“And [the father] said to [the older brother] Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

Luke 15:31

 

A life with God gives context to how we live for God.

If we live for God before first learning how to live with God, our identity is defined by what we do, how well we do it, and how God will judge us against certain benchmarks that reward or penalise our performance. This line of thinking produces two opposing emotions, which can be painful and perplexing. When we feel we have done well, we will swell with pride, but when we do not, we will wallow in self-pity. It produces a "yo-yo" relationship in which you believe God loves you one day and does not the next.

A life with God is characterised by intimacy preceding activity.

Intimacy is when you seek God for who He is rather than what you can obtain from or do for Him. It is a transformational relationship with God, not a transactional one. By transformation, we mean having a genuine love for God and allowing Him full access to change everything in our life so that we can reflect our true identity in Christ.

A life with God opens your eyes to the truth of His goodness and unfailing love despite your flaws and failures, and this makes surrendering to God easy and light.

God always gives before He asks anything of you.

Jesus reminds us in His remarkable parable of the father with two sons (Luke 15:11-32) that our primary spiritual posture in a relationship with God is to receive. We have a generous Father, but many of us are poor receivers, which makes ministry and service difficult and exhausting since we are giving what we have not received.

Knowing your Father God's great and generous love opens your heart to receive faith in place of fear, strength in place of weakness, joy in place of sadness, and healing in place of hurt. In other words, instead of worrying about whether you can live up to God's demands, a life with God prepares you to live an outstanding life for God.