It’S All About Relationship Part One: How God Intended Things to Be

By Dominic Johnlewis

Everything in life is built on the foundation of relationships. We engage in relationships, we are surrounded by, and we thrive in and through relationships. Relationships seem to be at the core of our everyday life.
Yet, how did the world and individual people become so rooted in relationships? In this compelling book, you will be taken on a journey to discover the original blueprint for relationships and the reason why they are at the core of everyday life. As we take this journey, you will discover amongst other things:
The purpose of relationships
Who we were created to be.
How our choices impact our life's outcomes and relationships
The original marital design
The original purpose and role of a woman
How God sees us and how we should see ourselves
In this powerful first of two books, Dominic Johnlewis reveals a God that went to extreme lengths for that which was precious to Him: love and relationship. In addition. You'll also discover how God sees you and how you should see yourself. This book will change the way you see life, love, relationships, God and yourself. You will discover that 'It's all about relationship'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Aug 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499088861

Dominic Johnlewis

Dominic Johnlewis is a gifted speaker, conveying the word in a simple and digestible way. He lives in Southampton, England with his wife Amanda and has been involved in church leadership and ministry at different levels for over twenty years. His passion is the preaching and teaching of God's word in a way people can identify with, relate to and is applicable to enable sustainable change. Dominic believes in the concept of a real God, for real people, who live real lives.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Dominic Johnlewis.

ISBN:            Softcover            978-1-4990-8885-4

                       eBook                 978-1-4990-8886-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Please note that all scriptures quoted will be from the Amplified Bible version of the King James Bible (KJV) unless otherwise stated.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/17/2014

Xlibris

0-800-056-3182

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

516316

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Endorsements

Introduction

Chapter 1      The Arena For Relationship

Chapter 2      Mankind: You Are No Mistake!

Chapter 3      Your Choices Have Consequences

Chapter 4      Animals And Us

Chapter 5      I See You!

Chapter 6      Redressing The Balance

Chapter 7      The Rightful Place Of A Woman

References

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my beautiful wife, Amanda, to my Father God, and to all the people that supported my vision in writing this book:

Amanda, I want to thank you for your support and patience during the writing process of this book. It has been a journey for us and I’m glad that you were with me by my side. You are my best friend and the perfect woman and wife for me, and I’m glad that it is your hand that I’m holding as we take this journey together. I look forward to sharing, walking in, and fulfilling the plan and purpose that God has for us, as we take our God-ordained journey together. I love you! You are the perfect verse in my life’s song.

My Father God, I thank you for filling my heart and spirit with the topics, revelations, and words of this book. You have been by my side every step of the way, and together, we have achieved a wonderful outcome. I love you with all my heart and thank you for choosing me to share you with others.

To all the people that supported me in the writing of this book, I thank you for your faith, support, and input, which has inspired me to fulfil this part of God’s plan for my life. May God richly bless you all; may His face shine upon you and give you His peace.

ENDORSEMENTS

This book entitled ‘It’s All About Relationship’ is a brave attempt at addressing an issue on a subject that I usually read by female authors. This book is an ‘easy read’ which looks at a range of practical matters and activities that are fully endorsed by the Word of God. I pray that readers will read with interest and attempt to put into practice the knowledge and understanding attained from this God inspired project that Dominic has written and his beautiful wife Amanda is a beneficiary. So too are his family and many friends of whom I count myself one, offered the benefit of being inspired to read and practice the wisdom on each page.

Dr Angela Christopher MBE

Msc Ed; BA(Hons); PGCE; DPQS; NNEB

This book is a voyage of discovery about your life, covering many aspects of relationship. The personal relationship between you and God is of paramount importance.

God has ordained and created you to BE you! We all need to change our perceptions of ourselves; so many of us have been crushed by negative words or actions; the quote in this book The things we don’t like about ourselves are the very things that other’s love about us shows the impact of the way we see ourselves; in God, we have the freedom to enjoy the true individuality of the beautiful people God has created us to be.

This book also covers the truth about the incredible relationship we can develop as husbands and wife; how we can flourish as a man or woman, as we follow God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

Wen Drake, Assistant Pastor

Victory Gospel Church Southampton

INTRODUCTION

What is life really all about? Have you ever wondered about this or even asked this question? I asked this very question over 23 years ago. I believe that I found the answer and I would like to share this with you. I would like to take you on a journey of discovery, one that I believe will change your life forever.

