Is a Relationship with God Biblical?

Jaedan

Take this brother may it serve you well
Jun 30, 2020
163
119
19
Somewhere in the Midwest
✟61,413.00
Country
United States
Faith
Agnostic
Marital Status
Private
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a personal relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.
 
Last edited:
  • Prayers
Reactions: tturt

mlepfitjw

May you be blessed!
Jun 23, 2020
1,620
1,093
Alabama
✟44,897.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Hello Jaedan. Yes having a relationship with God is biblical, and to have true life while living here in this earth: It would be necessary however suffering comes along with serving God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Matthew 6:
9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,
but rescue us from the evil one.

1 Timothy 6: 17
Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. 19 By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.
 
Upvote 0

Jamdoc

Watching and Praying Always
Oct 22, 2019
7,369
2,301
43
Helena
✟203,882.00
Country
United States
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Single
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.

John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

All throughout the Gospels Jesus not only refers to God as His father, but He also refers to him as OUR Father, and He didn't just mean for Himself but rather, all of those who follow Him. What Jesus did is so much beyond just forgiving our sins, and having God remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west and remembering them no more. What God has done is adopt us, as His sons and daughters.

If you don't desire a relationship with the Father you don't know Him, and I would say that's a core, essential belief for salvation. He's so much more to us than just a master and we a servant... He is a father, and ... Jesus Himself.. is our groomsman. What He did at the last supper was actually a marriage covenant proposal to hand the disciples the cup to drink from, that's part of Galilean wedding customs, the upper room discourse further goes into it, that the Groomsman, after his proposal was accepted, he'd go back to his father's house and prepare a room for himself and his bride, and the wedding itself would be a surprise, the son wouldn't know when the wedding would be, only the father would know.
That puts some context into the relationship between Jesus and the Church and context into what John 14:1-3.

Paul talked about this relationship as well.
Ephesians 5:31-32
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

To be honest, I still struggle with this relationship aspect because I'm male and Jesus is male.. its kind of weird and emasculating.
But that is the picture we are given.

That God has accepted us as sons and daughters through marriage to His begotten Son.
 
Upvote 0

St_Worm2

Simul Justus et Peccator
Supporter
Jan 28, 2002
27,246
45,333
67
✟2,915,768.00
Country
United States
Faith
Calvinist
Marital Status
Married
The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will). Is a relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
Hello Jaedan, question, why is keeping yourself in line with God/His will important to you since knowing Him is not? Thanks!

Here's are a couple of short articles that you may find helpful:


There are MANY Scriptures that speak to the idea of our having a personal relationship with God, and He with us. God (our Abba/loving Father .. Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6) calls us His "children/sons/daughters" and tells us that He has loved those of us who are His "from everlasting" (and that He predestined us to be His very own children, by adoption, from before the foundation of the world) .. e.g. Jeremiah 31:3; Ephesians 1:4-6.

Here are the first verses/passages that come to mind.

Matthew 7
21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never ~knew~ you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

John 10
26 You do not believe ~because~ you are not of My sheep.
27 ~My~ sheep hear My voice, and ~I know them~, and ~they follow Me~;
28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

John 17
3 This is eternal life, that they may ~know~ You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

--David
p.s. - here is a Scriptural comparison of a "natural man" (v14 below), IOW, a man who does not "know" God, and a spiritual man who does Him (v11-13/15-16).

1 Corinthians 2
11 Who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.




 
Upvote 0

Maria Billingsley

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Oct 7, 2018
9,573
7,772
63
Martinez
✟893,850.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a personal relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.
The Father works in us through His Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth and He gave us The Comforter, His Holy Spirit to dwell in us in all truth and conviction. Blessings.
 
Upvote 0

longwait

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2016
1,118
769
42
asia
✟85,978.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.

Yes.

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Matthew 25:1-13



“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:1-8
 
Upvote 0

Rachel20

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2020
1,954
1,443
STX
✟58,109.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Is a personal relationship with God biblical?

Yes -
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

And is it necessary?

For myself, yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sustain my belief. While external factors gave me hope (scripture, other's testimonies), only a personal relationship brought it to life.
 
Upvote 0

ViaCrucis

Confessional Lutheran
Oct 2, 2011
37,339
26,779
Pacific Northwest
✟728,043.00
Country
United States
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
In Relationship
Politics
US-Others
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a personal relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.

It really depends on what people mean when they say "personal relationship with God". This is largely a very modern turn of phrase.

Scripture absolutely does speak of the relationship between God and man. In Christ we have received God as our Father, as adopted children. For this reason we are told that we can cry out "Abba! Father!" (the word "Abba" is simply Aramaic for "Father" and is left untranslated, whereas "Father" here is translated from the Greek into English).

