In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Revelation 21:3

LIFE WITH GOD. From Genesis where God is walking in the garden with Adam and Eve to Revelation’s new heaven and earth, God’s plan is for us to experience life with him. He created people to join in the eternal fellowship of the Trinity that was from the beginning. This is the origin of LIFE WITH GOD. Living for self, apart from God, brings brokenness, called sin. It causes people to use God to control their own lives, and live over him, under him, from him and for him. How do we live LIFE WITH GOD?

Jesus came to be WITH us and show us how to live by his example, making the way plain by his death on the cross for our sin. While Jesus was preaching, teaching, touching, and healing he was communicating with God and communing with God. This is “simultaneity.” In his book, A Testament of Devotion, Thomas Kelly describes simultaneity as the ability to be engaged with two things at the same time.
There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song, and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.

Billy Graham lived a LIFE WITH GOD, in simultaneity. When Billy Graham arrived at the Today Show studio for a scheduled interview, they said there was a prayer room for him to use beforehand. Billy Graham’s assistant told them, “he won’t need it, he prayed when he got up this morning, while he had breakfast, on the way here and he will probably be praying through the interview.” Setting aside a few minutes in a room cannot contain or constrict the fullness of communion with God.

LIFE WITH GOD will look different for each of us because he made us each unique. The same Holy Spirit is available to each of us, but he communicates and communes with each of us in a personal, intimate way. Skye Jethani writes in his book, WITH, “the goal of LIFE WITH GOD – IS God.” He says we must first have a clear understanding of who he is and what he is like. Pray for God to reveal himself to you more deeply, more clearly, more fully. Prayerfully engage the whole drama of scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. Seek to live in simultaneity. Pray without ceasing, with words (communicating) and without words (communing). Jesus promises you the help you need through the Holy Spirit (John 14)

By Donna Burns

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

When I first read Skye Jethani’s book, With, last summer, I could not put it down. It spoke to me and convicted me in ways that no other book ever had. As I turned each page I could hardly wait to reread it.

The concept that most directly resonated with me was living for God. For the majority of my life I have stacked my accomplishments, good behavior and works up to such a level that demanded God’s attention and subsequent reward. However, I couldn’t see that’s what I was doing. I was just doing all the right things. Living the good Christian life. Not until recently have I been able to face my faulty (and sinful) motivation square in the face.

Coming to grips with the way I had been living has not been easy, but it has brought much freedom. I love that Jethani’s book doesn’t leave me face down in my guilt. He offers hope of a better life with Jesus. Not consumed with living for him. No, living with him. Rather than being frustrated and disillusioned, there is an invitation to fill my deepest desire of being with him and knowing him intimately.

Where have you attempted to earn God’s favor and approval through your actions? Your sacrifices? Your performance? Confess those ways to Jesus. Ask him to show you what life with him looks like. As you drift off to sleep tonight, recall the truth that he came to abide with us, his spirit is in you and with you, and you are his.

By Ellen Rosenberger

As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, “Where is your God? ” ‘ Psalm 42:1-3

We are consumers. I have often heard this associated with American culture, but having lived overseas, I believe it’s a human condition, not exclusively an American one. The human soul has an insatiable appetite. The problem with our appetite is that it often consumes us before we ever find something that truly satisfies our cravings.

We are hardwired to be needy creatures. In fact, God made us all that way. So where do we go wrong? If our appetites are God given, how can they also be dangerous? In our broken world, there are a thousand voices telling us what to consume to fulfill our longings. We are even told that our faith will fulfill our longings. Many of us began a relationship with God with the hopes that he would help us get the life that we long for. Ideas like, if I am good enough and spiritual enough, God will bless me with an amazing life. We wouldn’t say it that way, but if we are honest, God is a means to an end.

Longing isn’t wrong. I’ve already said that God gave it to us. Psalm 42 demonstrates that unquenchable need, “as a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you.” We are conditioned to believe that it is comfort, things, or experiences that will make us happy but we’ve been duped. Our longing is actually for relationship. Ultimately it’s a longing for perfect relationship with God and others. Notice what the psalmist longs for. He longs for God. His sadness is that others are telling him that his longing is misplaced. They ask him, “where is your God?” God’s presence is what your soul truly longs for. You may not believe that. You may know that in your head but struggle to believe it in your heart. Relationship with God is possible. I’m not talking about a distant theoretical relationship based on a mental ascent that saves us from hell. I am talking about a conversational relationship with God.

