You may have read how I was dedicated to the Lord before my birth. I have followed God all of my life, being closer to him and not so close at other times. But I have never walked away from him. Early in my life, I was afraid of God, not wanting to do something that would banish me to hell. I learned the fear of God at a young age. As I grew older, I realized that is not how he operates.
Back in the day, I did not consider myself religious, but thanks to the rearview mirror of life, I reeked religion. I still find that funny because I have always had a distaste for religious people. I despised asking people how they were doing only to hear, “I am blessed.” I remember thinking, Oh really? Perhaps you should tell your face! It isn’t that I have a problem with blessing; it is a problem with being religious and giving a practiced religious answer.
I bring this up because the world we live in is looking for real while finding a lot of phonies camera-face responses to life. I am so thankful that my journey to a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, has set me free from such an empty life.
No one really knows how long the garden of Eden experience in the Old Testament book of Genesis lasted. Still, it is a powerful story of a love relationship with creator God and created man (in this case, the male of the species). They walked, talked, laughed, and learned about everything—literally—under the sun.
Perhaps they spent hours, days or even years going over the minute details of this earth and all things about it. Can you even imagine sitting next to God having this magnificent creature stroll by as God says, “and what do you call that one?” Can you feel the adrenaline rush as the man looking intently blurts out, “why that is an elephant?” Can you sense the joy flooding over you as God broadly smiling saying, “that’s a great name?”
This is what a close personal relationship is supposed to be about, getting to know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It isn’t about doing anything, rather about being in his presence, learning what makes him laugh (do you ever think about God laughing?) or makes him sad.
It isn’t about how many pages of the Bible you can read in a day, or how long you can make your prayers, or how many people you approach; those things are a means to an end—a close personal relationship with him.
Reading the Bible, both Old and New Testament is important because God is not physically beside you. The stories of the Bible are meant to teach you lessons about him, so read them with that in mind. What was God thinking when he said that or did this? What was the person or people doing when he said it? Can you tell what their attitude was? These are essential questions to ask every time you open the Bible.
Write down things you do not understand, questions about what you read, or why God did a particular thing. You will be surprised how you receive your answers. They could come while hearing someone talk, or as you are talking, or perhaps in this internal knowing that you cannot explain.
My wife told me this story. The other day while driving home, she felt the Lord say to turn off the radio. Upon doing so, she heard “Hi,” to which she responded, “Hi.” “I love you (saying her name), and good things are coming.” Of course, she became emotional—wouldn’t you? What a powerful story.
You can debate it up one side and down the other; was it God or her imagination? She had a prompting to do something, did it, and received something in return. The point is, does that happen often? The obvious answer is, of course not, but the fact that it happened is a testimony to God’s desire to be close to his creation.