Jesus – A Piece of the Relationship Pie

For years, the amount of time that I spent with Jesus was a very small part of my life.  

Honestly, on Monday through Saturday, Jesus had about ten percent of my time.  In contrast, I gave Jesus about half of my day on Sunday.  The pie chart above represents this weekly relationship "pie."

I am not saying I did not have a relationship with Jesus.  

I did and do have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  I AM saying that my relationship with Jesus consisted of slices of time because I didn't know enough about the New Testament teachings to understand my relationship with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.                                                                                  Romans 10:9-10 NIV

Truthfully, I was looking for a way to connect the Bible with my daily life.  

My question was, "How do I take this biblical information and use it in my daily life?"  In fact, I asked this exact question one Sunday morning during my Sunday school class.

A long pause followed the question, while all of the women in the Sunday school class stared at me as if I had suddenly turned into an alien from another planet.

Had I done something wrong?  

It felt like I had, but the question was sincere.  However, not one woman tried to answer my question and the class resumed with our weekly lesson as if I had never asked my question.  Maybe I had phrased the question poorly, or no one understood exactly what I was asking.

In my quest to understand how to use the Bible in my daily life,I visited a Christian bookstore and bought a Discipleship Study Bible with life helps in the back of the Bible.  At last, I felt as if I might have a way to learn how to implement biblical information into my daily life.

My time spent with Jesus began to grow.  

About 20% of my average day became using the new Discipleship Bible and reading the different sections of the life helps.  The new knowledge began to help me see how the different books of the Bible fit together like pieces in a puzzle.

Slowly, I began to see how I could put the Bible information into action in my daily life.  My personal relationship with Jesus was deepening as my Bible knowledge continued to grow.  However, I still divided my relationship with Jesus into slices of time.

In the meantime, I took a college night class entitled, "The Teachings of Paul."  The college professor was also a pastor who truly wanted the class to connect with the Apostle Paul and to see the context of Paul's life in the New Testament.

A weekly class assignment was to find a current news story and pair it with verses from Paul's writings.  Students had to explain how and why the chosen verses were applicable to the news story.

Hallelujah!  I learned a method to apply the scripture to my daily life, in a practical manner that I understood.  The Lord sent me a teacher!  Woohoo!

Now fast forward to an afternoon in February 2009, a video about the Holy Spirit is playing and a woman is leading a group prayer for the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Head bowed, I am silently praying with her.  Suddenly, tears began flowing from my eyes as I find myself reliving my baptism

. 

With crystal clarity, I recall and feel all of the emotions - the joy, and the sense of completeness I experience the moment I sink beneath the baptistery water.

  

Moments later, my face emerges back into the air; a reborn child of God entering the world.

Yes, I am a daughter of the King!

The moment I came up out of the baptistery waters in 1994, I was a daughter of God.  What I had not understood during my actual baptism was the fact that I had the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of me.  

That understanding came to me during the recollection of my baptism. I became a holy child of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit from the inside out!  I belong to Jesus.  I am a coheir of the kingdom!  What a revelation I received from participating in that video prayer!

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.                                Galatians 4:6-7 NIV

The revelation that Jesus loves me from the inside out has forever changed my life.  I loved Jesus for years without understanding that I had the Holy Spirit living inside me.  I am in awe that Jesus loves me from the inside out!  He knows EVERYTHING about me and STILL loves me unconditionally!

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"  They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."

                                                                                                                            Acts 19:2 NIV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.                                                                                                                                John 14:16-17 NIV

Do you want to know how to use the information in the Bible in your daily life?  The answer is simply this, "Jesus lives inside you.  The Holy Spirit dwells in you to give you guidance from the moment you give Jesus your life.  This is God's plan to reconcile you to Him."

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.                                                                                     1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.                                                               Acts 15:8 NIV

In conclusion, Jesus no longer gets slices of my time.  He gets all of my time because I truly understand that I belong to Him.  The Holy Spirit dwells inside me to guide and help me understand the teachings in the Bible.  I understand my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.                                                                                               John 14:20 NIV

Prayer for Receiving the Holy Spirit from the book, The Holy Spirit by Andrew Wommack

"Father, I recognize my need for Your power to live this new life. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. By faith, I receive it right now! Thank You for baptizing me. Holy Spirit, You are welcome in my life!"  I am so grateful You gave me this wonderful gift. Please help me to walk in all of its benefits! Amen

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