How to Develop A Strong Relationship With God To Know Him As Your Father

 

Return To Free Victorious Bible Studies

Prayers For God's Will
Prayers For God’s Will

It’s never too late to develop a relationship with God.  No matter what your age, when you turn to God He will welcome you with open arms as His child.

Many Christians don’t see God as an entity they can relate to or have a relationship with. This is because they haven’t taken the time to learn about Him and know how God sees them. This lesson will help you see God as your “DAD” who is waiting to bless you beyond what you can imagine.

If you desire healing and you want to get on the path to your life purpose, you will need the knowledge that God loves you and desires to bless you no matter what your age.

 

Without a relationship with God you can’t
know His special purpose for your life.

 

Develop Your Relationship With God

                                                                                  Image by Flickr/SimplySteff

        Ephesians 2:10 tells us,

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

When verse 10 from Ephesians 2 is translated, the word workmanship literally means that you are handcrafted by God.

What this verse is saying is that we were not just created by God, but he actually handcrafted each of us for a special purpose. God has given you a purpose or reason for being on this earth–you’re not just here to take up space, but to live a special calling.

 

Draw Nearer To God

Without drawing closer to God we can’t know Him. If we don’t know God, then we can’t know who we are. We were created in God’s image as Genesis 1:26-27 tells us, so we need to know God in order to know ourselves. Knowing God holds the key to our knowing what purpose He has waiting for us.

James 4:8   Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:8 makes clear that it takes action on our part to have a close relationship with God. While God is in us, we can still be far away from Him if we don’t draw near Him. He is our father, our “daddy” and we can go to Him and remain in His presence because that’s what father’s and children ideally do. They remain close!

Don’t think that we got the concept of “father and child bonding” or “parent and child bonding” from the world. We are created in God’s image. God put that emotion or need within our hearts based upon His love for us and His desire for us to draw near to Him.

How close are you to God at this moment? Do you feel distant? Too far away? Well you can fix that right now. If you wait for God to draw near to you, distance will always keep you from knowing Him and as a result, you will never know the real you! But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Remember, God is never going to be any closer to you than He is today. He is in your heart. But if you don’t look to your heart through God’s Word, you will not hear His voice speaking to you and leading you to your purpose.

 

The Concept Of A Relationship With God

The myth that God and the things of God is a mystery keeps many Christians from having a “father-child” relationship with Him. Think about what parents do with their children from the time they were babies. Even if you didn’t have a good relationship with your parents or you don’t have children, you know that parents are suppose to guide and teach their children how to develop in life. It is also their job or position to guide and prepare their children for life so that they will be successful in whatever they do.

This may not always be the case in all families, but we all know this is what parents are suppose to do. If we embrace the fact that God is our Heavenly Father, then we should be assured that this is what God will do for us. He is there, always waiting to guide us in all the affairs of life and in leading us to the purpose He has for each of us.

To reach God is very easy. He’s with us wherever we go, but if we don’t talk with Him or listen to Him, we can’t establish a relationship with Him. It’s like my younger sister and my older sister who rarely spoke to one another growing up. There was just the three of us and my parents. When my youngest sister was born, my mother thought she was very special so she kept her separate from my older sister and I. We hardly saw her. As children we were locked in the garage at different times alone, so we were each like only children, playing by ourselves. If it weren’t for the fact that my oldest sister and I shared a bedroom, we would have been estranged from each other too.

As we got older I made friends with my youngest sister while my oldest sister was busy working and attending college. So I was the only one of the three of us who had an established relationship with both of my sisters. When I moved to Maryland from California, my sisters decided to visit me. When they arrived, they talked about how strange the trip was for them at first. It was like two strangers traveling together. They didn’t know what to say to one another, so they made small talk about where to eat and what to do when they got to my apartment.

By the time the three of us had traveled around together, both of my sisters had developed a close relationship that continues to this day. This is how it is for most Christians when it comes to their relationship with God. He is living with them, right under their roof, but if they keep themselves from talking with Him and including Him in their lives, He’ll be just another stranger. He won’t be able to communicate with them because it takes two willing parties. God can’t force you to develop a relationship with Him because you were given a free will to choose what you do in life. God will never force you to do anything–ever!

However, you can begin talking to Him by just making small talk at first like my sisters did with each other, and in time you’ll feel comfortable communicating with Him.

So if you want to develop a relationship with God, you must make a decision to look to Him as your Heavenly Father who loves you, forgives you, will guide you and will lead you to success and great fulfillment.

 

How To Develop a Relationship With God

2 Timothy 2:15   15. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We need to study the Word of God in order to know God. The Bible is our handbook for living. In it is all the wisdom we need to live a successful life for God and in general. As we study the scriptures we draw near to Him and get to know Him.

But there are other ways to develop a relationship with God.  As we incorporate them into our lives, we will not only come to learn about God, but we will come to know God as our Heavenly Father.

Christian author, Nichole Marbach centered her book of devotions, 122 Love Letter From The Throne Of Grace, around the fact that we need to see God as our “Daddy” who loves us.  Each of the 122 devotions were created from Words God had given her to share the fact that He desires to have a relationship with us and love us. Here is a paragraph from her book that describes how God desires for us to let Him love us as our Father.

Let Me lavish My love on you. Let Me fill the void left by the wounds of your earthly fathers. I am your Father, but I love it when you call Me “Daddy.” In the name “Daddy” is intimacy and relationship. Don’t be afraid to call Me your Daddy, your Abba Father.”

Even if you have suffered in life from your earthly parents or others who have hurt you and let you down, God will take care of your wounds and make you heal through His love. But we have to let Him!

