Building a Relationship with God – Part VI (6)

Over the past six weeks or so I have been writing a series of articles called “Building a Relationship with God”.  During the course of the series, we explored talking to God, hearing God talk to us, looking for the signs God gives us in our lives, and how we know and learn the word of God or, in other words, what He has already told us.

If you would like to go back and read any of the previous installments, here are links to the first five parts of the series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Now it’s time to wrap up our series “Building a Relationship with God” with our final installment – Part VI (6).

Let me start off by asking a question: can I or anyone else tell you how to have a relationship with another person or how you should feel about another person?

The answer in one simple word is “no.”

There is no cookie-cutter mold or approach to having a relationship with another person.  If there are no set rules for having a relationship with someone else then how can someone tell you how your relationship with another person should be?

However, even though no one can tell you how to have a relationship with another person, there are certain things about a relationship that you should or should not do.  For instance, you should show the other person respect, you should not try to control the other person…  I would say there are some basic ground rules you should follow to have a healthy relationship.

I am sure we all know some people who have, what we would think is, a pretty odd relationship.  But, even though a relationship might be strange to us, it probably works because they have some basic elements of a good relationship which include a lot of mutual respect and love for each other.  The point is they have a relationship that works for them but it is not one that you would model your relationships after.

Just like there are no two snowflakes that are exactly alike, each relationship between two people is a uniquely different relationship.

When you start a relationship with someone what is one of the first things you do?  You take some time to get to know the other person.  You get to know how they communicate.  You learn what makes them happy and what makes them sad.

I think that learning to build and have a relationship with God is no different.

No one, other than God, can tell you how to have a relationship with God.  I don’t know if I would believe anyone who told me that my relationship with God had to be a certain way that only they could teach me.  I have a Bible, I know how to read, and I know from my own reading of the Bible what God expects from me.

I, or anyone else, can only try to tell you what has worked for us in developing our relationship with God.

What I tell you is only what has worked for me.  I know when I try to learn something new I try to learn from others and examine what has worked for them.  I then try to take either the best of what they have to say or what I think I can relate to and then apply those things to myself.

What I have tried to do in this series is tried to tell you how God talks to me, how I talk to God, and how I have learned God’s word.  My hope is that you can take what I have tried to share with you and build on this for yourself.

One thing that I believe in very strongly in is that your relationship with God is a very personal relationship.  No one relates to God the exact same way that any other person does.  So for a person to tell you how your relationship with God should be would be wrong.

Your relationship with God is a personal relationship that is between only you and God.  Take time to learn about God, to talk to Him, and hear Him.  And, most of all, learn to enjoy always being with Him.

Thanks for being part of The Whisper of God community. – Elmer Laydon