The Lord spoke to me recently and said, “My people believe in Me, but they don’t know Me.” I sat on this word for a while because it was not an inditement, it was a concern on the heart of God. Having knowledge about someone is not the same as actually knowing them. Knowledge assists us in believing someone is who they say they are, but that does not mean you know them. To know someone is an intimacy word, it means you know their heart, their character, their likes, their dislikes, you can read their facial expressions, you can hear them speaking when they are silent, it is established on trust, it’s a time investment and it only comes from being alone with that person. You can believe in someone from a far, but you can only know someone when you are up close.

My friend Carmen Howard posted a reel yesterday on Instagram and she said, “If you don’t know the love of God you don’t understand the judgment of God.” I was listening to her shouting, yes friend, yes that is it. You see we believe God loves us, we have heard it so many times, it is not hard to believe it, but most believers do not know that God loves them. We have a working belief, but we do not have a knowing God loves us. So, when God says things like, Vengeance is mine says the Lord, we have a hard time with that for we think He is coming to whack us, because we do not realize He loves us, He is not mad at us, He is actually trying to protect us, shield us and give us peace on every side from our enemies. But we resist what He is saying, rather than receive it, because we believe but don’t know He loves us.

Daniel 7:22 says, “The Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.” We are about to see manifestations of God’s judgment in favor of the saints (that’s believers) and if you don’t know God’s love, you will misinterpret God’s judgements. Our culture has removed discipline and now we wonder why people don’t feel loved, because the Bible says, “God disciplines those He loves” (Hebrews 12). My friends spend time with God, read your Bible, pray, alone, and you will move from just believing in God to actually knowing God. He is truly my favorite person to spend time with.