That I may know Him

I want to share something from a book that I am reading right now by J.I. Packer called "Knowing God."

What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set for ourselves in life? To know God. What is the "eternal life" that Jesus gives? Knowledge of God. "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3) What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight and contentment than anything else? Knowledge of God.
"Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD."(Jeremiah 9:23.24)

And Paul says in Philippians,
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."
Philippians 3:7-10

"Lord take my eyes off this world so I see You. It is my desire to truly know You and to count all else as loss that I may gain Christ!"

ONE PURE AND HOLY PASSION
Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you
To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in the truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

"O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8)

I realize that knowing Him can only happen by spending time with Him and reading His Word and praying for help from the Holy Spirit to interpret His holy Word and draw me to Himself.
We need Him to help us know Him!

There is nothing better in this life than to know Him!

"Oh Lord, that I may know YOU..."

Blessed because He was cursed!

Numbers 6:24-26
"The LORD bless you, and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace."

This is a blessing that my father uses to bless us as his children before we go to sleep each night(when we are home). It is a privilege to receive this blessing from my dad and also a joy to think that God has and WILL continue to bless me as He has promised in His Word. Tonight I have been reflecting upon the cross of Christ Jesus and the reason that we as His children can even be blessed at all.

Think about this:
(taken from a sermon by Paul Washer on the cross of Christ)
The Lord blessed you because the Lord cursed Him.
The Lord keeps you because the Lord let Him go.
The Lord makes His face shine upon you because the Lord took His presence away from Him.
The Lord is gracious to you because He was just to the one who bore your sin and He crushed Him.
The Lord lifts up His countenance on you because the Lord took His countenance away from Him.

"Every good and perfect gift that we have is a result of a deadly horrid cross that killed Him!"

Wow...I am not sure that I will be able to look at this blessing in the same way anymore. How we need to remember every day what Christ did for us on the cross and how we can only be and we certainly ARE blessed because of Him.
Let us fill our affections with the cross of Christ.

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

"Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered." Psalm 32:1

He spared not His own Son for me

I have been working on memorizing Romans chapter 8 at work for some time now. It is a slow process, but I have the first half of the chapter down really well. Today at work I was copying the last part of the chapter from my Bible to an index card to make it easier to look at and review while I am working. Verse 32 especially stood out to me as such an amazing verse. I just love this whole chapter and the whole book of Romans and the whole Bible for that matter :-), but listen to this verse.
Romans 8:32
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
Wow. To think about this is so precious to me. If God was able to give up His only Son whom He loved so much for me, then He must really love me. And if He gave up His only Son that I might live, He certainly isn't going to withhold anything else from me. He gives grace and more grace each and every day! If He gave up His Son, how much more has He given and will continue to give! What a promise full of hope for us in so many ways. Salvation is the greatest gift of all, but He doesn't stop there. He continues to offer forgiveness and blessings time and time again.

Thank you dear God for NOT sparing your own Son that I might be spared and that anyone who repents of their sins and believes in Jesus Christ may also have eternal life with You.

Something from Puritan pastor John Flavel:
"'He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?' (Romans 8:32). How is it imaginable that God should withhold, after this, spirituals or temporals, from His people? How shall He not call them effectually, justify them freely, sanctify them thoroughly, and glorify them eternally? How shall He not clothe them, feed them, protect and deliver them? Surely if He would not spare His own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever He should, after this, deny or withhold from His people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spirtual or temporal, which is good for them.

Also Psalm 84:11 tells us this,
"For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly."

When You're In Love

When you are truly in love, you go to great lengths to be with the one you love. You'll drive for hours to be together, even if it's only for a short while. You don't mind staying up late to talk. Walking in the rain is romantic, not annoying. You'll willingly spend a small fortune on the one you're crazy about. When you are apart from each other, it's painful, even miserable. He or she is all you think about; you jump at any chance to be together.

In his book "God is the Gospel" John Piper essentially asks whether we are in love with God:
The critical question for our generation- and for every generation- is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied in heaven, if Christ was not there?

How many of you will read those words and say, "You know, I just might be okay with that"? If you are deeply in love with God, you know you could never be satisfied in heaven without Christ.

(Taken from "Crazy Love- Overwhelmed by a Relentless God" by Francis Chan)

"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." Psalm 63:1-4

HIS LOVE IS BETTER THAN LIFE!