What Does It Mean to Have Knowledge of God?

To have knowledge is to have facts, information, or awareness of something or someone. When we have knowledge of God, we understand his nature, his character, and who he is. This process of growing your knowledge and understanding of God will require you to engage with God on three different levels.

1. Intellectual

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

Whether you realize it or not, growing in understanding of God starts out as an intellectual pursuit. We must engage our minds because it is there where we process information that helps us begin to understand who God is.
Sometimes, connecting our minds doesn’t seem very spiritual, but it is and most importantly it starts the process. Jesus even commanded us in loving God that we love him with all our heart, soul and mind (Matt. 22:37).

However, for you to really know God, it must become more than just a mental or intellectual pursuit. If it never advances beyond that, then you will end up with an academic understanding of who God is and not move to relationship with him. That’s why the Pharisees were able to quote Scripture and knew the law, but missed who Jesus was. Their knowledge was intellectual and never moved beyond that.

2. Experiential

The second level where we engage with God is experiential. Part of growing in understanding of God is not just learning facts and information; you must experience who he is. When you experience who God is, it takes the facts that you have learned and it makes them come alive. They move from the place of just being words to becoming life to you.

3. Spiritual

The third level we engage God is spiritual, and this is where true fellowship and communion with God happens. While it involves our mind as part of the experience, we commune with God in relationship when our spirit connects with his spirit.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

it’s the combination of these things together that sets the stage for you to understand more of who God is. For instance, you cannot grow in knowledge and understanding of God and leave your mind out of the process. Neither can you truly be in awe of who God is until you experience his presence. These three things work together, and they form the foundation of you growing in your knowledge of who God is.

5 Ways to Grow Our Knowledge and Understanding of God

1. You Must Spend Time in the Word
It is impossible to grow in your knowledge and understanding of God if you neglect his word.

2. You Must Spend Time in Worship

As I mentioned earlier, knowing God can begin as an intellectual pursuit, but it cannot stay there. One of the beauties of reading the Bible is that it positions you to get revelation of who God is. Revelation is that point where what you know intellectually comes to life as if the truth of who God is leaps off the pages. When this happens, this leads to worship.

To worship God means you love God so much that you don't question him at all. Going to church is a form of worship — so is prayer. And mainly following the Ten Commandments and praising him through songs.

3. You Must Spend Time in Prayer

One of the byproducts of worship is that it can increase your faith because as God gets bigger in your eyes so does your faith.

4. You Must Spend Time Learning from Others

5. You Must Depend on the Holy Spirit

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

2 Timothy 2:15

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Hebrews 5:11-14

Romans 12:2

Ephesians 4:15

Colossians 1:9

the Bible itself features a story of life change too—a story within a story—when the Apostle Paul tells his own story of life change and faith in Acts 26:1-23 —

Matthew 28:18-20

++Matthew 5:13-16
Matthew 28:16-20
Acts 1:1-8
Acts 20:35
Romans 1:15-17
Romans 10:15
Romans 15:1-21
1 Corinthians 1:10-31
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
2 Corinthians 9:12-14
Ephesians 6:15
2 Timothy 4:5
1 Peter 2:21

reading God's Word gives us knowledge and truth to learn, the act of praying forces us to slow down, humble ourselves, and spend time at God's feet. Part of wisdom is cultivating an awe and deeper trust in the Lord. Prayers helps us with that.

the root and fountain of our knowledge of God is Christ, the Word of God, and that all knowledge of God flows towards the faithful from the fountain that is Christ.

In the Bible, “knowledge” refers to examples, truths, and commands that God wants us to know, believe, and heed.

(Genesis 2:9; Genesis 2:17).

I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil” (Romans 16:19).

“if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it” (1 Peter 3:15,

Real knowledge is something we garner from God’s Word. May we be like Ezra, who “devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees” (Ezra 7:10++).