Do You Really Know God?

Or do you just know about God?

Do you Really follow God?

Or do you do your own thing?

Do you Really believe God?

Or do you doubt God?

Do you Really walk with God?

Or do you follow your own path?

Do you Really trust God?

Or do you only trust yourself?

Do you Really care about God?

Or do you only care about yourself?

Do you Really respect God?

Or do you disrespect Him?

Do you Really think about God?

Or do you forget about Him until you have a problem?

Do you Really understand God?

Or do you even try to understand Him?

Do you Really recognize God?

Or do you only see yourself when you look in the mirror?

If we call ourselves Christians then we should try to know God, to follow God and to believe God. We should try to walk with God and to trust Him. We should care about the things God cares about and we should respect Him by thinking about Him. We should try to understand Him and what He is doing in our lives and we should recognize God not only when we look in the mirror but in all that we see.

I know that’s a tall order, after all we are human and we have concerns of our own to deal with. We don’t often think about God unless we are in the middle of some great calamity.

We might think of Him in Church on Sunday morning, or around the Holidays, but most of our days are spent thinking about anything but God.

Do you want to know something?

God is thinking of you, even when you are not thinking of Him.

2 Timothy 2:13.

If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Psalm 8:3-4

3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

The book of Hebrews tells us in Chapter 7:25 that Jesus is always working on our behalf.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus is before God’s throne pleading our case day and night. Don’t you think it would be only right of us to think of Him at least once in a while?

We should try and get to know Him and to do that, we must think of Him.

We can get to know God by studying His word, the Bible and the life of His Son, Jesus. If you really want to know God, look at Jesus, because when you look at Jesus, you are looking at God.

God wants you to know Him; it’s why He inspired the writing of the Bible and why He sent His Son Jesus to this earth. He wants us to know Him. And He wants us to follow Him.

To really follow God we must first respect that He is God and we are not.

We are not the potter, we are the clay. We must come to realize that God is the one who directs our path.

Proverbs 16:9.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

If you look back over your life, as I have looked over mine, you will remember countless times when you were protected from some terrible thing happening. Or you will remember how you got through those terrible times even when you were sure you would never survive.

I can see that God has directed my path over and over again in my life as He has with you.

When we see that God has been faithful to get us through so many difficult times, we need to trust that He will get us through what we might be facing right now.

In getting to know God, we must trust that He is there watching over us. When we think back over those past times that He has been there, we can come to trust that He will be there in the future as well.

If we are going to trust God, then we must believe Him when He tells us to do something or stop doing something. We must believe that He will take care of us because He has done so in the past.

To trust God and believe God we must be walking with God.

To walk with God is to believe the things about Him written in the Bible and to trust that it is true. Believe that He created the heavens and the earth, that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us and that He raised Him from the dead so that we also might live beyond this earthly existence.

If we can trust that God is who He said He is, and believe that He is watching over us and that what is written about Him is true, then we can walk with Him and follow Him where ever He might choose to lead us.

Following God is not always easy.

There are many who will think we are crazy, fools to follow a God that they don’t believe exists. God may lead us to do something that we don’t think we can do. But we need to trust Him that if He is really leading us to do something, He will empower us to do it.

Following God can also be as easy as raising a good family, being a good person and trying to not break the rules. Following God one day might mean we stop to help someone in need; or on the next, we might be called upon to bless someone by just listening to them and being there for them.

To follow God and walk with Him means we have to believe Him and trust Him, and that means we also have to respect Him. When He tells something we need to respect that He is God and that He knows more about it then we do.

Isaiah 55:8.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

We have to respect that God knows more about us and our situation and our life then we do. We have to respect that He knows what we are capable of and that He will lead us in the way we should go.

If we follow God and walk with Him, believe Him, trust Him and respect Him, then we must also care about the things He cares about.

What does God care about?

He cares about You and Me.

He cares enough to want to spend eternity with us.

Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was and His answer is very telling.

Matthew 22:37-40.

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

It’s what we call the “Golden Rule.” Treat others the way we would like to be treated.

God cares about all of His children and so should we.

When we walk with Him and follow Him, trust and believe Him, respect Him and care about those He cares about then we are beginning to understand Him. Not that we can ever completely understand God and what He is doing in this life, but if we are following, walking, believing, respecting and caring about Him, then we will be gaining some kind of understanding of Him and what He might be about in our lives and in this world.

To understand God and what He is doing, read and study His word. I think it just might be boiled down to this one statement… God is working to bring this world and its people to himself.

But for us to come to Him, we must come willingly.

We must recognize that God is not going to force us to come to Him; we must recognize that we must want to come to Him. We must recognize that everything that God is doing has done or will do has a purpose and that purpose to bring us to Him.

If we follow God and walk with Him, trust and believe Him, respect Him and His word and care about those He cares about then we can begin to understand Him and recognize what He is doing in this world and in our lives.

We can began to really know God and trust that He knows best and that He will take care of us and will lead us on the right path for our lives and for His will to be done.