Creflo Dollar - How to Experience The Love of God - Part 6
Now here's the question: Why did you get saved? Just think, why did you get saved? Was it to avoid hell? Yeah, that's with me. My initial motivation, "I don't wanna go to hell". Ain't nobody tell me the stuff I'm telling you now. They just told me, "You need to", one person put it like this: "Get filled, or get grilled". I'm like, "Whoa". Why'd you get saved? Initially, my motivation was so I won't go to hell. Now think with me for a moment. Really? That's, of course, one benefit, but is that it? I'm saved. I missed hell, hoorah. That can't be all that is to this, "Get saved so you don't go to hell".
Now let me make it plain: You need to get saved, or you are goin' to hell. Okay, I'm not changin' that, but is that it? Is that the sum total of believing God and making him the Lord of my life? The real purpose of salvation is an intimate relationship with God. The real purpose for getting saved is so that you, human, can have a relationship with God, who was is a Spirit, mm, and let him come into your human life and show you how to live and show you how to walk and show you how to talk and show you how to get victory and show you how to overcome the devil and the things of this world. The real reason for salvation is an intimate relationship with God, and somehow, born-again people are so satisfied with their born-again status and T-shirt that they obtain a lot of knowledge about him, never getting to know him, and then you find out what are the things you're supposed to do that you get saved.
You're supposed to go to church, you're supposed to do good, you're supposed to act right, and we fail in that horribly. We don't go to church, we do good sometimes, and we act right based on how we're feeling'. "Don't mess with me today". The real reason, the purpose of the salvation is so that, when all of these things that I encounter as a human, happen, I know God, and I can honestly and openly go to him and say, "God, I need help. I'm angry, I'm mad, and I wanna hurt somebody," and he interacts with me, and he does somethin' in my heart I can't explain. He gives me a peace that passeth my understandin', then he changes the situation, and all of a sudden, I am walking with him, and he is doing what I can't do while maturing me as I do it.
I'm in the habit of, before I go to bed, one of the last things I take care of before I go to bed at night is "Father, you said you'd give your loved ones sweet sleep, and, Father, I thank you for sweet sleep tonight," and I say, "Lord, I'd like eight hours tonight," and I get up, and it's eight hours, and one Friday, I said, "Lord, I'd like to sleep about nine hours". I said, "ten". I hadn't slept that long in years, and I did. I said, "Lord, what's up"? "Well, you've never asked me like this before". I don't ask and, like, wonder if he gon' do it. The relationship is so awesome that, when I ask, I immediately go into the peace of knowing I know him. I know him. I mean, this is not some fable. This is not no game. I talk with him every day, glory to God, and what I used to do is go into prayer for a hour and don't say nothin' else no more until the next mornin'.
What kind of relationship is that? Your husband or wife, you spend a hour a day with 'em and don't say nothin' else for the rest of the day? What kind of relationship do you think you're gon' have? And we've been doin' God the same way. I wanted to fulfill the one-hour quota 'cause that's what they told me to do at church, and that's not what it is. It is an intimate relationship with him where I talk to him, and he's talkin' back to me, and sometimes God initiates the conversation, and he asks me a question that he already knows the answer to, but he's not asking me because he don't know the answer. He's asking me so I can think about... see, God'll do this to me sometimes: He'll ask me the question and give me the answer, and we won't do that because we're afraid people might doubt us or think that we're weird or, "You speak to God? Oh, God talks to you"?
There's a number of times I've sat and studied, and I see somethin', and then I hear him talkin' to me, and I get it. God's not interested in all your good works. He wants you. He wants a relationship with you like he had with Adam and Eve, where he can talk to you, and you talk to him, and Satan does not want that to take place, and you know what we do? We get born again: "What are the rules? What are the rules? What are the rules? What do we do? What do we do? What do we do? What are the works? What are the works? What are the works"? And then we get so busy workin' for God that we never took the time to get to know God. I feel the anointing in this place, all over my hands right now. I know this is the word of the Lord for us. This is what's gonna prepare us. This is why we need to get on our... Taffi says, "your tippy toes, baby," because God's gettin' ready to use people who know their God, people who know their God, not people who come in and playin' church but people who know their God.
