John 10:14, ‘I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.’
Jesus says, ‘I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me’.
Galatians 4:9, ‘But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?’
Apostle Paul says, to know God and to be known by God. We should be gripped by this truth, in our lives. It helps us to grow spiritually and helps us to live an overcoming life.
Do not go back to the weak and worthless elemental things, desiring to be enslaved all over again! Here, the Galatians Church is not gripped by the truth that’s why they are turning back!
The proof that we know our God as our Father, is that we hate sin. When we know our God is a loving Father, it really helps us to live an overcoming lives, each day!
V6, ‘Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.’
To know God and to be known by God. This is like two sides of a coin, where one side, we should know our God more, better and intimately, as a loving Father. The other side is to be known by God; God knows me. Jesus says, ‘I know My own and My own know Me’.
We need to know God as our loving Father. Bible says, He will not leave us orphans; but why do we feel very insecure? When things do not go as per our own plan, why do we grumble or murmur? This shows that we do not know God as our loving Father!He loves as much as He loves Jesus. He cares for us. He is compassionate.
In Mathew 6-25 onwards we can se there Jesus say do not be worry or anxious because you have a heavenly father in heaven.
Matthew 6:9, ‘“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.’
Jesus said , pray that Our Father who is in heaven , then in the end says do not worry nor be anxious!’
Jesus came to this earth, to reveal the Father to us, as a loving Father. Through parables, Jesus was revealing that our Father is a loving Father. He cares for us.
When the younger son was backslidden from the Father’s love, he was living in a worldly way and lost everything in his life; then he remembered, that ‘My Father loves me’ because he knows his father . This made him come back to his Father’s house!
Luke 15:21, ‘But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ 20So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.’
This shows us how intimately our Father loves us. Know God as a loving Father. Knowing God, is to have an intimate, close, personal relationship with our Father.
It is not like knowing about a famous person’s name but not knowing him personally! Knowing God intimately is like how husband-wife know each other!
There is story like this ,in a Christian competition program on reading Psalms 23; whoever reads it in a best way, will be rewarded. One by one, everyone was reading Psalms 23 and then an old woman came and started reading, on the stage; there was a great influence on the audience, everyone was filled with tears in their eyes! She was rewarded. One person asked the judge, why she was given the prize, the judge answered that, ‘everyone knows Psalms 23, but this woman knows the ‘Shepherd’ in the Psalm 23’!
We may know many different things in our lives but one thing matters; ‘do you know our God, as a loving Father?’ When we know Him, it gives us a great comfort and confidence that ‘I have a Heavenly Father who is loving’. This is a great privilege that God has given to us. In the Old testament, no one can say that God is a Father. We have a privilege of being His children, who can cry out to Him, ‘Abba! Father!’.
‘Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
John 5:39, ‘You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;’
Jesus says to Pharisees that you are searching the Scriptures for eternal life, but the Scripture is pointing to me! We may have Bible knowledge but are we seeing Jesus in it?
John 14:9. ‘Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?’
Jesus is sad when He said to Philip, ‘You do not know who I am? Even after witnessing many miracles!’ Do we, know our God, as a ‘loving Heavenly Father?’ when we feel insecure, burdened with things, do we know Him as a loving Father? Did He ever let us down? Our Father is a loving, compassionate, caring Father, who forever loves us. May God give us more and more revelation in our lives, that we have a Father in heaven, who is in control of everything! This gives us more comfort and strength in our lives.
Philippians 3:8, ‘More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ’
Apostle Paul is more passionate about knowing God, more and more that he counted all things as rubbish so he may gain Christ. Let us press on to know more about God.
1 John 3:1, ‘See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.’
How great and how deep is the Father’s love for us!
Hosea 6:3, ‘So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”’
Let us know and let us press on to know our God as a loving Father. May God help us.
The other side is known by God. He knows everything that is happening to us. He assures us that nothing that is happening to us, is without His knowledge!
Matthew 10:29, ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.’
Holy Spirit says that we are more valuable to God than sparrows. He loves and cares for us. He knows even the hairs that fall from our head! , this shows the intensity of his care for us .He knows all our situations! We may ask God why then God allowed one sparrow to fall down in the ground? , why God could not prevent it from falling? We may ask God about the difficult situations in our lives; ‘why it is happening? Why to my family? Why the sickness is not healed? Why this problem is not solved?’ answer is we do not know but thing that encourages here that Jesus said “ Not a single sparrow can fall in to ground without your father knowing it “We do not know why! But what comforts us, is that our Heavenly Father knows! He knows each and every detail of our lives.
John 13:7, ‘Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”
We will not know it now many things , but we know it later! Father knows it,all things work together for good.
Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.’
We are His children and we have our loving Heavenly Father. He knows us and He is in Sovereign control of our lives.
Job 23:10, ‘But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.’
Job was going through difficult situation, but he knows his God. He says, ‘My God knows all the details of my life, that are happening’.
Job 42:5, ‘I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6Therefore I retract,And I repent in dust and ashes.”’
Job says that he knew God only by the hearing of the ear, but when he went through the difficult situation, he came to a point where he sees God. This is through the fellowship and through the communion he had with God.
James 5:11, ‘We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.’
Our God is full of compassion and is merciful. Job understood this in his life.
May God give us more and more light in our lives and revelation and help us to know that He is a loving Father. Let us know God and be known by God.
May God bless us.
