"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord," Jeremiah 29:11-14

GOD KNOWS YOU...

It is hard to fathom that the God who created the universe, and continually holds it in place, is a God who desires to have an intimate, personal, relationship with us. Yet His Word, the Bible, says, "I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb, Jeremiah 1:5. Similarly, Psalms 139:16-19 says," You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up in the morning, You are still with me!"

GOD WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIM...

These verses reveal that God is a God who knows you; but more importantly He is a God who desires you to know Him. In John 17:25-26 Christ says, "O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know You sent me. And I have revealed You to them and will keep on revealing You. I will do this so that Your love for Me may be in them and I in them."

Christ prayed this prayer on our behalf shortly before enduring a brutal beating and crucifixion to pay the penalty for our sin. Why? Because He loves us, and because He wants us to fully know the love of His Father.

GOD MADE A WAY TO KNOW HIM...

This truth is painful to comprehend—that someone would suffer so brutally on our behalf, or that God would require it. But Romans 3:23 tells us that "we all have sinned and fall short of God's Glory." Likewise, Romans 6:23 says that, "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." God's glory is too holy for Him to have a relationship with sinful man. Because of His desire for relationship, God made a way for us to be holy—a way for us to enter a relationship with Him, a way for us to have eternal life. That way is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ says in John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me."

Jesus knew that the crucifixion was not the end of a life, but the begining of eternity for all those who believe in Him. He knew God would resurrect Him after three days, as a witness of God's power over death. That understanding gave Him the strength to pray His prayer of love for us, and to endure the cross. The resurrection is evidence of God's desire for, and gift of, eternal life. Belief in Christ's resurrection is the only way for each of us to also live forever with God.

Christ's crucifixion and resurrection opens the door for a relationship with God, but we must choose how to respond. Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Are you ready to pray such a prayer, and enter a remarkable, wonderful relationship with God Almighty? If so, pray to God, confessing your sinful nature to Him, asking for His forgiveness. Express your belief in Jesus Christ and your need for Him in your heart.