Dear Friends,

The last couple of weeks I've been writing to you and givine you and "appetizer" hoping that you will become interested in getting to know God in a deep way. As I was thinking this through a few weeks ago I realized that we often "know about" God but don't always "really know" Him.

For example......think about a famous movie star or sportsman or woman. Although you know a lot of facts about this person.....if you ever met them at an event you would find that you didn't really know them. You may have heard a lot about them but you have never spent the time with them needed to get to know and understand them. And its the same with God.......we have heard a lot about Him at church, and we have read a lot about Him in the Bible......but the question to ask ourselves is.....do we really know God?

On Sunday in Church we talked about this very same subject and I asked everyone the question........."If we want to find God so that we can know Him better........where should we look? Or.......Where can we find God? These are very good questions and there were a lot of different answers to these questions. One boy said that "God is everywhere," and one lady said "We can find God anywhere." Both of these answers are true, but the Bible tells us that God dwells within us if we have become believers. The Bible says "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit," (1 Corinthians 6) and "The Kingdom of God is Within You." (Luke 13) So to exert a lot of effort looking for God "out there" somewhere is a waste of time because He is within us.....................but how do we get to know Him?

In other words if we want to know God we need to cease from busy activites and become still and allow our spirits within us the time to be with God. The Bible has many verses which encourage us to do this and here are just a couple of them: (amongst many)

-"Be Still and know that I am God." - the Psalms
-"Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength." Isaiah
-"Listen to me, and your soul shall delight in the richest of fare." Isaiah 55
-"It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let Him sit alone in silence." Lam 3:27
-"The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him."

As you can see, the Bible tells us that we get to know God through silent prayer........a special kind of prayer in which we pause and wait in God's presence and let Him do with us as He wants. This process disciplines us to love God and follow Him, and it also teaches us to hear His voice and through it we come to know our God in a way that we didn't before.

I've got stacks more to say about this.........but perhaps on another day............I would in the meanwhile encourage you to seek God in times of silence before Him. Try to avoid being distracted by a wandering mind and focus on His love............and you will truly be rewarded.

The Lord be with you
Cheers
David