What Does a Relationship with God Look Like?
CONVERSATIONS:
The world today provides us with a countless number of resources on Christianity. The Bible has never been more accessible—from our homes, to our libraries, to even our mobile applications. Yet how many people in the world really do know God?
1. How would you describe your relationship with God?
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The Bible recounts men and women who have had a relationship with God. Abraham was considered as a friend of God (James 2:23). Moses was known to have spoken face-to-face with God, like how friends do (Exodus 33:11). King David was so close to God that he was considered a man after God’s own heart, someone who would follow whatever God asked of him (Acts 13:22).
What did these men have in common? They based their relationship with God through their own personal experience with God.
While there is no doubt that we do need resources in order to know God better, all the research and reading in the world can never replace the experience of knowing God for who He truly is. It’s one thing reading up on Him, but it’s another to actually know God. It’s the same with relationships. It’s one thing to hear and talk about a person you’ve never met, and a completely different thing to actually meet and spend time with the person in question.
2. Examine yourself. Do you spend more time studying God than spending time with Him?
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God used to be a big, powerful Being that the people of the Old Testament saw as Someone ruling from far away. That all changed, however, when Jesus came down to earth. This time, it wasn’t just the few prophets who were allowed access to God, but everyone who yearned to have a relationship with Him. That is why, thousands of years later, we still have the same access to God. How? Through His Word and prayer.
God’s Word
The Bible is God’s living, breathing Word on earth. The Bible is used for teaching, reproof, correction, and training for righteousness for all (2 Timothy 3:16). This is how God speaks to us everyday.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
3. How often do you take time to know Him through His Word? What makes you say this?
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Note: Studies show that it takes, on average, 66 days to form a habit. The good news is that there are countless of devotional books out there so you can start immersing yourself in His Word!
Prayer
The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18
Prayer is our way of communicating to God our thoughts, our worries, and even our daily happenings. The Bible says that God hears all our prayers and even grants them if we ask according to His will!
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15
Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jeremiah 33:3
4. When do you usually pray to God?
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5. What long-term commitment can you do in order to spend more time with God, through His Word and prayer?
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Let’s pray.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for the insight that there is no real formula or equation to getting to know You more, and that what I needed all along is an everyday encounter with You that is transparent, intimate, and genuine.
Thank you for letting me know that this relationship doesn’t start by reading more books or going to church more often. Rather, it starts with my heart’s openness to going to You whether I’m faced with a major problem or just narrating to You how my day went.
Lord, help me receive your Word with open arms, whether it be for your affection, discipline, correction or teaching. I want to experience You for who You truly am, and have Your presence in my life everyday.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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