Dear reader,
Greetings in Christ. I pray all is well with you and you are growing in the true knowledge of God.
Last week I concluded the series on Seven Aspects of God’s Holiness. My next series of posts will be about praying for wisdom. It is titled, How to Get Wisdom for Everything That Matters to You. This is another important way to know God, and nothing could be more practical and relevant. We know God in our daily experience by learning we can trust him to provide the wisdom we need for all life’s challenges and all our desires. We receive that wisdom through prayer. This is one way you walk with God.
My son Aaron proposed marriage to a woman in our church last week, and she said yes! Lucia and Aaron have both attended our church for years. Church and family are looking forward to their wedding later this year.
A few weeks ago our granddaughter Evelyn spent the night at our apartment in Chicago for the first time. She and Nancy and I had loads of fun. She is a sweetheart.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary, Nancy and I drove about two hours west of Chicago to Rockford, Illinois, to see the Anderson Japanese Garden. It is regularly rated as one of the finest Japanese gardens in America, and for good reason. Creating the garden on a section of his property was the vision of John Anderson, who had his home on a ridge overlooking what was a swampy several-acre bowl of land. On a trip to Portland, Anderson visited a Japanese garden that impressed him so much he hired a professional Japanese designer to create one on his property.
I get inspired by stories of people with vision who create wonderful institutions whose legacy we now enjoy. That, and my new theme, brings to mind a Scripture relevant to you in what you want to build in your life, whether a family, marriage, church, business, house, career, ministry, or even a Japanese Garden. Hebrews 3:4 says, “The builder of all things is God.” We can do nothing apart from him, and we can do much more than we thought possible with him and his infinite wisdom.
God’s name
Knowing God includes knowing his name. For one of the better explanations of the name God uses in the Old Testament—Yahweh—and how it is translated in English Bibles, I recommend this video, explaining how the new Legacy Standard Bible translates the name: how Bible translators treat the name Yahweh in the Old Testament.
A surprising open door
I was on the phone with a company’s customer service recently, and after finishing our business the agent asked, “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
I said, “Thank you, that takes care of my problem. But I do have a personal question for you if you can take a few minutes more. Have you ever taken The God Test?”
“No,” he said.
“Can you do that with me right now on the phone?” I asked. “It involves ten questions and can take about ten minutes, or more if you like.”
“Sure,” he said.
So I launched into the gospel presentation called The God Test, which my church and I are learning. I asked the agent ten questions, which he answered in ten minutes. The final question is, “Would you like to know what the Bible says about these questions?”
He said yes, so I presented the message of the gospel of Christ in about ten minutes. Then I asked, “Would you like to become a follower of Jesus right now?” He said yes. So for ten minutes I got him started on what it means to trust in Jesus and become his disciple.
Knowing God and helping others know him—what could be better than this?
Thank you for letting me be a part of your life. I pray this blog increases your knowledge of God—which is by far the most important knowledge you have.
Much love,
Craig Brian Larson