Last week we looked at Daniel and his resolve not to eat the king’s delicacies. (Click here to read that post.) His resolve was much deeper than sheer willpower. His resolve was rooted in his love for the Lord.
When we love someone, we want to know them and be in relationship with them. This week, let’s resolve to build a relationship with the Lord. Our God is a relational!
How do we engage in a relationship with the Lord? We set time aside to spend with Him.
Because God loves us, He desires to have a personal relationship with each one of us. And we can have a relationship with Him and our love for Him will grow. Here’s how loves leads us to have a relationship with God the Father …
Step 1: Jesus Christ
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6 NET).
To have a relationship with God, the Father, we must first recognize that we need Jesus as our Savior. Because of God’s love for us, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to the earth. While living as a man on earth, Jesus lived without sin. And because Jesus love His Father and He loved us, He took the death penalty and was crucified on the cross for all our sins. God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. Now all because of love, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father interceding for each one of us.
When we acknowledge that we need Jesus to cover our sins and confess Him as Lord, we can come to the Father.
Step 2: Know the Word
The second way we get to know the Father is to get to know Jesus.
Jesus said, “If you have known me, you will know my Father too.” (John 14:7 NET)
When we know Jesus, we know the Father as they are one and the same. And John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.”
The Word is Jesus. We develop our relationship with God by getting to know the Word, who is Jesus.
We must be intentional about setting aside time each day to read the Bible and memorize Scripture. When we read the Word, we are building our relationship with our Lord.
Step 3: Prayer
Prayer is talking to God. We can talk to God about anything and this builds our relationship with Him.
“Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NET).
“When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers” (Jeremiah 29:12 NET).
Prayer is God’s will for us and He hears us. Once we train our spiritual ears to hear, we will hear the Holy Spirit answer us. For example, as you are reading His word, there will be a Scripture that seems to stand out to you more than the others. That is the Lord speaking to you through His Word. Write it down in a journal or note card then ask the Lord what He is saying to you.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 ESV).
We need a strong relationship with the Lord as we will face adversity. Daniel taken captive to a foreign land and faced obstacles. Yet because he had a strong relationship with the Lord, he remained steadfast in his resolve.
When I received the news that my son had been arrested, I first wrote out a Scripture and held onto it. Yes, the emotions of shock and fear of the unknown began to consume me.
I had to make one of the following choices:
Let the emotions pull me away from my relationship with the Lord; OR
Be more intentional about my relationship with God my Father, through Jesus
Despite my shock and fears, God’s love for me led me to chose to be intentional about my relationship with God my Father, through Jesus His Son. I admit, it was work to maintain the relationship, but it was well worth the effort! I love the Lord and have such personal experiences with Him I’ve never would have imagined if I’d walked away from Him.
In 2017 resolve to build your relationship with God the Father through Jesus.
© 2017 Shonda Savage
