What’s Your Relationship Status?

We are starting our new series called healthy relationships.  How many of you would benefit from having healthy relationships?

Before we can have healthy relationships with people we must first have a thriving relationship with God. Check out this video clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uj2oRd-Bco

What’s your relationship status with God?

• What is a Healthy relationship? (perhaps you do not know because of your past)
• How do you know if your relationship with God is Healthy or not?

Often when we think of a Healthy relationship with God we think of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden before sin came into the world.  It was perfect.  It was just Adam, his wife Eve and God. 

However, we have learned that this picture of perfection was short lived.  In Genesis 2 God created man and woman, and in Genesis 3-man rebels against God.  No one knows exactly how much time was between Genesis 2 & 3, but we do know that God drove Adam and his wife Eve out of the garden of Eden because of their sin. 

The relationship between God and mankind would be complicated from that point on as Adam and Eve now had knowledge of both good and evil. They realized they were naked and hid from the Lord as He came walking in the garden.  Along with their sin came guilt and shame thereby an end of perfection.

Whereas before the fall they only knew that which was good there was no shame.

Because of their sin, their eyes were opened, and they realized they were naked. Thus, came the need to be covered. While they tried on their own effort to cover themselves with fig leaves, God would cover them with the skins of an animal. 

By this action God was setting the precedent of how man would be covered and restored back into relationship.  It would be only through the shedding of innocent blood.  Therefore, He sends His Son Jesus to this earth to die as a pure and spotless sacrifice, so that we too can be covered.

The reality is, we live in a broken world because of sin.  We have inherited this sinful nature as it has been passed on from generation to generation.

We do not have the same start that Adam had.   He lived in a world of absolute perfection and it became accursed because of his sin.  We were born in a world of sin with a sinful nature, yet we are striving for perfection.

While we might not experience complete perfection as Adam and Eve experienced until we get to heaven, we can still experience a thriving relationship with God.

• What is a Thriving Relationship with God?

With every relationship there are at least two individuals, and each individual must contribute to the relationship for it to thrive.  In a marriage we know that it takes 100% from both the husband and the wife to make it work.  If only one person is doing their part the marriage will fail.

The same is true with our relationship with God. 

If God is the only one doing the pursuing, the loving, and the sacrificing and we are not doing our part then be assured that you do not have a relationship with God.

God has done His part as He gave us 100%.  He gave us His Son Jesus Christ.  He is still giving us 100%

• He has done His part in the relationship, have you done yours?

If you cannot answer yes to these then you need to reevaluate your relationship with God.

2 Corinthians 13:5

⁵ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

We should examine ourselves regularly and ask the question, “what is our relationship status with God?”

• Devoted to
• Follower of
• Seeking a relationship
• All in… when things are going well
• All in… when I’m in a crisis
• Wondering what it is all about
• Wondering how this all works
• It’s Complicated

We need to know God and what is His heartbeat.  It is not enough to know about Him.

You can have the assurance that you are in a healthy relationship with God. Though you’re not perfect, He is working in you.

If you see the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in you, If you see that you are becoming more and more like Him, if you love people the way that He does, If you delight in His word, then know and be assured that God is working in you and that you have a relationship with God.

Philippians 1:6

⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 

Having a Healthy Relationship with God does not mean that you are perfect.

Even Paul the apostle who is accredited with writing 13 of the 27 New Testament books

Romans 7:15

 ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

You might slip up from time to time but that does not mean your relationship with God has died.

One way to know you are in a good relationship with God is not that you don’t ever sin, but that you recognize your sin, you feel the weight of your sin.  Then you confess it and you say you are sorry to God for it and you ask Jesus to cover it with his blood

You can have a confidence in your life that you are in a thriving relationship with God.

Here is how we can keep our relationship with God thriving.

Communication-  there is speaking and listening happening simultaneously. 

As we have learned, a healthy relationship consists of communication. 

The way that we communicate to God is through Prayer.  Perhaps the thought of praying to God scares you.  Or maybe you feel unqualified to pray, you may feel like you do not have the right words to say.  Whatever excuse that you give for not praying is not good enough.

God takes delight in the prayers of the righteous. Proverbs 15:8

Praying is as simple as talking to God, just as you would talk to a friend.  You do not have to use king James dialect using thee’s and thou’s.  You must pray to God from the sincerity of your heart, with all reverence for who He is. 

You pray in faith that He hears your prayer because He does. When you pray you also allow Him to speak into your life.

Imagine talking on the phone with your bestie and this person never gives you an opportunity to give your thoughts.   They simply ramble on about themselves the entire time.

• Is that good communication?

Neither is it good communication if we do all the talking and never allow God to speak into our lives through His Holy Spirit. 

Good communication also implies good listening. (I may not be the best at communicating my thoughts and/or feelings, but I feel like I am a pretty good listener.)

If you are listening, He will speak to you.  He will use His word, will use other people, life experiences and He will speak to you through the Holy Spirit. 

Meditation- is simply taking a certain topic or scripture and dwelling on it -- asking why, how, when, where and what is the end result and how can I apply this to my life?

Psalms 1:1-2

¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The word blessed means "happy.”  This happiness means you will have moral, mental and physical wellbeing. So, when your mind and heart are captivated by the word of God so that you do not walk in the counsel of the world, then you are considered “blessed” or “happy”

That is a difference between just reading God’s word and meditating on it.

Take John 3:16 for example, its one thing just to read it, but to meditate is to think of the cost.

When we meditate on His word we reflect on His goodness and we see things from God's point of view. Meditating on God’s word and who He is creates a deeper knowledge and awe of God. Meditation on his word also exposes who we are, reveals our dependence upon Him.

Fixation- the activity of fastening something firmly in position

As believers we need to have our fixation on Christ.  We need to be firmly fastened to Christ.

Think about Peter for a moment.  He was with the other 11 disciples in a boat in which Jesus told him to enter and to cross the other side.

Jesus comes walking on the water and the disciples started freaking out.  Then Peter says

Matthew 14:28-30

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” 

Too often, we are more fixated on everything but Christ.  Like Peter we look at the storms and the raging seas, we look at our money problems, our relationship problems, our financial problems, our health problems, or the problems in the world.   We are more fixated on the waves of life, things that are short lived and temporary than we are on the One who is the Eternal God.

Your fixation must be on Him. To be fixated on Christ includes holding fast to his teachings.  He taught us how to walk humbly, how to fast and pray and draw closer to God. He taught us that our lives need to bear fruit.  Through His life, He taught us how to trust God and to sacrifice.

God has done His part in the relationship.  Let’s do our part through Communication, Meditation & having a Fixation upon who he is.  Let’s continue to be awestruck by who He is.

What is Your Relationship Status?  

Can you evaluate your life today and conclude that you are in a healthy relationship with God?

• Are you a devoted follower of Christ?
• Are you all in only when things are going well?
• Are you all in only when you are in the middle of a crisis?