3. A consistent, on-going relationship with God built on communication (prayer), trust, and faith.

Communication With The Father
Just like any other relationship, a relationship with the Creator of the Universe needs to have certain elements to it to work. There needs to be a constant, regular, communication. In this case, that happens through prayer.

This prayer thing is far more than just getting on your knees and bowing your head once or twice a day. The communication with God needs to be regular and on-going. As your driving down the road or heading down the hallway to deal with a rebellious child, every minute of every day needs to be focused on communicate to God. When the focus is always on God then your actions in any situation will reflect God.

A great example of this can be seen in the life David. In every situation in his life, he would constantly communicate with God. All throughout the Psalms, prayer are lifted up in both good and bad situations.

Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea;
listen to my cry.
Give ear to my prayer—
it does not rise from deceitful lips.

May my vindication come from you;
may your eyes see what is right.

Though you probe my heart and examine me at night,
though you test me, you will find nothing;
I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. – Psalm 17:1-3

Hear my prayer, O LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were – Psalm 39:12

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness
and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. – Psalm 7:17

Trust And Faith Are Key
A relationship with the God of the Universe absolutely needs to be based on faith and trust.

FAITH: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

TRUST: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing (Dictionary.com)

Faith and trust describe our part in the foundational beliefs of following Jesus. Believing in what we can not see and a reliance on a God whose character is worth trusting.

FAITH
It takes faith not only to believe that God exists but also to believe that Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected. Jesus commented on this very thing during a post-resurrection encounter with the disciple Thomas. He said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.(John 20:29)”

It also takes faith to believe that the Holy Spirit lives within us. Even though the Holy Spirit can not be seen, we know He is resident within us. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. – (I Corinthians 6:19-20)”

It does takes faith to believe the Bible is the true, accurate, and inspired Word of God (Although with all the archaeological evidence proving the Bible it makes it a little easier). Faith is a definitely an important piece to following Jesus with all of our heart.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith. – Romans 1:16-18

TRUST
Any relationship is not really a relationship without trust. Think of those deep, true, friendships that are in your life. The type of friendship where you can share your heart without worrying about others finding out. It is that kind of deep, trusting, relationship God is looking for with His creation.

God honors that kind of relationship all throughout the Bible:

…the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. – Psalm 32:10

Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.- Psalm 40:4

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. – Jeremiah 17:7

Trusting God and what He says in His Word is a key to truly believing in Jesus and following Him with all your heart.

Without trust, there is no real relationship with God. Without faith, there is no true belief in God. Without a belief in God, there is no following Jesus.

1. An ever growing understanding of who God is and belief that His ways are good

Volumes and volumes have been written trying to truly understand who God is. But I think it needs to be stated up front that we can never fully know or understand who God is. That is where faith comes in. The ability to fully trust in what we can not fully know. If we were able to fully understand God, then there would be no need for us to have faith and trust.

The Triune God
Let’s first take a look at the Trinity. This is the name of the doctrine that presents God as one God with three co-equal, co eternal persons. Let’s take a look at a couple of scriptures where we can begin to see this play out.

God is One
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one – Deuteronomy 6:4
This represents a deeply held belief of the Jewish people that they would recite at the beginning and the end of the day. There were commanded to continually remind themselves that God is one.

We can see it in the first of the 10 commandments as well. “‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’ – Exodus 20:2-3″ God made it very clear that He is the only God that you need to be concerned with.

Next week, I hope to spend more time focusing on the overall attributes of God, with the hope that we can really begin to understand the awesomeness that God is.

God Is Three, Coequal, Co eternal Persons
One of the first places we can begin to see this is in the one of the common names that the Israel used in referencing God. The Hebrew name “Elohim” which is the plural form of “El” meaning God. “Elohim” was the closest word they could come up with to represent this idea of a triune God.

It is this “Elohim” that is mentioned in the first words of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created…” Thereby giving us our first look at what this eternal God is truly like.

