In my last post, I talked about forgiveness as the doorway to having a relationship with God. Today I want to go a little further and consider a practical question: once that door is open, what does the relationship on the other side look like? How do we have a relationship with someone we can’t see with our physical eyes or hear with our physical ears?
It is Not Going to Be Physical
The first thing to understand is that in this life, it is highly unlikely that you will ever experience God in a physically perceptible way. You are not going to walk into a room one day and find Jesus sitting there, ready for a conversation.
While the Bible records several instances in which Jesus appears physically after His resurrection, this is not the common experience of most people. The Apostle Paul is a good example. After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, He appeared to Paul directly and called him into ministry (see Acts 9). Even today you will occasionally hear testimonies of people who encountered Christ physically. God used that encounter to call the person out of sin and into a relationship with Him. So it would be dishonest to say it never happens. But it is not a common experience.
But for most of us, we are never going to see Him with our physical eyes, hear Him with our physical ears, or experience Him in any physical way. A relationship with Jesus is, for nearly all of us, going to be lived through knowing His Spirit, who lives within us. There will be no physical perceptions at all. This makes the relationship difficult to process mentally and hard to explain to those who do not also experience it.
When we repented and came to faith, God put His Spirit into us. He brought our spirits to life so that we now have a relationship with Him. So the real question becomes: how do we maintain it? We are not going to meet Jesus for breakfast the way we do with friends. So what does it look like to stay close to someone we can’t sit across the table from?
Here are five disciplines that have helped me survive and thrive in my relationship with Jesus.
Thanksgiving and Worship
The first is simple gratitude. Being thankful for what God has given us. Scripture says he makes the sun rise on the just and the unjust alike Matthew 5:45. There is so much in this life that comes from His hand, whether we acknowledge it or not. Air to breathe. Food to eat. Sunshine that lifts our mood. Rain that brings relief and waters the earth. When we make the effort to look around, there is so much for which to be grateful.
Beyond gratitude, worshipping God opens the way for His presence in our lives. Scripture says that God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3 KJV). Worship is acknowledging God for who He is. There are many aspects of worship, including singing and speaking praise of who He is. Expressing thanks for what He has done for us is another powerful aspect of worship. Living a life of obedience is also a form of worship.
When Jesus encountered the woman at the well in John chapter 4, He said that a time would come when it would not matter where a person worships. But that their worship would be in spirit and in truth. The Psalms offer some beautiful expressions of worship. Many modern Christian songs are taken directly from the Psalms of the Bible. Many times I have turned on worship music in the car and worshipped God while driving. Using moments like those to express praise to God can be a deeply spiritual blessing.
Fellowship
Fellowship is another way in which we can experience a spiritual relationship with God. When we build each other up in faith, we draw strength from one another. Loving those who share the faith, helping them in need, and letting them help us in ours. Anyone who trusts Jesus for salvation and accepts Him as Lord of their life is a brother or sister. They are family, and we are called to treat each other that way, prioritizing one another’s good and encouraging one another’s faith.
Being in fellowship with other believers offers the opportunity to love others as Jesus loves us. It also helps to keep us grounded in the truth. It is easy in our culture to be swayed to believe things that sound good but are not at all biblical. When we talk with other believers about what we are learning or hearing from God, they can help validate what we are sensing in our hearts. Such openness with other believers can save us from harm and deception as well as strengthen our confidence in our walk with God.
A Life of Service
Closely related to fellowship is living with a service attitude. Jesus said the greatest among us is the servant of all (Matthew 23:11). He demonstrated a servant’s attitude on the night he was arrested when, at the Last Supper, he washed His disciples’ feet. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, yet He took the posture of a servant. He calls us to do the same, not only toward people in our church but toward the world.
In his writings, Paul repeatedly stated that we are to work to build each other up in our faith. We are to consider others more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:3 CSB).
The call to service leads somewhere costly: self-denial. God hasn’t called us to sit on the beach and coast through life. He has called us to a life of sacrifice and service to others. While life is meant to be enjoyed and we should enjoy the good things He has given us, the call to each of us is a call to live in service to others. That service is not just to fellow believers.
Jesus put it plainly in the final words of Matthew’s Gospel when He said to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you,” Matthew 28:19-20 CSB. That command is itself an act of service. Paul repeatedly returns to this theme. He charges us to build each other up, serve one another, and live as an example to those outside the faith. Our lives are to be a living testimony that points others toward God.
Prayer and the Word
Of all the ways we engage in relationship with God, knowing His word (the Bible) and spending time with Him in prayer are the most vital. Like food and water keep our physical bodies alive, knowing the Bible and spending time with God feed us spiritually. Developing a regular discipline of learning the Bible and communing with God will do more to deepen your relationship with God than anything else you can do.
God’s word gives us truth upon which to base our lives and faith. Knowing His word, not consuming the Bible the way you would breeze through a novel but working to understand it in its original context, will build a foundation for your spiritual life. When you understand something like the parables of Jesus within the culture in which He lived, the meaning deepens in ways a casual reading never reveals.
The truth in the Word gives us knowledge of God’s promises and character. When the enemy comes at us with a lie, it is Scripture that refutes it and keeps us on the right path.
Prayer is how we sit down with Jesus at the breakfast table and engage in conversation with Him. Prayer is simply talking with God. We share our needs, concerns, and joys, and we listen for His direction, correction, and encouragement. Prayer is not just us regurgitating our selfish needs and wants. Prayer is deep, personal sharing with God. It is opening our hearts to Him. Instead of hiding in the bushes as Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3, prayer is stepping out naked into the light of God’s love and mercy to receive His grace for our daily needs.
Prayer is also lifting the needs of others in our lives to God. We are encouraged to pray for nations, leaders, families, fellow believers, and those we know who are in need.
Prayer and understanding the word require discipline. Fellowship is a close third in the way of importance to our walk. When we wrestle with the meaning of a passage of Scripture, we need people in our lives to help sharpen our thinking. I can’t count how many times I have brought an interpretation to a pastor or a good friend and had them help me reshape it into understanding that aligns with biblical truth.
Where I’ve Sensed Him Most
It is in moments when life offers me no answer, moments of despair, that I have sensed God’s presence most personally. Not physically. But one learns to recognize His presence in one’s spiritual being. I would rather call it an experience than a feeling because it goes beyond emotion and beyond intellect. God’s presence is a sense of wholeness, peace, and calm that frequently shows up in the middle of the storm. It is a deep sense of God’s presence that says, “I have you. Trust me. Do not despair. I will bring you through this.”
If you are struggling, surrender to him. If you are wondering how to live this life, start digging into His word. Take time to sit, express gratitude and worship, and be still and quiet before him.
Get on a Bible reading program. The Gospels of Mark and John are great places to begin. The Psalms are a great next step; in them, you will read from people putting their own experiences with God into words.
Proverbs is another good place to read regularly. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, so reading one chapter a day is one approach many people have taken. It is best to focus more on getting something out of what you read rather than on how much you read.
I personally love the historical books of the Old Testament because they show us how God moved in the lives whose stories are told there.
The important thing is working toward being consistent. It is far better to do a little bit every day than to do a long one once a week. If there is ever anything I can do to help, feel free to reach out to me at connect@bradchurch.com.
