Part 3: Getting to Know God

A lifestyle is defined as the way a person lives. When it comes to our relationship with God, the lifestyle we choose takes on a new level of importance. Our lifestyle before we asked God to come into our hearts is very different from the lifestyle we should have after we make this life-altering decision. Before making a commitment to God, we live life on our own terms. We do whatever we want to do, and don’t consider it a priority to ask for God’s intervention. This approach of trying to handle our lives without God’s guidance won’t get us very far. Many of us realize that it’s an empty existence. We come to our senses that our lifestyle has to change because a big piece of our lives is missing, and that piece is our relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells us in John 6:44 that no one can come to him unless Heavenly Father draws them. It may seem to us that our relationship with God developed suddenly, but Ephesians 1:11 tells us that He chose us in advance to be a part of His family. He knew we would come to Him, and He also knew the experience that led us to ask Him to come into our lives. He drew us, and He never ceases to continually draw us to Him. We can see this in any quality relationship. The man that loves his wife or girlfriend would think it’s a crazy notion to do something nice for her once and never do anything nice again. We know that relationships don’t work this way. They would not be sustainable. For any relationship to have value, mutual respect, and longevity, love must be demonstrated continually.

Why must we know about God’s Love?
Relationships help us to understand the reality that love is so much more than an emotion. Love is a commitment. Love is the greatest action word there is, and it is important to God that we know as much about love as we possibly can. Why? It is important for us be extremely knowledgeable about love because 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love, and we won’t know how to love if we don’t know Him.

God fiercely encourages us to study His Word. This is the way that we get to know Him. His Word is true, and His Word tells us who He is. If we don’t know the truth, we can’t be free, and God wants us to be free—free to love, free to have abundance, and free to walk in His Will and Plan for our lives. Getting to know a person well builds intimacy in our relationship with her or him. In the same way, getting to know God through His Word builds intimacy in our relationship with Him as well. It is more than the process of just obtaining and knowing information. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that God’s Word is alive and powerful. It is the bread of life, and as we digest it, we become more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Who is God?
In Jeremiah 32:27 (NLT), Heavenly Father said, “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?” God wanted His people to know that He is all-powerful and can do all things.  In Mark 10:27, Jesus Christ taught the disciples about how challenging it is for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. They believed it to be an impossibility, but this verse tells us, “Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.” Nothing is too hard for Heavenly Father. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful. His love is never-ending, and His grace and mercy endures forever.  Romans 8:39(NLT) tells us, “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How do we respond to God?
There is nothing that you and I can do to repay such a love as this; even if we lived ten thousand lifetimes. The extraordinary thing about our relationship with God is that He doesn’t ask us to repay His love, He asks us to respond to it. How do we respond to God’s love? We respond to God’s love by faith. Trusting God’s Word is the way we demonstrate our love and gratitude towards Him. He tells us in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith, we cannot please Him. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, God commands us to walk by faith and not by sight. To ‘walk by faith’ is to make faith a conscious and continuous habit pattern. It is to make faith a lifestyle.

Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to think of faith as being a way to get everything we want in life. After Jesus Christ performed a miracle and fed over five thousand people from five loaves of bread and two fish, a crowd gathered around him and started to follow. In John 6:26(NLT), He said, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.” He knew they didn’t have the right intention. They wanted something perishable, but through him so much more was offered. God’s heart is that we hunger and thirst after Him—for His righteousness, not just for what He can provide. We must hunger to know Him for who He is as our Loving Father and Creator of all there is.

Faith is the proving of our allegiance to God even when our circumstances and conditions are not what we want them to be. It’s trusting Him despite how things look. We must believe in what we can’t see, because God only does what is good, and we must trust this even if our eyes don’t see all that He is doing. We didn’t choose Him first, God chose us! The relationship we have with Him is not on our terms, but according to His Word and Will. He’s made us a part of Him, given us His Holy Spirit, and given us eternal life through Christ. We must respond to Him by being thankful for His blessings and be committed to build intimacy in our relationship with Him by trusting Him in all things.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Building A Lifestyle of Intimacy with God: Part 3-Getting to Know God”, written by JMack, 4theChristianMan.com© 2019. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.