Our desire as human beings created in God’s image is to know God – we yearn not just to know about God but to know Him personally, intimately, by being in Him and by being one with Him.
We are created in God’s image and according to His likeness, and nothing on earth satisfies us unless we are filled with God so that we may know God by being one with God and in God.
Moses, one of the most outstanding leaders of the people of Israel, asked God that He would please show him His ways so that he might know God. Our desire is that we would see and know God’s ways so that we may know Him.
We start by seeing God’s ways: He has a certain purpose, He does things in His own way, in His own timing, and for His own reasons. As human beings we are like the clay in the hands of the potter: we have nothing to say to the One who created and molded us, just as the clay has nothing to say to the potter.
He made us in a certain way (which is different from others, whether we like this or not), He put us in a certain family, He gave us a certain set of circumstances and people, and He takes us through a unique string of experiences which we may like or dislike.
But when we see that God is working behind the scenes and He arranges all things for His purpose, we will worship Him for His ways. We may not agree with the way God deals with us, but we can worship Him and thus we will know His ways.
We need to go further, however, to know God – not just to know about God or how He does things, but to know Him. How can we know God? The way the Bible reveals that we can know God is by being in God.
1 John 5:20 is an amazing and mysterious verse concerning knowing God; in it we see that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know the true God, and we know God by being in the True One and in His Son, Jesus Christ; this is the true God and the eternal life. Wow!
We can thank Moses for the prayer that he offered God, but today we are experiencing something even higher than he did: we experience being in God and God being in us, and we are in the divine reality knowing God inwardly, subjectively, and in reality! Hallelujah!
Knowing God by Experiencing God and by being in Him; this is the True God and Eternal Life
The more I read 1 John 5:20 and prayerfully ponder over it, the more wonderful and mysterious this verse becomes. Wow.
Doctrinally, the true One (God the Father) and His Son Jesus Christ may be considered two, but when we are IN the true One and in Jesus Christ experientially, They are one. To others – to many believers and non-believers alike – the Father and the Son are two persons, but to those who experience Him, they are one.
Even more: we are IN the True One and in Jesus Christ, and They are our true God and our eternal life. This is marvelous. First John speaks of the true One and His Son Jesus Christ, and then he speaks of the true God and eternal life.
When we are in the true One (in God the Father) by obeying the teaching of the anointing, listening to the sense of life, and having our mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we are in the true God and we have eternal life.
We need a clear understanding of what this in 1 John 5:20 refers to. The word this refers to the very God who has become experiential to us through our being in Him. No longer are we outside of this God. Rather, we are in this God, and we are in the true One, in His Son Jesus Christ. Because we are in Them, God and Jesus Christ are no longer objective to us, and in our experience They are no longer two. When we are in Them, They become one to us. Therefore, John says that “this” is the true God, and “this” is eternal life. Who is “this”? “This” is the very God and the very Jesus Christ in whom we are. We may also say that “this” includes the condition of our being in God and Jesus Christ. Hence, the true God and eternal life include our being in the true One and His Son Jesus Christ. Witness Lee, Life-Study of 1 John
We need to realize that, as believers in Christ, we are NO LONGER outside of God: we are now in the true One and in His Son Jesus Christ. By believing into the Lord we have entered into an organic union with the Lord, and He is in us and we are in Him.
This is how we know God: we don’t merely know about God, not merely know God’s ways, but we know God intimately, intrinsically, organically, in the way of life by being in Him.
And this is the true God and eternal life: the “this” includes the very God and Jesus Christ in whom we are, and it includes our being in the true One and His Son Jesus Christ.
The whole world lies in the evil one, being filled with darkness, delusion, lies, deception, and sin, but we as blessed believers in Christ are in the true One, and we know Him who is true!
The more we abide in the Lord, sink into Him, are enveloped and saturated by Him, the more we will know Him; this knowledge is not something outward or psychological but a spiritual knowledge that causes us to know God in His nature and in who He is.
When we have such a knowledge will look back and realize that God had certain ways in our life, and we will give Him some belated Amen’s and retroactive, Hallelujah’s for what He has done.
Just as we see in Job – who passed through a terrible outward situation of suffering and loss and yet was not mournful or resentful at the end, after he saw God – so it will happen with us: no matter how God’s ways were in our life, we will worship Him, thank Him, and appreciate Him, even though at the moment we did not understand what He was doing.
Like our forefather Jacob, as we know God intrinsically by being in Him organically, we will worship God who has shepherded us all our life, and we will thank, worship, and praise Him for everything that He has measured out to us, because we now know Him and His ways.
Lord, we want to know You by being in the true One and in Jesus Christ. Thank You for coming into us to give us an understanding coming from the divine life within concerning God. Thank You for bringing us into God and making us one with God organically. Lord, we praise You for we are now in the true God and in His Son Jesus Christ, and we now know Him who is true and we have eternal life. Oh Lord, our desire is to know God more by experiencing Him and by being in Him so that we may know the true God and eternal life!
