                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                                Knowing God

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Plain Text File + Related Bible Study + Home Page + Subscribe + Copyright
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

By David Wilkerson
January 25, 1993
__________

          I am going to make a very shocking statement, and I
          mean every word of it: I really do not know God! That
          is I don't know Him in the way He wants me to know Him.

          How do I know this? The Holy Spirit told me. He
          whispered to me, lovingly; "David, you really don't
          know God in the way He wants you to. You really don't
          allow Him to be God to you."

          In the Old Testament, God took a people unto Himself -
          a people no richer or smarter than the rest - only so
          that He could be God to them: "And I will take you to
          me for a people, and I will be to you a God" (Exodus
          6:7). God was saying, in other words, "I'm going to
          teach you to be My people - so that I can be God to
          you!"

          Indeed, God revealed and manifested Himself to His
          people over and over again. He sent angels. He spoke to
          them audibly. He fulfilled every promise with great
          deliverances, Yet after forty years of miracles, signs
          and wonders, God's estimation of His people was: "You
          don't know Me - you don't know My ways!"

          This has to be one of the most shocking things in all
          the Bible! God had sought a people who would let Him be
          God to them and truly get to know Him in all His power
          and glory.

          So God delivered Israel with mind-boggling miracles: He
          opened the Red Sea and drowned all their Egyptian
          enemies. He brought water out of a Rock and food out of
          heaven. He covered the people with a cloud by day and
          fire by night. He sent hornets into enemy camps to
          drive them out. He brought down great kings and
          kingdoms for His people's sake.

          Then He led them into Canaan to possess homes they
          didn't build, vineyards they didn't plant, industries
          they didn't develop. He gave them beehives full of
          honey, flocks giving milk, and all kinds of wealth.

          The people took it all and possessed it. All things
          were theirs by the mighty hand of God. Yet the
          testimony of Scripture was that, even after all the
          incredible miracles and blessings God had given them,
          they still didn't know God!

          "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,
          and said, It is a people that do err in their heart,
          and they have not known my ways" (Psalm 95:10) God said
          "In all of this you never really let Me be God! In My
          forty years of wanting to teach you, you still never
          knew Me - you still didn't know how I work!"

          Stephen testified to the Sanhedrin: "He had shewed
          [them] wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in
          the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years" (Acts
          7:36). Stephen was saying of their fathers, "They
          weren't just wandering around for those forty years.
          God was showing them signs and wonders! In spite of
          their rebellion God was still trying to express Himself
          to them - trying to teach them who He was!"

          "... your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my
          works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that
          generation, and said, They do always err in their
          heart; and they have not known my ways." (Hebrews
          3:9-10). God was saying, "The very people I took to
          Myself - those who have witnessed My power, and to whom
          I have spoken the clearest - after all these years
          under My wings, their eyes and ears are not open. They
          did not even know Me!"

          Beloved, God is still looking for a people who will let
          Him be God to them - to the point that they truly know
          Him and learn His ways! Yet few in the church today
          know Him in this way.

          We are like Israel: We all have witnessed miracles. We
          have experienced manifestations of His presence. We
          have had prayers answered, sins forgiven. We have
          taught about God and loved Him to the best of our
          knowledge. But, in the end, God can say of only a few;
          "They know Me as God, They truly know and walk in the
          revelation of My ways!"

          Dear reader, I cannot say whether you really know God
          as He desires you to. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal
          that. But let me share with you what God has revealed
          to me about how I have hindered Him from truly being
          God in my life:

                      -------------------------------

                  1. I Have Been Guilty of Putting Limits
                       on God's Power and Promises.

                      -------------------------------

          Scripture says of Israel "Yea, they turned back and
          tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel."
          (Psalm 78:41). Israel turned away from God in unbelief.
          And likewise, I believe we limit God today with our
          doubt and unbelief!

          We trust God in most areas of our lives - but our faith
          always has boundaries and limits. We have at least one
          small area that we block off, where we don't really
          believe God is going to undertake for us.

          For example, many readers have prayed for the healing
          of my wife, Gwen. But often, when it comes to healing
          for their own husband, wife, son or daughter, they
          limit God!