The first place to start is by understanding this very important fact: that everything in life is built on the foundation of relationships. We engage in relationships, we are surrounded by relationships, and we thrive in and through relationships. We are people born of relationship, and everything that we have and all that we do is as a result of relationship.

Relationships are about how we relate to each other, our environments, and the world we live in. Relationships seem to be at the core of our everyday life, and yet, we seem to take relationships for granted because they have always been. In fact, we are not always aware of the various relationships that we are engaged in. We encounter a relationship with our mother after taking our very first breath as a newborn, and if we are fortunate enough, we share in relationship with our loved ones by our side, as we take our very last breath.

Yet, in order to understand relationships, we need to ask two fundamental questions: where did relationships come from? How did the world and individual people become so rooted in relationships? These questions and more will be discussed and, I hope, answered throughout the course of this first of two books and will provide an insight that you as the reader may never have known or thought about before.

You may ask, why do I need to know the answers to the above questions and what has this got to do with me? Everything! I guarantee you that once you have finished this book, you will not only understand why it has everything to do with you, but you will see the originator of relationships in a completely different light.

So the question is who originated relationships and for what reason? It’s simple—God originated relationships, and this is what I would like you to discover through reading this book.

Why do I believe that God originated relationships? Well, He created all things. Logic dictates that all things must have an origin for them to exist. Now for those of you who have a belief in evolution, you may take up an argument against what I have just said.

For me it is simple; if we have creation, then there must be a Creator. Therefore, if our life, world, and existence seem to have relationships at the core of all that we are, do, and have, then there must have been an originator of relationships.

My aim in writing this first book of two, is to reveal to you an understanding about life which is founded on relationships, and in order to understand these relationships, we need to understand where these relationships began.

Many of us know the story of Adam and Eve, and yet, how many of us have thought about the fact that they were in a relationship brought about by God? The fact is, we may have overlooked the impact and importance of the original relationships which God established from the beginning, on our lives today.

The best source that I know to look into the relationships that God established from the beginning is the Bible. Why the Bible? Simply, the Bible records the first ever known relationship between human beings: Adam and Eve. Furthermore, the Bible contains a wealth of recorded relationships which portrays God’s relationship between mankind and God. I have discovered that the Bible is God’s love letter to mankind and marks significant relationships. It portrays the heart that God has towards relationships and, I believe, captures the essence of relationships to the full.

As we take this journey of discovery, we will discover a God that went to extreme lengths for love and relationship. The Bible is a book that outlines the story of the greatest love, establishing and pursuing after His love and the lengths that He went to, in restoring that which had become broken and lost.

In a nutshell, it started with unhindered relationship in the Book of Genesis with God, Adam, and Eve, and it will end with unhindered relationship in the Book of Revelation with God, me, and you.

I would like to take you on a journey of discovery, one that will help you come to know the heart of God, the extent of his love, God’s love for relationship, and of course his love for you.

Through this first of two books, you will discover the greatest relationship founded on the greatest love and the extent that this greatest love went to for a relationship with you and me.

Our journey together will be one that you will discover. It’s all about relationship.

Chapter 1

THE ARENA FOR RELATIONSHIP

If we were to take a moment and think about who had the first ever known human relationship, who would you say it was? I tend to think, like most of you that it was Adam and Eve. Yet what picture do we hold of this relationship? The common perception of Adam and Eve, is a naked man and woman with their decency preserved with leaves, in front of a tree, eating an apple with a snake in the background somewhere. Most of us relate this picture to what they did, rather than the fact that they were in a relationship together.

Adam and Eve were in a marital relationship and yet, engaged in numerous relationships, such with the animals (not carnally), with their environments, and most importantly, with their God. The Garden of Eden was the place where love and relationship all began. So the question is, what relevance has this got to do with you as the reader? By looking back at the origins of mankind; How God created us to be; the origins of relationships and how they were created to be, we can then gain an understanding of God’s original intention for mankind, us as individuals and what relationships should really look and be like.

Most people look at the first three chapters of Genesis in light of the creation and fall of mankind, rather than what it was originally intended to show: the creation, establishment, and sadly, the loss of God-ordained relationships.

God as the originator of relationships, created mankind for relationships, which would take the following forms: :

1. A relationship with our environment

2. Relationships with animals (this is not in a depraved, sexual, or sinful way)

3. Relationships with each other, which would include one of the most important relationships we were created to encounter: a relationship with our wife or husband

4. Most importantly a relationship with God Himself.

Creation was and

is the arena for

relationship

Therefore, the Genesis account is about God creating mankind and his environment to flourish in and a place where relationship could take place. Creation was and is the arena for relationship.

