Time with God is how to get to know him

Ezekiel prophesied, "And from that day the name of the city will be 'Yahweh Shammah,' the Lord is there."

What comfort to know the Lord is near. Especially in a time with so much uncertainty in the world.

Moses said, "There is none like the Lord our God." Moses knew the awesomeness and power of his God.

Hannah prayed, "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee. Neither is there any rock like our God." Hannah was totally familiar with God and His character.

King David's prayer, "How great you are, O sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you." David knew his God. His hope was for his nation under the one true God.

"For I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me," the Lord spoke through Isaiah.

Knowing who our God is truly helps us to know ourselves and how much we are in need of our God.

We are proud to say, "We are one nation under one God."

Our Creator, our God is so much greater than we are, yet he has created us in his image.

He is a God we can be close to like Abraham, Moses, Elijah and all the prophets. There is a price we must pay, however.

Imagine how the disciples of Jesus must have felt having the presence of God with them so often as Jesus showed the love of the Father in the miraculous healings, raising the dead and setting people free from demonic misery.

How great and powerful Peter, Paul and John recorded the events of the spirit of the living God in their lives.

We, too, can experience the great and powerful God of Jacob in our lives.

Yet, as complicated as our God is, as compared to our own thinking, He created us to share His great love with us; to share His own spirit with us; to share his own nature with us through experiencing the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the living God, as Paul points out in 2 Corinthians 3:3 and again in Romans 3:9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Why is it then in our day of plenty, that we struggle so to know our God as intimately as we can?

Could it be a lack of understanding of God's love for us? Is it because of a lack of understanding him?

Could it be just a lack of need of God; a lack of time set aside daily to spend just a few moments in God's awesome presence?

Do we really need God? Is that the question?

Do we pretty much depend upon ourselves and what man can offer us in the way of needs rather than turn to the Lord in our time of need?

I'm guilty.

How do I return in right standing with my Lord? Recognize my need of Him?

"If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave and require of necessity my face, (as written in the Amplified Bible) and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

This is what we need: to be desperate for a relationship with God; instruction from the Master on how we and our land can be healed.

To know him is to know his word.

"Eternal life is this: to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent." John 17:3.

Is eternal life with God really that simple?

To know our God as Jacob did, as Abraham did, as Solomon did ... they really loved God.

Their love was spelled "T-I-M-E with their God."

How will we spell our love shown back to the Lord?

Mark Conway is an evangelist, youth minister and praise and worship leader living in Seward, and attending Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He can be reached at 907-224-4818.