The Pathway to Knowledge of God

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God..." -Colossians 1:9-10 There are two kinds of knowledge every believer experiences. One, Understanding the scriptures, and two, knowing the power of God. However, most believers either experience one or the other. Some know scripture, but not God's power, while others know His power, but not the scripture. This should not be. We should be balanced. To know God himself requires we have dealings with God, and dealings by God. Simply, this means, we must pray and we must have circumstances, this is how we get to know God. Knowledge of the Bible alone is not equivalent to knowledge of God. In other words you can't just read the Bible, and expect to know God, it's just head knowledge. God desires that we would have heart knowledge. Proverbs 3:5-6 is the pinnacle of all Christians knowledge and truth. When we do this verse we find ourselves at the center of His will. Because, it is then that we trust Him and not ourselves; I depend on Him, my heart is set to understand Him, following Him by the dim torch of faith. We must have transactions with Him through prayer. Whatever we bring to God, weather a concern, a circumstance, a "help me!" prayer, a sin that causes us trouble or to fall, we seek Him to know what to do. Many times we must pray the same prayer, over and over and over until He speaks. When he speaks what to do that's knowledge. The next step becomes doing it, experience it, apply it to your life, walk it out. When we pray we should not seek answers as much as we should seek wisdom, which results in recognizing and knowing His will, and HIM! This is trusting and obeying. Know this, How we deal with our circumstances determines what we know about God. This is how we are dealt with BY God. He allows us to go through some awful things. He isn't the cause, but remember the story of Joseph, what man and Satan meant for evil, God turned into good! Circumstances and heart aches grow us up, it causes us to reach for Daddy, Jehovah, Abba, our Savior. It is wise to appreciate the valleys, it is wise to learn in the valleys. It's hard work. That is why lazy believers can never expect to know God. Proverbs clearly lays out what the path of laziness leads too. As our verse points out at the top, it is the Spirit who provides understanding. Our personal relationship with Jesus leads to knowledge. The Spirit living within us which convicts and speaks all truth into our lives. Are we sensitive to His speaking, and nudging? Our prayer should be that God would keep working within us, constantly changing us from glory to glory! Praying that we would grow in all knowledge, and wisdom. Are our consciences clear? (Acts 23:1, 24:16, Proverbs 20:27, 28:14, Job 27:6) Have we offended God in any way? If so make every effort to humbly repent and ask forgiveness. This is where you have the knowledge, now do it and be wise.