Knowing God & Growing in your relationship

Last week we looked at Ephesians 1:15-23… it reads:

Ephesians 1:15–23 (ESV)

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The sermon walked through these verses and pointed out that

God saves us with a purpose that requires prayer for its fulfillment.

Paul prays that they would know God personally and be faithful to God in their personal lives, and I mentioned that Knowing God involves knowledge and power.

Knowledge from Ephesians 1:17-18, that God might “give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints”

Power from Ephesians 1:19-20 says,” 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places”

In light of this the sermon ended with 3 things Christians do after they are saved:

Grow in faith by growing in your knowledge of God Focus on your future riches and inheritance in Christ Depend daily on the power of God

On Sunday nights I have been taking some time to teach through things that didn’t make into the sermon. I have been calling this time “Digging Deeper” because it allows for me to take some time and focus more intently on parts of the sermon, and to bring up things that I learned or came across when I was studying that didn’t make into in the finished sermon on Sunday morning.

It’s kind of like the additional or deleted scenes that from a movie. And, as the week unfolded the Lord led me to come back to last week’s passage and focus a little more on knowing God and depending daily on the power of God.

And, the first thing to share is that knowing God is a matter of grace.

Knowing God is a matter of grace.

It is a relationship in which the initiative throughout is with God—as it must be, since God is so completely above us and we have so completely forfeited all claim on his favour by our sins.”1 That being the case, Packer concludes, “What matters supremely … is not … the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that he knows me.”2 This, of course, is the perspective of Paul in this opening chapter of Ephesians. He prays that we might know God precisely because it is God who has first set his love upon us and elected to know us savingly.

The second thing I want to share comes from J.I. Packer’s book, Knowing God and it’s that knowing God and the power of Christ’s resurrection is a matter of time.

Knowing God and the power of Christ’s resurrection is a matter of time.

How are you and I to experience that power? If we are to live in the power of Christ’s resurrection, we must come to know God. That is what Paul prays for first. And if we are to know God, we must spend time with him in Bible study, prayer, and meditation. You cannot get to know a person without spending time with him or her. No more can you get to know God without spending time with him.

Spending time with God is more than learning information about God, it is intentional and relational.

Too many people read the Bible to simply know something, rather than to know someone.

The goal of reading the Bible is not simply to know all the names, dates, and events… it’s to know God.

Knowing God involves understanding his heart, purpose, goals, plans, and motivations.

Just like you get to know someone by listening to them, we get to know God by listening to Him in His Word. The Word is living and active, and because of that we should read it, reflect on it, and memorize it. But, the Word is the revelation of God, so we must prioritize knowing Him, hearing from Him, and praying to Him.

In Scripture God has revealed who He is… and he has also revealed his purpose for the world and for your life. He has revealed his plans and the ultimate goal of all that he is doing, and he has made known to us his motivations. One of the things that God has made to known to us is his love and care for us.

Not only does God want you to know Him… he also wants a relationship with you. One where you listen, but also where he listens.

You don’t get to know someone by doing all the talking… and in a relationship both people are known, so we need to talk to God too.

Prayer is talking with God.

But, what do we talk about? What does God want to hear from us? Does it even make a difference if I pray?

Here are 6 things to know about prayer: (adapted from a Crossway article by Don Whitney)

Prayer is acceptable to God only in Jesus’ name

All access to God—including prayer—is possible only through the merits of who Jesus is and what he has done. Jesus made this plain in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But to pray “in Jesus’s name” is not accomplished simply by adding (often mindlessly) those words at the end of a prayer; rather, it is to pray with reliance on what Jesus has done for us and not the worthiness of who we are or what we have done. See also the emphasis made by Jesus on praying in his name in John 14:13 and John 16:23-24.

Prayer, apart from a relationship to God through Jesus, is heard—but not with a view to answering.

