How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

[blossom02]

How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

How do you know when you have enough of a personal relationship with Jesus?

I don’t mean to be insulting. I was just wondering why protestants always say that thats what you need to do.

How do you do it?

As a Catholic we are taught to know, love and serve the Lord. We do that through much prayer(liturgical, comtemplative etc.), spiritual reading such as the bible, going to Mass and being charitable among other things.

 

[Syele]

How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

You will know because everything you do and say will be centered on Christ.

How do you know when you have enough of a personal relationship with Jesus?

When have you prayed enough? Done enough good works? Worshiped God enough? Obeyed God enough?

I don’t mean to be insulting. I was just wondering why protestants always say that thats what you need to do.

How do you do it?

You do it by knowing, loving, and Serving God with all you have everyday. It is not enough to just read about God, or just show up to Church or just believe He exists. You have to live as if He is standing next to you guiding, watching, teaching and loving you 24/7 because He IS.

As a Catholic we are taught to know, love and serve the Lord. We do that through much prayer(liturgical, comtemplative etc.), spiritual reading such as the bible, going to Mass and being charitable among other things.

Devout Catholics DO have a personal relationship with Jesus. Some other Catholics do not(same with protestants, thus why we are always saying it). My Ex-fineance said he was Catholic because he had been baptized, confirmed and showed up for Mass on Christmas and Easter. He did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. It was not on a personal level for him… it was just a tradition, a part of his life that was nominal and had no meaning to him. He did not pray, did not study Scripture, did not care if he sinned etc.

 

[lizaanne]

How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

Because I receive Him into my body - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - every single Sunday in the Holy Eucharist (and more often if I can).

How much more personal do you need?



~Liza

 

[blossom02]

I agree with both Syele and Liz. The way that Syele put it is very good in the way I have been taught as a catholic. The receiption of the Blessed Sacrament is a very intimate relationship with the Lord.

 

[Jonathon]

Q - How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

A - Along with the Holy Eucharist (which is THE reason I know I have a personal relationship with Christ), the way I know I have a personal relationship with Jesus is because I talk to him like I talk to my best friend.

 

[jhynds]

I think that once you truly realize that he died for you…it’s personal.
Seriously… once you accept this “as a fact in your life” everything between you and he has to be personal, it can’t be anything else.

 

[NDfan]

I agree with both Syele and Liz. The way that Syele put it is very good in the way I have been taught as a catholic. The receiption of the Blessed Sacrament is a very intimate relationship with the Lord.

I’m curious how you and Liza think receiving communion constitutes a personal relationship? No disrespect just curious.

 

[Syele]

I’m curious how you and Liza think receiving communion constitutes a personal relationship? No disrespect just curious.

I’m curious too. My ex-fieance used to take the Eucharist when he went to Mass too. If he went to confession first, I never knew of it. Did that make his relationship with Jesus personal?

 

[allischalmers]

As Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ, Nervertheless I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”

Jesus Christ lives in me every single second, of every single minute of every single hour of every single day of every single month of every single year, not just when I take commumion.

This is my personal relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ

 

[reteeks21]

I agree with both Syele and Liz. The way that Syele put it is very good in the way I have been taught as a catholic. The receiption of the Blessed Sacrament is a very intimate relationship with the Lord.

There is NO doubt that Communion is a very intimate and personal thing. Us Protestants believe that-well, if we read what Paul has to say, we SHOULD believe that. But he was speaking to Christians who already had a relationship with Christ. He never mentioned or stated how that led to a relationship. In fact Paul said do it in rememberance of Christ, not as a way to be saved/have a personal walk with Christ. If we read Paul we see, slearly, that Paul constantly speaks of a personal relationship cntered on faith. It would seem to me that, based on what he said, the other aspects were a part of that relationship.

Note: I in no way think baptism and Communion take a back seat in their importance, especially with Paul. I just don’t read where he stresses those more than faith in Christ.

 

[thomasf]

I’m curious too. My ex-fieance used to take the Eucharist when he went to Mass too. If he went to confession first, I never knew of it. Did that make his relationship with Jesus personal?

If you believe that it is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, not just a wafer or a symbol, then it can’t get any more personal than receiving Him in Holy Communion. Just because people receive communion, whether it be a catholic going through the motions, or a protestant who doesn’t have the real presence, doesn’t mean that they are taking it seriously and/or in a sacramental way. Once you understand that it IS Jesus, and He is giving His life to you so that you may have eternal life, it can’t get any more personal.

 

[reteeks21]

Again, I agree with you. We are together on that one. But how would you respond to what I said about Paul and his teachings? I think those are interesting points for us all to examine. Thanks for the reply.

 

[thomasf]

Again, I agree with you. We are together on that one. But how would you respond to what I said about Paul and his teachings? I think those are interesting points for us all to examine. Thanks for the reply.

