Tag Archives: knowledge of God

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – To Be Approved

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“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).

Most of all of my adult life has been centered around the university world – as a student, a teacher, and one who works with students, professors and administrators in the intellectual realm. I count many of the leading scholars of our time as beloved friends, yet if I had to choose between a Ph.D. from the most prestigious university in the world and a thorough knowledge of and comprehension of the Word of God, I would gladly choose the latter. Fortunately, it is not necessary to choose because one can have both academic training and a knowledge of God’s Word.

A recommendation which I have made to our two sons and to thousands of our staff and students with whom we work is that degrees are very important in today’s world, but they will not only be meaningless and worthless in terms of eternity, but can contribute to one’s moral and spiritual disintegration unless at the same time one is studying to show himself approved unto God. In all of our academic pursuits and in our commitment to excellence in the business and professional realms, we must be careful to give God and His Holy inspired Word their rightful place in our daily schedule. Ultimately, it is our knowledge of God learned through the study of Scripture and our response to Him that makes all the difference in our life-style. It makes the difference in the choosing of our mate, in the rearing of our children, in the choosing of our friends, our business or professional career, in all of our attitudes and actions and in the contribution which we make to society. Let us give priority to priorities, the highest of which is to seek after God through the diligent study of His holy revelation to man and to encourage others to join with us in rightly dividing the word of truth.

Bible Reading: II Timothy 2:19-25

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With God’s help I will seek not only to be a student of God’s Word but also to acquire the ability to teach His word to others.

Joyce Meyer

Joyce Meyer – Wisdom and Revelation

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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. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. – Ephesians 1:17–19 NIV

Rather than focus on negative things in life, the Bible teaches us to see good things in Christ with the “eyes of your heart.” Ephesians 1:17–19 says that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation are important so we may:

Have knowledge of God, or know God Himself. This is not knowledge gained through education, but revelation.

Know the hope of our calling, the eternal plan of God and how we fit into it. We can be thankful that God has called us to be His sons and daughters, and as such, we have an inheritance.

Know that revelation knowledge of God’s power is available to us. We can do anything God asks us to do because of the greatness of His power.

Give thanks today that you can know God, have hope, and live in His power!

Prayer of Thanks

I thank You, Father, that You have given me hope in Christ Jesus. Today, I will focus on the good things in my life and listen for Your voice. Thank You that You lead and guide me in the wisdom and revelation of Your Word and Your Holy Spirit.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Enjoying a Bountiful Harvest

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“Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).

Your fruitfulness is directly related to your knowledge of divine truth.

Every farmer who enjoys a plentiful harvest does so only after diligent effort on his part. He must cultivate the soil, plant the seed, then nurture it to maturity. Each step is thoughtful, disciplined, and orderly.

Similarly, bearing spiritual fruit is not an unthinking or haphazard process. It requires us to be diligent in pursuing the knowledge of God’s will, which is revealed in His Word. That is Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9, which he reiterates in verse 10.

The phrase “increasing in the knowledge of God” (v. 10) can be translated, “increasing by the knowledge of God.” Both renderings are acceptable. The first emphasizes the need to grow; the second emphasizes the role that knowledge plays in your spiritual growth.

As your knowledge of God’s Word increases, the Holy Spirit renews your mind and transforms your thinking. As you gaze into the glory of the Lord as revealed in Scripture, you “are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). You have “put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Col. 3:10).

One of Satan’s ploys to retard spiritual productivity is getting Christians preoccupied with humanistic philosophy and other bankrupt substitutes for God’s truth. That’s why he planted false teachers at Colosse to teach that knowing God’s will is inadequate for true spirituality. Paul refuted that claim by affirming that Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form (Col. 2:9). In Him are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). He is all you need!

Scripture commands you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Is that characteristic of your life? Are you looking forward to a bountiful spiritual harvest?

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God for the privilege of knowing His will and studying His Word.
  • Prayerfully guard your mind from sinful influences. Saturate it with God’s truth.

