John 16:23-30
23 In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.25 “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”29 His disciples *said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.”
God has opened my eyes to a lot of things the past couple weeks. It is the reason for my spotty posting. I’ve had to re-evaluate my relationship with Him and understand better what He wants not just from me, but from us. As I mentioned in my post about walking on water, faith has three legs: intellectual, emotional, and physical. I’ve been focusing a lot on the knowledge portion, thinking that the more I knew about the bible, the better I would understand God and know Him. While this is partially true, it isn’t the whole equation.
I have mentioned before that you can study all you want about a person without actually having a relationship with them. You can stalk them on Facebook, you can do a background check, you can even interview their friends and family, but without actually starting a dialogue with them and asking them questions and in turn answering their questions honestly, there is no real relationship. It is here that we tend to miss the mark. We run around doing all these things for Jesus, we memorize bible verses and spit them out during times of strife, we surround ourselves with likeminded people and hope for the best. We spend all this time doing things for God but how much time do we spend doing things with Him? More than spending our time doing stuff, He wants us to spend time with Him. He doesn’t want us to save the world; He wants us to have a relationship with Him.
It is this intimate relationship that Jesus is talking about here. He doesn’t say anything about memorizing scripture, healing the sick, casting out demons, or just being good people. He talks about having an intimate relationship with the Father. A relationship with God. Many believe this isn’t possible. Some think they have to do something godly in order for it to be possible. Few actually do it. We live our lives thinking that we earn God’s love and are in communion with Him when we do things for Him. We tend to forget the words recorded in Mathew 7:21-23, “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” It is not about what we say or do, it is about our relationship with God.
Do you know Him?
