’s forgiveness for all the ways we continue to disobey, uniting the members of Christ with unholy things.