I shared with you last week that God’s intention was not religion but relationship. His will is a personal relationship with God. Religion demands action to please God,whereas relationship demands faith in Jesus.Genesis 3:8-10 – Adam and Even heard the sound of God coming down and they hid. I believe that God used to come down to relate with His people. The interesting thing is they heard the sound of Him walking, this is a high level of relationship with God,

where they could hear the sound of his presence in the place.Even prophets used to hear the presence of God and they went beyond hearing but even seeing he word.  Now religion also came from Adam and Eve, when you read verse 7, they covered their nakedness with leaves; this is self righteousness. That is why God asked them ‘who has told you that you are naked?’  We too come up with our own doctrines of how to please God, but God asks who has told you?  But God did not leave them in the leaves, he gave them animal skin.  So God is not interested in your own righteousness, or your works.

When Jesus came, His teaching was even tougher. He said that even when you look at a woman with lust, you have already sinned.  So through your own righteousness and works, you cannot please the Lord. That is why we need to have faith and trust in Jesus because we cannot do it alone.  That is why God removed the leaves from Adam and Eve and slaughtered an animal and gave them hide skin. Prophetic scholars teach us and I believe them that this slaughter and pouring of blood was a sign of Jesus being slain for our sins.Our righteousness could not come from our works but from the blood.  Many of us have religious backgrounds that had some doctrines to follow. The Pharisees for instance used to do a lot of works; in the story of Pharisee and tax collector, the Pharisee was claiming his reward from God basing on the number of times he had fasted and how much he had given, but according to Jesus, the tax collector was more worthy.

So God is not interested in our works.  Some of us start well in faith but when we see answers are not coming, we go back to our religion. We begin to fast for 100 days, making ourselves look miserable so that God may look at you and say, he is repentant. All gifts and divine revelations come to us from God by faith not by works.  Fasting is not bad, but God is not pleased when we do it by religion but by guidance and in relationship with God. God loves you more than you love yourself.  God is more interested in whatever is going on in your life more than you are.  In your financial situation, he wants to give you abundance but you are limiting him to daily bread. He wants to give you joy.  Some people believe that ladies in trousers cannot minister. Some go to Jerusalem and come back with oil and start asking people for money to be blessed by the oil.  But what will happen when the oil is finished, will God stop working?  With such religious thoughts, you will miss the Spirit of God. God is with you at all times and hears you from every place. That is why many of us He has spoken to us and we have not heard Him, because our beliefs. We believe He can only speak after 40 day fast, or spending a night in church.

The word of the Lord says where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. God loves you even more than you love him. Even when we sere sinners, Christ died for us.  We just have to receive his righteousness; knowing that whatever he does for you is because he loves you. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ; and the spirit of Christ is the spirit of faith. We need to be at peace and know that God is in control! God will heal you because by His stripes we were healed. Genesis 8:21 – God gave Adam and Eve a hide; righteousness comes from God. It is God’s will for you to do well and for you to be healed. It is all by His will. We need to acknowledge this everyday – that is it all by the will of God; being confident that he that began the good work in us, shall not rest until its completion. Genesis 4:8- 15 – These people had been chased out of the garden and were living on their own.  But the way Cane spoke to God shows that they knew that God was a merciful God. God cursed Cane not because God did not love him but because of the blood of his innocent brother.  We too go into troubles and tribulations because of our own actions, though at times we

blame it on God and say he was punishing us.  Even when Cane cried out to the Lord for his mercy and fear of being killed, God said whoever lays a hand on him would receive vengeance seven-fold. When we repent we need to repent with an open heart and truly turn away.  God had mercy over a murderer; this is God’s love and shows the relationship God has with man. God’s intention has been and will remain a relationship with man. If you want to receive from him, put your faith in Jesus, and then know that he loves you more than you love him and he is more concerned about you than you are of yourself. You are where you are and what you are by God’s grace and love.