You may say, “He’s God, He knows everything, of course he knows my name”.
Let me ask in a different way. Take a moment and think of the most famous person you know about. Now imaging someone has given you this person’s personal cell phone number. If you call this person, maybe he/she wouldn’t answer, but if the person did, would he/she have any idea who you were? Following the call, the person might even block your number.
Now imagine you had actually met the person during an event prior to receiving this person’s phone number. The likelihood of him/her remembering you from everyone else he/she meets would still be quite slim (unless you made an impact – and even then the person would probably not refer to you as “friend” from that introduction and may have to stretch to recall your name).
Now, imagine you grew up with this person, hung out with him/her every day after school and helped each other out along the way. Then if you called him/her up, the person would know your name. You wouldn’t have to remind him/her who you are – you had built a relationship.
Now apply this to God. Have you really spent enough personal time with God that he would know your name? – Not just “getting into the moment” at an event (say a concert or revival or something), but really spent personal one on one time…?
When you talk with God (pray), do you really talk with Him or do you just “leave a message”? I hear a lot of prayers that are more like someone leaving a message for God than actually having a conversation. There’s not an expectation from the person praying that God is going to actually answer.
Would you say that you had a friend if the only interaction the two of you had was him/her leaving you a voice message every once and a while – and likely the same basic message every time?
You might eventually start erasing the messages before you even listen to them once you saw the number they came from.
Does God count you as a friend, recognize your name, recognize you as an insider in His inner circle? Or even outer circle?
There are two places in the Bible, both Matthew 7:23 and Luke 13:27 where when speaking of the days when we will one day stand in front of God, there will be people who said they knew the name of Jesus (or God in the flesh), that they even did works for Him, and His response would be, “I never knew you; depart from me…”. This might be a similar answer you would get when calling up the famous person who you really don’t know. The result however is much more serious, as the famous person doesn’t hold the power to decide the eternal fate of your soul (either inside or outside the presence of God – and yes, there’s a BIG difference).
There are many people who speak the name of Jesus and confess they know God, but they have never taken the time to build the relationship.
Relationships are not formed as soon as you meet someone. It takes time and continued interaction to build a relationship.
So when I ask you, “does God know your name?” what would be your answer?
It's not too late to start building or growing that relationship. What's the best way to start building a relationship? - Simply talking about those things that are important to you, discovering the things that are important to the other person (God in this case) and discussing them.
The Bible is full of things that are important to God. If you need help finding a place to start, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
Let me ask in a different way. Take a moment and think of the most famous person you know about. Now imaging someone has given you this person’s personal cell phone number. If you call this person, maybe he/she wouldn’t answer, but if the person did, would he/she have any idea who you were? Following the call, the person might even block your number.
Now imagine you had actually met the person during an event prior to receiving this person’s phone number. The likelihood of him/her remembering you from everyone else he/she meets would still be quite slim (unless you made an impact – and even then the person would probably not refer to you as “friend” from that introduction and may have to stretch to recall your name).
Now, imagine you grew up with this person, hung out with him/her every day after school and helped each other out along the way. Then if you called him/her up, the person would know your name. You wouldn’t have to remind him/her who you are – you had built a relationship.
Now apply this to God. Have you really spent enough personal time with God that he would know your name? – Not just “getting into the moment” at an event (say a concert or revival or something), but really spent personal one on one time…?
When you talk with God (pray), do you really talk with Him or do you just “leave a message”? I hear a lot of prayers that are more like someone leaving a message for God than actually having a conversation. There’s not an expectation from the person praying that God is going to actually answer.
Would you say that you had a friend if the only interaction the two of you had was him/her leaving you a voice message every once and a while – and likely the same basic message every time?
You might eventually start erasing the messages before you even listen to them once you saw the number they came from.
Does God count you as a friend, recognize your name, recognize you as an insider in His inner circle? Or even outer circle?
There are two places in the Bible, both Matthew 7:23 and Luke 13:27 where when speaking of the days when we will one day stand in front of God, there will be people who said they knew the name of Jesus (or God in the flesh), that they even did works for Him, and His response would be, “I never knew you; depart from me…”. This might be a similar answer you would get when calling up the famous person who you really don’t know. The result however is much more serious, as the famous person doesn’t hold the power to decide the eternal fate of your soul (either inside or outside the presence of God – and yes, there’s a BIG difference).
There are many people who speak the name of Jesus and confess they know God, but they have never taken the time to build the relationship.
Relationships are not formed as soon as you meet someone. It takes time and continued interaction to build a relationship.
So when I ask you, “does God know your name?” what would be your answer?
It's not too late to start building or growing that relationship. What's the best way to start building a relationship? - Simply talking about those things that are important to you, discovering the things that are important to the other person (God in this case) and discussing them.
The Bible is full of things that are important to God. If you need help finding a place to start, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
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