For Further Study

Read the following passages, noting the effects of God’s Word: Psalms 119:9, 105; Acts 20:32; Romans 10:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 4:12-13; 1 John 2:14.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Understanding God’s Will

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“We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9).

Godly living results from being controlled by the principles of God’s Word.

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians (Phil. 1:9-11) is closely paralleled by his prayer for the Colossians (Col. 1:9-12). Both epistles were written from the same Roman prison at about the same time in Paul’s life. Both prayers focus on godly living, but each approaches it from a slightly different perspective.

The Philippians were gracious people who needed to exercise greater knowledge and discernment in their love. The Colossians also were gracious but their devotion to Christ was being challenged by heretics who taught that Christ is insufficient for salvation and godly living. True spirituality, the false teachers said, is found in Christ plus human philosophy, religious legalism, mysticism, or asceticism. Paul encouraged the Colossian believers and refuted the false teachers by showing the utter sufficiency of Christ.

At the outset of his prayer Paul stressed the importance of being controlled by the knowledge of God’s will (which is revealed in His Word). That’s the meaning of the Greek word translated “filled” in verse 9. “Knowledge” translates a word that speaks of a deep, penetrating knowledge that results in behavioral change. “Spiritual wisdom and understanding” refers to knowledge that cannot be known through human reasoning or philosophy. It is imparted by the Holy Spirit Himself.

In effect Paul was saying, “I pray that you will be continually controlled by the life-transforming knowledge of God’s will, which the Holy Spirit imparts as you prayerfully study and meditate on God’s Word.”

Scripture supplies the principles you need to live a godly life. The Spirit gives you the power to do so. Many false teachers will try to divert you from the simplicity of devotion to Christ by offering you philosophy, psychology, and a myriad of other hopeless alternatives. Don’t be victimized. In Christ you have everything you need!

Suggestions for Prayer

  • Thank God for His all-sufficient Son and for the resources that are yours in Him.
  • Ask for wisdom to apply those resources to every situation you face today.

For Further Study

Read Colossians 1:15—2:23.

  • What was Christ’s role in creation?
  • What was Paul’s goal as a minister?
  • What warnings and commands did Paul give?
John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Knowing God

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John MacArthur

“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18).

Your desire to know God should motivate you toward fervent prayer.

Man’s highest purpose is to know God. Jesus prayed to the Father, saying, “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Of us He said, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me” (John 10:14). John added that “we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 5:20).

Every Christian knows God through salvation, but beyond that lies an intimate knowledge of God. That should be the quest of every believer. Moses prayed, “Let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee, so that I may find favor in Thy sight” (Ex. 33:13). David entreated his son Solomon to “know the God of [his] father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind” (1 Chron. 28:9). Even the apostle Paul, who perhaps knew Christ more intimately than any human being thus far, never lost his passion for an even deeper knowledge (Phil. 3:10).

Such passion is the driving force behind powerful prayer. Those who know God best pray most often and most fervently. Their love for Him compels them to know and serve Him better.

How about you? Is your knowledge of God intimate? Does the character of your prayers reveal that you’re in the process of knowing God?

Paul’s admonitions to “pray at all times in the Spirit” and “be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18) presuppose that you know God and desire to see His will fulfilled in His people. If not, you’ll never appreciate the importance of interceding on behalf of others.

Suggestions for Prayer; The martyred missionary Jim Elliot once prayed, “Lord, make my life a testimony to the value of knowing you.” Let that be your prayer each day.

For Further Study; Read 1 Chronicles 28.

  • What did God forbid David to do?
  • What would happen to Solomon if he failed to know and serve God?
Ravi Zacharias

Ravi Zacharias Ministry –   The Sounds of Hope

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Ravi Z

Not long ago, I was listening to a collection of interviews and commentaries on the subject of spirituality in the West. Some of those interviewed were authors of best-selling books on various topics of religion and spirituality; others were interviewed simply as passersby on the street. “Who is God?” the interviewers asked repeatedly. “What does it mean to be a spiritual person?” The answers were as diverse as the notes in a concerto, but the composition was at best one of chaos and contradiction, perhaps more accurately described as a “symphony” in which everyone is encouraged to play privately, but in the same place, at the same time, the sounds or noise of their own choosing. I came to the end and could only sigh: “How can anyone muddle through such a racket?”

