Have you noticed people around you (or maybe its you) who call themselves Christians are some of the most miserable people on the planet? What happened?

It seems that our relationship with God fades over years because we simply misinterpret life, who we are and what our purpose is. Because things don’t go our way, because we don’t get what we want, our selfishness becomes a heavy cloak of contempt and the relationship dies a swift death. It’s like a married couple who once loved each other running for the escape hatch of divorce.

How do we get past ourselves and posture our life in such a way that we can live life courageously from our hearts?

We want to posture our life that way but for most, God seems distant. For many these are just check-boxes on our “I’m a Christian” resume; our faith hasn’t changed, our beliefs haven’t changed and our practices haven’t changed. Like programmed machines, we go to church, we participate in life group, we dive into the Word, fill in the blank ______. But nothing. No matter what we do there seems to be this great wall between you and God.

Have you been in this place? Are you in this place? Life is tough, the excitement is gone, God is distant – what is going on?

Check out this narrative in Malachi 3. “I am God—yes, I Am. I haven’t changed. And because I haven’t changed, you, the descendants of Jacob, haven’t been destroyed. You have a long history of ignoring my commands. You haven’t done a thing I’ve told you. Return to me so I can return to you,” says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. You ask, ‘But how do we return?’ (MSG)

Wait?!? What?!? Return to you God? Where did He go? I’m still miserable, but I thought I was doing everything right!?!

Ouch, talking about a kick in the butt.

Reality check. God hasn’t left the relationship, we have. We say we are living our lives for God, but only the parts that align with our own world view. We ignore His commands all the time, don’t we? We rarely do what He tells us to do because we don’t listen or just don’t want to, don’t we?

We have convinced ourselves that the world has the life we want. TV, movies and the media convince us that life is found outside of God all the time and we believe it. We find it so easy to move to the rhythm of this world, believing the lies and illusions of its promises. The world promises us everything we think we needed; only to find out that these promises take everything from us leaving us completely empty and bankrupt. We are people that are more attached to things than we are with people or God.

This is why the joy and the excitement are gone. This is why we have no life left in us.

Ok, lets dive into this narrative a bit further. Here are some of the things God is saying to us here.

Even though we are not living up to who we are supposed to be, He will always live up to who He is supposed to be. Even though we are not living up to our relationship in Him, He is living up to it with us. Even though you are not doing what you need to do to experience the life He created you to live, He will not treat you the way you should be treated. He is saying that He will to pull you to live the life He created you to live.

Reality check. How many of you know that if God treated us the way we should be treated we would be in serious trouble? If God were all about wrath, we would be taken out…right now! I don’t know about you, but I would gone!

We will need to know who God is to live courageously from our hearts.

Reflecting on my own life, I don’t understand the level of patience God has with us! I should have been taken out time and time again, but Jesus continues to save me.

Look, God is not at war with you He is at war for you. He is a God who goes out of His way to rescue your heart! He is a God who goes out of His way to move you into alignment with Himself to give you life! He is the God who goes out of His way to align our heart and our life so He can pour out His goodness and His blessing upon us!

We don’t have to beg God for life! We don’t have to beg God to be good to us. Our perspective is so wrong, because it is God who is begging us to let Him be for us!

Here is the challenge. God is asking us to return to Him! Just like in the story of the prodigal son, God is always postured for our return.

The choice is yours. Just decide! Just return!

Because of our past, many see love as a game of manipulation used as a tool for something. Because of our past, we spend much of lives earning the right to be loved again and but never quite get there. Its like a race where the finish line keeps moving.

The moment you turn your heart back to God, the moment you align your heart with God…God is there waiting for you!

Great…how?

There is a way we are supposed to live to align our lives with God. The distance gap happens because we are not living our lives the way He created us to live. We are not aligning our priorities with Him. When our hearts and our lives are in alignment with God, we are postured for floodgates of Heaven to opened up.

Return to Him!

Sounds great, but life is killing me right now! God never promised us that life would not be difficult, but He did promise to walk it out with us. He wants to align our lives so we can stand up against all opposition.

Return to Him!

For all those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ – why are you miserable? Why have you lost your joy? Why are you not living life fully alive? Why are you not living courageously from your hearts?

Return to Him!

God wants you to return to Him, to rescue your life and to give you life. God wants His fingerprints in every aspect of your life, to call you His own.

God wants you to trust Him with your life. God wants you to live with open hands and open hearts. God wants you to take risks with Him. God wants you have life, to become fully alive!

The world needs people who are fully alive.

Are you ready to return to Him and live life, fully alive?

Are you ready to get the “life” back in your life?