One of my joys in life is hiking. I was blessed growing up with family-owned acreage that allowed me to explore with minimal limits. It’s what ignited this passion or thought of, what’s next or what’s it look like from up there or what will I find around the bend? I’m sure many of you share this same heart for exploration.
Because of this passion for exploring, Anna and I try to take one trip each year that pushes our physicality to the limits. It may sound crazy and somewhat sadistic, but my joy with this process has been the extremely difficult moments where our faces reveal the struggle and the spiritual/mental/physical shaping of the moment. Watching and being there for one another has strengthened our marriage and love for one another. Each step was taken together … together!
Another aspect of our adventures together has revealed that we are unable to go more than 6 days without pizza. It’s seriously a real struggle. Learning these quirks about each other has given us the opportunity to surprise and delight with a more effective approach because we know one another more than ever before. It’s always nice when Anna does something for me because she knows me.
This brings me to one of the greatest words in the Bible … know. Found in the book of Genesis chapter 4 in the KJV it says that Adam knew Eve. Now we are all aware that other translations have changed it to “made love” or “had sexual relations”. However, the more I read the Bible and discover the word know or knew the more I realize that it goes beyond sexual relations.
Knowing my Father in Heaven strengthens my love for Him and my understanding of His love for me. With this same foundation of understanding my marriage is stronger, full of joy, and more exciting! According to Hosea 4:6, God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and Galatians 5:6 says faith expresses itself in love. So, knowing the love of God in an intimate way will result in faith working! Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:3 God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. If we’re lacking in something that God has promised us, then we have a knowledge issue.
Spending time with God, talking with Him, experience life through His eyes is a gift. As I learn to walk in this manner with my Father I begin to do the same in my marriage. I want to know what my God is thinking about. I want to know His heart. When I put time into knowing my Father it spills over into my marriage. I want to know what my wife is thinking about. I want to know her heart.
We should never allow knowledge to get in the way of our relationship with our Father, because of Jesus we now have an open communication with our Father and the Holy Spirit reveals these truths to us. What is that truth … Jesus loves me this I KNOW.