Knowing God vs Knowing of God

How do you know if you know Jesus? When you read Matthew 7:21-23;

[21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’']

Do you ever stop and wonder who these people are that thought they knew Jesus? 

Let's evaluate the versus. From those versus we know five things.

1. We will all be judged.
2. There will be people who thought they knew Jesus but knew of him.
3. These people practiced lawlessness and because of that Jesus never knew them.
4. They prophesied and did many wonders in the name of Jesus, but yet Jesus never knew 
them.
5. Those people will be separated from Jesus.

I want to explore number four further.

Quote: Why so careful?

Everything that we do with the intent of doing 'good' for God, we can unintentionally make that 'good,' bad if we aren't careful.

Examples

1. It's great to go to church every Sunday but if you just go every Sunday, you can get stuck in a routine/tradition. God wants authenticity not a camouflage.

2. It's a great thing to read the bible everyday but after a while ask yourself are you doing it because you feel obligated or because you're radically passionate about God?

3. It's a great thing to teach, preach and disciple but after popularity are you more focused on leading people to God or allowing people to focus on you?

4. It's a great thing to pay tithes, are you paying because you're sincere about giving your best or because you want something from God so you're giving?

These are examples and I'm sure there are many more. As believer's of Christ we have to be cautious, aware, careful not to start of great and midway in, forget God and seek our own worldly/fleshly desires. Thank God for sending his Holy Spirit. We have a comforter to help us and guide us. We just have to be obedient.

Quote: I'm here God, yes?

God can tell you something that he wants you to do. Someone, with out bad intentions can discourage what you were told to do by God. Know how God speaks to you, and you'll know if it's coming from you or your flesh. [Biblical reference Parables of the sower.]

Dear Atheist,

Dear Atheist (Muslims, Buddhist and those who are no longer Christians),
I cannot speak for other religions, but I can speak for Christianity. I understand to an extent, why you don't believe in the religion, Christianity. There are these people who call themselves believers, but they don't even know what they believe in or do what they believe. There's this thing, called the Holy Bible and it brings Christians closer to their God and it holds the key to eternal life, but yet they don't read it. Their God, Jesus, is omnipotent but they don't even talk to their God that has the power to give them everything that is Holy and that they desire, if he's first in their lives. Their bible tells them to love one another, but they are the most divided. Their bible tells them to disciple but no one really cares about getting to know their neighbor to bring them closer to Christ. They too gossip, they too slander, they too commit adultery, they too destroy. They go to church every Sunday, and think they are better than the world. Yet, they do the same thing as the people who are not believers. In short, they're hypocrites.

Sincerely,
A Christian who truly believe the word of God and most importantly has a relationship with Christ.

To the Atheist (Muslims, Buddhist and those who are no longer Christians), if you don't believe in the Bible because you just don't want to or for scientific reasons, I cannot force you or will not argue you down. However, if you don't believe in Christ because of the poor example that some Christians in the USA exemplify, please continue reading. Firstly, I want to apologize because I too was one of those Christians.

Please listen to my story,
After partying, drinking, hanging and living how I wanted to. I start telling myself, that it has to be more than life then this. I start searching for the meaning of life. Granted, I grew up in the Christian church but at times I wonder if that was a hindrance. At periods in my life, I would be passionate and lose passion, I would be radical for Christ and then it would die out.

WHEN YOU GET IT, LESS MATTERS!

I finally get it...

No matter how much a pastor preach, a teacher teach, a disciple disciples a person whether saved or not ...will only come to Christ or understand certain biblical scriptures/principles if;
1. The holy spirit is present [biblical reference John 14:26].
2. They diligently ask, seek, and knock [biblical reference Matthew 7:7-11]. 

Which basically mean they have to want to know and understand the truth. Their hearts cannot be hardened.

Now this doesn't mean we stop preaching, teaching and disciplining. It just means you do what you can to the best of your ability, out of love, plant the seed and allow God to water it.

For example, I know that I'm supposed to give God my best [biblical reference 2 Corinthians 9:7]. However, I didn't know how to, until I understood and really believed that this world is fading away, that my life is temporary and that I will be judged based upon my choices on earth [biblical references  Hebrews 9:27]. 

Once I truly understood that and sincerely believed those truths. I was able to let go off my fleshy desires [sex, partying, etc] and put my worldly desires [successful happy marriage, great career, nice home] behind Jesus desires for my life [to love him, love others and disciple] [video reference forward to the 15 minute mark and watch until the 30 minute mark].

Lunch Prayer + Reflections

PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for taking control over my life and guiding me into your truth and presence. I thank you for helping me make a conscious decision, every second of the day to die to myself and follow you. I thank you for helping me think of your desires for my life before I think and before I speak. Thank you for giving me the courage to make disciples. Thank you for your mercy and grace.

REFLECTION:
If the bible tells us (generalizing) that we are on earth to do his will and make disciples. If the bible tell us not to be comfortable on this earth and not to store up treasure on earth. Then why is it when we thank God for waking us up in the morning, we thank him for fleshy reasons? (ie. So you can have another day to be with your family. So you can enjoy your new car. So you can make it to the point where you have the American Dream).Are we thanking God for giving us another day to live solely for God? If yes, then why is it that a lot of Christians don't live solely for God? Please note that I'm not saying having a family, a car, or wanting a career is sin or bad. However, what I am saying is, that many people I know are only focused on that and go to church because it looks nice or because it's a temporary fix.

