12 May 2024

KNOWING CHRIST INTIMATELY

(Going Forward in Christ: GFIC 19)

The Apostle Paul had a deep aspiration to know Christ when he wrote: “That I may know Him…” (Phil. 3:10). This word “know” in the Greek is “ginosko”, which means “to know someone intimately by close relationship”. The equivalent of this word in Hebrew is found in Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I Am God”. If we desire to know God and Christ more intimately, then we must take time to be in the closet to be alone and still – away from all distractions – in order to meet with Him so that we may know Him better.

It is during this time of “waiting” in His Presence that we will be blessed when He comes to us and commune with us. God longs to have fellowship with us and He is disappointed that we do not have time for Him. In Genesis 3, we read that the Lord God would come every day to walk and fellowship with Adam in the cool of the evening. Can you imagine that? God came all the way from Heaven to the Garden to have fellowship with Adam, when He has millions upon millions of angels worshipping Him in Glory.

Why? That is because God cannot have the same kind of fellowship with angels as He could have with man. Man is made in the image and likeness of God. Angels are not. The purpose God created man is that He might have fellowship with him. Adam broke that fellowship when he sinned through disobedience and Christ redeemed us and restored that fellowship with God. Praise be to God for His Love and Grace in sending His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us and restore us as His sons, so that may now have fellowship with Him.

The more we have fellowship the Lord the more blessed we will be. He will guide us and show us His will and way. He will reveal His Glory to us and show us things we never dream we could know. Just as when have intimate relationship with a close and loving friend, we will know more of his thoughts and his heart; so in the same way God will reveal His thoughts and heart to us. That is why Paul had this desire and aspiration to “know Him”.

One other blessing is promised in Isaiah 40:31: “Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (NKJV). Do you feel tired spiritually or physically worn out because of your service for God or the pressures of life? Well, the answer is to “wait on the Lord’ and He will “renew your strength”. He will exchange His strength for your weakness. His Grace will be sufficient for you, so that like Paul, you can say, “when I am weak then I am strong” (2 Cor.12:10) because you spend time waiting on the Lord.

There is a price to pay in order to know Christ intimately. In Phil.3:7-9, Paul said that he had given up everything that he might know Christ. May we also be willing to give up the things that hinder or distract us from knowing Christ more intimately. Amen. 

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