Steps to Restoring Your Relationship: God

Steps to Restoring Your Relationship with God


2 Steps to Restoring Your Relationship with God

Copyright 2013 Mission Globe www.missionglobe.com

Introduction

I had an occasion to be around a particu-

lar youth group some years ago, and I

learned a lot of their idiomatic terms

and phrases. One abbreviation they

would always use was DTR. I found out

that was an abbreviation for “Defining

the Relationship” and that it generally

applied to a time when two friends of

the opposite gender sat down and had a

conversation to see what direction their

relationship was headed in.

Now that method didn’t work out to well

for that group. It led to a lot of confusion

and mess, but I use it to show a parallel.

We as Christians need to sometimes

take inventory of our relationship with

God and see where it is headed. Are we

just going to be acquaintances? are we

going to be good friends? or are we going

to have that special intimacy that God

created us to have with Him?

Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you

and learn of me …”

God didn’t save you from your sins just

to give you a wonderful life and take you

on to glory. That was a part of it, but it

wasn’t the entirety of it. God came to set

you free from the power and penalty of

sin so that you could have a personal –

intimate relationship with Him.

Isaiah 59:2 “ But your iniquities have

separated between you and your God,

and your sins have hid His face from

you, that He will not hear.”

You must realize that sin breaks your

relationship with God. God is of purer

eyes than to behold evil (ref. Habakkuk

1:13). He’s not going to just go along

with your wrong.

Therefore, while you were out in sin do-

ing what you wanted to do, God could

not have the intimate relationship with

you that He desired to have. That is the

reason He sent His Son into the world to

die on the cross that you might have ac-

cess to Him.

John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and

the life: no man cometh to the Father,

but by me…”

If we’re not careful we’ll miss the whole

point of Christianity in our attempt to

prove our spirituality. We’ll be so busy




with what we think we should be doing,

that we leave out the most important

part: that special connection, that one-

on-one, personal, intimate relationship

with our Heavenly Father.

Those early morning talks with Him,

those times you steal away on your

lunch break to spend a few moments

with Him, those nights where you stay

up conversing with Him late into the

night.

Intimacy with God. A close personal re-

lationship. Something between you and

Him that no one else is involved in. It’s

not for show, it’s not for public display,

it’s not to be shared with others in a cer-

tain way.

You should be growing closer to God as

you go along in your Christian experi-

ence. You should know Him better than

when you first started out. You should

be learning some things about Him eve-

ry day. You should be experiencing a

deeper, closer walk with Him.

This is the problem Jesus had with

those who said, “Lord, Lord have we not

prophesied in thy name, and in thy

name have cast out devils, and in thy

name done many wonderful

works” (Matthew 7:22), they did a lot of

works, but they didn’t have a certain in-

timate relationship with God; they did-

n’t do those things that God would have

them to do, because they never consult-

ed God about what He wanted them to

do.

Matthew 7:23 “And then I will profess to

them, I never knew you, depart from me

ye workers of iniquity.”

Was it necessarily because they were

committing the grossest sins or doing

the vilest things? Not necessarily. They

weren’t walking in tune and in step with

the Holy Ghost and that caused them to

lose out with God more so than anything

else.

How’s your relationship with God? You

must first see where you are and recog-

nize that your relationship isn’t where

you want it to be before you will admit

to needing help. The first step is to real-

ize you have a problem, to see your

need, and then determine to do some-

thing about it.




Isaiah 59:1-3 “Behold your iniquities

have separated between you and your

God and your sins have hid His face

from you, that He will not hear.”

1. Recognize your condition and your

need of God’s help.

John 8:21 “Ye shall die in your

sins: whither I go, ye cannot

come” (ref. John 14:2-3)

1 Kings 21:17-29 note verses 27-29

“When Ahab heard those words,

that he rent his clothes, and put

sackcloth upon his flesh, and fast-

ed, and lay in sackcloth, and went

softly.

Ahab humbled himself before God.

When he saw himself through the

eyes of God, when he realized his

condition before God, he got very

low and began to seek after God.

He changed his behavior. He was

affected greatly by what God had

pronounced against him and that

caused him to make some changes,

to humble himself and to seek

God’s favor.

No matter how far you are from

God right now He is waiting to re-

store you, He’s desiring to rescue

you, He wants you to return to

Him, so you can have that special

intimate relationship with Him

that you once had.

2 Chronicles 33:9-20 verses 12-13

“And when he was in affliction, he

besought the Lord his God, and

humbled himself greatly before the

God of his father’s, and prayed un-

to Him.

Unlike Ahab, Manasseh ignored

the words of the Lord when the

Lord tried to correct him, but

when God allowed certain afflic-

tions to come upon him then he be-

sought the Lord his God.

Sometimes God has to allow us to

go through some things, some-

times God has to allow certain

things to befall us in order that we




might seek Him in real way; that

we might humble ourselves before

Him and realize that He is God.

God wants to get your attention.

God wants you to stop and listen

to Him. God is trying to talk to

you, to show you yourself, to show

you your sins, your condition, your

fate if you don’t change your ways,

but you’re too busy with life, you’re

too busy with this thing and that

thing and other things and you

like Manasseh will not hearken.

