The Lord directs the step of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives

– Psalm 37:23 New Living Translation

What does it mean to be in a relationship?  What does it mean to share every detail of your life with another person? What are some of the things you shared today, complained about, laughed about, texted about?  When was the last time you had an experience and you said, “I cannot wait to tell my Mom, my friend, my beloved, etc.?”  We share everyday, at least most of us do.  Or we invite conversations, “how was your weekend”, “what did you end up doing last night?”, “hey, whatever happened with that thing, you know… with the guy at the place and that whole situation?”  We all have relationships of varying degree, some we keep at a distance, some we invite in to our circle, then there are those select few who get to look behind the curtain of our strange little world!

I say all of that to say this: “Where does God rank in your relationships?”  If you are a Christian, a believer, a follower of Jesus, a child of God, where does your relationship with God rank in your life?  These are questions to ponder, to provoke you to search your own heart and really consider if your relationship with God is all it can be!  Is God central to your identity? Is God a convenience or even worse, just fire insurance?  I ask these questions because there was a time when I had to face the reality that my relationship with God was quite shallow.  It was easy to mask with Bible knowledge, church attendance, and generally thought to be somewhat nice!  People are easy to fool, but God is not!

I recall a situation when a long time business associate asked me about plans for the weekend.  “I am going to church, God has been pressing down on me to consider the state of my faith and the depth of my devotion to Him!”  My colleague replied, “wait a minute, you’re a Christian?  We’ve been doing business for years, when did this happen?”  That hit me right between the eyes, total embarrassment, a conviction to repent and ask the Lord for forgiveness as I had been denying God with my life.  The most important thing about me (in my mind) was kept hidden from a major part of my life.  This was the beginning of a rededication to my relationship with God.

It is central to human nature to recognize the things we can handle and the things that require assistance.  We maintain a sense of independence that seeks to stand alone, to not be in need of another.  Here in America, we tout this disposition as a tenet of pride, a rugged individualism insured by individual liberty.  We see independence as strong and dependence as weak. But in the Christian life, we are called to a life of dependence on God!  When we receive saving faith, our position before God is now that of His child.  God is no longer judge, but Father, Abba, Daddy, and we are no longer illegitimate children, but now adopted into the family of God, sons and daughters of God, princes and princesses of the King of Glory!

This understanding of our position before God changes everything!  As our spiritual eyes awaken, we are born-again, babes in Christ, beginning to grow, toddlers of God, children of God, teenagers, and adults, mature and seniors.  Our physical growth from the moment of conception should be a model of our growth in spiritual maturity, from pre-evangelism to receiving faith to repentance to learning to crawl, to walking with God, to speaking for God.  Our faith journey with God gives us a privilege that many seek, though they do not know what they hunger for other than to fill the void that this world failed to satisfy!

What this means is that God, like a good parent, wants to be involved in our lives!  The Lord is with us daily, not just on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights.  He wants to speak to us through His word and through meditation and quiet reflection, not just the 30 seconds that you read your verse of the day that was texted to you by some app.  If we are not aware of the relationship that God seeks with us, we are missing out!  If you have been around church culture for any time at all, you have probably heard the phrase, “practice the presence of God!”  One way that I have rearticulated this practice is to invite God into big things and small things!  We have an open invitation from God to come to Him, in fact the Lord Jesus told us that He is always with us.  We have the Holy Spirit living in us to guide us, counsel us, convict our hearts, bring scripture to mind, fill us with joy, remind us of our identity and our eternal inheritance, and so much more!

God never intended that prayer be reduced to a 9-1-1 call!

So what does it mean to invite God into big things and small things!  Well it starts with the truth of Psalm 37:23, that God delights in every detail of our lives!  That means that we want to cultivate an awareness of this truth that God is always with us, and like a proud parent watching over their toddler, God delights in watching us grow, making a way for us, answering pray, and giving us good gifts!  So we are to pray continually!  Not necessarily in your inner room, on your knees, bowed prostrate, pleading with God, but rather talking to God throughout your day like a friend.  The formal prayers on our knees is good, but we must know that prayer was never intended to be merely a 9-1-1 call!  Yes, we cry out to God in distress, when we are afraid, when we are heartbroken, when the future looks terrifying, when we are desperate and do not see a way out, but that is only one aspect of our relationship with God.  I ask Jesus all the time for a good parking spot, or to bless the food I am cooking with good flavor for my guests, or for the words to speak.  I was speaking recently at a work conference in Nashville and I had a pretty good idea of what the message should be, but I asked God to bring things to mind that would enrich the presentation and make it memorable.  I shared stories I had not thought about in years, there was much laughter in the audience, and many people shared how much they enjoyed what i shared.  In my mind, that was all God, literally the Holy Spirit spoon feeding me my next line, that is what I pictured in the moment as it was unfolding.  I share this because God is waiting to be invited into every aspect of your life!

In thinking about Big things and Small things, be mindful to be thankful!  In this practice of the presence of God, I can honestly say that my relationship with God has become quite conversational after years of training my brain to be present in what i am doing.  We always give thanks for the big things… the healing… the promotion… the mortgage approval… she said “yes”… the cancer is gone… the tornado missed our home… many blessings!  But what about the little things, getting a good parking spot, picking out a ripe avocado (always a miracle), getting to an appointment on time because you did not plan your time well, but God still parted the traffic for you, seeing a new insight in scripture though the verse is underlined and highlighted yet God took you deeper, being on a plane that lands safely… so many things in our lives to give thanks for!  I think I give thanks for clean, cold water every time I go to the gym because it restores my soul!

I can think of a hundred more examples, but you get the point I suspect!  I invite you to invite God into Big things and Small things, give thanks for everything you take for granted!  Make a list in your mind right now of the things you have never given thanks for, your bed, indoor plumbing, your kitty cat, your church, your car, your job, your Bible, and so on! This is an aspect of Biblical Thinking that will change your life!! Why?  Because being mindful of the presence of God leads us to watch our tongues, convicts our hearts to help a neighbor when we don’t feel like it, helps us see the world with the compassion of God, delivers us from temptation, gives us wisdom in our decision making, and teaches us to love well, with thankful hearts, kind attitudes, gentle in our words, and quiet in our spirit! May God bless you and keep you on your faith journey as you walk through daily life, mindful of His presence, and joy in your heart because we know Him!