A relationship with God is a relationship, with, GOD!. It is a growing developing unity with the creator of all things. It is a relationship on all levels. It is intimate, loving, respectful, honoring and unifying. It is personal, it is enduring, and it is honest. It is giving over self to gain Jesus. It is a relationship of creator and created, Father and child, Husband and wife. It is passionate, compassionate, rich, uplifting, healing, strengthening and satisfying. A relationship with God builds unity with God. Oneness with the creator, where an exchange takes one into the divine life. We exchange our weakness for His strength, our sorrow for His joy, our loneliness for His unity and belonging, our ignorance for his knowing, our foolishness for His wisdom, our anxiety for His peace, our frustration for His completion, our hopelessness for His hope, our Brokenness for His togetherness, our problems for His solutions, our slavery for His freedom, our pain for His love.

There are many people who have come to God for salvation but only know of God and do not enjoy a personal, intimate, living, relationship with Him. They understand that Jesus died on the cross but fail to understand why. Understanding what he did does not necessarily imply an understanding of why He did it and therefore, does not necessarily translate into life experience. When Jesus took the punishment for our sins He did not do it so we could escape hell and go to heaven. Jesus came and died so that we could have a relationship with the Father. Of course having a relationship with God means that we live with him, where He is, which is heaven. Eternal life in heaven is a byproduct of being involved in a relationship with God. As with all of the Kingdom of God the relationship comes first, as a result of this relationship many wonderful things flow into our lives. These things come as we grow and develop into the image of our Father. Everything that comes from God is because of a relationship with God. A relationship that is based on trust, honor, respect and communication.

Intimacy with the Father requires honesty with Him, trust that He loves you and only wants to build you and support you and make you whole. He wants to free you from the lies and bondage's that hinder you from growth into His image. Making a decision to accept Jesus as your savior means nothing if you are not willing to walk a path of intimacy with your new Father. Not that it is a burdensome requirement that needs to be fulfilled so that you gain eternal life. No, it is a joy and the highest call on humanity to live a life in union with their creator, Father. That is why Jesus came, that is why He submitted to the cross, so that we could come to the Father and begin to grow in intimacy with Him. That is the only valid reason to accept Jesus offer of forgiveness.

A relationship with God is for here and now, we do not need to wait for heaven. When we live in a relationship with God we live in Heaven here. As we grow close to Him we take on the character of Him, we start to live like him as well. This is the true path of prosperity in every way. As we grow into the image of God we attract the things of the light and repel the things of the darkness. We start living as children of God instead of children of satan. Not by trying to impose rule upon rule and law upon law but by an internal change that accompanies a deepening relationship with God. We need not struggle as a leopard trying to change his spots, which is impossible and only brings frustration and self condemnation.

JER 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin

We only need concern ourselves with our relationship with God and allow our inward person to change which will be reflected in external behavioral change.

The process of growth is of vital importance. God created the world and the way in which it functions. Tiny seeds grow into to huge trees, over time. Season change from one to the other gradually. Its not spring one day and summer the next as it is on the calendar. Things grow, God has a time schedule. As we walk a path of relationship with God we grow into His image and life. We cannot be like Him instantly. People try this and never grow as they are never honest with themselves or God. Always faking, always pretending that there're changed while the hearts remain the same despite there intense effort and struggle. Leopards painting over there spots, but the paint doesn't hold they are left exposed and embarrassed.

The way of the kingdom is relationship. God wants us to be like Him that's why we were created in His image. Adam and eve wanted to be like God but wanted it quickly. They were made in His image and would continue to grow in His image but tried to do it buy eating the forbidden fruit, Genesis 3:.Instant God likeness without the growth to handle it. Trying to avoid the growth process designed by the Creator. One step after another, lesson after lesson when we are ready to move on we move on. Everything that is given by God flows out of a relationship with Him. The craftiness of satan still works on Gods children today as it did then. Deceiving people into thinking and acting that there is another way to gain the benefits of being in a relationship with God without actually being in a relationship with God. The lie is easy to spot in the secular world. The gifts of God are counterfeited. Instead of Gods voice they have tarot or I-ching or the myriad of other ways to gain divine direction. Instead of God healing they have Reiki, spiritual heading's and so forth. They have a form of Godliness without God.

