ELIZABETH GOSS

“And here we see the invisible boy, in his lovely invisible house. Feeding a piece of invisible cheese, to a little invisible mouse. Oh, what a beautiful picture to see! Will you draw an invisible picture for me?” Shel Silverstein

Over the years I’ve had lots of conversations. Probably because I am an extrovert and I talk to everyone I come in contact with for more than a few seconds. I love those little informal talks. You can discuss anything: the weather, each others shoes, hopes and dreams or hairstyles. But if that person is a Christian and you are talking about hopes and dreams you might just hear this: I wish I could actually feel God more. I pray and I don’t sense His presence. If only I could experience Him. Then the term “personal relationship with God” get’s tossed in and the conversations stalls. Because let’s face it, every Christian knows that a personal relationship with God is what you are suppose to have but it is really unclear how you go about getting it.

Here is an example to explain this general feeling: Say God is the King of England. And regardless of what you think of Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith ((take a breath)) you would REALLY like to have a relationship with God. But He is GOD. You can’t just be intimate with God any more than you can be intimate with the King of England. Oh you might read about him. You might study all his exploits and visit the places he has lived. You might know his likes and dislikes and collect memorabilia that you can show to others. You might even go to see him at Buckingham palace. But can you say that you are in a personal relationship? Hardly. So how do you get one of those?! If we are still talking about the King, I’m sorry to tell you but it’s not very likely. I just don’t have an in there. If we are talking about God, there is one sure fire way…

The Holy Spirit. To many people, the Holy Spirit is a puzzling and inexplicable “thing”. Some see Him as an impersonal force or influence or deny His very existence or are not certain who or what the Holy Spirit is. But, the Bible is very clear on this matter; the Holy Spirit is a person, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus gives you access to God through the Holy Spirit who actually lives inside you. If you are someone who trusts in the sacrifice of Christ for their salvation, you are legit housing the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” I’m not sure we always do know that. We think that we are separated from God by a fence like the one around Buckingham Palace and we are pressing our noses up against it trying to catch a glimpse. But that isn’t the truth. We are actually in a relationship with the God of the universe, so intimately that His Spirit is living inside us. But we just don’t see Him.

One good reason we don’t see Him is because He’s invisible. Humans have a really hard time with invisible, although we sure are fascinated by it. Thomas Fuller penned the famous quote: “Seeing is believing” and prove it could be the motto of most people’s lives. I’ll admit that I was in that group of humans perplexed by invisibility before I had an experience being invisible. And I can assure you that I was no less real when I was invisible than when I could be seen. Being invisible can however, be frustrating. I remember people being mad at me because they spent time worried and searching for me, and yet I knew I had been there the whole time. I’m guessing that the Holy Spirit feels similarly! We’re searching and He’s right there. So maybe if we could become more comfortable with invisibility, that would be a great first step. 

This invisible Holy Spirit is God, just like Jesus is God and God is God. That is the mystery of the Trinity. God is three distinct beings and just one being at the same time. Perhaps if we thought about it like sections of an orange. The sectioned off piece is just as much an orange as the whole orange. (If you want to know more about the Trinity, let me direct you to a fairly straightforward article called: The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Bible.) 

So when we say that a “personal relationship with God” is the be all / end all to all of life’s problems, it might be better to start with this: how comfortable are you with invisibility? That is really the only problem with starting a personal relationship with God (if you are a follower of Christ). We don’t see Him so we don’t take advantage of the relationship. Remember King Charles? It’s like he sought you out and came to live with you but you refuse to acknowledge his presence and you miss out on the relationship with the King. Invisibility doesn’t really need to bother us that much. Paul reminds us of this very fact in 2 Corinthians 4:18 saying: “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” See invisibility is just a concept to give up wrestling with and accept. Kind of like gravity. Note: If this is the first time you have heard that invisibility isn’t actually big of a deal, welcome to my Ted Talk.

See, you have to get over your hang up with invisibility and lean in to the relationship. Christ was the one time we got to visibly see God, but He’s not here right now. I love how Paul described Jesus in Colossians 1:15-20, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Because of Jesus Christ we have access to God through the invisible, but very real, Holy Spirit. 

So you want to feel God with you, experience Him in your life and see Him at work on your behalf? 

Start by realizing that the Holy Spirit is with you, connecting you to God. (If you want to read about Jesus promising the gift of the Holy Spirit read John 14:15-29.) It is the biggest gift that we could have ever gotten, but we have to receive Him. We have to notice Him. We have to interact with Him because the Holy Spirit is our direct pathway to personal relationship with God. And He will enable us to live the life God has for us… together with Him.

If you ever bump into me in public I hope we can have conversations like this. Because our hopes and dreams are so important to us as humans aren’t they!? And the only way to live that amazing life God has for us is through that personal relationship with the God of the Universe.