God is not a concept or a doctrine.  He is a Person who seeks a close, one-on-one relationship with you and me.  God does not want us to merely believe in Him, He wants to relate to us on a personal level.  He does not just want to hear us recite prayers.  He wants to converse with us.  God’s plan is not to abandon Christians once we are born again, leaving us to build the best life we can.  He does not intend that we simply use our wits to “get by,” to bravely “survive” until we are finally ushered into heaven.   God wants to be actively involved in our lives each day. –Henry Blackaby

Somewhere along the way you are going to have to decide whether or not you believe the above quote is true.  Experiencing God begins and ends with faith.  It requires faith to believe that God gave his son to pay the price for my sins and it requires faith to believe that God wants to be in relationship with me.

Far too often we blow through each day consumed with our circumstances that we don’t give much thought to God above.  It’s as if we have decided that God’s involvement in our lives ended when we prayed a prayer of forgiveness and repentance.

Consider these questions each day for the next several weeks:

1. Would you say that God relates to you on a personal level?  Or… would you say that you believe in God but being in “relationship” seems like a far fetched term to describe how you feel?
2. Would you say that your time of prayer feels like a conversation?  Or… Would you say that you spend time running through a to do list or that prayer usually seems hollow and empty?
3. Would you say that God is actively involved in your life?  Or… Would you say that you feel like you are going it alone?

Faith is usually the determining factor when answering those questions.  You either believe that God cares about your life from the smallest of details to the greatest of difficulties or you believe he is primarily absent and won’t concern himself with your needs.  You either believe that God listens and answers as we share our heart with him or you believe that prayer is nothing more than a therapeutic exercise.  You either believe that God is present and working to grow us and lead us or you believe that life is left up to chance.

If you want to experience God, you are going to have to exercise faith.

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Written by Larry Westfall.  Copyright © Finding Wonder 2014.