“Knowing the Bible is one thing. Knowing God, the author is another.”
There are many Christians that know what the Bible says. They can quote and confess scripture with the best of them. They continually stream sermons, listening to the latest and greatest.
Yet their life appears unchanged. Nothing ever seems to go right for them. They attend church and confess scripture, yet their life has no victory.
What is the problem?
It is one thing to know the Bible. Knowing God, the author of the Bible, is another. Memorizing the Bible is easy. It requires a little time, but nothing else. Yet, memorizing scripture isn’t enough.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe we should know the Bible and what it says. Confessing scripture is one of the necessary steps to living by faith. I believe in memorizing scripture. King David wrote:
I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11 CSB)
Knowing the Bible is important for Christians. Yet, knowing the author is of even more importance.
Knowing God, the Author
To know the author requires more effort than knowing the book he wrote. There are many Christians who know about God. They read His Word and talk about His great signs and wonders.
Yet, they don’t know God, the author. There is a vast difference between knowing about God and knowing God.
God desires for us to know him. He wants us to understand Him.
But the one who boasts should boast in this: that he understands and knows me— that I am the Lord, showing faithful love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in these things. This is the Lord’s declaration. (Jeremiah 9:24 CSB)
God isn’t hiding from us. He isn’t keeping Himself a mystery. He reveals Himself to us and He does it in six ways.
How God Reveals Himself to Us
- Through His creation
- Through His signs and wonders
- Through His Word (the Bible)
- Through prophecy
- Through speaking to us individually
- Through the Holy Spirit in our heart
What Does Knowing God Mean?
Jesus said in His prayer during the Last Supper:
This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent—Jesus Christ. (John 17:3 CSB)
What does the word “know” really mean in this verse? The Greek word used here is ginosko. This “know” is not knowledge based on facts. Ginosko is knowledge based heavily upon relationship. It speaks of knowing intimately, just like a husband and wife would know each other.
This is the knowledge that doesn’t come just intellectually. It comes through experience, time, and talking to one another. This knowledge comes through personal and intimate interaction over a long period. It is not a once-and-done knowledge.
Knowing God Takes Time
Learning what God says in His Word is much easier than knowing God. Sure, it takes time to memorize scripture. But all it takes is time.
Knowing God takes time and commitment. It is in the investment of time and commitment to know God personally is where so many Christians fall short.
We too often blame our busy lives. Therefore, we convince ourselves it is okay to spend time with God while doing other activities. Such as a hobby, driving, cleaning the house, or working out. In this way, we soothe our conscience with the idea we are spending time with God.
The problem with this being the only time we spend with God is that it lacks intimacy. It lacks personally spending one-on-one time with God.
Ask yourself this question: “How would my spouse feel if the only time I spent with them was when I was involved in doing something else?” Or even more to the point, challenge yourself with this question:
“How would I feel if the only time my spouse spent with me was when they were busy focusing on doing something else?”
Spending time with someone only when you are doing something else lacks intimacy. There is no personal involvement because the focus is on doing something else.
Truly Knowing God
So, how do you get to truly know God in an intimate and personal way? It starts with a quality decision to do whatever it takes to truly know God.
This is the commitment part of knowing God. Just as in any natural human relationship, it takes commitment to truly know God.
If you got married just for the physical part of the relationship, or for money, or security, and you stay together for that reason only, you will never truly know your spouse. Your relationship will be superficial instead of intimate.
It is the same with God. If you follow God as fire insurance to keep you out of hell, or for His blessings, or for your best life now, you will never truly know God. Your relationship will be superficial.
In fact, under those circumstances, your relationships, both natural and spiritual, will be shallow and selfish. There will be no depth, nor will there be any intimacy.
Therefore, you need to make a commitment that comes from a quality decision to truly know God. A quality decision to do whatever it takes. A quality decision is one that you will never back away from.
4 Steps to Knowing God
- Make the quality decision to know God
- Daily study His Word
- Daily spend time with God alone in your prayer closet
- Learn to hear His voice
Knowing God by Making a Quality Decision
I think I have already covered this step rather thoroughly up to this point. You need to make the quality decision to do the other three steps daily.
