Building Our Partnership with God

by Alexandra Copeland

Accountability is a very important ingredient to relationships. In fact, it is almost impossible to sustain a quality relationship with anyone without this very necessary ingredient. It cannot be denied that our relationship with God is the most profound and life-changing one that any of us could ever hope to have. What’s amazing about this is that He chose us first. He handpicked us out to be His very own. Ephesians 1:11(NLT) says, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” Heavenly Father wanted us to have a relationship with Him, and He wanted to be one where we would look to Him as our Father, and He would look upon us as His children. And as His children, we are accountable to God in a way that will keep us on the right path. 

SEEK GOD FIRST
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus Christ gives us our first principle for setting the priorities in our spiritual relationship with God. He tells us to seek the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness first, then all the other blessings we desire will be added to us. The first thing that we must not miss about this yummy piece of truth is that seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is a blessing in and of itself. God did not keep His Kingdom and the way it operates a secret from us. He tells us about His Kingdom, and through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God has also told us that our main objective should be to pray that His Will is done on earth as it is in the Kingdom of heaven. 

The Apostle Paul stated in 2Corinthians 3:5(NKJV), “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,” In 2Corinthians 9:8, God tells us through Paul that He will gather up ALL grace and heap it in our direction, so that we have all that we need to excel in the work He’s given us to do. So it is clear that our relationship with God is one of partnership, and it is also a relationship in which we depend on Him to supply ALL our needs.

God has committed Himself to us in this way. One of the reasons why He’s done this is because we were created in advance to do the things He created us to do. In Genesis 1:26, one of our scripture favs, we witness the first account of the enormous gift that God bestowed on humanity. He empowered us to reign with dominion and authority. He didn’t give us the power to rule over another individual’s life, but He gave us total authority to rule over our own lives. God arranged dominion and authority on earth this way. He gave it to humans. 

EXERCISE WHAT YOU’VE RECEIVED
Jesus Christ told us very clearly in Luke 12:48, to the person that has received much, much will also be required. As God’s children, you and I have been given an inheritance so enormous that it will take an eternity to live it out. God tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that He’s blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, and we received all of these goodies because of our union with Christ. We don’t have the capacity to enumerate or quantify the blessings we receive on a continuous basis, but we are accountable to demonstrate a deep level of gratitude for them. 

How do we demonstrate gratitude for the blessings of God? The answer to this question is that we use them. The aim of every person that considers themselves a quality gift-giver is to give someone something that will be very useful to them. Multiply this times infinity, and you’ll have somewhat of an idea about the Father’s desire for us to put His gifts to good use. The way that we put the good gifts of God to good use is to employ them according to His Will. 

For years, people have been confused because they say they don’t know what to pray for in a situation, or they claim they don’t know what God wants them to do. Heavenly Father would not tell us to follow His Will and then not tell us what His Will is. We know His Will through His Word. His Will IS His Word! And He takes it a step further. In John 16:13(NLT), Jesus Christ tells us, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” The Holy Spirit communicates with us, but he will not tell us anything outside of God’s Will and Word. He gives us the truth, and helps us stay protected in Godliness through the information he conveys. 

Not only should we pray that the Will of God is done on earth, but we should everything we possibly can to ensure that it happens. God has made sure that we are thoroughly furnished and equipped with everything we need to fulfill our purpose within His Will. We are not puppets. God does not move us about with invisible strings. He’s given us free-will, and expects that because we are His dearly beloved children, we will honor His love by seeking Him first, and using the wealth of what He’s provided to partner with Him and carry forth His purpose in the earth. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.