And there are many different ways that Scripture uses the language of relationship, such as speaking of our having fellowship (Greek: koinonia, meaning a deep, abiding, togetherness) with God, in Christ, by the Holy Spirit and with with one another as Christ's people.

If by "personal relationship" what is meant is the unity of God and His Church together, in Christ, and our fellowship together in Jesus--then this is very biblical.

If by "personal relationship" what is meant is something akin to "my buddy Jesus" or something, that's not biblical. To be sure, Christ told His apostles, "I call you friends" and so we have friendship with God in Christ; but this should be understood in the context of the above--of God's love for us, of our unity together in God's love, and our fellowship with God by His grace.

We hear God by His word, so that when we hear the Scriptures read we are hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd, who Himself says, "My sheep know My voice". So that when He speaks to us the precious words of His Gospel, of our hope and salvation, and the love with which God loves us in Jesus Christ it actually changes us, it transforms us, it renews us.

I do not put stock into those who say they "hear" God, or that God "speaks" to them, as though God is having mundane conversations with people on a daily basis. I don't think people who say these things are bad, I just think they are mistaken--confusing personal feelings and thoughts with God. That is, of course, potentially dangerous, but I suspect that for the most part it is harmless (though misguided). But that is also, at least in part, part of my own Lutheran bias. In the Lutheran tradition we stress the external, objective word and works of God over internal, personal experience. What God says and does through Word and Sacrament, over our own feelings and sensations. So that we always remain grounded in the objective truth of what God says and does.

I think there is a danger in the "personal relationship" language, because I have seen many Christians struggle over the years, trying to figure out why they can't sense God, or hear God, or feel God. Believing themselves perhaps having done something wrong, or perhaps that God is displeased. Or perhaps God is simply distant--or maybe not even there.

And I've seen this many many times, I've seen people suffer and fall into despair over this, I've even seen some walk away from the faith over this. Which is why I think it is so very important to not sell something to people that just isn't there.

The love of God is real. It's not about feeling something (though there's nothing wrong with feeling things), but about who God is, and what God has done.

God loves us, and that love is real, because He sent Jesus Christ, who chose the cross for you and for me. The love of God is real, objective, and unconquerable, because when God loves, He loves invincibly and unconditionally.

His love is not romance, it's not tingly. God's love is rescue and redemption, it is the kindness and grace of He who throws Himself away in love. The God who sees us, and even when there is nothing lovely in us, loves us anyway--and thus makes the unlovely lovely.

We are dry bones, and God makes us alive again.
We are ashes and dust, but God breathes life into us.
We are naked beggars and strangers, but God clothes us and sits us at His table, as beloved children.

-CryptoLutheran
 
Upvote 0

2PhiloVoid

Yes, you're right! I'm not Gandalf!
Supporter
Oct 28, 2006
21,122
9,946
The Void!
✟1,125,854.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a personal relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.

I'm going to come at your questions from the angle of saying, "No, I don't have a personal relationship with God." The concept of having a relationship, which is usually articulated in human terms, ends up begging the question. Is it biblical? It can be, but I don't think it is necessary to think of it in the same way as one would in hugging and talking to one's own spouse.

If I were to be utterly honest about this, I'd just tell you that I usually feel like I'm praying to the sky when I pray. The thing is, as a philosopher and an existentialist, I leave the manifestation of God's expression in my life as an open mystery. This might seem useless, but my purpose in appropriating Christianity within my life isn't made of a hope that God will "really" show up in some literal, concrete way in tangible words. Would I like it if God or one of His angels appeared clearly and matter of factly? In my most fantastical moments of mind, I'd say "Sure!" But I'm also afraid of this possibility as well ...
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Jaedan
Upvote 0

aiki

Regular Member
Feb 16, 2007
10,874
4,348
Winnipeg
✟236,528.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

God in His word goes farther than just a relationship with us. We can have a relationship with our dentist; we can have a relationship with our dog; we can have a relationship with the tree in the front yard. God, though, offers us fellowship with Himself, intimate communion, such that Paul the apostle was able to write:

Philippians 1:21
21 For to me, to live is Christ...


We come to this fellowship with God (1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 1:3; Philippians 3:7-11) through the relationship to God opened to us in the Person of Jesus Christ. Through faith in him, the "door of the sheepfold," (John 10:9) "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6), we are brought into the family of God as adopted children (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5, etc.)

Many are content merely to have been adopted, wanting "fire insurance," not God Himself. But the heart of Christianity is not just salvation from hell, but coming to know God personally and intimately, not as the Creator only, a distant and powerful entity, unknowable and closed to us, but as Life itself in every sense. This is what we were made for; to know Christ as our very life.

