Getting to know God on a more personal, deeper level is literally THE FUNNEST thing you can do!
The more I get to know Him, the more I become obsessed with knowing more. It’s like giving a mouse a cookie. 😊
I get so obsessed that I can’t put my Bible down. I can’t stop listening to sermons. I can’t stop. I don’t wanna stop. I just want to know everything I possibly can about the God that I serve.
As this year is about to close, these are the biggest takeaways for me in my quest of knowing God more. I’m making this list for me, so I don’t forget, and for you, so you can learn and know Him more too! ❤️
Knowing God
While some of these things I already knew about God, I had the opportunity to SEE them in action, with my own eyes. To experience them first hand, and it’s been amazing!
Knowing ABOUT God is not enough. We must experience Him and His vastness to learn and grow as believers.
1) He is NOT quiet
Sometimes I think because WE can’t hear Him all the time, we just assume He’s quiet.
I’m in the Bible at least 10-20 times throughout the day. I doubt there is even an hour that passes (while I’m home), that I don’t open His holy Word. He wants to be known. He’s not playing hide and seek. He’s telling us over and over again.
He repeats Himself in Scripture SO much. Have you ever recognized that?
How many times does He tell us even one thing throughout the Bible? It’s important. He wants us to get it.
It’s like He’s taking out a megaphone and we just aren’t listening. We can’t hear because OUR sin separates us from God. Therefore, be holy. The less we sin, the more we hear Him!!! The closer we are to Him. So make it your aim to sin less and be holy.
Take just that statement to be holy. How many times does He tell us to be holy in Scripture?
- Leviticus 19:2
- Leviticus 20:7
- Leviticus 20:26
- Leviticus 21:8
- Exodus 19:6
- 1 Peter 1:16
- 1 Thessalonians 4:7
- 2 Corinthians 7:1
- …
I’ll stop there, although I’m sure there’s more!
In Hebrews 12:14, it tells us that if we are not holy, we won’t see God.
If God tells us to be holy at LEAST 9 times, do you think it’s important? Do you think we should pay attention to it and obey it?
The truth is that there are LOTS of those examples in Scripture. Scripture repeats itself a LOT. God is constantly telling us the same things over and over.
When you begin to deep dive into the Bible, you’ll start to see patterns like this all over the place.
God is not quiet. He’s taking the time to tell us something multiple times.
Why?
It’s not because He’s not said it clearly enough. It’s because WE are not listening!
We MUST value the Word of God more than we do. In Bible times, they didn’t have the Bible like we do today. Godly men would read things like the Torah. Bits and pieces of the Bible (because the Bible was still being written at that time), according to what they had.
What they did have, they shared it. One document went around the whole city.
Imagine sharing one Bible. Your whole family only getting it for only one week out of the entire year. That’s exactly what was happening back then. Imagine how you’d treasure it, put all your focus on it and reading it during that week. How you’d saturate your mind with it, how you’d memorize it.
Now, because we have Bibles so commonly, we take them for granted. We don’t seek God like we should. We take Him and His Word for granted.
That’s not respecting God. That’s not reverencing Him, when we just flippantly throw His words around, tossed aside and not taken seriously. Maybe we open the Bible once a week, what, during church?
We fail God by not loving Him enough, reverencing Him enough, by taking Him and His Word for granted, and yet He loves us. He cares for us. He wants a relationship with us, He wants to be known. He’s not quiet.
How many times do you read the Bible each week? Really think about it?
It’s not about hitting a set number to make yourself feel good, but think about the heart attitude BEHIND why you’re not.
Is life choking out your time? Why do you allow it to?
We all get the same number of hours in a day. We all get 24 hours. Yet, many godly people are spending a number of hours a day immersed in the Word of God.
It’s about our priorities. Is God important to you? Is He to me? Are we valuing the Bible like we should?
“But”, you say, “I’m so tired and busy all the time. I work two jobs, I come home, the kids are at my feet, I’m doing all I can to make it through the day.”
How much more should you be in the Word of God then?!