Jesus died to produce the opportunity to be intimate with God, not just to miss hell. Jesus died for the opportunity for us to be intimate with God, not just to miss hell. It is not gonna be impressive to God if you show up with all of your long list of all the good works you did. He's like, "Dude, who are you"? There's no way you're afraid to die anymore. You know him. I'm not afraid to die. Well, I know him. He's got me. I know him. I know him. God's not impressed with your "status" of a Christian. You don't wanna go to heaven, and maybe there's a hallway, and you're walkin' down it, and Jesus goes right by you, and you have no idea who he is. I don't wanna pass Jesus 'cause I was so busy working for him. "Oh, I did this, and I did that, and I did that".
I'm gonna tell you this when I tell you my testimony of what happened to me about a month or so ago, but one of the things that happened was the fact that, you know, I saw this place, and it ended, and there was absolutely no noise, questions, or anything about what I did... none. You really think that "well, I'm gon' do these things, and they're gonna give me a party for doin' what I was supposed to do"? "They're gonna give me a party". No, you don't have to worry about doin' the right things. When you have a relationship with him, he will specifically direct you and show you what you're supposed to be doin'. See, you got a reason to be here, and he's the only one that knows the perfect reason for you being here, and I don't wanna miss that. I don't wanna get caught in translation.
You see, what happens in our lives is we have these laps that we run, and if we successfully run that one lap, getting some love, then we can run the next lap, operating by faith and run the next lap, getting our tempers together and run the next lap, but sometimes we get stuck on one lap and think that's the will of God for our lives, and all of these laps are to prepare us for the ultimate will of God for our life, and you're not gonna be... God's never gonna give you the ultimate will of God for your life until you're ready to receive it, and a lot of you are not ready to receive because you hadn't matured in ten years.
You're still gettin' offended. You're still not seeking God, but you're seekin' validation. You're still doin' all of the worldly stuff as Christian people because you hadn't matured, and you're not gonna mature, tryin' to keep rules and regulations of the church, but when you get to know him and walk with him, and then he starts rubbin' off on you, and that anointing comes on you, and you hear him, and he hears you, and there's a daily relationship where, one day, you will wake up, and you don't care about none of the stuff you care about now, you don't care about who's talkin' about you, you don't care about who betrayed you, and you don't care about who's tryin' to use you, you don't care about nothin' but whatever God wants, and you talk to him, and it gives you peace that passes all understanding, and there's nothin' like having your peace in the midst of tribulation, but people that come to church don't know God.
A lot of things don't matter to me no more. They just don't. Certain things used to bother me. When it shows up, I'm like, "That's garbage". I won't even give it access. "You can't come in my head," because that's garbage. "You're not gon' rent space in my mind". That's garbage. I'm not gonna let that distract me from God. "Help me, Lord". I remember when God said to me one time, he said, "How can I use your mouth when you share it with the enemy, and you let him use it more than you let me use it"? That's the personal relationship with God. He'll tell you stuff that you don't get at church 'cause nobody knows you like he knows you, and you can shoot the bull with everybody, but you can't shoot it with God 'cause he already know you. He knows you intimately. He knows you deeply. Somebody says, "How deep did God know you"? He knows you so well that he knows the number of hairs on your head. "Well, I ain't got no hair on my head". He know it. He know it.
So catch yourself when you wanna throw that bull at God. Remember, he already knows you better than... he knows you, really, he does. He knows you better than you know yourself. He said, "The real issue of why you don't wanna go around them is 'cause you're jealous". See, God's taught, that's what a personal relationship will do. He says, "But I'll rescue you from that jealousy. If you'll just accept the identity that I've given you, you don't need to be jealous of nobody. Just go ahead and believe what I told you about yourself".
And men are good with that, and I'm so glad to see the men that come to our church and stream on, it's an awesome thing, but men love covering up when they find inadequacies and insufficiencies and things that they are ashamed of and things that they feel condemned and guilty of and regret, and "I messed up, and I should've did this, and I should've did that, and I'm ashamed that I did that, and I can't believe I did that, and I did that, and I feel bad about this, and I feel bad about that," and so you cover it up 'cause you don't wanna be found out.
You don't wanna be found out that you're not the man that you portray because, once the covers are over you, then what comes through the covers is false manhood. Nobody really knows you but God because he's under the covers with the real you while the false you parades around like this is really you, and God is still saying, "I can rescue you from all that, dude. You ain't gotta do that by yourself". "Well, you know, I'm a man. I can't stand up and worship God". I tell you what: When your butt get tired of being kicked by the world, by the devil, and by all of this junk, you'll stand up and on top of the chair and worship God. You'll fall on the floor and cry before God.
