Key to a Relationship With God
How to find God — Searching for God
God has promised that if you are seriously searching for Him with all your heart, He will let you find Him. That is, you can find God if you are searching for God.
You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you. . . Jeremiah 29:12-14 (NASB)
A wonderful illustration of searching for God is recorded in the book of Acts (Acts 8:25-40). We are told that an Ethiopian eunuch was traveling in a chariot. He was reading a prophecy about Jesus Christ from Isaiah 53:7-8, but he did not understand it. He was looking for God. God responded by sending Philip to explain the passage to the eunuch. As a result, the eunuch found God. He believed that Jesus Christ died for his sins. Jesus did everything necessary for his sins to be forgiven, for him to escape hell, and for him to go to heaven (Acts 8:35-39).
This true story reveals that God knows when you are searching for Him, and He will reveal Himself to you. God knows if you want to find Him. Are you looking for God? If so, God will help you find Him. If you are searching for God, know that the Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him. He wants a relationship with you. He loves you and has made it possible for your sins to be forgiven, allowing you to escape hell and go to heaven. The question is: Do you want a relationship with God? Do you want your sins to be forgiven?
1) Practical steps – Searching for God
You might now be wondering, “What are the practical steps to searching for God?” Here are four important steps that others have followed, resulting in their finding God. Those who are searching for God must believe the following.
Pray –
The first step is talking to God. Open your heart to Him. Tell Him that you want to have a relationship with Him. Ask Him to help you find Him. If you are serious about finding God, He will help you.
Read the Bible –
The second step is to start reading the Bible. You could start with the Gospel of John. Begin at the beginning and read as much as you can at one time. Then, continue reading each day. As you read, ask God to help you understand what you are reading. If you are serious, the Holy Spirit will help you. If you have a question, please submit a question and we will help you.
Concentrate your search on Jesus –
The third step is to focus on Jesus while reading the gospel of John in the Bible. Pay attention to what is said about him, what he taught, and the miracles he performed. You will discover that He is God. Reading Luke 1:26-38 and Luke 2:1-20 will reveal that He became a man. Luke 2:1-7 tells us that Jesus was born in a city called Bethlehem. Micah 5:2, written around 700 BC, prophesied that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. He would come from “antiquity” and “eternity.” In other words, He would be an eternal being. Only God is eternal. In other words, the baby would be both God and man. Then, around 2 BC, the prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. In other words, Jesus is God. This is the first important discovery in your search for God.
Finding your relationship with God –
The fourth step in your search for a relationship with God is understanding what you must believe about Jesus Christ. You cannot have a relationship with God through good works. You cannot earn your way into heaven by being a good person. If you try to earn your way into Heaven, you will go to Hell. In Isaiah 64:6, God tells us that even our best deeds are nothing more than filthy rags to Him. The next section explains what you must believe about Jesus Christ to go to heaven. Whether or not you have a relationship with God and will go to heaven is indicated by what you believe and how you respond to it.
2) What you must believe to go to heaven
In order to have a relationship with God and go to heaven, you must believe six essential truths about yourself and Jesus Christ. The first is that Jesus is God.
Jesus is God.
While Jesus was on the earth, He repeatedly taught that He is God (John 5:18; 8:58; 10:30, 33, 36). John 10:33 tells us the Jewish leaders understood that Jesus said He was God. Consequently, they wanted to murder Him.
While Jesus lived among us, He proved that He was God (John 20:30-31) by healing, casting out demons, raising the dead (Matthew 4:24-25), walking on water (John 6:16-25), controlling a storm, and feeding five thousand people from only five loaves of bread and two fish (John 6:1-14). Matthew 4:24-25 gives this report.
The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan. Matthew 4:24-25 (NASB)
The historical records of two non-Christian writers, the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, record that Jesus did miracles. Only God could perform these miracles.
Jesus is holy and you are not.
