It takes time to build a strong relationship with God. If you meet a famous person and in the 10 minutes you are with them, you try and get them to tell you everything about themselves and you tell them all your problems, I guarantee you wont become their pal. But if you met on a regular basis and you got to know that person, then the friendship would grow. Thats the same with us and God. It cant be dictated or demanded. An intimate relationship must be developed over time. That goes for any relationship with others and with God.
Dont try to build your relationship with God too intensely. Some people think they need a lightning bolt from heaven. If you have asked God for that today, what would you need to feel tomorrow? If God didnt give some wonderful feeling tomorrow, youd wonder what happened. Lord, I really felt your presence yesterday, but today I didnt get that feeling.
He would have to jump through a new hoop every day just to keep you satisfied. This is the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Instead of maturing in intimacy with Him, you will always be craving some great event or feeling. God is not going to do that!
The Lord delights in using subtle ways to reveal Himself. Jesus could have arrived in a spectacular way, like arriving in a golden chariot, or an earthquake could have shaken the whole of Israel so that everyone rushed outside so that the building did not collapse on them, and as they looked around, there Jesus would have been, floating above the earth. Instead the Lord of Lords arrived in a humble stable. Most people missed the arrival of the King!
If I was Jesus when He was resurrected, I would have appeared to Pilate or the High Priest and said, see I told you I was not of this world. Or walked through the walls and appeared to the soldiers who mocked me. Jesus never appeared to anyone who did not believe in Him. Thats just the way God is!
In Luke 11:5-8 it says, And He said unto them, “Which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed, and I cannot rise and give to thee? I say unto you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
This passage is commonly taught that God is like this friend. You must go to Him when you have a need, but when you first ask for your need to be met, He may answer No! or Im not ready. So you must continue to hassle God and pray persistently over and over until He gives you what you are asking for. – I would love to hear from anyone who is reading these articles. You may contact me on email: rhf3@yahoo.com
Post published in: Opinions