Jesus Did It!

 (By: Norm Rasmussen)

God wants you to get to know Him, dear one, above all else. He truly does. When God looks at you, there is nothing He desires more than for you to make it your number one purpose in life: 'I want to know you, God. I have to know you, God. Nothing is going to stop me from getting to know you, God!'

Do you need a little proof that God wants you to 'know' Him? In John 17:1-5 (NKJV), it is recorded:

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

'And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  

'I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.'  

Knowing about God is the first step in getting to KNOW God. The Old and New Testament Bible tells us about God, and how we can please Him. It reveals to us God's nature - His character. It reveals to us what pleases Him and displeases Him. It clearly tells us how we can position ourselves to be one of His most intimate FRIENDS. It is the most common means of showing us the 'true doorway' to God, though God has other means of pointing us to Him as well. God also uses dreams and occasionally visions to woe us to Him. He uses people. He uses situations. He uses angels in disguise, though rarely. Whatever means God uses, the main purpose for it is to woe us to desire to be one of His closest friends ... above everything else in this life.    

So far, so good, right? Now comes the part that most simply refuse to believe. A barrier exists between humanity and God. That barrier is sin. God will not look upon sin. God is so holy, so perfect, so pure - that He simply refuses to allow sin to be in His presence. The reason most refuse to believe this is because they have tolerated sin in their lives from the earliest of their childhood. Sin has been their companion from the very start, so what could possibly be so wrong with it, they surmise? Because this is their evaluation of sin, they don't want to know a God who is so holy that He will not have sin in His presence. Rather, they desire a God who would tolerate sin in His presence. They want God to be more like them than for God to be the total opposite of them.  

Hence, the reason most people really reject Christianity is because the demands of the New Testament Bible are just too extreme - just too demanding. 

What the bulk of people who reject Christianity fail to realize is that God provided a means to remove the obstacle of sin that keeps us from being able to be in God's presence any time we desire. The whole purpose for God the Father giving the world His Son Jesus Christ to live and die on the cross, was to remove the issue or hindrance of sin that kept humanity from being able to be in His presence -- to be close, intimate friends of God.

The bulk of people on this planet think we Christians are absolutely off our rockers ' outright stupid, in fact - for trusting Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Actually, we're even an insult to them. 'How dare those arrogant Christians think that I'm a sinner! How dare they say that I'm blind and deceived about sin separating me from God! Besides, for sake of argument, even if they might be right, I don't even want to be in the presence of a God who has the audacity to say that my sin is what prevents me from being worthy enough to be in His presence!'

Of course, most of those folks haven't written it out like that, and made it an official declaration that they are willing to send to God, if they had His mailing address. Yet if they were truly honest with themselves, that would be their declaration. That was MY declaration as well, until by the grace of God I became spiritually born again and had the mental blinders removed from my brain, so I certainly am not casting stones.

God knew who of us would fit it that category, and who wouldn't, even before He created the human race.  

If Christianity to you is primarily about getting what you can get out of God in this life, other than being saved from your sins, (which is not selfishness, but WISDOM!), you're going to become very disillusioned in your Christianity. I can assure you if that is your primary motive for becoming a Christian is to 'live the good life' on this planet ' you'll find your prayer life stinks and being able to trust God just doesn't work for you like it seems to work for others. Reading the Bible will become drudgery, and sharing your faith with others will essentially cease.  

God doesn't want us just 'sharing our faith' with others, by the way. God wants us to help others get to know Him, because that is what 'Christianity' is truly all about, at least to God. God wants us demonstrating to Him that above all else we could possibly desire ... He wants us desiring to be intimate friends with Him.  

Religion is one of Satan's most effective means of making people become blinded to what God desires most from each of us, which is intimacy. Religion seeks to pacify one's conscience with substitutes that lead off into every sort of direction, away from loving intimacy with the Creator.  

