Welcome back! If you are just joining us, we are using the YouVersion Bible App to follow a devotional together. Read THIS POST to get all the information you need to join in and then you can read THIS MORNING’S POST to see the promises we are focusing on this week.
Did you get a chance to spend some time with this week’s promises. I read them over and over and had such a hard time deciding which one stood out to me the most. Each one is so fantastic but the promise I am claiming this week is….
Yes, because you’ve believed in me, Jesus, you’ll have a personal relationship with Me.
A personal relationship with Christ? For the first two decades of my life I didn’t know this was possible. Okay, so for a decent portion of that first decade I was a little preoccupied with learning to talk, walk, and use the toilet but still… I didn’t grow up knowing that I could call Jesus a friend. That I could have a one-on-one relationship with Him. That He was anything more than the guy that died on a cross and was born in a stable and was God’s son. I didn’t realize there was more to it.
In college I stopped going to church. I didn’t feel any connection to the church and saw no reason to attend. But I still believed there was something more to the whole God thing. A friend and I tried out a few churches around the area but we stuck to the denominations we grew up in. It still felt empty and forced to me. There had to be something more.
I met this huge group of friends that opened my eyes to God being more than just a rule maker and Jesus being a guy that died. They lived with their faith on their sleeves and weren’t shy when it came to talking about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. What? College kids talking this way? I had never come across anything like this before. I was intrigued but didn’t know what to do or how to get what they had. Looking back I should have just joined them at church some time but I didn’t and they were respectful about not pushing people.
It wasn’t until after Micah and I became a couple that I finally joined that group of friends at church. The pieces fell into place and I finally understood. Jesus was and is more than just God’s son that was born in a stable and eventually died on a cross. He wants to know us and wants us to know Him, intimately. And all we have to do is choose to follow Him.
How amazing is it that we can have a true relationship with the God we serve? I’m no expert (or anywhere close to one) but I’m pretty sure there isn’t any other religion that promises a real one on one relationship with their deity. God is more than just some big dude in the sky making rules. He is our Father. He loves us so much that He sent His son so that we could live with Him forever. It’s almost unfathomable but I’m so thankful that this is how He chose to reach us.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the ability to have a personal relationship with you. Thank you that by choosing to follow you and your ways that we can come to you as your child that you love so very dearly. Help us to see ourselves the way you see us and remember to seek your ways and will in all we do. Amen.