Knowing God. The object and purpose of Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension is to bring us (back) into relationship with the Father. The whole reason for Christ as the final sacrificial Lamb was to provide a means of relationship with God; the ministry of reconcilliation. We were headeded for a hell we were not created to occupy. Through Christ, our Kinsman Redeemer, we are afforded the oppurtunity to truly know the Father.
As stated in John 17:3, we must know God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. The only way to know the Father is to first know the Son. This knowledge of Jesus is not merely a 'surface' knowledge of Him, but is a deep, thorough, ever-increasing knowledge of the Person of Jesus Christ through the Person and power of the Holy Spirit. This relationship alone will allow us unlimited access to the very throne of Grace! This intimate fellowship with the Son and Holy Spirit facilitates intimacy with the Father, resulting in true worship.
Sadly, many in the church today are not reflecting this relationship. We allow hindrance, distraction, lust of the eyes and flesh, and pride of life to stifle our level of intimacy and relationship with God. Thus, all we are able to reflect to the lost and dying world around us is another form of religion that is void of the life changing power of God.
This, my friends, is why worship is so vital to the life of every believer. Praise leads to worship. Through worship, we harvest intimacy with God and a glorious knowledge of Him is developed. When we get to the place in worship that God has pre-ordained for us, we will reflect the power, glory, and might of God even as Moses did to the people of Israel. It will then surely be known and clearly manifested that indeed we have been in the very Presence of God.
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