1. What is intimacy?
We were created by God to be the friend and companion of God. Therefore, what God desires most is that we know and relate to Him as He really is. The dictionary defines “intimate” as: “marked by close friendship, fellowship or understanding. Intimacy is a close personal relationship in which one shares their deepest thoughts, feelings and desires.” In other words intimacy means, “into me see”. Intimacy is built on unconditional love and acceptance.
As we choose time and again to talk to God about all that we think and feel, He begins to develop a special, one-of-a kind interaction with us. Through good days and bad, while facing great victory and stinging defeat, as we share honestly with our Father what is in our hearts, He begins to tell us what is on His heart. Step-by-step, day-by-day, God leads us into a deeper relationship with Him.
2. Characteristics of an intimate relationship:
| · |
Time spent together – God is always available. |
| · |
Sharing – God shares His plans and desires with us and invites us to participate with Him. |
| · |
Respect – God lets us choose to be in a relationship with Him and never forces us. |
| · |
Listens – His ear is always attentive to our cry. He longs for us to pour out our hearts to Him. |
| · |
Attention – His eye is always on His child and He is always thinking about us. |
| · |
Acceptance – He has made us acceptable in Christ. |
| · |
Openness – God shows Himself through His Son, His Word and all that He has made. |
| · |
Truthful – God only speaks what is true and rejoices in the truth. |
| · |
Giving – His generosity cannot be measured. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and every good and perfect gift is from Him. |
| · |
Forgiveness – He has forgiven all our sins and never brings them up or holds them against us. |
| · |
Trust – He has entrusted us with His Spirit and given us spiritual gifts. |
| · |
Understanding – His understanding is limitless. He knows us better than
we know ourselves. He understands our weaknesses. |
| · |
Approval – He gives His approval to all that are born of His Spirit. |
| · |
Comfort – He is the God of all comfort who ministers to us in all our troubles (2 Cor.1:3). |
| · |
Love – God is perfect love. His love is not earned or deserved. He gives it freely. |
God tells us we will find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts (Jeremiah 29:13). The more we know God the more we will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we become like Him. The more we become like Him, the more we desire to know Him.
3. What is my part in building an intimate relationship with God?
| · |
First, I need to give control of my life to Him (Romans 12:1). |
| · |
Make it my desire and goal to know Him (Philippians 3:8, John 17:3). |
| · |
Seek to know Him by spending time with Him and in His Word. |
| · |
The more we believe and respond to the character of God the more intimate our relationship with Him will become. |
By answering the following questions you can recognize the areas where you need to know God better. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being never and 10 being always), rate your answers to the following questions:
|
____ |
I enjoy spending time with God. |
|
____ |
I share with God my most intimate thoughts and feelings. |
|
____ |
My respect for who God is fills me with a sense of awe. |
|
____ |
I spend time listening to what God has to say. |
|
____ |
I regularly give God my focused attention. |
|
____ |
I trust in God’s goodness even when I don’t understand His ways. |
|
____ |
My life is fully surrendered to God (time, money, relationships, etc.). |
|
____ |
I am free to be completely honest with God about my thoughts and feelings. |
|
____ |
I am content with what God provides for my daily needs. |
|
____ |
I am confident of God’s complete forgiveness. |
|
____ |
It is easy for me to trust God when going through difficult times. |
| ____ |
I spend time in God’s Word in order to know and understand who He is. |
|
____ |
I accept God’s plan for my life. |
|
____ |
I turn to God for comfort when I’m hurting. |
|
____ |
I feel safe in God’s love and believe that nothing can separate us. |
These are not things we can set out to do, but they are things that we should want more and more. These characteristics will increase as we get to know God as He really is. The thing to recognize is that we are not intimate with God because we do not yet see Him correctly. It is not because He is distant or uncaring. God is patiently showing Himself to us through all the events of our life. More often than not, it is the painful events that motivate us to seek Him.
* A word of caution: The way you spend time relating to God will be special to you and your experience may be different from others. Be careful to not compare your experience with others.
4. Suggestions for developing intimacy with God:
|
1) |
Spend time talking to God about your answers to the above questions (those statements you scored 6 or below). Be honest with Him and ask Him to show you anything that may be keeping your from experiencing intimacy with Him. |
| 2) |
Practice personalizing and praying Scripture. Psalm 23 is a good one to start with. |
| 3) |
Spend time in daily worship. Write your own psalms to God. |
| 4) |
Study who God is in the Psalms and by looking at the life of Jesus in the Gospels. |
| 5) |
Keep a journal and share with God your most intimate feelings and desires. |
| 6) |
Set aside “special times” to be alone with God. This is a time for listening, not reading your Bible or praying. Ask God to speak to you. Be still. Write down any thoughts that come to mind. Don’t worry about whether they are your thoughts or His. (If you have trouble quieting your soul, ask the Lord to silence the enemy and allow you to hear only His thoughts). Do not quit if you do not hear a lot at first. Relax and do not try to make anything happen. |
| 7) |
Develop the habit of thinking about what God’s Word says and how it applies to your life. |
© 1999, Scope Ministries
International, Inc.
Jim Craddock, Founder and President Emeritus
|