God gets no delight out of your go-

ing through, He doesn’t want to

have to plague you as He did Phar-

aoh but He’ll do whatever He can

to get your attention because He is

merciful.

People when going through diffi-

cult times or circumstances often

ask, why would a loving God allow

people to suffer? So they will re-

pent, so they will change, so they

will hearken unto His voice before

it be everlasting too late.

There are many terrible things you

may suffer down here; most of

which you bring on yourself, but it

is nothing compared with what

you will suffer in eternity if we

don’t repent and turn to God.

We notice in both of these cases it

was God who acted first to show

these wicked men the error of their

ways. God must give you repent-

ance.

2 Timothy 2:25 “…God peradven-

ture would give them repentance

to the acknowledging of the truth.”

Hebrews 12:17 “He found no place

of repentance, though he sought it

carefully with tears.”

Jesus confirms this in the book of

John.

John 6:37 “All that the Father

giveth me shall come to me; and

him that cometh to me I will in no

wise cast out.”

John 6:44 “No man can come to

me, except the Father which hath

sent me draw him.”




John 6:65 “No man can come to

me, except it were given unto him

of my Father.”

God must reveal His Son unto you.

Not intellectually, not by your lit-

eral eyes seeing Him, but by your

spiritual eyes being enlightened.

Not by the word of man, not by a

form of religious worship, but by

the word of God being revealed un-

to you spiritually.

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit that

quickeneth; the flesh profiteth

nothing: the words I speak unto

you, they are spirit, and they are

life.

Romans 10:17 “Faith cometh by

hearing and hearing by the word

of God.”

You are saved by faith, you are

made alive by faith, but what hap-

pens is the word of God inspires

your faith, inspires you to believe

in God in a real way so that you

realize and acknowledge the truth.

You must realize that you have

crossed God’s word, that you are

outside of God’s will, that you are

guilty before God and that you

must repent or change your mind

about what you have been involv-

ing yourself in, change your mind

and your heart about your former

actions and turn from them with-

out reserve and turn to God be-

cause you realize only He can help

you, only He can change you, and

that He loves you and wants to

make you acceptable in His sight.

There therefore must also be the

realization that you were made by

God, for His pleasure, to do His

will, and that He has given His

Son to die on the cross that you

can return to Him and “serve Him

acceptably with reverence and

Godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

Colossians 1:16 “All things were

created by Him and for Him.”

Luke 1:74-75 “That He would

grant us, that we, being delivered

out of the hand of our enemies,

might serve Him without fear, in

holiness and righteousness before

Him, all the days of our life.”




2. Stop doing the things you know

are offensive to God.

Matthew 3:7-9 “Bring forth there-

fore fruits meet for repentance:

And think not to say within your-

selves, we have Abraham to our fa-

ther…”

There are some things you must

bring to the bargaining table. You

can’t just come empty in that

sense, you must bring your sins

with you, you can’t still have and

desire to continue on in sin and yet

get saved. You’ve got to come with

the mind to stop sinning once and

for good.

Psalms 66:18 “If I regard iniquity

in my heart, the Lord will not hear

me.”

Your sins are what has separated

you from God, how then can you

get back to God without first put-

ting away your sins?

You can’t free yourself from the

bondage of sin, but you can change

your mind about the sin you’re in-

volved in.

You must desire to be free of it

with all within you. Then God can

help you get freed up from it. So

part of the equation is to bring a

different mindset about the sin

you’re involved in. A desire to be

free from sin.

What are the fruits meet for re-

pentance?

Meet means apt or suitable.

So these fruits are suitable, some-

thing that fits in with the act of re-

pentance.

Psalms 51:17 “The sacrifices of

God are a broken spirit: a broken




and contrite heart, O God, thou

wilt not despise.”

You must be truly broken before

God, not only tired of sin, but real-

izing you’ve sinned against God,

you’ve been unfaithful to God in

much the same manner as a

spouse that would go out and com-

mit adultery. You’ve hurt the

heart of God, you’ve broken the re-

lationship, you’ve severed the con-

nection.

Now you want to repair it, but you

can’t just come strolling in like it is

nothing, say I’m sorry and go on

about your business.

God loves you more than a spouse

loves, God has done more for you

than anyone in your life has done.

Your very existence is only by the

love and mercy of an almighty God

and do you presume on that mer-

cy? Do you embolden yourself

against the God of the universe?

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now let us rea-

son together, saith the Lord.”

Realize into whose presence you’re

coming. God wants you to come,

He wants you to return to Him,

but you must come with a right at-

titude; humble, broken, ready to

give up sin and serve God.

Contrite means caused by or show-

ing sincere remorse.

Be real with God, be truly broken

up, truly regret that you ever did

what you did. Wish from the bot-

tom of your heart you never in-

volved yourself in the sins you

committed. Realize that no matter

what momentary thrill it brought

it is not worth your relationship

with God. Its nothing compared to

being right with God.

