God has emotions

Do you ever feel frustrated because you feel like a lot of people just don't understand the concept that knowing God is about a relationship with an interactive being? I am going to reflect on a few things that I've learned that have helped me understand this.

God is a real person. He is a supernatural and divine person. He is God. But He is a person. The bible says God is a Spirit. He is not just some spirit/universe energy floating around. But He is a person. He has a form and personality. "You mean God is like us?" No! YOU are like Him! God made you in His image and likeness. Not the other way around. (Genesis 1:26) God is a spirit and you are a spirit. God made man's body and breathed His spirit, put part of Himself, into you. You are His offspring.  

Doing something for God-

Like you, God has emotions. He does not let Himself be controlled by them like we sometimes do. But He has them. Is it possible then, that we could do something to positively touch Gods emotions? First understand this; God loves you no matter what. God feels love towards you and He is eternally happy and pleased with you. God is pleased with you forever even if you mess up, because you are righteous due to Christ's obedience at the cross, not by your own obedience or actions. And there is NOTHING that you could ever do to make God angry with you. You can't save yourself, but now that you know Jesus, you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) and when God looks at you, He sees the blood, Christ's blood, which covers you. Jesus did this because He wants relationship with you. Jesus wants relationship with you because He loves you.

Look at Acts 13:2: "As they ministered to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Look at that first part about ministering to the Lord. When we "minister" to someone we are doing something good for them right? Yeah, so is it possible to minister to God? Apparently. Ministering to someone can be serving them or doing something nice for them right? Yes. Also think about telling someone about Jesus. Is telling someone about how amazingly awesome Jesus is, ministering to them? Yes of course. The truth of Jesus sets people free. But is it possible, that telling Jesus how amazingly awesome He is, is ministering to Him? "Why would Jesus need us to tell Him how awesome He is? Is He stupid?" No. That's not it. But think about this; think about someone in a relationship with their husband/wife. They like to hear "you're awesome" from each other right? You like to hear things like "You're awesome because…!" from someone you love. Jesus loves you.

Of course, He wouldn't expect you to call Him awesome if you didn't have a reason to. But you do! Look at Psalm 35:27 – "Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant".  Jesus delights in blessing you! That's awesome in itself! There is your first reason! And He is so much more!

Jesus doesn't want your religion, He wants your relationship.

John 3:16 – "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son so that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life". Lets take a closer look at what Jesus came to accomplish for you. Eternal life. What is it? Nobody ceases to exist. So that's a given. The "eternal life" that Jesus won for you is much more than saving you from your sins so you could live forever in heaven one day. That's part of it. And that's great. But it's not the main point of what He was trying to do. There is more. In John 17, Jesus says eternal life is knowing God. The word "know" that is used here is the same word that is used throughout the bible to describe an intimate relationship.

Jesus wants to enjoy a relationship with you. If you love someone you want to be actively involved in their life right? You want to be with them. Jesus not only wants to bless you because that makes Him happy, but He also wants to enjoy those blessings with you because He loves you and enjoys being with you. The bible says that all things were created for God's pleasure. You are the object of affection of your God. In the bible our relationship with Christ is compared to marriage. Imagine a married couple. They spend all day in the same house doing various things, but they never acknowledge each other's presence. If one of them does decide to acknowledge the other one, it's when one of them says "Ok, I've decided that I'm going to talk to you for a certain period of time. But after that its back to pretending like you're not here."

Sounds like a pretty bad relationship right? The truth is, even if that couple wasn't "talking", if they would just acknowledge each other, their relationship would be a lot better. Sometimes it's not even about conversing with the person, but just being with that person. If it is someone you really love, you enjoy just being in their presence, even if you are not saying anything.

You are ALWAYS in the presence of God. If you are in Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you. The Holy Spirit is God's Spirit living on earth today. He is the one who is with you right now. Not just when you pray, but He is always with you. Even if you are not paying attention to Him, He is paying attention to you, working for you, speaking to you and doing things for you that you don't even notice. You don't have to get his attention to talk to Him. You have it. Just start talking. Prayer can be talking to Him, but even if you are not talking at all, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't acknowledge His presence. He enjoys just being with you. Tell Him that you know He's there. Comment to Him throughout the day. He loves you!

