How Can We Know God?

Can we know God? Amena Brown discusses how we can know God personally. 

Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection

  1. Amena says that God is more real than things we can see or touch. Do you agree or disagree and why?
  2. Do you agree that everyone has a soul or spirit? What does that mean to you?

We believe in the things we can touch and see. We can put our feet on the floor. We can feel water on our hands. Like, we believe in those things, but God is even more real than the things we can see and touch. It does sound crazy to say that you can know God personally, especially when we think of our human relationships, that we know our parents, that we know our spouse or the person we're dating, that we know our children, or know our best friend. It's hard to think that we would know God in that way when we can't see God, we can't hug God, we can't do the things we're used to doing in our human relationship, but there's another side of us as human beings. We are in our bodies and we do have a mind, but we also have souls and we have a spirit inside, and that is a part of us that sometimes in our everyday life, we don't tap into. We don't connect to that. I was an only child for 10 years until my sister was born, so when you're an only kid, you don't have other siblings, you use your imagination, and you play, you know. I had my stuffed animals and my Barbie dolls. I had all those things. And I think sometimes in our life when we don't have certain things, in a way it does give us a chance to broaden our minds in a way. And so I feel like there have been times of life that have been lonely that give me that opportunity to also get to know God and that I'm not alone, and so one thing that I would say to a friend who asked me recently, like, "How how, how do you pray, and when you pray how do you know that God is listening? How do you know that God's hearing you?" And all I can say is, "Just try. I know it might feel weird. You're in your apartment or in your house or whatever. It might feel weird." You're like, "What are you saying? You're telling me to open up my mouth out loud and talk to someone that I can't see?" You know, and I'm saying, "Yeah, I want you to try." I think a great place to start with our faith and with trusting is we just got to try a little thing, and sometimes that little thing is maybe to have that moment where you're going to say, "All right, you know, in whatever way I talk to God, I'm going to try that today. Or whatever way I think I can write something to God, I'm going to try that. Or I'm going to open up this Bible. I've heard a lot about it. I'm going to open it up, and I'm going to try just reading a little bit for myself." I think that's a great place to start. Just try. Ask God to show you who he is.