"KNOWING God, and not just having KNOWLEDGE of Him"

Do you call yourself a Christian? Do you really know where you will go after you die? Do you know who God is to YOU, personally? Do you know the basics- you live a "good" life and you believe that Jesus died, and you try to pray, but you're not really that "excited" for Christ? Do you think this "holy living" is just too hard so you reassure yourself that nobody's perfect?

My prayer this morning was that people will seek God out for themselves and not just have Sunday morning service take them there.

Even Christians get content with their lives and stop pursuing all there is to know about God and his will for their lives. It is engrained in our mind that we are "good to go," we were saved and now we are going to heaven. The End....

BUT God has so many dimensions to Him that even if we spend time with him every day, all day, for a lifetime, we will still never know every aspect OF him! We get all this KNOWLEDGE about Him without getting to KNOW Him. Why are we not that excited to know God?

I don't think that you can really get to know God better by just being led to the foot of the cross Sunday to Sunday. You can attend this and go to that, join this group, and hang out with this group of Christians, but until you DESPERATELY seek God for YOURSELF, I don't think that you will find anything beyond the basics, and therefore, not have all the joy, all the aspiration, all the purpose that you were meant to have IN him.

Until you have been to the BOTTOM of the pit, you can't fully appreciate the deliverance from it. And if you haven't hit rock bottom, He's giving you a chance to look up before you get there! Have you had your heart broken to the point you feel worthless? Have you been one scare away from being pregnant out of wedlock? Have you researched abortion clinics or plan B costs just to get out of a "stupid mistake"? Have you reached for that knife and just couldn't go through with it, but you will next time? Have you been so angry that any revenge just doesn't seem to satisfy the pain they caused you? Have you taken a "friend" up on that drink offer, even though you said the LAST one was your last?

YOU, my friend, are in a deep, dark place. YOU are in a PIT! and guess what CHRISTIAN, going to CHURCH next week is NOT going to save you! Promising to be better "NEXT" time isn't going to get you out either! Bargaining with God isn't gonna cut it! Church sermons and Christian Fellowship are GOOD and they are STEPS to get you in the right direction, but YOU also have to take initiative to see what YOU need and to seek out what GOD wants to do to meet this need, on a PERSONAL level.

If you are on a "slippery slope" or every time you do one thing it leads to another "sin" until your back down where you started, BUT you can be FREE; if you want to know how to confidently live your life, you CAN KNOW that you are going to heaven; if you are tired of standing on the edge, GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES! 

SEEK GOD FOR YOURSELF! On your own time. In your alone time. Amidst the tears, through the pain. 

Broken hearted people, do you KNOW God as your HEALER? Do you know Him as the "Lover of your Soul"? Do you know that He is awaiting your call, anticipating your time together, and boasting about you to the angels?

Singles, do you know that you are so blessed to be totally open to God's will? Do you seek out God to be the Director of your life and the Leader of your path? Are you searching to build your ministry and use your gifts and talents while you're waiting for "the one"?

Depressed and hopeless people, do you know the Lord has given you HOPE and a FUTURE? Do you know that He designed you before you were even in your mother's womb to do something GREAT! Have you looked up verses that deal with why would should have hope and joy? Job was depressed AND hopeless, but he did NOT turn from God. As the song says, "There's a light that is coming for a heart that holds on!"

Hurting people who have lost loved ones, do you KNOW God as your COMFORTER? Have you cried out tears of anger and pain to him? Did you know that even in pain and fear, people in the Bible sang PRAISES to God? Did you know that it is a BLESSING to suffer... God CHOSE you to endure the pain because HE KNOWS you can make it through! He has a calling on your life, greater than those who have not suffered! 

I could go on and on,  but in my experience, changing my life didn't happen over night. I wanted to make so many changes but I just couldn't stop doing what I was doing! Sunday mornings spoke to me, but IT WASN'T UNTIL I started getting in the word, researching verses that dealt with broken hearts, hurt, pain, purpose, etc, and writing in a prayer journal as often as I could, and SEEKING the specific dimensions of God, the God that would meet my need, I didn't really KNOW Him or TRUST that he was more powerful than my hurt and pain and attempts at quick fixes. 

Even now, I could only start writing about my personal struggles, because I have allowed God to enter the deepest darkest places of my heart, and continue to do so. I have been delivered from the things of which I speak. You cannot speak of the freedom from the places you have been, the hurt that you've experienced, the sin that has entangled you, IF YOU ARE STILL THERE! 

Take it to God before you take it to the world. 

But also, take it upon yourself to get to where you need to be with Christ. Take it upon yourself to really KNOW Him and not just have knowledge OF Him. Go beyond the basics and the rule-abiding, and the list of don'ts plastered on your mind, and find what it means to find joy in serving Christ, the blessings and fulfillment that comes with being obedient, the life out of the pit!

**Suggested Reading: Beth Moore's "Get out of that Pit", "Breaking Free"; The Message Bible: 2 Samuel 22:21, Job 33:26