God desires a relationship with you that brings you freedom, and He wants you to choose that relationship. That’s why God gave you free-will, to make sure everyone who is with Him wants to practice living in Him. That empowered choice is what creates a depth of love and intimacy as you walk through this life with Him.
God isn’t shy about expressing His love towards us in Scripture and I believe these declarations are promises. He is stating His intentions of love, favor, joy, grace and blessing over us. And that intentionality needs to be echoed back to the Father from us.
It’s impossible to read the Bible without coming to realize that God adores choices. He desires a people who can think for themselves and make decisions—so much so that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit designed a plan of salvation that was completely dependent on it! He wants an empowered family that is in relationship with Him because they passionately choose to be.
JOYFUL INTENTIONALITY
You will always find more joy in your relationships when that joy is a mutual experience. Friendships where you share, connect and grow only truly work as a two-way street. The Father is no different; He desires a people who love to be with Him.
Many of us have grown up looking at God through a lens that is skewed and emphasises judgement, anger and penance but these words are, I believe, antithetical to the true character of God. They will not bring you closer to Him, because fear of damnation can’t evoke faithfulness. Fear doesn’t work that way.
Jesus died for us so that we could be engaged with God in a way that would guarantee His Presence.
When you choose to live a life with God that is full of His joy, your intentions towards Him completely shift. The Lord wants to walk with you through everything. Being alive to God in Christ creates a lifestyle of the heart that is the result of you making joy and relationship with God your intention.
If you allow it; if you soak in it and really let it resonate; God’s desire and delight over you can set you free.
GO DEEPER: We are offering a FREE chapter from Allison Bown’s book Joyful Intentionality to help you unpack more on this subject.
