Knowing Jesus

For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day
—2 Timothy 1:12, NKJV
 
 
“I know whom I have believed,” Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:12. Believing and knowing are separate things. You can’t know Jesus without first having believed in Him. When you first believe in Jesus, the doctrine of the faith guides you. As you renew your mind with the Word, the new life you have received in Christ comes to life in you and tutors you. In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul introduces the concept of knowing Him.
  
Knowing is a deeper level of understanding than just believing. You can believe something about someone, but your belief is only confirmed once you grow to know them. You can have a mental belief about God but very little spiritual knowledge of Him. To know Him, the revelation of His Word must renew your mind. Mental belief cannot give you spiritual fellowship with God. 
 
In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul uses the phrase “am persuaded.” Paul writes of Abraham in Romans 4:20-21, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (KJV).
 
Being “fully persuaded” as Abraham was “fully persuaded” is the result of first “believing” God and then “knowing” Him.
 
We may be at different places in our walk with God, but we have the same desire to be “fully persuaded”—to be at a place of unwavering faith where circumstances in life don’t destroy us, and where the words we speak are full of His life. 
 
“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed, and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13).
 
Spiritual faith comes from believing in God, knowing Him, and being unequivocally convinced of His good purpose to save, heal, deliver, and bless us.
  
Knowing God’s true nature and heart of love for you is more than simply believing doctrinal truths. It is a life-changing relationship and unshakeable intimacy with your Father that gives you enduring faith like a “rock.”
 
“The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:25, NKJV).
 
Does your faith remain strong when the rains and wind come against you?  Have you grown from just believing in Him to knowing who you are in Him? Are you fully persuaded that He is able to deliver you and safely guard what you have committed to Him?
 
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, NKJV).

Is the Word just a belief that guides your life, or are you persuaded to “know” Him? Is Jesus alive in you—in your mouth and in your heart (Romans 10:8)? Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus when you “know”who you are in Him. 

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).