When we acknowledge Jesus as Lord over our lives and accept the great gift He offers us of his very own life laid down in our place, we become a whole new person.
The bible calls it a new creation.
God’s Spirit is joined with our spirit and because of that we change.
We receive a heart transplant.
It is such a transformation we undergo that the bible even calles it born again.
Our spirit was death through our sin but His Spirit makes us come alive again. Like Jesus rose from the dead on the third day so it is like we rise from the dead.
We rise from our death way of living.
Void from the presence of God.
From now on He lives inside of us and accompanies us in everything we do.
We do not anxiously start striving to conform to his ways of righteousness and love in our own strength all of a sudden.
We do not have to walk on our toes for the rest of our lives, afraid that we sin again.
Our pursuit is not to become righteous.
The miracle of conversion is that the moment we surrender our lives to God and accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf God makes us righteous!
Now we may still have sinful tendencies and it can take time for our behaviour to change, but our spirit is totally cleansed and made perfect and holy through unity with God.
Therefore our pursuit from now on is not to become holy because we already are.
In his eyes we have no lack, no spot, no impurity.
That is how He relates to us from now on.

When Jesus died on the cross an exchange took place.
Our sin was accounted to Jesus.
He was punished for it.
But the righteousness of Jesus was accounted to us!
So we are now blameless in God’s sight.
The guilt we owed God because of our sin was completely erased, payed for by the blood of Jesus, God’s Son.
God himself.
But that was not all.
His righteousness was not only accounted to us but we are now clothed with it.
We are clothed with Jesus himself who never sinned.
He never rebelled against his Father but was always obedient because He loved him so much.
This does not mean we live without sin automatically once we get saved.
We still have a free will.
In fact it is more free now than it was before conversion.
But we need to put on this garment we have been given.
We do that by faith, by believing that Jesus is our righteousness and we cannot live righteous without him.
We acknowledge and confess this. That is how we put Jesus on.
So for example if you struggle with an addiction or any kind of sin, you make this confession every time you are tempted:
“Jesus is my righteousness.”
You do not start to fight the temptation in your own strength because you will most likely fail.
You keep acknowledging him as your holiness.
It may take time for some people until the revelation of this truth really sinks in but you have to keep doing it.
One day you will be set free from the bondage that sin and addiction holds you in.
Sin is like sinking sand. The more you fight it the worse you sink into it.
Just lean on your Savior.
Trust that his presence inside you is able to overcome every sinful tendency.
Put Jesus on!
Just believe.

To be continued…

Free Gift

If our pursuit as a believer is not to become holy, since we already are, then what changes in the way we do life after we surrendered it to our Maker?
Though we do not strive to become righteous since He completely erased every wickedness and stain from our spirit, we do need to learn how to live from that spirit instead of from our soul that still has sinful habits.
Our spirit is the core of who we are, our essence.
It is the part of us that has been united to God at conversion.
Our soul consists of our mind, will and emotions.
Our thoughts, the decisions that we make and our feelings.
As a new believer we are like new born babies in the spirit that need to learn a lot and grow.
We can never grow God’s love for us though.
Just like you do not love or value your baby any less then your grown up child, so we can never do anything to ad to God’s love for us.
Neither can we do anything to diminish it.
His love for us is constant and will always be constant.
Yet that does not mean we do not need to learn how to obey him and how to live our lives according to his ways.
His instructions always lead to more fullness of life.
Obedience to God is not an act of fear but of love.
Not of meaningless duty but of deep passion.
We want to obey him because we love him and we know how much He loves us.
We live according to his instructions because we want to with our whole being.
And if we do not understand why He asks something from us we obey nonetheless because we trust him.
Knowing that He does everything for our good.

