Relationship with God

ur Relationship with God

God created us and gave us eternal life. He is beyond gender,
but in human terms He is our Father and Mother.

You are a child of God, and as such you will always be
unconditionally loved by Him. It is impossible to fully describe
the unconditional love that God feels for you in words of this
physical world.

As children of God, God wants us to unite as one big, joyful and
loving family.

In order to find God, we need to look for Him and work at doing
His will.

God will not interfere with the freewill that He gave you, so
talking to Him is essential if you want His help or would like to
develop a relationship with Him. Although prayer is sometimes
thought of as being ritualistic or formulaic communication, at it
simplest level, prayer is about talking to God in your own words.
Talk to God from your heart.

You do not have to be religious to pray, but you do have to be
loving and sincere. The focused and loving intention of prayer is
very powerful.

It is OK to have fun and share a laugh with God! Your relationship
with God should be a loving one, and that love can include fun
and laughter. You should respect God as a parent, but that does
not mean that you have to be solemn and somber when you talk
to Him or think about Him.

Through teachers, God has explained that we need to learn how
to give unconditional love. You have the freewill to decide
whether to do this, but you do not have the freewill to escape
His perfect creation. You have eternal life whether you like it or
not, and your happiness depends on how loving you choose to
be.

You require no knowledge of God or religion to know the
difference between right and wrong, or being loving and
unloving. This knowledge is an instinctive and intuitive part of
you. What is “right” is loving behavior; “wrong” is unloving
behavior.

We all want to be loved; without love we are alone and lonely.
Often we do not recognize our need to be loved because of the
busyness and struggle of our everyday lives, but the need is built
into our nature because we were created by God.

It is very difficult to understand that God loves us
unconditionally, because most of us are so bad at giving
unconditional love to ourselves and others. The concept of
unconditional love is almost meaningless to some of us.

God would like us to try to love Him and each other as much as
He loves us. We return some of God's love when we understand
that God loves us unconditionally.

When God physically manifested in our physical dimensions he
was loved by all who truly knew Him. If you think that it difficult
to love God, remember that when God came to earth as Christ,
He was loved more by the common people than possibly any
other figure in history. God is VERY lovable once you get to
know Him!

We show our love for God by the way we treat ourselves and
each other. We also love God by subverting ourselves and doing
what he asks. In practical terms, we serve Him by serving
others through our following of the Golden Rule. Nothing
pleases God more than our serving Him. If you love God you will
try to do what He asks of you.

Through Christ, God said "I desire mercy, not sacrifice.". This
means that we should forgive each other and be compassionate,
gentle and kind. Self sacrifice and self-imposed penance is not
what God wants, He wants us to love each other unconditionally.

It is very important to understand that God’s love is
unconditional; it is unrelated to religion, behavior or beliefs. His
love is not based on a contract we make with Him by which we
profess certain beliefs or enter into agreements with Him. We
should try to trust that His love is not based on what we believe
or how we behave, nor will it ever be.

God gave us freewill so that we could willingly choose find our
way back to Him through love, and thus expand the total amount
of love in His creation.

God does not expect us to behave with love in our hearts
because He said so, He expects us to understand and do this
because it is the right thing to do.

From God's perspective He loves you unconditionally, so He does
not need to forgive you because He never condemned or judged
you in the first place. You should still ask for forgiveness
because doing so shows that you recognize God, that you
repent, and that you are learning to love unconditionally.

Repentance is very powerful. When you regret an unloving
thought or action you take responsibility for it, and you know
that you made a mistake, feel remorse, and learned a lesson.
When you repent, you should forgive yourself because you no
longer need carry the weight of your guilt. Repentance means
that you are learning to love, but being unrepentant is a barrier
to your growth as a soul.

Do not confuse what you may think of as God's unconditional
forgiveness with the eternal need to grow the love in your
heart, and thus evolve. We are never condemned by God for
what we think of as our faults, but this does not mean that we
can avoid the need to learn to love unconditionally. We earn our
place in the spiritual realms based on the love in our heart.

