Dana's Christian Journey

One Person perfectly knew God as He walked the earth. He has known God from the beginning as His Father and He gives us insight into what knowing God is all about.

When Jesus faced those who challenged His legitimacy, He sometimes bluntly said, “You don’t know God. If you knew God, you would see Me for who I am. Since you don’t know Me, you prove that you don’t know the Father.” The Father and Son cannot be separated. “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and now am here.” (John 8:42) “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” (John 8:19)

The path to knowing God is through the Son and when we hear Him teach and see His actions, we learn. Jesus points listeners to a Father that can be trusted. “If your heavenly Father feeds the birds and clothes the grass of the field, will He not feed and clothe you? You are more valuable than birds and grass. Don’t worry and have faith!” (see Matthew 6) Those that know God trust Him.

It should go without saying, but if someone really knows God, he or she will love Him. As Jesus approached His death, understanding the devil was at work, He stated that His love for the Father would be proven. “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on Me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what My Father has commanded Me.” (John 14:30-31)

Interestingly, the strongest sign Jesus gives of knowing God is His obedience. “Some may talk about their great faith or how much they love God, but here’s My proof: I do what My Father tells Me.” Jesus ties love and obedience together. “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love.” (John 15:9-10)

The one who knows God trusts, loves, and obeys. When we live this way, the Father, Son, and Spirit receive much glory.

“Jesus replied, ‘If I glorify myself, My glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the One who glorifies Me. Though you do not know Him, I know Him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know Him and obey His word.’” John 8:54-55

I’ve never been a big goal setter. Some might say, “Well, there’s your problem, Dana,” and they might have a point. But if I were put on the spot and forced to give one goal, I would have an answer.

My reply would come from three sources: the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, the apostle Paul, and Jesus Christ the Messiah. Jeremiah’s words actually come from God, who knows well the way we typically think. “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

When Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus — men and women who had put their faith in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit — he said: “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.” (Ephesians 1:17) And when Jesus prayed for all His disciples, He defined eternal life: “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

“To know God.” “To know Him better.” “To know Christ.” Are there any better goals?

“I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10-14

John and I recently finished listening to The Return of the King, the final book of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of my favorite quotes relates to Aragorn, the ranger who fulfilled an ancient prophecy from Tolkien’s world: “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.”

In the history of our world, Jesus Christ came “with healing in His wings” and fulfilled the prophecies of old that spoke of a King rising from the line of David. Unrecognized by most, the humble carpenter from Nazareth healed with words, touch, spit, and prayer. The witnesses marveled, the religious establishment grumbled, and the healed rejoiced.

Now, as His followers, we desire to heal in the name of our King. How many relationships, communities, and physical bodies are in need of healing today? As peacemakers, as lovers, and as people of prayer, we ask God to reveal Himself through His healing power.

One of Susan’s favorite memories of our summer trip to Ecuador took place high in the Andes mountains. A wife brought her husband to the church building and asked us to pray that he be relieved from constant pain in his abdomen. As we gathered around this man in the name of Jesus, we could all sense the Spirit of God.

I felt the same sense in our state this past week, but I was the one being prayed for. Marco and Mayra got to visit Atlanta for three days, and we planned a couple of gatherings for those who had visited them in Ecuador. This was Mayra’s first trip to the United States and her first ride in an airplane.

Unfortunately, on Thursday I got very sick from the chemo I received that morning. With everyone joining his prayer, Marco put his arms around my shoulders and asked God to help me. The love of the Healer resides in all those who have been born again. May we live daily with our eyes open and our hearts attentive to those around us. May we live as participants with the King.

“When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. And wherever He went – into villages, towns or countryside – they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak, and all who touched Him were healed.” Mark 6:53-56

“The Return of the King” by J. R. R. Tolkien, ©1955, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, p 139