Yet there is a danger if we solely were to make obedience to God our new pursuit in life.
If that would become our main focus.
The danger is that we would forget the cross.
That we forget that we live only by grace and not by our behaviour, even though that behaviour certainly has consequenses, whether good or bad.
Like reaping and sowing.
We sow what we reap.
And so it matters whether we obey God or not even though it has no effect on the measure of his love for us.
Like the people that never give their lives to God go to hell, even though He loves them still.
If it did not matter how we live, our lives would have little significance.
It is because it matters that we can accomplish great things and have influence in the world around us, even for future generations.
We can make inventions that greatly improve life.
We can put up social systems so that the poor and sick are taken care of.
We can even reach space.
And more close to home, we can change the life of a neighbor next door that is in need of our help and compassion.
We can show the beggar at the supermarket or train station that we care.
We can teach our children that they matter and have great value.
The downside of this though is that it is also possible to do great harm.
We can destroy someone’s reputation with our gossip.
Even to the point of diminishing their chances in society.
Whether relational or in the workplace.
We can kill a person, beat them up, physically or emotionally.
We can greatly influence the future paradigm of our children.
Of how they will live their lives, even when we are gone.

This may all sound like a good reason to take a closer look at our behaviour and become more sensitive to the needs of others.
And it is.
Yet…
If our primary purpose in life is to improve it, even (seemingly) for selfless reasons, we can greatly deviate from the prime purpose of our existence.
Remember that in the beginning when God made us everything was perfect.
There was no lack that needed to be filled.
No sick that needed to be taken care of.
No lonely people.
No people in pain and need.
No crime that needed to be contained.
No disasters etc.
Now if that is the case, then what tells this us about our purpose in life?
If nothing was broken, then our purpose was not to fix something.
I do believe we were made to explore life and create new things.
To do new discoveries and make inventions.
Not so much out of need because God could not make these things himself but because it is great fun!
God did not create us to suffer endlessly and to do hard labor.
Nor to climb that ladder of society so we become better and stronger than others.
Always competing with each other.
High above them so we can have a sense of worth and power.
So we can feel we are in control and are safe.
We all know there is not much safety we can get in this world, even if we are the richest person on earth or have an underground bunker.
We all die one day. Some sooner than others.
Some with the riches of money, yet lonely.
Others with the riches of loved ones around them, yet poor.
But none of these things we can attain in life, whether material or relational, we can take with us when we die.
We may meet our loved ones again in the hereafter, supposing they go to the same place as we when we leave this earth.
Yet when our lives end only one thing matters.
The only thing that determines how we spend eternity is whether we had a relationship with our Maker during our lifetime.
You may have given your life to him with your very last breath, yet if so then that is all that matters and it is enough for the salvation of your soul.
You may have done great things for humanity during your life.
Saved many people from premature death.
Yet if you did not surrender to your Maker you will not be with him in eternity.
And you will suffer endlessly because of that.
You may have benefitted the life of many, yet you lost your own in the end.
Now that is tragedy right?

So what is the point of all this?
Do we only live to determine where or how we spend eternity?
I will leave that question open.
But the suggestion I want to make is that the purpose of our lives is not to attain things. Initially.
Our prime purpose is to develop a relationship with our Maker who is our eternal Father.
Just like life really is all about relationships.
It is actually only through relationship with God that I believe we can fulfill our full destiny here on earth.
So we do have a purpose, each individual life its own.
Yet our prime reason for living and the only thing that can fill the deepest needs and desires of our soul can only be found in connection with our Maker.
The One that created us and the One we were made for.
To bring him joy.
And nothing gives him greater pleasure than when his sons and daughters come to him to have fellowship with him.
When they share the life He gave them with him and do everything in relationship with him.
Always asking what his take is on the things they are doing and thinking. Always sharing their heart and feelings with their Father.
Involving him in every single aspect of their life, like can be expected one does with a partner.
And spiritually speaking God is not only our Father, the One we came from, but also our partner, our husband.
The Lover of our soul.
The One that loves us more than anyone else ever will.
Even if their love is perfect.
Our new pursuit in life is to get to know God better.
To love him, and to let him love us.

