I Know Him: Risking It All so That All May Know

By Rachel Sweatt

Many Christians will rarely, if ever, share the Gospel by means of telling someone else what God has done in their own lives. As a result, countless individuals are living and dying without ever knowing God. I Know Him seeks to spark the change by

featuring eyewitness accounts of God on the move,

challenging people to see their significance in Gods story, and

providing a step-by-step guide on how to share your own story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781973600565

Rachel Sweatt

Rachel Sweatt has a degree in psychology from West Texas A&M. She and her husband have served together in ministry all over the panhandle of Texas for several years. They currently reside in Canyon, Texas, with their two young boys and serve in their local church. Rachel is the founder of #IKnowHim, a ministry that seeks to share the gospel by challenging the church to share stories of what God has done in their lives. She encourages believers by teaching them how to shape and share their stories, thereby making an eternal impact all around the world. For more information on how to join the movement and how to submit your own story to be shared on the blog, visit www.iknowhim.us. She enjoys writing and teaching Bible studies for women that encourage them to experience the abundant life God extends to those who know Him. Rachel is passionate about speaking to various audiences regarding the truth and freedom a relationship with God brings. Additionally, she is an advocate for individuals to seek out the purposes for which God created them in their lives. For more information on speaking engagements or her written work, or to bring the message of #IKnowHim to your church or event, visit: www.rachelsweatt.com

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Copyright © 2017 Rachel Sweatt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ESV: Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV). Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NIV: Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

NLT: Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0055-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0057-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0056-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017912942

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/29/2017

Contents

Introduction

Part 1     The Vision

To Know Him

The Fire

The Story

Part 2     The Battle

The Struggle is Real

The Soldier

The Art of War

Part 3     The Fear

Persecution

Enemy Friendship

The Cross Is Heavy

Part 4     The Charge

We Are the Storytellers

For Such a Time as This

The Gathering

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Resources

Dedication

To Emmett and Easton.

May your love for others and your passion for Christ

be the momentum that carries you all of your days.

To the church.

I hope you are encouraged, empowered, and inspired

by what God has done for you.

It is an honor to share the greatest story ever told alongside you.

Take courage. Stand firm in your faith. Love one another.

Share your story.

Introduction

Hashing out the Hash Tag

In any epic adventure, community is a vital and necessary component. Nothing is as painfully discouraging as feeling alone on a difficult journey. Throughout this book, you will see the hashtag #IKnowHim, referring to the ministry of the I Know Him online blog community. This community consists of believers who have said yes to the challenge of sharing their #IKnowHim stories, and those who have committed to encouraging others by spreading the message of the I Know Him movement online. The hashtag makes it easy for people all over the world to find stories about God on the move with one click. #IKnowHim links believers together with one song of hope, one message of restoration, and love for one very alive God. As you read this book, I encourage you to check out the blog and browse through the hashtag on any social media platform.

If you are longing to know without a doubt that God is here, God is real, and He is good, my hope is that you find the answers you seek as you read through these incredible testimonies both online and in this book. These stories are submitted by people like you and me with families, careers, and a deep love for Jesus. If you are a believer and you do know Him, it is my prayer that the reminders and testimonies within this book will fill you with an overwhelming gratitude for God’s movement in your life and that you will be inspired to join the fight against darkness with the word of your own testimony. If you are reading this book, please know that you have been fought for in prayer, and your story has the potential to make an eternal difference. The things of this world will soon fade away, but as we offer our lives as beacons of hope for the hurting—sharing what He has done for us—we can be confident that when all is said and done, we will have accomplished the only thing that matters in this life: giving ourselves that all the world may know Him.