It satisfies your soul, nourishes you, feeds you, gives you peace, understanding, wisdom. You wouldn’t feel so stressed out if you WERE in the Word of God more and I work two full-time jobs right now too and have no help as a single woman. If *I* can do it, surely there is no excuse for anyone else.
As a culture, I think we fail God often and we need to recognize that, repent, and change our behavior in order that we please God and become more Christ-like.
2) He loves us, but…
He loves us so much. He died for us. He IS love, that’s how strong it is that He loves us, that His very essence, His character, His attribute IS love, but…He has limits.
He hates sin. Won’t look on sin. He will exact vengeance, especially to those who harm His children.
- He’s made a giant fish swallow his prophet when He wasn’t listening and obeying (Jonah)
- He allowed Jesus, His own son go to the cross to take on OUR punishment (Luke 23:1-46)
- He opened the whole ground and swallowed men up whole when they sinned (Numbers 16:32)
- He’s struck people dead on the spot, instantly for lying (Acts 5:1-10)
- He allowed all the Israelites to die, because of their sin of disobedience in the wilderness and it was the next generation who entered the promised land (Numbers 32:13)
He loves us, but there are limits. Sin is still sin. He will not excuse sin just because He loves us. It is BECAUSE He loves us He DOESN’T excuse sin. It’s the loving Father that chastises and corrects His son to not disobey. As parents, we get that. We understand that while not pleasant at the time, the rod of punishment was for our good, to keep us from doing wrong.
For a long time, I never understood that. It wasn’t until I saw kids grow up without the rod. As adults, the things they do, the vile and wicked and illegal behaviors they commit are proof that the rod of punishment IS for our good. It makes us better people than those who don’t have it.
3) He hates pride
Pride is such a bitterness to Him and He warns us that He will take care of pride in our hearts (Proverbs 16:18).
He gives us a chance to repent and turn from our wicked ways. When we don’t, He punishes and roots it out of us.
He is close to the humble, close to those who are mourning, close to those who are bereaved and grieved, and far from those who are prideful (Psalms 34:18, James 4:6).
4) He works hard
He’s not just “upstairs”, detached and watching us all through a telescope. God is like a playwright, writing the play. I’ve watched His will unfold step by step. He knows the ending answers, the end of the story and yet, He brings us through the play, scene by scene, act by act.
Sometimes, I wonder why He doesn’t just fast forward us, but it’s THROUGH those scenes, the daily living of life, that we learn the lessons.
It’s through the play as it were, that we grow, are conformed more to His image, and are sanctified. We fail, and He allows us to fail, because we learn, we grow, we don’t make the same mistake again. We get better. It’s not enough just to hand us the prize, we must earn it. We have to do the work. It would be like Him giving us answers to a math test. We have to work out the problems and solutions ourselves so we learn math, otherwise, we don’t learn it.
Same thing here with life. It’s all about growing us, refining us.
At each step of the play, the writer is there on the sidelines, watching, coaching, helping us to say our lines right, to do what we’re supposed to do. He supports us, shapes us, molds us, helps us.
It’s really a beautiful picture of who God is. He’s not afar off somewhere. He’s there, watching, helping, interacting, sovereignly controlling everything (He wrote the play, of course), while, at the same time, letting human will take place. It works in perfect and beautiful harmony.
5) Angels are a very present help to us
They work on His behalf. He is the leader, the boss, He shows them what to do, gives them instruction and charge over a mission and then, they complete it and when they do, they go back to Him. If they have questions, they talk to Him and ask Him and He gives the ruling.
Think of it like a CEO of a company. He delegates certain tasks to people.
You see this all throughout Scripture, God using angels to do work on His behalf.
Here are some examples…
God has given them charge to help us (Daniel 6:22), protect us, (Psalm 91:11), minister to believers (Hebrews 1:14), and lead us (Acts 8:26-40; Acts 10:3-8), and yes, even have the power to kill enemies (Acts 12:21–23).