Unfortunately, many religious people make the mistake of
thinking that God has forgiven them so it follows that on death
they are all automatically admitted into some kind of
homogeneous heaven, where everybody is equal. The reality is
that heaven is not just one place; it is a sliding scale of
environments, and where we end up depends on how we have
used our freewill to grow through love. In other words, you
alone control your salvation and your place in God’s creation.

The speed of our evolution as souls is our own decision, because
it is based on how fast we choose to grow the love within us.

We each have a personal relationship directly with God; we do
not need intermediaries to intervene or control that relationship
for us. Other souls can petition God (pray) for us.

A successful relationship with God gives a meaning to your life
that can help successfully define all your other relationships.

There is no place for fear in your relationship with God. If you
fear someone it is difficult to love them. God would never
punish you, hurt you or destroy you. He created you, He loves
you, and He has given you eternal life. You can use your freewill
to reject God and He will not force Himself on you, but He will
never reject you if you turn to Him.

God knows that He is much more difficult to understand than His
message, which is buried in everybody’s subconscious,
regardless of belief. Love God as well as you can, but in your
daily reality practice loving yourself and your neighbor. As you
practice love, you will find that you begin to accept what God
wants of you and why. As your acceptance grows, so will your
love for God.

If you have true unconditional love for other souls and yourself,
you love God. This is because we are all connected. When you
give love, you are loving God too because we are all part of the
same whole. This is difficult to understand. Loving God,
yourself, and others are three facets of the same relationship.

It is possible to love God and each other without participating in
religion. Your understanding of who and what God is can take
many forms without hindering your growth, as long as you follow
the Golden Rule and develop along the lines of unconditional
love.

If you live your life according to the Golden Rule and with love in
your heart, your recognition of God as your Father is not an
absolute requirement for your growth. However, most of us
struggle to live the Golden Rule, so the failure to acknowledge
God, or to develop a relationship with Him and ask for His help,
may be a significant handicap to your growth. This is because
you are ignoring God, and those He sent to teach us.

Many people who deny or ignore God have not given Him much
thought, and are not motivated to do so. They stick to the
same opinion for years. Sadly, they may have been prejudiced
by flawed religious teaching and practice in their childhood, and
never again tried to challenge the assumptions on which their
prejudices are based. These people are ignoring or subverting
the impulse we all have to discover the meaning of life.

There is danger in comparing yourself to others in the hope that
you meet God’s standard by viewing yourself as “better”. You
cannot judge others accurately, so how you compare yourself to
the progress of other souls is not a great measuring stick to use;
it involves subjectivity and a large degree of mediocrity.
Measure yourself by what God asks of you.

A great way to learn about God is to use love-based behavior as
the measure of your spiritual development.

Inappropriate use of freewill causes us pain and suffering. There
are many things in life that may seem very unfair. It is tempting
to blame God for our misuse of freewill. You should try to see
these sufferings as learning experiences in a very brief physical
incarnation which is part of an eternal life.

Some suffering is willingly accepted by very advanced souls who
are innocent, but agree to incarnate and suffer in order to teach
less advanced souls the meaning of unconditional love.

God asks us to love Him. Loving God is not the same as praising
or fearing Him.

God knows that He is very difficult to understand, and that
there will be times when we are filled with conflicting emotions
about Him and His existence. At times, many of us doubt Him,
or get angry or frustrated with Him. All relationships challenge
us in ways that help us to grow if we so choose, and our
relationship with God is no different.

Praising and worshipping God out of habit or custom is a waste
of time, particularly since God knows what is in our heart and we
cannot appeal to His ego! Showing our love for God by doing His
will is a much better use of our time.

You might think that you do not need to be a loving person to be
happy, but this is a very short term perspective during a
temporary incarnation of your eternal life.

God has given you the freewill to choose to reject Him. He will
never reject you, and will welcome you with open arms if you
ever change your mind. All you have to do is ask Him.