Many times in the creation account to we see this reference to the triune God appear. This account brings to our attention, right from the beginning, the perfect community and fellowship that God exists in with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’[Emphasis Added]”

A Look At The Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit
In order to better understand this triune set up in which God exists, we need to begin to look at the individual parts that make it up.

The Father
Many times throughout both the Old and New Testaments is God the Father referred to.

Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you – Deuteronomy 32:6

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand. – Isaiah 64:8

They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son. – Jeremiah 31:9

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. – Matthew 11:25

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’- John 20:17

God is not just some stoic father but the kind of father that we can come to crying, “Daddy, I need you.” “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Romans 8:15) God is not at all like the flawed earthly father that you have. He is the perfect daddy you have always needed; full of justice, grace and most importantly mercy and love. He will discipline from time to time, but that is what a good father, who knows what you need better than you do, does. You just need to trust that your heavenly daddy will take care of you.

But on the other side of the coin, He is still the God of the universe who demands reverence and utmost respect. Again it is another paradox that we can not fully understand but need to honor from our humble position as His creation.

The Son (Jesus)
Definitely the most visible of the trinity, Jesus has always existed in fellowship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He has no beginning, He just always has been and will be.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. – Colossians 1:15-20

Jesus, through his own words, tried to let everyone know who He truly was. “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’”

The Jews of Jesus time fully understood the clam He was making by saying this. “I am” was a reference used by Moses to refer to the God that has always been in existence and in control. Jesus claimed this for Himself and based on the reaction of the Jews, who picked up stones to stone Him, it made some people mad.

Jesus is at God’s right hand in heaven today, “While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. (Luke 24:51)” He is interceding on behalf of all those who have chosen to believe in Him and accept His free gift of grace (More on this in future article). As Jesus followers, we all look forward to His soon coming and promised return.

The Holy Spirit
The third person of the trinity is the one that still is very active in our world today. The Holy Spirit comes upon us at our time of belief in Jesus and acceptance of His free gift of Grace. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.(Ephesians 1:13-14)”

We first see the Spirit of God in the opening verses of the Bible. This confirming for us the eternal existence of the Holy Spirt. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.(Genesis 1:2)”

We also see confirmation of the Spirit through the words of Jesus in John 16, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.(13-15)”

These words of Jesus also begin to show us the mission of the Holy Spirit in our world. That being to guides us in all truth and being the voice of God in our lives. The Spirit does this thro
ugh taking residence in our lives. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.(I Corinthians 3:16-17)”

The Spirit also takes part in teaching us (John 14:26), helping us to pray(Romans 8:26-27), and empowers us to live out our mission(Acts 1:8). We need to seek out the filling of the spirit daily in our lives. Read this excerpt from a previous blog article:

This process of seeking to be filled with the Spirit needs to become a daily ritual consisting of a time of confession to God followed by asking the Holy Spirit to guide us (handing control over to Him) through that day and finally believing with confidence that it will be done as you have asked.

In summary, God is one God existing in 3 coequal, co eternal persons. Like I said in the beginning it is not something we can get our finite minds around but it is important to understand as much as we can if we are going to begin to build a foundation for following Jesus with all our lives.

More on Understanding God next week, Until Then Blessings…

It has been quite a week of pondering the foundational non-negotiables of following Jesus. I am planning to expand on my recent post from Wednesday on Think Christian which laid out my basic thoughts at that point.

I would like to thank those who posted comments over at Think Christian. I am planning to use some of the scriptures you guys mentioned. That is what I love about this blogging thing – collaboration.

[Quote from TC Post] So far my thoughts have brought me to 4 items that are key in setting up that foundation:

1. An ever growing understanding of who God is and belief that His ways are good
2. An understanding of and belief in what God did on our behalf to redeem us as well as restore our relationship with Him
3. A consistant, on-going relationship with God built on communication (prayer), trust, and faith.
4. A belief in the truth of scripture inspired under God’s control

As I thought through, and read comments, about the above four items, I think I would only make one addition to what is there. I do not mention anything about the work of the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives. I would add this 5th point:

5. A continual submission to the work of God in our lives today through the daily filling of the Holy Spirit. (Thanks to Sarah and Stephen!)

