His Touch

In the last post I talked about how knowing what God says, thinks, feels, cherishes and writes down about you is how we come to know Him as He knows us.  Remember He is God and knows everything.  So His knowing us isn’t knowledge like we understand.  He isn’t learning facts about you.  He already knows that stuff.  He is expressing Himself towards you.  As you begin to see what He sees regarding you, you are really blown away.  You can’t imagine how amazing God must be to actually love us even with all our junk.  He doesn’t ignore our stuff.  He doesn’t dismiss our stuff.  He loves us through our stuff.  That just astounds me.  That is how we get to know Him as we are known by Him.  When we line up those revelations about His thoughts for us we fall deeper in love with Him.

Still there is more.  How about this verse?  It has the same sort of wording as the 1Co 8:1-3 passage.

Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?  (ESVST)

The word here for “be known” is this word: ginṓskō – properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).

Here is another definition:  ginṓskō (“experientially know”) is used for example in Lk 1:34, “And Mary [a virgin] said to the angel, ‘How will this be since I do not know (1097 /ginṓskō = sexual intimacy) a man?'”

Here is another definition from a different source: Hebraistic euphemism (cf. Winer’s Grammar, 18), found also in Greek writings from the Alexandrian age down, γινώσκω is used of the carnal connection of male and female

Are you beginning to see where I’m going with this discussion?

The answer to what Paul is talking about is found in a previous verse.  Check this out:

Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” (ESV)

This isn’t the only time that God reminds us of His touch.

Rom 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (ESV)

Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  (ESV)

So let me be very obvious.  What Paul is talking about is God touching us.  We get to know what God knows about us and we also get to know the touch of God.  His touch is our encounters with our creator.  It is our embrace by our Abba.  It is our touch by our Groom.  It is the manifest expression of the love of God in His Spirit in us and on us and upon us.  It is getting wrecked in the Spirit of God.  It is getting “drunk” in love of God in the Spirit.

In early 2012 my wife and I felt led by God to move from one church to another.  The previous church was a “seeker sensitive” church.  They never talked about power or Holy Spirit or miracles or signs or wonders or anything supernatural.  At the time that was OK with me since I grew up in a church that said “that stuff is from the devil and not for today.”  Well, sorry they were wrong.  He is for today.  Jesus is now.  The Holy Spirit is one with my spirit.  It says it in the book.

So now we step into this “Kingdom Culture” where supernatural is natural.  I am so lost and confused.  I asked someone I trusted to point me in the right direction.  She said “you need to let God love you.”  I was clueless.  Still I began a journey of trusting God and letting Him guide my ways.  It started with the concepts of the last post.  I had to learn that He actually loves us.  Next was the journey through Grace where you discover that it is His nature to love me.  It has never been about my performance to earn His love.  Without Grace you can’t know the unconditional love of God.

Then the encounters.  Dreams, moments, tears, joy, laughter.  I haven’t had any trips to Heaven or one-on-one encounters or face-to-face meetings or Angelic rides across the planet…YET.  I wait patiently for the next encounter.  I have “experienced” His ginṓskō of me in many other ways.  Before, I would have never have thought of “being touched by God” but now I am certain that these encounters are very much part of our intimate walk with Him. This draws us deeper into His embrace and the understanding of our identity in Him.  Check out what the Passion Translation says:

Gal 4:6 And so that we would know for sure that we are His true children, God released the Spirit of Sonship into our hearts— moving us to cry out intimately, “My Father !  You’re our True Father!”  7 Now we’re no longer living like slaves under the law, but we enjoy being God’s very own sons and daughters! And because we’re His , we can access everything our Father has— for we are one with Jesus Christ!  8 Before we knew God as our Father and we became known as His children, we were unwitting servants to the powers that be, which are nothing compared to God.  9 But now that we truly know Him and understand how deeply we’re loved by Him, why would we, even for a moment, consider turning back to those weak and feeble principles of religion, as though we were still subject to them? (The Passion Translation)

If you want answers, you need Jesus.  If you want healing, you need Jesus.  If you want anything, you need Jesus.  Not only that, but even when you don’t think you want or need anything, you absolutely need Jesus.  You need to see like He sees.  You need to hear like He hears.  You need to feel like He feels.  You need to know what He thinks about you.  AND YOU NEED HIS TOUCH.  He wants to manifest His love for you in your life.  That is what you were made for.  So go ahead.  Be brave.  Cry out.  Say it in any way that works in your understanding.

“God touch me!  I need your embrace.”

A word of encouragement:  When I began to “encounter” God in a manifest way, I realized how He had been “touching” me and loving on me for a very long time and I didn’t recognize His touch.  I remembered movies or music or moments or songs or words from another and so many more “encounters.”  I encourage you to not confine God to one type of experience.  He knows you, remember?  Let Him love on you.  Let Him touch you.  You really need HIS TOUCH.

Yay God!

Lance