His Character, Purpose and Ways

How God Develops Consistent Fellowship

God develops consistent fellowship once we involve ourselves in a faith relationship with Him. This pursuit of intimacy will produce an emergence of faith and an awareness of God’s presence in our lives. The longer we invest in Him the more we come to know His character, His purposes and His ways. Through this knowledge we recognize who He is in our lives, what His goals are for our lives and the manner in which He will accomplish these goals.

Knowing God’s character is essential in our faith as we will experience times in which we will be unable to understand why God has allowed certain things. Once we learn God’s character through spending time with Him, and understanding who the Bible says He is, we can measure all things against the character of God. To trust God’s character means to yield to God’s decisions even if it contradicts our desires. By faith, we trust that God always works from a love foundation. His character will never be in contradiction to His love, protection and loyalty to His children. 'God is love.' 1 John 4:16. We either believe this or we don't. If we believe this about God's character then everything sent to us is sent through His love.

Knowing God’s purpose in our lives is also necessary in aligning our hearts with God. The Bible instructs again and again that His purposes are higher than our purposes. Our purposes will also come from an earthly standpoint where God’s purposes are anchored in a spiritual standpoint. ‘…so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’ Is. 55:11. Through spending time with God, we learn what His purposes are for our lives and move accordingly.

Knowing God’s ways are paramount in carrying out His work. We can know His character and His purposes but the recognition of His ways is the manner in which we move to accomplish His purpose. We must understand that we will not always understand! God uses ways that are sometimes unclear and uneasy. Following God and His ways will sometimes mean stepping out of our comfort zone and allowing God to be God. 'All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful.' Psalm 25:10.

In all these things we can take the advice of Charles Spurgeon:

‘When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.’