The word "intimate" in reference to God may scare people, but remember God himself says that we are his "bride". That is a pretty intimate statement. Our relationship progresses from being a lump of clay on the potter's wheel at salvation to being the bride of Christ! One might liken it to the introduction of a new person who eventually becomes your spouse, in that the relationship must grow & evolve. At first, we are like sheep following a shepherd, and he says we know his voice as such. Many get stuck there, not always understanding the voice of God & feeling they are guessing at whether they heard it or not. One may "test" the spirits the Word says...& so we can line up what we think we heard against scripture or how we feel against scripture to see if it is the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the evil one. One basic consideration is peace versus confusion as when God speaks a word of wisdom to you there is peace attached. When satan speaks to us, there is confusion incorporated into that attempt to walk us down the wrong path. If we are honest, we all have at some time followed the wrong voice. Satan will use that to beat us up repeatedly reminding us of our mistakes & sins, but God can use that to teach us how to hear more clearly next time.
Getting back to intimacy, as we walk with God we learn that he is the master & we delight in knowing we are his servant as we do things in the kingdom for him. From the shut-in who is a valiant prayer warrior for others to the missionary who puts themselves in harm's way so that they can witness for Christ & everything in between, people learn to work for & with God. It is at this point that I think sometimes a disconnect occurs. We are saved, we are trying to hear the voice of God, & we are serving him. Suddenly it is like a brick wall surrounds our prayers, God has disappeared from sight, & we are unsure who we are in Christ! Someone suggests that we are a friend of God & that he is our closest friend, always at the ready to help us. Someone else may suggest that he is our parent, & as so, we are the child of a king, entitled to the prosperity, dignity, & resources of a king. We may mentally accept that he is our best friend & that we are his child, but emotionally we still feel defeat in moving our life forward spiritually, practically, & emotionally. Confusion creeps in as the enemy of our soul invades our thoughts & reminds us of past mistakes, developing fear in our minds about any future victory.
It is at this juncture we need to take a look at the degree of intimacy we have with the Lord, & ask ourselves how well we really "know" the Lord. Knowing him means feeling wrapped in his love as you would feel wrapped in the love of a betrothed, & it means feeling that "connection" in communication with him that induces a strong sense of security much like putting in a security system in your home that is connected to the police, fire, & rescue stations. Knowing God is to have a feeling of immense protection & the ability to have very intimate conversation at any time. OK, that sounds very nice but how do we get there? I believe it is through praise & worship that we should draw so close to God that we are inspired, awed, or excited about our closeness to him. Folks use the terms interchangeably but they are not the same-you might praise your Mom for a job well done at work, but you would not worship her. Worship is a term meant for God alone, despite the fact that we have come to worship idols in our lives we do not even realize. What you expend the most emotion on, that is not God, is your idol. For some it is money, for some it can be alcohol, sex, power, pride, etc.
My experience has been that praise should lead into worship whether at home or at church. When you enter into praising God for all he is & has done for you it should bring you "into his presence" which is a glorious place-the presence of the king of kings is a quiet humbling place where you are so in awe of his majesty you bow, whether in your heart or physically. This can occur in song or in prayer-it is a deeply spiritual place where you feel so comfortable & open to his spirit that your knowledge of him & relationship with him grows & deepens. The word says that we are a kingdom of priests. In the Old Testament we read about the Holy of Holies where only the priests are allowed to go. We, as priests, can enter the Holy of Holies, which is the very presence of God! Just as it would be difficult for Old Testament believers to understand what the Holy of Holies was like, it is difficult today to understand the very intimate presence of the Lord unless we have been there. I would suggest that getting there simply requires an open mind & a patient quiet spirit as you praise him in song or prayer. At some point you will feel the Holy Spirit move you into genuine "worship" & that is when you know you are indeed in his presence-you can literally feel it surrounding you. When we voluntarily accept Christ as our personal savior we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but it is at these times that we are filled with the H.S. to overflowing. As this intimacy grows it becomes much more evident in our everyday life in that we come into his presence much more quickly, often in an instant. You can literally feel him suddenly surround you with his presence & peace. I have at times had this happen unexpectedly, as one might have a friend just drop in one day to say hello. Not knowing why he desires this intimate closeness I just begin to pray or sing & praise to him. He may or may not show me why he suddenly wanted to be up close & very personal but I always know there was a reason & I am blessed to have had some time in the Holy of Holies!