The current state and practice of popular spirituality in West at times brings to mind words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. It is a “discipline of delusion” to chase after spiritually as if it were a matter of preference and not a matter pertaining to what is real. “They are altogether stupid and foolish,” writes Jeremiah, “In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood” (10:8).

Millions and millions of people confess to believe in God, to know God, to consider God in some way. But does our confession of God in these moments pertain to what is real or true? Can the starting point of such knowledge begin anywhere else? In the book of Romans, Paul writes of those who follow God not as God but as something less—something corrupted at their own hands—and so end up chasing darkness. He writes, “For even though they knew God… they became futile in their speculations… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.”(1)

Who is it we say that we know? Do our speculations lead us astray or lead us closer to the truth of God? Are they the sort of speculations we can hold before scenes of life and death? The apostle Paul describes the God he knows as one “who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). This is not his way of relegating our knowledge of God as something important only for the next life. On the contrary, the apostle wants us to see the resounding hope of a God who can hold life and death in a way that our delusional speculations of God cannot.

Death indeed has a way of questioning our knowledge of God. In death we are reminded—or startled to the memory—of God’s status in life. Is it sovereignty or simply therapeutic? We are reminded similarly of life’s most significant answers. Why do I believe this? Who is this I say I believe in and what does that mean? In the midst of such questions we are alert to the richest sounds of belief: Do I believe because I have encountered the goodness of God or because I want God to bring me good things? “God is convenient,” or “God wants me to be happy” are very different songs than “God has come near” or “God has become one of us.” As good theology is the best answer to life’s crises, death is a plea to the importance of sound hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you” (Isaiah 26:3). When life is shaken, when the misleading sounds of our own preferences fall flat, we find that our knowledge of God is either a resounding consolation or a blaring delusion.

I attended an Easter morning service more than a decade ago that continues to resonate in mind. It was held in a cemetery. Surrounded by silent stones, each one marking a life put to rest, with the sting of a loved one’s death still fresh in my mind, we sang:

Lives again our glorious King,

Where, O death, is now thy sting?

Once He died our souls to save,

Where thy victory, O grave?

Soar we now where Christ hath led,

Following our exalted Head,

Made like Him, like Him we rise,

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.

In the vicarious humanity of the risen Christ, death and is swallowed up in victory for life. Our human mediator has won, and humanity shall win. The resounding consolation of knowing Christ is one that can hold the world in hope and make us long for the kingdom to come.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

Campus Crusade for Christ

Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – To Be Approved

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dr_bright

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV).

Most of all of my adult life has been centered around the university world – as a student, a teacher, and one who works with students, professors and administrators in the intellectual realm. I count many of the leading scholars of our time as beloved friends, yet if I had to choose between a Ph.D. from the most prestigious university in the world and a thorough knowledge of and comprehension of the Word of God, I would gladly choose the latter. Fortunately, it is not necessary to choose because one can have both academic training and a knowledge of God’s Word.

A recommendation which I have made to our two sons and to thousands of our staff and students with whom we work is that degrees are very important in today’s world, but they will not only be meaningless and worthless in terms of eternity, but can contribute to one’s moral and spiritual disintegration unless at the same time one is studying to show himself approved unto God. In all of our academic pursuits and in our commitment to excellence in the business and professional realms, we must be careful to give God and His Holy inspired Word their rightful place in our daily schedule. Ultimately, it is our knowledge of God learned through the study of Scripture and our response to Him that makes all the difference in our life-style. It makes the difference in the choosing of our mate, in the rearing of our children, in the choosing of our friends, our business or professional career, in all of our attitudes and actions and in the contribution which we make to society. Let us give priority to priorities, the highest of which is to seek after God through the diligent study of His holy revelation to man and to encourage others to join with us in rightly dividing the word of truth.