To be continued…

Free Gift

We found out what our new pursuit in life is after we surrendered to our Maker and were united with him.
To develop a relationship with him like one does with a spouse, but then spiritual, and on a deeper level.
To do life with him.
To let him love us and to return that love.
When we surrendered to Jesus, God made a covenant with us.
It is not a loose decision that was made on a whim.
We are not testing God out for a period to see how it goes.
Nor does God test us before He commits to us.
The way many people are testing another by living together without making a lasting commitment.
Taking part of each other with the intention to leave when it becomes unconvenient.
That is not love.
That is selfishness.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty in that kind of arrangement.
Also it leads to great hurt to be separated from a person you have been intimate with.
You have become part of one another.
A unity took place.
But it really is the consummation of a marriage without getting married.
That makes no sense right?
You skipped the part that holds a relationship together.
The part where you devote yourself to the other.
Declaring that you do no live for yourself but for that other person.
That is what marriage is.
Marriage was never meant to be made to get your needs met.
It was meant to be an expression of the love you have inside of you.
And when you get united with someone for that reason, to give rather than take, you actually will find a satisfation in that.
However if we do not know our Maker as our prime Lover, no marriage can fill the empty place in our soul that only God was made to fill.
And then even a marriage with the best intentions is likely to fall apart, or become a disappointment.
Thankfully God’s devotion to us is not the way we often are devoted to others.
He is not in it to get something from us.
Nor does his faithfulness depend on ours.

To be continued…

Free Gift

A covenant with God is a commitment.
A commitment that is made without first trying each other out and taking something from the other that can not be returned.
This does not mean that we commit to him blindly, without any prove that He can be trusted.
On the cross God proved that we can trust him.
By taking the fall for our mistakes He showed us his devotion even before we entered into a covenant with him.
He showed us the selfless nature of his love.
He showed us that his commitment to love us is not based on our behaviour or our own trying to get back to him.
It does not even depent on us feeling sorry.
It is only after we see God’s forgiveness and kindness that we repent and turn back to him.
His commitment to us is purely based on his intention and decision to get us back no matter what it would cost him.
Because his faithfulness does not depend on anything we do.
It is not an answer to our contrition.
Rather we become penitent for our former way of living after we have seen his love for us.
The covenant He offers us is based on the blood of Jesus that was shed for us.
It is the ground for the agreement we make with God.
Because of it our sin is fully paid for and there is nothing that stands between him and us anymore.
A transaction was made when Jesus died for us.
He purchased us with his own blood so that we now could belong to him, if we were willing.
It is like the bridal price that in some cultures has to be paid to the family of a bride.
This does not mean that she is some unpersonal merchandise.
No, rather it shows her great value.
And so Jesus paid a very high price to have us.
To high to leave us on a whim.
Or ever.

The cross shows us God holds us in high esteem and that we can safely entrust our lives to him.
We do not have to be afraid He leaves us based on our infidelity and bad behaviour, because that was never the ground He entered into a relationship with us in the first place.
It is purely based on his love for us, and our willingless to receive this love and to return it.
But our response to his love is not what holds the covenant together.
What holds it together is the blood of Jesus that paid the price for even our future unfaithfulness when already being in covenant with him.
God has so much trust in the effectiveness of the cross that He is willing to make a covenant with us that is purely based on what He did for us, and not on what we would do for him.
He is not even a little bit concerned with our unability or even unwillingness to be faithful at times.
Knowing that we are not able to remain faithful to him without him enabling us to do so.
Knowing that when we intently look at what He did for us on that cross, even if perhaps our gaze lost its focus for a while, we would be so in love with him again that our resolve would be to never ever be unfaithful.
He knew the cross holds everything that was needed for an Almighty holy God to enter into covenant with sinful frail human beings that have a tendency to break covenants all the time.
He would pour out his own Spirit on all who entered into this covenant that was based upon the shedding of the blood of his own Son.
Thereby enabling them to truly become sons and daughters of the Most High.
Writing his laws in their hearts so they could live by them and become like him in character and nature.
So they would reflect his likeness to those around them that had not entered into a covenant with God.
That is how merciful He is.
He transforms the greatest rebels kindly and tenderly into children and intimate lovers of himself.
And although in an instant change takes place inside of us and our spirit is transformed when we convert, it takes the rest of our lives to become more and more like him, the way He intended us to be.
To get rid of all the junk that still permeates our way of living and loving.
It is through relationship with him that we grow and learn to live from our spirit instead of our soul with its selfish tendencies.
This shows us even more that a covenant with God is not based on our own behaviour and success in attaining this but solely on the provision He made for us on the cross.
Otherwise we would never be accepted by him, if it was based on our obedience and moral living.
The only way we can be in rightstanding with God is by accepting his grace through the sacrifice of Jesus.
There will never come a moment in our lives or eternity that his acceptance and faithfulness towards us will be based on what we have done or abstained from.
Like I wrote earlier in this book, all our ability comes from God.
So even if we were perfect we could never earn the love of God.
It is always a gift.
And that is what love is supposed to be.

