Wednesday's "What's God been teaching me?" #3
Phew...It's definetely been a rough week. There are a lot of small things God has been teaching me about submiting to authority by obeying the law, about praying and thanking God for my worries, and about the importance of relying upon God throughout the day. However, there is one thing that I believe God is leading me into, and I don't fully understand it. In fact I know very little about it or how it works. This grand elusive subject is that of spiritual intimacy with God.
What is spiritual intimacy? I don't completely know, but I do know that it has to do with the private and personal relationship with God. It's the kind of relationship where one expresses or shares their deepest nature with God as He shares His deepest nature with us. My own personal conviction is that an intimate relationship supercedes mere communication with one another. I think that an intimate relationship is revealing who you are at the depths of your soul not just by words, but by actions, and thoughts. Here are some quotes about spiritual intimacy that I have come across:
I know that intimacy with the Lord is the place of abiding without wavering on my part and without any obstacle to the flow of the Spirit into my life. - Charles Stanley
That we might accustom ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize God intimately present with us.
What is very interesting about both of these quotes is that they both indicate that intamacy is not just a moment with God. They both seem to be saying that intimacy with God is a continuing and on-going relationship, or that if it isn't that it's not intimate. Two of the things mentioned in the quotes above are what God has been teaching me about intimacy with Him. These two aspects are prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Intimacy with God through Prayer
As Brother Lawrence said, intimacy with God involves "a continual conversation with Him." Or as the Bible puts it, "pray continually." (1 Thess 5:17) An intimate relationship with God does not end in the morning after we read and pray for a bit. It needs to be a ongoing relationship throughout the day. Let me put it in human terms:
A married man and wife have an intimate relationship with each other. They love each other's presence, company, and time spent with each other. Ideally they would be able to be together all the time, however things like jobs and school get in the way. However, the personal aspect of their lives is lived together. This means waking up together, eating breakfast together, talking to each other throughout the day, maybe at lunch with a phone call, eating supper together, and doing whatever in the evenings together, and falling asleep together. They are with each other throughout the day as much as possible because they love each other and have an intimate realtionship with each other.
Now put this to God. An intimate relationship through prayer continues throughout the day. It goes past your hour-a-day of daily devotional time, to living every minute in devotion to God. It involves praying throughout the day about everything and expressing ourselves to God more and more as we rely on Him for big things and small things, as we worship Him for who He is, as we walk with Him everywhere.
There are alot of people that treat their relationship with God as a dating realtionship. That is, they want to be with God at certain dates, times, and moments. They want to get to know God better through planned outings and special times together. In a dating realtionship, people are only with each other when they are on the date and then they seperate to their own respective houses. God, however, wants more than just a dating relationship with us. He wants more than just planned events and outings like church, sunday school, bible studies, care groups, sunday morning worship, Bible camp, etc... Too many people grow with God only at these times and go back to their house and school and forget about Him. If we are to be intimate with God we have to walk with Him all the time. Sure we can still have our events and our planned times with Him in the morning, but we need to cultivate our relationship with Him aside from these too. After all, He already lives within us. We need to invite Him to be intimate with us throughout the day by constant prayer and focus on Him.
Imagine you were in love with someone. Imagine they were the most beautiful person you've ever met or known. You'd want to be with them all the time and you'd be thinking about them very often, if not all the time. Dare I say, you'd be having conversations with them in your head throughout your day.
Now imagine that the someone is God. Are you in love with Him? He is the most beautiful One you can ever have met or known. If we are in love with God wouldn't we think about Him often, if not all the time? Wouldn't we have conversations with Him in our head throughout our day? The crazy thing is, is that we can talk to Him anytime. He is always with us. You can't miss God because He is always with you! Why wouldn't we pray to Him often throughout our day and talk to Him. Then the dates we go on with Him, like our morning deovtions become so much more special. They become times when we cry out to God. They become times where we pour out hearts out to Him.
I don't want to have a relationship with God that lives from one date to the next, one morning devotion time to the next, one Sunday morning service to the next. I want to have an intimate relationship with Him!!! I want to be with Him all the time! I will talk to Him all day no matter what I am doing! I want to truly get to know, and be everso deeply in love with this Beautiful One.
This is what I believe Paul was talking about when He said "pray continually." (1 Thess 5:17) If we want to have a more intimate relationship with God, that is the start. To some there might be fear in being that close to someone so amazing, holy and righteous, when we are so predictable, sinful, and futile. However, I believe that if we ask God to draw us closer to Him, He will. And He won't do it all at once or scare us. I believe He gently leads us one step at a time. Like a shepherd carrying a lamb through a raging river, He takes us one step at a time, all the while whispering to us through His Holy Spirit that there is nothing to be afraid of.
