Communing with God -- A Conversation with Author Dan Lemburg
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When I tell Christian friends that I want to help 1 million believers know the Christ of the cross, they’re not impressed. I’m not trying to shock them with the number, but with the concept. Knowing Christ. I’m all worked up about it and they have glazed looks in their eyes.
Their face is saying, “That’s nice.” They’re probably thinking, “Every Christian knows Christ, don’t they?”
By now, you understand what I explain to them. Knowing Christ isn’t a one-and-done deal. I unpack it this way:
“You came to ‘know’ Christ when you came to faith in him. But it was just the beginning. You don’t really know your best friend now like the first time you met. You’ve done life together for years. You’ve shared your hearts, lifted each other up, held each other accountable, laughed together, cried together, counseled each other and you’ve bonded in a special way.
“Knowing Christ is the starting point in your journey. And it is the journey.”
Try that with your Christian friends and you’ll have a lively discussion.
Knowing Christ was Paul’s lifelong purpose. It didn’t have an end. He pursued Jesus and knowing him all his life.
How?
So if we are to know Christ better (and more intimately) as each day or week passes, the next question is, “How?” It’s nice to have that lofty “Paul” goal of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection, but how do we make it happen practically?
First, let me say that Christ himself has a major part in this. So does the Father. And the Holy Spirit could be the most important person in the mix.
Knowing Christ, just like living out our walk with God, is not about self-effort. It’s about faith and grace. Christ living his life in and through us. When we have the attitude that we should work as hard as we can to know Christ, we’ve missed the point. It’s not a doing thing. It’s a being thing. Certainly there are actions to take, but don’t get wrapped up in the actions. If you do, you’ll miss Jesus altogether. You’ll check off the actions, mistaking them for knowing Christ.
Knowing Christ has a facet which has nothing to do with us. It’s true that hardship, tragedy or trial will cause our faith to reach a depth not possible in any other way. This proving ground almost always hits us from the outside. Our heart is pained, so we cling to Jesus. We pray. We search the Word for help and encouragement. We ask other believers to pray for us. We seek their counsel. Our eyes point away from the world and towards God.
For some believers, hardship seems always present.
A friend of mine has lived in constant discord for as long as I’ve known him. After years of moving up the ladder in his career, he lost his job. He and his wife lived in the desert for many months. He took a low-level position in a totally unrelated field just to put food on the table. Still, they lost their home and moved in with his wife’s parents. It was humbling.
Once God provided a job in his field again, health issues hit. He was laid up for days at a time. He had serious surgeries to try to solve severe and lingering problems. To this day, he still lives in pain.
Meanwhile, their grown kids have had tragic difficulties. This has included substance abuse, marriage failures and attempts at suicide. While my friend and his wife were reeling from their own earthquake, they stepped in to help calm the storms in their children’s lives.
It was a low season. Although he is now gainfully employed, there are still aftershocks from their kids’ problems. The drama continues, but things are improving.
Through it all, my friend and his wife have faithfully trusted God. Their secret? They know Christ. I’ve seen it. It’s the only way they can endure such hardship. Not only endure, but stay active in ministry in their church, family and workplace. Like Paul, they relentlessly know Christ.
I think of brothers and sisters in Third World countries. They struggle to put food on the table. They are surrounded by disease. Some are persecuted for their faith. Life is hard. Yet, they are often the most joyful Christians anywhere. They have nothing. But they have everything—Jesus. They have learned to know him and the power of the resurrection.
However, none of us wants to constantly go from trial to trial to know Jesus better.
Most of life happens between the trials. How can you know Jesus as deeply as if you were in the middle of hardship? That’s the challenge.
And in the next episode, I’ll share three keys in how to know Christ.
Guest Segment: Dan Lemburg
My conversation with this guest really brings home his experience of how to know Christ. I wanted you to hear how this plays out in real life. Dan Lemburg and I served for nearly 20 years in Christian radio. Because of his vision, the ministry my wife and I served with started several contemporary Christian stations along the California coast. While Dan always thought big, he was a quiet man. Full of conviction, but quiet. And he still is. He is the kind of guy who listens to the Lord. Then steps out in faith.
In this interview, I discovered some things I never knew about Dan. It makes sense now how he had such great vision to reach so many people with the gospel. You’ll hear how he develops depth in his relationship with Jesus. Dan is the founder of Communing with God, a ministry that provides resources to help you grow in intimacy in your relationship with the Lord. He’s an author, too, and his latest book has just come out: and has just released a new book, called There Is a River: A Seven Week Guide for Deepening Your Walk With God. We talk about the book in our interview.
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There is a River: A Seven Week Guide for Deepening Your Walk With God
