Category: Personal Relationship with God

John 17:3                               Behind the Scenes; Knowing God

“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth” (NLT).

 

It was intriguing to walk behind the waterfall, to see from behind the scenes.  We don’t often get to see what the backs of waterfalls look like.  When we do, we feel like we understand them better, or at least have a different perspective.  So how do we get to understand God better, to get behind the scenes and find out what is really going on?  It’s no secret; there are two best ways to understand God, to draw closer to Him: 1. Read His Word, 2. Pray.  That’s it.  Those are the two best ways to get to know and understand God well, as well as we as humans can understand the creator of the universe.  He wants us to draw close to Him, to learn about Him, and grasp His greatness and love.  It’s never too late to begin this fascinating journey, and I am convinced that it will never end, even throughout eternity.

Mark 1:35                                           Time Alone with the Father

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (NIV).

 

Fellowship is good.  Spending special time with friends is good.  Gathering with large groups of people to praise the Lord and hear His Word preached is certainly good.  But, even Jesus needed to get way from everything and everybody to spend time alone with the Father.  We find this happening several times in the Gospels.  It seems that Jesus needed the close personal contact with the Father with no possibility of distractions.

If Jesus, the Son of God, had to get away from everything to spend time alone with the Father, how much more do we need to do the same.  Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is a very close, intimate one, and we need to be able to spend time when we can focus our conversation entirely with Him.  He loves mankind in general, but He loves me in particular, just as He loves you, and He yearns for alone time with each of us, to hear from our hearts.  Yes, God does know everything about us, but He also desires to talk with us and hear from our hearts how we are doing, what we are wondering about, how we feel about Him, if there are any requests we have for Him.  Focused time alone with Him also gives us the opportunity to hear from His heart how much He loves us, and what plans He has for us.  For me, that close, focused time alone with God is enhanced when I can be outdoors enjoying His creation.  It draws my attention to Him.

I cherish the times my wife and I can get apart from the concerns of life and just spend time together sharing the deepest feelings of our hearts.  Our relationship is strengthened every time we do that.  We should be desiring to do what we can to deepen the relationship with our Father God, and spending time alone with Him shows Him that we are eager and willing to make an effort to make that special time happen.  I encourage you to plan a time in the near future to spend extended time alone with Father God.  He’s waiting to meet you and spend special alone time with you.

 

Philippians 4:13                               When Do I Need God’s Help?

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV).

I think we all like to quote Philippians 4:13, and we may even believe it almost all the time.  It’s great to have the confidence that Jesus Christ is backing me up or even going before me to prepare the way so I can go through to victory.  Do you ever have tasks to do, and think, “I don’t need God’s help.  I can do this on my own.”?  If we look at the picture above and know that we have to get from the foreground to beyond the imposing cliffs across the water, we may realize that we need God’s help.  But when do we need it?  “I can swim across the water on my own.  I can walk over the rounded hills just across the water, but I think I need His help to get over the cliffs.”  All of that may be true, but is it best for us to count on our own strength for the “easy” parts and reserve the request for God’s help for when we get to the hardest part?  It will probably work that way, but I would like to have Jesus Christ beside me the whole journey.  If there is unseen danger under the water, like a strong current, will I be able to swim against it?  What if there are wild animals or serpents hidden in the foothills?  I’d certainly like to have Jesus with me in those circumstances.  Okay, it’s good to have His help for unseen dangers, but I think there’s a better reason to have the help of Jesus Christ for the entire journey.  Any time I am with Him, I experience His love.  It’s a much better experience when we walk with Him and talk with Him the whole time.  Whenever I am in the great outdoors that He created, I like to know that the one who created all this is right with me, that He loves me enough to spend time with me during even the “easy” times of my life.  Thank you, Lord, for being ever present.

2 Corintians 5:20                                                 Me Represent God?

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (NIV).

 

It has often been said: “You may be the only Jesus some people see.”  It might equally be said, “You may be the only Bible some people ever read.”   Those are two immense responsibilities.  I may not want those responsibilities, but I may not have a choice.  People who have not read the Bible have no other way to understand who Jesus is or what His purpose is.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus told His disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (NIV).  Those words were spoken at the moment to Jesus’s disciples, but they are meant for all who follow Him, for He desires that all of us be His witnesses.  So we are called to be His witnesses and His ambassadors.  That’s our calling, and we need to make sure that we do our best to carry out both tasks.

We do know that the public in general looks at us with the desire to catch us up in mistakes, in not behaving like Jesus.  We know we can’t be entirely like Jesus, but we can ask Him to help us to grow more like Him every day.  Perhaps the best we can do is keep growing more in His likeness so that people see the changes in us and understand that there must be something special about the relationship we have with our Lord.  When we do fail, and we will, and speak unkindly or act in a most unchristian way, it is important that we acknowledge that we have failed to those we have wronged and to ask for forgiveness.  Their answers may not be satisfying to us, but the act of asking for forgiveness will probably remain in their minds and hearts and, perhaps when added to like behavior of other Christians, may cause them to wonder about this Jesus and also cause them to seek to learn more, perhaps even enough to ask Him for forgiveness themselves.

We are seen as representatives of Jesus, and, as such, we need to pray earnestly for His guidance daily.

Luke 6:12-13                                             Jesus Prayed All Night

“At about that time he climbed a mountain to pray.  He was there all night in prayer before God.  The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles…” (MSG).

 

Jesus had spent time with His disciples on the Sabbath and had received criticism from the Pharisees  and religious leaders because His disciples has picked grain on the Sabbath to eat and because He healed a man with a crippled arm on the Sabbath.  Then He withdrew from His disciples and climbed a mountain to pray.  Is it important that He climbed a mountain to pray?  I don’t know, but I do know that it was important that Jesus, the Son of God the Father, spent the entire night in prayer.  I also believe that it was important that he drew away to be by Himself to spend significant time in prayer.  He knew that He had major decisions to make regarding who of His followers were to be closest to Him, which ones would share His most intimate words.  I do know that there are times when Norma and I need to get away, even from each other at times, to spend special time with God.  If I am willing to spend special time with my wife, it is certainly worthwhile to spend special alone time with the one who knows me better and loves me more than my wife does, my Lord Jesus.  I come away refreshed when I spend extended time alone with God, when I am willing to focus on Him, His love for me, His plans for me, and the personal teaching he has for me.  Norma and I also find it advantageous to spend time together with God.  What we hear from Him is multiplied when we hear it together.  Our discussions after our individual alone times with God and our together times with God are made more meaningful through the ways in which we individually hear His voice.  We complement each other’s understanding, and we help each other remember what we have heard.

 

Spend time alone with God, and spend time with God and your spouse.  It will be a time of blessing that lasts and lasts.  Incidentally, we, as often as possible, spend our extended times with Him in the outdoors He has created.