6) Sometimes He doesn’t care like we want Him to
The things that are important to us, no matter how small and insignificant they are, God cares about. But after a while, especially if He’s told you not to worry about something, He tries to get our focus to STOP being on those smaller issues.
The perfect example of this is money.
I say to Him, “But Lord, I am homeless. I don’t have enough money to find a nice, safe place to live.” He says to me, “But do you not know who I am? Have I not trained you? Should you not trust me more by now? Knowing that I care for you. Knowing all the promises in the Bible that talk about Me not letting my children fall. How I care for the birds of the air, how much more so you, my child (Matthew 6:26-27). Why is this still on your mind? Why do you still even think about money? Why is it still a concern for you?”
Or Paul. He’s praying three times that the thorn in his side be removed from him and God’s response is, My grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). It’s not the answer we want, but it’s the answer He gives.
As we go, He’s training us, GROWING US to be more Christ-like, to not worry about the things of this world, to not be concerned with the smaller things, to learn to trust Him more.
He’s shifting our perspective, changing it, helping us see past the littler things and helping us keep our focus on the bigger things, the things He cares about. The things He says are important.
Over time, He will train you to think this way, to focus on the things that are important and to stop worrying about the earthly things that we all get so caught up in from time to time.
7) The quickest way to see His wrath is…
The quickest way to see His wrath is to mess with His children. Wanna see it even faster? Mess with an orphan or a widow, someone who has no protection. I happen to be both a widow and orphan. Mess with me and you’re sure to see punishment REAL quick.
I have personally seen soooo many people attack me this year because of my faith and good works, and then a month later I look for them and see they were utterly destroyed! 😮
- One lady gossiped about me and got me kicked out of a Facebook group. Her son ended up in jail, having no previous record or bad marks at all with the law and she lost her home as a result of her son’s action.
- Another lady gossiped about me, said untrue things, she lost her home and had to move to another city.
- One lady was spreading rumors about me, all things untrue and twisting words purposely even after being confronted on it, in a very public way, and she has been under the wrath of God so much she publicly says Satan is out to get her and crying the victim card. In her unbelief of the gospel, she doesn’t realize, it’s actually GOD who is punishing her for trying to destroy my good works, the works that God has sent me to do. She has lost a lot because of her bad behavior against me, including prestigious awards that were going to be hers but were taken away.
- Some people were not appreciating me. God saw it, made me aware of it (I didn’t realize), and He protected me. He kicked all those people out of my life, a good 150 people! No longer would He allow me to serve them. Their “food” was cut off by the hand of the Lord, no longer to be blessed in abundance.
Whether big things or small things that they’ve done against a child of God, I’ve seen God’s hand protect me and punish the evil around me in major ways, consistently, all year long!
If you are a genuine believer, that same protection is upon you! God cares about you. He loves you. He protects His children!
👉 All the more reason to be kind to others. You never know that stranger who is a Christian that you misaligned and they pray against you and then God punishes you because you harmed them! Be kind anyway, but this is extra incentive. 😊
8) The best way to get God’s attention…
Be pure. 💯
You’ve heard it said in the Bible that God is close to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).
Ze ‘Akah, which is my favorite word of all time. It means that time when you cry out in utter despair and anguish.
Jesus, when He was asking God to take the cup away from Him before going to the cross, cried a Ze ‘Akah prayer. It’s when you lose control and you can’t stop crying. You feel your life is over or you just can’t get past something. It’s deep, deep pain and hurt. God is instantly there for you in those times of pain, 100% of the time!
Well I say to you, you can have God ALWAYS near you, if you are pure, which is better than getting Him closer to you when you’re in deep despair!!!
The purer and more holy we are, the closer He walks with us on a continual basis. Want His presence always? Be pure. Be holy. Walk each day in an upright way.
9) He loves us all the same
God is not out there playing favorites. “Oh, I think I’ll be nice to Sarah today. Nope, it’s Susie’s turn.” He loves us all the same. He cares for each one of His children the same. There ARE no favorites, therefore, we need not compete with each other over our dad’s attention!