Now I would like to turn a corner and begin to expand on each of the 5 points.

1. An ever growing understanding of who God is and belief that His ways are good

An essential part of following Jesus is understanding who God is. Since Jesus is God and came to Earth. If we don’t strive to continually understand God more and more, then we will never really understand a key part of who Jesus is. After all, it was Jesus himself who said, “I and the Father are one.”

I think an essential part of that is belief as well. You can know in your head that Jesus is God. But if that’s as far as it gets, you still won’t get it. You need to really believe it with all your heart and commit to growing every day in your knowledge of God. I don’t believe, on this earth, we will ever reach the point of knowing fully who God is but the more we can learn and understand the better off we will be in striving to follow Jesus.

2. An understanding of and belief in what God did on our behalf to redeem us as well as restore our relationship with Him

I think as followers of Jesus we need to understand not only why Jesus came to earth like He did, but also why God continues to persue us and deeply desires to restore the relationship we broke through choosing to sin.

This is actually really simple to understand and profoundly important to believe. Chris put it best with his comments over on Think Christian. He said, “Without accepting Christ there is no salvation. You would think that shouldn’t have to be stated, but in this age of multiculturalism and political correctness, it must be stated boldly.”

I agree 100% with Chris. Jesus came to here to be the sacrifice on our behalf. Why do we need a sacrifice? Because we made some seriously bad choices to sin (Romans 3:23), and if Jesus did not come to bear the cross then we would have to suffer through eternity separated from God(Romans 6:23). All we need to do is believe this truth and be redeemed and restored back to relationship with God.

Jesus said it best in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the father except through me.”

3. A consistant, on-going relationship with God built on communication (prayer), trust, and faith.

James summarizes this point in chapter 4 of his book, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. (verses 8)”

A relationship is a two way street. If God is striving to restore our relationship with Him, then we have a definate part to play in that restoration as well. God does not want to command us to love Him because then we would basically be robots. No, He wants us to choose to “come near to” Him. The only way to do that is to actively make that apart of your daily life. Prayer, trust, and faith are an essential in growing closer to God.

4. A belief in the truth of scripture inspired under God’s control

I strongly believe this point. The source for much of our knowledge of who Jesus is and what He did is found in the scriptures.

Jesus also referred back to the Old Testament scriptures several times throughout His ministry. By no means are the OT scriptures obsolete. They are vital to the complete story of God’s process of restoration and give a clear explanation of His deep love and desire for fellowship with His Creation.

That alone makes it vital to believe the scriptures are true, inspired and were gathered under God’s watchful eye. He is a Soverign God who allows nothing to happen in our world without His permission. He knows how important the Bible is to those He created. So why would He not be deeply concerned with the development of it from Moses all the way through the gathering of the books thousands of years later?

5. A continual submission to the work of God in our lives today through the daily filling of the Holy Spirit.

I think this is a vital and many times overlooked aspect to how God continually seeks to refine and grow us. We receive the Holy Spirit into our lives and soul when we truly humble ourselves before God and accept the gift of salvation from Jesus. But we need to daily humble ourselves before God and ask that the Holy Spirit would guide and teach us throughout the day. Also that He would intercede on our behalf to God. This is what it makes it possible to make it through each day. It is the source of the life and knowledge that is God in us (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Hopefully this was helpful in further understanding where we need to start in building a foundation that will allow us to truly begin to live life like the example Jesus gave us. This by no means the final or best answer out there. If you have any further insights on this very important discussion please post it in a comment either here or over on Think Christian. I am seeking to learn and grow from this and I welcome additional thoughts, correction,etc.

Thanks for journeying with me on this…