There are more insidious forms of satans lie and they are in the Christian Church. It takes many forms but remains constant in its sinfulness of gaining the benefits of a relationship with God without having the relationship.

A relationship with God is Where the Father and his child live as one. Where the child lives in love, respect, honor and submission to their Father and the Father loves, protects, provides for and instructs His child. The foundation of the relationship is communication. The only way you know Gods will for your life right now, is for Him to tell you. For Him to tell you, you must listen. People try to find meaning for their lives through the bible, people try to have a relationship with God through the bible. They try to have a relationship vicariously through Paul, or David or the woman at the well. The try and lay claim to the words God spoke to them. The fact of major importance is that God spoke to them. He spoke to all of them, all the great bible people lived a life of obedience to the voice of God, specially Jesus. God spoke to them and He wants to speak to you. Directly to you. Not through someone else or cryptic little messages that you have to uncover like a detective mystery. Not through inspiration"just like the penny dropped" or goose bumps, the people who follow dead false gods rely on such things. Our God is alive and articulate. The bible is written by those who heard His voice. Saul the great studier became Paul the great listener and spent fourteen years in the desert listen to the truth handed down from his Father. Moses heard Gods voice continually, Joshua was there when Moses brought down the ten commandments but knew enough to disregard it at Gods command. He was instructed to covet the land of milk and honey, kill it inhabitants and steal the land. He did it for he lived by the voice of God. The great prophet Samuel states

Jesus state to the CHURCH at laodicea.

This is the wonderful verse of relationship of Jesus sharing a meal, the great middle eastern symbol of friendship. For those who hear His voice and open the door.

The old covenant was people trying to live a holy life by following a set of rules, it doesn't work. The new covenant is one of intimate relationship. Father and child, husband and wife, creator and created. We are not here to follow a written code of instruction but to live a love relationship. God does not just set us on a path, He walks it with us. We grow in His unity as we listen and obey the voice of the Lord. Jesus spoke in parables so that only those God opened the ears of could understand. He didn't speak plainly because we are not here to follow rules but walk in relationship with God. Only then could they understand what Jesus was saying, Luke 8:10. Everything is dependent on a relationship with God that is the way is was made by Him to function and that is the only way it will work.

We are all individuals and God deals with us individually. We all have a unique call on our lives and we are all at different stages of growth. Relationship living is the only way to ensure that God is in control of your life, path, destination. For as circumstances change so to our requirements change. Jesus sent out His disciples and told them to take no provision for themselves. Later He told them to take provision, Luke 22: 35-36. The requirements changed as He saw fit. There is a ‘Gods timing’ for life that God alone knows, Ecclsiastes 3, we can only flow within it if we are in a communicative relationship with God. People of the world allow circumstances to dictate their life and its time and requirements people of God must allow God. A relationship with God necessitates that we make God, God and we look to Him for everything in life.

The greatest privilege in life is to be a child of God. The greatest blessing in life is to be in a loving, supportive, communicative relationship with the Father. He has not abandoned us to eke out a spiritual existence picking through secondhand, hand me down, spirituality. We have first hand access to truth, strength, power, understanding, wisdom and life directly from the Father. We need no Priest no mediator except Jesus. We have access to God. We don't need to piece together snippets of unrelated text for our truth, God speaks to us pure truth. Not only is it pure it is relevant to where we are. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. Not what someone else wants us to know when they want to talk about it. The beggar at the beautiful gate asked Peter and John for money, that's what he thought he needed. However, Peter and John knew what he really needed and healed him, Acts 3:1-10. No one knows what we need as God knows what we need. No carefully planned study or bible collage can teach us as God can. For it is the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth, John 16:12-13. God can and will use other people to help show you things and confirm what He has been teaching you. But He will never use anyone in place of Himself. Jesus didn't die so you could have a relationship with your pastor, priest, bible school teacher. Jesus didn't die so that you could have a relationship with a church building or the bible. Jesus died so that you could have a relationship with the Father. No one can teach you as God can teach you. No one can guide you as God can guide you. Don't rely on anyone except God for truth. Truth is only truth when all variables are known. Is it true that the sun rises in the east? For now it does but one day it wont rise at all. As far off as it seems one day the earth and the sun wont exist as we know it. Therefore it is only a temporal truth. We cannot examine what is true for we do not know all there is to know about anything. Only God knows and we must look only to Him for truth. Everything we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste is temporal, only the spiritual realm will endure finite time. God is the only being with no beginning and no end we must rely on him for truth. God made everything, we must rely on Him for truth. God speaks things into existence, we must rely on Him for truth. As humans we were created to live in unity with our Father. We were to live in intimacy with Him we weren't equipped to be able to decipher the truth, it is beyond our capabilities. There was no need to, for God is the author of our truth. A truth that He reveals to us personally and individually. People look to the bible for truth but replacing God is not at all the intended purpose for the bible. We can see how God dealt with other people in the bible which helps us understand how God is dealing with us. The bible was written by men under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is the inspired record of God and humanity. But it is not God. When you are struggling do you, "get into the word" or get into God?