To be continued…

Free Gift

Now of course, like in all relationships, we do miss out on intimicay with God if we wander away and go after other “lovers”.
But the foundation for that intimacy He offers us is never based on our achievements and faithfulness.
It is only based on his goodness and our willingness to receive it.
So how do we receive it?
Conversion is like a betrothal.
But then the covenant only starts.
Like marriage is not the end of a unity, but rather the beginning, and needs to be worked on intentionally in order to grow and mature, so our relationship with God takes intention in order to develop.
I would not want to say it is hard work though.
If being married is like hard work to you I truly wonder if something is missing.
I belief that much of the suffering people experience in marriage through the wrong (or undesired…) treatment of the spouse would effect us much less if we truly considered ourselves to be crucified with Jesus.
By no means I am saying we should let others beat us up, either physically or with words.
Yet we can choose to respond the way Jesus did when being taken.
I do not mean we have to undergo the suffering Jesus went through, because He did that in our place.
Rather I am speaking of his kindness, his nature, his mind.
Jesus response when being killed was “Father forgive them” and “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”.
When we truly live our lives to give love, and not to demand or even expect it from others, I belief we suffer less from the way we are treated.
And we can keep our joy and sense of self worth even when people do not affirm us.
Because they are not in our lives to give us things, but so we can give them love.
And I belief that a kind, tender and forgiving heart melts many hearts of stone.
We may need to put up boundaries when we are abused in any way, but we can keep our hearts tender when we do and pray for those that hurt us.
We may need to love some people from a distance.
But we can love them still.

To be continued…

Free Gift

The bible teaches us that when Jesus died we died.
When Adam and Eve sinned their nature (heart) changed.
Formerly it was good and inclined to obey God.
Yet their will was free and not tested yet.
When they wilfully disobeyed God their heart became rebellious.
Their nature became sinful.
As a result of that every person that was born after them had a sinful nature as well.
We were not made as pure separate individual beings.
Part of the purpose of that is that we could pass blessings on.
Adam was not supposed to pass on the curses to us that were the result of sin.
He was made to pass on the blessing that comes from surrendering to God and partnering with him.
If he had eaten from the Tree of Life I belief that is what would have happened.
We would never have known the destruction that sin brought into this world.
When he would have eaten from the Tree of Life he really would have taken part of Jesus who is our Source of life.
He would wilfully have chosen to partner with God in submission, trust and love.
Now do not blame Adam…