Sometimes we don't hear that whisper. Or sometimes we ignore it. Sometimes we are afraid to submit to those arms of love because we look around and see the raging river of life. And the last thing we want to do is let go of any control we might think we have. This is why everyday we need to be intimate with God through His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit within us guides us closer to Him and makes our relationship with Him grow and become more and more intimate. Not only that, but God shows His affection to us through His Holy Spirit. He guides us into the best places, and the blessings that we yearn for. God whispers in our ear and teaches the truth through His Holy Spirit. To resist, would be like resisting a loving embrace from a loved one.
Intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit
Too often we get to a place in our lives where we think that our actions, thoughts, or words will take us closer to God. But, only the Holy Spirit can draw us closer to God. As Charles Stanley wrote, "intimacy with the Lord is the place of abiding without wavering on my part and without any obstacle to the flow of the Spirit into my life." We need to let our actions, thoughts, and words be the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As John 15:4 says, "No branch can bear fruit by itself." So what do we do? Remain or abide in the vine, Jesus Christ. To abide in Him we need to surrender to the Holy Spirit's working and moving in our life. We need to let the Holy Spirit govern our thoughts, actions, and words. Either way the Holy Spirit will guide us to the truth. If we abide in Him, we will be listening for that wisper as we pray, read the Word, read books, talk to people, and listen to people. Through this whisper, God will guide us into the truth. If we choose not to abide in Him, then He will still guide us to the truth, but in a possibly more painful way. Like learning the hard way.
Hebrews 12 talks about how the Lord loves those whom He disciplines. My personal conviction is that if we relied on the Holy Spirit to listen and obey, we would reach the same end by a far more peaceful and joyful way. Intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit is what produces the fruit of the Spirit. I know that I want love, joy , peace, patience, etc...
However, living by the Spirit, is something that the Spirit has to teach us to do. So we need to be willfully submitting to His Holy Spirit each day. In fact, the first point above about prayer and intimacy is really one in the same with this one, since the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the father. Our prayers are directed to God through the Holy Spirit. (Rom 8)
So to summarize, since this is somewhat disorganized information, spiritual intimacy with God is wonderful and full of love, joy, peace, and blessing. But how do we pursue a more intimate relationship with God?
What is spiritual intimacy? I don't completely know, but I do know that it has to do with the private and personal relationship with God. It's the kind of relationship where one expresses or shares their deepest nature with God as He shares His deepest nature with us. My own personal conviction is that an intimate relationship supercedes mere communication with one another. I think that an intimate relationship is revealing who you are at the depths of your soul not just by words, but by actions, and thoughts. Here are some quotes about spiritual intimacy that I have come across:
I know that intimacy with the Lord is the place of abiding without wavering on my part and without any obstacle to the flow of the Spirit into my life. - Charles Stanley
That we might accustom ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize God intimately present with us.
- Brother Lawrence
What is very interesting about both of these quotes is that they both indicate that intamacy is not just a moment with God. They both seem to be saying that intimacy with God is a continuing and on-going relationship, or that if it isn't that it's not intimate. Two of the things mentioned in the quotes above are what God has been teaching me about intimacy with Him. These two aspects are prayer and the Holy Spirit.
Intimacy with God through Prayer
As Brother Lawrence said, intimacy with God involves "a continual conversation with Him." Or as the Bible puts it, "pray continually." (1 Thess 5:17) An intimate relationship with God does not end in the morning after we read and pray for a bit. It needs to be a ongoing relationship throughout the day. Let me put it in human terms:
A married man and wife have an intimate relationship with each other. They love each other's presence, company, and time spent with each other. Ideally they would be able to be together all the time, however things like jobs and school get in the way. However, the personal aspect of their lives is lived together. This means waking up together, eating breakfast together, talking to each other throughout the day, maybe at lunch with a phone call, eating supper together, and doing whatever in the evenings together, and falling asleep together. They are with each other throughout the day as much as possible because they love each other and have an intimate realtionship with each other.
Now put this to God. An intimate relationship through prayer continues throughout the day. It goes past your hour-a-day of daily devotional time, to living every minute in devotion to God. It involves praying throughout the day about everything and expressing ourselves to God more and more as we rely on Him for big things and small things, as we worship Him for who He is, as we walk with Him everywhere.
There are alot of people that treat their relationship with God as a dating realtionship. That is, they want to be with God at certain dates, times, and moments. They want to get to know God better through planned outings and special times together. In a dating realtionship, people are only with each other when they are on the date and then they seperate to their own respective houses. God, however, wants more than just a dating relationship with us. He wants more than just planned events and outings like church, sunday school, bible studies, care groups, sunday morning worship, Bible camp, etc... Too many people grow with God only at these times and go back to their house and school and forget about Him. If we are to be intimate with God we have to walk with Him all the time. Sure we can still have our events and our planned times with Him in the morning, but we need to cultivate our relationship with Him aside from these too. After all, He already lives within us. We need to invite Him to be intimate with us throughout the day by constant prayer and focus on Him.