Salvation is the best thing mortal

man has ever found. There is noth-

ing that compares to being deliv-

ered from sin and all the evil de-

vices of the devil.

Until you’ve been truly delivered

from all sin you can’t know what

its like to be truly happy and joy-

ous within.




3. Count the cost.

Luke 14:26-30 “For which of you,

intending to build a tower, sitteth

not down first, and counteth the

cost, whether he have sufficient to

finish it.

Is there anything in your heart of

your life that you’re not able to

give up for this blessed salvation?

Is there anything, whether sinful

or not that will rival your affection

for God?

Jesus told the people here, don’t

even start this journey if you don’t

intend to finish it.

Don’t bring me your sins today and

then take them back later on.

Don’t come all weeping and casting

yourself down if you know in the

back of your mind you’re going

right back out and do the same

thing over.

This is where you empty yourself,

this is where you give up all re-

sistance. Settle it, you’re going all

the way with this thing no matter

what the enemy of your soul might

come with, no matter what you

have to go through, no matter

what you have to give up, no mat-

ter who stands with you or against

you.

You might have to tell some people

that are very dear to you that your

relationship with God means more

to you than anything else in life;

that you’re not turning your back

on God. This is a conscious deci-

sion and it is a critical step in truly

restoring and maintaining your re-

lationship with God.

For you will suffer persecution if

you determine to be saved and go

with God.




2 Timothy 3:12 “…all that will live

godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer

persecution.”

You’re going to go through some

things but you must make a choice

as did Moses.

Hebrews 11:24-27 “By faith Mo-

ses… refused to be called the son

of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing

rather to suffer affliction with the

people of God, than to enjoy the

pleasures of sin for a season; Es-

teeming the reproaches of Christ

greater riches that the treasures of

Egypt: For he had respect unto the

recompense of the reward.”

Moses could have had a great in-

heritance in Egypt if he had went

along with the enemies plan, but

instead he joined himself with the

oppressed people of God, spurning

the king and all his authority and

power that he might rather serve

God.

You must come to a decision – to

serve sin and enjoy those fleeting

pleasures for a moment, or to serve

God and have true joy now and a

great reward in heaven.

Now let’s look at some facts that

might help you in your decision

making process.

Ecclesiasties 11:9 “Rejoice O young

man in your youth; and let thy

heart cheer thee in the days of thy

youth, and walk in the ways of

thine heart, and in the sight of

thine eyes, but know thou, that for

all these things God will bring

thee into judgment. Therefore re-

move sorrow from thy heart, and

put away evil from thy flesh: for

childhood and youth are vanity.”

The preacher here gives two op-

tions. Either go in the way of your

flesh, your heart, and your eyes

and do what feels good for the mo-

ment or put those things away

from you with the sorrows they

bring and serve God.




Romans 6:22-23 “Being now made

free from sin, and become servants

to God, ye have fruit unto holiness,

and the end everlasting life. For

the wages of sin is death: but the

gift of God is eternal life through

Jesus Christ our Lord.”

You can be made free from sin and

be holy and inherit eternal life or

you can continue to sin and die

spiritually, tear down your body,

heart, mind and reputation natu-

rally, then die and have your soul

suffer eternal separation from

God.




4. Put yourself in position to be helped.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me

all ye that labor and are heavy lad-

en, and I will give you rest.”

Now that you’ve made a decision.

Now that you’re ready to make a

move for God in truth; you must

come to Jesus, you must make a

move to free yourself from the

bondage of sin.

I don’t know your situation. I don’t

know if you’ll have to get in your

car and drive some miles down the

road until you find a place where

the Spirit of God is yet working in

the midst. I don’t know if you’ll

have to make a phone call and get

someone who can give you some

help in a real way.

I don’t know if you’ll have to bow

where you are and pour out your

heart to God in a real way.

Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth

his sins shall not prosper: but who-

so confesseth and forsaketh them

shall have mercy.”

Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked for-

sake his way and the unrighteous

man his thoughts: and let him re-

turn unto the Lord, and He will

have mercy upon him; and to our

God, for He will abundantly par-

don.

Luke 11:5-10 “And I say unto you,

ask, it shall be given you; seek,

and ye shall find, knock, and it

shall be opened unto you. For eve-

ryone that asketh receiveth; and

he that seeketh findeth; and to

him that knocketh it shall be

opened.

If you desire to be right, if you’ve

ready to forsake your sins, if you’re

ready to make a confession to God

to admit to Him what you did was

rwong, what you did was against

Him, then God has promised to




hear and help you. God has as-

sured you He will hear and help

you.

John 6:37 “All that the Father

giveth me shall come to me, and

him that cometh to me I will in no

wise cast out.”

Come to Jesus, don’t let the enemy

tell you you’re going to be cast out.

Come to Jesus, let God bless your

heart, let God change your life.”

Realize the value of your soul, re-

alize the power of God is the only

cure for sin. Realize the im-

portance of acting in tune and in

step with the moving of God’s Spir-

it.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “Now is the ac-

cepted time; behold now is the day

of salvation.”

Don’t put off, don’t delay your new

life with God begins today.

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Steps to Restoring Your Relationship: God