Knowing who God is

Have you ever just talked with someone for years and years and suddenly your relationship with them just blows up in your face? Questions come out about whether this person was ever really for you or if they ever really knew who you were. See, what I’m learning is we can have conversations with people for days, or years even, and find out that they don’t really know and understand who we are and what we are about. The truth is that this person probably never really wanted or tried to understand who you were from the beginning because they might be clinging to whatever preconceived notion they had about you from the beginning. When I see this happen so easily in human relationships, it makes me wonder about our relationship with God. Do we really know Him? Do we really try to learn and understand who He is? Or do we just believe what others have said about Him or our own initial judgments we had about Him?

“My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.”

Hosea 4: 6(NLT)

It’s really frustrating when you are working hard to maintain a relationship/friendship and the other person is not putting any effort in it at all or if they are it’s the bare minimum. They don’t seem to want to know you, they say they do, but they never come to you to talk and if they do they don’t adhere to your advice. Even when they do try to know you they seek out your enemies, unknowingly or knowingly, and ask them about who you are instead of asking you yourself. How irritating would a relationship like this be? Yet, some of us Christians fall into this trap time and time again. When we don’t pray, read our bibles, worship, or seek out God in all we do at all, we are essentially telling Him we don’t want to know Him. To speak honestly, I’ve been there before. I had a period of rebellion where I stopped praying, stopped reading my bible, and I never really ever tried to make sure I reached a full understanding in who God was or what He wanted when I was younger.

I jumped willingly into rebellion and when the time came for me to get out, boy was it a struggle! I realize now that back then I had, what I like to call a ‘surface relationship’ with God; one that was shallow and not as deep as it needed to be. I was in rebellion so long, that I didn’t even really know or understand who God was, so much so that I begun to listen to others, who also didn’t entertain a relationship with God, and what they thought about Him. My advice from experience is to work hard to fight to NOT let your relationship with God go this far. If it is this far already, it’s time to get out before it’s too late!

So, how to we go back to God? You walk back or crawl if you have to. How do we know and understand who God is? The scriptures let us know we need to:

1. Read and Believe the Word

2. Talk to Him daily

3. Be thankful

4. Get with Like-minded believers

5. Fast

Read the Bible: Trying your best to read the word daily or at the minimum meditating on a single scripture through the week if you feel you don’t have enough time can help a ton in your walk with God. We learn about God and who He is through His Word, just like we learn about who people are through the words and actions they have done (Matthew 7:15-20) This is a primary way on how God speaks to us.

“I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food.”

Job 23: 12

Pray: Praying is like talking one on one with God. It allows us to respond back to what we just read or heard about God through His word or preaching. What a believer must do is to believe that God will indeed hear their prayers, will listen to them, and answer them. (Psalm 116:2; Matthew 7: 7-10)

Thankfulness: Some people forget about being thankful towards God. It is almost like a prayer, but more so like professing your love and gratitude to God. Everyone wants to be appreciated and God enjoys it very much when we remind Him that we appreciate Him. You can do this is song or just words.

Go to Church: Assembling with like minded believers can help a Christian stay accountable on their walk with God. It can also help us to continue to walk in God’s love for one another and continue in doing good deeds. (Hebrews 10: 24-26)

Fasting: Fasting was the spark that my wrecked relationship with God needed when I was trying to crawl back. I had spent years and years praying to God, trying to read the Bible, but bursting into tears every time I did so because I didn’t understand it correctly[I will detail info about this in my testimony blogs] , and singing every now and again; but fasting was the thing that really helped me get linked and connected with God the way I needed to. I notice not a lot of people realize how good fasting can be in our relationship with God, but it can really be useful especially in dire situations. (2 Samuel 12:15-17)

Remain faithful in these things–in seeking God’s kingdom first–and God will willingly pull you out of your sinful ways. He will make your crooked paths straight before your very eyes.

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God bless!