Bummer Buster Friday - Does God Know You?

Good morning!

When I first really realized God knows me, tears ran. How about for you? At least they did for me.
 
I remember that moment that is not too far in the past, when I realized that God really does know me, He knows me by name. Just that fact is something that should make us joyful and secure in the knowledge that God loves each of us. Jesus shares in Luke 12:7 “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows”. God is talking about ALL of us – each of us is dearly valued by Him.
 
Here are some other ways God shares through His Word about how he knows and thinks about us:

1. You are each made by the hand of God, each unique – Psalm 139:13 - For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
2. You are loved by God; God cares deeply about you – and he wants us to know this! - so many verses speak to this - here are a couple – Jeremiah 31:3 - The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Ephesians 3:16-19 - I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
3. Each of us is special to God, within us a purpose – His purpose – Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. And Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
4. As believers in His Son, we are important and precious to God, so much so he shares this in 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
5. We know this truth, that Christ died so we could be forgiven our sins so we should remember this… and God back in the Old Testament shared this in Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
6. When we become believers we are no longer seen ugly in our sin but beautiful as we are covered in the blood of Christ – we are seen as a new creation – 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
7. We are chosen – WOW – John 15:16 - You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
8. We are now friends of Christ, daughters, sons of God, family – John 15:14-15 - You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. And in Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Ephesians 2:18-20 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
9. We belong to Him. Each of us has been called back to the Father through Jesus Christ in the same way we see Jacob called back and claimed by God in Isaiah 43:1 - But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

 
When I reflect on that moment I realized the depth of love involved in God knowing me, my heart was filled with joy to the point of tears because I could hear the truth of God’s Word being shared through the Holy Spirit that God knows me AND cares about me AND cares about how I use my life – the life he gave me – in service to my brothers and sisters – known and strangers.
 
There is just so much here about how amazingly God cares; what is shared above is just like one sliver of how God loves us.
 
One question for each of you:
​Have you had that moment in your life when you knew with certainty, that God knows you by name – really knows you?
 
Lord Jesus, my prayer for each of us as we go into the weekend is that each of us take our knowledge of God’s depth of love for us and we share it with one person – just one person! Amen!
 
Have a weekend filled with the Peace that comes from knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
 
Patrick