Results or Relationship?
There is a growing trend in Christianity today that is a bit concerning. More and more there seems to be a move toward using the Bible as a vehicle to achieve worldly success and gain. While there is nothing inherently wrong with “things” or wealth, if they are sought after with wrong motives, seeing your desires come to fruition could be spiritually disasterous. This sort of thinking is also dangerous in that it reduces God to nothing more than a glorified Santa Claus, or worse yet, a genie in a bottle, simply waiting to do our bidding. I can't begin to imagine how this breaks the heart of God.
From the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelation, we can clearly see that the desire of God's heart is to have a personal, intimate relationship with every person on the face of the earth. Because He has given us free will, we have the perfect right to reject God's love and the atonement He has provided for us through His Son, Yeshua the Messiah. In 2 Peter 3:9 we see that this is not God's desire, “The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.”
It is out of relationship with God that He wishes to bless us with every good blessing from above. We would be hard pressed to begin to imagine the fullness of the blessings, both spiritual and material, that God has for His children. “For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.” - Isaiah 64:4
Then, along come books with titles that promise everything from financial wealth to spiritual breakthrough simply by following the formula they have outlined. If you pray this way and do these things, God will have to answer you and give you what you want. I don't know about you, but the portrait of God these sorts of books paint isn't very flattering, nor I fear are they accurate. The God of the Bible is not one to sit and wait to see if we jump through the hoops just right before showing us His love and mercy. Yes, we do need to walk with the Lord in obedience, but that obedience should grow out of a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father rather than out of fear of His punishment and wrath. Above all, the one thing that God desires is to have an intimate, loving relationship with you, made possible through the sacrifice of Yeshua. Don't try to put God in a box or tie His hands by expecting Him to respond to you in any prescribed method you might follow. Our God is a God of wonder and mercy, a loving Father who has nothing but good for His children. “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.” - Jeremiah 29:11.
Turn to the one book that will give you a clear and right picture of the God we serve - the Scriptures. Ask God to reveal Himself and His Son to you through His words. Give Him yourself and your heart for this is what the Lord desires, “I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving, and it will please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs.” - Psalm 69:30-31
When you do, tou will be blessed beyond your wildest imagination!
11/02