Part 2 Preface by Gazz

I was undone, overwhelmed by the revelation of His purity and holiness. My brief but awesome ascent beyond my void was not achieved by my striving alone, but by the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, my love for Christ, my yielding to God the Father, and a heart's desire to know the One who made the stars and who made me. It was there, at my vertical limit beyond the void of mystery, that God met with me in His grace, with limitless love that filled me with awe.

There came a moment in my own journey when everything I had known about God suddenly became real. It was like being born again, all over again. God was no longer a distant truth or learned theology, but a living reality. In that moment, I became aware not simply that God exists, but that He was present, here with me. From that moment, I have learned that living in the awareness of God's presence is worship itself. It's in those quiet awakenings of the heart that the Living God calls us to see, to listen, and to behold. For to truly know God is to live each day, each moment, in a deep awareness of His omnipresence through the Spirit of Christ here on earth.

God calls us to lift our eyes unto Christ, to behold His handiwork in creation, and to listen beyond the emptiness within, where His still, small voice can be heard. To know God in Jesus Christ is to walk in that continual awareness of His Spirit's nearness, where the living Word and the Holy Spirit together unveil the glory of the Trinity, the Great I AM.

Some may rightly say that we are not to be led by our feelings, and they are right. Our faith rests upon the unchanging truth of God's perfection and His Word, not upon the changing emotions of our imperfect hearts.

Yet neither should we dismiss the feelings and affections God Himself has created within us. He has made us to love, to rejoice, to stand in awe, to weep, to worship, and to delight in Him. These are not given to deceive us or to trick us, no, but that we might respond to the truth He has revealed with our whole being.

The Word of God informs the mind. The Holy Spirit illumines the truth. The heart responds in holy, set-apart worship for God alone.

Our feelings must always be tested by Scripture and brought into submission to Christ, for feelings alone can easily lead us astray. When the Holy Spirit takes the truth of God's Word and makes it wonderfully real within our hearts, it is altogether right that our minds are enlightened, our affections stirred, and our souls overwhelmed with love, joy, peace, reverence, and holy worship in the Holy Spirit. This is not emotions producing truth; it is truth producing rightly ordered religious affections.

It's not my emotions replacing truth, nor feelings leading my faith. It was the truth of God's Word, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, awakening my whole being—mind, heart, soul, and affections—to the living reality of God.

I've come to see that the vast gulf between merely knowing about God and truly knowing Him is bridged in Christ alone. Through the Scriptures, and by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn into living communion with Him, a knowledge that humbles the mind, warms the heart, and leads the soul into worship. For once you have truly known and tested His presence, nothing else will satisfy the heart.

May His love and grace in Christ

forever guide us.

Gazz.

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Our thoughts and theories are all well and good, but the Spirit of the Living God coming near and personal is an overwhelming experience. All that I had learned about Him now became tangible. My knowledge had become communion; belief became encounter; doctrine gave way to worship. I was undone, overwhelmed by the revelation of His purity and holiness. My brief but awesome ascent beyond my void was not achieved by my striving alone, but by the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, my love for Christ, my yielding to God the Father, and a heart's desire to know the One who made the stars and who made me. It was there, at my vertical limit beyond the void of mystery, that God met with me in His grace, with limitless love that filled me with awe. There came a moment in my own journey when everything I had known about God suddenly became real. It was like being born again, all over again. God was no longer a distant truth or learned theology, but a living reality. In that moment, I became aware not simply that God exists, but that He was present, here with me. From that moment, I have learned that living in the awareness of God's presence is worship itself. It's in those quiet awakenings of the heart that the Living God calls us to see, to listen, and to behold. For to truly know God is to live each day, each moment, in a deep awareness of His omnipresence through the Spirit of Christ here on earth. God calls us to lift our eyes unto Christ, to behold His handiwork in creation, and to listen beyond the emptiness within, where His still, small voice can be heard. To know God in Jesus Christ is to walk in that continual awareness of His Spirit's nearness, where the living Word and the Holy Spirit together unveil the glory of the Trinity, the Great I AM. Some may rightly say that we are not to be led by our feelings, and they are right. Our faith rests upon the unchanging truth of God's perfection and His Word, not upon the changing emotions of our imperfect hearts. Yet neither should we dismiss the feelings and affections God Himself has created within us. He has made us to love, to rejoice, to stand in awe, to weep, to worship, and to delight in Him. These are not given to deceive us or to trick us, no, but that we might respond to the truth He has revealed with our whole being. The Word of God informs the mind. The Holy Spirit illumines the truth. The heart responds in holy, set-apart worship for God alone. Our feelings must always be tested by Scripture and brought into submission to Christ, for feelings alone can easily lead us astray. When the Holy Spirit takes the truth of God's Word and makes it wonderfully real within our hearts, it is altogether right that our minds are enlightened, our affections stirred, and our souls overwhelmed with love, joy, peace, reverence, and holy worship in the Holy Spirit. This is not emotions producing truth; it is truth producing rightly ordered religious affections. It's not my emotions replacing truth, nor feelings leading my faith. It was the truth of God's Word, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, awakening my whole being—mind, heart, soul, and affections—to the living reality of God. I've come to see that the vast gulf between merely knowing about God and truly knowing Him is bridged in Christ alone. Through the Scriptures, and by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, we are drawn into living communion with Him, a knowledge that humbles the mind, warms the heart, and leads the soul into worship. For once you have truly known and tested His presence, nothing else will satisfy the heart. May His love and grace in Christ forever guide us. Gazz.

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