The Phil Files

Each of us has a hunger in our soul — sometimes called a “God-shaped” hole — that can only be filled by God Himself. Two now classic books speak to this hunger, Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God and J.I. Packer’s Knowing God.

In my Heartlight.org post this week, Drawing Nearer, I begin a several week look at the different ways we can “know” God. Of course, Jesus made the clear the importance of knowing God in the following statement He shared with His closest friends shortly before the agony of the Passion:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

We will use what I call “Immanuel sayings” from the gospel of Matthew because they tell us four ways for God to reveal Himself to us in Jesus:

Through the story of Scripture with Jesus as a focus (Matthew 1:22-23)
Through radical forgiveness, accountability, fellowship, and worship (Matthew 18:20)
Through loving service to those in need (Matthew 25:40)
Through reaching past barriers and helping others know and live for Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).

I would like to challenge you to think through some things and get your comments, especially if you have read the Heartlight.org post, to the following questions:

Do you think addictions spring from folks yearning to know God, but trying false ways of doing that and getting trapped by Satan?

What is the biggest difference between knowing about God and actually knowing God?

The term “knowing” is a very intimate term in biblical language (see Genesis 4:1, 17, 25 and Luke 1:34 where the term refers to the intimacy of a husband and wife: modern translations do not keep the metaphorical “knew” but look at the KJV.). Why would the Holy Spirit choose that term to talk about our relationship with God?

How does eternal life hinge on knowing God? (John 17:3)