Although after Adam we were all born with a sinful nature that tends to rebel against God we do all have a responsibility of how we live our lives from a certain age on.
God totally made up for Adam’s rebellion.
He gave us Jesus who paid the rightful penalty for all of our sin.
When Jesus died God considered us as having died with Jesus.
This does not only speak of how Jesus died in our place and thereby paid the full rightful penalty for our sin.
This is quiet a mystery that we may not be able to fully understand, but our old rebellious sinful nature died with Jesus on that cross.
God had placed us in Jesus when He died.
And when He rose from the dead so did we.
Not as the same person we were when we died though.
We became one with Jesus, our spirit united with his.
And that is how we now have a new nature as believers.
We have been given a new heart. One that is willing to obey.
However the bible teaches us that we have to reckon ourselves as having been crucified with Jesus.
That means that we do not live in our own strength, but in his.
It means we have his heart and mind inside of us and we are abe to love the way He does.
We can now put Jesus on by faith, as I wrote before, because our old self (old nature) with its selfish tendencies died.
But in order to experience this we need to actively apply it through faith.
We need to belief that we were crucified with Jesus.
We need to consider ourselves as having died with him and not live for ourselves anymore.
And when we do we rise from our death ways of living.
From then on we do not live for ourselves any more but only for the One that gave his life for ours.
This enables us to love others the way we are loved by our Maker and Savior.

To be continued…

Free Gift

Like marriage is not about what we can get but about what we can give, so a covenant with God is not about what we can get from him.
However it is likely it starts out that way because we do need God.
We need to be in relationship with him and we desperately need to receive his forgiveness and love for us.
We were wired that way.
To need him.
Yet once we have seen his love and goodness we can grow.
The more time we spend with him the more we want to give to him.
To surrender our whole lives to him fully, without holding anything back.
Without having any selfish motives in the way we love him.
We start to live for him instead of for ourselves.
Our life becomes worship.
Worship is the most natural way to express our love to God.
It can have countless forms.
Key is that it comes from our heart and is not just an outward activity.
You can tell him “I love you” thousand times over and it can be worship.
Yet you can sing the most eloquent song and yet not worhip at all if you do not put your heart in it.
True worship comes from your spirit and is a surrender of your whole being.
Worship is (spiritual) intimacy with God.
Examples of how you can worship go from plainly telling him you love him to helping out a neighbour.
Singing songs, dance, create something or clean your house.
The bible exhorts us to do everything we do as to God.
That is worship.
It is a lifestyle.

To be continued…

Free Gift

When we enter into a covenant with God He gives us many gifts.
The main one is a new heart.
Another is the gift of tongues.
The tongues I am speaking about here is a new language.
It is supernatural and not one you can learn through study.
Usually you cannot understand it even when you speak it.
You can learn to discern the meaning of it but that is a separate gift.
You can speak it without understanding and still benefit from it.
So how does that work?

Speaking in tongues is one of the tools God gave us to become more in tune with our new spirit we received when we became believers.
The bible teaches us that someone that has control over his tongue, over what he speaks, is perfect. Without sin.
Now how can we live without sin?
Only when we totally surrender to God.
To his Holy Spirit that lives inside of us now.
How do we do this?
Speaking in tongues is one way.
When we speak in tongues we submit our speech to the Holy Spirit.
It bypasses our mind which is probably a good thing because it is often in the mind that we start to sin and wander from the right way.
We cannot contain God in our thinking. If we could we would be God.
By surrendering our ability to understand with our natural mind we acknowledge his lordship above us.
That we are not God.
The root of sin is that we put ourselves above him.
Because when we do not obey God we basicly say that we are higher than him.
That the last word does not belong to him but to us.
By speaking in tongues we overcome sin and give God the rightful place in our lives again.
This softens our hearts so we can hear him more clearly when He speaks to us throughout our day.
It can lead to more understanding of the bible and insight in problems we deal with.
Also it can overcome addictions.
It strengthens our faith and makes us more aware of his love for us.
Speaking in tongues is a prayer language and it comes from our spirit.
It can be worship that comes from our heart to express our love to God, but it can also be intercession, which is prayer for others.
When we pray in tongues we pray perfect prayers because it is led by the Holy Spirit and our own flawed thinking and understanding cannot interfere.