          I limit God most in the area of healing. I have prayed
          for physical healing for many, and I have seen God
          perform miracle after miracle. But when it comes to my
          own body, I limit God! I am afraid to let Him be God to
          me. I douse myself with medicine or run to a doctor
          before I ever pray for myself! I'm not saying it's
          wrong to go to the doctor. But sometimes I fit the
          description of those who "sought not to the Lord, but
          to the physicians" (2 Chronicles 16:12).

          I ask you: Do you pray for God to bring down walls in
          China or Cuba - but when it comes to the salvation of
          your own family, you don't have an ounce of faith? You
          think, "God must not want to do this, My loved one is
          such a tough case. God doesn't seem to be hearing me in
          this matter."

          If this be true, You are not seeing Him as God! You are
          ignorant of His ways! God's desire is to "do exceeding
          abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to
          the power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20).

          God told me, "David, you've tied My hands, you've
          shackled Me! How can I heal you when you don't really
          believe I will? Your doubt hinders Me from being God to
          you. I tell you, you don't know Me unless you know that
          I am more willing to give than you are to receive!"

          Israel murmured continually, "Can God?... Sure, He made
          a way for us through the Red Sea. But - can He give
          bread?" God gave them bread - in fact, He spread a
          table for them in the wilderness. "But can He give
          water?" they asked. He gave them water from a Rock.
          "But can He give meat?" He gave them meat from the sky.
          "But can He deliver us from our enemies?" Time after
          time, God provided and delivered in every area. Yet the
          people spent forty years saying, "Can God? Can God?..."

          Beloved, we ought to be saying, "God can! God can!" He
          did - and He will! God can and will do all that we ask
          and believe Him to do.

                      -------------------------------

                  2. I Have Limited God to Intimacy Alone

                      -------------------------------

          I thought knowing God meant learning how to draw near
          to Him. Yet as important as intimacy is, there is more
          to knowing Him - much more! Many Christians spend hours
          alone with God, yet they come out of their prayer
          closet never knowing His ways.

          They have not yet allowed God to be God to them!

          There is something more to knowing God than being in
          His presence:

          The seventy elders of Israel ate and drank in God's
          very presence on the mount. Yet the Lord said of them,
          "You never got to know Me or My ways!"

          The disciples spent three years in God's presence -
          with Christ, who was God in the flesh. They sat under
          His teaching and were with Him night and day. Yet, in
          the end, they forsook Him and fled - because they did
          not know His ways!

          Jesus says that God does not hear our prayers and
          praises simply because we utter them over and over, for
          hours at a time. It is possible to pray, fast and do
          righteous things, and still not reach the place where
          we hunger to know Him and begin to understand His ways.
          We do not learn His ways in the prayer closet alone,
          although everyone who truly knows the Lord is very
          intimate with Him.

                      -------------------------------

               3. I Have Limited God by Being Satisfied
               With Too Little - Whereas, If I Knew Him
               in All His Power and Glory, I Would Ask
                  and Believe Him for So Much More!

                      -------------------------------

          God has so much He wants to give you. His desire is "to
          open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a
          blessing, that there shall not be room enough to
          receive it" (Malachi 3:10). He stands in a full
          storehouse, saying, "I am a giving, loving God - but so
          few will receive from Me. They won't let me be God to
          them!"

          Of course, we are to thank God for all He has done and
          given already. Yet we are not to be satisfied with what
          we think is a lot! Many Christians are satisfied to sit
          in church and be blessed by God's presence. Such people
          are no more than "satisfied sponges"! They soak
          everything up - but they limit God in their lives, when
          He so wants to anoint them for service.

          Pastors and congregations are satisfied to build
          so-called "megachurches" and to be known as the
          fastest-growing. Yet that is limiting God to four walls
          - no matter how big and wide the walls are!

          It doesn't matter what you have seen so far, or what
          glorious image your mind can conjure - it is far short
          of what God wants yet to do in His people. When the
          disciples marveled at Christ's miracles, Jesus replied,
          "God has an even greater work ahead for you!"

