Bible Verse of the Day Tuesday December 26th, 2023

 Philippians 3:7-8 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.

The closer we are to God, the more we know of him and the deeper our love for him becomes. The more we desire to hear, read, and study His Holy Word, the greater our yearnings to be part of His royal family develop. This closeness will lead to our deep desire to respond and follow His game plan instead of our weak schemes and ideas. Great coaching staffs develop a winning game plan in sporting event before entering any competition. Any excellent coaching staff knows their teams and where their strengths and frailties exist. They also know the opponent's team and devise a plan to win the game. Life is not a game, but God does have a plan for our life and the world. When we respond to God's game plan and do things his way, we experience God working in our lives.

Before we look at how we get to know God better, let's begin with how we get to know a person better. The first way we get to know someone better or have a closer relationship with them is by spending time with them, being with them. It's hard to know someone personally without being with them in person. However, spending time with them does not help us know them if they don't reveal anything about themselves. You could be fishing or hunting buddies or be quilting partners for years with the same person or persons and still need to learn more about them if all you ever talk about is the weather or what you watched on television last night. "Yep, look at those clouds coming in; think we're going to get rain?" What do you get to know about a friend with conversations like this? You may get to know their preference for meteorology, but that's about it.

When people in the Bible experienced God personally, they often expressed their experience with God by giving him a name, title, or description. We must understand that in Hebrew, a name is significant because it describes a person's character or nature. Consequently, we find so many names, titles, and descriptions of God in the Bible because it was how that person came to know God through their experience with him.

In the Bible, there are many examples of people who experienced God when He had a specific mission for them to carry out. God appeared to Moses in a "burning bush" and called on him to lead the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. Saul had a personal experience with God on the way to Damascus to bring some Christians back to stand trial before the Sanhedrin. These men had to make a life-changing decision as they experienced God, and he accomplished his work through them. As followers and believers in Christ Jesus, we can experience God just as those recorded in God's Word. There are no work requirements or educational degrees required. However, there are always great centers of Christian education that can put a person on the right path to genuinely experiencing God. The primary requirement is surrendering our lives to Jesus and His plan of salvation of grace through faith.