Growing in the Lord is a Process

Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” 

John 8:32 – “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Psalm 16:8 – “I keep my eyes always on the LORD.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” 

Everything I thought I knew about God and myself went out the window on the day the FBI showed up at my door. Over  the next several years, I had to depend on God to preserver through the  many trials (literal and figurative) that revealed my own failures and  faults as they also revealed the love of God towards me. 

On one hand, my life was completely unstable—not  knowing whether I might go to prison, where I would live or work, if my  marriage would survive—while on the other hand, I was experiencing for  the first time the absolute immutability of God’s love for me and his  enjoyment of me, not based on my performance but on his redemption (For the Joy set before Him). 

The Bible says, “My people are destroyed for lack  of knowledge,” yet much of what I grew to know about God’s love for me I  didn’t learn sitting in church on Sunday. In fact, I would say that it was in spite of predominate church culture that largely embraces the world’s value system. I had to set my heart and mind intentionally on God’s standards and values and not living my life by the world’s view of worth. God does not judge as the world judges, by the exterior, but God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7). 

I transitioned from viewing my life as broken  (broken from legal issues, financial ruin, marital failure, and  prolonged instability) to God’s view. God values our relationship with and dependence on Him more than anything else. Your  life can be a total wreck by worldly standards; but if you open your  heart to receive God’s love, his enjoyment of you can be overwhelming. Then you can truly say with James that you “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance…. Blessed  is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test,  that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to  those who love him.” (James 1) 

At first, I had a difficult time accepting and  carrying the tension between our natural worldly perspective and this  new understanding of God’s love. In his mercy, however,  the Lord placed me in a community of people who were whole-heartedly  pursuing loving and knowing God and introduced me to teachings that gave  me the language and an evaluation grid to re-evaluate life based on  God’s view, not man’s.  

The truth is that intimacy with the Lord does not  come easily and must be founded on growth in the knowledge of God - His  nature and character, His emotions and feelings, and His desire for  relationship with you. You must intentionally and aggressively seek after a relationship with God.  You must fix your eyes above and not on the things on earth. You will face opposition. Some  of this opposition will be external, but much will be internal as you  cooperate with the Holy Spirit to come into alignment with Jesus.  

I include some foundational teachings which greatly helped me to set the course for my life. I  only include a small selection of teachings as a primer and have more  which can be loaded on a MP3 player to listen to at your convenience. Also, prayer and fasting is essential as you pursue the knowledge of God. In Colorado Springs, the (link) House of Prayer is open 18 hours a day (6 a.m.- 12:00 a.m.). There  you can sit before the Lord, grow in your identity in Christ, and come  into your true identity as “priests unto the Lord” (Deut 10:8-9).