On Intimacy with the Lord

Most of my friends have a fear of intimacy. I’m not sure who taught us to fear, but it seems we learned at a young age. Most people are afraid to let others in, afraid to say how we really are and generally unwilling to put down our guard. I used to be one of those.

After a broken relationship, I spent a summer on a working ranch in Southwest Arkansas. I lived by myself in a three bedroom house on a few acres, worked every day outside and would come home to a silent house in the evenings. I had no cell phone, no TV and no internet that summer.

With no option for media, I spent my evenings and weekends reading the Bible, reading Christian books and praying and worshiping in my living room. It was hard to live alone, but it was the best summer of my life because the Lord marked me with intimacy.

From my place of brokenness from a rejection in life, the Lord began to gently heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds as He promised in Psalm 147. He amazed me over and over. As I would sit in His Presence and let His word wash me, He restored me.

I was afraid of intimacy, but Jesus showed me that with Him, it was Ok.

God desires intimacy with His people. It is amazing to me that so much of my life can be consumed with activity, but no personal encounter with Jesus. This is especially true in “ministry world”. It took me three and a half years to graduate from Seminary. By year two, most of us seminarians spent most of our time involved in ministries or churches on top of all our reading requirements for class. We were so busy studying and training for ministry, that at times we would get too busy for Jesus. We spun our wheels so hard and fast being raised up as ministers, we would neglect time with the very One we were doing this for. We traded our first Love for work in His Name.

Life can sometimes be a struggle between balancing religious activity and quiet time with Jesus.

Have you ever shared a morning or evening alone with Jesus? Have you ever sat silently before a sunrise or a sunset and simply breathed praise to the Lord for such beauty? When we listen to the call of the Lord to come away and to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10), we are changed by His Presence. It is when we forsake the sizzle of the world and choose time with Jesus that our hearts can really be fascinated and exhilarated. He is the only one that can satisfy our deepest longings, all we must do is pursue Him.

We were created for intimacy. The problem is we have never learned how to be intimate in a pure and holy way. It is easier to search for intimacy in the dark places of the world, when the whole time, we were meant to go to God.

David’s heart in the Psalms shows that he knew God intimately. He sought The Lord. He loved to meditate on the law day and night. His desire was for the Lord and he had great reverence and respect for The Lord. He also trusted in Him fully and devoted his ways to God, even though he failed in sin.

Think about it, David was a murderer, and an adulterer… biggies on the sin-scale. But you know what? David knew God in an intimate place. Though he had sinned and took Bathsheba for himself, he didn’t try to hide his sin from the Lord. He drew near to God and spent the night in supplication for the life of his son. The son died as God’s judgment, but God drew near to David once more. David was repentant, he asked for forgiveness and he returned to the Lord after sin. We can too.

Intimacy with Jesus is the best way we can spend our lives. What could be more fulfilling and wonderful than to know the very creator of all things in a close and personal way? He is the one who loves us with a divine love that we can not fully comprehend. He demonstrated His Love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

What kind of a divine love can this really be that, Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8). There is so much more to the love of Jesus than we know now. Jesus died for us before we were born, that is true love.

We can love other people because God loved us first. Yet we must love in that order. We must love God first to learn how to love people rightly. If we understand how God loves us and who God is, then we can rightly love one another.

As our relationship with God grows, our relationships with people can fulfill their God-given potential. Could we even go so far as to say that the kind of relationship we have with God paves the way for the kind of relationships we have with people?

How amazing could our relationships on earth be, if they were led and fueled from a deep walk with God in our personal life? We would not have to be afraid of commitment and intimacy any more because we would be grounded in our relationship with Jesus.

As we give over the reigns of control in our relationships with our family, friends, co-workers, and church to God, would He not do a supernatural work in these relationships? Then they could be all they were created to be.

We begin this journey by spending time with God. It is in studying His Word and making time to spend in the quiet place with the Lord. The secret place means time we spend alone with Jesus.

It is when we come away from the demands of the world and choose to be with Him and let Him speak to us through His word, through prayer, and through worship. This is how to truly live.

This is how life was meant to be established - in the Presence of the Lord.