Does knowing God seem like a difficult endeavor? Let me put you at ease – it’s not.

From creation and all through time, God’s purpose has been for us to know Him. However, the simplicity of the gospel sometimes gets distorted. I want you to lay aside all of your preconceived notions for a moment. Come with me as we look at how God intends for us to know Him, and glean from Paul and Jesus as they share the good news.

Through a series of tumultuous events, Paul finds himself in Athens, which was the religious center of that day. The people living there had many religions and many of them believed in multiple gods. The city was said to have more statues of idols than all the rest of Greece combined. Paul begins to address the people and says, “I perceive that in all things you are very religious.” Some people may think that Paul was complimenting them, but He wasn’t. He was bringing them to a point that so many people miss, even today – you can be very religious or spiritual and still not know the true God.

Religious works or spirituality don’t lead to salvation, and all paths do not lead to God. The people Paul encountered in Athens were saying the same things as people are saying today. Paul spoke with the Epicurean philosophers, who believed seeking tranquility was the highest good. What do we hear in today’s culture? Peace, love, acceptance and all roads lead to God. Don’t misunderstand. God does love everyone, but not all paths lead to Him.

The diversity of religions in Athens would have bolstered the idea that all paths lead to God. However, Paul was more influenced by the love of God than the opinions of people. He knew the only path to life was through knowing the one true God.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

John 17:3

He was compelled to share this truth with them. While walking among their idols, he found an altar that had the inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Beginning with this inscription, He said, “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.” Acts 17:23

Paul shares the way to life through Jesus Christ with them. He first makes it clear to them that the true God is unlike any of the false gods found in Athens. He explains that God, the creator of heaven and earth and everything in them, doesn’t dwell in temples and isn’t made with hands. God has created all of us and has placed it in our hearts to seek Him and find Him. God’s wants us to know Him. Paul encouraged the Athenians that “He is not far from each one of us…”

“for in Him we live and move and have our being…”

Acts 17:28

It is in finding and knowing Him that we find life.

We find life in God’s greatest revelation of Himself – Jesus Christ. ( John 1:1,14, John 14:9, Hebrews 1:2,3) We see the pinnacle of His love, mercy and compassion in what Jesus says to Nicodemis:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16

God wills for us is to have life. Jesus came to give that life to all who believe. Jesus said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” God doesn’t just will that we have life, but abundant life through Christ. (John 10:10) This doesn’t mean that we won’t have difficulties or tribulations in this world, but that we won’t go through them alone.

Jesus promises to be with us, and to give us peace in midst of the circumstances of life. Jesus tells His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Within a relationship with Jesus, we are able to lean into Him and find comfort, hope, peace and rest.

While many will try to make getting to God all about works, Paul made it clear that it was about a change of mind. After explaining the Divine Nature of God to the Athenians, he pointed them to Christ and His righteousness. He said that God had overlooked their ignorance of worshiping false gods, but was now calling them to repent. Repent in the Greek means to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction). They needed to change their minds about who God is. They could no longer worship based on their perception of who they thought God was, but they needed to worship God based on the truth of who God is.

So, what does a change of mind look like? When Paul presented the Athenians with the gospel, it says some mocked, some were undecided, and some joined him and believed. The revelation of Jesus Christ through Paul’s preaching, caused some to change their minds about who God is, and they were moved. They believed, and their belief caused them to join Paul. Just as Abram was moved when God was revealed to him, these new believers were moved when Paul revealed Christ to them.

One may wonder, what exactly did they believe that would cause them to join Paul? It seems strange that people would leave everything and follow another person. However, the person they were following wasn’t Paul. It was Jesus.

Many people are hesitant about coming to Christ, because they have misconceptions about Christianity. It is often looked at as just another religion. If Paul was preaching about a religion, the people wouldn’t have joined him. They would’ve stayed in Athens and added it to the many religions they already embraced. Paul wasn’t talking about a religion; He was talking about life. Remember, Paul told them, “In Him [Christ], we live and move and have our being.” Our lives, our very being – who we are – is found in Him! Paul wasn’t talking about some passing thing, or something to be added to our lives. He was talking about our very existence being in Christ.

God created each one of us for a purpose. You may feel that you are here by chance. That’s not the case. God not only created mankind, but He created you individually. Psalm 139 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (13) He wasn’t just mindlessly creating beings and you happened to be one of them. He placed you here and has a plan for all of your days. God wrote all of your days in His book, before you were even formed.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 139:16

Paul reaffirms this when He is teaching the Ephesians about life in Christ, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God made you for good works that He has already prepared for you to walk in. Your life is truly a masterpiece. God skillfully planned out the days of your life. He created you with specific giftings that when fine tuned bring ease and joy into the works that He has created for you to do. As He planned your days, He was putting gifts in place. He was creating divine appointments on your calendar. He was orchestrating people, places, and times to bring you to your intended purpose in Him.

