I personally believe most people, if not all, truly want to honor God in the ways we live our lives. We read and study His Word, pray for others and ourselves, seek answers to life’s questions, and often attend worship with other like-minded believers. We frequently look to Bible teachers and Pastors to help us better understand what God is saying to us in Scripture. This is all good. And yet, God offers even more; He desires a closer fellowship and deeper intimacy with us!
Our heavenly Father continually beckons each of us to personally partake of the insightful fellowship of His enabling presence. This is not a hope (as in a delayed expectation of someday, or in Heaven) but is a reality for our life today.
While God reveals Himself to us in multiple ways, He uniquely relates to us in very personal ways:
• Father – God relates to us as a Father who oversees our birth and growth (Matthew 7:7-11)
• Son – He relates to us as a Son to demonstrate His desire for us as His children (1 John 1:1-3)
• Spirit presence – God abides with us as a Spirit presence, to lead and guide us through our life processes (John 16:13)
Yes, God is very relational!
Intimacy with God – His Relational Approach
God not only originates our life, He demonstrates how we are designed to function and desires to be a primary guiding influence through our life process. We are all unique extensions of our Father and have a built-in need to relate to Him as the Father who cares for us more than any earthly father.
God’s care and concern is so strong that He continually calls, speaks, inspires, and offers direction to each of us, even to offspring who do not believe. Where do you suppose inspiring thoughts and new ideas come from? The spirit of life in each of us equips us to hear the inspiration God shares, especially if we are paying attention!
By partaking of His way of life, our daily interaction with God and each other takes on greater meaning. Every person is valuable and precious in God’s sight. His love for us is immeasurable! When we relate to God and seek His insightful fellowship, our intimacy improves because we absorb more of the “eternal source” of our life.
Interactive fellowship with our heavenly Father allows us to receive His perspective
and see more clearly our life’s purpose.
God implanted His relational purpose into each of us so we could find a fulfilling completeness beyond self, in the interactive sharing of life. When we entertain His presence we can draw from His heart and learn to reflectively resemble Him. His presence enables us as children, to mature into the delight of His heart.
Scripture’s Primary Purpose
Jesus told us Scripture’s primary purpose is to help us learn how to interact with God and with each other. He said this relational concept is meant to guide us into a fuller love of God and of one another.
And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him [Jesus] a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment of the Law?” And He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:35-40).
When this was written, “The Law and Prophets” was a term that referred to all recorded Scripture. Jesus proclaimed, in essence, that relational love is the primary concept that underlies all that we have received as the written word of God. In other words, everything God has said to us is meant to teach us greater intimacy – how to fully love our Father and respectfully love one another as family.
Christ-anointing in our midst
Scripture says children of God who are in fellowship are “joint heirs” with Christ (Romans 8:17). Our active relationship with God and relational joining with others allow us to partake of God’s presence (Christ-anointing) which comes to dwell with us, among us, and in our midst.
The presence of God is felt by our spiritual senses more often than we know. We want to realize God is trying to get our attention. He wants to influence us, not as a dictator who says “It’s my way or else,” rather as a Father advising his child. If we give His presence the time of day, we can receive insight, encouragement, and strength for each of our moments.
Some of us tend to acknowledge God’s presence as Jesus, while others see Him as the Holy Spirit, or as our heavenly Father. It does not matter for they all refer to the same Eternal One.
You will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you [relationally]…and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him (John 14:20, 23).
When Jesus ministered on earth, He prayed that all who believe would become one in spirit with God and with each other (a relational oneness). That’s the ultimate experience of relational fellowship!
I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us (John 17:20-21).
Enjoying Greater Intimacy
We all have levels of intimacy with our heavenly Father. Our experiences are somewhere between very close and very distant. The peaceful benefits of partaking of God’s guiding presence are available to each of us today. Our oneness with Him equips us to better mirror Him in each of our life situations and circumstances. What love He has for us as He watches out for us along the way and offers the guidance we need to thrive!
As offspring of God, we have His attention. Are we attentive to His abiding presence and responding to His loving care? The level of our response to His insightful presence enables us to enjoy greater intimacy with Him.
-Keith Carroll, Relational Gospel Founder
Resources to go deeper
Created to Relate, Insights Into Our Design and Purpose, and The Christ Culture, A Way of Life Like No Other.
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