Acknowledge God By Living For Him

"Being filled with the power of the Spirit begins with an honest acknowledgement of our own weakness. The truth is that most of us go to great lengths to disguise our weaknesses."  -Kyle Idleman, "Not a Fan" (p. 93)

I was going through some of my notes the other day when I came across something that I had jotted down a while back. The words "Acknowledging God" glared back at me from the sheet of paper. It got me thinking, we all understand the concept of trusting God, right?. We understand that trusting means "to hope in God; to put your confidence in God; to find your security in God; to rely on God." But, maybe the concept of acknowledging God is a little more vague than that.

Webster defines "acknowledge" as: "to admit knowledge of or agreement with; to recognize the rights, authority or status of; to express gratitude or obligation for; to make known the receipt of; to recognize as genuine or valid." We're told to "acknowledge God in all our ways." How do we do that? What does that mean as applied to our daily lives? To what does "acknowledging" God mean reduced to its simple essentials?

To begin with, to acknowledge God means to take notice of Him. Here's an example. When you walk down the street and see someone; you can ignore them, or take notice of them. If you notice them, and greet them, you have acknowledged them. When you consider someone else's needs and feelings, you notice them and acknowledge them. Similarly, we can ignore God, or notice and acknowledge Him.

To take notice of God means:

• Take Him into account when you are making decisions.
• To remember Him throughout your day and to consciously, deliberately turn your mind to God.
• To never push Him out of the picture, or put Him on the back-burner.
• To recognize His hand at work in all our affairs and credit Him for our benefits.
• To see His hand in creation, providence and guidance.
• Keep God in mind; notice Him in your daily affairs; notice Him as you enjoy the beauty of creation; notice Him and acknowledge Him.

Many of you do that regularly. You have a God consciousness. But unfortunately, many think of God only when they need something. In all your ways, in all your days, acknowledge Him. Don't be like the little boy who, going on vacation with his parents, yelled out the car window as they passed the church building, "Bye, bye, God! We're going on vacation! See you in a couple of weeks!" Evidently they wouldn't notice, or acknowledge God for two weeks!

Next, to acknowledge God means to obey Him. When you comply with someone's directions, you acknowledge their right to direct. To acknowledge God is to concede that He is the ultimate authority; He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; Simpy put, He is to be obeyed. Certainly, there are many influences vying for our obedience. There are many forces attempting to move us this way or that: "Do this!" "Do that!" "Go this way!" "Go that way!" So, to which will we accept? Which will prevail? Which will wield ultimate influence? Which will we obey? Obeying Christ is crucial.

Additionally, to acknowledge God means to give Him praise. When someone does something noteworthy, and we express our gratitude and commendation to them, we are "praising them" and we are acknowledging them and their work. We are saying, "Good job! We acknowledge your accomplishment!" God clearly deserves to be praised as we acknowledge Him and His works.

Here are some good reasons to give God our praise:

• He is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is! We're not descendants of some single cell; we're not accidents of nature.
• He is the Giver of every good and perfect gift. All that we have and are we owe to Him.
• He is the Savior of our souls. Our heavenly destiny is owed to Him.
• He is pure, holy, majestic, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.

Finally, to acknowledge God means to confess Him before others. Look, if we know someone and say to others, "See that woman over there? She's a really good friend of mine!" we're acknowledging her to that person. In like fashion, we are to acknowledge our relationship with, and belief in Jesus Christ. Jesus adds a warning and a blessing to the matter of confessing, or acknowledging, Him:

"Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33)

"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:38).

Acknowledge Him by confessing Him to others. I'm not talking about being offensive and shoving Jesus down other people's throats. I'm talking about sharing your faith in a friendly, humble and yet confident manner with others.

Let me sum this all up for you. In all your ways acknowledge Him. In all your ways: your relationships, your employment, your recreation, your attitudes, your possessions, your music, your reading matter, your television, your desires and aims and goals. In all your ways. Then the path He sets before you will lead straight to the heart of His will for you. Then the way He establishes will be the way to life.

There are two ways open before us: the wide way leading to destruction which many find; and the narrow way leading to life, which few find. If you acknowledge Him, it is this narrow way, the way to life, that He will establish for your path.

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6; Revelation 4:11; Psalm 115:16; 1 Peter 3:15; Psalm 14:2; John 1:12; John 3:16

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Give me the wisdom to know that even the smallest effort can produce big results. Amen

May God be with you always!

Albany