Let’s Get to Know Jesus....

Focus Sept. 1984

...In Salvation

Salvation is the first step in getting to know Jesus. The challenging goal of every GMA counselor is to see the salvation of every girl who trains as a Maiden!

...In Personal Quiet Time

There is no better way to get to know Jesus and God the Father than to meet with them and the Holy Spirit each day in personal private prayer and Bible study. If you are not already having daily personal devotional time, determine with your will that you are now, today, starting it--an do it right now. That is the time when God can talk to you as you talk to Him. It involves simply getting alone with God, away from the household chores, children’s needs, telephone, and the many other things that occupy your time. You, counselor, cannot teach girls how to get to know Jesus unless you are very well acquainted with Him.

...In Praise

Praising God is telling God how much you appreciate what He is. Thanking Him is telling Him how much you appreciate what He does. There is a thin line of difference. Read the Psalms. David knew how to both praise God and thank Him. Don’t be ashamed to praise God! Read the psalms of praise aloud to God when there is no one present but you and God (and the children, too, if you have small ones--they need to hear you praising God and thanking Him, too).

You can praise God with singing, too. Praise songs will be directed to God and will be about what God is, not what God means to people or about things people feel and do. Sing to God! So what if someone else hears you--harmony or melody or none! Jesus will join you in heaven. Let the Holy Spirit be your song director.

...In Prayer

You are ready to really pray when you have truly praised God! Dwell in the realm of prayer. Let prayer surround you at all times. Attitude is the key. Have an attitude of prayer at all times. Know Jesus in prayer.

“Know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3: 19).

We’ve a Story to Tell

(Note: The following may be used during your GMA week as a devotional, a Bible lesson, or as a presentation.)

Girl’s Missionary Auxiliary has a story to tell. It is a story suggested in our watchword, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ” (II Cor. 5:20).

In preparation for the lesson to be learned, you should take the time to read II Corinthians 5: 14-21.

An ambassador is a person who represents the country of his/her citizenship in another country. Girls who have been saved have been given citizenship in heaven. Earlier in the chapter, Paul said those who are in Christ (those who have trusted Christ for salvation) are new creatures.

The introduction of verse 20 is “now then,” which means “therefore” and is a linking word. It ties verse 20 to those previous verses, especially verses 14-19.

According to verse 14, when we accept Christ as Savior and Lord we lose control of our lives--Christ then constrains us (or controls us). Since He died for us, when we accept Him as Savior, He takes up residence within us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We should no longer live for self, but for Christ.

Christians live in a “space suit”-not the kind you may have quickly pictured. It is actually an earthly space suit over the new creature Christ made us. We live on earth in an earth suit that walks and talks. Inside the space suit lives a spirit-person. A Christian’s spirit-person is God’s spirit--The Holy Spirit.

On behalf of God our heavenly Father, we are ambassadors for heaven while living on earth. We have a story to tell about the country where our citizenship is--heaven. That story is the story of Jesus Christ who left the Father in heaven and all its glory to come to earth to live and die. That story is one of love--of the love of God. God loved the earth so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on a cross for our sins. That is a story of love unending. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

An ambassador will not bring shame to her country. If heaven is our country, the way we live on earth should reflect the love of the Father in Heaven. The way we act, think, and talk should show the love of God. Our very desires should be those that please God. Jesus said, “I am the way’; “I am the life”; “I am the bread of life.” He is “I am.” “I am” is God. All our ways should please God.

An ambassador should live according to the law book of her country. For the ambassador for Christ, that is the Bible. God gave us all we need to know about living in the pages of His Holy Word.

Our story as ambassadors begins in the books of John and Romans. They give the way of salvation. Girls in GMA learn the way of salvation in the Maiden step. Growth with Christ begins immediately after salvation. The Holy Spirit comes in us at the time of salvation and dwells within us to guide us into growth.

Girls learn scriptures in the Lady-in-Waiting step that give them a pattern for growth as they get to know Jesus. The book of Matthew presents nine attitudes of blessedness that they should be developing as they get to know Jesus. Growth will most certainly take place as these attitudes are developed in their lives. These attitudes remind us of the fruit of the Spirit. Compare Matthew 5:1-12 with Galatians 5: 22, 23.

The Greek word used for blessed in Matthew 5 indicates that the person who has these attitudes in life will have enlarged happiness pronounced on him. As these qualities are added to our lives, we will be getting to know Jesus as He was in life on the earth. We will be developing the fruit of the spirit. God will be pleased and add blessedness to our lives.

As girls progress in their Forward Steps, they learn verses that show them how to live by faith, what love really is, and how to live separated and dedicated lives. Their growth should never stop. They should be challenged to live their lives in such a way that they get to know Jesus more and more as life goes on.

The books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are conduct books. They give many rules to live by. Galatians advises us to live so that the fruit of the spirit is part of our everyday living. Ephesians admonishes us to be imitators of Christ. As we get to know “Christ, our story will reveal our position in Christ--we sit in heavenly places (Ephesians 2: 6); our position before men--we should walk before men in a manner worthy of being called Christian. We will be in unity with God, freeing Him to work through us. Our story continues in Ephesians 6, giving our position against the devil--be strong in the Lord, stand firm against the schemes of the devil. There is no excuse for being a weak child of God. All the instructions for being strong are clearly given in His Word. Getting to know Him should be exciting as the instructions are followed. The secret to excitement in following Jesus is loving Him.

Do you want to be full of the love of God? The secret is to get to know Jesus. Paul prayed that the Ephesians might have that knowledge. He said, “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,...that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hears by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3: 16-19).

Paul continued his instruction for conduct in Philippians. Our story told by our lives should reveal that we have the same mind (attitude) as Christ, who is our example in humility (gentleness and meekness). According to Paul, the key to humility is single-mindedness. “If, therefore, there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in the same spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of us regard one another as more important than self; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (See Philippians 2: 1-4). When we adopt that attitude, we are really getting to know Jesus!

Paul even told us what to think--whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good report. That puts to death a lot of the thoughts we have! (See Philippians 4:8.)

The key to the climax to the story we tell by our lives is how we set our affections (our minds). Paul showed his single-mindedness again as he said, “Set your affection (your mind) on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3: 2).

It is by an act of our wills that we set our minds on heavenly things. The word affections could have been more correctly translated “mind”. Our affections are controlled by our emotions. Our emotions are unstable. By an act of the will, one can determine, “I will set my mind on living as Christ lived.” The affections (emotions) soon follow after whatever the mind is set on.

Self-control is necessary to allow the Holy Spirit to tell my spirit what to tell my mind to do. My emotions will get excited about whatever my mind is spending its time thinking about. That’s when my story as a Christian becomes exciting. I suddenly--or not so suddenly--realize that I am actually getting to know Jesus in salvation, in having an attitude like Jesus, and in daily prayer and Bible study in my quiet time with god. All of a sudden I am praising God because I am getting to know Jesus and I can tell my story. Girls, we’ve a story to tell about Jesus. Let’s get to know all about Him so the story we tell will be pleasing to our heavenly Father.