Yes, You Can--Know God

Why would such a powerful, just God care enough about you and I to take the form of a man—Jesus, called Christ--come to earth and die on a cross to pay for our sins?

I asked this question, before I knew God. I have heard physicians say that dying on a cross is the most painful death imaginable. Even after many years as a Christian, I still can’t totally grasp God’s love, except to say that He has proved His love to me. Jesus is the only one who ever died to save me. He proved His love for each person--me, you, and everybody.

That's my basic understanding of what God says in the Bible. Of course, there is much more, and I don't know everything. Don't worry if you don't understand it all yet—we may not know everything about how a television works, but we can still watch it. So you don't need to understand everything about God all at once, either, to know Him.

Here's my own personal experience, that I share in the hope that it will help you. Although I believed in Christ at the age of sixteen, I also struggled with doubts and questions. Yet, when I believed in Him, I also asked Him to open my eyes (spiritually), and let me know Him. Decades later, I am still learning to know Him more intimately. After all, He is infinite.

In the late 1970s, my husband and I visited Cherokee Village, in North Carolina. We were visiting to learn more about Cherokee ancestors. While there, we had the privilege of listening to a native Cherokee lecturer.

He related a story that you are not likely to hear anywhere else. When the European missionaries first told the Cherokee people about Jesus, they were met with several surprises. For one, the missionaries were greeted with open arms, and the Cherokee people immediately converted to Christianity, almost every one of them. The startled missionaries had to know why the tribe experienced such sudden conversions.

The reason? The Cherokee had a story about a visitor, who when described, sounded remarkably like Christ. Proof of this story, to me, is the native Cherokee word which is almost identical to the Hebrew word for God. So God can do what He wants, but He proved His love on the cross. You can't do any more for anyone than die for them.

Over the years of getting to know God, through His son Jesus Christ, I am learning that the Bible is a spiritual book, which God directed His people to write. God did not physically write it, but it is His Word, as if His people were taking dictation.

I wondered, if we are like ants to God, how can we possibly understand Him? We can't by ourselves. That's why people say all the time, "I can't understand the Bible." But we can understand some of it--the most important parts, and what we need to know now--if we ask Him to help us, through His Spirit. I am also learning that the Bible is a spiritual book--the Holy Spirit is how God talks to people.

I want you to know that God is calling you, just like He called me, and just like He visited (according to ancient Cherokee legend) the Cherokee. He loves you so much, that He was willing to die for you. You may not believe this yet—God understands. However, if you want to know God, you need to be willing to listen to Him.

Would you pray a prayer every day? Just talk to God, in Jesus name, the way you would talk to a person. Every day, just ask God "God, help me to know Jesus." Will you do that, because Jesus loves you? Do this, and be WILLING to believe (I didn't say you have to have blind faith--I said you need to be willing to listen), when God helps you to understand. Simple, I know. Please let me know that you will do this, and write me when you can.

In Christ’s Love, Melissa Morgan, http://homeschoolblogger.com/eaglesnest/781930/ "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)

yeah right bad1,

us Catholics have only been wearing the Crucifix with the Body of Christ on it and making the Sign of the Cross for eighteen hundred years..

eighteen hundred years..

how long has your schismatic splinter group sect started by a mere man been in existence? a hundred years? five hundred years?

you speak out of both sides of your mouth regarding the sacredness of scripture because your Grandma's bible had 6-8 more books in it than your personal bible does.

why is that? because ordained common men at the Lambeth Conference in the 1920s decided to make them “optional”.

Your grandmother would disown you if she were alive today and listened to you tell her what your “church” finds “optional”, as it is she is likely spinning in her grave every time Lambeth gets together and makes “optional” more of her cherished beliefs.

Since then they have made artificial birth control, abortion, gay marriage, women clergy and belief in the Absolute Primacy of Christ “optional”.

For Catholics the road to Christ runs through Rome, for protestants the road to atheism runs through the Lambeth Conference.

BTW you just repeat the same trite Jack Chickian ideas of Catholics worshiping their Crucifix..nice try.

The Church of the second century had groups in their midst that believed in abortion, sodomy, and women clergy and who rejected parts of their scripture - they were called heretics.

Lurking’

Please, those who are called Christian, let us put our focus on knowing God through Christ, instead of focusing on our differences.

Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, because of His great love for us. He rose again, to show His victory over our sin. Does anyone disagree?

Can we agree on these basic points, essential to salvation? Time is short, and the enemy the devil would love for Christians to waste time arguing.

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