Editorial

The greatest of all pursuits must be the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The easier knowledge is always the academic and theoretical one. The one that actually effects the way we live, our motives and our minds, is experiential knowledge of Him. This can only be achieved in the daily throes of living and comes with a higher price tag. Note how the apostle puts it, ‘I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things’, Phil. 3. 8. NKJV.

In this same letter, Paul later exhorts the Philippians on many practical matters but only as they issue out of his own personal and sure knowledge of his God and Lord. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’; ‘the Lord is at hand’; ‘the peace of God will guard your hearts’; ‘the God of peace will be with you’; ‘I can do all things through Christ’; ‘my God shall supply all your need’, Phil. 4. 4-6, 13, 17.

The certainty and validity of his words can only hold good if they are what he himself has experienced as knowing God personally. That he calls Him, ‘my God’, says all of this and more!

Let us crave after knowing God. Let us be as the psalmist so beautifully states, the blessed man, ‘whose strength is in You. Whose heart is set on pilgrimage’, Ps. 84. 5 NKJV. For to be such he declares, is to be able to turn the Valley of Baca (weeping), into a spring, and to go from strength to strength. Such become dwellers in His courts, recipients of His grace and glory, and those from whom He withholds no good thing! Read Psalm 84 all through.

This issue of the magazine contains some excellent articles upon the character and nature of the God who has revealed Himself to men through His Son. We are challenged to grasp the ungraspable. Other articles lead us into the personal circumstances of those who have known Him in deep waters. A new initiative is the report on recent U.K. Government legislation that requires from us a response to meet the needs of any disabled that may attend our meeting places. We do hope many will find this a help to comply with current and anticipated laws. We hope to provide other articles that will reflect legislation to do with work amongst children and young people.

May the Lord Himself continue to show us the way forward to be useable for Him until the moment of His return.