So, where were we?  Oh yes, back to where it all began.

I don’t want to get too technical or theological on you here, but may I talk about knowledge for a quick moment?  I will spare you the long definition of knowledge in the Greek and Hebrew, but let’s just say, literally and figuratively, there are many applications for the word, knowledge.  However, I will keep this part short by simply saying, we can gain knowledge two ways.  Think of the two trees God placed in the middle of the garden of Eden.  The Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  As believers, Jesus is now our metaphoric “Tree of Life”. His desire is for us to gain knowledge through relationship with him, essentially by eating from the Tree of Life, (spending time getting to know him with hearts connected).  Or, we can choose to partake from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil all by ourselves.  By this choice we will only be gaining knowledge of what is good or evil as we partake. The trouble with the second choice however is, gaining knowledge apart from the love of God can quickly twist that knowledge into lies we believe, spun by the evil one…enter Satan in Genesis 3.  The Lord gave us the choice and access from the beginning and left it up to all of humanity to decide.  

Our hearts were made for relationship, not knowledge alone.  Yet, we as humans, have a voracious appetite for knowledge, don’t we?   And this Beloved, takes us back to, the know.  We want to know. So here, begins out first step of the journey- to know- about God.  Here is where we risk knowing about God in the technical sense, but can sometimes miss actually knowing him, deeply, intimately, with a history together.  Please let me explain.  

Let’s say we know and believe God exists.  We know the scriptures, go to church, and have much knowledge of biblical teachings and the ways of God.  Maybe we can even debate right there with the best of them!   And mind you, not that any of these things are bad in themselves, no, we must know these things for sure.  But my question is this.  Do we know him?   In other words, does our heart know that he is for us?  Do we know that he would never leave or forsake us?  Do we believe that there is no space between ourselves and him?  If you struggle with these questions, trust me, you are in good company.  It does not always come easy on this journey, I know.  Do we have history together with him?  History when we were utterly shattered and he somehow made us whole again?  Moments when he loved us at our worse selves and we knew that he chose and accepted us exactly as we were.  These moments are found only in relationship, time spent,  and heart invested.  The blood, sweat and tears of “working out our faith in fear and trembling”, if you will.   When our mind knows and has the knowledge that the Bible says that God is and does all these things, but our hearts do not know them, nor trust him, then I submit to you, this is when we run that risk of only knowing about him.  I say this with no judgment, but in humility and all honesty, as I have found my own self in this risky place of the “technical know”.   That is, until someone comes along and asks the right questions of my heart.  Oh, blessed heart awakened!  

Our prayer and hope for you today is one of our favorites here at Emmaus Road.  We join the apostle Paul in praying over you:

“I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him.  I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling-that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritance that he finds in us, his holy ones!  I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God’s power as if works through you.  This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest hoor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!  Ephesians 1:17-20  (tPt)

We pray that not only will we know about God, (the know-what questions), but that also, we will know God (the know-who questions).

That we would hear Jesus speaking to our own hearts with his most longing and holy invitation…”If only you knew”…