Psalm 91:4 “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” This episode talks about how to develop a personal relationship with God. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A Personal Relationship With God
Psalm 91:4 “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
I love this image. I picture the Lord as a giant eagle and He puts his wing over us like we would put our arm around a child. When I think of this I am filled up with a sense of love that I just can’t explain. Sometimes I think we think of the Lord as this all mighty being that is so magnificent and is so busy that He doesn’t really have time for us. I guess I don’t really mean that he doesn’t have time for us. I think that we all know that He is listening to our prayers. I think we know that He spends lots of time on us. I guess what I mean is that we don’t really think that He knows us personally, if that makes sense.
I don’t know, maybe I am wrong. Take a minute and think about your impression of God. What comes to mind when you try to picture Him. Do you think of a loving father, do you think of an almighty God that is kind of intimidating, do you think of someone that answers your prayers, but does not know you personally? How do you picture God? I think the reason I am asking this is because I think that many of us think of God as someone that is unapproachable. Yes, we can pray to Him and He will answer our prayers, but that is the extent of the relationship. I wonder how many of us know that God longs to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us.
Yes, even you. God wants to have a personal relationship with you. When I first heard this, I thought, what does that even mean? How does one have a personal relationship with someone that they can’t see, hear, touch, talk to, etc. This is when I began my journey to have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father. (Actually with all three members of the Trinity) So, how does one begin something when they have no idea how to do it? Lots of ways I guess. What I did was try to learn what it means to have a personal relationship with God. I read some books and talked to lots of people. Here is what I have learned so far. Although I am still very much in the learning phase.
First, you can talk to Him. You can talk to God anytime you want to. He is always willing to listen. You can talk to Him about anything. Sometimes I think we feel as though God is busy and so we come to Him when we really need Him, but we don’t want to bother Him with our day to day stuff. Or at least that’s how I felt. God has time for you whenever you want. He is not bound by the same limits we are when it comest to time or attention. He can be there for each of us all of the time. He is not only willing to listen, but He wants to listen. He loves to hear about your day. If you are a parent, think about how happy you are when your children, no matter what age they are, take the time to tell you about their day. This is how God feels when you take the time to just sit and talk with Him about whatever is on your mind.
Second, get to know who God is. If you are trying to develop a personal relationship with someone one you would learn as much about that person as you can. The same is true with God. The best way you can learn more about God is to read the Bible. Reading scripture and spending time in God’s word is a great way to feel closer to Him. The more you read about and learn about our Heavenly Father, the more you will begin to see Him in a different light. You will begin to see how much He truly loves His people. How much He has done and continues to do for us, even when we don’t deserve it. Reading scripture will help you to get to see several different sides of God. You will get to learn so many different things about Him. Yes, God is all mighty and He is also very compassionate. Trust me, if you want to feel closer to the Lord, spend time daily in scripture.
Another way you can develop a personal relationship with God is to listen to what He has to say. Once you start to talk with God and tell Him all about your day, then you can also spend some quiet time just listening to what He has to say. You will most likely not get an audible voice that you can hear, however, some people have had this extraordinary gift. What I hear about most often is that you get a sense or a thought that comes to mind. For instance you are sitting there quietly and you tell God that you are available and listening. Then sometimes you will get a thought in your head from God. A sentence, a statement, some people get visions. It could be whatever you are open to. God is not going to force this on you. He will talk with you if you want to listen but only when you are open to it. I have had words of prophecy come to me in this way occasionally. How I usually listen to God is that I write Him a letter in my journal and then I tell Him that am listening and then I write down any thought that comes to my mind. I do not sensor it, I do not ask myself if this is really God talking, I just trust that I have told Him I am listening and so He is talking. That being said, I understand that I am new to listening to God and also that I may have heard something wrong or added something I wanted to hear. So, I do not take everything I write down as gospel, but I have found it is a great way for me to take time to listen to the Lord. I learned this letter writing technique from Fern Gorin at the Life Purpose Institute.
Those are just a few ways you can develop a personal relationship with God. I had no idea I was going to talk about that today. I thought for sure it was going to be about how God is our shield and our refuge. The Holy Spirit is funny like that. We think we have a plan but He knows best and so He just takes over. I love it when that happens. I think it is important that we develop a personal relationship with God so that we can truly understand how much He loves us. Also, so that we can truly understand how much he knows us personally. We are not just another person to Him. We don’t get lost in the shuffle. He calls each of us by name. I will leave you with a word of prophecy from my prayer group that shows you just how much God wants to have a personal relationship with you. “I have called you by name into life. I have called you every day by your name because I know you, I love you, because you are my friend.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us develop a personal relationship with you. We pray that you help us to understand how much you love us and how much you know each one of us personally. We thank you so much, Lord, for that personal attention. We thank you for all the countless times you have listened to us, and we pray that we can teach us how to quiet our minds and listen to you. We love you, Lord, and we long to have a personal relationship with you. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to Walk Boldly With Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I. Have a blessed day.
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in October 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Choose me all the time. Choose my light, choose my truth, choose my word. There is no trial greater than me. I conquer all things. Choose me.”