John 14:7, John 10:30

Dan Maudhub reflects on the need to know a sense of belonging with God and not just believe in God

Dan & Claire Maudhub
Dan & Claire Maudhub

Ever thought that? Of trying to be good or getting it right?

I've been there. I gave my life to Jesus as a child and never waivered from my belief in God, but as a teenager I had a huge self-destruct button. If life got tough, or I just felt like doing it, I would press the self-destruct button and go on a drink and drug fuelled party for several days.

I had a hole in my heart and a hole in my identity. I didn't know what the point of life was because I didn't truly know the author of life and His love for me.

You see you can believe, but not belong. In other words you can believe that God has a plan for you and your life is meaningful, but unless you know you belong to God and that you're His child you won't discover who He is or who you really are. I know many people who are stuck in this place.

God's heart for you is that you know you belong to Him, so that you have an intimate relationship with Him.

Jesus put it this way, "If you really know me, you will know my Father as well" and "I and the Father are one". Jesus was an exact image and representation of Father God. Jesus came to reveal Father God to a desperate world and to show the world for the first time that they could belong through Jesus. That's God's heart for you and me.

If you don't know deep down in your heart that you belong and you ask yourself the types of questions that I used to ask, then I encourage you today to reach out to God and ask Him to reveal Himself as Father in your life and to believe His scriptures that say you have become a child of God.

I did a one-year discipleship course called Year of Training many years ago and it helped to transform my life and my thought patterns from someone with lots of questions and brokenness, to someone who was secure in my identity and place in His Kingdom. Now I have the joy of walking in complete wholeness and freedom from my past, self-destructive lifestyle and now help many young people to know whose they are and who they are.

Reach out to Father today and to people around you who you can trust to walk this journey with you. If you need it, make a lifestyle choice and place yourself in a position where you can get equipped and begin to walk in the amazing plans that Father has for you.

Love to you all. CR

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.