I believe there are prayers God never answers with a no.

 

Surely the prayer above is one of them.

For we know He is a God who went to great lengths through His Son to help us know Him.

What kind of God does what the Bible says He did? What kind of God comes in the form of a man to live and die as a man, to speak with men and women face to face, touch them, heal them, and then allow them to kill Him in order to redeem humanity?

I once tried to believe that all religions were the same. I proclaimed that God was the god of not only Christianity, but Buddhism, and Hinduism, New Age faith, and all religions of the world.

My choice to believe this way came out of frustration. I decided that if I couldn’t convince someone of the truth found in Christianity, then I could be wrong. So, I crossed over to the other camp…his camp. But the moment I made that choice, a vacuum of emptiness began to expand inside of me. After a very lonely year, and with the help of a friend, I got tired of the empty and chose to trust the Bible and Jesus again.

He filled me once more.

I now know that when I proclaimed all religions the same, I didn’t denounce God, but I denied Jesus as Savior of the world. All religions believe in a god, but only one lifts up Jesus. On that day when I unknowingly denounced Jesus, His Spirit slipped out the back door of my heart. His departure caused the empty.

Joyce Meyer says, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage makes you a car.”

 

[tweetability]The sad fact is there are billions of people in the world walking empty, and some of those people attend church every Sunday.[/tweetability]

 

Paul prayed for the Christians in Ephesus:

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”

The word know has been translated from the Greek word Epignosis.

Gnosis means knowledge and Epi is used as an intensive. So, normally this word would mean “advanced or perfected knowledge.” But the ancient word holds a deeper meaning. According to Spiros Zodhiates (the editor and commentator of The Key-Word Bible) the epignosis is not “an improvement upon gnosis but a contrast to agnoia, ignorance.”

He gives the example of 2 Timothy 3:7. Paul writes about people who are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

Is it possible to go to church, to study the Bible, and not really come to know Jesus?

Ironic perhaps. But possible. I’ve known intelligent men who left the church for other religions. I’m as puzzled by their decision as they are my faith. Yet I cannot explain to them that my faith goes beyond knowledge. I don’t just know of  Jesus, I now have epiknowledge of Him. This isn’t something we can debate someone into believing.

This kind of knowing can only come through prayer.

May I pray for you and me today? There is no end, no bottom to the bucket holding the riches of Jesus. We can come to know Him more and more each day.

“Jesus, open our hearts and minds to Your Presence. Take our initial knowing, believing of You and cross that line of acquaintance to spirit speaks to Spirit. Don’t let us be empty studiers of Your Word. Fill us with You. Let us think as You think and do as You do. We love you. Amen.”

His answer to this one is “yes.”

 

 

I’m linking to Rachel Wojo today,  Juana Mikels. and Thought Provoking Thursday. Click on their names to find more inspiration!