#004: Connection with God

Have you ever walked through a crisis and felt disconnected from God? John shares his compelling story of finding Jesus in the darkest time of his young life and reconnecting with God. We explore ways to become aware of God’s presence during our darkest days and how to find connection in the midst of loss.

Check out today’s episode here and grab the free downloadable guide to help you reveal, revere, and relate to God during times of suffering.  

Have you subscribed to our podcast yet? If not, we encourage you to subscribe so that you don’t miss out the great content and conversations to come!  

Would you consider leaving us a review on iTunes? Click here to subscribe and review in iTunes. We would love to hear what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

Connect with us!

Instagram | johnmiltonjordan // allisoncjordan 

Website | https://livethemore.com/

Transcript

speaker 0:   0:00
welcome to the live. The more podcast will re explore going deeper and intimacy with God, finding meaning and satisfaction in our day and making a lasting impact in our world. I'm John, and today we're going to talk about connection with God. I'll share about how we stay connected with God. Even in stressful or difficult times. I'll share how tragedies in my life created space to encounter the living God in practical ways to remain connected to God. It was an overcast October day, and I was in middle school science when I received a note at school indicating I will be picked up by my dad after school instead of taking the bus. I remember thinking, That's weird. I wonder if something happened. It was 1994 and I was 11 years old. I have been living with my mom in Austin, Texas, for some time. My sister and I had originally spent most of our time growing up in Houston, and we moved to Austin after my mom got a new job. But we were unhappy to tell the truth. We both grew up in Houston. Our friends, our connections or sports teams were all there. My mom, since this Saul it and did the most loving thing she ever did. She let us go. I remember being ecstatic about returning to my hometown and smiling from a tear on the three hour drive from Austin Houston. You see, my parents divorced when I was much younger, and years of custody battles back and forth about who the kids would go to and where they would live, had left us exhausted. So when my mom made the decision to let us go, Thio let us go back to Houston. Even though she had moved to Austin even though she had won the custody battles, it made us overwhelmed with joy. Finally, someone willingly relented, we thought, and we, the kids were free to choose with which parent we wanted to live. We chose our dad, a decision I would later reflect upon with some regret and guilt. After especially what happened on that October day. After my dad picked up my sister and me, we went and had milkshakes at a local diner, the Cranberries Song Zombie was playing on the radio, and we finally made our way home after we had filled up on milkshakes. And that's what my dad broke the news. John Nicole, your mother, passed away in her sleep last night. I was stunned by the news. I didn't really believe it at first. I was so stunned, in fact, that it took a few moments for the news to really register and the tears to actually start flowing. Everyone was shaken by the event. The joy we had felt about our recent homecoming from Austin Houston was now overshadowed by the black cloud of death and regret. No 12 year old should ever have to stand next to his mother's coffin. Yet there I waas some weeks or sometime later, after we had received this news from my dad face to face with not only my mom's still calm, motionless body but also peering straight into the void of the grave. How could it all be over? I thought, How could this have happened to me into my family? My world was shattered. The thought of never hugging my mom again fractured my soul. As long as I'm on the earth, even now, I will always be apart from the one who birthed me into this world and nurtured me toe life. And that's what death is. Death is separation. It's disconnection. Not only did I feel disconnected and separated from my mom, of all people, I wonder where God was in all of it. I was only 12 years old. I had so much more than I wanted to experience with her. I had just seen her a few weeks before, when we had visited Austin on one of our weekend trips back to spend time with her. How could it all be done after the intensity and the sadness round in the funeral have faded away? I was just angry. I felt how the roots song. Dear God. 2.0 says They said he's busy. Hold the line, please call me crazy. I thought maybe he could mind Read who was a blind lead. Show me a sign, please show me a sign. God, this is what I was thinking. Where are you in all this? One question was sailing it for me. If God loved me, loved my mom. How could he let this happen? You know, intense times of stress and anxiety and loneliness can leave us feeling disconnected. There's a sickness study that I've referenced before from February 2018. It says that roughly half of America 163 million people more or less feel lonelier, unknown. That's