KNOWING GOD FOR YOURSELF

Good morning and a very happy Monday to you dearly beloved. I hope you had a splendid weekend, a good night rest and an amazing morning so far. I know some persons may skip this first paragraph because I only greet and thank viewers and as such may see it as a waste of time. The truth is sincerely, I don't do it for courtesy sake, I truly truly appreciate every single person who reads these posts published, get blessed by them and most especially share to their friends, families and colleagues on social media in whatever form in any country across the world. I do not know you but my heart goes out to you and from the depths of my heart, I appreciate and love you specially.
          Welcome to living waters blog, a blog where write-ups that are inspirational, Life-giving, truth revealing, soul searching and drawn from scriptures as the Holy Spirit gives guidance are published. I enjoin you even as you read and get  blessed by these posts to please share with friends, colleagues and family on any social network in your country. I want you who reads and get blessed by these write-up to realise that there are very few blogs out there that focus on teaching the truths from God's word, I have a vision to build a blog that causes more traffic than any pornography, film or football sites. One that persons who read the posts, get blessed and grow more and more into the understanding of their stature in Christ.
           Today, I will be exhorting on the topic, knowing God for yourself. You see alot of persons claim to God, they boast about knowing Him, they sing praises of knowing Him, they even call Him funny sweet names but when the chips are down, the same God they claim to know, they would deny Him like apostle Peter did. I can only imagine how surprised Jesus was when Philip asked Him, "Lord show us the father". I can only imagine the shock and expression on Jesus' face. Jesus was like, "have you been with me, this long, heard me many times say, I am in the father and He in Me, I can do nothing except what I see the father do and yet you say, show me the father?" Alot of Christians are like that today. They know the God of their pastor, the God of their church, they know the God of other people but they don't know their God. I was rushing to a prayer meeting sometime last week, I passed a house, outside there was this banner and on it was written, "The God of my G.O(dont want to mention names) lives here so you can't hurt me". I was like, what is this? When would men of God begin to point to and teach members how to know God for themselves? Remember Dan 11:32
32

KJV:And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

ESV:He shall seduce with flattery those who violate the covenant, but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.

NIV:With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

AMP:And such as violate the covenant he shall pervert and seduce with flatteries, but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].

      It is they that know their God, not they that have heard about Him. Take note that the word "know" used here means to understand to the point of absolutely believing. So that scripture was saying that they have come to understand and believe in God absolutely shall do exploits. I know you may have been taught that you can't understand God, that isn't true. In lay man's terms, to understand means to know the why and how of a thing to the point of been able to predict certain traits. God as a father intends for us to know Him, His nature, what He does and doesn't do. If that weren't so, there is no way, we would have known that God is a spirit, that He is love, that He is the father of lights, that He cannot behold iniquity, that He is the good shepherd and so much more. Scripture says the secret of the Lord are with those that fear Him. Man can only understand God to to point that man is ready to. Take Moses for instance, He asked to know God's ways and he got answered. Scripture is filled with successful tales of men and women who  wholeheartedly sought God. That's a pointer that God desires that His children know and understand Him. The question is, are you ready to know Him that much, can He trust you?

        Sorry if I am being a little harsh, let's take a look at scriptures,
Gen 28: 10-15,

KJV:And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11

KJV:And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12

KJV:And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13

KJV:And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14

KJV:And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15

KJV:And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Do we see how God introduced Himself to Jacob, now let's look at another scripture, Gen 31:10-13,

10

KJV:And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.

11

KJV:And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I.

12

KJV:And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.

13

KJV:I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

14

KJV:

In the first scripture, God introduced Himself as God of Abraham and Isaac but in the second scripture, God introduced Himself to Jacob as what he knew personally, "the God of Bethel". Which means it is OK to have heard about God, it is OK to start your Christian journey knowing the God of your pastor but it is not OK to remain there. You should get to the point where you know God personally. Where you know Him for yourself. Let's look at another scripture.

