The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

Moving Toward a Closer Relationship with God

There are three distinct levels of relationship that man can achieve with God, and each has its own set of unique benefits and rewards. Interestingly, they are not well understood by many Christians and this often leads to disappointment as some enter into ministry unprepared. One of the fundamentals to entering into ministry is to have an established relationship with God. The reason for this is that the ministry of Jesus is spiritual warfare and as such, one confronts the evil principalities and powers of the spiritual world. As in all warfare, the fighters are in danger of being attacked and possibly loosing their lives. Running into a battlefield unprepared is foolish. Winning battles requires soldiers that have been well trained, well equipped and well directed. This is why Paul made the following proclamation in his letter to the Ephesians:

 ¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ¹⁸ praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— ¹⁹ and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The body of Christ - On Earth as it is Heaven

But all of this requires preparation. Going out and buying a helmet, a flack jacket and a rifle will not make you a soldier. Intense training is required as is proper leadership. It this regard we look to Jesus and His Holy Spirit. The life of Jesus, His words and actions as recorded in the Bible are all examples of spiritual warfare. In His words and actions we can clearly see how they differ from ours. The journey toward God requires a transformation from our nature to His. When we are adequately prepared the Holy Spirit will lead us into the battle just as He led Jesus. The Holy Spirit will lead us to become like Him. This is confirmed in the following scriptures:

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matt 5:14).

Jesus the Light of the World is Transfigured before His Disciples

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father (John 14:11-13).

Since everyone is created with a purpose, our relationship with God substantially affects our ability to complete our mission and destiny with God. As we uncover the basic principles of relationship with God, what we find is that in order to move closer to God we must go through a metamorphous in which we change our nature from what we were to an entirely new creature whose has conformed to God. In essence, the pupa becomes the butterfly in the eyes of God.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

The transformation often requires a true heart, a burning desire to develop a relationship with God and in some cases a substantial effort that in some cases can take years. In essence, there is a calling to complete the baptismal promise of our childhood by conforming our mind, heart and spirit to God, so that we become effective in achieving our purpose in life.   

The bottom line here is that understanding the types of relationships possible with God means that if you are sincerely seeking Jesus you will then find the pathway that leads to a closer relationship with Him and you will find the breakthroughs and receive the protection you may be praying for.

Jesus is the Light of the Wordl

With that said, lets start by looking at what these levels are, what they mean and then identify the path to moving toward a closer relationship with God.  

The three levels of relationship possible with God are; A relationship of grace, a relationship of empowerment and a relationship of covenant. At a very basic level, the Relationship of Grace has been established as we proclaim that Jesus is God’s Son, who gave up His life for us as redemption for our sins. So, in effect, establishment of this relationship only requires our sincere proclamation of our belief in Jesus. Once this relationship has been established, the serious work of moving toward our baptism is conducted and this work is the preparatory work required to establish a relationship of empowerment, which is the next level of relationship. Once this level has been achieved, our relationship with the Father become personal, our pathway becomes illuminated and our prayers and actions become effective in bringing down the powers of evil. The final level is the establishment of a relationship of Covenant. At this level our relationship with God is as a precious friend that has the confidence of God. People like Moses and Elijah would fall into this category. Peter, John and Andrew would also qualify as Jesus had twelve disciples but only three saw the transfiguration on the mountain. At this level we talk to God face to face and we have the support of God’s angels in our ministry.

As we move forward in subsequent postings I will drill down on these levels and how one can work toward achieving a closer relationship with God. By the way, it should be noted that all of this work has been derived from a study of the Tabernacle that was built to the specifications of God to become the place where God would dwell with His people. The discovery of this study was that every component and object found in the Tabernacle is prophetic of Jesus and His words and actions on earth. Most of the blog posting contained in this web site have been devoted to this subject.

Jesus, Moses Discuss the Fulfilment of Tabernacle Prophesy

So please feel to go to our home page to find an indexed into the components of this study that you may be interested in. Alternatively, use the search box on this page.

God bless you.

Papa Joe Gordon