Recently, a sister in Christ, a single mother of four children, visited Roberta and me for a weekend. One night, while we were sitting in the living room having a conversation with her, she made an unusual request. She said, "Could I sit between you two and then have you squeeze together. Maybe something you've got will come onto me!"

I laughed and told her I didn't think that would work. What she wanted was a blessed marriage like we have. She has been married and divorced three times and has suffered much in abusive relationships. However, she has not given up hope for a good marriage, because now she is asking the Lord to give her a partner of His choice.

When I was a young man, I asked God to give me a wife. I asked for the very best, and He answered my prayer! I mentioned in one of my writings that my wife and I have never had a fight. Some people, after reading that, think we must be from another planet. Others have stated that they desire to have a marriage like ours, and they ask how to get it.

We really have no secrets about our marriage. We know that it is a sacred gift from God, and we keep Christ in the center of it. We have been happily married for more than thirty-eight years, and we love each other as much now, if not more, as we did on our wedding day. The only one whom we love more than one another is Jesus! And by placing Him first, He gives us more love for each other.

We have a lot of love for the Lord and could not stand even the thought of being separated from Him. We know that will not happen because Jesus promised He would never leave us (Heb.13:5). He promised that nothing can ever separate us from His love (Rom.8:38,39); and He promised that no one can ever pluck us out of His hand (John 10:28). Having assurance from the word of God that once we receive Christ as Savior we can never be separated from Him is what makes life so delightful.

The concern that my wife and I have is that God may take one of us Home to be with Him before the other. We both have prayed that when the time comes, He will take us together. Please do not misunderstand me; we do not worship one another--we worship the Lord! What I am trying to say is that the Lord is my First Love and I know that I will never be separated from Him; my wife is my second love, and I could not stand being separated from her.

Having said that, let me tell you about a frightening experience I had which, in a way, separated me from my wife. It only lasted a few moments, but I will remember it for a lifetime. Sometimes the Lord has to put me through some unusual experiences to bring my attention to what He wants to give me to write about. This time it was a message for His precious Bride.

This unforgettable, amazing event that I will try to describe happened to me one Easter about six years ago. My wife and I were staying at a friend's house for the weekend in upstate New York, and another friend who lived nearby invited us and several others to her home for Easter dinner. When we arrived at her house, several cars were in the driveway, so we knew that most of the other guests were already there. Our hostess had told us earlier who would be at the dinner, and most of them were Christian friends, some of whom we had not seen in a long time.

At the time, we owned a big Irish Setter dog named Clancy. It was difficult for me to go anywhere without him, for he was like my shadow; but he was not invited to this Easter dinner and would have to stay in the van. After I parked in the driveway, the dog needed to be tended to before being left alone; so I asked my wife if she would like to go in first while I took care of him, and that I would be in shortly. She then went on ahead into the house, and I entered about ten minutes later.

I enjoyed meeting again with my Christian friends. While I was greeting one after the other, I noticed a stranger in the background, a woman who seemed alone in the crowded room. I had a feeling in my heart that she needed to be greeted so that she would not feel like an outsider. During the next several minutes, I glanced at her three times and noticed how she still looked so alone and out of place. I wondered why my friends neglected to introduce her to me. I decided that when I had the chance to meet her, I would give her a warm, friendly greeting.

When I came to the place where she was standing, I looked her straight in the face and held out my hand as I said, "Hi. My name is Dick. What's yours?" She responded by shaking my hand, and as soon as her hand touched mine, I got the shock of my life: She was my wife!!

Then she continued to go along with what she thought was my little joke and said, "Hello. My name is Roberta!" She laughed, and the other guests who were nearby also laughed at the little comedy scene that was taking place. I also choked out a little laughter, but felt as if a bolt of lighting had hit me! My wife told me later that, for an instant, she had a sense I was not kidding, but then the thought completely left her mind. No one there realized I was not joking, so I knew I had gotten away with it. I decided that this would be my secret for life; I would never tell anyone, especially my wife, that it was not a joke!

