How to make the God Connection

The God-connection is your bridge from failure to success, and with Him you can cross over from insufficiency to super-abundance. 2 Corinthians 3:5 declares, "...For your sufficiency [ability] is from God." Today we will be looking at effective ways of making the God-connection

First, here are three things you must be:

1. You must be hungry

The God-connection is not for the holy but for the hungry. Note, the Pharisees never experienced the power and the glory of the Jesus relationship. It was the Samaritan woman at the well and Zacchaeus in the tree who were hungry enough to get a touch - hungry enough to make a real connection with Jesus. How hungry are you?

Many believers are convinced that they are not acceptably good in God’s eyes, and therefore, are unable to receive any of His benefits. This suppresses their hunger for Him and prevents them from making a true connection. Stop looking at your weaknesses. Start concentrating on the strengths that He has so graciously given you. You are here on purpose - designed and equipped for a particular function. God has made a great investment in you, and He has given you very special abilities. God picked you on purpose for a purpose!

2. You must be ready

The God-connection is for those who are ready to reach out, and to hunt down. In Philippians 3:13,14 the apostle Paul said this, "...One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." But he doesn’t end there, for he goes on to say, "I press toward the goal." In the Greek it literally means "to hunt down the ambition." God-given success is never placed on your lap, however, it is placed within your reach!

Nobody wakes up successful, he must first be hungry for it and then be prepared to hunt down what God has placed within his reach.

However, too many of you are confused about the sovereignty of God. You think that because God is in control he has full responsibility for all of the situations in your life. Now, even though He does control the laws of the universe, He does not control your decisions! And, your decisions create and control the majority of your circumstances! Therefore, be careful not to assign to the sovereignty of God the responsibility for every situation you face. Use your mind and the abilities He has given you to create new and better circumstances. Reach for success - hunt down your God driven ambitions!

3. You must be prepared

The God-connection is for those who are prepared to go beyond. Remember the first time you won a race, made a high score, or achieved your goal? What did you do after that? You went beyond! Beyond your highest mountain lies a higher peak. Above your greatest accomplishment rises one even greater. Outdistancing your longest run stretches a longer and lengthier marathon.

If you are not prepared to stretch, and then go beyond, you will not step into the true greatness which God has predestined you for. Remember what the apostle Paul said, "...One thing I do.... I reach forward toward those things which lie ahead." You were born to taste success, born to enjoy the blessings and benefits of God. You have the instinct for improvement! You have the motivation for increase. Something inside of you gravitates toward growth. You were created for expansion!

God created you that way and you can never be happy any other way! When you make the God-connection you cross the divide between failure and success.

But how exactly do we make the God-connection?

Here are three things you must do, and all require faith:

1. You must obey

Abraham is called a friend of God because he obeyed God. God said, "...Abraham, I want you to move from your comfortable situation and go to a new country." And Abraham obeyed God. If God has been talking to you about something, do it!

Don't negotiate. If you are brave enough to step through the gate of obedience, all of heaven will be open to you. You will have heaven backing you up! And a great cloud of witnesses cheering you on. In fact, God is standing at the windows of heaven right now, ready to shower you with blessings - if you will but obey Him! [Malachi 3:10]

But obedience requires faith. "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as his inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going." [Hebrews 11:8] To obey, you might not always know.

2. You must acquire knowledge

God Himself declared, "...My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" [Hosea 4:6]. What you do not know can in fact hurt you! God wants you to have knowledge - information is God's business. All of heaven is involved in distributing information. Angels bring information - they are messengers of God.

The Bible is an informative manual for life. Jesus informed us of many things concerning the Father - His power, nature and thoughts about us. Faith-filled knowledge pleases God! Hebrews 11:6 says, "...Without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Are you diligently seeking God? Do you have knowledge of Him and what He has provided for you? Find out what the scriptures teach or reveal. Know exactly what you are reaching out for - apply your faith! You were born to abide in every promise, and you can claim ownership wherever you foot has tread. You and I are in fact 'the promise keepers', so we must have knowledge of what God has made available and accessible to us. Without knowledge and faith we cannot please Him!

3. You must persevere

By being persevering, persistent and pressing you will get God’s attention. The power belongs to the persistent and insistent. Champions simply make an extra attempt! Can you imagine what the disciples must have been thinking over the ten days when they waited in the upper room? The diseased woman didn't feel like pushing her way through the crowd, but she had a goal and was persevering with it! Weren’t the men who took the roof off a building to lower their friend down to Jesus persistent?

In Luke 11:8 Jesus tells us, "...Though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence [insistence] he will rise and give him as much as he needs." Note, God does not mind you pressing Him on some things! But when doing so, remember this - in all spiritual matters patience and persistence are perfect partners, and they both depend on faith. "...Those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" [Hebrews 6:12] Now, to reiterate, there are three things you must be and three things you must do in order to make the God-connection. You must be hungry; you must be ready and you must be prepared. Then you must obey; acquire knowledge and persevere.