God wants a relationship with each one of us.
How do we open ourselves to a relationship with God.
It deepens as our knowledge,
faith and experience of God grows.

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1.    INTRODUCTION

Firstly, do you doubt that God would want a relationship with you? The woman in the image ‘personifies’ that self questioning. She features on the homepage. And the answer to that ‘doubt’ is offered under the next heading.

Now, if you have any other serious doubts in your mind, that prevent the start of your journey of faith, then please begin by reading the article, “Too good to be true?” Indeed there is a ‘whole pile’ of articles under the heading, “Deal with Doubts” in the Menu Bar above to help you.

This website, above all else, aims to help readers to both know that God is real and build sound Christian faith for themselves. And as a result come to gain real contentment and purpose in life. My own experiences have made it clear to me that creating a relationship with him is absolutely necessary to meet those goals.

(I am from a senior auditing background and the majority of my advisory team are Christian clergy. To glimpse the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this website please click here.)

2.    GOD WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU!

I will say upfront, that I am confident God really DOES want a relationship with each and every one of us! And that is made clear in the Bible itself. You know, I have no problems with writing that our Lord loves each one of us dearly. Indeed, the Lord’s freely given love for us (his ‘grace‘) sits at the very core of our beautiful Christian religion.

Our awesome yet ‘unlikely’ universe, our very special Milky Way galaxy with perfect Planet Earth sitting in that ideal solar system ‘are also testament‘ to his love for us. It is ‘all there’ so that we have somewhere to physically exist AND then enter into that relationship with him! A relationship that need never end, I must add.

Now, perhaps you are thinking about becoming a Christian. If so, the Bible explains that it does not matter what bad things you have done in the past, because Jesus has already ‘cleaned the slate’ for you. We really can accept, through ‘faith’, that he did that two thousand plus years ago when Jesus (God incarnate) died on the cross. Hence one of Jesus’ titles is, “Lamb of God”. Yes, as the ‘sacrificial lamb’ Jesus offered his life through God’s love to redeem/ pay for all of our wrongdoings. In effect, all we have to do now is concentrate on our relationship with our Lord. That is, in the way he offers us in the Bible.

And yes, as Christians, we can accept that we have a God who truly knows what human suffering actually feels like. A bit more on that later.

3.    HOW DO WE ENTER THAT RELATIONSHIP?

As such, the Lord is always ready and waiting for us.

But, although God may give us little hints about his presence, he rarely forces himself on anyone. So … in effect WE just need to ‘engage with God’. Yes, we must normally make that decision! Make the move towards that relationship with him. Based on my own 30 plus year ‘evaluation‘ of using Christian faith within life, that is where we do come to recognise his presence; his existence. Potentially, very clearly!

As a result, we can come to gain the benefits, freely available to us, that are on offer both within our lives and beyond.

So, where do we start?

3.1    Understanding what we are trying to believe in

Again from my experience, the first step involves getting an understanding of God and the personal relationship he offers to each of us. In this manner, we begin to build our Christian ‘faith‘. Ultimately we build that faith; our Bible-based knowledge, supported by our ever deepening personal relationship with our Lord. Which is the subject of this particular article.

That step of ‘building knowledge’ is certainly important. Yes, it is very hard to believe in anything at all without first understanding ‘what we are trying to believe in’. And I repeat that statement many times in this website.

The article, “Our amazing Bible” follows this one, and offers basic advice on how to decipher it. The Bible actually explains to us:

  • Who God is;
  • What God has done for us;
  • What God expects of us;
  • What God offers us through faith.

I do need to offer some important advice here though! So as to make sure that our Bible studies are effective, we do need to be guided by our ‘church of choice‘. Now, it might be tempting to leave ‘going to church’ out of your journey. But from my experience, and I did try to ‘dodge’ going to church, it just does not work. Again, have a look at the article, “Too good to be true?” which explains how I came to my own conclusion, at least. If you are still struggling with my advice above, please have a look at the article, “Why we go to church“. 

And look, for a brief explanation of Christianity and our God please read “Christianity explained” on this website.

3.2    Using our faith to engage with God

Once we have built up some knowledge of our Lord, we can then move on to the important step of accepting (through ‘faith’) that God really is there waiting. That is, loving each of us and wanting us to enter into that relationship with him.

First off, we begin by simply ‘accepting’ or ‘supposing’ that he is in this world and within our lives. ‘Supposing’ God’s existence in this way does not make him any less real, as you WILL come to find out for yourself when you do ‘literally’ engage with him.

4.    BEGINNING THE RELATIONSHIP

Ok, so how do we go on to build this ‘relationship’ with the Lord? Let’s get into the details …

4.1    Going to church

I have already explained above (under subheading 3.1) how the church should lead us to understand about our loving God. On which we base our relationship with him, of course. So, as already suggested, we begin to connect with him through a fellowship of faith; a church. The article, “Choosing a church” should guide you in that task of ‘choice’. Most churches have their ‘pros and cons’ as far as each of us are concerned. 