Imagine you were in love with someone. Imagine they were the most beautiful person you've ever met or known. You'd want to be with them all the time and you'd be thinking about them very often, if not all the time. Dare I say, you'd be having conversations with them in your head throughout your day.
Now imagine that the someone is God. Are you in love with Him? He is the most beautiful One you can ever have met or known. If we are in love with God wouldn't we think about Him often, if not all the time? Wouldn't we have conversations with Him in our head throughout our day? The crazy thing is, is that we can talk to Him anytime. He is always with us. You can't miss God because He is always with you! Why wouldn't we pray to Him often throughout our day and talk to Him. Then the dates we go on with Him, like our morning deovtions become so much more special. They become times when we cry out to God. They become times where we pour out hearts out to Him.
I don't want to have a relationship with God that lives from one date to the next, one morning devotion time to the next, one Sunday morning service to the next. I want to have an intimate relationship with Him!!! I want to be with Him all the time! I will talk to Him all day no matter what I am doing! I want to truly get to know, and be everso deeply in love with this Beautiful One.
This is what I believe Paul was talking about when He said "pray continually." (1 Thess 5:17) If we want to have a more intimate relationship with God, that is the start. To some there might be fear in being that close to someone so amazing, holy and righteous, when we are so predictable, sinful, and futile. However, I believe that if we ask God to draw us closer to Him, He will. And He won't do it all at once or scare us. I believe He gently leads us one step at a time. Like a shepherd carrying a lamb through a raging river, He takes us one step at a time, all the while whispering to us through His Holy Spirit that there is nothing to be afraid of.
Sometimes we don't hear that whisper. Or sometimes we ignore it. Sometimes we are afraid to submit to those arms of love because we look around and see the raging river of life. And the last thing we want to do is let go of any control we might think we have. This is why everyday we need to be intimate with God through His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit within us guides us closer to Him and makes our relationship with Him grow and become more and more intimate. Not only that, but God shows His affection to us through His Holy Spirit. He guides us into the best places, and the blessings that we yearn for. God whispers in our ear and teaches the truth through His Holy Spirit. To resist, would be like resisting a loving embrace from a loved one.
Intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit
Too often we get to a place in our lives where we think that our actions, thoughts, or words will take us closer to God. But, only the Holy Spirit can draw us closer to God. As Charles Stanley wrote, "intimacy with the Lord is the place of abiding without wavering on my part and without any obstacle to the flow of the Spirit into my life." We need to let our actions, thoughts, and words be the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As John 15:4 says, "No branch can bear fruit by itself." So what do we do? Remain or abide in the vine, Jesus Christ. To abide in Him we need to surrender to the Holy Spirit's working and moving in our life. We need to let the Holy Spirit govern our thoughts, actions, and words. Either way the Holy Spirit will guide us to the truth. If we abide in Him, we will be listening for that wisper as we pray, read the Word, read books, talk to people, and listen to people. Through this whisper, God will guide us into the truth. If we choose not to abide in Him, then He will still guide us to the truth, but in a possibly more painful way. Like learning the hard way.
Hebrews 12 talks about how the Lord loves those whom He disciplines. My personal conviction is that if we relied on the Holy Spirit to listen and obey, we would reach the same end by a far more peaceful and joyful way. Intimacy with God through the Holy Spirit is what produces the fruit of the Spirit. I know that I want love, joy , peace, patience, etc...
However, living by the Spirit, is something that the Spirit has to teach us to do. So we need to be willfully submitting to His Holy Spirit each day. In fact, the first point above about prayer and intimacy is really one in the same with this one, since the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the father. Our prayers are directed to God through the Holy Spirit. (Rom 8)
So to summarize, since this is somewhat disorganized information, spiritual intimacy with God is wonderful and full of love, joy, peace, and blessing. But how do we pursue a more intimate relationship with God?
- Prayerfully walking with God through all things everywhere. (1 Thess 5:17)
- Surrendering each day and everything we think, do , and say to the Holy Spirit, so that He can guide us into intimacy with Him. (Rom 12:1)
posted by Joshua at 12:42 PM
3 Comments:
good stuff josh, it's so important to be intimate with God all the time. i like to compare him to my heartbeat, i mean, if i didn't have a heartbeat, i'd be dead, and when i'm not close with God i feel spiritually dead. it's not like you can get rid of your heartbeat easily once you have it either, and if you do, then clearly, you're dead. having God with you all the time is as essential as having a heartbeat because it keeps you alive, just like God keeps our souls alive.
Wow, that was intense! Yeah, I totally agree with what you guys are saying. I know those things are what God's also been recently teaching me. I've been thinking a lot about being driven to God at all times. He's waiting for us to come running to Him, to say that we love Him, and to tell Him everything as we spend all of our time with Him. If we put our trust in Him, I believe He will give us gentle whispers as to what to do next. My grandma told me a really good quote the other day: "God can only steer a moving boat." So we have to get moving, and He will steer us in the right direction.
whoa. thanx a bunch Josh!
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