Return to the Main Menu
Previous Lesson
Next Lesson

 

When Christians refer to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, they generally mean a close, intimate connection with Him that goes beyond just knowing about Him intellectually or following religious rituals. It’s about interacting with Jesus as a living person who is involved in their daily life. God is interested in every aspect of our lives, every activity, and every moment of every day. He speaks thorough every method of divine revelation and leading mentioned in Scripture, but is not limited. When God speaks, faith comes. “Faith comes by hearing God’s word, His rhema, what God is saying (Romans 10:17). Jesus Christ is that Word (John 1). He authors faith in us and then finishes the work of God’s faith (Hebrews 12:2).

In a relationship, conversations take place. Questions get asked and answered. Religion has often put God in a box that claims He can’t communicate. Or, if He communicates at all, He does so exclusively through the Bible. But the Bible doesn’t say that. And we don’t really believe that way. We sing song lyrics like “He walks with me and He talks with me,” “Savior, like a shepherd lead us,” “He leadeth me, O blessed thought,” “I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,” or “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.”

God speaks to every person. Jesus is real and knowable. You can know Him. To please God, you must believe that He exists and that He will reward your efforts if you seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Don’t pay attention to a closed mind that says you won’t hear. Listening to that inner voice and feeling will keep you from hearing God.

To start, you will be asking God some questions. Not only will you ask questions, but God will answer those questions. We’ll use two main questions in this devotional:

“What lies do I believe about ____?”
“What is the truth about _____?”

Those aren’t the only good questions, but they’re the ones we will use. You can ask any question. Here are some other questions, but don’t limit yourself:
“What do I need to know about ____?”
“What questions should I ask You?

Ask God to answer these questions.

Rather than trusting the fallen human mind to try to answer important questions, ask God. He knows everything and has all wisdom. The fallen human mind will lead you wrong.

• 1. What does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus?
  2. How does God speak to you?
  3. What does it mean that “faith comes by hearing God’s word”?
  4. Why do we say Jesus is the Word?
  5. Can I talk to God like I talk to a friend?

Bonus questions:

1. 1. Does God answer all our questions?
   2. What are some good questions I can ask God?
   3. Why is it important to believe that God exists?
   4. Some people claim God only speaks through the Bible. The Bible doesn’t say that. This is called a self-refuting statement since their claim argues against itself. And yet, these people are getting their claim from somewhere. Where do these people get their claim? (By the way, God does speak through the Bible and every means of divine revelation mentioned in the Bible. God never conflicts with Himself, so no revelation will ever conflict with the Bible.)

1. Pray for the Lord to protect you and keep you in His presence and His presence only.
2. Direct your mind toward the Lord only.
3. Ask God the two questions and take notes on what God says. “What lies to I believe about my family?” “What is true about my family?”
4. Do not edit or change what God says even if you don’t understand it.
5. Out loud, reject the lies.
6. Out loud receive the truth.
7. Transfer your notes to your journal without editing what God said to you.

Keep in mind that God doesn’t want you to ever disconnect from Him. He wants to flow through you constantly in knowledge, wisdom, and love.

Affinity Diagram Exercise

Create an affinity diagram suitable for this unit. Review the article at the start of this unit and use this exercise to understand it better. The affinity diagram is a post-it note exercise. (Affinity Diagram Info) It all starts with a kind of post-it note brain storming activity where everyone writes what comes to mind on post-it notes, one idea per post-it note. It works best to stick the notes onto the middle of a table so everyone can see everyone else’s notes. You may see a note that brings a thought to mind, so you quickly make a new note. Set a timer. Depending on your students, allow anywhere from a minute to ten minutes. When you’re finished you should have a bunch of notes all over the table in no particular order. Now, set a timer and sort the post-it notes into rows that seem to be related. Once you have them in rows, set each row in order. The order can be from most important to least important, the order in which things happen, or any other order that makes sense.

Let the Holy Spirit lead you in this. (Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.) Take what you learned, your notes or what you produced and videotape yourself. Become a kid influencer for Christ with your own social media platform by uploading your video as God leads.