Do You Know God?

I was born and raised as a catholic. I did not have any choice to choose my religion but it is best thing that has happened to me but lets say if I was a convert I might have got to know GOD better. I would have been able to make a choice whether to accept Christ or not. Most people would think that since I was a born catholic it would be easier for me to understand and accept him but for me the opposite is true. I am thirty five years old and only now am I getting to understand him better. I admit that I have a long way to go but as I deepen my faith, I can feel his presence in my life. I got to know GOD through our Lady. The problem with us is that we do not open up ourselves enough to the lord. We are afraid and do not have the confidence to do so. We do not have enough faith in him to do so. If we actually know him and have deep faith in him we would not have these problems. If all of us could understand and follow in his foot steps, we would all be Saints. All of us have the potential to be Saints since we have the holy spirit within us but we do not make use of these potential power that has bestowed down to us.
To know GOD is to know the bible. How many of us actually read the bible? Do we know the bible? Even if we did, how often do we read it? Do we skip the ones that we cannot understand? I believe we are all still in the learning process in knowing GOD. We have to read the bible in order to understand him. When I say read, we must really read and understand the passages. If we still don’t then we must take a contentious effort to ask the priest to help us to understand. God works in mysterious ways. I seldom read the bible but because I have to write articles about him I have no choice but to open and read the bible. See how God has made me read the bible.

There are certain text in the bible that can be confusing. For example, Scriptures says that “if your hand – or your foot – should cause you to sin,” Jesus says, “cut it off…And if your eye should cause you to sin, pluck it out.” Is he actually trying to say that you have to do this in order to be cleanse your sins? Let’s us look at three different people’s point of view. The first one will be the believer, the second one is a catholic but finds it hard to accept god’s word and the last one the skeptical, a non-catholic. For the first person there is not much a problem he or she understands what is being said. God is actually saying that you have to stand firm against sin and repent wholeheartedly. If you sin against against the church, you sin against him and if you don’t repent you will be condemned to hell. The second person may not even be bothered with passage. His or her attitude would be one of who care’s but I tell you solemnly that person will start caring when he or she meets the skeptical. The skeptical would most likely question our faith, sometimes even insult it. If we do not know God then we would not be able to defend him. It is very sad not to defend our creator.

GOD will always protect you. Sometimes he may do it directly or indirectly. “When you walk in the valley of darkness, I fear no evil, for you are with me”, how many of you remember these words. Very unfortunately there some who have turned away from the church because their prays were not answered and they loose their faith instantly. Their foundation in the catholic faith is not strong. Why? The reason is obvious. They do not understand the lord’s word!!!! They did not have enough faith to believe in him and not make an effort in knowing him. We are humans, we have our faults. The lord knows that so when we are down we must not loose our faith in him. These is where the lord’s shows his true strength. If we keep our faith in him, he will lift us up from our misery. Frankly Christ at one moment of time also lose his faith when he was hanging from the cross. He shouted to GOD : “Lord , my GOD, Why have you forsaken me.” But because of his undying love and faith for his father he accepted his faith. Just imagine if he did not accept his faith and saved himself from the cross ( he could have done that ) then Satan would have won. Here is clear cut witness that when there is suffering and pain, joy and happiness will eventually come to you if you believe in him and his words.

Another way to know God is by praying to Mary. Mary is the best person to know him because she was his mother. She was obedient and endured a lot of sufferings. She and the other disciples were given the task to spread the word of God. As she knows about suffering, she understands our sufferings and she always want us to come to God for help. She will intercede for us. The best way to pray to Mary is to attend the Novena and pray the rosary. My faith was strengthen through her. There was a time when I was very helpless and there was no one to help me. A voice inside me asked me to pray to her. At first I was doubtful because the problem I had was impossible to be solved. The odds of success was one out of one thousand. I apologise for not revealing the problem as it was a personal and confidential one. I hope my readers would understand. The voice continued to bug me for half a day so I decided to go Our Lady of Lourdes at Ophia road to pray. As I had sometime, I stayed praying there for about an hour. I prayed with my heart and soul, even cried when I was praying. Then a voice spoke to me. It said not to worry and that the problem will be solved. To my unbelievable shock the problem was solved within the same day. Since then I have been very devoted to her. She has continued to help me and guide me. I was a half past six catholic, a sinner but I am now trying to regain back my faith. I have a long way to go but I am not going to give up.