A relationship with God? Really? Think about that for a moment! You actually have a relationship with the God of the universe! So what does that really mean? The word “relationship” implies a connection, bond, or involvement with someone. When you invited Jesus into your life, you initiated a “connection” with God. A connection that will have a daily impact on your life! This connection results in a relationship with God that is personal and intimate! When you invited Jesus into your life, you began a relationship with God that is very personal and intimate. Knowing about God is not the same as knowing Him personally and intimately. Many Christians find it hard to really trust God, because they don’t really know Him. When you know Him, you will be able to love and trust Him! Take a minute to consider your present relationship with God.
Q. What kind of connection do you have with God? Are you bonded to Him? What kind of involvement do you have with Him on a day-to-day basis? How would you describe your relationship?
Ashley’s Story
“I always put my friends above God. In fact, my life revolved around my friends so much that I began to get involved in reckless behavior just to seem cool to others. Pretty soon I got involved in drugs, sex, and alcohol. My life was out of control, and I felt worthless, with no purpose other than to get high. Then I even lost my friends. One day someone told me that Jesus Christ not only created me, but wanted to be my best friend. I couldn’t believe it at first. Later, I decided to ask Him into my life. Since then, God has given me a new purpose in life and helped me break my addictions. I now have many new friends, but the greatest friend of all is Jesus Christ. He accepts me for who I am, and tells me that ‘He will never leave you and I will never abandon you’ (Hebrews 13:5).”
The great theologian A. W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” And what you think about God will affect your relationship with Him! When you invited Jesus into your life, you initiated a “connection” with God. Consider the relationships that you have with the people in your life. Some of them are close, some on the surface, and some rather distant. It depends on how well you know someone and how much time you spend with them that determines the quality of your relationship. And a relationship with God is much the same … the more you get to know Him and the more time you spend with Him, the closer your relationship with Him will be.
Q. What do you presently know about God? Where has your information come from?’
Now is the time to develop your relationship with God by growing in your knowledge and experience of Him. Knowing about God is not the same as knowing Him personally and intimately. Many Christians find it hard to really trust God because they don’t really know Him. When you know Him, you will be able to love and trust Him!
This means it is really important that our ideas concerning God mirror what is, in reality, true about Him. Knowing God is critically important for living! If you do not truly know God, the world often becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and when life offers you disappointment—which it surely will—you will stumble and blunder with no sense of direction or meaning.
In his book, The God You Can Know, Dan DeHaan observes, “I have discovered a common weakness among the Christians of today, they are weak in their understanding of God and His character.” Ignorance of God and what He is like, results in a life of doubt and distrust. We need to really know God and not just have some sort of idea about who He is!
So how do we get to know God better? By reading His Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal more of Him to us! We need to search God’s Word with the intent of getting to know and obey Him.
Q. What has been your experience of God up to this point in your life? What has influenced your experience?
Q. What do you want to know about God? What can you do to learn more about God?
Q. What is one step you can take to help strengthen your relationship with God?
“Stop your striving and recognize that I am God!” —Psalm 46:10
There is tremendous value in stepping aside from the rush of the day and taking time to quietly get to know God. Let Him renew your mind as you pray, read the Bible, and think.
Paul said, “My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” —Philippians 3:10
Q. How does this verse from Philippians apply to your life right now?
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him.” —Colossians 1:15–16
Q. As you consider these verses from Colossians, what impresses you most?
“The LORD says, ‘Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich. If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the LORD, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,’ says the LORD.” —Jeremiah 9:23–24
Q. What do the verses from Jeremiah teach us about God?
When you became a Christian, you did not sign up to become a part of some religious system. You decided to have a relationship with the God of the universe! This is a relationship that God initiated and maintains. Ignorance of God and what He is like, results in a life of doubt and distrust. Jesus died on the cross to restore the relationship that we are destined to have with God that has been broken by sin.
As Christians, we believe that we have been created specifically to have a relationship with God, but our sin separates us from Him. Jesus Christ walked this earth, fully God, and yet fully man. He died on the cross to restore the relationship that we are destined to have with God that has been broken by sin. After His death on the cross, Christ was buried; He rose again, and He now lives at the right hand of the Father God in heaven, making intercession for us forever.
The intimacy of this relationship is revealed to us in the Bible. Ephesians 1:4–5 says that we are now no longer seen as law-breakers, but we have been adopted into God’s own family as His children: “For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will.”
Q. As you think about being God’s child, what thoughts do you have? Does this kind of relationship excite you, or scare you? Ask God to help you to experience His love in a powerful way!
Application
Q. Before reading this lesson, what was your idea of God? How is your perception of God changing?
Additional Study
Read The God You Can Know by Dan DeHaan (Moody Press, 1982). Take the time to write a summary of each chapter as you go along. As a personal goal, resolve to read one chapter per day or per week!
We learn about God’s character as we read the Bible. Knowing God’s true nature not only significantly increases our reverence for Him, it greatly decreases our dependence on our own power and strength. The better we understand who He really is, the easier it is to trust and rely upon Him. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we are always welcome in his presence: “Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.”