          Most of us are like the disciples. We see one miracle,
          and we're satisfied to talk about it for the rest of
          our lives. Yet if we really knew God and let Him be God
          to us, we would ask Him for so much more:

          We would reach into the heavenlies by faith, believing
          God to bring down the godless leaders in local, state
          and federal agencies. We would bring down
          principalities and powers, as God said!

          We would believe God to help us saturate our city with
          the gospel of Jesus. We would stand up in faith against
          every weapon aimed against us, and we would be pulling
          down Satanic strongholds in our families and churches.

          Our vision would be limitless. We would believe God for
          even greater things for His kingdom!

          Do you not yet know God as He desires for you to know
          Him? Have you not yet allowed Him to be God to you? You
          may wonder, then, how you can come to know Him and His
          ways. My only answer to you is what God has required of
          me, to let Him be God to me:

                      -------------------------------

                1. He Wants to Teach Me To Know His Voice!

                      -------------------------------

          Those who truly know God have learned how to recognize
          His voice above all others. He wants you to be
          absolutely convinced that He desires to talk to you -
          to tell you things you've never seen or heard before!

          The Lord recently showed me that I was still wavering
          about hearing His voice speak to my soul. Oh, [I] know
          that He speaks, and that the sheep need to know the
          Master's voice. But I doubted my ability to hear Him! I
          spent all my time "checking" the voice I heard - and
          when it was too big or too mysterious for me, I
          thought, "This can't be God. Besides, the devil can
          speak too! The flesh speaks, lying spirits speak. A
          multitude of voices come at us all the time, How can I
          know God's voice?"

          I believe that three things are required of those who
          would hear God's voice:

          An unshakable confidence that God is wanting to speak
          to you. You have to be fully persuaded and convinced
          that God wants to speak to you. Indeed, He is a
          speaking God - and He wants you to know His voice so
          you can do His will. What God tells you will never go
          beyond the boundaries of Scripture. And you don't have
          to be ordained or have a Ph.D. to understand His voice
          to you. All you need is a heart that says, "I believe
          God desires to talk to me!"

          Quality time and quietness. You need to be willing to
          shut yourself in with God and let all other voices hush
          away. True, God speaks to us all day long. But whenever
          He has wanted to build something into my life, His
          voice has come only after I had shut out every other
          voice but His.

          Asking in faith. We do not obtain anything from God
          (including hearing His voice) unless we truly believe
          that He is able to convey His mind to us - to enable us
          to understand His perfect will!

          Jesus says: "If a son shall ask bread of any of you
          that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he
          ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or
          if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?"
          (Luke 11:11-12). In other words: if you ask your
          heavenly Father for a word - a clear direction, a godly
          correction, a particular need do you think for a moment
          He would instead let the devil come and deceive you?"

          Suppose a son calls his father every night for
          direction and advice. Then one day the father decides
          to play a joke on him. He hires an impersonator to
          answer the phone - someone to mimic his voice. When the
          boy calls, the impostor gives him all kinds of
          off-the-wall advice and phony counsel. Suddenly the son
          is absolutely confused and heartbroken - because
          everything he hears goes against what he has learned
          from his father!

          What kind of father would you say this man was? Yes - a
          cruel one! Yet that is what we accuse God of being,
          when we do not trust Him to give us His voice and not
          one from the impostor of hell.

          God is not a tease! He will not allow the devil to
          deceive you. When God speaks, peace follows - and Satan
          cannot counterfeit that peace! If you're in a place of
          quiet and rest, convinced that God can speak to you,
          then you have an assurance that never changes. You can
          go back to God a thousand times and you will receive
          the same word - because it is truth!

                      -------------------------------

                  2. You Cannot Know God In Fullness Until
                You See Christ as God Wants You To See Him!
                 Knowing God Begins With Knowing His Son.

                      -------------------------------

          Jesus said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father"
          (John 14:9). We must see Jesus not as man teaches, but
          as the Spirit reveals Him to us - as God wants us to
          know and see Him! There are many volumes in my library
          about Jesus, written by good men - yet I believe many
          of these men have never seen Him as God would have us
          see Him. We are to get God's vision and testimony of
          Christ - and then we will know God as He desires to be
          known!

          Here is how I believe God wants us to see His Son:

          "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
          and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is
          no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James
          1:17).

