Episode #200 Want a Closer Relationship with God? Use these TWO Life-Changing Habits Today!- What’s Going On?!

Hey Friends, it's Jen, and welcome to the 200th episode of Good God Talks! I'm so grateful to get to be on this journey with you as we're all engaging in having these uncommon conversations with God in everyday moments.

And when I say everyday moments, I mean literally any moment of our day. I have so loved getting to read the testimonials that are posted on podcast platforms and shared with me directly about how the podcast has impacted you and how God is meeting with you and talking with you in these moments.

Moments in grocery stores and in school pickup lines. In the wee hours of the morning some of you are up with newborn children, and on your walks with God. With your Bible opened or your Bible closed, God is meeting with you and talking with you and sharing life with you in really powerful ways. And I'm so grateful to be part of this journey with you.

And so I thought as one of the ways to celebrate I wanted to go back and revisit the heart behind Good God Talks and why I'm doing the podcast to begin with.

I didn't know that we could actually talk with God.

I didn't know that relationship with God was something that we could literally have. I thought it was more of a figurative term of what it meant to walk out our Christian faith.

You are created for life with God and “relationship” gets to be an actual relationship with him. Outside of the boxes that we might have been taught about or put ourselves, or even put the Lord in.

If you think about the people in your life that you are closest to, that you are most connected with, who know you and who you know the best, think about the aspects of what makes up your relationship.

Now some of us are thinking about key moments or difficult seasons or beautiful celebrations that we've gotten to share with these people that we love. Maybe your brain jumped ahead to areas of conflict that you navigated, and you were able to resolve.

You're probably also thinking about fun things that you've gotten to share with one another and ways you've gotten to be vulnerable with each other as your relationship grows and deepens.

All of those things are beautiful aspects of what it means to have a relationship as a human. And our relationships grow through healthy communication and shared experiences.

Our good God, who made us, who knit us together, who brought humanity into being, He knows that about us already, and he created us to have relationship with him in the same way.

Our relationships with God get to grow through healthy communication and shared experiences.

As we're going through any type of daily moment, whether that's incredibly hard or really small and silly or everyday and mundane, those can be shared experiences that we have with God.

As I started to learn to talk with God, I really struggled to believe that he wanted to talk with me like he talked with other people.

I thought there surely had to be special people that this came easier to, whether it was their personality was more suited toward it, or God just loved them better. They pleased him more. And in this journey, I have discovered time and time again that we are all beloved. That each one of us is treasured and known by God.

I got a testimonial some months back and this listener said, "I realized, by listening to your episode, I had an underlying belief that God just puts up with me. But that doesn't make any sense. He's under no obligation to tolerate me. The only answer is that he really does delight in me. This was a huge shift in my relationship with him. It's been much more intimate and delightful since then. We're on a whole new level."

I've been a believer for over 34 years, and I can tell you, whether you've been walking with God longer than I have, or you're just getting started, there is more that God invites us into.

I'm going to read some passages from John chapter 10. I'll start in verse two Jesus says,

“But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:2-4 ESV)

So as his sheep, we get to be those who know Christ's voice. And it might be easy to say, okay, well that was for the apostles. That was for New Testament believers who actually got to hear Jesus speak. But he goes on in the same passage in verse 14, it says,

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:14-16 ESV)

Jesus is speaking of the sheep who are not yet of the fold, which can be those of us who are of this generation. It definitely includes those of us who are Gentiles, who are not born into Jewish heritage.

I also want to highlight for us how the Good Shepherd and the sheep know one another, just as the Father knows Jesus and Jesus knows the Father. There is incredible intimacy we can hardly understand in our triune God. And he says, Hey, my sheep get to know me the way I know the father, and I will know them the way the father knows me. We get to receive ongoing relationship with him, ongoing closeness in increasing measure.

And so wherever you're at in your walk today, whatever is ahead of you in your to-do list or your agenda, choose to grow this uncommon habit because these types of conversations with God can become a very regular part of your walk with him. And so here's a question you can ask him:

God, what's something you're eager to talk with me about or share with me today?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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