Bible Reading: II Timothy 2:19-25

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: With God’s help I will seek not only to be a student of God’s Word but also to acquire the ability to teach His word to others.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Enjoying a Bountiful Harvest

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John MacArthur

“Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col. 1:10).

Every farmer who enjoys a plentiful harvest does so only after diligent effort on his part. He must cultivate the soil, plant the seed, then nurture it to maturity. Each step is thoughtful, disciplined, and orderly.

Similarly, bearing spiritual fruit is not an unthinking or haphazard process. It requires us to be diligent in pursuing the knowledge of God’s will, which is revealed in His Word. That is Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9, which he reiterates in verse 10.

The phrase “increasing in the knowledge of God” (v. 10) can be translated, “increasing by the knowledge of God.” Both renderings are acceptable. The first emphasizes the need to grow; the second emphasizes the role that knowledge plays in your spiritual growth.

As your knowledge of God’s Word increases, the Holy Spirit renews your mind and transforms your thinking. As you gaze into the glory of the Lord as revealed in Scripture, you “are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). You have “put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Col. 3:10).

One of Satan’s ploys to retard spiritual productivity is getting Christians preoccupied with humanistic philosophy and other bankrupt substitutes for God’s truth. That’s why he planted false teachers at Colosse to teach that knowing God’s will is inadequate for true spirituality. Paul refuted that claim by affirming that Christ is the fullness of deity in bodily form (Col. 2:9). In Him are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). He is all you need!

Scripture commands you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Is that characteristic of your life? Are you looking forward to a bountiful spiritual harvest?

Suggestions for Prayer:

Thank God for the privilege of knowing His will and studying His Word.

Prayerfully guard your mind from sinful influences. Saturate it with God’s truth.

For Further Study:

Read the following passages, noting the effects of God’s Word:

Psalms 119:9, 105; Acts 20:32; Romans 10:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 4:12-13; 1 John 2:14.

John MacArthur

John MacArthur – Understanding God’s Will

1 Comment

John MacArthur

“We have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding” (Col. 1:9).

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians (Phil. 1:9-11) is closely paralleled by his prayer for the Colossians (Col. 1:9-12). Both epistles were written from the same Roman prison at about the same time in Paul’s life. Both prayers focus on godly living, but each approaches it from a slightly different perspective.

The Philippians were gracious people who needed to exercise greater knowledge and discernment in their love. The Colossians also were gracious but their devotion to Christ was being challenged by heretics who taught that Christ is insufficient for salvation and godly living. True spirituality, the false teachers said, is found in Christ plus human philosophy, religious legalism, mysticism, or asceticism. Paul encouraged the Colossian believers and refuted the false teachers by showing the utter sufficiency of Christ.

At the outset of his prayer Paul stressed the importance of being controlled by the knowledge of God’s will (which is revealed in His Word). That’s the meaning of the Greek word translated “filled” in verse 9. “Knowledge” translates a word that speaks of a deep, penetrating knowledge that results in behavioral change. “Spiritual wisdom and understanding” refers to knowledge that cannot be known through human reasoning or philosophy. It is imparted by the Holy Spirit Himself.

In effect Paul was saying, “I pray that you will be continually controlled by the life-transforming knowledge of God’s will, which the Holy Spirit imparts as you prayerfully study and meditate on God’s Word.”

Scripture supplies the principles you need to live a godly life. The Spirit gives you the power to do so. Many false teachers will try to divert you from the simplicity of devotion to Christ by offering you philosophy, psychology, and a myriad of other hopeless alternatives. Don’t be victimized. In Christ you have everything you need!

Suggestions for Prayer:

Thank God for His all-sufficient Son and for the resources that are yours in Him.

Ask for wisdom to apply those resources to every situation you face today.

For Further Study:

Read Colossians 1:15þ2:23.

What was Christ’s role in creation?

What was Paul’s goal as a minister?

What warnings and commands did Paul give?