In order to know God and to have abundant life on earth and eternal life in heaven, we must be One (or United) with God. It is the ultimate experience and journey. To say we believe in Jesus is easy, but what good will it make if we don’t experience God’s peace, joy, hope and more. We should want to experience all of God. But only a few can. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we will gradually unpack each of the 10 basic questions that we have recently asked ourselves. These are very practical questions that are intended to gauge and deepen our relationship with God.
Question 1 - Do you feel at ease and your heart is filled with joy and gratitude, when you are close to God, listen to and talk to God (read the bible and pray)? Do you miss God when you are too busy?
Here is the truth… When you like someone, you would want to be with and to talk to that person regularly. You feel good when you are with that person because of shared interests, values and goals. On the other hand, if you don’t want to see or talk to someone, it is a sign of a problematic relationship. You have negative feelings due to disagreement or lack of support from that person. In a nutshell, the problem might be in SAM – style, ability or motivation. Recognizing this, we can analyze and try to work on improving our relationships.
Explaining SAM… you are optimistic/active/extrovertive and the other person is pessimistic/passive/introvertive, there is a difference in Style. You can do a lot of things and the other person is less capable, there is a difference in Ability. You are interested in the inward/spiritual and the other person is interested in the outward/appearance, there is a difference in Motivation. It’s rare that 2 people share the same SAM qualities, so all of us have to work on them. This work is difficult but the outcome is necessary, beneficial and joyful when the relationship improves each day.
Now think about God and us... Do God and we share similar SAM? Not at all when we are sinners. Jesus loves us so much that He chose to die to make “the way” for us to approach God. Some people reject Him. Some people accept Him but have doubts because they are not sure how much God loves them. In our relationship with God, we must learn to read the Bible and pray. It is work, difficult and boring at first, yet is necessary for us to be alive.
Once we have the Indwelling Holy Spirit, we will share the same holy SAM with God. God will take over our life, as we let Him, and begin the transformation process to make us whole, new and holy in Christ.
- Style: we will have the same holy attitude like Jesus – kind, humility, compassion…
- Ability: we are weak but we will be strong to carry out His will. We will have God’s great power to accomplish things that we can’t do on our own. God will also help us to achieve our wishes/dreams.
- Motivation: we will stop living for our own self, but will focus on God’s kingdom, we will want to help the poor, lead peope to know and love Jesus. God’s agenda becomes ours.
Someone has asked: “What is more important, reading the Bible or praying”? The answer is “What is more important, breathing in or breathing out”? We need to do both to stay alive!
Sins have a way to separate us from God. Busyness with work and activities can impede your relationship with God. Recognize sins and busyness when we no longer want or have a hard time reading the Bible and praying. Repent and return to God. He will forgive and welcome us back with open arms.
You will notice that the current weekly devotionals are longer than typical. Please prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us because we are exploring a deep and difficult, yet necessary topic. Thank you.