When I was growing up, none of my friends or relatives had a personal relationship with God. None of them knew God. My parents were atheists and didn't believe in God, and while my religious grandmother (who lived with us) believed in God, she certainly didn't know God. Her God was a projection of whoever judged her as she was growing up, and of her own self-judgments and judgments toward others.

Through over 54 years of working with people, I've encountered many religious people who believed in God, including ministers and gurus, but who had no personal relationship with God.

Believing in God and knowing God are two totally different experiences.

When bad things happen, belief can be shattered. I cannot tell you how often I've heard clients say to me:

• "How can I continue to believe that God is here for me when my loved one died, or I lost my job, or I got sick?"
   
• "If there is a God, then how could He have let the hurricane, earthquake, fire, rape, mugging, happen?"
   
• "If there is a God, how could he have allowed my father to sexually abuse me?"

For some reason, most people who believe in God but do not know God seem to think that God is a "person" who should be able to stop bad things from happening. When you know God, then you know that God is spirit – the spirit of Divine love - and that the love, compassion, strength, and wisdom that is God does not stop the challenges of life. Rather, spirit is always here to help us manage and move through – even grow from - our challenges. And because we all have free will, God cannot stop people from doing horrible things.

When you know God, you have a direct experience of the love, power, and wisdom that is God. You know that God is the creative intelligence of the universe and that it is impossible for the love that is God to not be here for you. 

It’s About Frequency

You cannot know God from your left-brain thinking mind, and you cannot know God when you are in your wounded self. Knowing God occurs naturally when your frequency is high, which happens when you are in an intent to learn about what is loving to yourself, and you are keeping the frequency of your body high by eating healthy fresh organic foods. You know God when your heart is open to learning about loving yourself and you are full of love and gratitude.

Since my parents were atheists and my grandmother's God was not at all compelling to me, I had to find my own way. Being a fairly practical person, I could not just "believe" in something that I could not see or touch. As a young child, I had a deep sense of the wonder of God, but living with my parents and grandmother taught me to disconnect from this inner knowing. By my early 20s, I was desperate to know God.

Over the years of my spiritual search, I had momentary experiences of Grace that encouraged me to keep searching for a way to have a direct and personal experience of God. It wasn't until Inner Bonding was gifted by spirit to Erika and me that I discovered how to experience direct, two-way conversations with God. I think I was fortunate that I by-passed belief in God and went directly into knowing God, because I didn't have a lot of false beliefs about God to overcome. My spiritual abuse – elements of my upbringing that had disconnected me from God - was less about God itself and more about being told that the love that is God was not accessible or did not exist.

Knowing God Is A Huge Comfort

Knowing that I am a co-creator with the creative force of the universe is deeply empowering. Knowing that God - the creative intelligence of the universe - is responsive to my thoughts and feelings, is deeply motivating to me regarding keeping my thoughts and feelings focused on what is in my highest good and the highest good of all.

Are you ready to personally know God? Your devoted Inner Bonding practice will eventually give you this experience. Of course, your wounded self may come in at any moment to discount your knowing, but the more you listen to your guidance, the less power your wounded self has to get you off track.

Learn to connect with your spiritual guidance with Unlocking Your Inner Wisdom, A 30-Day at-home Experience with Dr. Margaret Paul.