Deep Relationship With God Archives

The Pride of Life

‘Proud’ is okay for peacocks; not so for humankind…

You would think, that after the earth was flooded and most of humanity was wiped out, the repopulated planet would understand that God rules and reigns over all. However, it didn’t take all that much time to get themselves into mischief once more.

The Bible tells us that all of humankind decided to gather to live in one place (Gn. 11:2) Already they are acting contrary to God’s will, in that He commanded Adam and Eve to fill the entire earth (Gn. 1:28).

Also, at this time, they all spoke only one language (Gn. 11:1).

Furthermore, they decided to edify themselves, in a sense, to declare themselves independent from God:

They said, “Come, let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the LORD] instructed].” Gn. 11:4 AMP

God reacts by confusing their language and scattering them over the face of the entire earth (Gn. 11:7, 8.).

God has a plan for all of us; and being fiercely independent of Him is not part of it. What kind of plan does God have?

‘For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jer. 29:11 AMP

So, it’s a good plan; and it is one that is filled with the unimaginable. God will help you grab ahold of all that you could not by yourself (Mt. 19:26). Jehovah will bring you love, strength, and contentment through your dependency upon Him:

…because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Ps. 16:8 NASB

The LORD will perfect that which concerns me… Ps. 138:8 NKJV

And when you lean on God, He will confer upon you the only independence that you need – your liberation from the wiles of the devil.

Now, let’s return to the time of the Tower of Babel. What was the sin that the people were committing? It was the sin of ‘pride.’ Pride is the worship of, (making and idol of), yourself. In fact, it is one of the foundational pillars of all sin:

For all that is in the world – the lust and sensual craving of the flesh, and the lust and the longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things] – these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. 1 Jn. 2:16 AMP

Indeed, pride violates the first and second of the Ten Commandments because the prideful are making ‘gods’ of themselves.

Like any sin, pride creates a ‘disconnect’ with God:

And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. Job 35:12 NLT

Again, like other sins, it leads to more sinful behavior:

In pride and arrogance the wicked hotly pursue and persecute the afflicted… Ps. 10:2 AMP

They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. Ps. 73:6 NLT

When pride comes [boiling up with an arrogant attitude of self-importance], then comes dishonor and shame. But with the humble [the teachable who have been chiseled by trial and who have learned to walk humbly with God] there is wisdom and soundness of mind. Pr. 11:2 AMP

Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. Pr. 16:8 CSB

So, in addition to cutting ourselves off from God, (because we are too busy trying to be a god), pride entices us to take advantage of others, to engage in violence and smother ourselves in dishonor, as we travel a road headed for a self-induced destruction.

You’ll notice that God did not harm the would-be erectors of the tower of babel, but instead gave them a Love re-do, allowing them to start over, instead of drowning in their sin. Simultaneously, God was teaching them a little humility, to remind them of their need for Him. He’s keeping their love channels open so that they may get into right relationship with Him.

That’s the way He rolls. God shows you the way, and then He equips you for your journey:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; but acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Pr. 3:5, 6. NKJV

For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 2 Pt. 1:3 AMP

Are you beginning to see how God shows us how to have the greatest life possible, by illuminating that which you must ‘prune’ from your existing persona? He shines His light into our darkness and calls us to make that leap of faith.

You can do that, because He will always provide His outstretched arms. Why would God be so relentless for your salvation?

Because God cherishes you…

Goodnight and God bless.

Deepening Your Relationship with God – part 2

Last time, we talked about establishing a relationship with God, through Christ, by exercising our God-given channel to Him – which is fervent, continuous, heartfelt prayer. It is the foundation of our relationship with God, leading to a wondrous, satisfying life.

Let’s say that you might also be interested in knowing God on a deeper level. That requires some additional ‘positioning’ on the seeker’s part. Start by planning each day at the outset, seeing how you can, to the best of your ability, live out the context of the two ‘great’ commandments:

“‘YOU SHALL 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. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF [that is, unselfishly seek the best or highest good for others].’ Mt. 22:37 – 39. AMP

In this positioning, you help yourself and others, and break down as many barriers as possible between you and God, (i.e. ‘sin’ – things that distort, distract and discourage).

Second, you must set aside time daily to marinate in God’s word. It is where He reveals His identity.

Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handing and skillfully teaching the word of truth. 2 Tim. 2:15 AMP

We stand alone before God. We must spend that ‘alone time’ with Him to prepare ourselves to be His vessels.

