Intentional FaithKnowing Him Personally
A Day in the Life
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
— John 17:3
When I read the prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17, I am always struck by how clearly He defines eternal life. Many people assume eternal life is primarily about duration—living forever. Yet Jesus describes it differently. Eternal life is relational before it is chronological. It is the experience of knowing God personally and knowing Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent. The Greek word used for “know” here is ginōskō, which describes knowledge gained through relationship and experience rather than intellectual awareness. In other words, Jesus is not speaking about religious information; He is speaking about a living relationship with God.
This distinction is important because many believers live with a quiet tension between what they know about God and what they actually experience with Him. It is possible to study theology, read Scripture faithfully, and yet feel as though the power of God described in the Bible is happening somewhere else. The Apostle Paul confronted this very issue when he wrote, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Paul did not merely want to understand Christ; he longed to know Him. A few verses later he wrote, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Paul’s language shows that biblical knowledge always includes personal encounter.
When I reflect on the life of Jesus, I see that He constantly invited people into this kind of experiential faith. The disciples did not simply sit in a classroom learning theology. They walked dusty roads with Him. They watched Him calm storms, restore broken lives, and speak with authority that changed hearts. Their knowledge of God grew through real encounters with His presence. Dallas Willard once wrote, “The greatest issue facing the world today is whether those who identify as Christians will become disciples—students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ.” That observation challenges me. Am I content to know ideas about God, or am I willing to live closely enough with Christ to experience His work in my life?
Sometimes discouragement sets in when our experience seems smaller than the promises we read in Scripture. We read about faith that moves mountains, prayers that open doors, and love that transforms lives. Yet our own spiritual experience may feel quiet or ordinary. At that moment, a subtle temptation appears. We may begin lowering our expectations of Scripture so that they match our experience. But the Bible calls us to the opposite response. Instead of reducing Scripture to the level of our experience, we are invited to bring our lives up to the level of God’s promises.
Jesus Himself prayed that His followers would know the fullness of God’s love. The Apostle Paul echoes this prayer in Ephesians 3:18–19, writing that believers might “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Notice the paradox: Paul speaks of knowing a love that surpasses knowledge. This is the language of experience. It is the difference between reading about the ocean and standing in it.
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Yet Tozer also warned that knowledge of God must move beyond concepts. He wrote that God wants to be known in the living reality of our lives, not merely in our ideas about Him. That insight reminds me that Christianity was never meant to be a distant study of God. It is an invitation to walk with Him.
So what should we do when we read biblical truths that we have not yet experienced? The answer is not frustration or resignation. Instead, we keep those truths before us in prayer and expectation. We ask God if there are adjustments He wants us to make. Sometimes the adjustment involves trust. Sometimes it involves obedience. At other times it involves simply waiting with patience while God works in ways we cannot yet see.
This approach mirrors the life of Jesus Himself. Throughout the Gospels, we see Him withdrawing to pray, trusting the Father, and living in constant awareness of God’s presence. The relationship between the Father and the Son was not theoretical—it was lived moment by moment. That is the life Jesus invites us into as well. Eternal life begins now, not merely in heaven. It begins the moment we step into a real relationship with the living God.
Today, as I think about the prayer of Jesus in John 17, I am reminded that faith is not about settling for secondhand stories of God’s work. We rejoice when God moves in other people’s lives, but Jesus prayed that we would know God personally. That means experiencing His guidance, sensing His presence, and watching His power work in ways both quiet and extraordinary. The journey of discipleship is the journey of discovering that the God described in Scripture is the same God who walks with us today.
If there are promises in Scripture that feel distant from your current experience, do not abandon them. Hold them close. Pray over them. Ask God to make them real in your life. The same Lord who spoke through the pages of Scripture is still at work today, drawing His people into a deeper knowledge of Himself.
For additional reflection on knowing God through relationship rather than mere information, see:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-eternal-life
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Bryan King