Relationship with God - quick question

[Strong in Him]

Hi,

I am preaching on prayer tomorrow at my former church.

I especially want to emphasise the relationship aspect; i.e prayer is talking to God, why do we talk to him, do we want to talk to him, do we believe we can ask him for things and he'll answer? (All basic stuff, but I want to try to encourage them to pray more - the church needs it.)

Anyway, I was thinking of saying that EVERYONE has a relationship with God, and going on to talk about all the different types of relationship - e.g casual, love/hate, indifferent, close; the type of relationship they have with God is up to them. (Though help is available if they want to deepen their relationship with God.)

Do you think it wrong to say that everyone has a relationship with God, even if it's one of indifference, or should I say that we only BEGIN a relationship with him when we become Christians?

I've been thinking about this recently and it occurred to me that maybe becoming a Christian is a bit like marriage - making vows and a committment - rather than just companionship or friendship.
What do you think?

 

[SharonL]

You can be a Christian and walk under the protection of God's Glory, however your walk will never come alive until you have a real relationship with Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit.

I spent 60 years as a church pew warming Christian, but never knew what my walk was suppose to be like until I met the Holy Spirit in an awaking moment of being filled with the Holy Spirit and walking hand in hand with Jesus knowing He was beside me all the time, closer than a friend. The Bible tells us that Jesus is our friend. It is not disrespectful to have a relationship with the Master - just draws us closer and we can hear what it is God would have us do - just walking the 'here I am Lord, send me, send me.'

 

[Strong in Him]

Thanks Sharon.
It's the nature of the relationship that I want to stress though - i.e are you strangers? Indifferent to him? Casual? - you only talk once a week in church; that kind of thing.

Many people don't know God - although some don't want to - but he still knows and loves them. That, I would say, is a one sided relationship. Even hatred of God is some kind of relationship - they care enough to know that they hate him.

Or maybe I should just ask if they KNOW that they can have a deeper relationship with him?

 

[murjahel]

there is a whole series
of teachiings on prayer
on the web site
armyofProphets.com

look under the thread
'hedge builders'

hope it helps​

 

[Seeking Him]

When you mention relationship and commmitment, I think of something I read recently on the covenant God has with his children. That a contract is an exchange of goods and services, where as a covenant is an exchange of persons. God is saying: "I am yours and you are mine."

Some Christians think their relationship is a contract, and this implies coldness and distance. A covenant is a relationship of love. God pursues us to grow in an intimacy in that covenant.

 

[Alive_Again]

<Or maybe I should just ask if they KNOW that they can have a deeper relationship with him?

I was reminded of a "first love" kind of relationship (though it wasn't a first love), that we should have with the Lord.

I couldn't wait to have to have private moments with her. My day began when I saw her (even if that was at 5:30 p.m.), I would see her beauty in everything that she had, I would hope someone would give me an excuse to talk about her. I would go out of my way to find an excuse to talk to her, would do things extra for her, little suprises, favors, went great lengths to not hurt her, wanted to make her happy in all things. Every love song was for us, the world was for us. Others longed to live in our world. It was a Song of Songs relationship for sure. You can extend these qualities to a relationship with the Lord as we discover His attributes. I know that He is taken by the Godly qualities we have working in us. He sees the Father in us as we yield to Him. The more we look away from our circumstances, take our sanctification seriously by being separated from the world, reserve our words for Him, etc. that He honors our faith by living through us to bring agape love to others. It means a lot to Him to be able to work in us to touch others who suffer. Every act done in His name, we observe His beauty through us, extending, and we are humbled and taken like a lovesick teenagers. In our prayer, it's time to return to our first love and rekindle the flame that makes everything make sense and have meaning. Others will see that same fire, and desire it too.

 

[AndOne]

1 Timothy 1:12.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

Thanks Sharon.
It's the nature of the relationship that I want to stress though - i.e are you strangers? Indifferent to him? Casual? - you only talk once a week in church; that kind of thing.

Many people don't know God - although some don't want to - but he still knows and loves them. That, I would say, is a one sided relationship. Even hatred of God is some kind of relationship - they care enough to know that they hate him.

Or maybe I should just ask if they KNOW that they can have a deeper relationship with him?

A lot depends on who you mean when you say a relationship with God. Are you talking about all three persons of the Holy Trinity? Or, are you talking about God the Father? Some people may feel comfortable having relationship with Jesus and still hold the Father in a far different way.

Last night at Prayer Meeting I started my teaching by asking folks if God the Father loves them as much as he loves Jesus. I watched the faces. Some folks actually looked shocked that I would ask such a question. Almost like it was akin to blasphemy. But as I proceeded through the teaching and showed them scripture about God the Fathers love and we started sharing I realized that many folks do not have a relationship with God the Father.

We worked on that when I had them picture climbing up into their Daddy's (Abba's) lap, hugging him tightly and feeling him hug them back and then whisper the Lord's prayer to him, telling him how much they love Him and need Him.