          Jesus was a gift! God wrapped all His resources up in
          Jesus - "and He gave His only begotten Son..." Christ
          is God's good and perfect gift to us, come down from
          the Father! Do you see Jesus as God's perfect gift to
          you? Do you see Him as all you need to live joyfully,
          victoriously, righteously, full of peace and rest?

          In the Old Testament, God gave Israel many wonderful
          gifts in the wilderness: A cloud to shelter them from
          the desert sun. Fire at night to assure and lead them.
          Water out of a Rock. A branch to heal bitter waters. A
          brass serpent to heal the snake-bitten. Yet all of
          these good things were only shadows!

          Who was the Rock from which water came? Who was the
          fire? the manna? the brass serpent? Everything God did
          for Israel was through Jesus! That's right - Jesus was
          every one of those gifts!

          "Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how
          that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all
          passed through the sea...and did all drink the same
          spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock
          that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" (1
          Corinthians 10:4).

          Today we have much more than the shadow. We have the
          actual substance - Christ Himself! And He lives in us!

          Yet, most of us are still dumb creatures looking to the
          future for fulfillment. We think some future event,
          some change in our circumstance, will bring us peace
          and joy. We say, "Just wait - my day is coming!
          Somehow, someday, somewhere... I don't know what it is
          that's out there for me, but it's coming!" We are like
          children waiting for Christmas, counting the days!

          David once wrote during a mournful, introspective
          season in his life that he felt time was going too
          fast. He had accomplished so little, he thought.
          Everything at the time seemed to be in vain: "Surely
          every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are
          disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth
          not who shall gather them... and now Lord, what wait I
          for..." (Psalm 39:6,7).

          David was depressed, down - his present situation
          appeared so useless. And out of a perplexed heart he
          cried out, "Lord, what am I waiting for?"

          Recently I was walking alone in the hills of
          Pennsylvania, and God spoke to my heart on this same
          question: "David, what is it you're waiting for? Why
          isn't this the best day of your life? Why can't your
          'now' be full and joyous? There is nothing 'out there'
          that you don't already have in Jesus!"

          I ask you: What are you waiting for? "Oh, for Mr.
          Right," you may answer - that godly person you think is
          going to rescue you from all loneliness and fill your
          soul with unspeakable joy.

          No! There is nothing "out there" that will change or
          save you from who and what you are already! If you
          think someone else is going to solve your loneliness
          problem, you're badly mistaken. You must find
          deliverance, peace, hope and joy now - and Jesus is the
          only One who can fill the void! Some are bored with
          their mates and waiting for them to go to glory,
          because they're looking for romance to come into their
          lives and drive away their emptiness. They never wake
          up and live!

          Ages ago, before you were created, God saw what your
          hurts and needs would be. He knew ahead of time what
          you would need to solve all your problems. He did not
          wrap up His answers and send them to you as a rule book
          or as an army of "answer men." No - He gave us all one
          solution to all our crises and needs - one Man, one
          Way, one Answer to everything we need: Jesus Christ!

          When you become satisfied in Jesus, you won't expect
          miracles out of your mate anymore. You'll no longer try
          to make God out of your husband or wife, to satisfy
          something that only God was meant to satisfy. God says
          to you, "I don't want you to live for tomorrow! You'll
          only look back and see that today could have been your
          very best time. Jesus can't be any better or stronger
          to you than He is right now. Why won't you let me be
          God to you today?"

                      -------------------------------

                3. You Can Know God and His Ways by Complete
               Rest In the Love That the Father Has for You!

                      -------------------------------

          Have you ever had a friend or loved one say to you, out
          of the blue: "Are you mad at me? Did I do something
          wrong?"

          You may simply be quiet, deep in thought. So you
          answer, "No, I'm not mad. You didn't do anything to
          hurt me. I'm just quiet right now."

          But they press you: "Was it something I said?"

          "No, you didn't say anything wrong. Everything is
          okay."

          "I know what it is - I forgot to do something. What is
          it?"

          "No, you didn't forget anything. All is right."

          "Come on now, I can tell something is wrong. I can see
          it in your face, I'm not leaving here till you tell me
          what I did to upset you!"

