How do you cultivate a relationship? Time. Conversation. Fun. Adventures. Projects. Attentive ear.
Which relationships do you value the most in your life? Are they the relationships that make you feel safe? Free? Secure? The relationships where you can be yourself?
One of the most important relationships I have in my life is my relationship with God. This relationship has nothing to do with religion. Religion is defined as a personal or institutionalized system grounded in such beliefs. Even this definition alone is dry and unattractive.
God has more to say about religion. Mark 7:13 tells us “Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down towards others, making up rules that nullify God’s Word? If this verse intrigues you look at these others, Galatians 3: 2-5, Romans 8:15, and Colossians 2: 20-23.
Religion never fails to make up rules and create hoops to jump through. Jesus did away with those rules of the Old Covenant when he died, paying them in full. Now, our focus is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
On this side of Jesus’ death on the cross, we have a restored relationship with God. We can walk and talk with The Lord just like Adam and Eve did. Yes! We can boldly approach God. We can invite him to do life with us daily in the insignificant details, or our overwhelming situations. Nothing is out of reach for him.
I know you might say he doesn’t care about this little thing like a scar, but He does. I know someone who had a dent in their muscle from a shot. This dent was in the wrong place for the girl who loved the beach and swimsuits. She had talked to a plastic surgeon but was not willing to pay for the procedure at the time. She petitioned God to fix it for her. Her husband one day heard screaming from the bathroom. He ran to check on his wife. She was celebrating for God, her plastic surgeon had restored her muscle, erasing the dent!
In the garden of Eden, God came daily to visit. Adam and Eve knew the sound of God’s footsteps. I can only imagine what those talks sounded like. The garden was perfect. They lacked nothing. Peace reigned. Creation submitted to Adam’s authority. The Lord was pleased with how Adam and Eve were managing their home. Their gift from God. How well had Adam and Eve gotten to know God? What kind of questions did they ask of him? What were they learning? (Genesis 3:6-8)
Now that Jesus has risen, we can have those same experiences with God. We can walk and talk with Him. We can ask him anything! Sometimes he doesn’t answer right away; however, He will if we are patient. We can ask him for help, He will. We can ask for wisdom and discernment, He gives it freely and generously! He will give unsearchable knowledge that will help in these days, in business, in times of trouble, and the list never ends. God is an unlimited supply.
God does speak. As we get quiet and choose to listen, He will speak our language. He knows how your brain is wired. He knows how you process; therefore, he will speak to you in a like manner. I learned to recognize his voice by writing down what I thought was him. I would walk away for a while. Later, I would come back and reread what I had jotted down. I began to realize they were not my thoughts. These were not words from my adversary, the words lined up with the Word of God. It was God speaking to me. It was life-changing and was a beautiful beginning to a deeper relationship and friendship with The Lord.