Are you living as if God were a vending machine? Are you in this to get something from God or are you in it to get him? If your soul doesn’t currently want to be with God, don’t panic, don’t beat yourself up. That realization is the first step to shifting your desires to a more fulfilling place. Evaluate where you are and then ask God to open your heart to the value that his presence actually brings.

By Aaron Bjorklund

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3

I’m a rule follower. When engaging in games of any sort, I need the rules. Understanding boundaries of fair play is essential. Cheating feels empty if I win by means other than fair. The same is true with my vocation. There are rules to getting things done, participating on teams, and generally moving forward with technology and the user experience. And this mindset can be found within our relationship with God. I know, for me, I’ve had to reconsider my own relationship with God in light of this truth.

This mindset is demonstrated in John 9. Jesus and the disciples are walking along and see a blind man. The disciples’ question reveals their own relationship. Then, as now, rules were given as a guide to being under God, with good things happening to those who followed them. They looked at this man, blind from birth, and wondered what their parents did wrong. Jesus looked at the life-long blindness as an opportunity to bring the Kingdom into the present. Jesus didn’t see this man as being the result of his parents breaking some arbitrary rule, but someone he could be with.

The relationship God desires with us is one of being with us. The relationship God desires mirrors the experience between God and his human creation in the Garden. While the Scriptures can be seen as something of a rule-book (“follow this rule”) outlining blessings (“…and God will do this”), the underlying point is that love drives it all. God loves us. Once again, God loves us. There’s not a rule listed anywhere making God love us more, or less. Knowing this, our love for God compels us to encounter him, going through life with him.

My wife and I are friends with a converted Muslim. Their story is very compelling, and I listen with rapt attention. As they tell their story, a pivotal moment in their moving to Christ was the statement found in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” In our friend’s culture, sharing a meal in someone’s home makes you family. Jesus saying “open your door and I’ll eat with you, wanting to be with you as family” (emphasis and comments mine), draws tears to my eyes and thankfulness in my soul. Jesus wants to be with us. Again, Jesus wants to be with us! As you go through the week, and the rest of your life, keep this verse in your heart. As temptations come to engage in living under some set of rules hoping for God’s love and blessing, remember this verse, and walk with Jesus.

By Rich Obrecht

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Psalm 62:5-8

These have been verses and promises I have clung to, devoured, and completely made mine in the past three years. But these verses were not my truth in the first few years of my son, Joshua’s life. I have a strong personality and I like to be self sufficient. When Joshua was very young, I tried to do everything I could to make his life better and to be the best homeschool mom to my other three children I could be. I admit, prayer was not a large part of my life. I rarely heard from God and found it difficult to make time for prayer.

I believe that in many ways, I was operating in a manner that is best described as living over God. In his book, With, Skye Jethani says, “Life over God effectively cuts out the middleman and gives us control over our lives.” I wanted to be in control. When we operate this way, “We may reduce the Bible from God’s revelation of himself to merely a revelation of divine principles for life,” writes Jethani. But when a crisis arises, our formulas and principles often don’t help us resolve the situation.

Joshua’s birth and subsequent 20 years of life required intensive 24/7 care, medical knowledge, and strength I couldn’t muster up from within myself no matter how hard I tried. Jethani continues his book to say, “life over God exchanges a relationship with him for application principles. It fails to alleviate our fears by stating that we are ultimately responsible for every outcome in our lives. And finally, even when things go as planned, it may leave us far outside the boundaries of what God intended.”

Thankfully, over time, God pursued me, and I began to see that being broken, fallible, human, and not having all the answers was exactly where God wanted me. Once I realized that, God himself could enter into my pain, into the process of finding the answers, and give me his strength and comfort in the midst of the crisis. I learned to pour out my heart to God, to trust him, and to depend on him. This week spend some time being with God, perhaps reading in the psalms and listening to what God says to you, or taking a walk and praying about your daily struggles. Take time to be with God instead of studying about him.

By Grace Hunter