Finally, we always want to keep His long-suffering, merciful, abundant, gracious, unconditional and immeasurable LOVE in the forefront of our thoughts. He loves us even if it is not returned. He loves us in spite of our sin. He loves us because He is love and created us in His love, which no one can separate us from. (Rm. 8:38, 39.)

Then, we need to humble ourselves before God. We can take on that humility by understanding just how BIG our God is. He is the ruler of the universe; and through Christ He created all things and continues to sustain them. He is the Life-Giver. (Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2.)

All truth is found in God. All love comes from God and He loves all of His creations. All goodness comes from God.

God is all-powerful; He knows all, He sees all. And this immeasurably vast expansive God reaches down to love every man, woman and child that was ever or will be born. That is a mighty BIG God. Remarkably, He wants to relate individually to each one of us.

It is a bit humbling, isn’t it?

Now, we’ll begin investigating a possible path for a deeper relationship with God, now that our soul is ready (our spirit has always been ready). Last time we discussed prayer that is discursive in nature, i.e. a dialogue between us and God. Let’s consider a different form – the contemplative prayer.

This type of prayer was formulated by Catholic monks. (Remember, divine insights transcend the denominations. God is not partial to whom He reveals a piece of Himself to, if the seeker is willing and positioned to see it).

Unfortunately, these same God-fearing monks have been demonized (unfounded, I believe) by other ‘mainstream Christian denominations’) who label them ‘heretical mystics.’

Contemplative prayer is a silent prayer, whereby one attempts to lay aside their interior chaos and just rest in the presence of God. It’s like a 20-minute meditation with God as your sole focus.

Some practitioners first decide on a ‘sacred word’ (e.g. God, Jesus, Father, love, peace, mercy, faith, trust, etc.) that they will say mentally, if and only if they get distracted during prayer – speaking that as they concentrate on their breathing, both to bring calm and revert them back to their intention of seeking God.

The sacred word is not sacred in its inherent meaning; the sacredness arises because of the meaning that the practitioner brings to it as an expressive tool of their intent to be in God’s active presence.

The contemplative prayer is not for getting anything; it is just holding a space for God to express Himself – to see what He wants.

Religionists would have you believe that if you try to clear your mind, the devil will come in and take over. If that was the case, you wouldn’t have had God firmly implanted in your faith to begin with. It’s actually a good thing to place your worries and all the other elements of your mental chatter aside. It’s refreshing, and it can help you see where and how you act against your own best interests.

Religionists will also say that those who practice contemplative prayer are in some wacky ‘alpha state,’ where the mind is imprisoned by some droning mantra. Nothing but lies to justify their own denomination.

They’ll likewise tell you that scripture does not talk about contemplative prayer. So, I ask you to contemplate these:

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. Ps. 1:1, 2. NKJV

Be still and know that I am God… Ps. 46:10 NKJV

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Ps. 63:6 NKJV

My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes Ps. 119:48 NKJV

…be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity…give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine…Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress be evident to all. 1 Tim. 4:12, 13 & 15. NKJV

You must take the time to ‘be still,’ (regardless of the method you use to naturally achieve that), to let your mental stuff fall away in order to understand who God is and where He wants to lead you. Then, you will also be enriched in your ability to have your discursive prayers be more focused, effective, and bring greater glory to your Father.

One more to come…

Goodnight and God bless.

Deepening Your Relationship With God

All relationships begin with communication. Your relationship with God commences with prayer.

Until we learn more about who God is and what He wants for our lives, our prayers tend to revolve around ourselves. And sometimes we ask for things that don’t serve our best interests:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. Jas. 4:3 NASB

Fortunately, God only answers those prayers that align with His will – a divine mindset that only provides that which promotes our highest and best life:

…if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 Jn. 5:14, 15. NKJV

God loves you so much that He wants your relationship to be a full-time affair. So, this must also be reflected in your prayer:

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Th. 5:17, 18. ESV

Coming back to your prayer being in alignment with God’s will, you must also pray with a forgiving heart, because He will not hear you if you bear malice towards anyone. (Mk. 11:25) In addition, you must first get right with God (through confession and repentance) before He will hear you. (Ps. 4:3) And, you must have faith in God’s ability and desire to answer your prayer. (Heb. 11:6)

God loves you and wants to grant you your heart’s desires. You don’t have to be ‘special.’ God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t practice partiality. Everyone is special to Him. What He wants, is your authenticity:

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. Ps. 145:18 NKJV

Even in our weakness, God sends the Holy Spirit to us to strengthen and perfect our prayers for the greatest effect / response. (Rm. 8:26)

The only thing that gets in the way of our praying is when we give into our humanity. Sometimes our prayers are not answered (at least not in the way that we imagined), or it seems that God is taking His sweet time in doing so, or we think that He has rejected them altogether. We begin to think that prayer doesn’t work.

