An introduction of this blog

What comes to mind when you think about God? Do you picture a bearded old man with hair as white as snow? Do you think of him as someone that is far away, and doesn't care about you? Do you picture him as someone that you just can't reach? Do you have a desire to get closer to him, but don't quite know how? We have all had questions and misconceptions about God at some point in our lives. There are also people that say that he doesn't exist. No matter which of these questions or ideas about God that you have, I hope that these blogs will shed light on who God is and how to have a close walk with him. These blogs titled "Closeness with God" will be short and to the point. Whether you know it or not, God desires to be your friend. Yes, I said that correctly. He wants to be your friend. He wants you to be a part of his family. He loves you!!!!! I hope that this short introduction has whet your appetite to get to know God, and I hope that your life is changed for the better as a result.

Developing friendships and relationships

I hope that the introduction in the previous post has whet your appetite to have an up close and personal relationship with God. He is an awesome friend.

Do you have someone in your life that is a close friend to you? You know what I mean, one of those people that you can count on no matter what is going on in your life. When everyone else is against you , this friend is right there to see you through every situation in life. Those friends may be a rare find, but I am sure that each of us has a friend like that now. If you don't have a friend like that now, I am sure that at some point in your life you have had that type of a friend.

Using that friendship as a point of reference, how did you become close to your friend? Did the friendship just magically happen, or was it a friendship that took a little time and effort to develop? I know with every close friendship that I have had in life, it has taken time and effort to develop that bond. We learned each others likes and dislikes. We spent time doing activities and talking to each other. We spent time at each others homes. We learned the good things and the bad things about each other. There is nothing bad to learn about God, but the point is that friendship and relationships take time to build. In order to develop a close walk with God, you need to learn who he is and what he is like. Getting to know him will be a life long journey, but it is well worth the effort. In the next couple of posts, I will spend some time talking about God and who he is. I am not sure how many posts it will take. I am trying to keep these posts short and sweet so that it doesn't take but 5 or 10 minutes to read each post. If you want to read several posts you can, or you can read them one at a time. The choice is yours. I hope that they are a blessing to you.

Getting to Know God- Part 1

Hi everyone. Let me start by saying that giving an explanation of God is like trying to explain the vastness of the universe. There are some things about the universe that are still a mystery. No matter how long you have a relationship with God, there are still some things about him that are beyond explanation. I am going to make an attempt to give a simple explanation of who God is and what he is like. I am not going to use a lot of theological terms. There may be some people that are reading this that already have a relationship with God. There may also be some people that are reading these blogs that have never heard about God. I want to start with the basics. Some of you might not need the basics, and some of you may need them. For those of you that already know the basics, hang in there and be patient. It is similar to putting an airplane together. You start with the first step in the process and continue until you assemble the final part. Step 1 in a close walk with God is getting to know who he is and what he is like. We also have to learn the way that he has given us to have a relationship with him.

So who is God? God is made up of three individuals. He exists as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is three separate individuals that make the One True God. How is it possible that God is three separate individuals? We actually have an example on earth that is very similar to this. Is there anyone that is reading this blog that is married? If you are not married, surely you know someone that is married. Marriage is very similar to what I am talking about. In a marriage, you have a husband and a wife. They are two separate individuals, yet their lives are joined together as one. They no longer operate separately from each other, but they do things as a family. When decisions are made, they affect two people instead of one. They are still two separate individuals, but now they are one. In the same way God is three separate individuals, yet God is one. In the next blogs, I will talk about each individual of the Godhead, and how they work together in unity. I hope that these posts are a continual blessing to you and that they are giving you a desire to have a close walk with God.