So, back to why this is the key to victory...well, in a normal human relationships it is intimate closeness ( I mean this as an emotional, mental connection not a physical one) that we have the most victorious results. When we are down & out who comes to the rescue? Who accepts us just as we are? Who doesn't judge us when we make a mistake, but encourage us to get up and go on? This is a picture of God & is the reflection of a Godly person. (This is why marriages with the greatest of sexual intimacy can fail if there is not mental/emotional intimacy. It is also why friendships built on fun & nothing else can fail.) So, what victorious results do we want to have aside from the wonderful experience of being so close to the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit? Most of us want our prayers answered, to have peace in our everyday life, & we need to have the level of trust in God that this closeness brings. We also want to understand the scriptures well, & there is something about intimacy with the writer that makes the words they write come alive. Therefore, I submit that the closer we are to God the better we know how to pray, feel secure in him, & conduct our lives.
Intimacy with God-seeing him as Daddy, friend, & even husband is not a common teaching in many churches and I have to wonder why. Probably for the same reason having a personal, voluntary acceptance of Christ as savior is not taught. It is a failure to understand the most simple of scriptures where there is no true acceptance of Christ, & as if you do not know a person you cannot be intimate with them. If you do not know God in the most simplest of terms you cannot progress to an intimate relationship with him. We must not forget in this that Jesus left the Holy Spirit as our counselor & the way to hear the counselor is to have close relationship with him. In spite of the scriptures' description of who he is as a part of the Godhead many continue to see him as some unknown that is in our heart & is represented externally as a dove. He isn't a dove or an unknown-he is God! For years I didn't really understand the trinity until I realized the three persons are similar to how we can be a child, parent, friend all at one time!
Scriptures to help understand knowing God intimately (don't forget to read the ones before & after):
Jn. 10:3, 27 show if you heard his voice once you can continue to. This is not to say it won't be a challenge at times!
2 Jn 4:1 Sometimes God speaks to us through others, but this scripture explains that we must be cautious in who we listen to.
1 Jn. 4:13-21 Fear or unforgiveness often interferes with our ability to hear God. We don't often recognize anxieties stem from fear, or that we've really not forgiven someone. These things can block conversation with God. Remember in 2 Tim.1:7 we are told we do not have a spirit of fear!
Rev. 1:6 In both the Old Testament & the New Testament believers are called a kingdom of priests. (You'll find another reference in Exodus.) This gives us privilege with God.
So, move beyond into the Holy of Holies in your conversations with God (don't just talk at God, speak with God). Remember this means you must first truly worship God so you can be in his presence. An attitude of worship when approaching the Lord means everything! (Thankfulness, praise, & humility can become second nature to us when approaching the Lord.) Have victory in prayer, with your relationship with the Lord, & in life. When Christ was crucified for us the curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn allowing all access to the intimate presence of God. It belongs to every Christian forever.
Getting back to intimacy, as we walk with God we learn that he is the master & we delight in knowing we are his servant as we do things in the kingdom for him. From the shut-in who is a valiant prayer warrior for others to the missionary who puts themselves in harm's way so that they can witness for Christ & everything in between, people learn to work for & with God. It is at this point that I think sometimes a disconnect occurs. We are saved, we are trying to hear the voice of God, & we are serving him. Suddenly it is like a brick wall surrounds our prayers, God has disappeared from sight, & we are unsure who we are in Christ! Someone suggests that we are a friend of God & that he is our closest friend, always at the ready to help us. Someone else may suggest that he is our parent, & as so, we are the child of a king, entitled to the prosperity, dignity, & resources of a king. We may mentally accept that he is our best friend & that we are his child, but emotionally we still feel defeat in moving our life forward spiritually, practically, & emotionally. Confusion creeps in as the enemy of our soul invades our thoughts & reminds us of past mistakes, developing fear in our minds about any future victory.
It is at this juncture we need to take a look at the degree of intimacy we have with the Lord, & ask ourselves how well we really "know" the Lord. Knowing him means feeling wrapped in his love as you would feel wrapped in the love of a betrothed, & it means feeling that "connection" in communication with him that induces a strong sense of security much like putting in a security system in your home that is connected to the police, fire, & rescue stations. Knowing God is to have a feeling of immense protection & the ability to have very intimate conversation at any time. OK, that sounds very nice but how do we get there? I believe it is through praise & worship that we should draw so close to God that we are inspired, awed, or excited about our closeness to him. Folks use the terms interchangeably but they are not the same-you might praise your Mom for a job well done at work, but you would not worship her. Worship is a term meant for God alone, despite the fact that we have come to worship idols in our lives we do not even realize. What you expend the most emotion on, that is not God, is your idol. For some it is money, for some it can be alcohol, sex, power, pride, etc.
