A Personal Knowledge of God

UV 518/10,000 James 4 v 8 A Personal Relationship with God Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. The knowledge of God is the ultimate knowledge a man can gain for it is knowledge of the Apha and the Omega, the beginning and the end as well as all that happens in between the two. But, the knowledge of God can be formal knowledge that is gained by being a part of a particular religious system and its beliefs and practices. It can be theological knowledge where one knows about God by a study of the Bible and other related writings. It can be intellectual and impersonal knowledge where one has an intellectual understanding of who God is or a “God concept”. But, this uni-verse asks us to draw near to God as He desires to draw near to us, person to person: it is personal knowledge or relationship with God. Scripture says that if we distance ourselves from God, He would do likewise. If we forsake Him, He will forsake us. In order to draw near to an invisible, omnipotent, holy and just God, we need to be cleansed of our sins of omission and commission of the past. All the waters of all the oceans and rivers cannot cleanse us as the stain is not a physical stain but a spiritual one. It has to be removed from within. Our faith in the cleansing sacrifice of the Blood of the sinless Lamb, Jesus is what can remove the stain. Our hearts and minds that are divided between loyalty to the evil or unrighteous one and loyalty to the righteous Creator, ever wavering between belief and disbelief will be healed and made whole. We will be healed of the spirit of duplicity of deceiving and being deceived. Once our hands are clean and our hearts are made pure, we are ready to embrace the Lord and to be embraced by Him. Our faith has made us whole. We can now draw near to God who is our Creator, our Redeemer, our Salvation, our Healer, our Deliverer, our Father in Heaven, our strength, our Hope, our fortress and shield, our cause for rejoicing, our Friend, our King and Master, our Help. Different testing times and situations in life will draw us even closer and closer to God and He will reveal Himself to be nearer and dearer to us. In the year 1979 a friend asked me the question, “ Do you have a personal relationship with God?” I had no answer. I was double-minded and wavered between faith and skepticism. Some weeks later, the same friend led me into a personal and saving knowledge of God. My hands were cleansed, my heart was made whole. I was saved from the curse of “ hamartia” or always falling short of expectations and of not fulfilling the very purpose of my existence. Prateep V Philip