God does not approach us as other than He is, however. He meets us as God, which means our relationship with Him is always as inferior to Superior, lesser to Greater, servant to Master. This is the big sticking point for a great many people. They might be persuaded to a relationship with God if He lets them alone to do as they like, helping them when they ask for it, serving them as needed, but remaining silent and uninvolved - like a piece of furniture - the rest of the time. Others want a buddy, someone who encourages them, and supports them, and makes them feel good, but not someone whose commands they must obey, who will put boundaries on their thinking and activities. Still others want religion, not God; "spirituality," not a Lord and Master. They wish to see themselves as "deep" and perhaps even a bit mysterious, tapped into a "higher reality" that makes them clearer in their perception of things than the average Joe, more "grounded" or "centered"; they want rituals, and practices, and paraphernalia, not to be a "living sacrifice" unto God (Romans 12:1).

God, though, is never truly encountered in these approaches to Him. He wants intimate communion with us, but never apart from who He is, never under any other dynamic than as Creator to creature, Lord and Master to servant, Father to child. And so we read in the Bible:

Romans 6:13
13 Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.


Romans 6:22
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Romans 8:14
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.


James 4:6-10
6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.


1 Peter 5:6
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,


The key to true fellowship with God is in submission to Him, daily, even moment-by-moment, yielding yourself to Him, to His will and way. And when this is your approach to God, His Spirit works in you in all the ways the Bible says He will, convicting you (John 16:8), teaching you (John 14:26), comforting and strengthening you (Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 3:16; Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:13), disciplining you when necessary (Hebrews 12:5-11) and transforming you into one in whom Christ is clearly seen (Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all.

Yes, this is the Big Problem all people lost in sin and darkness have. They want their will and way, not God's. Sadly, the most common way God moves lost people toward Himself is to let them have what they want and to taste, in time, the emptiness, and pain, and bitter death that He has promised always follow on the heels of their sin. (Romans 6:23; Proverbs 14:12; Galatians 6:7-8) Some survive the terrible "harvest" of their sin, coming to faith in Christ and submission to him before it is too late, often permanently scarred by their Self-will, but most do not.

Matthew 7:13-14
13 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.


Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?

Yes, it is necessary. And it is based entirely upon love for Him. Obeying God for reasons apart from love of Him is useless, as Paul the apostle explained:

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.


Here Paul explains that no matter what I say, or know, or do, if love - first for God and then for others - is not my motive, then all of these things are spiritually of no profit. Jesus confirms Paul's words here by declaring that the First and Great Commandment is to love God with all of one's being (Matthew 22:36-38), not to go to church, or to tithe, or to abstain from sin. These things all are to arise naturally from loving God and if they do not, well, as Paul pointed out, they are useless spiritually.

It is only within this love-relationship context that the Christian life "works" and so it is a non-negotiable in walking properly in fellowship with God.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Jaedan
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Jaxxi

Half-ready for Anything.....
Jul 29, 2015
2,149
698
Phoenix, AZ
✟50,046.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Constitution
(NOTE, I meant to write "Personal Relationship" in the title instead of just "Relationship")

Hi,


I'm still deciding if I want to leave my faith (moreover, I have been about researching atheism, other religions, etc).

Where in the bible is it stated that someone can have a personal relationship with God?

Many people tell me that having a personal relationship with God includes (besides worshiping and pleasing him) seeking Him for his presence, guidance, strength, or a sense of his love. Nonetheless, I have come to realize that I don't care about seeking these things from God anymore (or anything else for that matter). In fact, I don't actually care about seeking this "personal relationship" with God at all. The only thing I would care about is keeping myself in line with him (and his will)

Is a personal relationship with God biblical? And is it necessary?
.
If judgement day comes and you hear the words " Depart from me. I never knew you." then you will know it was Biblical. You do not want to hear those words from your Lord. It makes me sad that you would not want a personal relationship with the Lord. He loves you so much and how could you not want that? People baffle me anymore these days. Do you think you can survive the afterlife without Him? For one minute? If you went before a Holy God without the blood of Jesus covering your soul you would dissinigrate. If you found yourself falling into the pit there is only one name that can save you and you don't want to know Him? You think you can just squeak in with the bare minimum, doing just enough to get in but not enough to know the Master? Like going to heaven with a D+? I don't know how it works but I don't think it works like that. You have to love your God with all your mind, body, soul and spirit friend. He created us to have a family. That is all He ever wanted, which is why human souls have something in us that the angels do not have and that is the Spirit of God. We have the ability to love deeply, intimately, passionately and profoundly. Not all of us possess this ability but most of us do.
And He hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, Exodus 35:31
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Unqualified
Upvote 0