There are people who might say, “I have tried God”, or “I have tried church, and it did not work for me.”
There are ground rules for everything.
For some reason, when it comes to God, some people think it is a free-for-all, that anything goes and that all results should be the same. Some treat God like a vending maching. Put in a quarter and maybe you get a win.
Not.
One major blind spot is this. You gotta be in the family.
It is possible due to prayers of friends and family and the mercy of God for a certain amount of grace to be extended to those who do not know God. This is the reason for the preaching of the gospel, that those who have received the grace of God pass it on, but to presume on the prayers of others without having your own relationship will not work forever.
It is the parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins. The five wise told the foolish to go and buy oil for themselves. The wise cannot always extend the oil to the foolish.
God is the Creator. We are created beings. But we are born in sin and remain that way until we are born again.
You cannot have the benefits of begin born into the family of God if you have not yet been born again. Things won’t work the way you think they should work and you don’t understand why.
There is starting point for everyone.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
And once a person is born again, that is not an end, but a beginning.
Beyond that, there are many things that affect a relationship and walk with God.
There is one sure point. If there is a problem, it is never with God, who is perfect.
There are things we ought to do we do not do. There are things we ought not to do that we do. There is the umbrella of obedience that you want to remain under. There is speech, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” There are many factors that affect our lives.
In some things, people will dig in and seriously try to find answers. They may take serious avenues of study.
But when it comes to the Lord, people may not be as diligent and then complain, “that it doesn’t work” without really investigating why.
To have a casual relationship is like flipping a TV controller and stopping at the God station for a moment, not staying long enough to fully experience the channel, and saying “it does not work”. That is to take a poor position in life.
Usually, there is something that we can do to make things better and these things are revealed through prayer and the Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “They that are led of the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” But that takes time and dedication, just like it takes time and dedication and commitment for anything of value.
Matthew 11:6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
John 6:60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?John 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.