Chapter 2: Your Relationship With God

Ashley Evans   -   April 2, 2021

Often people will ask why we make a distinction between being religious and being a Christian. Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to look at how being a Christian is similar to being in love. Real Christianity is like a romance! When you’re in love with someone, all you want to do is spend time with that special person. You can talk and talk without noticing the hours fly by. As the relationship grows, commitment deepens and you come to know your partner and appreciate them more. The energy and commitment of building that relationship brings about fantastic rewards.

On the other hand, being religious is like being in a loveless relationship. It’s just hard work! Like all relationships, religion requires commitment but you don’t do it because you want to, you do it because you feel obligated to. Real Christianity starts by understanding that God loves you and accepts you as you are. He just wants you to love Him! He wants to spend time with you and He wants you to get to know Him more. That’s why prayer is such an important part of being a Christian. Not so we can get the ritual right but so we can talk to the One who made us and loves us more than anyone. When you live this kind of Christianity the effort is unbelievably rewarding and life is anything but religious!

Our relationship with God is like other relationships, in that consistent and open communication is crucial to maintain its health and vibrancy.

Going Deeper…

There are three important aspects to our relationship with God,

1  Prayer

Talking with God is called prayer. Just in the same way you dialogue with the person you love, so God wants you to tell Him what kind of day you’ve had, the fears that you are facing and the desires of your heart. Prayer is not meant to be complicated. We can’t impress God with the words we use, it’s what our heart is saying that matters to Him, so just share out loud from your heart the things you feel, You might feel a little silly at first because you can’t see God with your eyes but you need to know that God is spirit and that He is there, waiting to hear from you.

Prayer is as crucial to the Christian as water is to the human body. Without it, the relationship becomes dry and eventually it will waste away. The first thing to disappear in a failing marriage is communication. With the breakdown in communication, it isn’t long before other people capture our heart and love. Then the relationship becomes superficial and we lose the benefits of marriage or even the marriage itself.

The same happens in our relationship with God. Unless you continually make the time to spend in intimacy with God, you will find yourself becoming religious, and even turning your back on Him.

Read Philippians 4:6-7

  1. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

v.7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Read Luke 18:1

Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Read 1 Peter 3:12

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Read 1 John 5:14-15

  1. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
  2. 15 And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of Him.

Jesus calls Himself the ‘Good Shepherd’ and calls us ‘His sheep’.

Read John 10:27

My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

2  The Bible

In any relationship that you have, it is important to get to know about the person you love. In the same way, we need to get to know about God and His character. The best way to do this is to spend time reading your Bible.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is like a road map of life. It is filled from cover to cover with principles of successful living and shows you how to live with purpose and meaning in a confused and misguided world.

Reading your Bible can be compared to eating food. If you don’t eat you don’t grow, and if you don’t read God’s Word to us (the Bible) you won’t grow either. Start from the New Testament and begin to read through the Gospels (ie. the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and find out about this Jesus you are following. Who is He, what is He like, and what lessons about life did He share with His disciples that you can learn from? What is His attitude to people like you? Don’t just read it like a novel, but think about how you can apply what you are reading to your life.

God wants to speak to us through His Word, the Bible.

It is the most valuable asset you have and you can develop no better habit than to read it every clay.

How to look up a verse

  1. Locate the book from the contents page of your Bible
  2. Then locate the chapter (usually large type)
  3. Then find the verse numbers (usually smaller and slightly raised)

    John  3: 16-20

Read 2 –Timothy 3:15-17

  1. 15 And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
  2. 16 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Word “Scripture” in this verse means the Bible.

Read Psalm 119:9-18

  1. 9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
  2. 10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
  3. 11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
  4. 12 Praise be to you, O Lord; teach me your decrees.
  5. 13 With my lips I recount all the law that come from your mouth.
  6. 14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
  7. 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.
  8. 16 I delight in your decrees: I will not neglect your word.
  9. 17 Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word.
  10. 18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Read Psalm 119:105

Your word is a Lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

For further study:

Carefully read the whole of Psalm 119 and notice how almost every verse says something about the Words or Commands of God.

Read Psalm 1 and notice what the Bible promises to the person who meditates on the Word of God.

3  Community 

Our relationship with God will also be enhanced greatly if we spend time getting to know others who are part of the family of God.

In all relationships, you are connected not only to the person you love but to their friends and other family members.  These people in a healthy relationship are important to help make your relationship work. The first thing that you do when you are serious about someone is to introduce him or her to your family and friends. Your parents and other family members want to get to know this new person in your life too. It is often said that when you marry someone, you are marrying the whole family. The same can be said about being a Christian. The Bible makes it clear that when we accepted Jesus into our lives, we became a part of God’s family. We are now related to each other. We are brothers and sisters together in Christ. You now have an extended family that you will spend eternity with, and it is important that you get to know them by spending time with them.

Families and true friends encourage and uplift one another. They stand together in times of crisis. They support one another, and that is what the family of God is all about. Without the support of other Christians, you will find yourself isolated and feeling all alone, As a consequence, your relationship with God will also suffer, leaving you feeling discouraged and uncertain.

Being in regular fellowship and community with other Christians in a church setting is crucial to your relationship with God because it is by spending time with more mature Christians that you learn things that you would never learn by yourself. Fellowship helps you to grow.

One caution however – don’t expect your new family to be perfect!

As in any family, none of the members do all the right things all of the time. Family members can also irritate each other. God has placed us in this environment and will even allow irritation to take place because, if handled the right way, it causes growth and patience in our lives. Sand in the eye causes irritation, yet sand in an oyster produces a pearl. Allow family life to produce pearls in your life rather than irritation and you will find yourself growing and growing in your relationship with God.

Spend time with other Christians, set aside Sunday as a day of meeting together with Christians to worship God. Also make plans to attend a small group during the week. The extra interaction with others and the intimacy of a small group will bless and encourage you at a time when you need it (right in the middle of a busy week).

Read Acts 2:40-47

  1. 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
  2. 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
  3. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
  4. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

v- 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

  1. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
  2. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
  3. 47 Praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This passage shows some of the things the early Christians did regularly.

Read Hebrews 10:25

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the day approaching.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

  1. Set aside 5 minutes every day to read your Bible. Start with the first chapter of John and read one chapter at a time. Think of ways you could apply what you’re reading to your life.
  2. Spend time talking to God each day. Share what’s in your heart and thank Him for all He has done for you.
  3. Plan to attend church on Sunday. You could also go to a House Party or a special interest group. Ask your life coach for more information about any of these.