That relationship 

"I believe in God not because my parents told me to. Not because my church told me. Because I've experienced His presence and workings in my life and how awesome He is."Our God is an awesome God. Indeed he is. Many times we say this and many times we sing about this but do we actually know what we are saying? Can we actually feel his awesomeness and his presence as we say these words? Is He in our hearts or is he just a distant figure in the sky?Awe : A feeling of reverence and wonderment. An amazing word to describe an amazing God. I am in awe when I take time to sit and think to myself,

"Wow, this world is truly amazing and my God who created it is even more amazing,"

I am sure we all get those moment when we are walking in nature, wherever it may be. When you just look up to the sky and you are in awe, wondering if all this is even real. It is real but what is even more real is the God who created it and not just any God but your God.Do we have a relationship with our God? More importantly what kind of relationship do we have with Him? Is it a habitual relationship?

You have grown up going to church and singing songs and now it is just something you do. It's Sunday, I should go to church. How about going to church every day and not just going to church but spending time with Jesus. I don't literally mean going to church every day. Yes Sunday is the Sabbath but is it the only day we spend time with God? Is it not enough to just be grateful for the fact that it is a day in the first place, any day, another day that God has given you to live out your purpose and spend time with him. Are you able to just wake up on a random day and say God I am so excited and thankful for this day and I can't wait to see what you have in store for me? Or does that make you feel uncomfortable? Are you able to say yes the pastor preached a lovely message on Sunday but what message do you oh lord have for everyday of my life? Are you able to listen and hear that message then act on it? Do you speak to God like you are speaking to your best friend and does he respond to you like your best friend?

It is now the part of church where you stand up and sing songs so you just stand up and sing those songs, it would look strange if you didn't anyway. But are you paying attention to the words you are singing? Are you relating those words to you current situation and the stage you are at with God. Are the words pouring out of your mouth from your heart? There is truly this indescribable feeling that one can feel when they enter a room full of gathered worshipers singing songs. Everyone is shouting out not caring about what the next person thinks and clapping they're hands or moving around the way they feel like. Everyone is singing to God honestly. Whether it is asking him to change their lives or thanking him for already doing it, each have a story they are singing for. The feeling is rejuvenating! Sadly though it is not always you enter a room of worshipers and feel that. Sometimes it is all about the ritual or the show and pretending. Are we in a community where we can ask the service leader to sing a particular song because of the tough time we are going through in our lives? Are we in a community where people will pray for you willingly after your request and sing your song to God on your behalf! Do we have that relationship with people who have that relationship with God.Is it a fearful relationship?"Oh no I lied to my sister today and God must be so angry with me!""I forgot to pray today, I am not acting as God's child!"This kind of fearful relationship leads us to run away from God but that is the wrong direction to run in.James 4: 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.When we are afraid or guilty we run away from the lord and hide from him just like Adam and Eve did. And just like Adam and Eve he knows where we are and he will find us either way so we might as well have run to him. Jesus loves you and he wants to cover you with his Grace. He wants to say to you my daughter, my son, my child,"Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid," Mark 6 : 50"I love you, I have forgiven all your sins, do not be afraid. Now stop worrying about all this and please come and spend some time with me,"Is it just a religious habit?At this time I must do this and I must never do that because I have been instructed to. Am I going to church on Sunday to preach to people about how they will go to hell if they do something and then once the service is over am I going and doing the exact thing I said not to do? Because my life is not God centred but my religion is?"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Mathew : 23 :13Colossians 2:18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.20 If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: 21"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"?22 These will perish as they are based on human wisdom and teachings 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.We should be letting Christ be the head of our lives and all aspects of our lives not just aspects we feel he is obligated to head and give us commands. Jesus does not only belong in church he belongs in your heart, in your life and he is not there to obligate you to do things but to give you a fulfilling life.The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10 :10

I have been going deeper into the gospel of mark and noticed how both the disciples and the Pharisees followed Jesus, but they followed him in a different way. The disciples wanted to spend time with Jesus, they wanted to see the miracles he performed and have him teach them to them personally. When Jesus would say something they would ask "What does this mean?" wanting to gain a better understanding. When he would go somewhere or go to pray they would say "Please take us with you". The Pharisees would look at everything Jesus did and point out how it was not in line with the law. "Why are you healing on the Sabbath?" "Why don't your disciples fast?" "Why are you forgiving sins, do you think you are God?" "Why do you eat with sinners?" " Why do your disciples eat what they shouldn't" etc. If you take time to go into the gospel you will actually be shocked. The Pharisees are so caught up in the commands and finding what Jesus is doing wrong while the disciples just want to spend time with Jesus because come on, Jesus is here wouldn't you want to?! It is also not shocking that some of the Pharisees had theories of who Jesus was but they never actually knew who he was yet when Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say that I am?" He answered " You are the Christ, the son of the living God," no one had told him this but he knew!

" Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood have not revealed this too you, but my father who is in heaven," Mathew 16 : 17God silently speaks to those who listen.Luke 10: 38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."What is the one thing needed he spoke of? That relationship. Another example where God wants to speak to us but we are too busy doing what we think he wants us to do, which may not even be what he wanted in the first place.22Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.' 24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock...." Mathew 7 : 22-24God wants us to have a relationship with him. He wants to know us. And in order for him to know us we have to know him. How do we know him? We read his word not because we are told to but because we are trying to gain understanding. We pray for this understanding and we expect to find it as we read. When we find that understanding we act on it. We act on what we have learnt. We learn that Jesus is a loving savior and we not only proclaim this to the world but show the world that love by loving people.James 2 : 15-17 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, "Go in peace; stay warm and well fed," but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? So too, faith by itself, if it is not complemented by action, is dead.That relationship is when we can say God I love and I know you love me, please show me what you want me to do for you today as I read your word. You read the word and you will find something that is relating to your current situation if you have prayed to find it and you are listening and looking for it. God speaks in a quite voice and It is sometimes hard to see because we are in a chaotic place (not setting aside a quiet place and time for him) or we are too busy expecting some huge sign from above. Can you read the verse about not being angry and think of a specific person in your life you always get angry with? Can you try and be with that person without being angry? Can you go back to your quiet place and say Jesus I tried with.... today and it did/didn't work thank you for giving me the courage/ please give me courage to do better tomorrow. Can you find a way to include God in every aspect of your life? Do you only pray when you want something or do you only pray when you get something? In a relationship you need to be able to communicate about both what you are happy about and what you have and what you are not happy about and what you don't have. "I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God." ― John GreenThe risk of not having that relationship is you may not put God in the center and end up getting consumed in things of the flesh. Worse than this I believe is you could end up not loving God because all this time you have been told to do so and it is not even from your heart, this could actually lead you to get frustrated and turn away from the faith, or become one of the people Jesus will say he never knew.That relationship is also to keep us sane because we all know how hard life can get and we need someone to lean on someone to talk, someone to make life ten times better if we could only ask and listen. We need someone to help us resist temptation and resist the negativity of the world and that someone is calling out to you - if you would listen."Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Mathew 11: 29-30Hebrews 4:15 " For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin."Let us all help each other to focus on building that relationship from now on,God bless, JesusistheWaytoLife