When we become a Christian we begin on an exciting adventure of getting to know God.  This adventure will undoubtedly take a lifetime and even then we will be swimming in ankle deep water!  Paul said he counted all things as loss that he may KNOW Him, and the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:7-10) Oh, to really know Him.

I want to look at this for a few days in light of my own personal experience.  This brings into focus the Trinity, for knowing God means I must get to know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Have you had personal revelation and experience with each Person of the Trinity?  It is an exciting adventure; an endless pursuit.

I will share this in the order in which it happened in my life — first Christ, then the Holy Spirit, and finally the Father.

I want to share two experiences in regard to knowing Christ.  Both followed my personal conversion which itself was a dramatic encounter with the Holy Spirit.

I had been a Christian for nearly 20 years and was living in Paris.  The Lord spoke to me very powerfully (even audibly?).  He was giving me instructions to leave my business career of 21 years and go to bible college back in England.  The only point I want to mention here is this began a process of “death to self.”  Philippians 3 became a well-worn scripture.  This is a part of knowing Christ that we cannot make a detour around if we want the fullness of the things of God.  It is a process of “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.” It is only through the death of the self-nature that we become vessels of light and live.  Don’t say you truly know Jesus unless you know Him in the work of the cross in your life.  It is painful but only through this pain comes life.  A seed must fall into the ground and die in order to bring forth life.  Many great books have been written about this experience and they usually are initiated by a crisis in one’s life.  This leads to a complete surrender of your own life, your plans and dreams.  This will bring you to the point of walking in His footsteps and depending completely on the life of Christ in you.  The Apostle Paul writes  about this in his letters.  May I encourage you to embrace crisis in your life and fully surrender to Him.

The second aspect of Christ that I want to share occurred a couple years later in Bible College.  I had the wonderful revelation of what it means to be justified.  I suddenly knew that the work of Christ not only saved me from my sins but that I am righteous 24 hours a day!  What a life transforming revelation.  I began to rest in my Christian life.  My sins are not only forgiven but I have been credited with the righteousness of God (Elohim) (2 Cor. 5:21).  What a fresh revelation.  The striving, the working to please God came to an end.  I knew I was accepted.  Perhaps He even likes me!  I worked all my life to perform, to excel in school, to excel in the business world.  Like many, this carried over into my Christian life as I worked at pleasing the Lord.  The revelation of being justified brought this to an end. What a sense of rest, refreshment, and peace flooded into my life.  Jesus, thank you.