We don’t like afflictions. Or hard times. We try to steer away from them if we can. Yet, through them, we grow and get to know God deeper. And that, my friend, is priceless. So, slowly I’ve learned to surrender my life to God without reservations, without exclusions. I – my life and all that I have – belong fully to Jesus.

“I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear,
But now my [spiritual] eye sees You. (Job 42:5, AMP,*)

So I’m all in. God has gotten me through some tough times and I know he will do so in the future too. And I trust he has my best interests in his heart. So today I praise the Lord and thank him for blessing me this far.

The amazing thing about getting to know God is that there is always more to know. We can always go deeper in our knowledge of God. The more we know God, the more we want to know him. God is like all awesome things come together and then some. And this splendid person wants to spend time with us and bless us. Fully, deeply, thoroughly.

Get to know God deeper

But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage, so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but [possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. (Phil. 3:8-9, AMP,*)

Like Paul, I’m starting to count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege of knowing Jesus firsthand. This might sound a bit scary. But the more I’ve experienced God’s love and care, the more convinced I am nothing compares to him. I want to be his. Fully, deeply, thoroughly.

How do we go about it? We spend more time with him. And we trust more and live as we believe. Slowly but surely we will get to know God deeper. There are no shortcuts to spiritual intimacy but it’s all grace. Step by step he will lead us and by every step, we get to know God deeper.

So I pray God grants me – and you – his grace to continue to get to know him more intimately. And be known by God fully, deeply, thoroughly. Is there anything better? I don’t think so.

Let us pray

Gracious God,
We thank you and we praise you.
You are our everything.
Help us to continually grow in your grace and wisdom.
Reveal us more of what’s on your heart.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit,
make us people after your own heart.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What do you think? Do you want to know God fully, deeply, thoroughly? Why/why not?

Blessings to you, my dear fellow pilgrim, as you embrace God fully, deeply, thoroughly.

* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]

Linking up today with Dance with Jesus and Five-minute Friday. Photo by Alex Russell-Saw on Unsplash.