Personal God Relationship

How does a personal God relationship differ from the one we have?

What is going to be different about a personal God relationship?

I think we have to begin with the recognition that the life we have been living and the relationship we have had with God so far hasn’t been satisfying. If it was, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Somewhere deep in our hearts we know that there is something more fulfilling to life than what we have experienced so far, and we know that something is far beyond anything we could design, or build, or even imagine on our own. This longing for something more doesn’t come from us and while it is within us, we can’t experience it on our own. We do all of this because we really want the same thing that God wants. And what God wants is for us to live a full and meaningful life shaped by love, acceptance, meaning, fulfillment, joy, and peace. A personal God relationship leads to that life.

What changes for us?

In the Christian scripture Gospel of John, Jesus makes this statement to his friends:

The Gospel of John - Chapter 14 Verse 14

"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Without getting caught up in the confusion of translating this passage from Greek to English we need to understand that the passage literally says:

"Ask anything that is consistent with God’s (my) unconditional and unending love (who I am, in my name) and it will be yours."  

Would winning the lottery, a new Mercedes, a new house, or anything self-focused be consistent with God’s love? Maybe, maybe not. Would those things be a product of our immersion into unconditional love for God, ourselves, and the whole creation, or would they be self-centered and self-focused without a significant thought for how our obtaining those things might affect our relationships with other people, the planet, and our relationship with God. Jesus’ statement points out that we must experience the power and presence of God’s unconditional love before we can even know what we really want in life. That more than anything else is what we get from a real God relationship. 

To be clear, let me say that what I referred to as self-focused desires in the last paragraph are not bad things. There is nothing wrong with wealth, or power, or recognition and fame, or pretty much anything we could imagine. All those things are morally neutral in and of themselves. It is our motivation, how they affect us and our relationships with God and others, and how we use them in life that that determines their true value to us and our relationship with God.

In the movie “Bruce Almighty” Jim Carrey’s character is given the opportunity to “play God”. God gives him the power to have or do anything he chooses. In addition, he gets to take over the job of answering all the prayers of people throughout the world for God. When he answers yes to thousands of people who pray to win the lottery, the world economy begins to collapse. When he answers yes to every prayer, the weather patterns of the earth begin to change for the worst. Finally, chaos and havoc begin crop up all over the globe. His relationships with people closest to him begin to deteriorate because of the seduction of power and importance that he experiences while trying to be God. Eventually, he gives God’s job back and begins to rebuild his life and relationships.

What the movie points out and what I am saying is that we can’t have a personal relationship with God and try to be God at the same time. 

How do we find out what we really want?

The answer is in that passage from John’s Gospel in which Jesus says, “Ask.” Ask God to show you what you really want. Here is how to go about that asking process.

• Be specific – God’s response or lack thereof will be one clue as to knowing if what you want is also what God wants for you.
• Be patient – Your time and God’s time are not always in synch.
• Be honest – Think deeply about what you might ask of God. Is it what you really want to have happen long-term? Is it what you really need?
• Be compassionate – Think about how what you want will affect other people, especially the ones close to you.
• Be realistic – World peace is a lofty goal but is that a realistic request for you? Don’t try and test God to see how far you can go with getting what you ask.
• Be open to God’s Guidance – God’s guidance will not lead you astray but be careful that you don’t mistake God’s voice for your own trying imitate God and lead you in the self-centered and wrong direction.
• Be courageous – Remember that you never face a struggle or challenge alone, and you don’t have to work through them completely on your own. God’s presence and guidance in your life will see you through anything that happens in life. 
• Be peaceful - You don’t have to be ruled by fear and anxiety. God’s presence means that we are never lost or defeated. We may struggle and suffer, but with God’s guidance and presence in our lives we will never be overcome. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of a personal God relationship is finding out that what we really want and what God wants for us is not only wonderful, but also the same thing.

What is going to be different for God in this personal God relationship? 

Another way of asking that question is this: What does God really want from us?

• Connection – God wants our complete attention and communication. You can offer prayer, time, and honesty. But the bottom line is that spending dedicated time talking with God either out loud or in your own mind is the way to go about it.
• Compassion – God wants us to learn and practice genuine empathy, concern, and consideration for the needs of others. God wants us to love others the way that we are loved by God.
• Love – God wants us to take our real God relationship and center our lives in it so that it touches everyone and everything with which we come into contact. (Love is the foundation for everything that involves God.) There is no self-interest on God’s part. God wants what is right and life-giving for all.
• Respect and care for others – God simply wants our respect and care for others without any self-interest. That is not easy even with a real God relationship, but it is impossible without one.
• Truth – Don’t try and con God. It doesn’t work. God wants us to offer our true self and our true desires rather than what we think God wants from us. Once you offer your true self, God has something to work with in bringing you to the person that you can and ultimately want to be.
• Gratitude – God wants our ongoing (daily) recognition of all the wonderful things that are a part of your life. In focusing on gratitude, we are reminded constantly of what real life is all about.
• Trust – God wants us to relinquish control of the universe. In short, God wants us to be willing to stop worrying about what you cannot control and to trust that while God may not always respond the way we want, God will respond in the way that we need.

What God wants is for us to live a full and meaningful life shaped by love, acceptance, meaning, fulfillment, joy, and peace. A personal God relationship leads us to that life.

---

---

1. Home Page