For the next couple of hours I was beside myself; I thought I must be losing my mind. I did lose my appetite and could not enjoy the delicious ham dinner served by our hostess. All I could think of was how could I, after living with my lovely wife for more than thirty years, fail to recognize her?! It is no wonder I had lost my appetite; I was bewildered and devastated. All I wanted to do was go some place where I would be alone so that I could pray and ask the Lord for help.

Shortly after eating what I could of my dinner, I excused myself by saying that I had left my dog in the van and needed to take him for a walk. That was not the truth; it was more like a half truth, but it did get me out of the house. Then as I was walking on a sidewalk in Utica, New York, the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that He had not given me "the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2Tim.1:7). Immediately after hearing that He had given me a sound mind, the incident no longer troubled me, for I knew that in it was a message from the Lord.

Later that evening, as all the guests were seated in the living room, I decided to share my strange experience with them, for I no longer wanted to keep it a secret. When they heard it, they were amazed; they didn't know what to say. No one there, including my wife and I could figure out why the Lord would have me go through such a strange experience, so we just left it in God's hands. Then, from time to time over the next couple of years, we would remember it, laugh about it, and try again, unsuccessfully, to figure out what it meant.

Then one day, while driving home from a trip, we were discussing the event again, when suddenly a revelation came to my wife. She knew exactly what it meant to her. She told me how God had set the whole thing up because He had been trying to get a message through to her, and He wanted to use that strange incident to communicate it. Suddenly it was all so clear to her. She said to me, "This is the meaning of the incident: My Heavenly Husband, Jesus, was introducing Himself to me through you, my earthly husband. My Lord was wanting me to get to know Him!"

I asked her if she would please elaborate a little more on this for she, at the time, had known the Lord for many years. Then she went on to explain how Paul the apostle had been converted for about twenty-nine years when he wrote to the Christians at Philippi, "That I may KNOW him, and the power of his resurrection" (Phil. 3:10). She continued to say how she had known the Lord for twenty-six years, but that now He wanted her to really know Him--intimately! She said, "Imagine! . . . the God of this universe setting up that whole thing, purposely blinding you to my true identity, in order to communicate His desire to me. And on Easter Sunday--Resurrection Day!"

After that I meditated much on the experience, and it was unfolded to me that the message in it was not only for my wife but for me and all others who are and who will be married to the Lord. The message is this: Our Lord wants His Bride to become better acquainted with Him!

He loves His Bride more than we can ever comprehend. This is how our Lord speaks about His marriage to us that takes place when we are united to Him in the new birth: "I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord" (Hosea 2:19,20). Oh, if we, the Bride, knew how much He loves us and desires us to be close to Him, we would be more aware of just how wonderful this divine marriage is. If we really knew how good God is, we would want to spend all our lives just as close to Him as we can get!

There is a great tragedy within the family of God that is here on earth. The lovely Bride of Christ is afraid to get to really know her Bridegroom! Oh, she knows Him as Savior, but she still does not know Him nearly well enough!

If you were to ask people who are not members of the family of God if they know the Lord, chances are the answers you would get would be about a church they go to or a religion they are affiliated with. If you were to ask those who have been born again into the Family of God if they know the Lord, most likely you would get a big, enthusiastic, "Yes, I certainly do!" Then if you went on to ask how well they know the Lord, perhaps there would first be a silence; then, you may hear a résumé of their performance as a Christian, such as, how they teach Sunday school or lead a Bible study. Or they may tell you how much they enjoy reading the Bible and singing and praising the Lord. But if you press a little further by asking how well they know the Lord, like, "Did you hear Him speak to you today?" you may get an answer like, "What do you mean? Hear the voice of the Lord? What does that sound like?"

Can you imagine being married to someone and not knowing the sound of their voice?! I would not call that a very close relationship! I believe that we who belong to Jesus, we whose names are written in the Book of Life--the Bride of Christ--really need to get to know the Lord a lot better.

