What is a Personal Relationship with Christ?

The relationship you have with Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of your whole experience with God. Without this 'personal relationship' then there really is no experience.

In my own case God has been working on me for several years and I can clearly see that now. He has been clearing my life of people and situations that were separating me from Him.

He then showed me the truth about what is going on in the world then He waited for me to come to Him, which I did. Once I prayed to Him from my heart, He poured out His Holy Spirit on me, reached back and rescued me.

It is important to understand that God designed this 'personal relationship' to be a choice that we make of our own free will. Imagine that you were FORCED to have a relationship with your spouse or best friend. Imagine you had no choice in the matter and you were FORCED to worship someone. It would not be a pure and unconditional experience.

What God wants from us is to go before Him in heart felt prayer, humble ourselves, cast away our pride and admit we do not have all the answers. That is why we need Him so very much. God requires us to confess our sins, repent or turn away from our old sinful life and 'crucify the flesh' daily.

Everything that has happened to me just before and since I accepted Jesus as the Truth and the Life has been orchestrated by Him. And that is where it gets 'personal'.

When I pray I don't always have the perfect words and I stumble and stutter and don't know if I'm saying the right things. But that's OK!

I Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)
1-"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2- For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3- I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4- My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5- so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power".

You see God pours out His Grace on those who forget their pride and humble themselves before Him. Don't you get it that God created us and made us! How can we act like we know more than Him? It's ridiculous!

Read I Corinthians 2: 14 (NIV)

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned".

In other words, a deeper understanding comes from the Holy Spirit which God gives us when we forget our pride, humble ourselves before Him in prayer and do not follow what we want but rather allow God to show us what HE wants.

In addition, as we enter into the 'end of days' as I feel very strongly we are fast approaching, it will be even more important than ever to have the discernment of the Holy Spirit guiding you. The deceptions and the tragedies that are coming will be unprecedented.

I pray to the Lord about everything now. I can't see that there is any decision in my life that I want to make without the protection and discernment only He can provide. That is 'personal'!

He brings to me people and situations that fulfill what He wants. That is 'personal'!

He directs me in confronting my weaknesses so I am a better and stronger person. That is 'personal'!

He shows me scripture from His word that applies to me. That is 'personal'.

My hope is that you too will seek to know Jesus on a 'personal' basis and let go of that pride that keeps you from doing it. Other than the gift of forgiveness of our sins and the everlasting life He gives us, the personal relationship with Him is also a very, very important gift!

Don't reject His gift!

In Christ, Sara