It’s not an either/or thing. It’s both. The sacraments, including baptism, confession, and the eucharist, are the normal conduits for God’s grace. We are given the gift of faith from God through His grace. Living our faith is easier when we have access to His grace. The church, with the sacraments, is designed to help us to grow closer to Christ through life. The more we live in God’s grace, the easier it is to get closer to Him. And when we fail and fall, the church and the sacraments make it easier to get up and keep moving forward towards Jesus. IMO, I can’t imagine getting closer to Christ without His church and the sacraments.

And no offense, but I’m not sure where it’s written that Paul is the only authority on faith and Christ in the bible. You can’t ignore what else is written by James, Peter, etc on faith.

 

[reteeks21]

Thanks for clarifying. I think I agree with you on most of that. It’s just that sometimes I think Paul and his teachings get left out on many of these deep theological threads.

 

[graceandglory]

How do you know when you have a personal relationship with Jesus?

How do you know when you have enough of a personal relationship with Jesus?

I don’t mean to be insulting. I was just wondering why protestants always say that thats what you need to do.

I understand why you’re asking, as I think about this too.
I was protestant evangelical for nearly 20 years and that was the test to know if someone was going to Heaven or Hell when they died.

My Dad was a baptized Catholic, attended 16 years of Catholic school, and continued to support the University until he died. He was not a “spiritual” man. He didn’t attend Church for most of the last 20 years of his life. He was not “saved” in my protestant opinion.

When I returned to the Catholic Church, he came to Mass a couple of times with me.

One of the reasons he had stopped going to Mass was because he had remarried 25 years earlier and never got his marriage to his first wife (My Bio Mom) annulled. As “Non-spiritual” as he was, he knew he couldn’t receive the Eucharist in his state.

Did HE have enough of a “personal relationship with the Lord” to make it to Purgatory?

His Lutheran wife told me on the day he died, that he would want to have a Catholic funeral. That he would have wanted to have a Rosary said at the funeral Mass. He enjoyed my priest the few times he went to Mass with me, and could I arrange his funeral?

Woah! If I hadn’t converted back to the Catholic faith, that wouldn’t have happened! I am his only daughter still Catholic. He had a completely Catholic funeral. Many people heard the Gospel that day. My whole family was at Mass for the first time in 25 years together. His Lutheran wife made sure that he was buried holding his rosary.

My protestant friend, asked me when he died, “Did your Dad have a personal relationship with the Lord?”

I don’t know the answer to that, other than, if the answer to that question means, “Do I know where he will spend eternity?”

If I’m understanding this correctly, I think that we are not to judge people’s souls. That is God’s justice, not mine.

 

[graceandglory]

One more question. I seem to have forgotten in the last 3 1/2 yrs as a Catholic…
What is the Bible verse protestants use for the “Personal Relationship” question?

 

[reteeks21]

One more question. I seem to have forgotten in the last 3 1/2 yrs as a Catholic…
What is the Bible verse protestants use for the “Personal Relationship” question?

I think that is a pretty ambiguous quote. By that question/statement we mean does that person live and breath Christ. We use Paul and his teachings on faith, and we reference Christ and he teachings on believe on him as the Messiah, on communing with Him through a body of believers.

 

[thomasf]

I think that while catholics and protestants have different language for this concept, the meaning is the same. As a catholic, it’s hard for me to think of my relationship with Jesus as ‘personal’. He is my Lord and Savior, He is God, someone that I worship and prasie. It’s hard for me to think of Him in terms of ‘personal’. But I would agree that both catholics and protestants share the concept that the goal is to get closer to Him. But not all catholics and protestants understand that.

 

[mschrank]

When he comes over and plays pool?

 

[NDfan]

If you believe that it is the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, not just a wafer or a symbol, then it can’t get any more personal than receiving Him in Holy Communion. Just because people receive communion, whether it be a catholic going through the motions, or a protestant who doesn’t have the real presence, doesn’t mean that they are taking it seriously and/or in a sacramental way. Once you understand that it IS Jesus, and He is giving His life to you so that you may have eternal life, it can’t get any more personal.

I don’t think you have to believe the host has to contain the real presence to have an impact on it being personal. That would imply that anyone who doesn’t believe in the real presence can’t have it be as personal as someone who does. I’ve witnessed it both ways. There are people in general who go through the motions on both sides. Generally speaking I have found some Roman Catholics that take it less serious because they think the real presence does something for them without effort on their part. Likewise some reformed religions only serve it once a month, JWs one a year. In speaking with some of these folks they don’t see it as serious as others. But that doesn’t then imply that the personal relationship doesn’t exist.

Recognizing that Jesus died for you and accepting HIM into your heart is what makes it personal for me. Partaking in the Lord’s supper is one reminder of HIS sacrifice. But I reflect on HIS sacrifice everyday without the Eucharist. Certain songs that I hear that have the right combination of words literally bring me to tears. “Amazing Love” is one. Whenever he gets to the part that says “Amazing love how can it be, that you my King would die for me” I want to fall to my knees in wonderment because really who are we?? Nothing without GOD and we can’t get to GOD without Jesus. That’s what makes it personal. That realization.

PEACE