Bill B. sent me this essay, attributed to Billy R. Philly. Is that a real name? Who knows. I did a superficial web search and found nothing. But he is the source, not me. I added the title.
Knowing God
Coffee and prayers this cold Friday morning.
I was thinking about how a few weeks ago during Elvis’ birthday ,someone made the remark to me “You sure know a lot about Elvis.” That got me to thinking, as a lot of things usually do.
Yes I do know a lot about Elvis. I know his birthday, I know when he died. I know about his twin brother who died at birth. I know his parents names. I know his grandmother’s name. I know his daughter’s name and when she was born. I know his ex-wife’s name. I know most of his bodyguard’s names. I know that he and his family moved to Memphis when he was young, and that he graduated from Humes High School. I know that he worked for Crown Electric driving a truck for $35 a week. I know that the man who discovered him when he came in to make a record for his mother was Sam Phillips. I know that the first house that Elvis bought was on Audubon Drive in Memphis. I know what year he bought Graceland and how much he paid for it and the acres around it. I could go on and on and on. Yes I know a lot ABOUT Elvis, but I didn’t KNOW Elvis. I’m Facebook friends with one of his step-brothers, Rick Stanley.
You see Rick KNEW Elvis, he didn’t just know ABOUT him.
So how about the Lord? How many of us know ABOUT the Lord, but don’t KNOW the Lord?
Yes we can read the Bible and know all ABOUT the Lord. We can read every word from Genesis to Revelation, and we can know ABOUT God. But what about KNOWING Him?
You see there is a difference don’t you? It’s like believing IN God and BELIEVING God. Many people believe IN God, they just don’t BELIEVE God. They believe that He exists; they just don’t believe Him when He says “I so love you that I gave my only Son for you.”
We can get to KNOW God by praying to Him, talking to Him, and LISTENING to Him. We can get to KNOW Him by reading His word and praying that His word is made clear to us. We can get to KNOW Him by accepting Him, and realizing that He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves or one another. We can know His heart, His will for us, His plan for us. When we know Him, we know that He will never allow anything to come against us that isn’t filtered through His hands.
We can know ABOUT anyone by reading about them. We can KNOW a person by talking to them, learning their heart. We can know God by being on our faces to Him daily. He wants us to seek Him, and to KNOW Him, not just know ABOUT Him. When we get to KNOW Him, then we know that the lies of the enemy are just that; lies. When the enemy tells us that we are not good enough for God, we KNOW that we are MADE good enough for God because Jesus makes us good enough when we are His.
We cannot accept just knowing ABOUT Him. We must KNOW Him. We can’t accept just believing IN HIM, we must BELIEVE Him.
If you don’t KNOW Him, then seek Him. He will make Himself known to you. He will answer. Seek Him diligently. He’s not hiding.
So when someone says to you, “You know a lot about God”, you can say “No, I don’t know ABOUT God, I KNOW God.”
Have a great day everyone.
"'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. '" Matthew 7:7-8
Billy R. Philly
Additional note by Tom C: In Bible Study (Exodus), we were just discussing the difference between believing God exists and trusting God. Believing God exists is a necessary first step. Learning about God generally comes next. Actually believing, knowing and trusting God - may we all reach this stage in our spiritual walk.
