5 Ways to Have a Richer Experience With Knowing God
In the past, I’ve felt annoyed by how some people use this verse. “Be still and know that I am God.” It seems like people typically use this verse as a justification to be cowards or to be apathetic and passive. It comes across as an unhelpful cliche. But, as I’m learning, the words of God are never dead.
Recently I learned the etymology of this verse and it took on new meaning for me. The Hebrew word that's been translated as "be still" comes from the verb "Rapha". Rapha means “to be weak, to let go, or to release”. So maybe a more clear translation of Psalm 46:10 might say "Let go and know that I am God.” Or you could say, “Surrender and know that I am God.”
To release, to surrender, to let go — none of these things are passive. Being apathetic is not at all what the author was talking about by inviting us to “be still”. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
When we let go, we get to discover how God is in control, not controlling us like a narcissistic maniac, but as simply BEING in motion all around us as the Divine Trinity. When we surrender, we lean into the strength of Christ who lives in us, working all things for our good. I just like to stop and think about how cool that is. It lets me take some weight off of my mind, the weight of needing to do it all or know it all. The invitation to let go has lead me into the rich, infinite reality of KNOWING GOD and opened up new opportunities right in front of me.
1.KNOW THAT GOD IS LOVE.
In order to learn how to hear the voice of God, I learned that God's voice sounds nothing like the religious, man-created version of God of my past. God is entirely different than I thought. I had a man-made form of God in my head, which put God in a box. I had the idea that my behavior could make God love me less. I believed that I was separated from God by my humanity, in need of a lifetime of striving to come closer to God. I constantly felt like I was just missing the mark.
For many years I was crippled by the fear that I could be easily deceived and lead astray. Fear had me deceived. The more I sought truth through Jesus Christ, the more I found the truth, and the truth set me free.
Now that I know God is love and God is inside of me, I love talking to God. I love listening to the voice of love. God doesn’t confuse me. God doesn’t beat me over the head. God doesn’t shame me. God doesn’t bring up my past and rub it in my face. God doesn’t dangle a carrot out in front of me that I can’t ever catch.
Bob Goff writes something beautifully simple about knowing whether the voices in your head are from God or not. He writes, "If you hear a voice over your shoulder talking about your biggest failure and it isn’t calling you ‘beloved,’ it isn’t Jesus talking."
2. TALK TO GOD
Talk to God about whatever it is that you're feeling or going through — go ahead and verbalize it to God out loud. God made you with all of the emotions you have, so you don't have to pick and choose which ones are "okay" to have when you talk to God.
It's healthy to feel angry and voice your disappointment. Even though you may not get a resolution right away or figure everything out, you have let go just by talking to God about it... nothing you feel or face is too scary or complicated for God.
Talking to God can be as varied and expansive as God is, who is in everything. God talks to us in all different ways. You might write to God or talk to God out loud or have a conversation with God in your mind.
Prayer became a beautiful dance of intimacy once I understand that prayer is not a required duty; it’s not a hit-or-miss shout out to some distant God in the sky by and by. Prayer is ongoing communion with God, who is already with me, in me and around me. God is the Answer to every desire, every question, and every need that I have.
3. START A TWO-WAY JOURNAL
A mentor introduced me to something called "two-way journaling" where you document your talk with God. People do this in different ways, so there's no "wrong or right way" to do it. The way it works for me is that I dump everything that’s inside of me out on a page in my journal, happy or sad feelings, and then I just sit with it. I listen. Then I write down what I hear or see as a return letter to myself. It's a really tangible way to have a God-talk.
Sometimes the letter back to me has a lot of words in it and sometimes it's just a few words. One day I was crying and writing about how awful I felt and the letter back to me just said, "Oh girl, come here. Let me hold you." And I got a vision of God in the form of a human Big Mama who wrapped me up and called me sugar and I just bawled. I didn't need an answer, I just needed to know I was seen and loved as I was.
God doesn’t always speak to me in words. Most often, God speaks to me in pictures and visions. When I talk to God, sometimes I close my eyes so I can go into my inner world with the Holy Spirit to see a vision. Then I write about what I see. The letter or the vision I get always incorporates an expansion or greater awareness of something that I read in my Bible. Through the text of the bible, I get to know the Living Word! It’s a whole world of wonder!
If you’ve only interacted with God as the idea of God as a distant being, or with the idea of God as a Holy Form who is only at church on Sunday morning, this will feel strange to you at first. It’s okay, you don’t have to be afraid. It is God’s absolute delight when the veil over your understanding is ripped in half and you awaken to realize that you’re with God at all times, and God is in you. That is really good news.
4. DISCOVER GOD IN NATURE.
When I get frustrated and overwhelmed with something, it always helps me to stop and take a walk. I have to walk until I release my emotions. When I have a lot of things to do, this feels even more frustrating because I don’t want to take a walk. I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to let go. But God always invites me to come away and spend time in nature.
God speaks to us through nature. In the bible, God spoke to people through animals like ravens and donkeys. Throughout history, God has always used elements in nature to demonstrate something. Isn’t nature a part of God because God exists in all things? I don’t know theology, but that just makes sense to me based on what I’ve learned about God. So then, of course, God would speak to us through nature.
Every time I take a walk outside, it’s always a special time to talk with God. Each of us will be drawn more to different types of nature because that’s where God has something unique to teach us based on our own journeys. Some people feel more drawn to oceans, some people love trees, and other people feel the most connected to God when they see mountains.
I'm a mountain girl. Every time I visit Colorado, I'm surrounded by mountains and a big sky. Driving through those wide-open spaces just echoes the all-sufficiency of the love of our Creator, pouring wonder into my soul and filling up every area of deficiency that I thought I had until my cup overflows... I don't HAVE to be in Colorado to experience wonder, but dang, I sure do love it there. It’s where my soul really comes alive.
Be intentional about spending time in nature and be curious about what you can learn about God there.
5. KNOW YOUR TRUE IDENTITY.
God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Before you entered the earth, your life began as a brilliant thought in the mind of God. That means you come from the purest place imaginable — pure love! The core of who you are, your original creation, is not tarnished and broken. Not at all. Your identity comes from your original creation, as Christ reveals and talks about throughout the New Testament.
You are an expression of the Divine. Because Christ is in you, you are already enough. Jesus Christ took on flesh to share the secrets of the kingdom with humanity, on earth as it is in heaven. Your life is already in Christ. You’re not somehow illusively missing the mark. You don’t have to fix anything. You’re so incredibly loved. You are salt and light. As you get caught up in the awareness of this Divine Romance, you’ll soon realize how everything is working together for GOOD.
To know who you actually are, you must know who God really is. I don’t know what ideas you have about God, but I know I was raised with all the wrong ideas about God. These man-formed ideas about God blinded my eyes to the truth for a long time. But eventually, my heart was awakened to the truth.
God made you in the image of the Divine. God loves you so incredibly much. And God delights in you. There’s nothing you can do or not do to make God love you less. You are so seen and known by your Creator. Rest in this truth and let it be enough. When you seek, you’ll find. This is how the truth sets us free, and it’s a process.
The truth is really simple — God is Love. (1 John 4:7-21)
You were created to THRIVE. Thriving is found through living in the way of Love, through following the example of Christ. One of the most important keys to living in your purpose and true identity of Divine Love is found through surrender. Surrender your fear. Surrender to accept the things you don’t yet understand. Surrender to an intimate relationship with your Creator. Surrender the grudges you hold and forgive.
Let go and know the immense love of God.
Surely, you are becoming Love — as your original creation. What a beautiful mystery!