To get started it can help to listen to others speaking in tongues so you get a feel of what it sounds like although it may sound different for every believer.
You can search online for “healing river tongues joshua mills” to hear an example on youtube.
There are many other resources as well you might want to look into.
So how do we speak in tongues?
First we have to be believers: we need to be in covenant with God.
Then we have to believe the gift of tongues is for all believers.
Just ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you this gift.
Take a moment to silence your mind and open yourself through faith, believing that He is giving it to you.
Then start speaking.
You do not have to wait until you feel something.
Surrender your mind to him and trust that you have received this gift.
Relax and start speaking sounds and syllables.
Do not think about it!
Just let it flow.
God is not going to take over your tongue so you do have to start speaking yourself, in trust that He inspires what you speak.
It is all right if you do not get it right at once, it may take you some time to get over the awkward feeling.
You have to get over yourself.
Speak it daily for as long as you want (or need…) and you will see things in your life starting to change.
You start to change.
Your character becomes softer.
You become patient.
You have more self-control.
And you become more aware of God’s love for you.

To be continued…

Free Gift

Be still

You speak
In the silence
You speak
In the storm

But when so many voices
Surround me like a mist
I cannot hear you
But I know that you insist

You insist speaking to me
To get my attention above them all
So I insist on listening
To hear your loving call

We can hear God speak to us in many ways.
We may not always be aware of them though.
He speaks to us through nature or through songs.
Through people, circumstances, numbers, and signs.
But He also wants to speak to us directly in a conversation.
We often hear him then in the form of a thought that comes into our mind.
I am not just talking about ideas we have, which often come from him as well.
But we can talk one on one with him by silencing other voices in our minds.
Then we can hear him talk back to us.
This may take practise, like most things in life.
We need to get used to turning all the noises of and listening to his alone.
It is only when I silence my mind, my busy thoughts, fears, worries and desires that I hear God.
It is then that I hear him whisper:

“ Daughter,
you are Mine,
you bring me so much joy,
I am proud of you”.

Just ask him, daily, or several times a day:
“God what are your thoughts towards me? How do you see me? How do you feel about me?”
Let his answer sink in deep. Allow him to say it again and again. Let him whisper your name.
Take time for this, keep listening.
It never gets old when you truly let his words enter your heart.
Just breathe in his love for you.
He so enjoys that!
You can talk with him about anything, yet usually He wants you to know his love before anything else.

God’s voice always leads to peace in the end, and never to fear.
So keep that in mind when you are testing your thoughts, whether they truly came from God or not.
We do have to test them, because other voices may still try to come in and pretend to come from God.
After a while though we know his nature, what his voice sounds like, and discerning it becomes a second nature to us.
Though He may discipline us and point out the things in our lives that we need to change, He is always loving and kind. He is not judgemental but forgiving and enables us to change if we need to.
Yet, having that said, if needed He may give you a fear of him, which is not anxiety but awe of God. So you respect him in the right way.
And this is always for our good, and never to diminish our fun, but rather to increase it for the long run. So we can experience true joy and fulfillment in life.

Recommended resource:

“Can you hear me? Tuning in to the God Who Speaks”
Book by Brad Yersak
(This book changed my life!)

To be continued…

Free Gift

Waiting

Beautiful butterfly
Tender yet bright
Soaking in the Son’s light
Until it is ready for flight

Somehow we find it easy to do and earn things, but much more difficult to just lean back and relax.
And yet, that is exactly what we need.
More than all our occupations we need to take care of.
The truth of the gospel we have chosen to accept, needs to sink in deep and permeate all our thoughts.
Only then will we live in the peace God intended us to have.
We have found the truth now, but often we do not apply it to our daily circumstances.
For example we can believe in our hearts that God forgave us all our sin, while we still feel guilty about something specific that we did.
This may sound like a contradiction but our hearts and our minds are two different parts of us that need to come into alignment.
We believe with our hearts unto salvation but our minds need to get understanding of what this truly means in practicality.
It is often said that things need to sink from our head to our heart, but as believers I think it is rather the opposite.
At conversion God wrote his word inside our heart (spirit).
Now we need to let those words reach our mind so we can live accordingly.
Reading the bible is one way to do this.
Yet we need to be in touch with our spirit when we do that.
The best way I find to get revelation in my understanding, in my mind, is to meditate on the bible and to spend time in God’s presence.
He himself is the truth and when we connect with him by silencing our minds occupations and focusing on the goodness of God we start to get understanding.