God hears everything. He hears the sound of every electron going around every atom in the universe. He even hears our thoughts (Psalm 139:2). So in one sense, God hears every prayer uttered by every person. But he does not hear with a view to answering unless we are in a relationship with him through Christ and honor his word. As Proverbs 28:9 puts it, “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” Proverbs 15:8 adds, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.” Again, Jesus’s words in John 14:6 apply here: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The Holy Spirit helps believers pray

The Holy Spirit not only prompts prayer in all believers, but he also helps us pray rightly. As Romans 8:26-27 explains, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Not only can the Spirit call to mind biblical truth to guide our prayers when do not know what to pray for or when we might pray for the wrong things, he can improve our prayers in the Father’s ears and even pray for us. Beyond that, the Spirit is able to take even our Godward groans and transform them into prayers that conform to the will of God. Thus, we should pray despite “our weakness” and uncertainty, and even when our hearts are so heavy that all we seem able to do is groan Godwardly.

We should pray for answers that fit with who God is, what He has done, and what He has said.

In almost every prayer recorded in Scripture—we should give to God a specific reason why he should answer. One of many possible examples is the prayer of Jacob in Genesis 32:11–12 where he pleads a promise from God as a reason why he should answer. Other reasons given in prayer why God should answer include an appeal to one of his attributes—his glory, our relationship to God, the request is God’s will, and more.

Prayer is a new desire for the believer, but also something we have to learn to do.

Jesus gave us an example of how to pray

In what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus gave us what could otherwise be known as the “Model Prayer.” While it’s certainly good to offer this prayer verbatim, it wasn’t intended to be the only form of prayer we may use, for none of the prayers found in the rest of the New Testament include the Model Prayer. Rather, this prayer—found in Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4—models the basic elements that should be part of our prayers. In other words, one of the best ways of evaluating the content of our prayers by the standard of Scripture is to determine whether they contain the components of the Model Prayer. And by the way, if you consistently pray through passages of Scripture as described above, the elements in the Model Prayer will regularly be a part of your prayers.

Praying the Bible means we never run out of things to say to God.

This is such a help… I think we are going to walk through Don Whitney’s book, praying the Bible soon. I taught through that in my first year here… but it’s been about 6 years since then and it’s a super helpful book on how to be guided by Scripture when you pray.

Knowing God and the power of Christ’s resurrection is a matter of time.

Harry Ironside tells of meeting a very godly man early in his ministry. The man was dying of tuberculosis, and Ironside had gone to visit him. His name was Andrew Fraser. He could barely speak above a whisper. His lungs were almost gone. Yet he said, “Young man, you are trying to preach Christ, are you not?”

“Yes, I am,” replied Ironside.

“Well,” he said, “sit down a little, and let us talk together about the Word of God.” He opened his Bible, and until his strength was gone he opened up one passage after another, teaching truths that Ironside at that time had never seen or appreciated. Before long tears were running down Ironside’s cheeks, and he asked, “Where did you get these things? Can you tell me where I can find a book that will open them up to me? Did you get them in a seminary or college?”

Fraser replied, “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart, and he taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”

That is the secret. It is not intelligence, outstanding instruction, or academic degrees. It is time spent with God. It is to people who sit at Jesus’ feet that God opens his heart.

This week:

Determine the time and place you are going to spend with God each day.

You don’t have to have like a special place that you always go… but it’s ok if you do have a spot you spend a lot of time with God…

Have a plan for your time with Him.

Rooted Journal example

Take time to hear from Him

This involves primarily reading, but also asking for insight in to what he means in His word.

Take time to talk to Him

Talk to God about what’s going on in your life… all of it. He knows, but he also wants to hear it because he wants relationship with you.

Talk to God about what he wants in relation to your life…

Spend a few moments being still in the presence of God

Meditating on what he has said, how it has impacted you, and how it should affect and change your relationship with Him, others, and your day.

Remember what he said as you go through your day.

Jesus- the way the truth and the life…