Last week Tracy did a little shopping and brought home an awesome Christmas decoration made from birch wood (so fitting for us now Minnesotan’s). It simply says “JOY.” What a simple, yet profound statement of what a relationship with Jesus Christ brings to us. The Christian life through a loving intimate relationship with Christ is indeed appropriately expressed as full of joy!
Conversely, people don’t often think of God as one who expresses favorable emotion, and particularly as being happy. Sadly, some folks have been led to believe that God is always angry. Furthermore, many people have a mind picture of God as one who is standing over them with arms crossed and a stern, angry look on his face—only to be thought of as an angry judge. They certainly do not picture Him as one who expresses joy. But in Nehemiah 8:10 it says, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Additionally, in Zephaniah 3:7 we read that God delights in us, and actually sings over us. Our God is in fact, very relational. Listen, the Christian faith isn’t merely where you attend church, or how you were raised. No, the hinge point of Christianity is based upon your relationship with Jesus Christ.
I talk about this in greater detail in The River, but the difference between Christianity and other religions is that we have been given the right to come into a relationship with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In fact, when you read through the Bible you realize that historically, God has always been reaching out to man in order to build relationships. As with all relationships there must be effective communication, and our Lord earnestly desires to have a communicative relationship with us.
Intimacy is what we call the experience of really knowing and being known by another. Jesus said in John 15:15 “I now call you friends.” This of course takes nothing away from His deity or honor, but the very fact that we can be known buy Him as a friend is absolutely amazing!
God speaks to us through many, many ways. He is so fun and creative! In a future blog, I plan on listing and talking about many of the various ways that He talks to us. One that I will mention today though is through visions and dreams. This form of communication has been very prevalent in my life. As you may know, The River is a book which was written as a result of a vision and dream given to me from the Lord. These encounters however, were not reserved exclusively for me. In fact, you are the reason why I felt so compelled to write and publish the book. Additionally, through these encounters God has much to say to us all concerning developing and growing in a loving relationship with Him. For those who have not had the opportunity to read it yet, here are some brief chapter summaries:
Chapter 1-The Vision and Dream: This chapter contains two separate but connected prophetic encounters in which I meet Jesus in the most amazing river. The details of these events set the stage for the remainder of the book.
Chapter 2-Jesus: A detailed description of my face to face encounters with Jesus. This chapter will illustrate the enormous love of Jesus’s heart and His desire to have an intimate relationship with every individual.
Chapter 3-Rivers: This chapter references both the natural and spiritual aspects of rivers, and their significance to the Christian life.
Chapter 4-The River Bed: The Lord showed me a church as an example of one that that had at one time experienced a major move of God. Sadly, it did not end well. This chapter highlights some details of some historical moves of God and brings relevance to overall message of this book.
Chapter 5-The Church and the City: The detailed account of a church, its people, and the community. Jesus told me “It is not what was intended.” This chapter deals with some sensitive church issues and stresses the importance of being and staying open.
Chapter 6–The Lake of Blessing: The Lake of Blessing—as I have named it—reveals the amazing potential of God’s blessing that has been dammed up, creating an enormous mountain lake. This tremendous deferred force is ready and waiting to be released in the readers personal life, our churches, and our communities. This chapter also contains a third prophetic vision.
Chapter 7– Boulders: As revealed in the dream–boulders represent those things in one’s life which are damming-up the intended flow of God’s blessing. This chapter not only helps to identify these boulders but is intended to motivate the reader to take the needed steps of faith in order to open up the floodgates of Heaven.
Chapter 8–Hungering for His Presence: A call to whole heartedly seek Gods face and invite His presence into every area of our lives. True joy can only be experienced when we are in the river of God’s presence.
In James 4:8 it says to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” His arms are not folded in a judgmental style, waiting for your next bad move. No friend, it is exactly the opposite. His arms are actually wide open to you. And I can tell you for a fact that He has a warm gentle smile (see The River). So, no matter who you are, or what you have done—God loves you and has a plan for your life. He wants to speak to you and enjoy an ongoing relationship with you. Won’t you draw near to Him today?
Blessed by the Best,
Mark
See You in the River 