Connecting with God

God’s idea of prayer is not a ritual, but loving and lively communication between the best of friends.

But sad to say, many people think they can’t talk to God like that. Some think they’re not religious enough, not righteous enough, or not spiritual enough. Some think He’s too big—too far above them. Some think He’s too busy to be concerned about them and their problems, which to Him must seem awfully petty. Some feel unworthy, not good enough. Some feel guilty or ashamed about things they’ve done. Some are even afraid of Him. If only they understood how differently God sees it!

God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us, and He wants it to be the deepest, most meaningful, most fulfilling and rewarding, most natural part of our lives. Now that’s not to say He wants to take away from the other relationships and activities that we enjoy and consider important. To the contrary. He wants to be a part of all that. He wants to make things easier, He wants to give them greater meaning, and He wants to enjoy them with us. In a word, He wants to make our lives even better. He wants to add a wonderful new dimension to all that we do—the dimension of His loving presence.

How do we establish such a relationship, especially when we feel small and unspiritual and unworthy? How do we make that connection? Simple: through His Son, Jesus.

None of us can really grasp how great and wonderful God our Father is, because He and His Spirit are greater than the whole universe. He’s so beyond our comprehension that He had to make Someone who could show us His love, Someone we could experience, Someone who could bring God down to the level of our limited human understanding. So He sent us His Son, Jesus.

Jesus has been with God from the very beginning, yet He also lived on earth in human form and experienced every joy and sorrow that we do. Jesus has been here, so He can understand us and be the link between us and God.

We can get personal with Jesus. He even told us to ask Him into our hearts: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” He’s the One we can have direct, personal contact with. He is the One we can approach God through. If you have prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior, you already have that connection.

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Hebrews 4:15 (ESV) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV) For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Revelation 3:20 (ESV) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.