That I May Know Him: A cry for assurance of faith in Christ.

THAT I MAY KNOW HIM: A cry for assurance of faith in Christ.

Prepend the following: 

“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.” (Philippians 3:10)

Many persons are in Church but lack good knowledge of the person and mission of Christ. This is unfortunate. Christ knew that it is important for His followers to know Him, and He asked them in one of those days, “Whom do men say I am.” They replied, some say you are Elijah, others say, you are John the Baptist and still others say, you are one of the prophets. And He asked them, “Whom do you say I am?” Knowledge of whom Christ is is important in our walk with Him. Paul knew the importance of knowing Christ and he prayed to know Him more and more.

To know is to be acquainted with something. It is the conformity of the intellect with objective reality. It is to be certain or to be cock – sure concerning something. That is why there is a relationship between knowledge and belief. That is, if you believe something, you must have known it. You cannot say you believe something and do not know it.

And as far as our Christian faith is concerned, there are things we must be certain about. Apostle Paul said, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God; even to them that are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives...” (Job 19:26). The Hebrew word translated “Know” here is “Yadah” which means to be sure of something.

Apostle Paul sought to be acquainted with Christ to the level of indubitability (that is, knowing Christ beyond doubt). Every Christian needs this level of knowledge of Christ or else we can never be consistent in our walk with Him. This is because there are times events and situations in our lives which may point to the contrary but such knowledge would make us steadfast, resilient and always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our redeemer lives and that all things work together for good to those who called of God.  

Kindly perpend the relevance of the Knowledge of Christ and the basic thing to know about Christ. Paul prayed for the Ephesians “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened ; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17-21). From this prayer, the knowledge of Christ helps us:

• To know what our inheritance in Christ is: That is, that we are His beloved.
   
• To know what the hope of our calling is: When we know Christ, we know why He has called us and the fate of His servants in the end. It is no longer what somebody told us but what Christ said. 
   
• To know the greatness of His power towards us who believe: That is, there is great power sufficient to see us through our walk with Him.  
   
• To be able to differentiate between truth and error (Heb. 5:14). Jesus accused the Jews that they err because they do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29).
   
• To be able to remain firm rather than being tossed to and fro from every wind of doctrine: Heb.13:9

These are basic things a child of God needs to know about Christ. 

• Christ has been from everlasting: Micah 5:2, Prov. 8:22, John 8:56
   
• Christ, the father, and the Holy Spirit are one: The Trinitarian Doctrine is as true as the sun (John 10:30.)
   
• Christ came on an errand of grace (John 1:18). 
   
• Christ is unchanging (Mal. 3:6, Heb. 13:5). 
   
• Christ is all powerful (Phil. 2:8-9). There is nothing impossible for Him to do (Mark 9:23; 10:27). 
   
• Christ is the end of the Law: Christ came as a fulfilment of the Law (Matt. 5:17). 
   
• Christ would come again: Rev. 20:12, 2 Tim. 4:1, 2 Cor. 5:9-11. 

We need to pray that God would reveal His Son more and more to us.  And we must also seek this knowledge through study and prayer. Any Christian who attains a good level of knowledge of Christ would be an instrument in the hand of the Lord.  
“There is a difference between knowing God and knowing about God. When you truly know God, you have energy to serve Him, boldness to share Him, and contentment in Him” (J. I. Packer)

Perpend!

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