The services that you attend in church will absolutely help build-up your relationship with our Lord. We do actually connect with him there, enhancing that two-way loving relationship offered to us by him. Our faithfulness towards him also grows gradually as a result. And when the time is right, we do need to be baptised; become true members of the ‘body of Christ’ (the Church). We should do so as soon as we can feel comfortable with that as practising Christians.

4.2    God in your everyday life

We should ALSO begin to engage with the Lord in our daily lives: looking for his ‘guidance‘, his ‘assistance‘ and wisdom there. He knows the exact direction we should each be headed.

You can even gently begin, through “Prayers for things“, to invite him to bring positive needs-based changes to your life and the lives of others. Please use those links above to assist you though. Also note that I used the words, “needs-based”. I was not referring to wishlists etc. I’m sure you understand the difference. Yes, I do go on and on about that point in this website!

As you may well guess, there are some responsibilities for us within that relationship. We do need to follow the Bible’s guidance as best we can. Life should never be “just about me!” The article, “Building sound faith” in this website section briefly discusses those responsibilities under Heading 3. 

5.    THE RELATIONSHIP DEEPENS

With the passing of time God really wants our relationship with him to become deeper. He dearly loves each one of us, and wants us to come to actually love him back. God, in the person of Jesus, gave us this directive, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” [Mark 12:30]. And as the relationship deepens, so the evidence of his presence becomes all the more concrete, I can assure you.

You will certainly come to find that he is ready and willing to apply his ‘grace‘, his unconditional love, to our lives when we are ready to open ourselves to it.

It might just look like a ‘tall order’ to actually love God, as Jesus instructed. And I personally understand that. Yes indeed! Again, I have been there … particularly in my early days of faith … struggling with that one. But yes, it comes to be easier than we could have ever dreamt! And our wonderful Bible can give us so much guidance on the Lord’s true nature and just what is offered to us through our relationship with him. 

5.1    Set time aside to spend with him

I guess it should be obvious to all of us to regularly spend time, on our own, in his company … and not just at church. Pretty well any relationship needs ongoing communication to survive eh? In the Lord’s case, it means talking to him through prayer, and in time sensing his presence; his love. And indeed, being grateful that this infinitely powerful ‘being’ wants a relationship with each of us. 

Even just sitting with him in silence and reverence can really help our relationship. And mind you, little messages from him can even pop into our minds, during these sessions. Helpful hints, or advice on directions in life we should take etc., can arise. But, of course, I don’t mean it will always happen when we choose to spend time with him.

Now, I am not saying either that all this stuff happens easily for us. We are human beings after all, aren’t we?

Again I really do suggest you also spend time, on your own, reading the Bible. We can never know too much about him. And the Bible really is the best tool to use so as to ‘grow our knowedge’. This is in addition to being guided through the Bible by our church as explained above.

Again the Lord can occasionally highlight hints and directions, that can bring about positive change in our lives, as we read the Bible.

5.2    Connecting with him deeply

But, as our faith deepens and our Lord’s ‘personality’ becomes so knowable through experiences of him it really begins to happen for us. (Amazingly, what the Bible explains about our Lord becomes first hand knowledge for us as a result.)

We should then engage with him through ‘mature prayer‘ and placing our growing ‘trust in him‘ … in all regards. Click onto that last link and, based on my lengthy experience, read an explanation of just how solid evidence of his presence does pile up. That is as we become ‘faithful’ Christians, trying our best to live life as he wants of us. And again, from my experience, the more we keep him ‘in the loop’ within our lives, then the more evident he becomes.

For an explanation of this depth of faith, again have a look at the article, “Building sound faith“. And again, the concept of “faithfulness”, mentioned above, is also explained there under subheading 3. Strangely perhaps, the better we do with all this then the more purpose and contentment we find in life. Yeah, please read the article, “What does faith offer us?” when you get the chance.

Remember too, that life will not be free from hard times. From my own experiences, although we might not guess it, these tough times can seriously help build our relationship with the Lord. He will always be there to help lift us through these tough times (BUT not usually sweep them aside) when we do connect with him there.  In hindsight we will recognise just how much our relationship with him is strengthened during those times. Please have a read of “God during hard times“. And remember our Lord learnt through his own experiences (as Jesus) just what human pain and suffering is all about! 

6.    CONCLUSION

I completely understand some of that info written above may ‘seem’ unreachable when you are just starting out on the path of faith. Firstly, I did come to recognise that when we ‘get our heads around’ what God actually did for us through the life and death of Jesus, we are encouraged to open our hearts towards him. Although atheist websites fail to ‘get it’, I can say with confidence that ‘recorded history‘ actually supports the Bible’s account of events, rather than challenge them.

Secondly and importantly for myself, the relationship between God and me slowly but surely kindled deeper emotions as I relaxed into it. Again, if an analytical dude like me can do it then I believe anyone can! (Once again, if you wish to read about the ‘who’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this website please click here.)

Of course this stuff all just travels along at a pace relative to each of us individually. And again, don’t forget, this relationship is intended by God to be one that will never end!

Also remember that extra sense of ‘purpose and contentment‘ that awaits each of us Christians in this life!

Obviously the Bible has an important role in our faith journey. Continue to the next article, “Our amazing Bible”.