Does Your Heavenly Father KNOW You?

Devotional

Day 1: When "Lord, Lord" Isn’t Enough

True surrender isn’t measured by spiritual achievements but by intimate recognition. Jesus warns that even prophesying or casting out demons means nothing if He doesn’t truly know us. This knowing isn’t surface-level familiarity but a relational depth forged through obedience. Like a bent branch resisting the gardener’s shaping, iniquity distorts our alignment with God’s will. Salvation starts with surrender, not spiritual résumés. [26:53]

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23, NKJV)

Reflection: What areas of your spiritual life feel more like performance than surrender? How might Jesus be inviting you to exchange achievement for intimacy?

Day 2: Glory in Knowing, Not Doing

God rejects pride in human strength, wisdom, or wealth. True glory comes from knowing Him as the God who delights in steadfast love, justice, and righteousness. Jeremiah dismantles the illusion that earthly success equates to divine approval. To be known by God, we must anchor our identity in His character rather than our accomplishments. [32:12]

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24, NKJV)

Reflection: Where have you subtly replaced knowing God’s heart with pride in your own capabilities? How might boasting in Him reshape your daily priorities?

Day 3: Pliable Spirits or Broken Wills

Pliability seems virtuous—until it becomes bending God’s will to fit ours. A bent branch still grows crooked; a broken branch is grafted into the vine. Surrender requires shattering self-directed plans, not negotiating with compromise. True knowing emerges when we stop “getting by” through partial obedience. [42:55]

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:7, ESV)

Reflection: What areas of your life feel like “bent obedience”—close enough to godly but still self-directed? What would full breaking and grafting look like there?

Day 4: Identity Beyond the Nametag

The preacher once identified as “paramedic” before “follower of Christ.” Careers, roles, and pasts make poor foundations. Being known by God means grounding our worth in His adoption, not our utility. Like a potter reshaping clay, He redefines us at the core when we prioritize His voice over worldly labels. [34:24]

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Reflection: When someone asks “Who are you?”, what answer rises first? How would living as “known by God” shift that response?

Day 5: The Invitation to Be Searched

David doesn’t hide from God’s scrutiny—he invites it. Being fully known requires courage to expose our crookedness to the One who heals it. This isn’t fear-driven inspection but trust-filled communion. The altar isn’t a place of condemnation but where we trade hiding for holy intimacy. [48:28]

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24, NKJV)

Reflection: What part of your heart feels too risky to bring before God? How might His perfect love transform that space if you surrendered it today?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 7 puts a hard question right in front of the soul: “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus says there will be people who prophesied, cast out devils, and did wonders in his name, and still hear, “I never knew you.” The word iniquity carries that meaning of bent or crooked behavior, a twisting of truth and a deep rooted flaw that keeps a person working lawlessness while still looking religious.

The question, then, is not whether God knows the creation. God knows every hair, every inward part, every day before it ever came. The question is whether God knows the believer in that intimate, surrendered way. Knowing God is being known by God, and Galatians says that after a person has known God, or rather is known by God, that person cannot just turn back to weak and beggarly bondage. Jeremiah says the only glory worth having is that a person understands and knows the Lord, the God who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness.

Identity has to get settled in Christ first. A person may be a paramedic, a worker, a parent, a spouse, or any number of things, but those things cannot be first. A follower of Jesus has to know who he is before the job title, before the past, before the plans, and before the world’s standards. In Christ, the believer is redefined, made new, adopted, loved, and known.

The image of “knowing” in Scripture carries weight. Adam knew Eve, and a new creation came from that knowing. In a holy and different way, when God is known intimately and his life comes inside a person, a new creation follows. The redeemed life starts walking different, and people can see that the old things do not fit anymore.

God knows those who trust him, and the foundation still stands with this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his.” That same Scripture says everyone naming Christ must depart from iniquity. The bent, crooked life cannot stay comfortable under the name of Jesus. Carnal themes have to be replaced with scriptural themes: intimate knowledge, protection, personal relationship, and provision.

Full knowing requires full surrender. Pliable sounds good when it means moldable before God, but pliable can also bend crooked just to get by. A person can get by with sin, money, success, and even religious activity for a while, but getting by is not the same as being known. Broken surrender is different from bending one’s own will until it snaps.

David ends Psalm 139 not by hiding from God’s knowledge, but by inviting it: “Search me, oh God, and know my heart.” The heart that wants to be known asks God to sift, convict, reveal, and lead in the way everlasting.

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Key Takeaways

1. Being known goes deeper than works Jesus names prophecy, deliverance, and wonders as things a person can do while still not being known by him. Religious activity can carry the name of the Lord while the heart remains bent, crooked, and unsurrendered. The frightening thing in Matthew 7 is not that the people did nothing, but that they did much without intimacy. [27:35]
2. Identity must start in Christ A job, calling, history, or reputation can become the first answer a person gives for who he is. Christ reorders that answer until “follower of Jesus” comes before career, skill, and earthly role. Anything else can be taken away, but the life rooted in Christ is the life that can be known by God. [34:44]
3. Surrender breaks what bending hides Pliability can mean being molded by God, but it can also mean bending the will just enough to get by. Sin can let a person function for a while, even look successful for a while, but that kind of bending eventually breaks under its own weight. Broken surrender is safer than crooked survival because God can remake what has finally stopped pretending. [42:55]
4. The known life departs iniquity Second Timothy ties being known by the Lord to departing from iniquity. The name of Christ cannot become a cover for the same old lawlessness, because the known life becomes a separated life. Childhood things have to be put away when God calls a person into mature surrender. [39:58]
5. David invites the searching God Psalm 139 shows that God already knows every action, thought, and hidden place. David’s response is not fear or running, but invitation: “Search me, oh God, and know my heart.” The soul that wants to be fully known asks God to reveal the grievous way before judgment reveals it too late.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[26:33] - Matthew 7 and the Hard Question
[28:22] - Iniquity as Bent Behavior
[29:48] - A Season of Surrender
[31:23] - Knowing God Means Being Known
[32:57] - Identity Before Career
[35:33] - Intimate Knowing and New Creation
[37:16] - Creation Known, Believer Known
[37:46] - Replacing Carnal Themes
[40:41] - Completely Known, Completely Surrendered
[42:15] - Pliable or Broken Before God
[44:02] - Religious Works Can Still Miss
[45:42] - Laying Down Personal Plans
[48:28] - Search Me and Know My Heart
[49:24] - The Altar Call to Be Known

