The Grace of God in Knowing What You Know
“All glory to God.” Only by His grace is that the sentiment of anyone, even once. The crux of spiritual warfare is man praising and worshiping God in Spirit and in truth. There is nothing in the natural man that seeks God. It must be a supernatural act for a person to relate to God in righteousness.
The movement from enmity with God, to love for God is a radical juxtaposition. Some people think that one must simply choose to switch allegiance. They claim it is merely a decision of each person. In doing this, they not only deceive people, but they steal glory from God our Savior. He saved us (Titus 3:5), not we ourselves.
Learning the basic truth that salvation belongs to God requires a supernatural intervention. God must cause a person to see that it is God who causes a person to see with spiritual eyes. When that person finally sees, his testimony changes. It is no longer, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” rather, it is now, “I was blind but now I see.”
Ascribing glory to God, in everything, is right. He deserves the glory for the great things He has done, is doing, and will do. Salvation is a key aspect of God’s providential work in relationship to man. God alone, in three Persons, is the One who executes a person’s salvation.
The devil is a liar and the father of lies. His children are liars, too. The Bible calls them, “children of the devil (1 Jn 3:10).” The desire of Satan and his children is to steal glory from God. This is clearly seen in award ceremonies in sports, business, education, art, science, politics, entertainment, etc. Men make speeches on how they chose to do it their way and how their free will decisions helped them achieve greatness. They boast in themselves as is the custom of the proud.
Even as I write these things to you, my dear reader, I can only write the truth, as it has been revealed to me by God’s Spirit illuminating God’s Word. God is true and every man is a liar; therefore, whatever is true is given to us by His grace.
Grace imparts what we have and obviously not everyone has the same knowledge of God. No one can explain why God, in His providence, chooses by His own free will, to give us what we have received from Him. That is a mystery. What is known is that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift, which includes what we know of Him.
When the Spirit teaches the child of God the Word of God, it is a priceless treasure not to be compared with silver or gold. The knowledge of God the Father is revealed, as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Son of God, who reveals Him. One fixes his or her eyes on Jesus because of the indwelling Spirit, who has taken up residence within the hearts He has regenerated, according to the will of God.
For one to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, it must be the work of the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit is an empowered movement that includes the measure of wisdom afforded by God to each person who belongs to Christ. Not only do we not initiate our relationship with God in Christ, but we are never the determiner of what we know about Him after we are in Him.
It is prudent, therefore, to give thanks to God for whatever truth has been revealed to and received by you. It then behooves the child of God to seek the knowledge and wisdom of God. Are you lacking in either of these my dear reader? God has revealed to us that we should ask Him for these precious things, granted to us by His grace alone.
It remains in God’s will what measure of faith, knowledge, wisdom, love, hope, etc., are granted to us…but when we receive what we now know, it is the very avenue by which we receive even more. In other words, I know what I know by the grace of God. What I learn from Him is now known. With that knowledge (ie. ask and you shall receive), I act in accordance with what I know (wisdom).
Here is the picture of spiritual maturity. God is growing His children into conformity to Jesus Christ. Jesus is in perfect alignment with God His Father. For us to be in alignment with Jesus Christ also aligns us with God our Father. In Christ, all of the spiritual blessings are ours. One of those blessings is knowing Christ, the wisdom of God and power of God. Knowing Christ is not only knowing about our salvation, but it is our salvation.
We know Him, therefore, we believe in Him. We are in Him because He is in us. Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. God has made each Christian to be His house, in which He dwells. Thus, we can see and say, “Every child of God is homeschooled in the house of God, in which Christ is made known by His Spirit, our Teacher!”
From this strategic location, the Spirit of Christ causes grace to abound for us to know whatever we know in the measure of what He would have us to know. We, of course, know this because it has been made known to us. All glory to God for giving Christ, the knowledge of God, to us. Had He not given us this grace to know Him, we simply would not know, nor would we believe. For this reason, this knowledge does not puff up, but it humbles us with sincere gratitude.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 22, 2021