NOTE:
It’s not enough to study the Word in order to draw closer to God and develop the relationship with Him that He desires. We must make God’s Word come alive in us so that it will be revealed through our day-to-day actions. God’s Word will only work on our behalf when we act upon it.

There are 7 major Steps to develop a relationship with God:

1. Study the Word

2. Act on the Word

3. Talk to God

4. Listen to God

5. Pray to God

6. Use Jesus’ Name

7. Look to the Holy Spirit

 

Step No. 1:   Within your communication with God He may choose to communicate with you through visions, dreams or an audible voice for instance, but normally He communicates to us through the Word and by the still small voice from within our hearts. God’s Word will guide you toward His ways so that you will know Him better.  They also teach you how to be obedient to God. There are many instructional verses you can read that will teach you how to live the Christian life.

Psalm 119:105 (NIV)   105.  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

I love to confess Proverbs 3:5-10. These are great verses to help you understand how God loves you and what He is doing for you. As you take His promises by faith they will keep you grounded in God’s love and ability to have victory over all problems that may come against you.

5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

8. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

9. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase:

10. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Step No. 2: We need to act upon the Word.  Reading only isn’t enough for change in our hearts to take place.  Proverbs 3:5-10 is inspired instruction for how we should live our lives daily. As we follow each verse, or act upon what they say, we will have good health and we will have a continual flow of financial growth.   Just following these verses alone will keep you from doing the things that get people into trouble. You won’t want to commit adultery, steal, lie, kill or do anything that is against God.

Step No’s 3 and 4: These steps are important for getting to know God and make the Word personal for you. As you speak with God, just as you speak to a person, you begin to feel His presence and you will begin to hear Him speak to you. I learned to speak with God as a child. There were times when I had to endure torturous situations that would have been intolerable without communication with God and receiving His compassion. I learned over time that when facing difficulty, God will give deliverance through His Son, Jesus Christ. No one taught me, it was through my communication with God that I learned many life-changing and life-saving lessons.

Step No. 5: This step is essential for receiving God’s guidance, praying for needs and wants to be met, praying for our families, praying for others and to praise and thank God.  It’s important to learn how to pray each of the following prayers in order to receive from God.

You must learn:

1. The Prayer of Faith

2. The Prayer of Consecration

3. The Prayer of Dedication

4. Intercessory Prayer

5. The prayers of Praise and Worship

Step No. 6:   You can only know God through His Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we are able to do all things. It is only through Jesus that we can do anything. We are saved because of Jesus Christ. We become a “new creature” in Him and we receive our blessings and life purpose through Him. 

Once you understand and accept that you cannot go to the Father except by His Son Jesus Christ you have already established a relationship with God and have turned God’s Power “on” in your life! It will then manifest itself in whatever you do as you act upon what God says in His Word in Jesus’ name. This is because you have come to know Jesus and His place in the Trinity. If you know the Son, then you know the Father. If you act upon the Word then you are responding to God.  In time you will come to see that using the authority of Jesus’ Name will make your life burden free.

When you pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, you take the burden off of yourself to get answered prayer. When you command something to be done, you do it in Jesus’ Name instead of having the burden to make it happen on your own ability. Jesus’ Name gives us power and rest! He will help us do the impossible by His authority!

John 14:6  6. Jesus saith Unto Him, I am the way, the truth and the life: “no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”

 

Learn to use the authority that you have been given in Jesus’ name to establish a relationship with God. You will never get close to God except by His Son, Jesus Christ. The more you know about Jesus, the more you know about the Father.

Jesus said in John 14:20 …”ye (you) shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”  We are tied to our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to reach God than through His Son.

Step No. 7:  This step is imperative in order to know God. The book of St. John gives us the identity of the Holy Spirit. He is the “Comforter” who is with us now that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God.

John 14:15-18

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

 

Jesus didn’t leave us void without Him when He left the earth. He gave us another Comforter, the Holy Spirit. He was sent to walk with us just as Jesus walked the earth with His disciples before He was sacrificed for our sins.

John 16:7   7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

John 16:13  13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

 

We have benefit of the Comforter who will guide us into all truth. He will speak only of the Word and whatever He hears from our Heavenly Father. The Comforter was sent to guide you into your purpose and every good thing that God has for you to do.

Once you learn to take God’s lead by the Holy Spirit, you will come to have a deeper relationship with God because the Holy Spirit will keep you focused upon God, His Word and His guidance for you.

The Holy Spirit is with you right now. All you have to do is reach out to Him. Ask Him in Jesus’ Name to help you, guide you or show you things to come. When you need more wisdom, ask Him to show you where in the word you should look. It doesn’t matter what it is you ask for as long as it pertains to God’s Word. Once you begin to do this, you will see great changes in your life. 

 

Conclusion For Developing A Relationship with God:

Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that God created man in His image. But He said it in a way that was very special and very telling about who God is. The first sentence of Verse 26 says, “Let us create man in our image, after our likeness…”

In order to know God and develop a relationship with Him we must learn the functions of the Trinity. God wanted us to know from the very first book of the Bible that God is more than just one entity. We do not see  the Trinity functioning in the Old Testament because Jesus wasn’t born yet or sacrificed for our sins, therefore the Holy Spirit wasn’t yet our Comforter to take Jesus’ place. However, we can see in the New Testament when reading the four Gospels that the “Our” or plural tense God is referring to is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

To know God and to work with Him concerning our purpose in life, we must know each function of God and respect each. You will do this by recognizing each entity of God and working with each as God has instructed. For more about the function of the Trinity, go to the complete study:  The Doctrine Of The Trinity.

 Copyright (c) Develop A Relationship With God. Margaret Lukasik All Rights Reserved.

 

Return To Free Victorious Bible Studies 

Leave Develop A Relationship With God For Home Page