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THEY THAT KNOW THE LORD
by D . Stuart Briscoe
T he wonderful thing about wait ing upon the Lord is the blessed discovery that we can enjoy a new quality of experience. God desires that we should love Him with every part of our being. As we do, some thing wonderful happens. We are able to go forth to victory with a new vigor and vitality only He can give. In Daniel 11:32 we are told, “And such as do wickedly against the cov enant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” There is a very clear distinction be tween knowing about the Lord and knowing the Lord. I know quite a bit about some of the very famous peo ple of the world, and yet I have met very few of them. It is possible to be fully acquainted with all the details concerning a well-known individual and yet not be personally acquainted with him. This is one of the trage dies of the 20th century. Our church es are full of people who know about the Lord, but so many of them have never become personally involved through faith. In John 14 the Lord spoke to Phil lip, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?” Here was one who walked, talked, ate and slept with the Mas ter, he had spent three years with Him, but for some strange reason, he didn’t realty know the Saviour. There is only one thing worth glory ing in, and that is that we know Christ. Paul said, “I count everything but loss except for one thing: know ing Christ Jesus.” Peter’s last words were, “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Get to know Him bet ter! There is only one way you can know the Lord, and that is by revela tion. God takes the initiative and re veals Himself to us. God gave Daniel a glorious revela
tion of His power as well as His per son. When they talked of putting him in the fiery furnace, Daniel’s com ment in readiness was, “He is able and He will!” He had a revelation of God’s person, power, and purpose. He really knew his Lord. How does one get to know another person? It comes through spending time with him. We need to spend ev ery moment of every day with Christ. It is not sufficient to have just a few minutes at the beginning or at the ending of the day. The entire 24 hours must be shared with Him. The days, with all their joys, sor rows, tribulations and opportunities, are to be lived with an awareness of God’s matchless presence through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Put the Lord on the spot; test Him and claim His promises. The more you trust Him, the more faithful and thrilling you will find Him to be. There are two interesting things about people who really know the Lord as suggested in our text. It says they shall be strong and do exploits. Daniel reveals strength quite clearly. He lived in very dangerous days and yet was a man with a remarkable ca pacity to relax and be at peace. This is strength. The reason for his con fidence in the midst of danger was that he knew his God. Daniel lived in very disappointing days, too. Those who should have been pillars were crumbling away. Even in the face of failures from others Daniel’s tremendous confidence was unshaken. He was always con sistent. He had an inner reservoir of strength and power because he knew his Lord. He could say with calm assurance, “God is able and He will.” Your strength, too, can be made per fect in weakness. We are also told that those who love the Lord do exploits. It is too bad that we have neglected the doc- 5
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