How to Know God More Personally and Intimately

Pause for a moment and think about your faith. Would you say it’s strong—or does it feel like you’re mostly going through the motions? 

One of the defining aspects of Christianity — something that sets it apart from other religions — is that at the heart of the gospel message is the Creator of the Universe who not only intimately knows His creation but invites us to personally know Him, too.

The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Philippians 3:4–11: 

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...” (Philippians 3:8a). 

If anyone could have claimed righteousness based on heritage or accomplishment, it was Paul. He was circumcised according to Jewish law, born into the elite tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and a member of the strictest religious sect — the Pharisees. By every outward measure, he kept the Law flawlessly. 

Yet Paul counts all of it as worthless compared to one thing: knowing Jesus Christ. 

What’s remarkable is that Paul never met Jesus in the flesh during His earthly ministry. Still, he speaks with confidence about knowing Christ personally, intimately, and transformationally.  

Paul — once a persecutor of Christians before encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus — was so changed by knowing Jesus that he devoted the rest of his life to making disciples and planting churches. He understood that the invitation to know God personally wasn’t reserved solely for him or the original twelve; it’s an invitation extended to all of us.

 The Secret to Going Deeper with God

You can know God in the same way Paul did. You can know Him deeply as you learn to recognize His voice, grow confident in His leading, and experience the nearness of His presence. You can experience resurrection power, but only by sharing in Christ’s death (Philippians 3:11). 

Surrender — the laying down of self, the release of control, and giving up the need to have life go our way — has always been the secret to going deeper with God. 

We see this clearly in the story of Abraham. In Genesis, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac — the long-awaited, promised child through whom God said His covenant would continue. 

Isaac was the joy of Abraham’s life, but that deep love also carried the danger of becoming something Abraham loved and trusted in more than God. Left unchecked, that misplaced devotion would eventually have destroyed both father and son. 

On Mount Moriah, Abraham learned to trust God so completely that he believed — even if the unthinkable happened — God would still be faithful to His promises. 

And God provided. 

Abraham did not lose his son. God not only restored Isaac to him, but also Abraham’s full devotion to God — this time free from fear, control, and desperation. What once felt fragile became secure, because Isaac was no longer being held tighter than God Himself. 

Surrender doesn’t strip us of what we love; it frees us from being enslaved by it. 

Moriah means “the Lord will provide.” It’s the same place where generations later God would provide the ultimate sacrifice — His own Son. Jesus, the Lamb of God, laid down His life so that intimacy with God could be fully restored. What Abraham was spared, God the Father carried Himself. 

That’s why you can trust God with your surrender. He’s not asking you to do something He’s not willing to do Himself.  

Lay down your plans, dreams, relationships, control––and let God show you how He’s more gentle, more faithful, more trustworthy, more loving, and far more powerful than you can ever imagine. 

 This post is inspired by the first message in our “Going Deeper with God” sermon series by Dr. Jody Ray.