God is speaking to me about valuing relationship, above all else. So, in today’s blog post, I have five questions about your relationship with God.

Please, take the questions and journal your answers or just talk to God about them. Sometimes, it is really refreshing to check in with God in this way.

Your answers may surprise you (I know mine did!)

QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SURE OF?

There is a story in the bible about a man named Noah. It’s a story that begins with a mixture of sorrow and obedience:

[…] God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.”

Genesis 6: 13 – 14, NIV, my abbreviation.

Here’s the thing: God was upset. He made beautiful people and they were consumed by evil. They didn’t want relationship with Him; they wanted chaos. They chose violence. God never wanted to create people for destruction and violence. He was heartbroken.

Yet, the bible tells us that Noah found favour with God (Genesis 6:8).

Noah really believed in God. Why do I think that? Because Noah actually built an ark – He did what God told Him to do, trusting in God’s goodness.

If Noah wasn’t sure that God was speaking; He wouldn’t have built an ark.

More than that; if Noah wasn’t sure that God was constantly speaking to Him, he wouldn’t have built an ark with the specific, detailed requirements God gave Him. He wouldn’t have used cypress wood or built it to size for all the animals that were to be on board, with Noah and his family.

This leads me to question one: “What are you really sure of?”

For instance:

• Are you sure of God’s grace? Do you keep striving, or do you accept God’s daily mercy?
• Are you sure of God’s kindness, or do you hide from Him as though He is angry at you?
• Do you act on what God has told you to do? Or are you unsure of His instruction?

QUESTION 2: WHERE ARE YOU ACTUALLY AT WITH GOD?

The bible says:

Faith opened Noah’s heart to receive revelation and warnings from God about what was coming, even things that had never been seen. But he stepped out in reverent obedience to God and built an ark that would save him and his family. By his faith the world was condemned, but Noah received God’s gift of righteousness that comes by believing.

Hebrews 11:7, TPT.

Here is the thing: God looked on Noah and found a man willing to have a real-time relationship with Him.

That’s what “faith” is: believing that a good and merciful God is speaking to us and responding.

Faith looks like accepting that God is reaching out for a real-time relationship with us, here and now. It looks like saying “yes” to a relationship with God.

But, honestly… Are you willing to have a real-time relationship with God, today?

When I think about how I see my current relationship with God, it’s a little bit like He is my boss and I am His colleague. I have these set “prayer times,” in which I usually pray for the same things, on a daily basis.

Don’t get me wrong, I value prayer. I show up, I schedule it in. And I do think God values how honest I am with Him; a year ago I wouldn’t have given Him all of my doubts and fears, as much as I do now.

Nevertheless, I definitely come at God with a list of requests in scheduled “prayer time.” Yet, when I read about Noah, I realise that God wants a proper relationship where I listen to Him, just as He listens to me.

I think God wants to talk to you and I all of the time, not just in “prayer time”. I think God wants us to listen to Him, not just talk at Him.

I want to let faith “open my heart,” just as Noah did.

So, ask yourself: where are you at with God? What is your relationship with Him like? The good, the bad and the ugly?

QUESTION 3: WHO DO YOU SAY GOD IS?

I read through the entire bible story of Noah and the flood, hoping to find a quote from Noah. I wanted to read Noah’s words; I wondered how He spoke to God. How did Noah describe God? What name did Noah give to God?

That got me thinking: If someone came up to you right now and said: “Who do you think Jesus is?” How would you respond?

To me: Jesus is my friend. God is my father. Holy Spirit is my present help.

They are all defined in terms of relationship to me.

Yet, on a bad day, I treat Jesus as if He is a box to tick, I relate to God as though He’s an angry man in the sky and I act like the Holy Spirit is a voice inside of me, waiting for moments in which I trip up and fail.

So ask yourself: Who do you say God is today? Do you call Him close? Or do you name Him distant and disappointed? It matters who we say He is.

QUESTION 4: WHO DOES GOD SAY HE IS?

In the story of Noah and the ark, we read that God’s heart was incredibly moved by Noah. So much so, God made something special: the world’s first ever rainbow. The bible says:

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

Genesis 9: 12 – 13, ESV.

God’s heart was moved by one man that really wanted to listen to Him. As a result, a rainbow is a physical representation of God’s promise: that He will stay faithful to His creation.

God tells us that He is faithful; He makes His faithfulness plain and clear for all to see. But do we really see it?

Do we look on rainbows and think of God as faithful? Do we really stay aware of all He does for us; aware of all He is?

We can read a story about God being faithful, we can sing songs about God being faithful but sometimes we don’t really realise that God is who He says He is.

Right now, I feel as though God is reminding me that He says He’s my friend. He says that there is no enmity between us. I have a choice to believe that or not.

Who does God say He is to you, right now? Is He reminding you that He is your saviour?

Is He telling you that He is your provider? Be aware of who He says He is in the middle of your storm, or situation.

QUESTION 5: WHAT IS GOD TELLING YOU TO DO?

Here’s how the story of Noah and the ark ends:

“When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Genesis 9: 14 – 17, ESV, my emphasis.

I love the word “remember” in this passage.

Sometimes, I forget to value relationship. Not just relationship with God, but relationship with others, too.

Instead, I value productivity. I value a clean house and a small to-do list. I value achievement and getting stuff done.

But God looks at us and remembers we were built for relationship.

He doesn’t see all the rubbish and mess and stuff to be done; He sees His loved ones. He wants to hang out with us.

That leads me to your final question: What is God telling you to do right now?

I think He is telling me to hang out with Him. To wait on Him. To rest in Him.

I think that you and I can so easily forget that relationship is what we are here for. Slow, minute-by-minute, hanging out and having a coffee relationship.

Raw, real, crying-on-your-best-friend’s-shoulder relationship.

Snotty shoulder relationships are way more important than career paths and clean carpets.

Conclusion

I struggled to write this blog today.

I struggled to get hold of what God was saying to me…

Suddenly, these five questions helped me get unstuck:

• QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE YOU REALLY SURE OF?
• QUESTION 2: WHERE ARE YOU ACTUALLY AT WITH GOD?
• QUESTION 3: WHO DO YOU SAY GOD IS?
• QUESTION 4: WHO DOES GOD SAY HE IS?
• QUESTION 5: WHAT IS GOD TELLING YOU TO DO?

Look, I can’t promise you it’s going to be a beautiful week ahead.

I can’t tell you that there’s lots of sunshine and green lights coming your way.

But, what I can do, is encourage you to answer the questions above.

I can tell you that if you make relationship with God your priority, you won’t be disappointed. Instead, like me, you’ll become unstuck and ready to get the most out of this life that God has gifted.