My experience has been that praise should lead into worship whether at home or at church. When you enter into praising God for all he is & has done for you it should bring you "into his presence" which is a glorious place-the presence of the king of kings is a quiet humbling place where you are so in awe of his majesty you bow, whether in your heart or physically. This can occur in song or in prayer-it is a deeply spiritual place where you feel so comfortable & open to his spirit that your knowledge of him & relationship with him grows & deepens. The word says that we are a kingdom of priests. In the Old Testament we read about the Holy of Holies where only the priests are allowed to go. We, as priests, can enter the Holy of Holies, which is the very presence of God! Just as it would be difficult for Old Testament believers to understand what the Holy of Holies was like, it is difficult today to understand the very intimate presence of the Lord unless we have been there. I would suggest that getting there simply requires an open mind & a patient quiet spirit as you praise him in song or prayer. At some point you will feel the Holy Spirit move you into genuine "worship" & that is when you know you are indeed in his presence-you can literally feel it surrounding you. When we voluntarily accept Christ as our personal savior we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but it is at these times that we are filled with the H.S. to overflowing. As this intimacy grows it becomes much more evident in our everyday life in that we come into his presence much more quickly, often in an instant. You can literally feel him suddenly surround you with his presence & peace. I have at times had this happen unexpectedly, as one might have a friend just drop in one day to say hello. Not knowing why he desires this intimate closeness I just begin to pray or sing & praise to him. He may or may not show me why he suddenly wanted to be up close & very personal but I always know there was a reason & I am blessed to have had some time in the Holy of Holies!
So, back to why this is the key to victory...well, in a normal human relationships it is intimate closeness ( I mean this as an emotional, mental connection not a physical one) that we have the most victorious results. When we are down & out who comes to the rescue? Who accepts us just as we are? Who doesn't judge us when we make a mistake, but encourage us to get up and go on? This is a picture of God & is the reflection of a Godly person. (This is why marriages with the greatest of sexual intimacy can fail if there is not mental/emotional intimacy. It is also why friendships built on fun & nothing else can fail.) So, what victorious results do we want to have aside from the wonderful experience of being so close to the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit? Most of us want our prayers answered, to have peace in our everyday life, & we need to have the level of trust in God that this closeness brings. We also want to understand the scriptures well, & there is something about intimacy with the writer that makes the words they write come alive. Therefore, I submit that the closer we are to God the better we know how to pray, feel secure in him, & conduct our lives.
Intimacy with God-seeing him as Daddy, friend, & even husband is not a common teaching in many churches and I have to wonder why. Probably for the same reason having a personal, voluntary acceptance of Christ as savior is not taught. It is a failure to understand the most simple of scriptures where there is no true acceptance of Christ, & as if you do not know a person you cannot be intimate with them. If you do not know God in the most simplest of terms you cannot progress to an intimate relationship with him. We must not forget in this that Jesus left the Holy Spirit as our counselor & the way to hear the counselor is to have close relationship with him. In spite of the scriptures' description of who he is as a part of the Godhead many continue to see him as some unknown that is in our heart & is represented externally as a dove. He isn't a dove or an unknown-he is God! For years I didn't really understand the trinity until I realized the three persons are similar to how we can be a child, parent, friend all at one time!
Scriptures to help understand knowing God intimately (don't forget to read the ones before & after):
Jn. 10:3, 27 show if you heard his voice once you can continue to. This is not to say it won't be a challenge at times!
2 Jn 4:1 Sometimes God speaks to us through others, but this scripture explains that we must be cautious in who we listen to.
1 Jn. 4:13-21 Fear or unforgiveness often interferes with our ability to hear God. We don't often recognize anxieties stem from fear, or that we've really not forgiven someone. These things can block conversation with God. Remember in 2 Tim.1:7 we are told we do not have a spirit of fear!
Rev. 1:6 In both the Old Testament & the New Testament believers are called a kingdom of priests. (You'll find another reference in Exodus.) This gives us privilege with God.
So, move beyond into the Holy of Holies in your conversations with God (don't just talk at God, speak with God). Remember this means you must first truly worship God so you can be in his presence. An attitude of worship when approaching the Lord means everything! (Thankfulness, praise, & humility can become second nature to us when approaching the Lord.) Have victory in prayer, with your relationship with the Lord, & in life. When Christ was crucified for us the curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn allowing all access to the intimate presence of God. It belongs to every Christian forever.
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