You see, the first part of God’s plan in having a relationship with mankind would be to create mankind (including women) an environment to connect with, flourish in, and relate to.

The environment would be designed to give mankind a sense of purpose and a place for mankind to live, work, and play. It would be a place where mankind would feel happy and content, and feel free to engage in the numerous relationships, God had designed for mankind to engage in.

Take a moment for this to sink in. God created the earth for us! God’s creation, the earth, was for mankind to enjoy!

God did not stop there. He then made things more intimate and tailored to Adam as an individual. God created Adam a personal environment, by creating him a garden, the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2: 15 says, ‘And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden.’ Eden was Adam’s home and place of pleasure. In Hebrew, Eden means pleasure. Eden was a place to be enjoyed and for Adam to take pleasure in.

The link here is that, like Adam, we have been given gardens of Eden, places of pleasure in our lives. Do you remember the saying, ‘A man’s home is his castle’? To many people the home is their place of refuge, a place of protection, somewhere they feel safe, and a place they take so much delight in. We renovate our homes to make them exactly what we want and a place to take pleasure in. It is a place to entertain our friends, and family and we take security measures to protect our homes so that we can feel safe and content in our place of pleasure.

For some, it may be their workplace, undertaking a job they always wanted and love doing. To others, it literally is their garden or allotment. Whatever your garden of pleasure is, God provided it for you to flourish in and have your needs met.

So if God provides a garden of pleasure, then what does this garden consist of? In a nutshell, everything that we would need to flourish and prosper in. Let me break this down to you by looking at what Adam’s garden of pleasure consisted of and how it linked into not only meeting his needs but provided a place of contentment, security, provision and an arena for good healthy relationships.

In Genesis 2: 9, the scripture describes God’s provision:

Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired—good [suitable, pleasant] for food.

We see that this is a spectacular description of a beautiful place that provided everything Adam would need to sustain him physically. God provided an aesthetically pleasing environment and a garden that included provision for basic needs. God wanted us to have the means to be self-sufficient but with an acknowledgement that it was He who provided it.

Yet, this was not enough for God. He had to go much further then providing a beautiful environment and basic provision, God had to provide a way in which the lifestyle that He would provide for Adam, was sustainable.

It’s like being given a five million pound mansion to live in and it would now be up to you, to take care of the mansion and sustain this new lifestyle. Getting it is one thing, but maintaining it would now be a whole new prospect. You now have to think about the mortgage, electricity, gas, heating, taxes, cleaning and the list goes on. In order to live in and maintain this mansion, you will have to have the income to sustain this lifestyle. So you will need a source of provision and income that would be more than sufficient for the task at hand.

So if the Garden of Eden was like our five million pound mansion, how did God provide for this? The first part was to provide Adam, with a garden that had a number of rivers flowing through and around it.

You may think, rivers, what’s rivers got to do with sustainable provision? I’d like to show you.

The Abundant Life

When we take a closer look at the Garden of Eden, we find that the Bible talks about four rivers that flowed through, around and out of Eden. Genesis 2: 10–15 describes four rivers:

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [river] heads. ¹¹ The first is named Pishon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² The gold of that land is of high quality; bdellium [pearl?] and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The second river is named Gihon; it is the one flowing around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ The third river is named Hiddekel [the Tigris]; it is the one flowing east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵ And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.

As we have seen, four rivers flowed out of the garden and their names are Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates. Before we take a closer look at these four rivers and their significance, we need to look at the first part of the verse, which says:

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four [river] heads. (Genesis 2: 10)

Here we see that the four rivers were supplied by one source. It is referred to as ‘a river’. So what was this river?

We need to take a look at the Hebrew word used for river. nahar, (pronounced naw-hawr) means stream, river, a stream including the sea (especially the Nile, Euphrates, etc.), and prosperity. What do we get from this? Well, the meaning of the word river suggests that it started off as a stream of prosperity which gathered momentum, separating into four separate and greater rivers of prosperity and then becoming seas of prosperity. I think it’s safe to say that God wants us to prosper! Notice that everything in the Garden of Eden has a source, which supplies and causes increase and enlargement.

How is any of this relevant to you? Think about it like this; we have come to understand that God provides the garden and what is in it should be our sustainable supply, so in modern day terms, God provides opportunities like a job, or career; you obtain funding for a business or career project; you get a scholarship