The Answer

How do you focus on God, in a world that tells you to focus on yourself? We have social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and linked in. One tell us to focus on our relationships, another one tell us to focus on the pictures we want people to see, another tell us to focus on the thoughts we have, and the other one tell us to focus on our career. Even when I read inspirational Christian quotes, they’re all about what God can do for me and how I can do this or do that to get over my worldly problems. The pictures I see of happy couples, motivates me, encourages me to focus on relationships and marriage. I, we, become so consumed in what we see and don’t realize that these little things play a role in our lives.

...but what encourages us to focus on Christ first? Meaning what encourages us to focus on Christ by putting his desires first, even if it means giving up our fleshy desires?

As I deeply meditate on this subject, I wondered if that’s the reason so many Christians backslide or break-a-way from Christianity all together.

For the past (almost a) year, I struggled with doing what I knew the bible was telling me to do and doing what my flesh wanted to do. I lived in conscious sin, that I chose to live in, because I wanted what my flesh desired. However, living in my sin, didn’t make me happy. Living as a Christian made me happy up until the point, I stop getting what I desired. So, I guess that made me happy to an extent. Recently, as I began to think and pray to God. I realized that living as a Christian gave me more peace than living in my sin, even if it’s a temporary feeling. About a week ago, I was afraid that, I would become passionate for Christ like I was before, like most and then give into my flashy desires again aka the temporary feeling/fix. Whether, sex outside of marriage, worldly music, profane language and whatever.

God began speaking to me and I realized that I, like many Christians have this thing backwards. I was listening to a Francis Chan sermon and he gave an analogy and from that analogy, I thought about another analogy…and it hit me.

The Desires of Our Heart.

" When I was in my late 20's early 30's I thought God would send me a husband. As I grew older, I wanted a husband for the wrong reasons. I felt God would send my husband anyway because I was living according to his word. Now, I feel that it is not His intention for me to be married. But I want to be. So I'm trapped in between abiding and satisfying. I know I chose the latter and I know it is not good. I pray that he keeps me hold until I get it. - My co-worker"

See I think that you and I and many other women have had or have a misunderstanding of the point of marriage and family. I think people (men and women) desire to be married for worldly reasons and have kids for worldly reasons.

We want a husband so that we can have kids, and live in a nice house and drive a nice car and go to church together on Sunday’s. So that we can live the American dream. We want a husband for companionship and sexual reasons. I’m not saying that these worldly desires are wrong.

However, in the mist of our own fleshy and worldly desires, we miss the point of it all. The bible tell us that, this life on earth is temporary, it’s fading away [biblical  reference 1 John 2:17]. Jesus tell us to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth where thieves steal and rust destroys[biblical reference Matthew 6:19-21]. Jesus out of his own mouth tell us if we do not die to ourselves daily, and hate ourselves(which he means our lives, our desires), and hate our kids, wives, husbands, moms, and dads we are not worthy to be his disciple [biblical reference Luke 14:26]. What this is saying is that even if we were to get married, we would have to live as if we were not, as Paul tells us in the bible[biblical reference 1 Corinthians 7:28-29].This doesn’t mean live in sin, as if we were not married. It means live as a  husband or as a wife but focus so much of Jesus that we put our spouse second, and our kids third. To the world that’s odd and strange but isn't that how's it supposed to be? The way Christians are supposed to live according to the NT in the bible shouldn't reflect how non-Christians are living. That means being uncomfortable for the sake of Christ. Uncomfortable is subjective depending on what God want to use you for.

The reason why I think God hasn’t given us our fleshy desires is because if he did he wouldn’t be first. It’s meant as a blessing to save us. I myself had to understand this and I’m learning and God is showing me what I wasn’t able to see for the past four to five  years. Now, I thank God for not sending me a true man of God, who's after his own heart because I would have been upset if my husband lived as if we weren’t married (in a biblical sense).

Does Your Life Make Sense?

Introduction I sit here almost a year later, in disbelief that I spent almost a year of my life, living in conscious sin. I didn't care about my salvation, I didn't care about Christ. I only cared about what my flesh desired; sex and to be married. At that time, I idolized being married. However, I became weary of waiting. I got tired of waiting on God, for God. I thought if I were to "just do this, and do that," until I got what I wanted (marriage), just for a moment, I would return back to Christ whenever I felt like it. However, the more and more I sinned, the harder it was to go back to living for Christ. [biblical reference Matthew 12:45].

After giving myself away to another worldly man, it's as if my spirit cried out to God. For a week, I cried morning and night. At first, I thought it was because of this man, who used me and dissed me. However, I realized it was because of how I had been living. So many times, God gave me warnings, and convicted me. However, I ignored them. I strayed so far away from God, I had become lukewarm. [biblical reference Revelation 3:16]

One thing that never left me, was the belief that prayer to Jesus, was powerful, prevalent, and necessary.

I began asking God to allow me to see, hear, and feel what he wanted me to see, hear and feel. I asked him to allow me to accept whatever he had to show me.

I watched this video [video reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgWk5Bsy9es] with Lisa and Francis Chan and everything that they said in this video made sense.

I began to ask myself: DOES YOUR LIFE MAKE SENSE?