What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God?

When Jesus talked about God, he called him Father.  Jesus referred to God more than 150 times using the word Father.  This isn’t an accident.  Jesus wanted us to understand that when we open our heart and mind to the Father’s love, we are born spiritually.  God makes our spirit come alive, and that’s why we audaciously dare to call him Father.  The Father is also the source of all good things in our life.  All of our talents and abilities are gifts that come directly from him.  We are not the source.  He is the Source and provides whatever we need.  The Source is always with us.

Jesus said, “He who has seen me, has seen the Father,” and then he added, ‘I and the Father are one.”  Jesus always spelled things out in simple terms that even children can understand.  He said that if you want to know what God is like, look at me. 

At the most basic level, you have a personal relationship with God when you open your heart and mind to his love, and you dare to call him Father.  You then learn what your relationship with the Father is like by looking at Jesus and seeing how he interacted with ordinary people who have problems just like you and me.

Jesus said that unless you become as a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Having a personal relationship with God is so simple that even a child can do it.