It exposes the weakness in our faith. Instead of asking Jesus to strengthen our faith, [because He always will (Heb. 12:12)], we put shame and guilt upon ourselves and pray even less, or not at all. We get more hung up on the ‘proper mechanics’ of prayer rather than keeping our focus on the Father and the Son, to whom we are praying to.

Prayer is your God-connection. Because life happens to us continually and at full-speed, we want to be having that running conversation with Him. Prayer is like any other endeavor; it improves with practice. It’s a part of your spiritual make-up. God placed that channel in you; but you have to initiate the conversation. He’s always right there. (Mt. 28:20)

God is in control of everything. He’s the one you want to talk to. The more that you make your needs and the needs of others known to Him, the more God is going to show up to answer the prayers that bring you closer to Him, which is where you will find your highest and best life.

If some prayers aren’t answered, they didn’t meet that criteria. It doesn’t mean He is neglectful; God is looking out for you. The ones that are answered will bolster your faith, increase the efficacy of your prayers, and embolden you to pray all the more – simultaneously advancing the Kingdom.

Concurrently, God starts removing the dross laid upon you from your foray into the world; then your true shining self begins to emerge.

God does not expect you to show up as a perfect person or prayer-giver. Your time spent with Him will get you there. Your ‘authentic self’ is who God wants to meet face-to-face. If you ask Him, He will reveal any false identity that you may have attached to yourself. And that’s a good thing, because then you can see what you need to step away from – with His help.

Neither does God want you to come to Him in prayer as cool and calculated. You can approach Him wild and weepy. He wants to meet you wherever you’re at, because He wants to deliver you from your problems, and then meet and exceed your needs.

“…I am with you [always] to protect you and deliver you,” says the LORD. Jer. 1:19 AMP

Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us… Eph. 3:20 AMP

If you could have had that perfect life as a perfect person, you would have done that already. But nobody can. Why? Because our lives cannot be whole until they are lived with God inside of us. Prayer invites Him in, and our continuing use of them is what keeps Him there. It cements our relationship. Thus, you must set aside regular intervals to do that.

That God-channel can only open and flourish when we invite Christ in our heart.

Also keep in mind that there is someone (Satan) who does not want you to pray. He wants your relationship with God to be dead. So, if you’re struggling with prayer or you don’t think it has any value, remember that those thoughts are from the pathetic squawking of that enemy on your left shoulder. But we know that Jesus has overcome that liar (Jn. 16:33)

So, shrug those doubts off, take a deep breath and call out again to your Maker. Knowing that you have Jesus at your back will encourage you to be dauntless and audacious in your prayer. Expect answered prayer and be thankful before and after that answer comes.

…I know that the LORD saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Ps. 20:6 AMP

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name [in prayer]. Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth]; proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted.” Is. 12:4 AMP

God always wants to work with you, but you must bend your will to His. When we come to Him in humility, we can ask and keep on asking, until the answer comes. And remember that Jesus is your conduit to the Father. When we ‘seal’ our prayers in Christ’s name, they are presented to the Father in their proper ‘Holy Spirit wrapper’ – guaranteed to be considered.

God never said that life would be easy. At times, we all suffer. In those sufferings, God is trying to get our attention, to pray to Him because He has something to work out with us. In all suffering, God delivers us or shows us the way out of it.

What is prayer? It’s a gift from God – a communicative channel through Christ to access them both. When we do that, we invite them to live in us, which they are more than happy to do.

They accept you just as you are. The only qualification, (and it is a continuing one), is that you confess and repent when find yourself straying from and or actively being contrary to God’s plan for your highest and best life.

When we stay in continuous conversation with God, humbly laying our will aside and living out His instead, walking in forgiveness for everyone, including ourselves, placing others’ needs above our own, and showing up as our authentic selves in gratitude, God shows up in a HUGE way.

To be continued…

Goodnight and God bless.

Deep Relationship With God

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