The Battle for Intimacy

The greatest battle will always be intimacy.

What am I talking about? I am talking about your relationship with your Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. What is your relationship like with them? Is it close? Is it casual? Is it structured and rigid? Is it open and honest? Think about it for a minute… Do you desire more? Let me ask another question, in what manner do you read your Bible? How do you view the Holy Scriptures? A historical document? Is it something to look at only theologically? A book of interesting stories? A rules and regulation book? A guide book? Is your Bible precious to you? Do you cherish it? I believe your view of the Scriptures and your view of God are tied together.

If you received a letter from someone who loved you deeply and passionately, who would do anything for you, would you read it? Or just toss it aside? Or would you put it on shelf and not open it? If you read it, in what manner would you read it?
Our relationship with our Father and His Son is to be personal and intimate. I view the Scriptures as a letter written to me from my Father. A letter in which HE shares His heart. HE encourages and challenges. HE desires to give me guidance and direction for my protection because He loves me. HE is not going to make my life easy because HE wants me to grow into maturity. And that comes through trials and making mistakes. One of the hardest things for a parent is to give their child enough room to fail. I don’t think it is any different for our Heavenly Father. I think He designed the family the way HE did so we could better understand HIM and our relationship with HIM. Our family structure has gotten so messed up in this world that we (and the children) are losing the understanding of how HE created it. Thus it is becoming much more difficult to relate and understand who HE is.

There needs to be reverence, a fear of the Lord. I think it is healthy for children to have a fear of their father and his hand of discipline. We as a people like to talk about the love of GOD but we forget to mention that inside that love is the hand of discipline when necessary. Love and discipline, you cannot have one without the other.

How does one’s relationship become more intimate with the Creator? Reading GOD’S Word as a letter written to you helps. Obedience to GOD (His Word and His voice) will truly bring you closer to HIM. I want to make it clear, so I will say it again: following Christ does NOT mean that life will be a bed of roses. It does not mean that you will not have trials or tribulations, that you will get what you want. It’s not that God doesn’t bless, we just conveniently forget that we are called to suffer as Christ suffered. If you want an easier life on this side of eternity do not follow Christ. But you will not have meaning or purpose and you will not experience joy that can only come from the Lord. It is a choice that God gives us.

Here is a statement that I liked from this morning’s sermon:
(For each follower of Christ) Scripture clearly states…
--The Cross comes before the crown…
--Suffering comes before glory…
--Sacrifice comes before reward…

It doesn’t make sense if we look at it from a human perspective but spiritually…we win by losing. We gain by giving. We live by dying to self.

Now, did you ask yourself the above questions while you were reading? Did you really think and evaluate yourself and your relationship with the God of the universe?

Do you really want to get close to HIM? Do you really want to do what it takes (yes, it is work) to become intimate with the Father?