He will spend ample time with all of us, loving us all the same, not provoking us to compete with each other.
In fact, He does not like it when Christians fight. He knows it will happen, knows we are human but does not like it.
He does not like it when believers are attacking, belittling, disregarding, or otherwise impairing His love to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
He calls us to live in unity with each other, to live in peace (Romans 12:18).
10) He wants ALL of us
He doesn’t just want a portion of our day, a piece of our life, or a small offering of our week. He wants us to abide in him (John 15:4), live with Him, talk to Him all day (1 Thessalonians 5:17), every day.
He wants to be our compass, the person we treasure the most (Matthew 6:33), our everything. He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). Any idols we have in our life, sooner or later, He’s going to get rid of them, the easy way, or through great trial, loss, and grief. Better to get rid of all idols in your life on your own and be fully committed to God, then to have His hand take them away through pain and suffering.
11) He expects us to obey
For the Christian, obeying God is not optional (John 14:15). That’s what we signed up for when we gave our life to Him: total devotion and allegiance.
While He fully understands our position on a point, He listens to our feelings, and takes great care for them, He ultimately knows what’s best for us as He can see the WHOLE picture and our vision is marred.
Therefore, we submit to Him and His will, knowing and understanding that it is HIS will that is best, despite how we may feel about something.
At the end of the day, whether we understand His will or not, we are accountable to follow it. That is His expectation of us.
12) If we make a promise and don’t keep it, we’re in deep trouble
If we make a covenant to God and do not obey it, it’s like issuing our own death warrant. God will absolutely hold us accountable to any covenants we make with Him.
He will orchestrate our life for us to make good on those covenants, but if we completely reject that covenant, we cannot expect to keep our physical life. Covenants are SERIOUS business.
Will He for SURE take our life? No. But He takes it very seriously and it’s not something to mess around with. I’ve seen men who will die a physical death because they made a covenant and refuse to keep it.
Never promise God something you cannot, for sure, keep.
13) We are so quick to forget Him
The first thing we are tempted to do after He saves us from a trial is to forget Him. “Well, I don’t need Him anymore” or “Lord, I got it from here. I can handle it now.” But we can’t.
Look at what happened to the Israelites. They walk in the wilderness 40 years, everyone dies (Hebrews 3:17), the next generation enters into the promised land and what happens? They forget God, even after they are warned not to (Deuteronomy 8:1-18).
The temptation for the Christian is not when you’re suffering. For when you are suffering, are you not crying out to the Lord your God day and night, close to Him like a weaning baby?
The temptation for the Christian is when everything is going GOOD. We forget Him. We say, “I’ve done this in my own power”, and He has to take it all away in order to show us that it WASN’T in our power that everything was going good, but His and His alone. While yes, we play our human part in things, we cannot even play our human part without Him.
I remember years ago, speaking to a Pastor. I was doing incredibly well at the time on this site, super successful, lots of traffic, and doing incredibly well financially and he said to me how awesome it was that I was doing so well. “You’ve worked so hard, you’ve done well”, he said. Seems innocent enough. But it’s not. It’s the words of Satan creeping through the most unlikely of places, through the mouth of a genuine believer, a Pastor no less.
I replied, “Everything I have comes from God.”
Rejecting my words, he went on to reply, “But you did it too”.
In our humanness, we will always try to shortchange God of the glory HE so rightly deserves. This must not be the case in the life of a believer. Everything we have, whether knowledge, success, money, fame, hard work, or the like, ALL comes from the Lord.
I cannot have knowledge in the Lord, if I do not have a brain, which He created. If I suddenly get amnesia. If in old age, we suddenly forget things. Even knowledge is a work of the Lord and everything comes from Him (James 1:17). We must do well to never forget that, lest we become prideful.
14) He is very generous
Whether He’s giving us wisdom (James 1:5), lavishing His love on us, or providing us with a peaceful life (that so many times we take for granted), He is the ultimate gift-giver. You can never outgive God! Luke 6:38.
