In 1 John 4 we read twice (in verses 8 & 16) “God is love”. At the beginning of 1 John 3 we read “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God”.

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son”. Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: whilst we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Love, love, love!!!  It’s all about love! And love is all about relationship, all about our hearts!!  You don’t have mind-to-mind relationships. Relationships are heart-to-heart. You don’t love someone with your mind. Love lives in your heart. So can it be true that Almighty God wants a heart-to-heart relationship with us?

Well, in Genesis, right at the very beginning, we read (in Genesis 1:27) that “God created man in his own image”. So, if God is love (1 John 4), and we are created in God’s image, then we are created in the image of love! We are created for a love relationship!  I am not created to be God’s little worker, I am created to be a son (1 John 3) of my heavenly Daddy (!) and to walk in relationship with Him.

And then if we think about this a little more, not only are we created in God’s image, but the result of that is that we are the only part of God’s creation capable of expressing love to God. The world may think that they are descended from monkeys, but there are no chimpanzees or apes in my generational line!!  I am a son of God!!  There is no other part of God’s incredible and beautiful creation, that can express love to God. No part of His creation can have a relationship with God, except us!!

God is love. Love needs a relationship, it needs a channel through which it can express and receive love.  Love without someone to love will die. We are created for one reason and one reason alone – to enjoy to the full an intimate and incredible relationship with Almighty God, our Daddy!! Isn’t that incredible??!!  Our tiny minds will never comprehend this. Why? Because God does not want to have a relationship with our minds, He wants to connect with our hearts. He wants relationship!!!

Yes, like every one of us as Christians, I am called to work for God, but not as a servant or a slave, but rather as a son and heir (Romans 8:17 – “now if we are children, then we are heirs..”).  I am a son and an heir to the family business!!  But my primary reason for walking on this planet, my reason for being here at all, is to simply be a son to my Daddy and to simply walk in relationship with Him!!

I love the writings of Henri Nouwen and in one of his books he write this: ”The unfathomable mystery of God is that God is a lover who wants to be loved. The one who created us is waiting for our response to the love that gave us our being. God not only says: “You are my beloved”, but He also asks: “Do you love me?” and He offers us countless chances to say “Yes””

That is an amazing truth. For more than 20 years of my Christian walk, the idea of God being a lover would have been totally alien to me. More than that it would have been offensive and irreverent!!

As church we have missed the truth about God and we have not done a very good job of presenting this amazing God of ours to this sad and loveless world. God is a lover, who wants a relationship with us as His children!!

And right now He is waiting for you to just come running into His arms, and to say: “Daddy I want a relationship with you!”

Jeff Scaldwell
Father’s House Europe

I became a Christian nearly 33 years ago. For the first 23 years of that journey, the concept of a relationship with God was something completely alien, something that would never have entered my thoughts. You didn’t have a relationship with God!! He was just God. The God who created the universe. The God who, for most of the time, I assumed was disappointed or even angry with me. because I was never good enough. The God who you tried as a Christian to stay on the right side of.

But over the last 10 years I have been on a new journey of discovery.  I have started to discover a new God. A God who for more than 20 years as a Christian I never knew. I had even become a pastor and yet I was ‘leading God’s flock’ without even having any real revelation of who I was ‘serving’!!

Yet as I have reflected on that journey, I realise that it all started as a result of a relationship. And God has been reminding me of this in the last few years. So how did I lose sight of this?

As I started my Christian journey and became involved in church life, and worked hard at being a good Christian, the Christian walk slowly became a boring repetitive routine, lacking any passion or fire. The word relationship never entered my vocabulary as a Christian. And yet God had sent someone to get me, because He wanted a relationship with me!!

So, after more than 20 years of my Christian walk, I started searching again. I was dissatisfied with my life as a Christian and I thought that there had to be something more!!  By this time I was married and I had 3 beautiful daughters, I was successful in business and I was a pastor in the church!! So, on paper, everything looked good. I was a success!  And yet there was a big hole inside me. There was something missing.

So we started going to many conferences. We were hungry for more.  We ended up in Canada at a conference, and something happened there, which changed my life. It was a turning point in my life.  During a time of worship, I felt a hand on my shoulder (yes, it’s that hand on the shoulder again!) and I turned round and there was this giant Canadian man! Without saying a word, he just swallowed me in his arms and gave me a great big hug. He held me in his arms for a long time and then when he finished he just looked me in the eye and said “Daddy told me to come and give you a hug!”. And he turned and walked away.

I was left thinking “Daddy?!”. I knew he was talking about God, but the thought of calling God “Daddy” was not just very strange to me, but it was offensive to me!  You cannot call God “Daddy”!! He is almighty God!!  “Daddy” is a term of affection and intimacy, not a word you would use to describe God.  But as we returned from Canada, I prayed a dangerous prayer. I prayed: “God, that Canadian man knows a God that I do not know. Is he wrong or am I wrong?”.  And so the journey of discovery really started. I started to read the Bible with a new pair of eyes. I started to see a God that I had never seen before.

Jeff Scaldwell
Father’s House Europe

It was 1976. I was at university. I did not look like I do today! My hair was flowing over my shoulders and down my back. I had a moustache and a beard. I thought I looked really cool!!

And I met this young lady, who I really liked. I thought I would like a relationship with her!!  So I started to ask her if she would go out with me, and she just said No every time. When I finally asked her why she wouldn’t go out with me, she said that she did not go out with non-Christians. But even then I did not give up. I kept asking her.

And then one day, I was sitting in a lecture at university (not actually listening to anything that was being taught, but just thinking about this young lady!) and something really strange happened!  I had this sensation of a hand being laid on my shoulder, and then I heard a voice in my head, saying “She is not for you, she was sent to get you”. I just freaked out!  I ran out of the lecture and went looking for this young lady again.  I found her with two of her girlfriends, and I ran up to her.  I must have looked a scary sight! I told her what had just happened, and she and her friends looked shocked. They then told me that at that point, when I had this strange encounter in the lecture room, the three of them had been praying together – for me!!

This was the start of my journey with God. He had sent someone to get me!! God wanted me!!

Jeff Scaldwell
Father’s House Europe