a lot of people feeling disconnected in an age of supposed interconnectedness, especially through social media. And this connection can be triggered or even highlighted by a crisis moment for me. Obviously, my mom's death was one of those moments, but it could also be changed, changing jobs, moving and obviously, in these most extreme cases, death. What about you? What does change death, fear, stress? How does that make you feel disconnected, particularly with God? You know, we've talked about how there are five areas where feeling disconnected can take its toll on us disconnected with God of people, self nature work these five areas. If we feel disconnected in any of these areas or in more than one of these areas, it can really take its toll. And the best picture of God's plan for our connection and life is found in the Garden of Eden, Genesis one through three. This is where heaven meets Earth the divine and have its this seemingly ordinary and God and humankind dwell together. What could be better. So today I want to drill down and talk about how we can connect with God. The first part of those five areas. How can we connect with God regularly, even or especially when things are difficult? I look at connection today. Bye bye, Starting in the Bible, let's look a connection with God as it's revealed in the Garden of Eden. I'll also examine telltale signs of disconnection with God in our lives, and I'll get some tools for reconnecting and remaining connected with God. So, first of all, the Bible, the revelation of who God is as we see it, particularly today in the Hebrew Scriptures, the foundation for both Judaism and Christianity. Genesis one through three, The Garden of Eden. Let's start by looking positively at connection. What do we see regarding connection with God? I think there's three primary things, and if you've ever come from a Baptist background, you know, great Baptist preachers, they have, like the's er deliberations that begin their sermons. Well, I've got that for you. I won't turn on the Texas Baptist Ah, accident that I've got three words for you. Ready? Confidence Care, Communion. All right, so When we look at Genesis one through three, we see three primary ways of connection and confidence in care and in communion. First of all, confidence or trust, God trusts or has confidence in humankind. Now, if you read Genesis one versus 26 2 28 you see that God creates and he immediately entrusts creation with humankind. You see that he creates man in kind in his own image, and then he blesses them and says, Be fruitful, multiply fill the earth and take ownership said, subdue it be stewards of creation over every living thing that moves on the earth. So God entrusts, he has confidence with humankind over creation with creation. So humankind becomes these ruler representatives of God on the earth, sharing responsibility over creation. God has created it and he shares that responsibility with humankind to take care of it. And in this way we bear the image of God because we do what God does. We take care of creation and what does God look like? What does he do? He shepherds and cares for his people. He shepherds and cares for the earth. And we see that God and man are sharing in this relationship of trust and confidence with one another. So the greatest gift of confidence that God gives us in in this giving is the gift of life. And you can see this in Genesis 1 27 Or you can see it in Genesis to seven or says, then the Lord God formed a man out of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils. The breath of life and the man became a living creature. And I'm reminded of the Johnson David Helser song Jonathan David Hell serves an incredible worship artists whose with Bethel music, and he talks about how God brought the dust close to his face and that active intimacy and breathed into it. And this is what God does. It gives us life, and he says, here, now it's in your hands. My breath is your breath. My life is your life. So what will you do with it? Will you plant and grow like I have? Will you entrust others and share your your life and the things that are under your ownership with others? Like, I've shared my creation with you, where you give in love as I have this is what God says to us. This is what he asks us when he gives confidence and puts confidence in us and trusts us. So first of all confidence. Second of all, God provides or he cares. He cares for his creation. And you can see this at the end of Genesis One and Genesis to versus 89 God cares for his creation. So let's look at it together and Genesis to eight and nine. It says that the Lord God planted a garden in in Eden, in the east. And there he put the man whom he had formed and out of the ground, the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the site and good for food. The tree of life is in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so you see that God cares, he provides. And so when God does this, humankind is learning to also have trust and confidence and God. So you see, it's a two way street, and as much as we see God caring for us, we turn around and say, You know what we can trust you because we see you caring