knowing God | Kristi's Morning Devotional

This last week I have spent several days with my closest friend from High School. So much has happened in our lives over the past almost fifty years. It was great to have this time to catch up and get to know her once again.

This morning we will finish up the teaching from the first chapter of “Like A Diamond”, Sons of God. Our Father wants us to know Him…

Our Father wants us to know Him and to know Him well. The verses we read from II Peter say we can partake or participate in God’s rich promises through our knowledge of Him. Many are of the mindset that we cannot know what God is going to do but all through His word He tells us we can. He spells it out, He wants us to know Him and His ways of doing things.

“I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. ¹⁸And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. ¹⁹Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.” Ephesians 3:17-19 ERV

A loving father will spend time explaining to his children his reasons for doing things and his thoughts for following a specific pattern. Our Heavenly Father is that same kind of father. (The New Testament reveals the things that were once hidden about God.) Jesus came so that we can know our Father’s ways.

“I always pray to the great and glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that he will give you the Spirit, who will let you know truths about God and help you understand them, so that you will know him better.

¹⁸I pray that God will open your minds to see his truth. Then you will know the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious. ¹⁹And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power ²⁰he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 1:17-20 ERV

After Christ’s death on the cross a new door of relationship was opened with God. God was the One who opened that door. He desires a Father/Child relationship with us. God desires that we share His divine nature. He wants us walking and talking with Him.

Don’t fall for Satan’s lie of unworthiness. We are worthy to commune with God because we have been adopted. Praise God for the position of sonship that He freely gives to each of us who humble ourselves and receive His provision of new life in Jesus Christ.

God has wanted someone to fellowship with, to walk and talk with, since the Garden of Eden and His relationship with Adam.

After Adam’s disobedience God continued to try and build relationship with mankind, but man had hardened his heart to a relationship with God. Our Father has always wanted to develop a relationship with His children.

He made us His own. He adopted us! Praise God for the position of sonship. He has freely given it to each of us who will humble ourselves and receive His provision through Jesus Christ.

…All of God’s promises and blessings belong to you because you are His child. He has made you into a glorious new creation.

Our position of sonship is a precision cut facet in our relationship with the Father. You are “Like A Diamond” in His family!

I once read a poster which said “My life is like a duck. Calm on the surface but paddling like crazy where no one can see.”

Have you ever felt like that? I’ve thought more than once, I’d rest if I didn’t have so much to do!

A few days ago we learned how to stand in battle, fight victoriously, and then praise God for the victory. Now it’s time to enter into the rest!

Jesus told his disciples that he would teach them about the Father. Knowing the Father means we are intimately acquainted with His power, love, mercy and grace. Knowing the Word, the basis for our weapons, brings us to a place where we know the Father. Jesus also told the disciples that if they would come to him they would find rest.

“My Father has given me everything, and he is the only one who knows the Son. The only one who truly knows the Father is the Son. But the Son wants to tell others about the Father, so that they can know him too.
28 If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. 29 Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest.” Matthew 11:27-29

The writer of Hebrews tells us to “labor to enter into the rest”. Work at resting? Yes! The work comes from knowing the Father and building our relationship with Him.

We have to fight unbelief and that my friend is work! The Israelites in the wilderness were too busy looking at their circumstances to believe God and so they died in the wilderness and didn’t enter the rest of the Promised Land. We are instructed not to be like them. We are instructed to listen to and obey God’s word. If we do this, we will enter the rest.

“We should do our best to enter that place of rest, so that none of us will disobey and miss going there, as they did. 12 What God has said isn’t only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. 13 Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.” Hebrews 4:11-13

Do these verses sound familiar? They should. These are the same verses we quote over and again about the power of God’s word – sharper than a two edged sword. Put in there context, they tell us that these words will cause us to rest and receive the wonderful inheritance that God has provided for us.

So today – stop the worry, stop the anxiety, stop paddling.

Come to a place of rest!

Tag: knowing God

Getting to Know You

Resting?