WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
Having a personal relationship with God is more than a celestial insurance policy that guarantees safe passage to paradise when you die.
It has more to do with the here and now.
If you get the here and now right, you don’t need to worry about what will happen when you die.
The Father who took care of you during your stay on planet earth is trustworthy, and when it’s time for your promotion, He will take care of you on the other side of eternity. You can count on that!
God focuses his love on you right where you are with all your problems and addictions, and He does it now. The Father is a here and now God.
Nothing is too hard for God.
When it comes to dealing with your problems and turning your life around, He’s in it with you for the long haul, and He is ready to move mountains of difficulty out of your life.
God will do more than point you in the right direction. He will also give you the power to make the trip.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM YOUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
When Jesus started his mission on planet earth, he stated exactly what you should expect.
In the Gospel of Luke in the Bible, Jesus said that he came, “To announce good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
That is his master plan for the here and now.
There is Good News in the here and now, and you are supposed to take it personally.
There is Freedom in the here and now, and you are supposed to take it personally.
There is Release from oppression in the here and now, and you are supposed to take it personally.
There is God’s special favor in the here and now, and you are supposed to take it personally.
God has a dream for your life that has all of these components in it.
His master plan is good news from start to finish.
Old things will pass away, and God will make all things new.
You will discover the truth that sets you free.
You will recover what has been lost.
You will be released from all forms of oppression, and your addictions will become a thing of the past.
Finally, God will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings into your life.
That sounds like a plan that you can live with.
That’s what Jesus came to do in the here and now, and it’s high time that you take it personally.
A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God?
When Jesus talked about God, he called him Father.
Jesus referred to God more than 150 times using the word Father.
This isn’t an accident.
Jesus wanted us to understand that when we open our heart and mind to the Father’s love, we are born spiritually. God makes our spirit come alive, and that’s why we audaciously dare to call him Father.
The Father is also the source of all good things in our life.
All of our talents and abilities are gifts that come directly from him.
We are not the source. He is the Source and provides whatever we need. The Source is always with us.
Jesus said, “He who has seen me, has seen the Father,” and then he added, ‘I and the Father are one.”
Jesus always spelled things out in simple terms that even children can understand.
He said that if you want to know what God is like, look at me.
When you see how Jesus interacted with ordinary people who have problems just like you and me, you understand how God looks at you and loves you.
At the most basic level, you have a personal relationship with God when you open your heart and mind to his love, and you dare to call him Father. You spend the rest of your life learning what it means to live as one of his children.
Jesus said unless you become as a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Having a personal relationship with God is so simple that even a child can do it.
In Matthew 16:23 Jesus said, “You are a stumbling block to me. You think as men think, not as God thinks.
Jesus said when we think like men, we stumble.
How we think and what we think is important.
Wrong thinking trips us up.
We need a new way of thinking; we need to think as God thinks.
When you get in agreement with God, you are thinking the way God thinks.
You need to understand how God thinks so you can get in agreement with him.
God is the God of the possible. Impossible is not found in his vocabulary, and impossibility doesn’t exist in his universe. Everything is possible when you think the way God thinks.
God is the source of all good things. All that you are or have comes directly or indirectly from him. There are no shortages in God’s kingdom of love. Everything that you need to live an abundant life is already present and available for those who think as God thinks.
God thinks abundance.
Jesus said he had come so you might have life and have it more abundantly. God created the world and everything in it. What you need is no big deal to God. Supplying your needs won’t break his bank or bankrupt his kingdom. God enjoys giving you good things. His plan is to fill your cup with blessings until it runs over.
God thinks possibility.
All things are possible when you think the way God thinks. God is the God of possibility, and there is no limit to how good your life can become when you think the way God thinks.
God thinks positive.
The most positive force in the universe is God’s love. It changes the way you think and feel making you into a positive person.
God thinks positive expectations.
When you get into agreement with God, your expectations change. Impossible becomes possible, and scarcity becomes abundance. God has a powerful positive plan for your life. God expects good things to happen in your life when you think the way He thinks.
God thinks forgiveness.
God forgives you for the wrong things you have done. He not only wipes the slate clean, He also throws the slate away.
God thinks freedom for the captives.
Jesus came to set the prisoners free. The chains of lack and limitation fall off when you think the way God thinks.
God thinks release from oppression.
Jesus came to liberate you from all forms of oppression. Economic, spiritual, chemical, and psychological dependencies disappear when you think the way God thinks.
God thinks recovery of what has been lost.
The blind receive their sight. What the world destroys and takes away, God recovers and restores.
God thinks favor.
He bestows his blessings on all who get in agreement with him. He opens the windows of heaven, and blessings fall all around.
God thinks good news.
God has no dark side. He is on our side, and is in it with us for the long haul. All of God’s thoughts are good news. When you become silent and listen for God’s voice, you hear his positive message of love.
You can trust God. If you do your part, God will do his. When you get in agreement with him, when you think the way He thinks, God starts working miracles in your life.
God already knows what you need even before you ask.
God wants to give you good things even more than you want to receive them. But first you must ask.
Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.”
Asking simply recognizes that God is the source of all good things, and that He can be trusted to provide.
Outsourcing doesn’t exist in God’s kingdom of love.
All of us need to be reminded that God is our source. God will give you what you need unless you block him.
There are no shortages in God’s kingdom.
God is a God of abundance, and when you get in agreement with him, when you trust him to supply your needs, when you have positive expectations, then the windows of heaven open, and blessings fall all around.
LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT
The rich and famous have a disadvantage.
Many believe they are self-made and don’t recognize that all their talents and abilities are gifts from God.
They trust in themselves rather than in the One who gave them their gifts.
It’s hard for God to use those who trust only in themselves. God could have used them in a bigger way if they had trusted in him.
Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
When you trust only in yourself, you never get in agreement with God, and you miss out on his purpose and plan
If you aren’t rich, powerful, or famous, then you are exactly the type of person God is looking for.
If you have a willing heart that is full of love, you have everything you need to be used by God.
If you don’t feel quite up to the challenge, then you are exactly where you need to be.
God is always up to the challenge, and when good things happen, you discover that He is the one who made them come to pass.
Heroes of faith know it’s not about them. It’s about God making big things happen.
God looks for ordinary people who have a willing heart, and who put their trust in him.
With God’s help, ordinary people do extraordinary things.
Little is much when God is in it.