Job 42:4-6,

4

KJV:Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

5

KJV:I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

6

KJV:Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes

Prior to this time, Job knew the God people had talked about, He didn't know God for himself, despite the fact that he offered alot of sacrifices, prayed a lot, giving alms and was a good. Yet, he didn't know God personally. Dearly beloved, Do you know God for yourself?

          Some years back, I was invited to speak at a program and I told them, scripture tells us about God, scripture is a compilation of stories that tell you about the wonderfulness or amazing personality of God. It tells you about the plans and purposes of God for mankind, it tells you about the experiences of people with God but it does not define God personally for you. Let's look again at another scripture, I hope you read through the scriptures as pasted here, don't get tired. I want you to be blessed and realise that you can know God for yourself.

Exo 3:13-16

13

KJV:And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14

KJV:And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.

15

KJV:And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

16

KJV:Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

God revealed Himself personally to Moses. So you see that if you desire to know Him personally, he is ready to reveal Himself. Let's see what Jesus has to say

John 5:37-40

37

KJV:And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

38

KJV:And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

39

KJV:Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

40

KJV:And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

Did you see that? Jesus Himself said you won't get eternal life by studying scriptures, we get eternal life when we have Jesus. Which means studying scriptures won't make you have Jesus. It only creates the hunger and points you to Him. Haven't you noticed that every time the purpose of scripture is mentioned, never once does it say, it gives you salvation or brings you into a relationship with God (2 Tim 3:14-16, 1 cor 10:11-12 etc). It is only the preaching of the gospel, preaching of the word that brings you salvation and the desire to initiate a relationship with God. Someone would ask, is scripture different from the gospel? Yes it is. Yes there is a difference. Scripture is from Genesis to Malachi. Notice whenever Jesus or the apostles quoted scripture, it was always from one of these books. Scripture is the prophecy of the messiah that has already come, which means during the time of Jesus, Genesis, exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah etc were known or available. So they had scripture even though it was not so much in circulation as it is now, you will know from the new testament that their children went to school basically to study the law and prophets. So even the books weren't in so much circulation but they had went to school to study them. Notice that whenever in the new testament they said someone was uneducated, they were always pointing to the fact that the person never went to their school to study the laws and the prophets. So in summary, scripture consists of the laws and the prophets, historical accounts and prophecies but the prophecy about the Messiah supersedes all other prophecies. The books of Matthew - Acts of Apostle, is the fulfilment of scriptures, we see Jesus walking the earth Himself and we see Him also walking the earth through men which He is still doing today. All the time, fulfilling what has been said of Him. Romans - Revelation is the explanation of scriptures, as papa Kenneth hagin would call them, "the foundational apostles who God used to lay the foundations of our Christian faith". 

      What is the gospel ?, it is the teaching that begins, continues and ends in the person of Christ and Him crucified. The only name by which we can be saved, made righteous and Holy before God. We get the gospel from the scriptures but the whole scripture isnt the gospel.

      How do you get to know Him for yourself? Have you heard about Him before? Have you accepted Him as Lord and personal saviour before? If yes, then I celebrate you. Do you have a relationship with Him? A personal one? Do you go on a personal retreats so you can fellowship with Him? If no, then you need to have a personal relationship with Him, that's the only way you can know Him for yourself. If you haven't accepted Christ as your personal Lord and saviour, then I implore you to say a prayer of repentance in your words from the depths of your heart and mean it. Take a min and do so. If you have done so, congratulations, I welcome you into this wonderful family of believers. Now, build a relationship with God because it is in this way, you will get to know Him for yourself. God bless you as you do so.  

if you realise that men need to hear the gospel more than any other thing in the world then assist us in increasing our world audience by being a constant visitor to the blog and see sharing of the blog as an opportunity to evangelise the gospel to the ends of the earth that you may never get to but internet has made possible. God bless you as you do so in Jesus name. Amen. If you have questions or need clarifications or even counselling then please write to me on my gmail at anointedsaviour1@gmail.com, I so much desire to discuss with you. Remember the world is in dire need of the word of God, so join us spread this word. God bless you richly. Shalom