If it bothers you, it bothers Jesus.

Luke 12:7 "…the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows!" Come on. Hairs? Who cares?!?! Apparently Jesus does. Look, if your God cares enough that this detail is significant to Him, than nothing about your life is too insignificant for Him to pay attention to. Something good? Enjoy it with Him! No matter how small. "You know Jesus, this is a really good cupcake." Or "That guy was really funny wasn't he Jesus?" Something bad? Don't be afraid to bring it up, no matter how small or insignificant it seems to you. He wants to take care of it. Yes, he cares that you can't figure out how to beat that boss on that video game/how to do your homework. He is wisdom. Ask Him for some! He delights in you receiving from Him!

Look at this-

"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption". Ephesians 4:29-30

Another translation of Ephesians 4:30 is- "And do not make God's Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God's mark of ownership on you…" Do not make the Holy Spirit sad. What makes the Holy Spirit sad? Look back at Ephesians 4:29. Don't say things that bring people down, but only things that build others up and minister "grace" to the people who hear you speak. When you say something to someone that is contrary to God's grace, it makes the Holy Spirit sad.

Why is this? Reflect back on everything we've discussed so far. God wants an intimate relationship with you. That makes Him happy. So wouldn't it only make sense that something that prevents that intimacy would have the opposite effect?

When people come under condemnation, it puts up barriers between themselves and God and prevents that intimacy. When you tell someone something like; "Yes God loves you but… you have to do this, this and this or else he will not listen to your prayers/bless you." Or "Yes God loves you but… if you continue to do this, He will be angry with you and you will have to ask Him for forgiveness before He will continue to bless you/participate in intimate relationship with you." Or even, "God loves you, so you need to change this and do this, or stop doing this, so you can enter into a relationship with Him."

This is contrary to God's grace! Romans 2:4 says that it is God's goodness that causes people to repent. It is His blessings, goodness, love and kindness that causes people to repent (the Greek word used for repent in the new testament is a word that means "to change your mind.") Not judgment. So saying that people need to do/change something before God will pour out His blessings on them/have relationship with them, is counterproductive. His love comes first. People need to know this so that they can receive it. No need to pass judgment on people. People know in their heart what is wrong (Romans 1:18). Instead tell them this; "God loves you, no strings attached. Even if you never change, you are still His beloved. He will still have a relationship with you. He will withhold nothing good from you".  Beloved, you can freely say this because Jesus is the one who earned God's favor for us. It's not about what people do/don't do. It's about what Jesus has done. "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit"- Titus 3:5.

You think you're ability to have relationship with God is because you have this lifestyle, and others, they do not have ability to have relationship with God because they have that lifestyle? You think this is based on your own good actions? How dare you try to take credit for what Jesus accomplished? Is His perfect sacrifice not sufficient enough? Perhaps He only paid for part of it, and you must suffer as well? No. He took all sin upon Himself.

Jesus said He will NEVER leave you or forsake you! He means what He says! Even if you sin or mess something up, He knows that's when you need Him most! But when you speak things that condemn others, it causes them to feel guilty and they, thinking they are unclean, will back away from Jesus and put up a wall between Jesus and themselves. It causes them to break that intimacy that Jesus delights in so much! And what does that accomplish? It accomplishes the opposite of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. Because without Jesus, you no longer have the power to "go and sin no more"(John 8). God's grace is what empowers us not to sin (Titus 2:12).

"What if I'm just not that close to Jesus?" Maybe you want to be, but maybe you're just not feeling it, or you don't quite understand totally. Don't worry about it!!! He understands. Just focus on His love for you. Your love is a response to His love. 1 John 4:10 says "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us…" His love comes first. That's the way it works. Focus on Him loving you. Meditate on Him loving you at the cross. Think about the good things He has done for you and begin to praise Him for it. The more you meditate on His love for you; your love response will come naturally without even trying.