"Know" Whom You Believe

2 Tim 1:12 "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day."  I know that I know that God is real and that as a result of my belief and acceptance of Christ's life, death and resurrection I will not be judged for my sins because their punishment has been satisfied by the Cross. No, I will be judged righteous and invited to share eternity in God's presence.

This verse is truly one of the great promises of the Bible.

I can remember as a teenager singing the hymn of which the chorus is the refrain of the King James Version of this verse. The melody takes me back to a simple time in my life where I believed unquestioned in my salvation before my faith had ever been tested.

It wouldn't always be that way.  My faith would be sorely tested and questions would arise in my heart that would need to be answered.  I can remember Dr. Schultz, my Old Testament professor  asking questions and then challenging my Sunday School answers.  "Why do you believe what you believe", he would ask.  He made me come up with a defense of my faith. On top of that, life was throwing its own set of challenges to my faith.  It got to the point where I had to ask myself why do I believe what I believe.  Was it because this is how I grew up and this was the faith of my parents? 

I have already related my challenge to God and how He responded with,  "Be still, and know that I am God".  From that point on I wasn't a Christian because of head knowledge.  I was a Christian because of experiential knowledge.  I "knew" Him, I didn't just know about Him.  So when Paul says, "I know whom I have believed", it is because after his encounter with the Christ on the road to Damascus, he knew Him personally.  This wasn't someone that others had told him about.  Jesus was someone he had met in a power encounter that changed his life.

I am a big fan of Tim Tebow.  I admire his faith and his leadership and how he helped guide to Gators to 2 national championships.  I've read a lot about Tebow and am following his career with the Broncos with great interest.  But even if learned all there is to know about Tebow I still couldn't say that I "know" him because I've never met him.  I've never sat across from him and had a conversation with him.

Do you "know" Jesus?  Have you heard His voice or felt His touch?  Have you encountered Jesus on a personal level?  A faith that is experiential and not just intellectual can withstand any challenge. Christ is constantly revealing Himself through the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

Let me challenge you on this; if you've never heard or felt the touch of the Holy Spirit ask God to reveal Himself to you. I guarantee that He will not let you down.  But Jay, you ask, isn't it blasphemous to test God?  Consider Thomas whom wasn't present when Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples after His resurrection:

John 20:25-28  "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."  A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"   Then he said to Thomas , "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."   Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

The Lord wants to make Himself known to us.  That is one of tasks of the Holy Spirit. Just ask and He will gladly answer your prayer.  After that, you will never be the same because you will "know" whom you have believed and you will know that He is able.