for us. And I can imagine that Adam and Eve they felt safe, secure, even peace and freedom. And you see in Genesis to 19 that God gives so much freedom to man, if you let some name the animals now, I think this is kind of funny because what if Adam had screwed this up? Right. Um so all of a sudden, like this terrifying creature with claws and big teeth comes before Adam and Adam says, Ah, let me think. What should I name it? Princess, Pony Horse. And you can see God going. Ah, it's maybe something a little more fierce. Let's let's let's have a do over right. But the point is, God gives freedom to mankind, to even name the animals. Right? And still God is providing in giving security and peace and freedom. So God gives all of this. And these are markers of of resting in the care of God, this peace, security and freedom. And so thirdly, in addition to confidence and care, God communes with Adam and Eve. He speaks directly with no interference with his creation. He's communing so in Genesis 1 28 29 He tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful, and he speaks purpose and destiny for their responsibilities. This is who you are, you know, have care over the creation. Be fruitful. Multiply. You are responsible rulers sharing in the care of creation with me. So he speaks purpose and identity in his communion. But he also speaks boundaries in Genesis to 16 and 17 he tells them which trees they can eat from which ones they cannot. He's giving them healthy boundaries. Every good relationship has healthy boundaries and that communion God is showing them what good, healthy communion, what good, healthy relationship looks like. And thirdly, he's also showing them that it's not good for them to be alone. So he speaks and creates community. And you see this in Genesis to 18. When he creates the woman. Death has not yet arrived. Rebellion is not yet known. Right there on Lee communing. There's only oneness in this unity. There's harmony with God. You see in Genesis three that there have been some kind of communion with God Would. They were even going on walks together, speaking to each other, trusting each other and so confidence care and communion are the intentions and plans of God revealed in the opening pages of Genesis. Now there are signs of disconnection in our lives that we can that we can see as well, and we can see them here in Genesis one through three. And so, in the same way that we need and desire, communion and care and confidence from God. There's also things that we can see in Genesis 123 that show us. What does it look like when those things were disrupted, when there's a lack of those things and there's a scarcity and I think it comes down to three words distrust, disregard and disassociation. So first of all, distrust. Now this trust is usually exposed by, ah, crisis. Primarily, it's a challenge for us, and and we were challenged to think, Well, God may not be good in this crisis, and I no longer want to represent his image. I don't want to believe that his character's worth imitating um, for me, This is how I felt after my mom's death. So I shared the beginning of the podcast. I was really angry. I was so angry, I cursed it. God I was I was in my room. Ah, in Houston, Texas, Just screaming into my pillow, angry. And I asked, How could a loving God allow this? Because a deep, deep, deep part of me wanted to believe that God is good and loving, but was starting to doubt it. And so what you see in the garden is that in Genesis three versus three through five, the snake comes in and he starts. He's this mystical figure who who somehow has has been speaking and knowing what the plans of God are and is starting to twist them to humankind. And essentially says this goddess holding out on you, He's not so good, you know, because you think you have everything. But you actually don't have everything. Did he really say this? Are you really representing the full image of who God is? Because you know, if you eat of this tree, God knows that that if you eat of it, you'll just be like him. You're not really fully like him, are you? All of this could be yours. As a YouTube imitated in their song vertigo. All of this could be yours. So this is what he speaks, since this idea of you can't really trust God. And so this crisis moment that you have in your life, whether it's from death or stress or whatever it breaks, that confidence that we see is meant to be had in the garden, and it creates distrust. But it can also create disregard what I mean by disregard. Well, disregard simply can mean to stop caring about what God cares for, to disregard what God cares for and only look inward. Well, where do we see this? In the Garden of Eden. Well, here we see this with the serpent figure again, the serpent so's doubt and the woman turns inwardly wondering, Yeah, maybe he's right. Is God really? Is he holding out on me? Am I truly free? And I'm missing out on something within me and the image that God made in me. And so all of a sudden, Eve and Adam together they take their eyes off of God's goodness off of the kindness of God and who he is and all that he provides. And this can can really twist us and turn us around. Ah, I know