[By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church]<\/p>\n
In 1975, I would meet the girl that I would eventually marry on Oct. 2, 1976. Between the time that we met and got married, we would write love letters after love letters to each other, in spite of the fact that we saw each other every day. <\/span><\/p>\n These love letters were just that; letters in which we would grow in our understanding of and our appreciation for each other. These letters were a two-way street. We would communicate with each other. It would have been pointless for one of us to write these letters and not the other. Communication must be a two-way street if it is to be meaningful and effective. And so it is with God. <\/p>\n God wrote a book called the Bible. It is a love letter in which God communicates with us, and where He extends His desire to be in a relationship with us. The Bible is profound and very personal. If a person misses the central message of the Bible, it will be difficult to understand. As I write these articles, it is my heart\u2019s desire to clearly express how to have a personal relationship with God. <\/p>\n First and foremost, the Bible teaches us that God is love: 1 John 4:7\u20138 (NLT) 7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. <\/b>Capture this reality! God is love, and He loves you. Of course, the question can be asked, \u201cIf God is love, then why is all the bad stuff happening in our world?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n This question has a simple explanation. Mankind has free will, which leads to the second truth. <\/p>\n The Bible also teaches that mankind is sinful: 1 John 1:8\u201310 (NLT) 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. <\/b> <\/p>\n Thirdly, the Bible teaches that Jesus died on the cross in order to satisfy His Father\u2019s holiness and to make a way for your sins to be forgiven. 1 John 2:1\u20132 (NLT) 1 My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. 2 He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins\u2014and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.<\/b> <\/p>\n Finally, there is the application which teaches us how to enter into a personal relationship with God: Romans 10:9\u201310 (NLT) 9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.<\/b> <\/p>\n There you have it. God wrote a book, and that book is a love letter wherein God desires to enter into a personal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church] In 1975, I would meet the girl that I would eventually marry on Oct. 2, 1976. Between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":109294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n