Our Passion and Pursuit
Worship Articles
by EXW Staff
August 09, 2009
– Knowing God Intimately - By Jim Feiker
He said, "My supreme passion will now be to know Him and then make Him known."
Do you remember Paul's response to Christ after a light and a voice that caused him to fall to the ground blinded? A broken Paul could only ask first, "Who are you, LORD?" And THEN he asked, "What do you want me to do? That order never changed in Paul's life.
3:12 - I press on to take hold of that which Christ has taken hold of me - to know Him
was his central purpose and therefore his passion
3:13 - But one thing I do- not these 40 things I dabble at. His central, intense focus of
life was to know Him.
3:14 - I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me. His
call was first and dominantly to a Person, and then to a mission. He had a
Heavenward calling to a Person who had given him an earthly mission.
Paul never allowed his primary passion of knowing Christ to be overridden by his global vision for the world. His burden and desire to bring the Gospel to the Gentile world flowed out of his passion to know Christ. Ministry to people was the result of an overflow of abiding in and knowing Christ.
Was Paul an exception, or is this the pattern of other godly leaders in Scripture? It is obviously a pattern.
Consider with me other key portions of Scripture that emphasize knowing God:
Jeremiah 9:23, 24 - "Let him who boasts, boast about this, that he understands
and knows me..."
Isaiah 43:7-10 - "You are my servant whom I have chosen, so that you might know
and believe me and understand that I am He...I have created you for My glory."
Psalm 103: 7 – "He made known His ways (His very nature and character) to
Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel." What do we want God to reveal to
us?...just His works, or His nature and self through an intimate relationship?
Exodus 33:11- Moses cried out to God – "Show me your ways that I might know
You."
Ephesians 1:17 - "May He give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that
you might know Him better."
John 17:3 - "Now this is eternal life: that they might know you, the only true God
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
In the last few months I have gone through the Old Testament looking for what was important to God in spiritual leaders, kings, and priests, and how God measured success in their lives. The findings were revealing, the perspective life-changing. What was important and valued by God in these leaders was evidenced by what God called them – what they were known for by God. That was their ultimate testimony. It revealed their passion in life. Interestingly, it was not their accomplishments, titles, or positions in life.
G.H. Morrison said, "The acid test of a successful life is this: does it win the praise of God?"
Consider these spiritual leaders from Abraham to Paul. What was their ultimate testimony from God's point of view? Is there a pattern of what was important to God?
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This is the debut album by EXW friend Paul Langford. Paul is a Chicago based singer, arranger, keyboardist, producer and conductor. Paul has a career that spans 14 years. Paul's work includes arranging for groups like GLAD, Voices of Liberty, VoiceTrek, The Chicago based "Caroling Party" and Day of Discovery Singers. His arranging has appeared on recordings side by side with greats like Gene Puerling and David Maddux, and he has sung with Don Shelton, Bonnie Herman and Bob Bowker, among others.