All in Relationship
When we are hungry, to whom do we turn? When we are thirsty, where do we look to have our thirst quenched? When we are in need of a safe place to lay our head, whose name do we Call out to? Before we search for food, water, or shelter, we should seek God, and then obey Him as He leads us, and provides for us. This was the message to the Israelites in the desert, and it is our message today.
When you enter your time of devotion and reading the scriptures, is your intention to study the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God, like a scientist would study a specimen in a lab? If you are a pastor are you looking for eloquence and inspiration that can be used in your sermons? If so then you are treating your relationship and faith as if they were something you might own, and not the love of your life that you should be immersed in, and changed by.
It is one thing to know what a life of prayer is, but something altogether different to actually live one. Being called to prayer and answering that call are two entirely separate things. Every Christian receives the call to prayer, but so many cripple themselves by either refusing that call, or not knowing how to answer it. Are you fully engaged in a life of prayer, or limping into it without understanding what it actually is, or involves?
Do you read the Bible each day, diligently adhere to the commandments, and perform acts of mercy as a mater of daily routine? Do you pray that God forgive you of your sins as you prepare to walk out the door in the morning, and place a check beside that on your list of righteous things to do? Well all these things are good, but God doesn’t want to be reduced to a checklist; he wants to be your closest friend, your most trusted confidant, the one you come to with every thing that excites you in life... he wants a relationship that places Him at the true center of your life... your BFF. We can’t do this without constant prayer.
When you are serving God do you seek to further perfect what He has given you to do? If He tells you to build a neighborhood church do you build a parsonage as well? We hear the voice of God, we hear what He would have us do, and then presume we know what comes next. Have you been guilty of this? Did it seem innocent as you placed words in the mouth of God?
You read your Bible, you teach Sunday school, or you might even preach sermons, but does this make you spiritual? Are you a spiritual Christian, or are you a carnal Christian at heart? So many who follow Jesus Christ do so motivated by a worldly desire; they seek Him with their minds, and intellect... much more than relationship, and meekness, not with a spiritual inclination. Which are you, and do you even know?
How do we begin our day? Do we read the Bible? Do we pray for forgiveness, and all the active prayer requests on our list? Do we read a morning devotional? Maybe we write one or add an entry in our prayer journal? All of these things are good, but do we take the time to secretly have an intimate conversation with God? God wants to hear more than our wants and the needs of others... He desires to be in personal relationship with us.
Are you struggling with whether you will give yourself to Jesus, and fully believe in God? Have you been reasoning and reading scripture without moving an inch closer to believing? If so, then quit listening to your own intellect, and still yourself... then open your ears to the still small voice of God that calls you to “Come.” Hearing God isn’t a matter of intellectual reasoning on your part; it is being inexplicably drawn by the Lord.
Do you trust enough in God to allow yourself to be used unconditionally to accomplish His good will? Do you believe that He brings bad situations upon you, or do you believe He uses you amidst bad situations for His good purposes?
Are you approaching your faith through study and hard work to further perfect yourself each day? Every evening during your evening prayers do you kneel before God and tell Him of your progress? If this is so, and it is all you do, He will speak words similar to these back to you...”Yes, but when I walked in the garden where were you?” or, “As I love you, do you love me?” God wants our journey towards perfection to be a manifestation of our relationship with Him; our perfection is not His ultimate goal.
When we first meet Him, God doesn’t just rush into our lives, He treats us much like I learned to treat stray or feral dogs and cats when I was a boy. When I meet an animal for the first time I approach it very slowly, and when I get close I stop, and all the while I just talk to it in a soft reassuring voice.
Do you have routine habits of faith? Are you made proficient in your faith by setting aside certain times each day to regularly read, pray, or just contemplate God, and Jesus? If not, and you are just depending on random thoughts, or going to church once or twice a week, then you are missing out on a wonderful growing relationship.
What bubbles up from within you during prayer? Do you ever begin to pray and then hear yourself as if from some far away place; speaking in a language of groans and utterances that you can’t translate into words, but feel perfectly conversant in within your heart? Our spirit, and the Holy Spirit that resides within us , speak in a dialect known only in heaven.
Do you walk with God, or yearn to walk with Him? How close is your relationship, and how desperately do you seek His presence? In your desire for salvation and eternal life do you place those goals above loving God? If so, do you realize that there will never be a quiet stroll through the garden, or a conversation spent speaking without having to utter a word?
So often we think that there is but one way that we are called, and that God has a set process for leading us. We somehow get in our minds that there is but one way to serve God, and that if we don’t fit into the biblical walk exhibited by one of the twelve apostles then we are not correct in our faith. In fact, we are all unique and so is our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.