I used to have that same thing. You know, I wanted to cry a lot more than what I did, you know, a few months ago, and I've been cryin' ever since, but part of me is like, "I ain't cryin' in front of nobody. I'm gon' man up. I ain't doin' that, little punk sittin' up in a pulpit, cryin'. I ain't doin' none of that". And now it don't matter. I cry at the drop of a hat. I don't care what you think about me. That is that garbage. That is not in my mind right now. I'm focused in on him. He'd been too good to me. He's rescued me, saved me, matured me, vindicated me, delivered me from shame, delivered me from condemnation, delivered me guilt. He is still there, saying, "I am your rescuer. I will save you, not just save your soul from hell. I'll save you from pain and addiction and hurt if ya listen to me, if you'll walk with me".
Look at Luke 10:38 through 42, in the NLT, 38 through 42. Knowing God is... it can't be accomplished here. This is our time of gathering and fellowship in one another and strengthening one another, but this shouldn't be the sum total of your relationship with God, comin' to church or streamin' along and all. You're gonna die one day. Don't you understand me? You're gonna die one day. Everybody's gonna die one day, and everything you do here, man, it's gonna tell the story. I know I'm gonna go to heaven, but I don't wanna be up in heaven, and God is telling me, you know, "Why didn't you do what I showed you here? Why you never could get free from needing to be validated, huh? You were always afraid, you were always vulnerable, just afraid to be vulnerable 'cause you feared the hurt that would come about bein' vulnerable, and, therefore, you could never experience real intimacy with me because you were too afraid to be vulnerable. You didn't feel safe enough to expose your relationship with me for fear of what others would say about you".
Somebody say, "You mind if I ask you what you do for a livin'"? I'm a preacher. I'm not gonna be ashamed of the gospel or ashamed of Jesus, but I tell you, when I leave here, I'm gon' leave like Paul did. "Lord, I have finished. I have done what you told me to do. Is there anything else we can do"? Right now, I'm in the process of being delivered from the selfishness of wanting to leave. It's easy to do. I didn't know it was that easy, and I'm askin' the Lord, "I need to check some stuff out here," and God said, "You told me that you would stay on this earth as long as I needed you, and I need you". And I'm like, "I did, didn't I"?
Man, I just started lookin' at people, and I'm like, "These people are crazy. These people are crazy. Do you see the world"? He go, "Yeah, but it took me 40 years to get you ready for all of this craziness," and I said, "Oh, God, deliver me from wanting to leave". So I'm ready. I'm ready, man, as long as I got my wife, and, see, now, she's gotta make up her mind. No, she can't be leaving me here either. She said, "How long you plannin' on bein' 120"? She said, "I ain't stayin' that long. I'mma tell you that right now," heh-heh, heh-heh, hah-hah. I'm tryin' to be real with y'all today, man. You gon' die one day. Are you ready to die? Not, "I'm goin' to heaven". Really, you'll go to heaven, and when you get to heaven, you're gonna kind of wish, "I wish I had did a lot more of spendin' time with God".
And the number one thing I've heard every person, Oral Roberts and all these people who went home to be with the Lord, I said, "What's the one thing, if you could do over again, that you would do"? He said, "I would spend more time learnin' how to love and treat people". I was like, "Wow". For me, what's my biggest regret? I don't think I have any. I used to have a bunch, but now, looking at it and having talked to God, and he talkin' with me about it, I don't have any. Everything I've ever experienced were the particles and the ingredients that were needed to bring me to where I am today.
Wooh, all right, let's look at this, Luke 10:38, "As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted", say, "distracted". How many minutes of the day are you allowing yourself to be distracted by the tomfoolery of this world? A distraction is an intrusion of the mind trying to cause confusion in your life, and certain things you hear and certain things you deal with, they're nothing but distractions. "But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus, and she said, 'Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you'", heh-heh, talkin' to Jesus, "that my sister just sits here while I do all the work"?
My God, boy, doesn't that describe the church today? "'Tell her to come and help me. But the Lord said to her, 'My dear Martha'", the King James says, "Martha, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details". How many of you know details can become distractions? "You're worried and upset over all these details, but there is only one thing worth being concerned about". What? What's the one thing he wants me to be concerned about? He said, "It's what Mary has discovered". Well, what did Mary discover? Sit and listen to the words of Jesus. Why? 'Cause, when you get up from sitting, you'll know what to do because you've been spendin' time with Jesus.