Part 1

The Vision

To Know Him

I could write all the words in the world trying to describe what it means to know Him, and would not even come close to describing the extravagant, intimate, bewildering experience a relationship with God is. But one seemingly insignificant day, God asked me to try to accomplish just that. Because it’s not about getting the words just right but rather inviting people to join in the experience of what it means to know Him. It’s about the urgency that we—that I—be bold in sharing stories of our experiences with Him. It’s about the value of sharing our testimonies regardless of consequence. It’s about unashamedly telling the world what God has done for us. It’s an overwhelming task, but God is so faithful to patiently walk with us, step by step. Shortly after beginning my journey with #IKnowHim, I came across an excerpt that excellently describes my feelings on the vastness of what it means to know Him. In his book Confessions, Saint Augustine writes:

You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just. You are the most hidden from us yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you. You are unchangeable and yet you change all things. You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you. You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud. You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. You support, you fill, and you protect all things. You create them, nourish them, and bring them back to perfection. You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing. You love your creatures, but with a gentle love. You treasure them, but without apprehension. You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry yet serene. Your works are varied, but your purpose is one in the same. You welcome all who come to you, though you never lost them. (1.4)¹

Personally, I do know this incredible God. I’ve experienced the vastness of His wonders and the depths of His love. I have been given His incomprehensible gift of grace. I have witnessed miracles and felt Him near me when I needed Him the most. And I know many people who follow Him and have lived similar experiences. However, it was the people who didn’t know Him that God used to reveal this message to me—the message of what it really looks like to know Christ—to know that God is here, God is real, and He is good. What does a life look like that is being lived in the midst of a holy God? In Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV) we read, The Lord your God is in your midst, and I am captivated by the idea that the God of the universe fills the atmosphere around me. But what does this look like in the world in which I live? People are always inspired by stories of God in our midst, stories of those long ago in scripture, but also present-day stories of God on the move. We are moved by supernatural experiences of God hearing our cries and stepping in to act on behalf of those who love Him.

When God initially birthed this idea in my heart, I wrestled with the weight of what it meant to truly know Jesus. In a world that is bombarded with darkness, God revealed to me it was time for the church to be light and say, "I know Him. Charles Spurgeon once said, Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in the blood. The ship of the church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls on her deck. We must suffer and we must die, if we are ever to conquer this world for Christ." ²His statement begs the question that if we are not willing to die, then are we willing to go against cultural norms and claim this land as holy? Are we willing to stand up for those who don’t yet know Him and tell the enemy that these people have been redeemed through Christ? Are we willing to fight on their behalf, even when we do not agree with them or necessarily even like them? Pressing further, God used a certain group of people in scripture to communicate this strongly to me. They definitely were not willing to fight for others to know God because they were too wrapped up in fighting for their own perceptions of holiness, an issue we as the church today may know all too well.

My husband and I were on the way to Dallas with our four-month-old baby boy. I had just given him a bottle, and he was giggling and smiling as I sat in the backseat beside him. I grabbed my Bible, seeing an opportunity to spend a few minutes in the Word as we traveled while my sweet babe was content, for the moment. I was reading through a passage in John 8 and came to the part of the chapter where Jesus was being confronted by the Pharisees once again. Just like the villain in a movie, the staunch, stale, and hard-hearted Pharisees arrived with the intent of causing destruction. Jesus boldly declared, Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death (John 8:51 ESV). The religious crowd, their anger increasing by the second, gave their rebuttal. The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?’ (John 8:52–53 ESV). The Pharisees, the ones who claimed to know the most about God, now found themselves asking the Messiah, the very one they claimed to live for, Who are You?

The Messiah, unwavering, began to speak with words that continue to pierce through the ages.

Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him." (John 8:54–55 ESV)

This crowd, full of individuals who thought they had made loyalty to God their lives, had just had their hearts ripped open, and exposed underneath were dark, empty tombs where no relationship with Him could be found. They didn’t know Him. They knew of Him. They preached about Him. They even spoke for Him. They made outward expressions about Him, but they had never experienced Him. They didn’t know Him.

When I read this passage in the car on December 8, 2015, the weight of those three words Jesus spoke hit me like a ton of bricks. "I know Him." I immediately felt God asking me