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” [27:35]

Psalm 139:23-24
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” [48:28]

2 Timothy 2:19
“But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are his,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.'” [38:27]

Galatians 4:9
“But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” [31:35]

Observation questions

In Matthew 7:21-23, what are the specific things people say they did in Jesus’ name, and what does Jesus still say to them in the end? [27:35]
What words or pictures are used to describe iniquity, and what do those words show about the condition of a person’s life? [28:28]
In 2 Timothy 2:19, what two statements are joined together about those who belong to the Lord? [38:35]
In Psalm 139:23-24, what exactly does David ask God to do, and what does he want God to reveal and lead him away from? [48:34]

Interpretation questions

Matthew 7 shows that a person can do impressive religious works and still hear, “I never knew you.” What does that reveal about the difference between spiritual activity and true relationship with Christ? [44:02]
Galatians 4:9 says “to know God, or rather to be known by God.” Why does Scripture speak that way, and what does it suggest about how personal and deep this relationship is meant to be? [31:23]
“The Lord knows those who are his” is followed by “depart from iniquity.” Why do these two truths belong together? What does it mean for a known life to become a separated life? [39:58]
David responds to God’s complete knowledge of him by inviting God to search him. Why might invitation be the right response instead of hiding, excusing, or pretending? [49:02]

Application questions

When someone asks, “Who are you?” or “What do you do?” what answer tends to rise first in the heart: career, family role, past experience, or belonging to Christ? What might need to be reordered so identity starts in Jesus first? [34:38]
Is there any area of life where it has been easier to bend just enough to get by rather than fully surrender to God? What would broken surrender look like in that area right now? [42:48]
Jesus warns that it is possible to carry his name and still practice lawlessness. Are there habits, compromises, or hidden patterns that have started to feel normal but need to be departed from? [43:53]
Full surrender reaches personal plans, not just church activity. Is there a job, relationship, goal, possession, or timeline that would be hard to lay down if God clearly asked for it? [45:42]
Being known by God is deeper than looking the part in front of others. Where has there been more attention given to outward appearance than inward surrender? [44:21]
David prayed, “Search me, O God.” What would it look like this week to honestly invite God to search the heart, expose any grievous way, and lead in the everlasting way? [49:24]
The known life does not return comfortably to old bondage. Is there any old pattern, mindset, or attachment that keeps trying to pull life backward? What would it look like to resist that pull in a practical way this week? [31:48]

Sermon Clips

52s

“And then I also happen to be this, this, and this. But what I do for the kingdom of God and what I do to be known by God is first. That is how I identify. That is who I am. Everything else, because it could all be taken away if it's the Lord's will, and I want it to be if it's not his perfect will. is who you are first. That is you gotta know who you are in Christ first. identifying in Christ means grounding your worth in who God says you are through Jesus rather than your past failures or worldly standards. The bible teaches that you are an entirely redefined by this relationship, making you a new creation, adopted, and completely loved, also being known by the lord.”

57s

“Sometimes, if you don't get anything else from this message through these next words, Sometimes we need to break to the will of God, not bend our own to get by. I'm a say it again. Sometimes we need to break to the will of God, not bend our own will to get by. Because let me tell you something. You can get by. You'll get by. You can get by with a meth pipe in your hand. You can get by with a bottle of vodka in your hand. You can get by sleeping with the neighbor's wife. You can get by. You can have money in your bank. You can drive a Cybertruck while you're doing it all. You can get by, but at some point at some point, you're not gonna be able to get by no more. And unless you break to the will of God, Satan is gonna break you. It will happen.”

65s

“We have evidence. The the bible's full of it. It will happen. Most of us know people in our lives where it's happened. We cannot bend our own will to get by. That bending will eventually break. We've seen that in the opening verse about the pliability. That bending, that is iniquity, that is lawlessness. We cannot be known in pliability. We can only be known in broken surrender. This opening scripture also says that you can even get by and do great things in the name of the Lord, but does he really know you? You can still miss the mark. You can still preach and miss the mark. You can still be a great man or woman of God, but still not be truly known by God. You can go through and looked apart. You can prophesy in his name, but you can still do that without having fully surrendered because that full surrender is how you truly become known.”

50s

“It's one thing to be saved. It's one thing to be a Christian to live for God. You see in the scripture, he says that you could cast out demons. You could prophesy in my name. You could be a great man and woman of God, but he still could not even know you. What does it mean to be known? I know sister Debbie different than how I know sister Shelly. I know my wife different than how I know my kids. I know my brothers different than how I know my mom. There's different levels of knowing somebody. The knowing that I'm talking about an intimate knowing with the Lord, a special knowing. Scripture shows us what being known actually means.”

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