Post by Zac Loh on May 10, 2009 3:17:51 GMT -5
How do we relate to God? Are there definite terms? We can have a relationship with God but not on our own terms. Faith, Hope and Love: what these mean except that they constitute the terms of our relationship with God?
God is God. He is not something we make out to be. He exists before time began. We cannot change God to suit us. On the contrary, we are to change to conform ourselves to Him.
Let me tell a miraculous incident of God’s goodness …of His provision for me. It happened in a season when I was self-supporting …but jobless for two months! I was stretching my faith daily …just for my meals. I was eating humble pie that was good for my soul ...but my stomach kept crying-out!
One day, I was extremely hungry. I burst-out with a prayerful sincere complain directly from my heart. I said, “God, I have been going to church twice a week faithfully for the past one year, and now, I don’t even have the faith in me to ask you for a meal!”
The Holy Spirit came upon me, and I worshipped God amidst my crocodile tears.
A short while later, I forgot about the whole ordeal, and dozed-off on the couch.
Within ten minutes, I heard footsteps coming-up the stairs. My housemate came home during his working hours, and traveled twenty minutes from his office on a motorbike carrying a huge container of home-made noodles (`hor fun’ in Cantonese).
This was richly prepared, tasted delicious, personally delivered to me ...better than anything I could get at the food stalls!
What transpired was that the wife of my housemate’s boss asked him to bring it to our church elder who was the chief tenant of the house which I was living-in.
But guess what ...no one was home (or would be) …except me!
Each of us has a different upbringing and background. Due to this factor, we naturally incorporate our tendencies and inclinations into the way we relate to God. Therefore, we are required to unlearn and align ourselves - in order to have a fruitful relationship with Him.
Some grew-up in the condition and environment of low self-esteem, insecurity, fear and betrayal. Thus, they find it hard to trust others, and they find it hard to trust God. This will certainly negatively impact their faith in God.
Some have been shaped by life’s set of disappointments, setbacks, difficulties and hardships. Some resort to the pursuit of pleasure, wealth or power to escape the sting of their past. And some became an irremovable feature in the human mechanism of the day-to-day wheel of existence on planet earth. For some others who overcame their past, their greatest escapism is never to confront the fact that one day; they will cease and die.
Can we look beyond this life? God wants to bend down to us, reach down and relay to us - that this life, this world, this system, this earth will one day quit functioning. And that He has offered an alternative, an eternal blessed hope.
Some carry character traits of stinginess, greed and selfishness which affect their human relationships as well as their relationship with God. Many think that God is like the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) or the Internet Order Form. All they have to do is to indicate what they want, and they will soon get what they ask from God. Sadly, as many the case, these people will find it hard to let go and love unconditionally. They will have a tough time grappling the truth that they are called to love God Who is love.
This book does an incision into the Bible to examine the subject at hand, not only exploring the large picture concepts and the faith principles involved, but also the practicalities of having a relationship with God.
God is God. He is not something we make out to be. He exists before time began. We cannot change God to suit us. On the contrary, we are to change to conform ourselves to Him.
Let me tell a miraculous incident of God’s goodness …of His provision for me. It happened in a season when I was self-supporting …but jobless for two months! I was stretching my faith daily …just for my meals. I was eating humble pie that was good for my soul ...but my stomach kept crying-out!
One day, I was extremely hungry. I burst-out with a prayerful sincere complain directly from my heart. I said, “God, I have been going to church twice a week faithfully for the past one year, and now, I don’t even have the faith in me to ask you for a meal!”
The Holy Spirit came upon me, and I worshipped God amidst my crocodile tears.
A short while later, I forgot about the whole ordeal, and dozed-off on the couch.
Within ten minutes, I heard footsteps coming-up the stairs. My housemate came home during his working hours, and traveled twenty minutes from his office on a motorbike carrying a huge container of home-made noodles (`hor fun’ in Cantonese).
This was richly prepared, tasted delicious, personally delivered to me ...better than anything I could get at the food stalls!
What transpired was that the wife of my housemate’s boss asked him to bring it to our church elder who was the chief tenant of the house which I was living-in.
But guess what ...no one was home (or would be) …except me!
Each of us has a different upbringing and background. Due to this factor, we naturally incorporate our tendencies and inclinations into the way we relate to God. Therefore, we are required to unlearn and align ourselves - in order to have a fruitful relationship with Him.
Some grew-up in the condition and environment of low self-esteem, insecurity, fear and betrayal. Thus, they find it hard to trust others, and they find it hard to trust God. This will certainly negatively impact their faith in God.
Some have been shaped by life’s set of disappointments, setbacks, difficulties and hardships. Some resort to the pursuit of pleasure, wealth or power to escape the sting of their past. And some became an irremovable feature in the human mechanism of the day-to-day wheel of existence on planet earth. For some others who overcame their past, their greatest escapism is never to confront the fact that one day; they will cease and die.
Can we look beyond this life? God wants to bend down to us, reach down and relay to us - that this life, this world, this system, this earth will one day quit functioning. And that He has offered an alternative, an eternal blessed hope.
Some carry character traits of stinginess, greed and selfishness which affect their human relationships as well as their relationship with God. Many think that God is like the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) or the Internet Order Form. All they have to do is to indicate what they want, and they will soon get what they ask from God. Sadly, as many the case, these people will find it hard to let go and love unconditionally. They will have a tough time grappling the truth that they are called to love God Who is love.
This book does an incision into the Bible to examine the subject at hand, not only exploring the large picture concepts and the faith principles involved, but also the practicalities of having a relationship with God.