Getting to Know God- Part 2

Hi everyone. I hope that you have been enjoying these posts as much as I have enjoyed writing them. It is my desire for everyone to have a close walk with God. I have learned a lot about God from my own personal walk with him, and I still have a lot to learn. In the last post, I shared that God is three separate individuals, yet he is one in unity. I used marriage as an example to explain this aspect of God. In a marriage there is a husband and wife that are two separate individuals. When they are joined in marriage, they become a family. They are still two individuals, but they begin to operate as a unit. I told you that God consists of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I would like to tell you a little bit about each member of the Godhead. This is not an easy task. There is so much about God that I do not know. You can walk with him for a lifetime, and never run out of things to learn. God the Father is just like the father of an earthly family. He is a provider and protector. He makes decisions that pertain to the family. He is a giver. He not only gives us things that we need, he sometimes gives us things that we want. Let me get one thing straight before we continue. God is spirit. He doesn't have a gender. Scripture uses the word father to refer to God the Father. When we hear the word father, we think of the things that I just talked about. Now, lets talk about God the Son. God the Son is the member of the Godhead that carried out the Father's plan to restore the relationship between God and man. Children here on earth do tasks that their parents give them to do. Jesus carried out the tasks that God the Father gave him to do. His task was to restore the relationship between God and man that was marred with the fall of Adam. Who is God the Son? I know that you have probably heard of Jesus Christ. He is God the Son. He is unique among men. He is God, therefore he knows God's viewpoint. As part of the Father's plan, Jesus was sent to earth as a man. Since he lived here as a man, he knows our viewpoint. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. That makes him a perfect mediator between God and man. In a later post, I will go into detail about how Jesus restores our relationship to God. This is good news. God made a way for us to have a close walk with him through Jesus Christ. Now I would like to tell you about God the Holy Spirit. As I told you earlier, God is spirit. He does not have a gender . We are created in the image of God and he has given us some clues from our lives that show us what he is like. God the Holy Spirit is just like a mother. He nurtures and comforts us. He teaches us. He leads us and guides us. He heals our wounds. He helps us in times of trouble. He draws us to God. I am thankful for each member of the Godhead and the role that each one plays in our lives. I hope that with each of these posts, you are developing a deeper hunger for God. Begin to ask Holy Spirit to give you a hunger for God. Be blessed.

Why does it seem so hard to get close to God?

Hello everyone. I hope that you have learned a few things about God from these posts. God is an amazing friend once you begin to know him. We have learned a little about God in the previous posts,now it is time to talk about why it seems so hard to get close to God. It really isn't that hard, but it does seem that way. We just have to come to God on his terms. We have a tendency to take things into our own hands, but God has made the way for us to have a close walk with him. It doesn't come through self-effort and how to seminars. We tend to want to earn things. That is not always a bad thing, but that is not how we start a walk with God. God did all the work for us. I know that is hard to wrap your mind around, but it is a truth that must be learned. You see, mankind has a problem that has been passed on from generation to generation. It all started with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. God gave them many fruit trees for food. We still have lots of fruit trees, even in our time. There was a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God told them not to eat from. I will not go into a lot of detail about the story. The only thing that I would like to highlight about it is that Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree. They were disobedient to what God had told them to do. I am sure that each of us has heard the word sin. There are several words that are listed in scripture that are used for rebellion against God's commands. Some of the words used are sin, transgression, and iniquity. As a result of Adam's disobedience, rebellion against God has passed down to each one of us. We have all did things that go against God's commands. That is why it seems so hard to have a close walk with God. You might ask how that is possible. Sin separates us from God. If you read the story that I was describing earlier in the book of Genesis in the Bible, it tells us that God came to see Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. God came to see them, even after they had sinned. Notice I said that God came to visit them, even after they had disobeyed his command. What was there response to God's visit? They ran and hid from him. God didn't try to stay away from them, they hid from God. That happens in our day as well. We do something wrong and we run in the opposite direction from God. He doesn't want us to run away from him. He wants us to run into his arms. He loves you!!! I say again that he loves YOU!!!!! It doesn't matter what you have done. He is a God of grace and mercy. He is a forgiving God. He has made a way to give us a close walk with him. He did the same for Adam and Eve. In the next post, I will tell you about his plan. It is not my plan or your plan, but his plan. I hope that this has been a blessing to you. The things that I have talked about in this post may sound like bad news for us. It is not bad news, but a diagnosis that leads us to a cure. When we go to a physician, he gives us a diagnosis and tries to cure our problem. This post has shared the diagnosis, but God has provided a cure. God's cure will work, guaranteed.