The Bible teaches us that Jesus Christ is holy. For instance, in Acts 3:14, he is called the “Holy and Righteous One.” In Luke 4:34, demons refer to Him as the “Holy One.” In Isaiah 6:3, the angels praise Him as “Holy, holy, holy.” These passages tell us that Jesus Christ is holy. This is wonderful news! We have discovered that Jesus is our holy God. However, the bad news is that we are not holy. As Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” What is sin? Sin is disobeying God (1 John 3:4, 8). So, anyone who has committed a sin deserves to go to hell. Since anger, greed, and lying are sins too, everyone has sinned.
There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God . . . Romans 3:10 (NASB)
As a result, we deserve to die a spiritual death and be eternally separated from God when we physically die. Ezekiel 18:4 and 20 say, “The soul who sins will die. The person who sins will die.” Romans 6:23 says,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NASB)
That means you are going to hell unless you accept God’s free gift of eternal salvation.
Jesus died to forgive your sins.
John 1:29 says that Jesus Christ came to take away our sins.
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29 (ESV)
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1 John 3:5 (NASB)
He accomplished this by dying a horrible death on a wooden cross. He died in your place and paid for your sins (1 Peter 3:18). He died for you. Why did God do this? John 3:16 says that our holy God did this for us—for you!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life . . . whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed . . . John 3:16, 18 (NIV)
Jesus was resurrected.
Three days after Jesus was buried, He was resurrected as the prophecies had foretold (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-36).
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 (NASB)
Jesus’ resurrection proved that He was God, and his death on the cross made it possible for people to be saved from hell, provided they believe He did everything necessary for their forgiveness (Romans 1:4; 4:25). Jesus did all of this so that your sins could be forgiven and you could live with Him forever in Heaven.
Only Jesus can forgive your sins.
Jesus is the only one who can forgive our sins and grant us eternal life in Heaven. As Acts 4:12 states, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
3) How to go to heaven . . .
There are five things that will be true about you if you are going to heaven:
You believe Christ died to forgive your sins.
A true Christian believes only Jesus can forgive sins because He paid the penalty that every person deserves when He died on the cross and returned to life. He did everything necessary so that our sins can be completely forgiven (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). There is nothing we can do to earn forgiveness for our sins and go to heaven.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . . 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NASB)
So, do you understand that Jesus is God, that His body died and returned to life, so that you can be forgiven?
You know you cannot earn forgiveness.
Therefore, how will a person respond who wants God to forgive his or her sins? Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we only have to believe what has been described above is true! We cannot do any works to earn forgiveness.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)
Do you believe what has been described above is true?
You want to be forgiven.
In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that only one person is good: God. Why is that true? Romans 3:10 explains it. It says that no one is righteous, not even one person. Therefore, Jesus did not come to forgive the sins of those who believe they are good people. Only those who want their sins forgiven will be forgiven. Jesus said,
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
Then later Jesus said,
I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish (Luke 13:5).
So, those who go to heaven are those who want to be forgiven and desire to stop sinning. Is that true of you?
You want God to change your life.
Next, those who truly believe in Christ will want Him to take control of them and to change their lives. That is the message of Romans 10:9.
. . . if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9 (NASB)
You must understand that a person who truly believes in God will want to be forgiven and will want Him to change their life. So, is that true of you?
Ask Him to forgive you.
So, how should you respond to God? Romans 10:13 encourages us to call on God to saves us from our sins.
WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED. Romans 10:13 (NASB)
What to say to God
If the five statements above describe you, call on God. Tell Him that you want to be saved from your sins and forgiven. Romans 10:13 promises that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13 (NASB)
Please know that the prayer does not save you; but a prayer will express to God what you believe and will express your thanks to Him. Here is a possible prayer that you can use.
Dear God, I am sorry that I have disobeyed you by sinning. I believe that Jesus died and rose again so that my sins can be forgiven. Thank you for your forgiveness. Help me to live as You would want me to live. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please know that the prayer will not save you. It is only an expression of what is true in your heart. You are a Christian if the five statements above are true of you.
Next, we want to provide some suggestions that will help you grow in your relationship with God. Please click the blue button below to discover what God wants you to do next.
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