          Finally, to convince that person, you have to hug him:
          "Look, I love you - I'm not upset. But if you keep this
          up, you're going to get me upset!"

          Beloved, this is how we treat our heavenly Father! At
          the end of the day, we go to our secret closet and say:
          "Let's see, now, how did I grieve Jesus today? What did
          I do wrong - what did I forget to do? I'm such a mess,
          I don't know how He can love me. Lord, forgive me one
          more time. Someday I'll be so obedient, you'll find it
          easy to love me."

          But God is there all along, waiting to embrace you! He
          wants to show you how much He loves you and He wants
          you to lie back and rest in His love!

          Jesus said that when the Prodigal Son came home, he was
          welcomed back into his father's house. He received a
          new robe, ate at his father's table and had full
          forgiveness. But that didn't make him an angel! On the
          contrary, I believe his father experienced a lot of
          problems with him before it was all over.

          But the one thing this son had to know was that he was
          secure in his father's love! He had to know his father
          would bear with him, work with him, love him. That's
          how our heavenly Father is with us. And yet we keep
          saying, "One of these days, I'm going to be so perfect
          and right before God, it will be easy for Him to love
          me!"

          No! He loved you when you were a sinner, a reprobate,
          an enemy to Him. How much more does He love you now
          that you're reconciled to Him? God has already said to
          you, "I loved you when you were an alien to Me, when
          you were in rebellion and sin. Will I not love you even
          more now, since you have committed to sonship?"

          We don't rest confidently in His love as we should. And
          yet the Lord says of Himself that He is love. John
          wrote: "And we have known and believed the love that
          God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in
          love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

          Do you know, believe and rest in His love for you? Or
          are you constantly examining yourself and saying, "Oh
          God, You know what's in me - how could You love me?" If
          you will not accept His love freely - if you are always
          questioning it, thinking He will take it away then you
          don't know Him or His ways!

          Dear saint. it is time for you to rest securely in the
          love of God! You must stand up and say, "I won't accept
          the devil's accusations - because I'll never be worthy
          anyhow. All my worth comes through Jesus! He has
          cleansed me by His blood."

          When you accept all the lies that are injected into
          your mind - that you're worthless, a failure, hopeless
          - this grieves God more than alcoholism, drug abuse,
          promiscuous sex and everything else combined! He says
          of Himself, "I am love - and I want you to know,
          believe, rest and trust in My great love for you!"

          I tell you, knowing this has done more for me in recent
          weeks than anything God has ever opened my eyes to -
          although I am still far from knowing His love as I
          ought to. Yes, He wants me - and He is going to love me
          and be God to me!

          You see, you can't let Him be God to you unless you let
          Him love you!

          When the enemy comes in like a roaring lion, don't
          panic - just rest. Say, "God loves me - Jesus loves me.
          I know and believe in His love!" Let Him be God to you
          by showing Him you will rest in His love. Accept it -
          and enjoy it. God is best at being God to you when you
          allow Him to shower you with His love.

          Hallelujah!

                 ------------------------------------------
 Plain Text File + Related Bible Study + Home Page + Subscribe + Copyright
                 ------------------------------------------

         Times Square Church Information | New Reader Information

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS:

This data file is the sole property of World Challenge. It may not be
altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for
circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data
file must contain the copyright notice [i.e., "Copyright (C)1998 by World
Challenge"]. This data file may not be used without the permission World
Challenge for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This
includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations.
Please give the following source credit: Copyright (C)1998 by World
Challenge, Lindale Texas.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          The Missing Link, Inc.
       Linking Troubled Youth and Adults with Life-Changing Programs
                      Web Site - http://misslink.org
              Chapel Site - http://misslink.org/chapel2.html

                                ------------

           Copyright  1998 - The Lorain County Free-Net Chapel
                        North Central Ohio, U.S.A.

                                TOP OF PAGE

           Our webmaster welcomes your comments and suggestions.
                This page was last updated April 30, 1998.

  Why Revival Tarries/ "Help!"/ What's Here/ Sponsor/ Statement of Faith/
   Bible Study/ Around the Piano/ Bulletin Board/ Library/ Pulpit Series
