Psalm 63:1-2 (NIV) You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

There is a big difference in your heart and mind when you see something as belonging to you. When something is yours, you treat it much differently than you do if it were not yours. For example, a person may be a friend but if they become your friend, the relationship is different and much closer. In the same way, your relationship with God changes when He goes from being God (which He is!) to being your God.

You won’t ever draw close to God or love Him as you should unless you consider Him as your God in your heart and mind. When you do, the relationship takes on a new and beautiful dynamic that a lot of people miss out on. King David, who is the one who wrote the words above, had that special relationship with the Lord. He didn’t cultivate that relationship when he was running from King Saul who was looking to kill him and he didn’t make God his God when he became king, but the Lord became His God out in the wilderness while he was tending sheep. It was in those quiet and lonely times in the wilderness that God became his God through prayer and I am sure that he was so glad that he had that relationship during all his tests and trials that he had to endure in his life.

David talks about having seen the Lord in the sanctuary and about having gazed at the power and the glory of God. He never would have seen the Lord or beheld anything if he had not made God his God. God was his “go-to” person for everything and he had great success in his life because of it. Imagine being able to see God and to experience His power, His glory and His guiding hand throughout your life! You would think that kind of glorious experience is for the chosen few, but it is for anyone that would seek a relationship with God to the point that He is not only God but that He becomes your God and that He is not only the Heavenly Father but that He is your Heavenly Father. But how do you make Him your God? You do it by doing what David speaks about in the passage of scripture above. You thirst for Him and you long for Him and you seek Him with all your heart. A lot of Christians are satisfied with a casual relationship with God, but the truth is that God doesn’t do casual. You see His fervency in His love for you and me through Him paying the highest cost possible to secure not only salvation for us but also to make an intimate relationship with Him possible. That intimate relationship happens through prayer. Pray, but don’t just pray to God. Pray to “your” God like David did. It is then that you, too, will behold the power and the glory of your Heavenly Father in your life.

Pastor Joey Vazquez