By Benjamin ‘Raven’ Pressley

RELATIONSHIPS

Part 1

I am really looking forward to sharing a 3 part series with you on Relationships. This series will discuss friendship, church, marriage and many relationships. Don’t miss a single part! Invite your friends to view. Share on social media. This is going to be a series that will help everyone.

Relationships. Why are they so difficult sometimes? Six of the Ten Commandments were about our relationship to other people (Exodus 20:1-17). Jesus even summed up the whole of how we should live when He said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40). From the beginning God showed His desire for a relationship with the humans He created and came down to the Garden of Eden and walked and communed with Adam and Eve in the garden. God still desires a relationship with us and for us to have good relationships with one another. When man began to institutionalize what living for God meant and created organized religions then the division between God and man became even bigger as man made up his rules on how to live for and please God. As human belief systems developed they also affected our relationships with others. A hierarchy was put in place of love and suddenly one person imagined themselves greater than another. And on it grew from Cain slaying Abel to the wars and divisions we have today. People are eat up in this day and time with selfishness, lust and greed. And look at the fruits of it: Wars, genocide, killing the born and the unborn alike, divorce, homosexuality, abuse of women, children killing parents, mothers killing their children…and the list goes on. God pretty specifically outlined what relationships with one another was supposed to be like. And where He wasn’t specific He made it clear that if our relationship with God was in order we would view others and treat others as we would ourselves. And for the most part, I hate to say it, but, people don’t want to do what it is going to take to stop this madness and get back to living within principles of peace and love. The world will more than likely get worse, not better. However, there is a remnant of people out there who want to make the change and want a peaceful and meaningful relationship with God, their spouses, their children and their fellow human beings. It is to this few I would like to write these words. You may never effect a world change, in fact it is more likely you won’t, but you can achieve love and peace in your relationships on a small scale, like your family, maybe even your church and perhaps even entire communities. It isn’t about how big it is. It may only be a husband and wife and that is OK. Any remnant that resembles what God intended is like a light shining for His glory and though it may seem to be only a candle in an immense darkness it will shine and light the path and exhibit the possibility that it can be done if you are willing. Stop thinking about how small something is and just enjoy it, bask in it and…. nourish it! Perhaps others may want to know more and want to get on board, perhaps they won’t. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter. God can take a little and do a lot, not only in the lives of the individuals who are involved but also to show others it can be done. There are many large seminars on marriage and relationships but I wonder about how effective large seminars really are. I’m not against seminars and such and they do help some times but I think that many get left behind because it becomes more about the masses. It keeps us from having to face and help an individual one on one. Jesus was about one on one. He always favored the individual over the masses. Sure He drew the crowds but that wasn’t His intention. He preferred going to a lone woman at a well (John 4:1-26), a demon possessed man living among the dead and cutting himself with stones (Matthew 8:28-34), a woman caught in the act of adultery about to be stoned to death (John 8:3-11), a short little tax collector that no one liked (Luke 19:1-10) and in His dying breath he reached out to a thief hanging on the cross next to His (Luke 23:39-43). My point, I guess, is no matter what the ministry is it should never lose sight of the one. It doesn’t take great numbers. Jesus took 12 disciples and turned the world upside down! (Acts 17:6. Also read entire Book of Acts when you get a chance.)

So where do you start? (READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE AS WELL AS PARTS 2 AND 3 BY CLICKING BELOW!)

READ THE REST OF RELATIONSHIPS PART 1

RELATIONSHIPS PART 2

RELATIONSHIPS PART 3

TOUCHING GOD

ANNOUNCING! MY LATEST BOOK!

Touching God…knowing him intimately, communicating with him, knowing his presence. This is something we must nurture. A very important part of knowing and touching God is prayer. Prayer’s most basic definition is talking to God. Just about all religions pray in some form.
Prayer is the very lifeblood of the spirit but it is sadly the least emphasized or it is taught as just a way to get something from God. As blood is to the body, prayer is to the spiritual man. It carries away impurities, fights spiritual diseases and furnishes oxygen to our spiritual minds. Prayer tears down walls between you and God. It heals our spiritual deafness so we can believe and hear the voice of God.
This author pleads for you to put aside religion and tradition and whatever excuses you have for not believing and consider these words and PRAY. This is how we touch God and connect to Him.