A man loved his woman, she wrote him love letters, he framed them, cherished them, read them over and over. His love knocked on the door, he refused to open it for he was reading the love letters. His love is still knocking on the door but he wont answer, he continues to read the love letters. It is easier for him to read the letters, for it puts him in control of the relationship. He is missing out on the warmth of a lovers embrace, the tenderness of the lovers kiss, the intimacy of candle lit dinners, walks under moon light all the good stuff but he feels safe for he has nothing to lose. The trade of is that he has nothing to gain. It is good to read the bible but it must not replace a relationship with God. The only true way to read the bible is with God. God directs us to what He wants us to read, when He wants us to read it and then tell us what He wants to show us from that passage. He wrote it, He is the only one equipped to instruct from it. The bible is a tremendous blessing when read in conjunction with God but when we deciphered it by the natural mind it can be a tremendous curse. For we were never meant to read and decipher it on our own, as with all things it only works properly when we are in a intimate loving communicative relationship with God. We are completely dependant on God for everything, without Him we can do nothing, John 15:5. It is the way it is set up, if you want true light, true love, true peace, true wisdom, true prosperity, true guidance, true salvation, true growth, true unity and truth, you must be in a relationship with God. if not you have to settle for the useless imitations. The pseudo spirituality where you make all the decisions and pray that God will sanction them, where you do all the talking and expect God to do all the listening. Where you tell God what to do instead of God instructing you. You express your will and want God to conform to it, when we should conform our will to the Fathers. In short in pseudo spirituality the human acts as though there're God and expect God to submit to them. God created man in his own image, pseudo spirituality tries to create God in their own image. God will never be involved in such a relationship. Where man leans on his own wisdom, makes his own decisions, chooses his own truth, lives how he wants. He thinks he is spiritual because he reads the bible, prays and goes to church. The audacity of such a person it would be better if he did none of these things. The requirement of a relationship with God Almighty creator of Heaven and Earth is full and absolute surrender. Surrender of self will, and yielding then unifying to the will of God in all things in life. If God is to be God in your life you must lay down all rights you think you have. You must lay down all decisions you think you should make. you no longer have the right to decide where or if you should work, where you think you should live. What clothes you think you should wear, if or who you should marry, if you are to be rich or poor, sick or healthy. It is a full giving over of self, complete with all preconceptions allow God to give you all truth, this is what makes God, God in your life, anything else wont do.

We must learn to hear the voice of God clearly and accurately. God will speak to us and lead us, we need not fear being deceived. John 10:1-18, Luke 11:11-13. We are created to live in harmony with our creator. We don't have to live in assumption of Gods will we can and should know what Gods will is for us personally at all times. We can and should know this because God has told us not because of a guess even if that guess comes after biblical study. God does not want His children groping around in the dark biding time till death. We are here, God is with us, our relationship and heaven experience starts now. Life becomes simple, we listen and obey. Although it is not always easy to obey, how hard it is, is how hard we make it. Initial struggle and reluctance gives way as worldly and religious conditioning are put aside, preconceptions laid down and we yield to our Father and defer to His knowledge and wisdom.