“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)”
That was Paul’s prayer to God for the Ephesians. Paul desired for them to know Christ and he understood clearly that for them to know Christ, they really had to have a revelation. He knew this because he, himself only understood Christ through an encounter with Him. It was on his way to Damascus on a mission to destroy the work that the apostles had been doing that he had an encounter with Christ (See Acts 9). Paul was so determined to destroy the apostles because he did not understand what exactly they had been doing. He did not know this Christ that they had been preaching because he had been brought up in the law and was keen about protecting it and he could not stand anyone who was not living by it ( from biblehub.com).Same case applies to us. We can never understand God unless we experience Him. I know that a few weeks ago I wrote about this same issue but I find it good to emphasize.
This week while going about my usual bible research I came across some interesting writings. This led me to desire to know God in different ways, i.e; different names, like He is and was referred to especially in the Old Testament. I remember we had learnt about it in church but it did not make quiet some good sense then as it makes now (talk about learning through experiences). I had been through a season that had helped me learn about God being Nissi/banner/victor, but that’s like the only name I was really sure about what it meant because I had come across it while in that season. He had proved to be Jehovah Nissi.
So this morning I came across/ I learnt about Him being Jehovah Jireh through the following illustration: In Genesis 22, God had asked Abraham to go up the mountain to offer a sacrifice and the lamb was to be Isaac his only son. Abraham had loved Isaac so much because he was his only legitimate son from the wife that the Lord had given him. A son with the great promise, the son through whom Abraham was to become great, the father of a great nation and therefore; carrier of greatness. That, I am sure meant so much to Abraham and therefore sacrificing Isaac would mean so much to him. However, Abraham, the man of faith, chose to go up the mountain and do as the Lord had commanded him- to obey. As they went up the mountain, Isaac had at some point asked him what the lamb for the sacrifice would be and Abraham had said that God would provide. I am not very sure whether Abraham had really understood what he was talking about but the Bible calls it faith. And so up they went.
The bible says that Abraham got up the mountain, prepared the altar and laid Isaac on the altar and he took his knife and was about to slaughter Isaac his son (I have always wondered what was going through his mind). Just then, the angel of God called out his name and showed him a lamb of sacrifice (what a relief). And so Abraham experienced God as Jehovah Jireh, and on that mountain, the Lord provided. What other better way to experience Him than through such and many other such great encounters.
I therefore pray that God may help me and you to know Him through such experiences. May He give us the spirit of revelation and may we understand and know Him while we are in such encounters. I pray that we may learn to be patient and trust in Him while going through testing and hard times because that is the best way to know Him.
May God bless you and keep you growing in Him.
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