Intimacy with God

What does my blog title, “Know-Love-Obey God,” have to do with intimacy with Him?

I am stuck here, and I never, ever want to get out. This place is a cycle, a vortex, an awesome place to get caught. I call it the “Intimacy-with-God Whirlpool.” Come here, too, and get caught up in it!

Thinking on my relationship with God: I want an intimate relationship with Him. I want every day to know Him more intimately than the day before. To have a relationship requires I know Him. The more I get to know Him, the more I fall in love with Him. The way to show I love Him is to obey Him. And He promises that one result of obedience is that I know Him even better. And since I know him better, I fall more deeply in love…

It is a glorious cycle. Once I stepped in, I went further in, and I am caught up! I love this place, this ever deepening cycle. It is the Intimacy-with-God Whirlpool:

Know – Love – Obey – Know – Love – Obey – Know – …

The cycle parts are:
Knowing God leads to loving God.
I show I love God by obeying God.
Obeying God leads to knowing God better.

KNOW-LOVE

The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice…My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:2-4,27)

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. (Psalm 84:1-2)

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…I want to know him… (Philippians 3:8-10)

LOVE-OBEY

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15)

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21)

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23)

This is love for God: to obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1 John 5:3)

OBEY-KNOW

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved my my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21)

“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35)

“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.” (John 15:14-15)