Jeremiah
32:27 -
"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of
all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?"
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They've been told, as you probably have, that to have a personal relationship with the Lord means that you have to be perfect because God is perfect! Therefore, you must follow a set of rules flawlessly and to the letter. For starters (according to what you've been taught), you follow the ten commandments. Actually, this is the easy part. For instance, take "Thou Shalt not Kill". I passed that one with flying colors. I haven't killed anyone all week! Granted, I wanted too, but I didn't, so I get brownie points with God. (and so do you) Stealing, adultery, don't lie . . . like I said, these are the easy ones. However, preachers have since added to the list. Refraining from drinking and smoking are now prerequisites to having a personal relationship with the Lord. Did I mention tithing? Heavens! Don't forget about tithing, If you don't give 10% of your gross income to that particular Church, not only are you refused a personal relationship with God, you are cursed and will spend eternity in hell suffering unspeakable pain and torment. (God needs your money that bad) Just so you get this strait, you follow all the rules stated above, then you pray kneeling on broken glass for at least 10 hours a day. Then you can proudly say that you have a personal relationship with the Lord! Sounds pretty appealing doesn't it? Of course I am exaggerating, but you get my point. Preachers all over the world by the tens of thousands, all tell you that you need a personal relationship with God, then set themselves up as your "Spiritual Leader", whom you must go through to get close to God. Sadly, not only the scriptures, but plain common sense tells us that if you have to go through anyone to have a relationship with God, It's "not" personal. Is it? IS YOUR SALVATION BASED ON THE MESSAGE GOD WANTED YOU TO HEAR? What you've read above may be what has been impressed upon you for years, but that isn't it! Think about it! If you are married, you and your spouse have a "personal relationship" with each other. How personal would it be if one of you had to be "perfect" for the other spouse, and failure to be perfect would result in immediate divorce? If that were the case, would you consider your spouse your best friend? Would you be comfortable opening up to them and sharing your most intimate feelings, at the risk of revealing how imperfect you are? Many preachers have a long list of things you can and can not do before you can have a personal relationship with God. God on the other hand has very few conditions. "You Show Up" and you seek him! That's not quite the way you've been taught, is it? When you've been taught differently by so many people for so long, it's a little tough to swallow what Lil` ole Dan Douglass has to say, isn't it? After all, who am I to disagree with the flashy preachers, saving thousands if not millions of people right there on national television for you to plainly see, every week? Matthew 7:13 - "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7:14 - "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:15 - "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Matthew 7:16 - "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they There's the "very" famous guy who "smiles" allot! I haven't listened to him in a long time, but you could count on the fact that in every single sermon, he would not only smile allot, he'd point out to you the he smiles allot several times throughout his speech. It has become his gimmick and calling card. Note: If you are smiling, I don't need you to tell me that you are smiling, I can see with my own two eyes. This particular preacher's false gospel is basically a "self help" seminar or book wrapped in bible dust cover. It's very clever and it sounds real good, but the true gospel is not about "self help"! You cannot help yourself get into heaven, only the son of God can help you do that, and he "did" do that on the cross! Another real famous guy tells you about having a "purpose driven life". There is nothing wrong with having goals in life as long as you are putting God first. However, the true gospel does not tell you to seek a purpose for your life, it tells you to seek God's purpose for your life! Jeremiah 29:11 - 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.Jeremiah 29:12 - 'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.Jeremiah 29:13 - 'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.The real stains on Jesus` robe are the so called ministers of the Gospel who shamelessly want your money and aren't even very cool about how they go about getting it. Particularly, one who looks like "Henry Gibson" from laugh-in, if you are old enough to remember that show from the 60's. He has said things similar to: "I was praying, and when I looked at the clock, it was 7:11 AM, so God told me to tell you to send seven hundred and eleven dollars and he will bless you seven hundred fold!!!" Not to mention the so called minister of the Lord who's name is also an herb that you might garnish a plate of food with in a restaurant. Aside from the wild organ music in between each sentence he speaks, I simply can't bare to listen to this guy and I turn the channel on the TV every single time he comes on. So, is the guy above really smiling or is he faking it. You bet he's smiling, THEY ARE ALL SMILING!!, they are multi millionaires, and they got that way selling you books telling you exactly what "you" wanted to hear, not what God wanted you to tell you. They have also gotten filthy rich accepting tithes and offerings. Unfortunately, much of this money comes from elderly people living on fixed incomes. I do not tell people what they want to hear for any purpose. Especially for the purposes of getting rich or becoming famous. My message is truly unpopular, but I'm okay with that. I preach the same message Jesus Christ preached and it was unpopular 2000 years ago when he preached it. These days, we are just too plain lazy to have a personal relationship with God. It's much easier to attach ourselves to the guy with the loudest voice, who claims to have an inside connection to God. I will caution you: If you're going to trust someone else other than Jesus Christ, with something as important as your eternal salvation and follow them, you first need to know where they are going and second, if their name really is on the guest list, find out if you will be allowed entrance just because you tagged along? A personal relationship with the Lord is allot like roofing your house. It's not rocket science and just about anyone can do it. However, it is work and it is time consuming, therefore, we pay someone else to do it! You cannot pay someone else to have a personal relationship with God for you, using tithes and offerings as currency. Not even the Pope! This is a roof that you have to do yourself. WHAT IS A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? What is a personal relationship? Here are two dictionary definitions for the word "relationship" that I found interesting:
Here are just a couple of dictionary definitions for the word "personal".