I hope you understand that when I speak of hearing the Lord's voice, I am not referring to hearing an audible voice with our physical ears. He could speak to us that way, but it would be most unusual. Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). Our Lord communicates to us in many ways, such as, through dreams, through circumstances, through nature, through prophecy, and, of course, through the Bible. But regardless of how His communication gets to us, it must get into our spirit, for it is there that the understanding comes by revelation. It comes by the Spirit of God speaking to our spirit. When I first came to Christ, I heard the Lord say, "I have received you. I have forgiven you. You now belong to Me." I did not hear His voice with my physical ears. His Spirit was communicating to my spirit (Rom.8:16), and it was much clearer than any type of physical communication.

Let me caution you about going to another person and asking them to get a message from the Lord for you. That could bring much confusion into your life. You should go directly to the Lord for yourself! You are very special to Him. He created you that way and no one else can un- derstand exactly how He communicates to you. If you find it hard to hear His voice, don't worry about that; just keep listening with your heart. It will come to you more and more as you get to know Him better and better. Don't be surprised if He often speaks to you in such a still small voice that you have to be quiet and draw very near to Him to hear it. When you are in that position, He has you just where He wants you!

The Bible tells us to "grow . . . in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ " (2Pet.3:18). That word "knowledge" comes from a Greek word epiginosko (ep-ig-in-oce'-ko), which means "to become fully acquainted with." Yes, we know Jesus as our Savior, but do we really know Him well; are we fully acquainted with Him?

Have you noticed how uptight many Christians are lately? It is getting hard to tell them from people of the world. Those who do not know the Lord have reason to be nervous wrecks, but that should not be the state of the precious Bride of Christ. The main reason for such a lack of peace among so many of God's children is because they are not fully acquainted with Him. Yes, they know the Lord . . . but . . . not well enough! The Bible says, "Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). It is time for the Bride of Christ to become better acquainted with her Bridegroom!

What hinders us from getting to know the Lord better is that we have a false concept of God. We think He is out to punish us when He has already forgiven us. We are afraid if we get close enough to Him and quiet enough to hear His voice that we will hear about all the faults we see in our flesh, when God wants to communicate to us how valuable we are to Him and how much He loves and delights in us. His view of us, who belong to Jesus, is not distorted; He sees us only through the finished work of Christ. He sees us as "perfected for ever" by that one offering on the cross (Heb.10:14).

Satan is the one who is behind the teaching of a false concept of God. That is his greatest weapon to drive people away from the Lord. He used it on Eve and he will use it on you and me. However, we do not need to listen to the lies of the devil. We can listen to the Holy Spirit give us a true revelation of the goodness of God. He is the One who testifies of Jesus (John 15:26). When the Holy Spirit shows us how wonderful Jesus is, we will not be afraid to draw near to Him, to spend much time alone with Him, and to really get to know Him better.

Recently, the Lord revealed more to me about the incident that happened to me that Easter morning when, for a few moments, I did not recognize my own wife. When He spoke to my heart, it was a very precious time, as when a best friend shares something that is very important to him. After I heard it, I sensed in my spirit that I was not only getting to know the Lord better, but that I was also getting to know a little of "the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil.3:10).

God caused me not to recognize my beloved wife for a few moments to let me know how difficult it is for Him when He cannot recognize His beloved Bride. I love my wife dearly, but He loves His Bride more than I love my wife! I had to go through the agony of not recognizing my wife only for a few moments; He has to endure not being able to recognize His Bride continually! Let me try to explain what He revealed to me.

Every time we, His Bride (that is, we who belong to Jesus), come to Him outside our true identity, He cannot recognize us because we are in a disguise. Now, He knows all things and He knows that underneath all that stuff we put on is a beloved child of His, but He cannot recognize the facade as us because it is not us.

We bring our image before the Lord and expect Him to speak to it! We come before Him using our ministry or the things we do for Him as our identity and wonder why we struggle so to hear His voice! Or we come to Him in the old man that was crucified with Christ on the cross (Rom.6:6) and tell Him how rotten we are. Then we wonder why we find it difficult to communicate with God. Oh, how we need to learn to walk by faith and believe what He has accomplished for us on the cross? Let us (by faith) "put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph.4:24). Let us (by faith) come boldly, in our true identity as His precious child, into the presence of the Lord. There He can recognize us, speak directly to us, put His arms around us and comfort us with His unlimited love! Then we will really get to KNOW our Lord!