Yesterday, I wrote about being separated from God.  There are two ways for that to occur.
The first is when you are not His child in the first place.  I am always amazed at people who think that they can pray to God--when they have never given their life to Him.  God hears his children.  Those who have accepted his Son as a sacrifice for sin and put their trust in Him.  Surrendered their lives.

After that transformation has occurred, God puts his Holy Spirit into the mind, body and soul of that person--to lead him in the paths of righteousness.  The church is full of people who have walked the aisle and said, "I believe in Jesus," and have never given Him their life.  They are not righteous.  They do not abandon their life style of disobedience to God.  They are not Christians.  And they are a hindrance to the body of true believers.  We often hear people say, "Look at old so-and-so.  He's a member of your church, and I'm a lot better person than he is."  Which is true.  Being a member of a church doesn't make you a follower of Christ.  Without God's Spirit, baptism just gets you wet.

The devil himself believes in Jesus.  Believing something is true is not the same as acting upon that truth.  I can believe that an airplane can overcome gravity.  I trust in that truth when I get on an airplane and fly somewhere.  I "believe" in a lot of things that I wouldn't trust with my life.

The second way you can be separated from God is when as a Christian, you commit sin, and don't acknowledge, confess, and repent from it.  I wrote about that yesterday.  Think about it like this:  As a mother, I had a "relationship" with my children that could never, ever, be broken.  I will always be their mother.  But when they were growing up, the "fellowship" between us was broken on a regular basis when they disobeyed me.  Things weren't right between us.

When they did something wrong, they lost my ear to hear their requests.  I was upset with them.  And it is the same with God.  As His child, one who has His Spirit within, when you disobey God, the fellowship is broken.  He isn't going to communicate with you until you fix the problem with repentance.  Your relationship is the same--you are His child.  Your fellowship isn't.

In Psalm 32:1 the Psalmist says, "Blessed is he whose transgression if forgiven, whose sin is covered."  A Blessing comes when fellowship is restored.