We need to be still, to know that He is God, not we.
That He takes care of us and not we for ourselves.
Without him we can do nothing.
We might as well take some time to honor him for that, to acknowledge him.
To let our minds become aware of his presence.
He is everywhere, and He never leaves us.
But if we are constantly busy and worried and do not take time to enjoy the blessing of his presence we miss the most important thing in life, which is to have fellowship with God our Maker, the Lover of our soul.
The One we made a covenant with!
The One that knows us better than anyone else.
The One that loves us more than anyone can.
The One that desires to have our attention.
To look into our face, and to bless us tremendously.
Simply by the look in his eyes, a look of sheer delight, a gaze of adoration.
A longing to be with us all the time.

It is amazing to me that God not just loves us from a distance but wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
If only we would let him…
If only we would take time to even acknowledge his existence, not as some deity far away, but as Someone who lives close.
Even inside our very hearts.
If only we would listen for his silent whisper in our ears.
Speaking words of tenderness, transforming every part of us, making us soft and tender just like him.
So let’s go on a “date” with God.
To surrender our hearts, to give up all concerns and to let the Creator of the universe woo us!

Turn of devices that can distract you and go to a place where you cannot be disturbed. (put a sign on your door or turn of the doorbell if you need to)
Make a list of “to-do-things” for later if they come up so you do not have to worry about forgetting them if that is a concern to you.
Turn on your favorite soothing christian music if you prefer. E.g. Julie True.
There is a lot of christian prayer music you can use on YouTube.
You can also do it without music which might even be better if you manage to get quiet without it.
Perhaps you prefer to go outside to a silent place and let the beauty of nature quiet your minds concerns.
Close your eyes if it helps you not to get distracted.

Acknowledge the presence of God.
Allow yourself to just be, you do not have to take care of anything and you do not have to earn his favor.
You are allowed just to hold hands with your Maker.
You do not have to talk or ask anything.
Just enjoy his presence and open your heart for him to speak gentle words to your soul.
Words of kindness, not of condemnation.
If He convicts you of sin or something you need to change, just repent and consent, you can trust him.
His instructions are always for our good and He will provide for your every need
whether spiritual, material, physical or emotional.
He may want you to take care of some things first and to get right with people you have been at odds with.
Then lean in to his love, let him saturate you.
Do not try to conjure up some sort of feeling, just believe He is there whether you feel it or not and be still and you will receive his love and change into his likeness more and more.
If you find yourself striving, thinking you do not earn God or you have to do something to gain access to him, start meditating on the cross.
On how you were made righteous through the blood of Jesus that was shed in your place.
On how you are now in rightstanding with God because Jesus blood erased every debt you had to God due to sin.
He experienced your shame so you could have part of his glory.
He was punished so you could be forgiven.
He became sin so you could become righteous.
He became a curse so you could receive blessing.
He experienced death so you could have part of his life.
Our old sinful self died with Jesus so He can now live in us.*
Jesus died so we could be with him!
Keep meditating on this daily until you find the confidence to approach God.
Until then just pray in tongues and worship as you seek him daily.
You will hear his voice and experience his nearness if you continue to seek him with your whole heart.
He is not far from you!
He is the very breath you breathe.

Do this every day for as long as you want (or need), whether a few minutes, or a whole day!
Like you enjoy spending time with your lover or friend, you will enjoy spending time with him, even much more.

Resource that will help you to apply the cross to your life:

Bought with blood by Derek Prince
*these exchanges are taken from this book

To be continued…

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