Loving intimacy with our husband or wife makes marriage the most satisfying. Loving intimacy may be a part of the bedroom scene in marriage, but actually a very small part in a healthy, fulfilling marriage.  Spending special times together, being supportive through the trying times; the hard times -  having treasured conversation, getting to know everything there is to know about our mate: the good and the bad, this also is what contributes to the most satisfying marriage.

God instituted marriage to give us an understandable way to learn to get to know him, and to get to know Him better. God desires a marriage with each of us: a quality, satisfying marriage. If anyone knows how to make marriage satisfying, the Creator does.  

If all marriage means to me is what I can get out of my wife, she will learn to tolerate me at best. She will inwardly struggle every waking moment when she thinks about me, if all she truly means to me is someone who can make life easier for me and I show little interest in how much I can make life more meaningful for her.

A secret to getting to know God, and/or knowing God better, is to not have a relationship with God for the primary purpose of what can I get out of it for myself. Rather, I must work very hard, daily, to come up with every way I can possibly think of, to do whatever seems right in taking a personal interest in God. The Holy Spirit will gladly help us, if we'll ask and trust Him to.

Sex in marriage grows old and mechanical when my spouse feels as though the pleasure I derive from sex is more important that me taking a personal interest in her. Nothing is more emotionally satisfying to your mate than working hard at taking a personal interest in that person.  

Show me a teacher who takes a personal interest in each student, and I'll show you a more cooperative student. Show me an officer in the military who takes a personal interest in the soldiers he or she commands, and I'll show you a soldier who will be more quick to lay his or her life on the line when the time calls for it. Show me a boss in the work world who takes a personal interest in each employee, and I'll show you an employee who will be far more devoted to the company. Show me a parent who takes personal interest in each child, and I'll show you a child that will be a lot less rebellious as each year passes. Show me a person who has a dog or cat as a pet and shows personal interest in them, and I'll show you a dog or cat that is more willing to obey. God has created every living thing to function at its very best when others take a personal interest in them.

Taking personal interest in others is one of the most important things we can strive to do daily. Taking personal interest in God had better become your number one purpose for living each day, because if that purpose dwindles, you'll find yourself becoming distant with God. God is an incredible jealous God, in case you didn't know it. If you think you get jealous when someone flirts with your spouse, you haven't experienced any angry emotions compared to the intense angry emotions God has when you and I show more personal interest in anything else but Him, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year!

Throughout the Bible, in disguised form and not always in disguised form, God is trying to communicate to us that very crucial fact:  

'Take a personal interest in Me! Desire to become my friend! Desire to make Me your closest friend! I didn't give you life to take personal interest in everything else BUT Me. Just because you can't see Me doesn't hinder you from taking a personal interest Me. No one is stopping you from talking to Me.  No one is stopping you from listening to Me. That is what prayer should be about above all else! If you don't want to show a personal interest in Me through the means of prayer, why do you waste your time with Me at ALL? And when you do pray to Me, stop constantly asking Me to do things for you. Start asking me more what you can do to enhance our marriage, enhance our personal relationship. I want a marriage when you are just as consumed with asking Me what you can do to make Me happier in our marriage than you constantly desiring what I can do for you. Why do you think I recorded for you in the Bible, 'that it is more blessed to give than to receive'? To have the best possible relationship with Me, you have to spend more quality time inquiring as to what makes Me want to spend more quality time with You. Nothing is stopping you from making that happen, other than perhaps you weren't aware of just how important it IS.'  

'Well, now you know. So what are you going to do about it from here? I'll teach you everything you need to know about how to make marriage with Me the most satisfying, if you're truly interested in learning. Be patient, and believe it's the number one desire of My heart, and you have My promise that things will be different from this moment on in our relationship. Make it your number one reason for living, thinking of ways daily you can enhance intimacy in our marriage. Afterall, for those that truly are Mine, that's what we're going to be doing together for all eternity, so the sooner you start pursuing it, the wiser you'll become, and the more enjoyable living will be for you.'

PLEASE HELP US HELP YOU SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON BECAUSE...

JESUS DID IT! and...

YOU ARE SO GREATLY NEEDED!

Remember:  All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-20 is our assurance)