Do YOU Really Want To Know ME?
The process for knowing Me, is not what the modern teachers teach.
If they taught it the way it really is, they would have very small classes with one or two students. I lost thousands of students and ended up with only a handful, because I sugar coated nothing.
The lesson is simple and extremely painful to the western believers mindset. Every believer who really knows Me must discover what’s at the bottom of their belief system in order to properly repent. It order to find out I must strip away everything that gives you confidence and a sense of self-worth.
For this cause most people are not willing to really know Me intimately and few there be that find this narrow way. The ministry itself can be a big barricade to intimacy, for most pastors and leaders.
Because the ministry is a lifetime wrapped up in spiritual things, it deceives them into thinking I AM at the bottom of their joy and hope and that I AM their all in all. Any alone time with Me is for the sake of getting a message, not just to know Me better and love Me more.
Even then most of the messages I give them are altered to make them politically correct and seeker friendly. The truth is, most are finding their security in being the head of a group of people, or having their name on a door, or even people referring to them by their title.
Pastors, in order to be sure you know your confidence is in Me alone, you must be willing to let Me strip this all away, Matthew 10:24-25. If your congregation throws you out, and your wife says, “Why don’t you curse God and die?” will you still preach, “Though God kill me, yet I will trust Him”?
To know Me intimately, you MUST know Me in the fellowship of My suffering. What was My suffering? My suffering was multifaceted including, rejection by family and associates, loss of friends and followers, betrayal, mocking, loneliness, and even physical pain.
I have already lost most of you at the last paragraph and when I include death itself. There may be only a few readers left who really want to know Me. Why is this a necessary part of knowing Me?
Because to be found in Me, you cannot live in your own righteousness through your accomplishments, how many people you feed, how many you led to salvation, how many members you have, how big a building or TV audience, or how much money you give. You will only really know Me if you have My faith, and that’s the righteousness which is of God obtained by faith: 10 You can really know Me and the power of My resurrection, but it includes the fellowship of My sufferings, and being made conformable to My death,” Philippians 3:9-10.
Do you still really want to know Me intimately?
~ Jim Hammerle
Jim Hammerle (1941-2017) began ministering with David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz, founding Teen Challenge Philadelphia. 6 times pastoring a mission ship, 15 years with TV and radio, a retired businessman, Jim helped feed Ugandan widows and orphans, and helped Muslims find the Jesus who fed them. He was His banker and was privileged to give His money away, helping to build a Haiti orphanage and invest in USA lives. Jim passed away on May 23, 2017 to be with the LORD.
When one is willing to lose everything for the sake of Christ you know it will require the pain of loss to gain his life.
This really resonates with me. Lately, I have found myself saying something like, “God, you know I really miss my kids. I know they love me but they are so busy with their own lives. It seems it’s so easy to forget me.” And He’ll say, “Yes” And I’ll realize Wow! This is just a little taste of how you are feeling when we, your children, rush around -all busy-and barely have time for you with real fellowship. And then I realize that the Father has allowed me to feel a bit of what He is feeling. And this is just one example.