True Life Counseling, Inc.

P.O. Box 874441

Wasilla, Alaska 99687-4441

 

Telephone/Fax 907.357.2777

truelife@gci.net

FREEDOM TALK

Giving Essential Guidance in Forging Strong Relationships

FREEDOM TALK

September 2008

by Cheryl ZumBrunnen

 

INTIMACY WITH JESUS CHRIST

 

Intimacy is essential to our well-being.  Without safe, nurturing intimacy we shrivel up and die emotionally and relationally.  God created us to be ministers of reconciliation.  What is reconciliation but relationship growth pains.  Relationships that have not developed to the point of incorporating SAFE INTIMACY will stay surface forever, or die.

 

God’s design is for intimacy to be the “essential norm” in close relationships.

 

God has given us a concept of relational intimacy in scripture in 1 Cor. 1:9 where He says,  “God who has called you into fellowship (intimacy) with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful.”

 

Fellowship in this context mans “partnership.”  Koinani is a familiar Greek word that means: “the fullest possible partnership and fellowship with God and with others in the church.”  Intimate fellowship with God and His son Jesus produces this type of fellowship and unity in a church (marriage or family).  Only God can produced this genuine koinania or intimate fellowship, love and unity.

Henry Blackaby

 

**If only God can produce genuine koinania, genuine intimacy with us, then intimacy is his responsibility.  My responsibility is to receive what he is offering, choosing to believe that he has no hidden agenda and will not use my vulnerability against me.

            

Below I have listed several vital qualities that we need to have an intimate relationship with God:

 

COMMITMENT:

Dut. 5:7-9   “I AM the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of ANYTHING...” 

Rev. 2:2-5  “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.  I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles and are not, and have found them false.  You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary... “

1 Chron 28:9  “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.  If you seek him, HE WILL BE FOUND BY YOU; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

Ps. 100:5  “For the Lord is good, his love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.”

Jer. 2:1-2; 3:6, 12-14, 19-20  consequences of faithless behavior, and God’s faithfulness to restore

Acts 2:42  “They devoted themselves to...”     DEVOTED, in the Greek, means to “latch on and refuse to let go”; they “latched on” to Jesus and fully committed themselves to Him.

 

LOVE:

Duet 6:5  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

John 15:13  “Greater love hath no man then this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

1 Tim. 1:12-14  (Agape love)  “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”                              Greek work “agape” for love means “unconditional & sacrificial love.

2 Cor. 5:9, 14-15; Luke 9:23; Gal. 2:20; 1 John 5:3 

 

RESPECT, HONOR REVERENCE:

Reverence;  feeling of deep respect, love and awe for something sacred;

AWE: wonder, admiration, respect, esteem, fear;

Ps. 25:12-14  “Who then is the man that fears (reverences) the Lord?  He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.  He will spend his days in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land.”

Lk 11:1-2 the Lord’s prayer

1 Sam. 2:30  “...those who honor me I will honor...”

The word PRAISE means to “place great value on someone,” so when we honor God we are communicating how much we care for him and value him.

 

TRUST:

PROV. 3:5-6  ‘TRUST in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your way acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.”

Ps. 22:4-5  “In You our fathers put their trust; they trusted and You delivered them.  They cried to You and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed.”

Heb. 11:6  And without faith (trust) it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  (choose a right concept of God based on who God says He is.)

 

COMMUNICATION (2 WAY):

SPEAK (PRAYER)  Acts 1:14, 2:42 

LISTEN  John 10:10-11, 27  “My sheep listen to my voice...”

TIME, EFFORT TO KNOW GOD  John 17:3  True eternal life is knowing God and Jesus whom he sent.

HONESTY - TRANSPARENCY  Ps. 62:8  “Trust in him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge.”

1 Sam. 1:10-17  Hannah sharing her deepest intimate need with God.

 

TO KNOW GOD INTIMATELY:

             Is. 43:10, Ex. 33:13 use the Hebrew word “yada” [NOT YODA!] that is translated in English “know.”  This word has a very wide meaning in terms of knowing God:

 

to PERCEIVE - aware of, conscious of, understand, grasp

to UNDERSTAND - grasp the significance, explanation or cause of...

to  BELIEVE - hold as an opinion, think or support...

to CONFORM - abide, submit, yield, comply, adapt, follow

to PERFORM OR LIVE out of my identity

to SEE OR EXPERIENCE His fruit and character flowing in my life

to LEARN - “The more I know, the more I know I want/need to know.”

to RECOGNIZE - identify, acknowledge, perceive, discern, appreciate, commend

to ACCEPT HIS CLAIMS- trust

to BE WILLING - ready, eager and prepared to do something;

to OBEY - comply with the command, direction or request;

 

             Phil. 3:7-10, in the New Testament the Greek words “oida” and “ginosko” are used  to “know” God:

 

to BELIEVE & ACCEPT JESUS

to KNOW JESUS IS TO KNOW GOD

to KNOW TRUTH

to RESPOND IN FAITH

 

PURE LOVE AND DEVOTION FOR GOD:

 

It is that enthusiasm that works with a quiet, untiring , unassuming earnestness and steadiness when it must plod on alone unheard and unnoticed except by the Lord-that enthusiasm that is born not of outward encouragement, not the applause of men, nor by what men call success, nor  by the unholy desires for praise, but that which is born of an inward urge implanted by the Holy Spirit, the overflow of the passion of Christ.  E. S. Gerig

 

Ps. 86:11 Give me an undivided heart.

Ps. 51:10 Create in me a pure heart & renew a steadfast spirit in me.

Ps. 119:36-37  Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.  Turn my eyes from worthless things (idols); preserve my life according to Your word.

 

 

Intimacy is a choice.  No one can force you to be intimate with anyone or anything.

Intimacy with God is a choice.  He bears the burden of producing, creating intimacy.

 

To God, I think intimacy with me means that I have him at the center of my mind, my emotions, my will and my spirit.  Everything I think, say or do filters through his character before it comes out of my being.  I make all my decisions through the powerful, ever-present mind of Christ that lives in me.

 

I choose to have NO confidence in myself about anything!  I choose to confess with my mouth - no matter what my emotions, relationships or circumstances are throwing at me - that HE IS GOD, HE IS MY GOD, AND HE IS ALWAYS A GOOD GOD.

 

I choose, based on what Scripture tells me God has said about himself, to believe by an act of my will, that he loves ME, died for ME, rose for ME, sent the Holy Spirit for ME, means everything he says to ME and about ME, and does not treat ME according to the law, but according to his agape love that he reserved only for himself to give so that nothing of the world, the devil or my flesh could taint it, counterfeit it or distort it in any way.

 

If all that has been said here is true:

             I am IN Christ - unable to be separated from Him -

             I am DESIGNED by Him, unable to effectively be anything other then what he

                          has created me to be -

             I am the EXPRESSION of Him in the world -

             and to live any other way is to live in spiritual adultery,

 

THEN I am captive to intimacy with Him!  I am a slave, a bondservant, siamese twins with Christ.  I am joined to Him in every vital, life-giving part of my being and I desire it to be no other way!