I pray that it gives you new perspective and encourages you in your relationship with God!
----
God is
into dealing with us.
He is such an up
close and personal God. Not only is He spiritually near to us because He lives
in those who have placed faith in Christ, but He is an up close and personal God
in the sense that He doesn't want a superficial, "Hi and bye" kind of
relationship with us, He wants it to be real, raw, and...I can't think
of a 3rd R. Oh well, but That's been a constant theme in my life recently that
keeps coming up one way or another, so I thought i'd write on it.
God is an up close
and personal God. Though often times, His tugs at our heart, His taps on our
shoulder, and His attempts to establish closeness are shrugged
off and discounted like a billboard you pass on the way to work. God
faithfully deals with us. He is in that "soft whisper" if you
look for it.
” And behold,
the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in
pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after
the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the
earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the
sound of a low whisper." (1 Kings 19:11-12)
[27] that they
should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is
actually not far from each one of us, [28] for “‘In him we live and move and
have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed
his offspring.’(Acts 17:27-28 ESV)
And when I say that
God deals with us, I don’t mean that God puts up with us, like some
annoying co-worker who you can’t stand dealing with. You have to put up
with someone when you dislike them. On the contrary, God deals with us
because He loves us. Dealing with us means that God is willing and
wanting to get up close to us, to get in our business, in our thoughts, He wants
to deal on a real, every day level with us, be in the trenches with us, on the
court with us, at the table eating with us per se. Completely different
concept.
20 Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:20)
The way God
deals with us is like having your own personal fitness trainer. Often
times when you sign up for a gym membership, you get a few free sessions with a
personal fitness trainer, generally some ex-football player who looks like he’s
on steroids. This guys job is to spend time with you every day, pushing you to
grow to be like him! Or at least, the best you you can be (without performance
enhancing drugs lol). And despite all the tests and exercises and stretches he
puts you through, his job is really not to make your life miserable, though some
days your body may feel otherwise! But the personal trainers job, the
heart of it, is to get the best in us and from us and out of us, for the sake of
our health.
God too is a
personal trainer. He’s that involved. He’s not some hands off,
distant, far away spectator in the clouds above who can’t be reached. God is
hands on, up close, in our minds, in our faces, in our hearts, gently, yet
boldly pressing us to be the best us; to make the best career, the best
relationships, the best use of our time and money, the best sacrifices for
others, the best choices and decisions for ourselves and our loved ones and for
our communities. He too, is pushing us to be "Like Him." And
it's an intensely personal process.
29 For those
whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in
order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Rom. 8:29)
That’s how
God deals with us; on a one-on-one level, with love being His only motive. He is
personal, not general. General is something done cookie-cutter style
for everybody. Personal is something hand-crafted with you in mind.
That's how God deals with us; hand-crafted.
And God is
committed to us. Every day, from the time we open our eyes and plant
our feet on the ground in the morning, God is jockeying for us to “choose
life.” And every evening, when the night has fallen, and you’re slipping back
into bed to recharge after a hard day’s work, God is speaking “You are my son,
you are my daughter, and I love you.”
Do you hear
that? Do you know that? Do you ever stop long enough to listen for
it? Are you ever still enough in the midst of all of your appointments
and meetings and to-do lists, long enough to hear the Spirit saying these
things? Are you getting more than just instructions from God’s book on
how to live a purpose driven life, are you also hearing words of inspiration and
motivation and comfort from a living God & heavenly Father who’s
the greatest champion of your life?
15 For you did
not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received
the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!” 16 And the
Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God,
(Rom. 8:15-16)
I pray that we would
not only go to church and read our bibles and have a plan for our finances and
marriages and families that follow biblical principles. I pray that we would
not only participate in church picnics and Sunday schools and choir rehearsals
and dance ministries. I pray that we would learn to recognize and
respond to the Living God who is dealing with us faithfully and
lovingly every day. I pray that we would grow to talk with God who is living
and alive and real and involved intimately with us, as naturally as we
talk to ourselves when we’re in the car alone or at the house by ourselves. I
pray that talking to God would become as natural as breathing. And I
pray that as we begin to talk to God, we would begin to hear from God in a new
and energizing way. That we would let Him develop a new level of trust. That
we would let Him develop a more deeply rooted faith. That we would hear what He
is saying and remember it more than the words of our favorite song. And that in
hearing, we would grow in obeying, knowing that we follow a God who died on the
cross for us, yet who lives within each one of us.
“Then you will
call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and
find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares
the LORD....” (Jeremiah 29:12-14 ESV)
