Wonder what must be done to develop a relationship with God, even his Son and Saviour Jesus Christ? Having trouble with this development such that you may feel or believe that it is not possible or is an impossible task because everything about it seems insurmountable? Another troubling question some may ask is “How can mere mortals, especially those who believe themselves to be completely inadequate to succeed in this task?”
Hopeless? …as it may seem to be.
Have I painted the right picture of how many have felt or believed, maybe even experienced? I hope so, because that is the first step toward a successful relationship with the Father in heaven.
It seems by what I said that it is not possible to relate to God in any real successful way, but that is not true, not true at all. The Father and the Son Jesus Christ, who are our spiritual relatives sincerely want you to relate with them. It does seem an impossible task when faced with the divinity and nature of exaltation our spiritual relatives represent. It is also seemingly impossible to relate to beings, as our spiritual relatives, in any meaningful way when they seem to be so absence from life, being our lives, at least so it seems to feel, but fear not, it is not impossible.
As with any relationship in life, each of us had to learn how to conduct ourselves. This learning curve carries it’s own success and failures that either takes us to overcome our difficulties or takes us to fail. Either way it is the same process which each of us must transverse in-order to develop a good working relationship with anything in life. What makes or breaks this process is what we put into it, that matters. Is this not a crucial element in any relationship, what we out into it, is what we get out of it?
This is not only a crucial element that is directly from the scriptures of “what we sow, so shall we reap”,it is also a template by which we can use to review a relationship, even one with God, at any stage of it’s development and will work for any person who is serious and sincere enough to use it.
From childhood with our parents, to teen-hood and dating, to our first job and fellow employees and the boss. There was no aspect of relationship that we did not have to learn. The same applies to a relationship with God. This is why I mentioned the Father and the Son in the context of our spiritual relatives, because in how we relate to our family or relatives is the manner which we also relate to God. How we feel about different aspects of that relationship with family, so shall we feel the same way with God.
The scriptures speak of a small wise saying that what we do in little, so also we do in much (Luke 16:10–11), or what we do here so shall we do there also. This applies to everything in life, no matter if it is at home, at work or church. This wisdom speaks of our character, how we think and choose in life, how we perceive ourselves and the world. If a person is honest at home, he/she will be honest in life and at Church. Transversely, if a person is dishonest at home, so shall it be the same in life and at Church, and all the “good face” will not hide it.
What we do here, so shall we do there. If we have trouble relating to people or others in life, then that same trouble will exist between that person and God and because of that shortcoming the exercise of faith will also suffer to some degree, but fear not….have faith, all is not hopeless or lost.
God wants you to go to him as you are. For all the shortcomings we each have, as much as they seem impossible to overcome, each person has the gift of effort and with that gift, all they need to do is kneel in sincerity and pray to the Father in Heaven in the name of Jesus Christ. God does not expect you to be perfect at the first step, or even at the thousandth step in your spiritual path. I believe that no person is perfect so long as mortality exists. God does want you to make the effort and along the way, if you are willing to change, he will teach you and help you learn and one of the most important aspects of developing a relationship with God is prayer.
“Pray you say, easier to say it than do it!” (you say).
Prayer will be another article very soon here, but to suffice to say, that prayer is at times another way to say “talk to God”. If praying on your knees is a problem, sit and kneel your elbows on the desk, or table, and focus your mind to God and talk to him. Be alone, so you have the freedom to let your heart out. Be focused on what you want to say and make every effort not to ramble. I say focus because it directs your mind and heart to God, whereas rambling is just that, rambling and aimless and it is in rambling that a person can get tossed around, wavering like a boat on unsettled sea. Prayer can be as easy as talking to your favourite grandparent or uncle, aunt, cousin and so on. Sounds easy, and it is, yet it is very important.
Talking to God directly, with the mind and heart as knowing he is there hearing you. Express what you feel for whatever ails or concerns you, but do so respectfully. To speak in an angry tone to God because he has upset you will not get his ear as easily as it will not get the ear of anyone in life, so please be aware of what makes a good relationship here in life and practice that with God.
What of disobedience? The scriptures and Church leaders tell us to obey the commandments and principles of the gospel, but who is perfect in this?
There is no person who is all good in this world, which says that all have erred in some way. Even if you disobeyed some things in the gospel or in Church, God will still listen to you so long as you are sincere and open to receive him and his counsel. Be willing to change for him, and he will help. God knows we err and we are not perfect. WE do not have to be perfect to relate to God, all we need is the sincere desire and faith to choose to relate to him. Many a time in the earlier years of my discipleship with Christ I prayed addressing God as Lord and spoke regular English. Eventually it developed into addressing the Father in heaven and speaking with “thee”, “thou,” “thine”, etc. This change in the manner of prayer was gradual, yet it occurred. Did God hear my prayers prior to that change? Yes he did because I received answers to my prayers.
My goodness, I am no angel, as the saying goes and with all my shortcomings and failings, I still relate to God and still seek his counsel and receive his answers as well. So many times I have felt it not worth while to speak to God and ignore him. So many times I feel unworthy to even try, feeling so guilty about any error I made. In the end what have I found out? – I found that as much as fear and discouragement are some of the things we suffer in life, these fears and discouragements have done nothing more than remove me from God. Many a time I felt it was impossible to relate to the Father, felt blocked or very discouraged as if to say in my heart, “What is the use”. Well, guess what, I suffered times like that and I ended up suffering more than I needed to. It was I creating the ideas of impossibilities because of inserting so many foolish ideas. It was not until I suffered enough, causing myself to fall to my knees and heartfelt prayer, speaking to God as if he was beside me, that I learned the true meaning of a relationship with God. There were also times I felt angry at God, blaming him for my troubles or problems, but that too put me to my knees in total frustration and surrender (true repentance) that I learned what it really means to have a relationship with God.
It is not impossible to relate to him. All of our shortcomings and mortal traits will get in the way, but that is part of any relationship, be it with God or your family. A relationship with God is no different than how we are to relate to each other and what principles we are to live by in each relationship. As you are “personal” and “personable” with those close to you in your life, so you can be the same with the Father, after all, he is your (our) “Father”.
IN all relationships there will be ups and downs, likes and dislikes and what ever fears you have with regular relationships in the world, so shall you have them with God, but that is part of mortality and why we are here.
How can you improve your relationship with God?
The answer is a question put back to you. “How can you improve your relationship with others on this earth” and from the ideas that come to your mind is how you can improve your relationship with God.
Amen
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