God’s ultimate desire in Kingdom service
God’s ultimate desire is to have an intimate relationship with us and fellowship with us daily during our service for Him. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
The word sup in that verse carries the idea of fellowship. Jesus is saying that He wants to fellowship with you. 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.” The word communion in that verse means fellowship or intimacy. According to the Word of God it is the will of God that we have fellowship and intimacy with the Spirit of God.
In Psalm 27:8 the psalmist writes, “When you said, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto you, Your face, LORD, will I seek. The word face in that verse means presence or person. God is telling us to seek His presence, to seek His “person” not just His principles.
Psalmist David responded the right way. He said, “Lord, you told me to seek your face so that’s exactly what I’m going to do (paraphrase).”
God is inviting you to fellowship with Him daily. God is interested in fellowshipping with you, talking with you and being involved in every part of your life. The failure of many believers is that they embark on so many religious activities alone and never take God along with them. No matter what activity you are engaging in, always make God a part of it. That is called “Practicing the presence of God”
1 Chronicles 16:11 says, “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.” We should be talking to God and fellowshipping with Him continually, all the time and in everything that we do. Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence is fullness of joy.” When you are in constant fellowship with God you will find that His very presence will bring joy to your every endeavor.
Another great benefit you will gain from an intimate relationship with God is the ability to trust Him more easily. The more intimately you know someone (their character and their nature) the easier it is to trust them. In 2 Timothy 1:12, Apostle Paul said, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Apostle Paul intimately knew the God in whom he believed. It is extremely difficult to trust somebody who you do not know. While on the other hand, the better you know someone the easier it is for you to trust them. For example, if you had to leave your child with a stranger on the street versus your best friend it would be much easier for you to trust your best friend simply because you know them better. Now, that stranger could be a person of higher character and integrity than your best friend. In fact, your child could even be in better hands with that stranger than with your best friend, but because you don’t know them, your ability to trust them is thwarted. When your RELATIONSHIP with God is no longer being developed then your faith in God cannot grow. Trust is hard where an intimate relationship is not present. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Many have taken that verse and made it all principle and no relationship.
Like a spiritual robot they spend much time in the Word only to never have their faith develop to the place they know it should be. The development of your faith is not only about “spending time in the Word,” it is about spending time with God and getting to know Him more intimately and you do that by spending time fellowshipping with Him. It is true that the Word of God contains the faith of God. As you spend time in the Word of God, your faith in God will get stronger. However, if you spend time in the Word of God robotically or religiously, not being conscious of your relationship with God, your faith will never reach the heights that it ultimately should reach. Faith does come by hearing the Word, but it also comes as you allow Holy Spirit – who is the great teacher, reveal that Word to you. As you allow Holy Spirit and give Him full sway, your relationship with God deepens even further. The faith contained in God’s Word and revealed by Holy Spirit will most certainly cause a great development in your relationship with God.
You can’t have faith in words, without knowing and having faith in the person who spoke those words. If you want to develop your faith then you not only need to know on what was said, you need to know the one who said it. When we get so focused on what was said and pay no attention to who said it, believing what was said is very hard. However, when you know the one who said it and you know He is a God who keeps His word, (Isaiah 55:11) it makes believing what was said very easy.
Faith in God shouldn’t be something that you have to work up, but rather it should be the natural outflow of an intimate relationship with Him. If I told you that I was going to pay all your bills next month and you said to me, “Well my faith in you for that is weak so I’m going to spend some time with those words you promised me to develop my faith in you.” First, that would be insulting to me that you won’t take me at my word. Let’s say then you went home and just spent time alone with those words every day, speaking to them and meditating on them, do you know your faith would not grow? Your problem is not with those words, but rather your problem is that you do not know me well enough to trust me. You need to spend more time with me, getting to know me and faith in me would flow out of an intimate relationship with me.
Faith in God will flow out of an intimate relationship with God. The better you get to know Him the easier it is to trust Him. That’s not to say that we do not spend time in God’s Word. Of course, spending time in the Word of God is how you grow your faith and develop a relationship with God. The point is that as you spend time with WHAT was said, always be conscious of WHO said it. You won’t be able to develop your faith by taking what was said, separating it from the “who” that said it, and then just hearing it repeatedly. To develop your faith, you must keep what was said connected to the “who” that said it and then meditate on both. When you do that, your faith in God will develop because of the Word of God in your heart and the intimate relationship you have with Him.
Conclusion
- Make your relationship with God the #1 priority in your life.
- Get back to spending time with Him, practicing His presence, and involving Him in everything you do. Living your life in this manner is what will make your life sweet!
- Do NOT just develop principles – (which can become habits), develop a relationship with God instead.
Click here to follow us and watch Live Streams on Facebook
Click on the links below to see our recent posts on demand…