Everything He does is full of generosity and love for us. It’s amazing to see that in action.
15) He is the only one worthy of our adoration
There is none like Him.
One of my favorite Christian songs is a Spanish song by Julissa. It’s called El Gran Yo Soy, which translated literally means, “How great you are.” It’s a great song to leave on repeat and you know you’re worshipping and glorifying God with your heart.
And if you learn even just a few simple words of Spanish, you’ll understand the song and it is one of the most beautiful songs ever sung.
Here’s a few to get you started:
- Santo: holy
- Otro: other
- Digno: dignified
- Escuchar: listen
Here’s the full translation of the song:
Did you notice there where it says, “No hay outro”, which means, “there is no other”.
There’s no other God, no other deity to worship, there’s no one else. We worship the ONE, the true and living God.
No other is worthy to be praised, to be adored, to be worshipped and this songwriter gets it.
No one else deserves our attention like He does. He alone is worthy of our adoration. He alone is the Lord Jesus Christ. Dignified, honored, revered, worthy of our respect.
16) We translate the Bible wrong many, many times
“We should treat others like we want to be treated, treat others as we do ourselves”, someone might say.
I think so often we think the verse is saying we are to consider others the same as ourselves. Look out for others. Serve them.
But that’s not what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying we are to consider others as BETTER than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).
That doesn’t mean that others wants come before our needs, but we need to get good at differentiating the two, so that we can prioritize things.
If your child wants to eat and you have to fix it but you have to go to the bathroom, what gets taken care of first?
Will they starve if they have to wait 2 minutes to eat?
No. Your need to go to the bathroom comes first and we understand that.
Take care of you and your family’s needs first, for sure, then other’s needs, then your desires, then other’s desires. In that order. 😊
We have to really, CAREFULLY, take the Word of God more seriously and READ more carefully. Because even that one word in Philippians 2:3, the word “more” is so vital to the whole sentence.
I’ll give you another example…
A very prominent (and godly) website talks about how Jesus sweat drops of blood when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
At first glance, that’s what we think when we are reading the verses.
Luke 22:44 – “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (ESV)
In reading the article, they acknowledge that some consider the drops of blood may be sweat that is LIKE blood. But in the end conclusion, they state, “Ultimately, then, we are the ones responsible for the blood that dripped from our Savior as He prayed in the garden.”
Their conclusion is clear. They are teaching people that Jesus sweat blood.
This is fallacy.
In our culture, everything is so fast-paced. We have to learn to slow things down and really READ!
It does not say anywhere that Jesus sweat blood and if He did sweat blood, the writer wouldn’t have said “became like”. He would have said, and his sweat became blood or his sweat was blood or he sweat blood.
The word in that sentence, “like” is so vital. It changes the whole verse from meaning one thing to another.
Jesus didn’t sweat blood. It was LIKE blood. It wasn’t blood.
While this is not something to argue about, you are free to believe whatever you like about what the verse means, the point is more so that we start to take the Word of God more seriously.
We, in our hurried and rushed culture, tend to run around and rush through things, even when reading Scripture. We, oftentimes, do not take the time to study it out. To meditate on one verse at a time. To think about what the author is intending to say.
I heard one person say, “I don’t care what the author is saying, THIS is what the Bible means to me.”
It’s unbelievable! 🤯
Imagine standing before God and saying, “I don’t care what YOUR rules are, this is what the rules are to me.” Or for that matter, standing in front of a police officer. You rob a bank and it’s okay because you didn’t understand what the law was? How’s that going to fly in court?
It’s ludacris and yet, Christians, Bible-believing Christians around the world have this philosophy that we can just read the Bible however we want. As long as it speaks to me, who cares. I’m fed. I got what I want.
This is blatant disregard of our Maker. It is slapping God in the face. It is no less than blasphemy.
We MUST take the Word of God more seriously!!!!
If you take nothing else away from this article, it should be this. God (and God alone) is worthy of our praise, our time, our allegiance, and our respect. Anything short of this is sin, no matter how you slice the bread.
