Knowing God In A New Way In 2023

“Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.” — 2 Peter 3:18

How does getting to know God better in 2023 sound? Imagine being closer to the Creator of the universe—the one that created you.

Knowing God doesn’t mean knowing about God. It doesn’t mean accumulating a fact book in your head. To know God means I don’t just know about Him, I know Him. I’ve seen Him work in my life. I’ve built my life upon His promises, and I’ve seen time after time He is faithful to them. I’ve noticed that He never fails.

Too often we view truly knowing God as a chasm seldom crossed. We assume that “encountering or really knowing God” is reserved for those with seminary degrees. Knowing God is more than an acquisition of knowledge or information. Nor is it just a fact-finding mission. Scripture teaches that everyone can have a true and personal knowledge of God. Knowing God is not an optional part of the Christian life; it is the Christian life.

In 2023, we want to go a little deeper into knowing God. When you want to deepen your relationship with God, you need to move beyond head knowledge to know Him well enough to seek personal encounters with Him. Daniel 11:32 (TLB) tells us, “…But the people who know their God shall be strong and do great things.”

John Piper said this about the subject: “But to enjoy Him, we must know him. Reasoning, thinking, knowing God is the necessary means, and delighting in, being satisfied in, enjoying and treasuring God is the ultimate end of the human soul.” J.I. Packer wrote a book entitled Knowing God. He said, “It [knowing God] is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for living our lives.”

The ultimate goal of every Christian is to get to know God. Many verses in the Bible make this very clear. “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (John 17:3) “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.” (1 John 5:20.)

Knowing God means encountering Him. Knowing God means communing with Him. It is getting to know Him as a loving Father. Knowing God means there is a relationship. Knowing God is the byproduct of regular, consistent time spent with Him, in His word, and in prayer. Knowing Him is when we are no longer content with learning about Him but want to really know Him.

Discussion Questions:

What does it mean to you to “know” God?
What can we do in the short-term to better know God?