"The
Knowledge Of God"
Colossians 1:9-12
9)
For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the
knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
10) That ye might walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing
in the knowledge of God;
11) Strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness;
12) Giving thanks unto the
Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light:
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W |
hen
one speaks of "The Knowledge of God," he is exploring a particularly
broad topic. No matter how much one might discover, he would be unable to
exhaust all that the Lord knows. Despite the magnitude of the depth of God, He
is willing to share some of His knowledge with us. This, indeed, is what we
must endeavor to know.
The
search for and obtaining of knowledge is a popular undertaking, today. So, man
is better educated than he has ever been before. However, what kind of
knowledge is usually pursued? Things which can be used to
better oneself, rather than things to advance the
Anything
that the Lord teaches us is also to be of benefit to others. A problem that man
has with accepting instruction (or knowledge) from another is that he feels he
stand to lose something if he gives up his "right" to choose.
Giving
up this freedom of choice is generally enough to elicit cries of
"cult" from others. Anyone who agrees with this assessment obviously
is not familiar with the Word of God. After all, does it not teach that one
will not be saved unless his mind is focused wholly on the Lord?
As
long as we reserve the rights to any part of our being, it will be difficult to
be saved. We are saved through obedience to God and, in that He places us in
salvation and establishes his requirements for us, if we refuse to be obedient
it will be impossible for us to be saved.
It
is safe to say that one who is truly committed to the Lord will want to know as
much about Him as possible. Our example is Jesus Christ, "the express
image of God."
Without
a doubt, Man will accept many things, but frequently, "what God says"
is not one of them. Did you know that the Lord actually wants us to have wisdom
and understanding. Unfortunately, though many who are
wise, fail because they don't understand the connection between what they know
and who God is.
We
seem to search everywhere for the knowledge of God rather than to go to the source.
Of course, in order to have access to Him. He must be in our lives. Through
baptism in Jesus' name and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, we gain the power
to act upon "the knowledge of God" that we acquire.
One
really saved will walk as one saved and will produce fruit. For as saints of
God, all that we do must be directed toward winning souls.
Despite
all that we know of God, we will still think it reasonable to desire a
"time-out" from salvation every once-in-a-while. In case you have any
doubts, there are no "time-outs" from God for anyone. Our walk with
Him must be progressive and perpetual so that we might develop a testimony to
promote the knowledge of God.
One
never reaches a "cap" in his learning. Every teacher should be a
continual learner, whether his subject is spiritual or natural. The saint as
well as the public school teacher will be required to take "refresher
courses." The saint just needs to remember that his come in the form of
trials and tests.
The
Lord wants us to have knowledge of Him in many different areas. It cannot be
overemphasized that whatever God wants us to know, we will have to experience. This
goes for healing, delivering and keeping, also.
None
of these things we experience are just so that we might get used to trouble,
but so that the
Now
is no time to faint but rather, to rejoice. No matter what your situation, if
God has saved you, you have a testimony only you can tell. And no matter what
happens or what anyone does, nobody can take your praise or steal your joy.
Once
you experience the Lord for yourself and gain your own knowledge of Him, you
need never again depend upon anyone else. If you take time to really get to
know Him, you would know Him, you would that never again must you try to solve
any problem on your own. Never again would you feel pressed to have a problem
with any situation.
Any
"knowledge of God" includes instruction on how to get to Heaven.
So if you have been attaining knowledge, but there is uncertainty on your
part what is required to go to Heaven, you don't know what you should know.
If you already know the requirements of Heaven, but have not shown that you
know enough to stay saved, then you aren't as smart as you think!