myself. I've struggled with depression in the past. But I know others who have really struggled with depression and a counselor friend of mine who counsels a lot of people who deal with that. One of the questions that he will ask is, in what ways is your behavior becoming more like a parasite, more parasitic taking and taking and taking than loving? And that's a challenging thing for someone who's dealing with depression to deal with. Because when you're doing the Depression, a lot of times, all you can see is your own darkness. All you can see is your own struggle, but that can really hamstring you can really tie you down. And so in many ways, the most challenging question is the one you need here. In what ways is your? Is your behavior more parasitic than loving? In what ways is this depression getting into a cycle of just taking and focusing on yourself and not ever looking outside of yourself? And so this is the challenge, I think for Adam and Eve, and it's a challenge for us. In what ways were we believing that we need to take our eyes off of God's goodness and start wondering, Am I lacking something let him. I'm missing out on Where am I lacking and starting. Just Onley focus on ourselves. And starting to believe then is God might be Maybe God's holding out of me. So that's disregard. Finally, disassociation. We stopped communing with God, you know, in the garden. You see this with Adam and Eve in Genesis three. They they hide in shame after they disobeyed God. They've reached outside of God with their own hands. They've graph in the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they've eaten. They've said, essentially to God we no longer trust you. And all of a sudden they feel this guilt in this shame and they hide from God and they they're afraid of being fully seen by God. Well, what's behind this? I think it's disassociating God's character of being really good. They have disassociated from God's character of being good. They now think that God is going to shame them. And in fact, what God does is he provides for them. You see in the story Genesis three and he provides clothing for them. And so you see that God, even in that moment of great heartache, covers their shame. But for us. We can often feel that disconnection and with God a feeling of I have to hide because God wouldn't want me. That wouldn't want to be around me When I am this way Maybe the crisis moment for you isn't transition. It isn't Ah, death. Maybe the crisis moment for you, especially if you're a young man, is you've gone back to pornography again. I know that this is a deep, deep struggle for many people and it's a part of my story as well having to overcome Ah, an addiction to pornography. And I know some of you have really struggled with this. And maybe this is you. Maybe you have started to to distrust that. That God is good Because you've been in this dark hole you started to to disregard the things of God. Because all you can see is this deep struggle and and its side tracked you from your destiny. And now you're disassociating with God because you're afraid that that he looks at you and it wants to shame you. And these things can't can snowball right? It can. The distrust can can lead to this unresolved or ignored Ah, tension and it can lead to this sense of, ah, does God really care for me? And then all of a sudden you disassociate. And so if you're out there and you're feeling this way because you struggle with biography or you have some kind of deep, dark struggle disassociating that leads to this association with God, I know your pain. I understand where you're coming from and I want to help. I've learned a lot of my own story, and that's where I want to take you next. And so God's plan for us is that connection is not disconnection. But how do we get there? How do we go from disconnection to connection? I think it comes down to three words again, reveal, Revere and relate. But before I dive into that, I want to give you an example of someone also in the Bible and the both old and New Testaments, who I think shows us what it means to reconnect with God. And this person was painfully human and his name was Abraham. Now what it says in Romans for is that there is no distrust and Abraham about God's promises. Even though Abraham sold out his own wife a couple of times he made lots of mistakes. He was painfully human. He didn't always trust God. He was fully convinced nonetheless, that God will follow through on what he promised and when considering the reality of his circumstances, whether good or bad, whether painful or joyful. He still hoped, it says in Romans, for he hoped and didn't lose faith and God's promises. So for us, we need to believe and trust like Abraham, even though we're painfully human, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, that this is God's destiny for us. When we feel disconnected from God do to trial. Circumstance, struggle. It's not God who has pulled the plug, because when you go four chapters later, the Romans eight it's clear nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We have a choice. We have a choice to believe that or to not believe that two. To distrust and disconnect in the