Being those who Know our God and who Show Strength and Take Action (Dan. 11:32)
![Knowing God can strengthen us. Many times we are weak because we do not know God. Our strength depends on the degree of our knowledge of God. Only those who know God will show strength and take action [Dan. 11:32]. To take action means “to expand.” Those who know God will be strong to expand their horizons and extend their boundaries and break new ground for God. On the earth today God needs those who would know Him in this way. W. Lee, Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures](https://i0.wp.com/agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Knowing-God-can-strengthen-us.-Many-times-we-are-weak-because-we-do-not-know-God2.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Knowing God can strengthen us. Many times we are weak because we do not know God. Our strength depends on the degree of our knowledge of God. Only those who know God will show strength and take action [Dan. 11:32]. To take action means “to expand.” Those who know God will be strong to expand their horizons and extend their boundaries and break new ground for God. On the earth today God needs those who would know Him in this way. W. Lee, Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures")
In Dan. 11:32b we see that the people who know their God will show strength and take action. Many times we as believers in Christ are weak and lazy in things that God desires to do simply because we do not know our God.
Because we don’t know our God, we are weak and do not offer the Lord the cooperation He needs. Our spiritual strength depends on the degree of our knowledge of God.
This doesn’t mean that those who know God are super-strong and super-spiritual, etc; rather, this means that only those who know God will show strength and take action.
What does it mean to “take action”? It means to expand your horizon and extend your boundary, breaking new ground for God. Why did the Lord Jesus didn’t return yet? Because He doesn’t have a people who know their God and are strong for Him to take action.
Today on earth God needs those who know their God and who are strong to expand their horizons and extend their boundaries and break new ground for God. It is God’s desire to gain the overcomers in the age, those who know their God and give Him their full cooperation.
The overcomers are those who know their God and are thus strengthened and empowered to take action and be one with Him to accomplish what He desires.
The Lord wants to gain shining lampstands in the dark continent of Europe; He wants to establish the proper church life in all the major cities in Europe, but where are those who know Him and are strong to take action?
The Lord wants to build up His Body and establish many local churches all over the earth so that He would have a beachhead for His return, but who are those who know their God and give Him their cooperation in prayer?
On the one hand we need to know God and His ways; on the other hand, God needs us to know Him, so that by knowing Him He would have an unhindered way to move on earth to consummate this age by building up the Body for the preparation of the bride to bring in His kingdom.
We need to be those who know our God and who are strong to take action by being one with Him in what He desires to do. We want to hasten the Lord’s return, bring in the kingdom of God, and enter into the wedding feast with Him so that for eternity we would rule and reign with Him!
So today we give ourselves to know God’s ways and worship Him for His ways, and we want to know God, be strong, and take action one with Him and in the Body so that the Body of Christ may be built up, the bride of Christ may be prepared, the kingdom of God would come in, and this age would be consummated!
Lord, we worship You and we praise You! Fulfill the longing in Your heart by fulfilling the longing in our heart! Lord, Your will be done. Gain a people who are fully open to You and one with You to carry out Your economy, to consummate the age, and to come back to inherit the earth! We give ourselves to know our God, be strong, and take action by being one with God to pray and move in this age! Lord, by Your mercy we want to enable You to do what You want to do today as we know our God and cooperate with Him to the fullest extent!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from Life-study of 1 John, pp. 354-355 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (part 4, 2016 Summer Training), week 2 / msg. 2, Knowing God and His Ways.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Bit by bit, day by day, pow’r of God is shown, / What is seen’s temporal, what’s unseen we’d know; / Treasure in jars of earth, show God’s pow’r divine, / Sharing in Jesus’ death, that His life may shine; / We do not proclaim ourselves, Christ do we proclaim, / And ourselves as His bondslaves, this is all our aim. (Song on God’s ways)
# The more we live in Christ, the life divine, / And by the inner consciousness behave, / The more we’ll have the inward knowledge true, / And on our heart God will His Son engrave. / ’Tis by this living inward knowledge gained / That fellowship with God in life we hold; / ’Tis by this hidden knowledge thus obtained / God unto us His fulness doth unfold. (Hymns #739)
# God needs the overcomers, / Our dear Lord Jesus lovers! / Make us those who live to turn the age! / God needs the overcomers, / Our dear Lord Jesus lovers! / Make us those who consummate the age! (Song on cooperating with God’s need)
About aGodMan
We are in the true One and in Jesus Christ. Now in our experience this true One becomes the true God, and Jesus Christ becomes eternal life. Where are we now? Are we outside the true God and outside eternal life? No, we are in the true God and in eternal life. The word this includes this fact of our being in the true God and eternal life. Hallelujah, this is the true God and eternal life, and we are in this God and in this life! We know that we are in the true God and in eternal life because we are in the true One and in His Son Jesus Christ.
First John 5:20 says that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding so that we may know the true One, and we are in the true One, which means that we are in His Son Jesus Christ. When we are in the true One and Jesus Christ, this, including the fact that we are in Them, is the true God.
Verse 20 indicates strongly that we are now experiencing the true God, and we are experiencing Him by being in Him. We experience, enjoy, and possess Him by being in Him. This, to us, is the true God and eternal life. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 354-355, by W. Lee)
It’s not outward knowledge but an inward knowing. Lord we long for the sense of the anointing working in us. We desire to be one with your move on the earth today. Lord Jesus we are willing to give ourselves to you by praying, giving and going . Yes Lord fill every country with golden lampstands and prepare the saints for your return. Amen come Lord Jesus.