16/08/2022
What does it take to begin a relationship with God?
Home How to Know God Personally
Should you devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you?
You may be surprised that none of those things will work. But God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him.
The following principles will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now, through Jesus Christ…
Principle 1:
God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
God’s Love
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 1
God’s Plan
[Christ speaking] “I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” [that it might be full and meaningful]. 2
Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life? Because…
Principle 2:
All of us sin and our sin has separated us from God.
We Are Sinful
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 3
We were created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our stubborn self-will, we chose to go our own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.
We Are Separated
“The wages of sin is death” [spiritual separation from God]. 4
God is holy and people are sinful. A great gulf separates us. We are continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through our own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion — but we inevitably fail.
The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf…
Principle 3:
Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Him we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our life.
He Died in Our Place
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 5
He Rose From the Dead
“Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures…He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” 6
He Is the Only Way to God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.'” 7
God has bridged the gulf which separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.
It is not enough just to know these three principles…