Look at what God did for us

Hi everyone. Now is the time you have been waiting for. I have made several previous posts that all led to this. We have talked about who God is and what he is like. We have talked about how great it is to have a close walk with him. We have talked about how we have a tendency to want to do things our way, but the key to closeness with God is to follow his way. We have talked about why it seems so hard to have a close walk with God. Now it is time to learn about his plan. God is just like a father that stands behind his child and asks him/her to fall into his arms. The father has the ability to catch the child, but the child shows that he/she trusts the father by falling into the father's arms. God the father is waiting to catch you. Your part is to fall into his arms. So what is his plan? When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that disobedience passed from generation to generation. As a result, we have all disobeyed God from time to time. As I have been telling you, God loves you and me. He did not want us to stay in a place of rebellion against him. In the previous post I mentioned that after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, he came to visit them. Do you remember what happened when God came to visit them? They ran and hid from God. You may or may not have children, but it would be just like your child hiding in the closet when you come to their room to visit. That would be tough to have a child that fearful of you. In a previous post, I told you about each member of the Godhead. If you have not read them, please go back and read all of the previous posts where I talk about this. I told you about God the son. God loved us enough, that Jesus Christ was sent by the father to the earth. He lived as a man. During his time on earth, he demonstrated the love of God to us. He lived a life without being disobedient to God. Before Jesus came, innocent blood was shed for the person that was disobedient to God. Why was that you might ask? Leviticus tells us that the life of the flesh is in the blood. The most precious gift that God has given us is life. The life of our body is in the blood. We receive eternal life by the shedding of blood. When Adam and Eve sinned, God made them a coat from animal skins. That innocent blood was shed for them. We find this in the other Old Testament books of the Bible. Now back to Jesus. Jesus lived a life without disobedience to God. His innocent blood was shed for us. What is our part? I am sure by now you have realized that all of us except for Jesus have disobeyed God. That is the first thing that we have to admit. God offers salvation to us as a gift. If I had a phone that I was going to give you, what would your part in the transaction be? You would have to receive it. God offers us a relationship with him as a gift. The blood that Jesus shed is to patch our relationship with God that has been marred by our disobedience. When Jesus died, he was raised from the dead after 3 days. He is now seated in heaven in his rightful place, so this is not a sad story of death and gloom. It is a story of victory. The book of Romans says, If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead we will be saved. Now, fall back in his arms and trust him to catch you. Now that you know how to have a relationship with God, lets start it out by talking to him. Pray something like this in your own words: Father, I realize that I have disobeyed your command from time to time. I am sorry for running from you. I run to you now. Thank you for making a way for me to have a close relationship with you. I believe that Jesus shed his blood so that I can be forgiven for disobeying you. Thank you Jesus for shedding your blood for me and for giving me a relationship with God. I receive you as my savior and Lord. Thank you so much. I hope that this has been a blessing to you. If you just received Jesus as your savior, please let me know. I would like to rejoice with you. This is the beginning of an adventure that will last forever. This is the most important thing that you will do to begin a close walk with God. Be blessed.

The Start of a Lasting Relationship

The previous posts have built up to the most important aspect of having a close walk with God. In order to have a close walk with God, we must be reconciled to God by receiving Jesus as our savior. Jesus did everything necessary for us to have a close walk with God. This is not a plan that mankind cooked up. Instead it is a very clever plan that God came up with. He knew that we would never be able to live up to his standards on our own. He is a holy God, and his standards are beyond our reach. That is why he has chosen to reconcile us to himself without any effort on our part. He made it available as a gift. You don't have to work for a gift. You only have to receive it. When anyone offers a gift to you, there is a choice that is involved. You can receive the gift, or you can reject the gift. The choice is yours to make. The same is true with God's gift of reconciliation that he made available through the life and blood of Jesus. When we receive Jesus as our savior, we become a child of God. You no longer have to be afraid and hide from God, but now you can approach him as his child. A child approaches a parent with boldness and confidence. We can approach God with that same boldness and confidence. Start talking to God. This is what we call prayer. Tell him how you are feeling. Tell him what is on your mind. Tell him the things that you like about yourself, and the things that you would like for him to change. Tell him your deepest feelings and desires. Spend time talking to him every day. He loves you and is concerned over even the smallest of details about you. He knows how many hairs that you have and when one falls out. Take time to thank him. We all have things that we can thank him for. Just start talking to him every day and through the entire day. I am sorry that it has taken so long to do this post. I wasn't sure where to start after the last post that I made. God is so amazing that it is hard to break down these posts to be as short as they are. I want them to be short and life changing. I hope that they have been a blessing to you.