How You Can Know God Personally

Here’s how you can know God personally; there are four main points:

1. God Loves you and created you to know him personally.
God’s Love (the following is the most well-known verse in the Bible)
“God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish by have eternal life. John 3:16

You see, this life is not the end of us. This life is preparation for eternity, deciding where we want to spend it eternity … with God or apart from God.

God’s Plan
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3 NIV)

What prevents us from knowing God personally?

2. Man is sinful and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love because of our sin.
Man is Sinful
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Man is Separated
“The wages of sin is death (separation from God) (Romans 6:23).
William, visualize God in heaven and man on earth, with a great gulf separating the two. Man is continually trying to reach God and establish a personal relationship with Him through his own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion – but he inevitably fails.

The third principle explains the only way to ‘bridge’ this separation:

3. Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him alone can we know God personally and experience God’s love.
He Died in Our Place
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we yet sinners,Christ died for us.”
He Rose from the Dead
“Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures. He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve disciples. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” (! Corinthians 15:3-6)
He is the Only Way to God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me’” (John 14:6).
Visualize now that God has bridged the gulf that separates us from Him by send His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

It is not enough just to know these truths…

4. We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally and experience His love.
We Must Receive Christ
“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).
We Receive Christ Through Faith
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works that no one should boast; (Ephesians 2:8-9).
When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth
John 3:1-8 After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, came to speak with Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you."
Jesus replied, "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God." "What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus replied, "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation
(Christ speaking) “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him” (Revelation 3:20).

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive us of our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died on the cross for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. We receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of our free will.

There are two kinds of lives:

The Self-Directed Life The Christ-Directed Life
-Self is ‘on the throne’ of your heart -Christ is in the life and ‘on the throne’
-Christ is outside the life -Self is yielding to Christ
-Interests are directed by self, often -Interests are directed by Christ,
resulting in discord and frustration resulting in harmony with God’s plan.

Which description best represents your life?
Which description would you like to have represent your life?
The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You Can Receive Christ Right Now By Faith Through Prayer
(Prayer is talking with God)
God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally.
Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins.
I open the door of my life and receive you as
my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving
me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take
control of my life. Make me the kind of person
You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?
If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

How to Know That Christ Is In Your Life
Did you pray to receive Christ just now? If so, Congratulations! Luke 15:7 says that when one sinner accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior the angels rejoice. So there’s a party going on in heaven right now over your decision! Remember this date as your ‘second birthday,’ the day you were born into a new life with Christ!
According to His promise in Revelation 3:20, where is Christ right now in relation to you? Christ said that He would come into your life and be your friend so you can know Him personally. Would He mislead you? On what authority do you know that God has answered your prayer? (The trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word.)

The Bible Promises Eternal Life to All Who Receive Christ
“The witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life: (1John 5;11-13).

Thank God often that Christ is in your life and that He will never leave you (Hebrews 13;5). You can know on the basis of His promise that Christ lives in you and that you have eternal life from the very moment you invite Him in. He will not deceive you.

An important reminder…

Do Not Depend on Feelings
The promise of God’s Word, the Bible – not our feelings -- is our authority. The Christian lives by faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. There are differences between Fact, Faith, and Feeling:
Fact (God and His Word)
Faith (Our trust in God and His Word)
Feeling (the result of our faith and obedience)
If Fact–Faith–Feeling was a ‘three-car train’, the train, led by Fact, will run with or without the caboose (Feeling). However, it would be useless to attempt to pull the train by the caboose. In the same way, we as Christians do not depend on feelings or emotions, but place our faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God and the promises of His Word.

Now That You Have Entered Into a Personal Relationship With Christ
The moment you received Christ by faith, as an act of your will, many things happened, including the following:
1. Christ came into your life (Revelation 3:20 and Colossians 1:27).
2. Your sins were forgiven (Colossians 1:14).
3. You became a child of God (John 1:12).
4. You received eternal life (John 5:24).
5. You began the great adventure for which God created you (John 10-10;
2 Corinthians 5:17; and 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Can you think of anything more wonderful that could happen to you than entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Would you like to thank God in prayer right now for what He has done for you? By thanking God, you demonstrate your faith.

To enjoy your new relationship with God…

Suggestions for Christian Growth
Spiritual growth results from trusting Jesus Christ. “The righteous man shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). A life of faith will enable you to trust God increasingly with every detail of your life, and to practice the following:
G Go to God in prayer daily (John 15:7).
R Read God’s Word daily (Acts 17:11) – begin with the Gospel of John.
O Obey God moment by moment (John 14:21).
W Witness for Christ by your life and words (Matthew 4:19; John 15:8).
T Trust God for every detail of your life (1 Peter 5:7).
H Holy Spirit – Allow Him to control and empower your daily life and witness
(Galatians 5:16,17; Acts 1:8).

And…
Be Involved In a Good Church.
God’s Word admonishes us not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together…” (Hebrews 10:25). Several logs burn brightly together, but put one aside on the cold hearth and the fire goes out. So it is with your relationship with other Christians. If you do not belong to a church, do not wait to be invited. Take the initiative; call the pastor of a nearby church where Christ is honored and His Word is preached. Start this week, and make plans to attend regularly.


Source : http://www.rickwarren.com