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Transcript:
Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Take Your First Steps With God” in a brand new series “God’s Invitation to You”. In this series we are going to explore all of the ways that God calls us to walk hand in hand with Him. God seeks an intimate relationship with every one of us, but He gives us the choice to seek a relationship with Him in return. Consider relationships with family and friends in your life. Would you agree that the greatest love is from those who genuinely seek to have a relationship with you without your persuasion or trying to win them over? God is no different. God invites all of us to experience Him in a way that is only possible when we sincerely seek Him out.
In today’s message we are going to focus on how we get started in the process of getting to know God. This message is for those of you who are curious about God but know very little about Him or perhaps you do know Him but you feel as though you have strayed away from Him in recent months or years. Maybe, you do know God but want to go deeper and have a more intimate relationship with Him. If you fall into any of these scenarios, this message is for you.
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Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion ways to take our first steps with God.
Have Faith
First, let’s talk about the idea of faith. What does it mean to have faith? In the context of our day-to-day life, faith has to do with trust and confidence in something or someone. You have confidence that your trash pickup is always going to be on the same day each week because of a schedule. You trust that your boss or manager is going to be reviewing your performance on a regular basis – hopefully for a consideration of a promotion. On a more relational level, you may trust your best friend to contact you whenever they need someone to talk to.
Having faith in God is no different when it comes to trust and confidence, but first it requires faith in a different perspective. To have a relationship with God means you must first have faith in the unseen. God is Spirit, and you and I are flesh and blood. We define something as real if we can show direct evidence of its existence – something that has physical properties like the fork or spoon you hold when you eat a meal, or something that can be measured, like the sound waves from a plane flying overhead.
We must think differently about God. God does not reveal Himself to us in the same way that our physical world reveals itself to our senses. He reveals Himself to us at a level where His Spirit touches our souls.
So let’s review the definition of faith in the context of a relationship with God. First and foremost, it is believing in someone you will not see with your eyes or hear with your ears or touch with your hands. Second, it is having trust and confidence. Putting them all together, having faith means believing in God even if we cannot perceive Him with our senses, and trusting Him with confidence in your life.
I know this is a big ask, but it is fundamental in order to truly benefit from a close and intimate relationship with God. You are going to need to -decide- to have faith. That means – having no preconditions or prerequisites for God. It means embracing the fact that He has created every single thing in this entire universe. The earth, the moon, the sun, the flowers and trees in the parks, the expansive oceans, the rolling hills and snow-capped mountains and … -you-.
You can have faith in God because He created -you-. You can have trust and confidence in God because He loves you – more than you can possibly imagine.
I invite you to -decide- to have faith in God today. Your life will never be the same.
Speak to God
Once we have decided to have faith in God, the next step is to speak to Him. This is commonly known as prayer, but I am going to come at this from a different angle today. I want to impart to you that there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a conversation with God.
I invite you to speak with God no differently than you would a friend or a loved one. You can speak to Him in your mind and thoughts or you can speak out loud. You can even speak to God in writing and journaling. He is always with us, 24/7, and will receive every single word you say to Him.
You can speak to God in nearly any situation or circumstance. God wants to know your concerns and your worries, but He also is delighted to hear of your thanks and your praise. You have a direct line to the One who created the entire universe and I encourage you to speak directly to Him from your heart, unfiltered, about anything or any time – with humility and respect.
As I mentioned just a moment ago, this is typically known as prayer. Different religions have different practices for prayer, some formal and some informal – but this is why I focus on inviting you to simply have a conversation with Him. There is no structure to adhere to or process to follow in order for you to open your heart to Him.
God wants to hear from you when you cry, and when you celebrate. He wants to hear from you when you mourn and when you laugh. He wants to hear every word and be there at every moment. Let God hear from you today.
Surrender
The last point I want to touch on today is the idea of surrender. So far, we have talked about what it means to have faith and we have discussed the idea that we can communicate with God about anything at any time.
Now, let’s bring these two things together to wrap our heads around the idea of surrender.
Surrender is going to likely be the most difficult part of taking your first steps with God. We are not wired to rely upon someone else. We are taught from an early age to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Surrender is the very opposite of this advice.
God wants you to know that if you have never spoken to Him and are struggling with something in your life, that you can surrender your circumstances to Him.
God wants you to know that even if you have never spoken a word to him in 56 years, He has loved you from the moment you were born and is overjoyed to hear from you.
God wants you to know that if you are in despair, that He will hear every word and -will- help you.
Here is the catch. You will truly and fully experience God when you truly surrender. That means all, everything, 100%. Not 50/50, not 60/40. 100%. When I say this, I am not suggesting God does not want you involved in a solution to a problem. What it means is 100% trusting in Him to guide you through the process – even if there are steps He knows are best that you have no desire to do.
Do you have children? Do you feel you know what is best for them when they are lost? At the end of the day, God is a loving father to all of us and He knows what is best for all of us. We just have to decide to surrender.
Is there something happening in your life that you are feeling despair and worry and you feel as though only you can resolve it? Take a leap of faith today and surrender it, all of it, to God and trust Him to show you the way.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we explored some of the most important aspects of taking our first steps with God. First, we discussed the importance of having faith. Trusting in God means believing in the unseen and unheard. It relies on us ignoring our physical senses and instead relying upon our spiritual connection with God. This connection exists in every human on earth, but only some of us find the connection and use it in our day-to-day lives. Having faith means that we decide to have trust and confidence in God first, before He reveals Himself to us. Next, we discussed the importance of communication with God. We should all have conversations with God without any constraints or restrictions. Yes, we can place structure and formalities around our communication with God as prayer, but my invitation to those who are just becoming acquainted with God is to simply speak to Him. In your mind, in your writings and even out loud. Let Him know you want Him to know your thoughts and words. Lastly, we discussed the idea of surrender. For someone just starting out with God, surrender is most likely the most difficult concept to embrace. It relies on us to go against our default of keeping control of every aspect of our lives and instead bringing our lives to Him, placing full trust in Him, knowing He knows what is best. Placing full trust in God means giving God the controls of our life and asking Him to guide our way. God will use the gifts in us to carry out a perfected plan.
Taking first steps with God or even returning to God after a long period of time can be an incredibly daunting effort. The good news is that God loves us more than we can imagine, and is overjoyed when we -decide- to turn to Him to be the One to guide us day-by-day.
Do not fear, you are in good hands with God. If you do not know God or have had your back turned to Him, I ask you to take those steps toward Him today. Place your trust in Him. He is waiting in Spirit with open arms.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Take Your First Steps With God
