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Third, we need to know that there is no safer person to have a relationship with than God.   Yet, we often fear getting close to Him because we're afraid He will hurt us.  But our Heavenly Father is incapable of giving us evil gifts (Mt. 7:11).  Even His discipline is based in His goodness, not His wrath (Rom. 2:4).  Did you know that Jesus said He didn't come to judge even the world that rejects Him?   That judgment is reserved for the end of time. (John 12:47)  And Rom. 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  So God doesn't ever view us with condemnation, judgment or wrath in His eye!!!   That doesn't mean that sometimes His correction of us won't hurt.  But it does mean that He is never angry at us.  The only reason He brings discipline into our lives is to make us more like Christ -- a good thing!

 Fourth, our relationship with God must include communication.   Now, we know that we communicate with God through prayer.  Most of us pray at least daily.  As our relationship with God grows we get to the place where we have a continuous prayer-line going with God all day.  But did you know that He wants to talk to you too?  Communication is never one-sided!!  If it isn't going two ways, it isn't conversation!  So how does God speak to us?  Well, the obvious answer is through the Word.  But does it really seem like God is talking to you when you read the Word or is it more like reading about Him, sort of like reading a textbook?  There is a huge difference.  The Word says that the Holy Spirit will lead us into truth (verses above).  John 17:17 says, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." Heb. 4:12 says, "For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."   Eph. 6:17 says that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.  James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."  So if this means what it says, I can ask the Holy Spirit to speak to me from the Word and show me what God wants to say to me. 

This understanding literally revolutionized my relationship with God.   When I go to the Word, I first ask the Holy Spirit to speak to me from the Word.  I lay aside my preconceptions about what the Word means (we don't hear very well if we think we already know what the other person is going to say!) and I ask God to show me how He wants to change me. Often I will ask Him questions and He will give me specific answers from the Word.  In the years that I have been doing this there has never once been a time when the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to me from the Word.  The times that I have felt like I couldn't hear His voice in my heart there was always one of two problems.  Either my mind was so busy with other things that I wasn't paying attention or I had unconfessed sin standing between me and Him.  Have you ever had a friend do that to you?  You're trying to talk to them but you can tell their mind is a million miles away?  Or maybe they did something that hurt your feelings and it's difficult to think about anything else or to enter into their enthusiasm about something.  Those same factors affect your relationship with God.

Lastly, a close relationship with God that meets our needs is characterized by sacrifice.  God showed His love toward us by making the ultimate sacrifice; He sent His Son to die.  Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice; He took on Himself all our sin, He took on Himself all the hurt we have experienced at the hands of others and all that we have inflicted, and He bore the abandonment of His Father whom He loved.  John 15:13-15 says that there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends.  Jesus did that for us.  Are we willing to do that for Him?  Are we willing to give up our rights, our demands and accept what He wants for us?   Are we willing to let the Holy Spirit take us apart piece by piece and remake us into the image of Christ?  Are we willing to obey what He shows us?  God's sacrifice for us has measureless rewards.  Our sacrifice for Him is filled with measureless rewards too.  One of those is that He truly meets our needs to be loved and valued, for companionship, for a friend who is right there when you need Him, who understands what makes you tick and who listens when you need to talk.

Pr 18:24  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

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