While waiting for my car to get washed on a sunny day, I sat under a tropical almond tree for a shade. After sitting for a while, I decided to ease off the boredom by walking around the tree. As I was doing this, I observed that all the leaves on the tree were not looking exactly the same. Some of the leaves were complete, while some had been turned into beautiful works of art by some leaf-eating insects. The insects had created exquisite patterns on some of the leaves by eating portions of the leaves in a creative way.
Interestingly, both sets of leaves were still green and they appeared to co-exist happily together and the tree was still producing fruits as expected. I suspect that those half eaten leaves did not know that they had some problems. In fact, they could actually remain in that form for years if the insects choose to move on to greener pastures. This reminded me of what was written about Samson on the day that he was converted from a conqueror to a blind captive: He was ‘dead’, without actually knowing it.
Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him. (Judges 16: 20 NLT)
Moving over from the Bible times to our present day; it is possible to exist in a church, where each service is indeed a wonderful fellowship with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and not be part of that fellowship. We may busy ourselves with countless church activities and still end up as outsiders where it really matters. That fellowship is what God really wants from us and it is also what we need to fulfil our calling as per the new covenant:
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1Peter 2:9 NLT)
We can never know him personally, understand our place in Him, grasp the immensity of the glorious life he has planned for us and realize the utter extravagance of His work in us if we do not have that personal touch in our relationship with Him. The veil has been torn and we have unlimited access to the throne of our Father.
It is becoming increasingly popular to pray to the God of our Bishop or the God of our Pastor or the God of our Father-in-the-Lord. This is not what our father desires. He wants to be my own God. He wants to be your own God. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the term “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” was no longer commonly used. It was used just once by Peter at his fist sermon, where he had to introduce God to the Jews.The apostles all understood the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us and related with Him accordingly. He was the God of Peter, God of John, God of James, God of Timothy, God of Silas. Each person had a personal relationship with Him. This is evident in Paul’s declaration in Acts 27:23 – 25
Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. (NIV)
From the highlighted words, it is very clear that God was his God. That personal touch in the above declaration is unmistakeable. God does not just want to be my father’s God; He wants to be my God. A good starting point is a consistent personal Bible study and a good start time is now. His grace is sufficient for you and the door is open.
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