A Love Relationship with God

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Love Relationship with God

To be loved by God is the highest relationship, the highest achievement, and the highest position in life.

Personalized: My walk with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the single most important aspect of my life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly.  This is one of the truest statements I have ever heard.  And lately I have found the truth in it as I struggle everyday to accomplish God’s purposes in my life without having spent any significant time with Him.  Today I will put this to the test.  I am spending what I believe is quality time with my Lord, let’s see how the rest of my life falls into place!

We are a doing people.  We feel worthless or useless if we are not busy doing something.  Scripture leads us to understand that God is saying, “I want you to love Me above everything else.  When you are in a relationship of love with Me, you have everything there is.”  Am I putting the ministry that I love, which the Lord has given me, above my relationship with Jesus?  This is an important question that I must answer for myself.

Personalized:   That does not mean that I will never accomplish anything as an expression of my love for God.  He will call me to obey Him and do whatever He asks of me.  However, I do not need to do something to feel fulfilled.  I am completely fulfilled in a relationship with God.  When I am filled with Him, what else do I need?

From the workbook:  Read the following hymn by Rhea Miller and circle (highlight) everything that may compete with Jesus for a person’s love and attention.

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold,

I’d rather be His than have riches untold;

I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands,

I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause,

I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;

I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame,

I’d rather be true to His holy name.

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom,

He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb;

He’s all that my hungering spirit needs,

I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.

Refrain:

Than to be the king of a vast domain

Or be held in sin’s dread sway;

I’d rather have Jesus than anything

This world affords today.

I must be honest I only struggle with to of these statements.  They are “men’s applause” and “worldwide fame”.  These are difficult for me because I am sometimes insecure and need that pat on the back.  And I truly believe that your life is wasted if you are forgotten.  But my spirit agrees with God’s Spirit and I know that He is more important than either of them.  So it is my prayer today that the Lord will show me how to love Him more than applause and fame.

Personalized:   I do really want to love the Lord my God with all my heart.  I know He will allow no competitors, not money and things, not fame and popularity, and not power or authority, God says:

·        I cannot serve two masters.  Either I will hate the one and love the other or I will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  I cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24)

·        When the Lord my God brings me into the land He swore to my fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give me—a lind with large, flourishing cities I did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things I did not provide, wells I did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves I did not plant­­—then when I eat and am satisfied, I will be careful that I do not forget the Lord, who brought me out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  I will fear the Lord my God, and serve Him only and take my oaths in His name.  I won’t follow other gods, the gods of the people around me; for the Lord my God, who is with me, is a jealous God (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).

·        From His love for me, God will provide everything else I need—when I love Him and Him alone (See Matthew 6:31-33: 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.)

I know that I have stretched the Deuteronomy passage, but if you think about it, figuratively speaking, God has:

1.    Brought me into the land he swore to my fathers, that is the Bible is filled with promises of God bringing me into a relationship with Him, that’s not just a way to live, it’s a place or being. 

2.   He defiantly provided me with things I did not earn, not the least of which is salvation, redemption and relationships with Him and the wonderful wife He, Himself has provided.

3.   And he brought me out of my own Egypt, the sin that so easily entangled me.  I was a slave to sin and He redeemed me.

Personalized:   God did not create me for time; He created me for eternity.  Time—my lifetime on earth—provides the opportunity for me to become acquainted with Him.  It provides occasions for Him to develop my character into His likeness. Then eternity will hold its fullest dimensions for me.  If I live only for time—the here and now-I will miss the ultimate purpose of creation.  If I live for time, I will allow my past to shape my life today.  My life as a child of God ought to be shaped by the future—what I will be one day.  God uses my present experiences to mold me for future usefulness here on earth and in eternity.  

This is now true of John C. Mac Iver:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

·        I will let my present be molded and shaped by what I am to become in Christ.

·        I will make sure I am investing in things that are lasting (Matthew 6:19-21, 33: 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Personalized:   This is why a love relationship with God is so important.  He loves me.  He knows what is best for me.  Only He can guide me to invest my life in worthwhile ways.  This guidance will come as I walk with Him and listen to Him.

What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture I read today?:

My walk with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the single most important aspect of my life.  If it is not as it should be, nothing else will function properly.

My Prayer is:

Daddy, I realize that Your relationship with me is the most important thing in my life.  Help me to seek you first, everyday, because I know that if I don’t cultivate my relationship with You, nothing else in my life and efforts will work.  Guide me dear Lord.  In Jesus name, I pray, amen.

What does God want me to do in response to today’s study?

I believe God wants me to be cultivate and put first my relationship, that I now have with Him.

The Memory verse for this unit is:

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38