According to scripture, the dictionary, and just plain old common sense, your relationship with the Lord is "personal". Your pastor doesn't enter into it! If you want a quality, personal relationship with God, start by excluding people who falsely claim to be your spiritual leader, and seek your true spiritual leader, Christ! Matthew 23:10 - "Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.If you want a quality, personal relationship with God, stop looking to your pastor for help with every little thing and start asking the Holy Spirit. Does that sound strange to you? I'm sure it does, but that is what the Holy Spirit is. The helper! John 14:26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.I don't care how nice your pastor is, or how kindly, or how sensitive, or how Holy, and neither do I care about the fact that he has never even said the word poop from birth. A pastors job is simply to point the way, "not" to be the way! I don't care how many college degree's he has, or from what university. Anyone who can memorize and then regurgitate the information can receive a degree and be ordained from any Christian college professor or university. That doesn't even help their own relationship with God and certainly won't help yours! Only God can ordain someone. Universities can not! The point is, no matter how impressive or charismatic a person is, they have nothing to do with "your personal relationship with God". ~ LET ME POINT THE WAY ~ We've been taught since we were born that God is "Too Holy" and "Too Majestic" and so far ahead of us that he is hopelessly out of our reach! I'll confirm that God "is" way ahead of us. He "is" Holy. He "is Majestic", "awesome" and deserves our highest reverence and respect. However, God loves us so much that he has bent down to our level, just like we kneel down to talk to a toddler on their level. If you have a child (toddler) 1, 2, 3, or 4 years old, you talk to them and you teach them. You have conversations with them. It doesn't mean that you get anything out of the conversation on an intellectual level. It means that you love them, enjoy them and delight in them, even though they don't offer or contribute anything to you on your level! Interacting with a toddler, especially your own, contributes to you in a way that can't be explained and is fulfilling to your soul. Now do you wonder why God said: Proverbs 8:17 - "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. Can you help but love any child who shows that they love you? By the looks of it, God is no different! Are you getting it yet? Are you starting to understand what I mean by constantly harping about having a personal relationship with God? (Hey! Don't make me have to come over there!!) Are you starting to see what God wants from you? Preachers have impressed on us for years that to have a relationship with God, we have to be like him, on his level and have a stimulating intellectual conversation with him. Forget that! You are "not" on the same level with God! You will never be on the same level with God and even if your name is Albert Einstein, you are not capable of having a stimulating intellectual conversation with God and never will be. "You" are the toddler, and God is the father! Start there! Stay there! Then "Go with it". God delights in you just the way you are. He has no higher expectations of you, than you do of your 2 year old child. So called ministers of God put so many conditions on having a personal relationship with God, that no one could do it and few would really want to. Even though Christ did away with the old testament law, preachers keep you in submission to them (not God) by making you live by all 613 of them, then they even added a few that weren't even in the bible. (Smoking, drinking etc...) Just like marriage, there is only room for two in your personal relationship with God. There isn't even room for the law! Titus 3:9 - But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. Just talk to God! Don't try using a bunch of holy sounding words laced with "thee's and thou's". Don't try to be clever, and don't try to have an intellectual conversation with him, you're out gunned before you start, and he isn't impressed! You are "not" on his level or even close. KNOW YOUR LEVEL! Be yourself and let God delight in you! He knows you better than you do. Let him delight in you and you will discover a very generous and protective father. Would you like to see your prayers start getting answered for a change? Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.Psalms 37:5 - Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.Ready for a change? Talk to God! No! reciting what the preacher tells you to Sunday morning after he says "Repeat after me" doesn't count and it isn't personal! Talk to God as often as you can. Talk to him just like you would talk to your wife, friend, mom or dad or anyone else. God doesn't expect you to give him some great revelation, he just wants you to interact with him on a personal level. God Bless You Dan Douglass (I have spoken) ~ GIVE ONLY WHAT YOU CAN COMFORTABLY AFFORD ~ Make checks or money orders payable to:
Last Updated
06/07/2010
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The most prominent and
underlying theme of everything I have written on this website has to do
with having a "personal relationship" with God. It is also the most
misinterpreted. Unfortunately, the moment people hear the words "Personal
Relationship With the Lord", their thoughts are instantly consumed with
everything they have heard in Church and on Christian television, concerning
those words.