I’m sure many are wondering, “If my life is supposed to be a masterpiece, why does it look like a 3 year old’s finger-painting and sound like a bunch of first graders with cheap plastic recorders? Good question. At birth, we are not given a map of the plan for our lives. We don’t know our purpose or giftings. We don’t have an appointment book with all of the divine appointments that God has scheduled for us. Therefore, we bumble about life trying to figure it out. We make decisions solely on our own understanding, and what we think we should be doing. We try to navigate all the hurts and disappointments of life on our own. In the end, we’re left wondering, ‘what’s the point of all this,’ and ‘why do I seem so dysfunctional and broken?’

I wasn’t raised in a home that knew about having a relationship with God, and I didn’t give my life fully to Him until I was in my twenties with children. By that time, I was already a mess. I sometimes feel bad that at fifty my life hasn’t had more significance. I sometimes see people that grew up in well-balanced Christian homes that have done tremendous things for God by time they’re in their mid twenties. However, I realize that without the Creator of the masterpiece, Who holds my map, knows my purpose, made my appointments, gave me gifts, and orchestrated everything, life will look like a mess and sound out of tune. Because it is. We weren’t meant to function outside of a relationship with God.

So, how do we enter into a relationship with God? Just as Jesus explains to Nicodemis, we are born again of the Spirit of God by faith. Nicodemis was a religious leader of the Jews and knew Jesus was from God. (John 3:1-2) He had seen new life in everything Jesus touched and was seeking to understand this life that went far beyond what he had seen in all his years in religion. Jesus tells Nicodemis that to see the kingdom of heaven one must be born again. (John 3:3) When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are born again – born of the Spirit of God. (John 3:5-6,15) We receive a new spirit and He places the Holy Spirit within us.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior? When the sin of mankind entered the world through Adam, it brought death. Not just Adam’s death, but death for all of us, because all of us have sinned. (Rom 3:23, 5:12) The good news is that God sent His own Son, Jesus Christ to die in our place, so that any who believe in Him are brought back into right relationship with God. (Romans 5:8) Jesus took on our sins and gave us His righteousness. (Rom 3:22)

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,… For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

2 Cor 5:18,21

In the natural, we know being born again is impossible. However, Jesus makes it clear that this is not natural, but spiritual. When we are born again, we begin a life in the Spirit. It is through a life lived in the Spirit that we are able to fulfill God’s plan for our lives.

The life of the believer will not be like the life of the unbeliever. The life of the believer will be marked by the supernatural. We are supernaturally made one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus praying for all believers says, “that they all [believers] may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…” (John 17:21) Being made one, we commune with God through His Spirit that lives in us.

Jesus explains this to His disciples. He says, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth,… He dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) Jesus made it clear to His disciples that the Holy Spirit within them would be speaking on His behalf. He says, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-14)

The Holy Spirit also helps us commune with God. Paul explains this to the Romans. He says, “but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”” (Romans 8:15) Notice, ‘by whom.’ It is by the Spirit of God within us that we cry out to God in our time of need. Paul goes on to say that even when we are weak and don’t know what to pray that the Spirit of God will intercede through us and for us. (Romans 8:26)

The role of the Spirit of God in the life of the believer cannot be overstated. It is vast and goes beyond what I can cover here. I will say that it is by walking in the Spirit that we see the scripture fulfilled that says, “…in Him we live, and move, and have our being…”

When Jesus explained life in the Spirit to Nicodemis, He likened it to the wind. He said, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) Just as things are moved by the wind, so the Christian is moved by the Spirit of God. Like the wind, we cannot see the Spirit of God, but we will see His effects in our lives. Paul also talks about life in the Spirit, while explaining the gospel to the Romans. He echoes Jesus’ words by saying, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

As we are led by God through the Holy Spirit, He helps us to understand our purpose and giftings. He will guide us, so that we begin to make the divine appointments and see the people, places, and times that He has orchestrated when planning our lives. We will begin to walk in the works that he has prepared for us. It may not sound like Beethoven’s symphony immediately, but we will begin to hear the rhythm and cadence of the Spirit of God in our lives. We will begin to recognize His voice, and realize the life that Jesus came to give us.

So, Are you ready for new life? Are you ready for a supernatural rebirth from above? If so, like I said before, it’s nearer than you think. Paul speaking to the Romans about the word of faith says, “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10) That’s it. It’s that easy. You believe, confess, and receive.

Here’s a simple prayer of faith for you to follow:

Lord, I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I believe that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to die in my place. I believe that you raised Him from the dead on the third day. I thank you for taking my sins and giving me His righteousness. I thank you for the Holy Spirit, Who will always be with me and guide me. I choose to make You Lord of my life. Help me to follow you all my days. In Jesus Name, Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, congratulations! You have entered into a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You have entered into a new life. Please shoot me a quick email through my contact page, I would love to be able to connect with you.