The God I Know

14How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10: 14 NKJV

I will ask a simple question of anyone willing to answer.  The question is this, who is the God you know?  Is the God you know a vengeful God prone to anger?  Is He a loving God?  Do you even have a close enough relationship with Him to know just how He truly is?  From my own experiences, I can honestly say that my own relationship with Christ Jesus has revealed to me over time how special a personal relationship with my heavenly Father can be.  Of course, it wasn't always that way.  On the contrary, the God I used to know is the very same God which many well meaning christians have come to know today.  This is a God of rules, regulations and traditional practices.  Oh yes, my own view of God used to center around that which I was taught to believe in the church.  Can you blame me?  This was all I ever heard of God.  The very idea that I could have a close, personal relationship with Him was out of my league.  That kind of personal walk with God must have been reserved for only the most devout christian pastors and leaders.  Not only that, I'm thinking it could only be achieved through years of righteous living and scripture reading.  Is it any wonder that my own version of God tended to follow that of the typical christian?  This is the God we have come to know.  A God who sits in heaven, preparing to judge us daily for our imperfections.  A God who commands that His children meet in a stuffy building each sunday, follow the edicts of the bible to a T and give of the first fruits of our labors each week.  This was the God I knew.  The trouble with this is, I might have known OF God, but I didn't really know Him at all.

20“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."
Revelation 3: 20 NKJV

One of my first experiences of the falsehood of the churches God versus my true heavenly Father came one sunday after church service.  It seems that a few of the guys in the church were planning a guys day out on the golf course.  Now, I hate golf for the most part, but this seemed like a good way for me to get connected to a few of the guys in my church.  So, I approached the pastor in charge of this expedition and expressed my desire to join my brothers on the links.  Imagine my surprise when this man of God told me that it would be best for me if I did not participate but to leave it to those who had golfed before.  What?  I remember asking God that day why He had refused me the opportunity to join in fellowship with my brothers.  I believe I even spent some time in prayer asking if there was something I had done to upset my heavenly Father.  Remember, this was the God I knew.  I was sure that somehow, somewhere I had upset the God I knew and that this was His way of letting me know.  Yeah, I know it's a whacked out view of God, but this is how I had been taught to see Him.  It does not surprise me at all that there are still christians out there who hold fast to this view of God.  I've been there, I get it.  I mentioned that my own relationship with Christ was revealed to me over time.  In the wake of the hurt I encountered in the church, I started to do A LOT of talking with God.  Why was He mad at me?  What had I done?  Over time I began to ask myself, was this the God I knew?
This had to be herecy.  I was having dinner with a friend and the whole time he was talking about our personal relationship with Christ in us.  Could God really inhabit a sinful man in this way?  The God I had known was a enemy of sin.  Therefore, my own salvation seemed to always be in question.  Yet here was my friend telling me of the freedom of a personal relationship with Jesus.  A relationship that transcended the rituals and traditions of the God I once knew.  I was ready for something more.  I would never tell anyone that their own realization of that close relationship with Jesus is a easy transformation.  I still struggle with my own path from time to time.  One thing that will say is that my own relationship with Christ has grown.  This is the God I know.

21“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17: 21 - 24 NKJV

~Scott~