You are Designed for a Great Relationship with God
Having a great relationship with God, your Creator, is hard-wired into you. Whether you know that is what you’re looking for or not, it is there. The good new/bad news is: having a wonderful relationship with God is really simple and easy. On the other hand, it is also very hard; which is why so many people, even Christ-followers, have trouble with it. Let’s talk about why that is and then what to do about it.
Why Having a Great Relationship with God is Simple
In our time all I have to do to communicate with someone thousands of miles away is take a little device I always carry with me, hit a few buttons and in seconds I can be talking with them…if I want to, I can even see them as I talk with them. It’s so easy because technology has made distance a non-issue. It is easy to talk and interact with someone when distance is not a factor.
Listen to what David the King and Psalmist said about this, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there you hand shall lead me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:7-12)
David realized that God is literally everywhere.
There is no distance barrier at all. Paul said in Acts 17:20 that in God we live, move, exist, and have our being. There is nowhere on earth you can go where you can escape from God’s presence.
That is one of the reasons it is so easy to have a great relationship with God: He is available 24/7 no matter where you are. And if that’s not enough, you are also specifically designed to live with, from, and for Him.
In addressing several really major problems Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” Just as a temple was built as a place for people to encounter God, so you as an individual are built for God’s own Spirit to live inside you. Talk about taking away the distance barrier; you cannot get in any closer than that.
Like Food and Your Stomach
Adding even more encouragement, Paul also wrote, “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immortality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body…Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 6:13, 15b)
I think we would all agree that our stomachs and food have a pretty nice relationship. You do not have to teach a baby to put food in its mouth which goes to the stomach; it just does it because it designed for food. We get it, food and stomach have a natural connection.
In addressing the issue of sexual immortality Paul is trying to get the Corinthians to see that even our physical bodies are meant for the Lord and how God interacts with us will involve our bodies. It’s not just our souls that are members of Christ, but also our bodies.
There are many more word pictures found in Scripture that describe how we are specifically created for a great relationship with God. And God’s desire is that it not be a distant or cold or superficial relationship, but a deep, enjoyable, life-giving one.
So let’s review real quick before we go on:
- God is literally everywhere
- You are designed to carry God’s Spirit inside you
- Even your body is designed to interact with and experience God
- God desires a great relationship with YOU
In other words, it is all set up for you to know, experience, and live with God. That is God’s plan and design for your life and that makes it easy to have a great relationship with Him. It is as simple as closing your eyes and consciously saying, “thank You, Jesus, that you are with me right now. Thank you Holy Spirit that you live in me and are all around me, right now.” Just doing that helps you connect with Jesus anytime, anyplace. That part is so easy.
Next we’ll talk about some of the biggest barriers and what to do about them so you can live in the conscious presence of the source of all that is good. It really is simple to have a great relationship with God because He is with you everywhere, all the time, and you were made for this.
If you are busy, but still want to strengthen your relationship with God, this FREE book could really help. You can get it here now:
www.MarkFurlongBooks.com