Relationship: We Were Created for Relationship, Not Religion

By Polly Shupe

Have you ever wondered why you were created? What your purpose is? Even more importantly, how to fulfill your purpose and live out your God-given destiny here on this earth?

This book helps provide the answers to those questions and so much more. If you have ever heard of Jesus, or if you are already a believer and know Jesus, you know that He did mighty and powerful things when He walked on the earth. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and set people free of all kinds of afflictions! Yet He said, before He gave His life for all mankind, that WE would do even greater things than He did. What a mighty statement!

Our world today needs to have hope that diseases can be healed, people held captive by addictions can be set free, and those who are afflicted by depression and despair can experience joy unspeakable. We need to know that each of us has a mighty call to live out our God-ordained destiny, and make a difference in this world for good. To leave our mark! A mark that will last for eternity.

We are able to do all of this through RELATIONSHIP with our loving Father God. Let’s take a moment and journey together as we read this book to see how God is able to make all things possible when we walk in intimate relationship with Him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664203907

Polly Shupe

Polly Shupe lives in Richland, WA with her husband and two children. She is a Speech Pathologist by profession, a worship leader, and a teacher of the word of God. She loves Jesus with all her heart and has enjoyed knowing intimate relationship with God since an outpouring of His presence occurred in 1994 at her church. Polly gave her heart to Jesus at the age of seven, but prior to being touched by God so intimately in 1994, she always struggled to really know God and walk in the power, freedom, and fullness of life she had read about in the Bible. Now that she has experienced God’s transforming love, she wants everyone else to be able to experience it as well. God gave her the words in this book for this purpose - to reveal the truth of God’s great desire to have intimate relationship with each of us, so we are able to daily experience His peace, joy, power, and most importantly, His love.

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Copyright © 2020 Polly Shupe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

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by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the

author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0389-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0388-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0390-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020916737

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/13/2020

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

1. Our Eternal Purpose - To Be Loved

2. Keeping It Simple

3. Seek Intimacy

4. Make Time

5. Peace

6. Love – Everlasting

7. One

8. Awakening

9. The Church – The Body of Christ

FOREWORD

My wife Miel and I met Polly at a Christian camp in Ellensburg, Washington. We were the speakers and she was the worship leader. Right away two things were clear about Polly. One, she deeply loved Jesus and was very passionate about worshipping him. Secondly, she poured her heart out in love for the students of the camp. She spent much of her time talking, praying and encouraging the kids. When I saw that happening, I was so encouraged because her ministry was far more than a platform or stage setting, it was real love from God being poured out to these students.

As you read this book you will clearly see Polly’s heart to help people not have religion, but a deep, powerful and intimate relationship with God. She offers wonderful insights and revelation from God’s word and the Holy Spirit. She presents practical steps to take in order to move into relationship. Most of all, she offers hope for all who desire intimacy with God. This is not only possible, but more importantly an invitation. We are all invited to be close sons and daughters of our heavenly father.

So, as you read, I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit for activation. Not just understanding more, but activating your heart to come close to God. This book will encourage you, strengthen you and fill you with hope. We are designed to receive God’s love and to love Him and all the people in our lives. I pray you will grow deeper and deeper in love with Jesus as you read this book. So, get ready for a great adventure of taking another step closer to Christ and His deep love for us. Just as Ephesians 3:18 tells us, And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. (NLT)

Enjoy the journey as you read and allow what God has done in and through Polly to be imparted into your life.

Blessings,

Nathan Lindseth

Associate Pastor at Lifechurch7

INTRODUCTION

I remember when I was in college ministry, a young woman who was thinking about whether or not to give her heart to God asked, For what purpose did God create us? I incorrectly answered that our purpose was to serve Him. She then replied, So you are saying that God created me to serve Him? I said, Yes, all the while feeling uncomfortable with the conversation, as God was nudging me inside and asking, Is that true? The young woman responded, What a selfish God.

As far as I know, this young woman, who also became my friend for a brief time, did not make a decision to give her life to Christ. She got very involved in all the social dynamics of college, and stopped attending the Christian Fellowship that I was involved in. I think about her frequently, wondering if my response is what turned her away from our loving Savior, Jesus Christ.

God created us for relationship with Him, not to serve Him. God revealed this truth to me about a year after this encounter I had with the young woman whose name was Amy. Amy, if you happen to ever pick up this book and read these pages, know that God very much wants you to know the true purpose for why you were created. He created you to love you and spend time with you. To rejoice with you when times are good, and cry with you when times are tough. To tell you how beautiful you are and how talented and gifted you are. To remind you that He’s faithful and He’ll never leave you, even when others turn against you. His love is infinite. His love is forever. God is love, and God is always true to His nature.

I want all to know the truth of why God created us, how much He loves us. God did not create us to serve Him, but rather He opened the door through Christ Jesus for us to be able to find our rest in Him. We are able to lay all of our troubles at His feet, and simply rest in His presence. With God is everlasting peace, abundant joy, and over-flowing love. Imagine the biggest waterfall you have ever seen… That is how abundant God’s love is for us. It never runs out, it is always immense and over-flowing. May the pages ahead bring forth a revelation of the greatest love mankind has ever known. The love of our God revealed to us through Jesus Christ.

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OUR ETERNAL PURPOSE -

TO BE LOVED

Have you ever asked yourself the following questions: Why was I created? What is my purpose? What is my destiny? The answers to those questions go something like this: You were created for relationship with God. Your greatest purpose is to be a recipient of God’s love. Your destiny is to be so full of God’s love that it naturally flows out of you to those around you.

We know that God created us for relationship because He was willing to pay such a tremendous price for our redemption. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden so many years ago, they brought separation between God and mankind. God is a holy God and cannot be intimate with anything that is sinful. Believe it or not, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It was God’s plan for redemption that led to restoration of our relationship with Him. What was this plan? God was willing to come to us in the flesh, in the form of His Son, Jesus, in order to restore our relationship with Him.

The only thing that can cleanse us of our sins is to be covered by the blood of something that is pure and without blemish. Blood represents life, and we must be covered by the life of something that is perfect. That is why God sent us Jesus. The Bible says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was crucified and His blood was shed for us so that through Him we would have opportunity to be made holy and acceptable before our Father God.

When we surrender our lives to Jesus, He becomes our covering. In essence,