What makes it a quality decision is once we make the decision, we will never back away from it. At that point, it stands forever, and we do whatever it takes to do what we have decided to do
See also: Believe: What Secret Does It Hold For You Today?
Knowing God Through Daily Study of His Word
The Word of God is the foundation of our spiritual life. It is also the food for our spirit. We must do more than just casually read our Bible. We must study it and learn its meaning and application.
Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 CSB)
It is our job as believers to study the Word with diligence and to make all efforts to understand what the Word says. We must study the Word and meditate on the Word so that we may live according to the Word.
Now there is a lot that goes into this. Not only do we study the Bible for ourselves, but we must also include listening to sermons and others’ teachings as well. This is all a part of learning God’s Word.
Studying our Bible is never in vain. It is valuable and carries long-term rewards. It is through the study of His Word that we begin to see the attributes and character of God. As our picture of God becomes more complete, so does the opportunity for intimacy with Him.
Knowing God by Daily Spending Time With Him In Our Prayer Closet
This step is the vital key to developing intimacy with God. Therefore, it is also the crucial step to knowing God. Without some level of intimacy, it is impossible to truly know someone.
We are called to intimacy with God on the same level as intimacy between spouses. Our relationship with God must include an intimate knowledge of His thoughts and His ways.
This very intimacy leads us into living a life that is pleasing to God. In the same way, we want to please our spouse, we also want to please our God.
It is the one-on-one time we spend with God in the prayer closet that builds intimacy with our Heavenly Father. There is no substitute for time in the prayer closet.
It is impossible to build true deep intimacy when you are engaged in other things while praying. It is good to pray while engaged in living your life. But you need time with God when your focus is solely on Him.
Make time for you to spend in the prayer closet. Find somewhere you won’t be interrupted and make that your prayer closet. It doesn’t have to be an actual closet. It could be your bedroom, study, workshop, or even a private place outdoors.
Just find your prayer closet and make time daily to spend there.
Knowing God By Learning To Hear His Voice
It is imperative, as Christians, that we learn to hear the voice of God. God is always speaking, but are we always tuned in to hear His voice?
Your local radio station is playing 24 hours a day. Do you always hear it? No. You can only hear the radio station if you have a radio tuned in to hear it.
It is the same with God. We can only hear His voice if we are tuned in to hear it. This is an advantage of prayer closet time. Spending time alone with God gives us time to be quiet and listen to His voice.
Once you learn the voice of God, you can become so acquainted with it, you can hear it 24 hours a day.
My wife and I could be with you at a party of a hundred people. With them all talking at once, it can be difficult to distinguish different voices.
You could call out my name and I probably would not hear you. Why? Because I am not intimately acquainted with your voice. My wife could call my name from across the room, and I would hear her voice.
Why does this happen? Because I am tuned in to her voice. I am so intimately acquainted with her voice that I can hear it above all the other voices in the crowd.
This is how we need to become with God. We must be so intimately acquainted with His voice that we can hear it over all the other voices in the world.
Knowing God
Take the time and effort to get to know the author of the Bible. The more personally acquainted with God we are, the more revelation we receive when we are reading our Bible.
We will spend eternity becoming more and more intimately familiar with our Heavenly Father. As God, He has many facets to His character and attributes. It will be joyous and fun learning about Him.
Don’t stop studying and memorizing the Bible. We must do so. Just add in the time necessary to truly get to know the Creator of heaven and earth.
When you begin to know the Author of the Bible on a personal basis, you will find the depth of your Christian life increase. This personal relationship will carry you above the average Christian in the world today.
Here is another of my articles that will help you:
If you liked what you read, share it with your friends:
This is an affiliate link. If you click on the graphic and buy something, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. That is how I maintain my website.
Christianbook Distributors
This is my favorite source for everything Christian. I have ordered from them with great satisfaction for over 20 years. If you need it, they have it.
- Bibles: Every translation imaginable
Books
Commentaries
Concordances
VBC Supplies
Bulletins
Communion Supplies
Pastor Resources
Bible Studies
- Gifts
Music
Movies
Journals
Children’s Books and Bibles
Toys
Stuffed Animals
Software
Clothing