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all
your mind.’ 38 This is the first
and greatest commandment. 39
And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All
the Law and the Prophets hang on
these two commandments.”
Matthew 22

The greatest happiness in life is
the conviction that we are loved-
loved for ourselves, or rather,
loved in spite of ourselves.
Victor Hugo

Two men please God--who serves
Him with all his heart because he
knows Him; who seeks Him with
all his heart because he knows
Him not.
Nikita Ivanovich Panin

God, our Creator, has stored
within our minds and
personalities, great potential
strength and ability. Prayer helps
us tap and develop these powers.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Never forget the three powerful
resources you always have
available to you: love, prayer,
and forgiveness.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Remember this. When people
choose to withdraw far from a
fire, the fire continues to give
warmth, but they grow cold.
When people choose to withdraw
far from light, the light
continues to be bright in itself
but they are in darkness. This is
also the case when people
withdraw from God.
St Augustine

To believe in God or in a guiding
force because someone tells you
to is the height of stupidity. We
are given senses to receive our
information within. With our
own eyes we see, and with our
own skin we feel. With our
intelligence, it is intended that
we understand. But each person
must puzzle it out for himself or
herself.
Sophy Burnham

God doesn't require us to
succeed; he only requires that
you try.
Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997)

True discrimination between
right and wrong does not then
depend on the acuteness of our
intelligence, but on the wisdom
of the Spirit.
John Calvin on Luke 24:16

It should be noted that the seeds
of wisdom that are to bear fruit
in the intellect are sown less by
critical studies and learned
monographs than by insights,
broad impressions, and flashes of
intuition.
Carl von Clausewitz

The heart is wiser than the
intellect.
Josiah Holland

God has fallen out of
containment in religion and into
human hearts—God is
incarnating. Our whole
unconscious is in an uproar from
the God Who wants to know and
to be known."
C. G. Jung

To say I am made in the image of
God is to say that love is the
reason for my existence, for God
is love.
Thomas A Kempis

God whispers to us in our
pleasures, speaks to us in our
conscience, but shouts in our
pain: It is the megaphone to
rouse a deaf world...
C S Lewis, in 'The Problem of Pain'

Hell is a state of being we create
by being away from God until we
choose to return to him. It is a
state totally devoid of love.
Sandra Rogers

Never try to explain God until
you have obeyed Him. The only
bit of God we understand is the
bit we have obeyed.
Unknown

If you understand, things are just
as they are; if you do not
understand, things are just as
they are.
Zen proverb

Many people who have suffered
the most horrendous rejections
and been subject to the most
cruel torture are able to choose
love. By choosing love they
become witnesses not only to
enormous human resiliency but
also to the divine love that
transcends all human loves.
Those who choose, even on a
small scale, to love in the midst
of hatred and fear are the people
who offer true hope to our world.
Henri Nouwen

The reality is that God, in the
form of Christ and according to
the Bible, gave no quarter for
argument. His teachings never
used the words "should" or "may"
or "could" or "ought to". They all
used the word "Shall" which
leaves no room for discussion or
dissension.
John Cannon

The little voice inside us that
prompts us to do good things
comes from God. It is the light of
love inside each of us.
Kerry Kirk

God doesn't force anyone to
heaven, hell, or anywhere. We
are free to choose and build our
destiny. All paths lead back to
God.
Edgar Cayce

God perfectly understands our
lack of knowledge. He knows that
most of us do not remember our
commitments to him. In his eyes
we are like little children:
susceptible and even expected to
make mistakes.
Betty Eadie

Those who never rebelled against
God or at some point in their
lives shaken their fists in the
face of heaven, have never
encountered God at all.
Catherine Marshall (Christy, 1967)

God does not care about
theology. God cares mostly about
your heart.
Rev. Howard Storm

It doesn't matter what you call
God. The different religions have
different ways of explaining the
same God.
Mellen-Thomas Benedict

God wants us to humbly and
sincerely ask him things. How
often do you enjoy people talking
about you without taking the
time to get to know you?
Criss Jami

God is a comedian whose
audience is afraid to laugh.
H. L. Mencken

A part of me began to anticipate
certain events, things in my life I
would dread seeing again. But
most of them didn't show up, and
I understood that I had taken
responsibility for these actions
and had repented of them. I saw
myself repenting of them,
sincerely wanting God to remove
the weight and guilt of those
terrible actions. And He had. I
marveled at His sublime love and
that my misdeeds could be
forgiven and removed so easily.
RaNelle Wallace