How To Know Christ Jesus More

Zacchaeus was the chief of tax collectors. He was rich but had a short stature.

He has heard of Jesus and what He can do. Then one day He heard Jesus was passing through Jericho and He sought to see Him. But he couldn’t because of the crowd and he was a short man. So he decided to climb a sycamore tree just to make sure He saw Jesus.

And did He see Jesus? Yes, he did.

And when Jesus got to where the tree was, he told him to make haste and come down, for He wants to abide in his house - Luke 19.

A great story but here is the lesson.

When you seek the Lord, He reaches out to you too. The bible says he that seeks shall find (Matthew 7:7). And this applies in our everyday life. When we seek to become something or to create something, what happens is that we focus on that very thing. And then we desire it. What you focus on stimulates your desire. Before desiring, there must be a seeking. You can’t focus on something that can’t be found. It is what you find that you then now focus on and then after, it stimulates your desire.

Zacchaeus sought to see Jesus but on account of the crowd, he could not because of his small stature.

So we can say that Zacchaeus was faced with two limitations/barriers.

External Barriers

The crowd made it impossible for him to see Jesus. In your life, there are things making it impossible for you to study the word of God - there are relationships you have to let go, jobs, worries, peer pressures, social media, movies, etc

You’ve got to be determined when seeking his face. You’ve got to fight your way through these barriers if you are ever going to find the face of God. You need time to read and study His word. It’s more important than anything in your life. Seek to know Him more.

Remember what Jesus told Martha, after she had complained about her sister, Mary, about not helping her with chores. Jesus said, “You are worried about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

When you seek God, you are blessed with revelations. Your job, car, home, etc. can be taken from you, but the revelation of God’s word can never be taken from you.

Instead, it strengthens you during hard times and makes you fly in the wings of the Spirit to a world of no limits. The more you know Him (Christ Jesus), the more powerful you become. What determines the strength of two people is the knowledge they have of each other.

Personal Barriers

One thing you must know is that, though Zacchaeus was small in stature, it didn’t stop him from climbing a tree. The problem is not what you know to be "your problem"; the problem is with your mind. The devil has placed a barrier in our minds that we can’t do this and that. For transformation to take place in your life, your mind must be renewed by His word. Hence, you’ve got to seek Him.

You don’t have to look down on yourself. The fact that you are a fornicator, a thief, a rapist, a murderer, shouldn’t hinder you from seeking His face. Remember, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. 

You should also know that God is always at the heart of every human knocking. If you can just open up for Him to come in, that will be the beginning of a great relationship with the Father.

Seek (aim at and strive after) first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and every other thing will be added to you – Matthew 6:33Amp.

Seeking to know how the Father does things will help you live and act like Him. And when you seek to know Him, He makes Himself available to you.

Zacchaeus sought after Jesus and Jesus abode with him.

GIVE IT UP

You’ve got to be ready to let go of everything that is a hindrance to you. Hurt, pain, worries, are hindrances. You can’t seek to know Him with a hurting heart.

I once went through a painful breakup and I felt hurt and pain like never before. I tried listening to worship songs, it didn’t help and I tried listening to a gospel message, I felt my heart darken as the word came.

Until I consciously laid it (pain, hurt and hate) down at the feet of Christ, I received peace of mind. Only then was I able to seek His face and find Him.

You’ve got to let go of all your worries – school fees to pay, mortgage, clothes to wear, what to drink and eat,marriage, etc. You worry too much about these things. Seek to know Him more and these things won’t be worrisome. He knows your needs and will meet it when you meet Him.

Apostle Paul said, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

He also said, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death”.  - Philippians 3: 8, 10

This is a man who lays hands on the sick, blind, lame and they will recover. He still desired to know Him more. 

There is no end to knowing Him. It should be a daily pursuit.

The reason you are still living and doing those bad things you do, both in the open and in the secret is because you don’t know Him enough. How much can you sacrifice for the knowledge of Christ Jesus.  It might be that video game of yours, that girlfriend, that car, that close friend, that job, that gadget that needs to be sacrificed to be able to seek Him daily. Bear in mind that they are but little sacrifices to make compared with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus your Lord.

If you live in a house where you don’t know where your father works, the food he loves, his hobbies, there is no way you will have fellowship with Him. You literally don’t know Him. The same applies to the Lord Jesus. You can’t fellowship with Him sufficiently well, if you don’t know Him.

There can’t be true worship without meditation in His word. Worship is the expression of the condition of our heart. Worshiping God effectively determines how much we know about Him. When we worship, God is the essence.

SEPARATE YOURSELF

A seeker must learn to separate himself. You can’t be among the crowd and expect to be treated preferentially. Zacchaeus had to separate himself by climbing the Sycamore tree. Jacob before he met with Esau had to send his wives and children and possessions across the stream and was left alone - (Gen. 32:22-24). Then did he encounter God and was redeemed.

There are times when you’ve got to take away distractions from you. God can’t speak until we have dealt with those distractions in our lives. Things that make your mind wonder when you are supposed to be thirsty for Him. God will never remove them for you. It is your choice. Yes, it will cost you if you remove them from you but remember knowing Christ is all that matters.

You can sit hours upon hours just watching that season film but can’t spend five minutes studying His word. Devotionals have replaced our quiet time with our Creator. You’ve got to study His word. Be thirsty to know more about your Father. He will reveal Himself to you. 

The revelation of God is progressive. You can’t get enough of Him. What level of illumination are you comfortable with?

God didn’t call out to Moses in the burning bush before Moses turned. No, He didn’t.

The bible says that, “Moses looked and behold the bush burned with fire and was not consumed.”

And now it was decision time for Moses, whether to keep moving or to check the sight out.

In verse 3 of Exodus 3, 

“And Moses said, I will now TURN ASIDE, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

Verse 4, 

“And when the Lord saw that HE TURNED ASIDE TO SEE, God called unto Him out of the midst of the bush, …”

God won’t speak to you until your focus is on Him. You have to decide today to turn aside to seek Him, to know Him more. Turn everything else away and just choose today to know Him more. It is time to commit to reading your bible. Don’t let the bustle and hustle of the city determine the way you treat God. He created the city and he can choose to set it on fire at anytime. Let your mind be on your Christ.

You used to do it but not anymore. Family, children, job, relationship, video game, movies, have all stolen your precious time and you don’t just know how to go about it.

You can start by writing on a paper, things that have stopped you from seeking God. And ask Him to help you to lay all of them down. And He will.

Seek to know Him more today. You won’t regret it. God bless you.