These same folks claimed Jesus as Lord and brother and friend.
So, this is something to consider when you talk about a relationship with God.

There are thousands of Christians out there who have no relationship whatsoever with the Holy Spirit. They have a vague idea about him but have never been taught how to adore Him.

 

[Strong in Him]

Thank you everyone for some thought provoking answers.
I'm off to church shortly, but will post later to tell you what I'd had in mind and how it went.

 

[lilmissmontana]

Hello

When I think about a relationship with God or when someone asks me where it starts, I give them this verse ... and this is a verse I often conclude with, as well ...

Hosea 6:6
Israel's insincere repentance

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and
the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

to me, when I read this verse I can just feel God's desire for us to just know Him ... and obey Him ... the verse somehow opens the door for me to just talk to Him about everything ... I have a hard time seperating prayer from just talking to Him, though ... not that it isn't that ... to me they're sort of seperate ... but not really ... well, I hope that made sense ...

jmview
God bless

 

[Peaceful Dove]

Thank you everyone for some thought provoking answers.
I'm off to church shortly, but will post later to tell you what I'd had in mind and how it went.

I am looking forward to hearing how this went. What a wonderful topic to preach on.

 

[gratefulgrace]

ME too

 

[Strong in Him]

Hi again everyone,

Sorry I didn't get back to this yesterday.

I think it went ok. I got several positive comments afterwards, though that could have been mostly because I took a couple of puppets along for the children's talk. There weren't any children there in the end, but I did the talk anyway, and even used some of the puppets again in the sermon. It wasn't heavy stuff - in fact at one point I wondered if I was being too basic for them, and worried that some would have thought me patronising. But I think the main message - that the type of relationship they have with God is up to them, but God wants it to be a close, loving one - got through.

I also then talked about prayer - which springs from this close relationship, told them how God works through prayer and that I no longer have M.E, which is an anwer to prayer. And I left them with a challenge, well, maybe two. The first challenge was for those who did not have a close relationship with God or believe he cared about them to try it; talk to him, tell him what was on their minds and try to get to know HIM better. (We had read Psalm 139, about how well God knows each one of us.)
But if they felt they already had a close relationship with God, and did pray, then the challenge was to think of one thing in their life, community or church that concerned them, pray about it every day for a week and see what happened.

I did have two small answers to prayer myself in that service.
The first was that even though I have been an accredited preacher for 3 years, I still tend to write my sermons out - as a script. I never read them word for word, but it is there, in case I lose the thread, feel unwell or am unsure of what I am saying. Yesterday, it didn't seem right to do this when I was talking about the informality of prayer and being able to talk to God. So I had the sermon written out in bullet points - with very brief notes under each. I still think I may have waffled a bit, and if anyone had been assessing that sermon on style or whatever, I may have been in trouble. But that approach worked for the subject and the congregation.

The second answer to prayer was in the prayers of intercession themselves. These, I think, are my weakest part of any service; I find it hard writing them, and if I DO go for extempore prayer, I very often have long pauses (no bad thing, but they FEEL awkward) and am unsure what to say. Yesterday I felt I had to put my sermon into practice, clsoed my eyes and just prayed. I was surprised at how it flowed and some of the things that I said.

I now need to go away and pray that people will take up my(God's) challenge, and discover during this next week that they CAN trust him to be with them and help them in their lives.

God is good.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

This is something posted on Facebook that I wanted to share with you all. I just loved it.

Poem in Concrete. Standing outside the John Paul II Library is this concrete book on a pillar with the inscription:

He came in a way that fulfilled so much;
Walked in a way that taught so much;
Died in a way that provided so much;
Rose in a way that conquered so much;
Lives in a way that gives so much;
Loves in a way that means so much...

"Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift" (II Corinthians 9:15)

 

[Strong in Him]

This is something posted on Facebook that I wanted to share with you all. I just loved it.

Poem in Concrete. Standing outside the John Paul II Library is this concrete book on a pillar with the inscription:

He came in a way that fulfilled so much;
Walked in a way that taught so much;
Died in a way that provided so much;
Rose in a way that conquered so much;
Lives in a way that gives so much;
Loves in a way that means so much...

"Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift" (II Corinthians 9:15)

Thank you, that's lovely.

I've just joined Facebook, but haven't yet worked out what's what.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

Lot's of us from CF are on Facebook. Good things happening there.

 

[gratefulgrace]

I am connected under my own name to a couple of folks from here on Facebook. I enjoy it but use it mostly to connect with extended family to share photos etc.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

I am connected under my own name to a couple of folks from here on Facebook. I enjoy it but use it mostly to connect with extended family to share photos etc.

I am in No. CA and most of my family are in So CA. I use Facebook for that too.
However, lots of ministry on there too and I love it.
Watch for Private Msg.

 

[Peaceful Dove]

I just shared with a friend that we need to ignite a fire. Or hearts need to burn with passion for our Lord.

 

[Strong in Him]

I just shared with a friend that we need to ignite a fire. Or hearts need to burn with passion for our Lord.

Absolutely!