Connecting with God

 

First, it is important to understand that God loves you and me.  He created us with a purpose in mind and wants us to have a life that is full of meaning and purpose.  The Bible tells us in the book of John, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed: by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.”

 

Second, we need to understand that God is perfect and holy and cannot allow sin in His presence.  We as humans are imperfect and sinful.  Simply put we have missed the mark of God’s perfection.  The Bible tells us in the book of Romans, “Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us.”  We are naturally separated from God because of our sin and imperfections.

 

Third, we have God’s solution to the problem.  We needed someone to stand in our place and accept the consequences of our sin.  It required someone who lived a perfect life and could take our place and remove our guilt.  Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth as a man and lived a perfect life.  His sole purpose for doing this was to die on the cross and take on Himself all the sins of the world.

 

The Bible tells us in the book of Romans, “But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”  God loved us enough to provide a way for us to be connected back to him.

 

However, it is not enough to understand these three things, we need to take action and accept God’s gift to us.  God will not force it on us.  We have to accept his gift in order to have a relationship with him.  The Bible tells us in the book of Revelation, (Jesus speaking) “Look at me.  I stand at the door (to your heart).  I knock.  If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down.”

 

All that God requires of us is to believe (or to say it better), to put our faith in Him.  We must believe that Jesus died for us, ask for forgiveness of our sins, and invite Him into our lives.  A simple way that we express our faith to God is through prayer.  There is nothing magical about prayer.  It is simply talking to God.

 

Below appears a prayer.  There is nothing significant about the words of this prayer.  The important thing is that it expresses the desire of your heart.  If this prayer does express that desire, please pray along with me.

 

Dear God,

 

Thank you for loving me and sending your Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins.  Please forgive me of my sins and come into my life.  Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

 

Amen

 

If you prayed this prayer and meant it, congratulations, you are a member of God’s family.  You are beginning an exciting journey of faith and we would like to get you some more information to help you grow in your faith.  Please contact us so that we can help you on your journey.

 

If you don’t have a church that you attend, we’d happy to suggest some churches that we know will help you grow in your faith.  There are a variety of partner churches listed on this website that you can check out.