hard times and in the trials, or to connect to go deep into plug back in. And that's where I think thes three words reveal Revere and relate and help us become more like Abraham So let's jump in reveal first of all really quickly. It's so it's really important to reveal your struggle to acknowledge fears, failures, desires. This destroys shame. You know, Burn a Brown is a ah, now world famous author and Ryder researcher, I believe at the University of Houston, and she writes a book called Daring Greatly, and she talks about the anecdote to shame and how to combat. Shame says, First of all, she says, first of all, to talk to yourself like you would talk to someone you love. Second of all, reach out to someone you trust and the third of all, tell your story Reveal. Speak it. Don't keep it hidden. All right, this forges intimacy. This is the anecdote to shame, toe hiding right. And so not only can we do this with other people. You can do this with God, right? Cause that's what we're talking about today. How do we reconnect with God? Right, So, in prayer, talk to God and believe what God says about you loved yourself. The way God loves you has a huge challenge for many of us. Will we believe what God says about us? Right. Reach out to him and prayer. Tell your story. Speak it out, acknowledged the fears, the failures and the desires. You don't have to put on a show. There's no need for hiding because nothing can separate you from the love of God. There's no need to hide cases. Secondly, Revere I think revere in this sense means worship. To revere something is to hold it highly. And what is worship do? Worship brings alignment, it says. I'm choosing to put my eyes on you, God on who you are and who you said you are and not just look at myself, not just a spoke Asan who I am, what I can get and what I need to do to fix myself. But I am going to focus on you in addition to taking care of myself. I'm not saying self care is bad. Self care is great, but it's also a part of self care toe. Look to the one who created us and say, Who are you? And who are you saying that you are? And what do you say about me? And so in worship, whether it's through song or through slowing down or reading the scriptures or taking a long walk in nature and just recognizing the God created all of this. We say I am not God. You are God and I am a line in the universe. You can help me. I can't fix this on my own. And you're good. So first of all, reveal Be honest about where you are with God. Second of all, revere God for who he is and third of all relate. All right, relate. In this third piece, it may seem a little funny because, uh, relate means to relate to one another. And this has to do with confession. You know, First, John talks about confessing our sins to one another, and that that brings healing. That brings us back in touch with the good news of who Jesus is. And so it may seem funny to think, Well, I'm going to relate to God by relating better with others. But when you read first, John, you see that the way we relate to others is often mirrored by the way we relate to God. And the waiver relate to God is often how we relate to each other. So if we hide from others on, we don't expose if you have a struggle with pornography. If you don't expose that, if you don't open up and reveal that to people, it's gonna be really hard for you to feel like you could do that with God and vice versa. But that brings intimacy When you could do that, when you can relate to others with trusted advisers with people who know you then, like Renee Brown said, it really destroys shames, find someone you trust and relate. So how do you combat disconnection with God, or how do you reconnect with God? Reveal? Revere? Relate. This is what restores the the picture that we see in the garden, this picture of of confidence in care and communion. You do it by revealing revere ing and relating. And ultimately, this is what helped me reconnect with God after my harrowing journey of dealing with my mother's death. You see, in Christmas of 1996 my parents bought me a little in Ivy students study Bible, and I picked that thing up and went up into my room and poured over it with a highlighter. Nothing looked radioactive cause I'd like highlighted everything, and bright yellow was asking all these questions and in that time of pain and crying out to God and exploring the Scriptures and searching and praying, going on long walks and asking all these questions, I started to encounter the presence of God. I started to see you know what God is with me in all of this. I don't have all the answers, but he's with me. And so I just want to encourage you by doing this by practicing worship by revealing these things, too, who God is in prayer and relating to others and sharing what's going on. You rebuild that connection with God, you rebuild that that trust and knowing that he is there and he will never leave you or forsake you no matter the circumstances. That's what Abraham learned. That's what I am learning. And that's what I believe is your destiny is what is meant for you. Tow Liv Moore you were created for. So please check out the show notes and grab the freebie and thank you for listening