Companionship

"'Don't let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God, and trust also in me.

there is more than enough room in my Father's home.

If this were not so,

would I have told you that I am going 

to prepare a place for you?

When everything is ready,

I will come and get you,

so that you will always be with me where I am.

And you know the way to where I am going.'"

John 14:1-3 NLT

God is all about togetherness.  He has been from the beginning.  He wants to enjoy closeness with me.  He made me for Himself.  So, when He sent Jesus, its no surprise that His mission was restoration of this bond that has been broken by sin (Romans 5:10, John 3:17).  It's what He really wants; for us to be together.

What does this companionship with God look like in the here and now?

Connection.  There is only one God, but three parts.  Our God is a triune God: each person separate and distinct, yet completely and fully God.  In the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I see a picture of what it means for me to be connected to God.

Jesus is the conduit, the delivery system that transports all the good things from God to us.  In His death, I am offered abundant, eternal life, all through faith in Jesus.  Therefore, it is vital that I stay connected to this delivery system, Jesus, in order to continue receiving the power I need to live a fruitful life.  I can't produce the fruit on my own.  It comes from my connection to Jesus (John 15:5)  

Jesus demonstrated the need I have for my heavenly Father when He walked the earth as a man.  He said, "Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (John 5:19) There is a relationship there where the Son resembles the Father in character, but all power and authority comes from the Father.  He is the source.  

Jesus set the example but He is also the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Therefore, I must stay connected to Jesus to receive the power to live as I'm called to live.  This ability to love, to have peace that makes no sense, to experience joy, to be able to wait, it all comes straight from the Father, delivered through the Son and installed into my operating system by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Jesus is my connection to my Father as the Source and His Spirit is the manifestation of that relationship.

Exchange.  To live as a child of God through faith in Jesus, I must stop fighting against Him.  In order to live in His house as His daughter, I must yield to His plan for my life.  As a rule, what God wants for me is at odds with what I want for myself (Galatians 5:17).  Therefore, if I am to live in the peace with God that Jesus secured for me, I must stop resisting His work and let Him have His way.

Jesus beautifully and powerfully modeled this obedience to His Father's bidding when He agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane before His trial, suffering and death.  As He prayed to His Father, dreading the horrible ordeal He was facing, He appealed to Him, asking His Father to "take this cup of suffering away from me." (Luke 22:42a NLT)  Then, in submission to His Father's wishes He continued, "Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." (v 42b NLT)  This is to be my attitude as well.

Companionship with God means exchanging my will for His.

Enjoy.  Contrary to popular belief, religion is not dry and boring.  Well, maybe religion is, but relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and expressed by the Holy Spirit in my heart is meant to be enjoyed.  It is what I was made for so it makes sense that it would be what brings the greatest sense of fulfillment and joy (Psalm 37:4, Matthew 6:33).

The Sons of Korah, those singers of psalms, knew the joy that comes from living in relationship with the One who made them.  They sang to the Lord, "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere." (Psalm 84:10)  Were they saying the most fulfilling service is that which is done to the Lord, or were they speaking of their relationship with God?  Since one came through the court in order to enter into the King's presence or to draw close to God in His temple, I believe they were singing of communion with their Father.  There is nothing better than to be in the presence of the Lord, for that is what I was made for!

I was created to live in relationship with God, and this companionship is where joy is found.

Loneliness is perhaps one of mankind's greatest modes of suffering.  It hurts to live this life alone and I was not meant for such agony.  Instead, I was made for relationship, primarily with the One who made me.  Therefore, when I enter into a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ I'll find the connection with Him is vital, and that it is necessary to stop fighting against Him and exchange His will for mine, and that I was meant to enjoy Him forever.  This is the companionship for which I was made.  This is the companionship for which I have been searching.  This is true companionship!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough to let my guard down so that He can draw as close as He wants to me.

When am I afraid of intimacy with God?

How am I resisting His will in my life?