* | DISCLAIMER: These blogs are simply reflections and recordings of my personal journey. I am not teaching anything. I am here to see what God teaches me. | * |
Have we met?
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Have we met? Have we chatted online? face to face? via messages? Have we shared intimate details about ourselves? shared our hearts? confessed our sins, fears, or worries to one another? Have we confided in one another regarding our desires? our hopes? our dreams? Have we shared secrets? Have we laughed together? cried together? placed our trust in one another? If we have, then we know one another intimately. If we have not, then we do not know one another that well, do we.
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Defining INTIMATE:
1. associated in close personal relations: an intimate friend. |
(As written on Dictionary.com)
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Hmmm... Confession time:
I started writing this blog yesterday, then rewrote much of it several times before casting everything but the first paragraph in the bin. This morning I put this blog into the 'drafts' folder and went in search of my Bible. In picking up my Bible, I have discovered I've strayed further from God than I cared to admit even to myself, because, as I sat down to read the Bible, seeking intimacy with God just so I can know Him as He is and not as I want Him to be or as someone else told me He is, anger stirred within.
As the anger chewed on my insides, I studied it, wanting to know why it was blocking me from reading. I questioned its existence and strength, knowing -- or, at the very least believing I'm not blaming God for the 'messiness' in my life, and I realised it's more frustration than anger.
I started writing this blog yesterday, then rewrote much of it several times before casting everything but the first paragraph in the bin. This morning I put this blog into the 'drafts' folder and went in search of my Bible. In picking up my Bible, I have discovered I've strayed further from God than I cared to admit even to myself, because, as I sat down to read the Bible, seeking intimacy with God just so I can know Him as He is and not as I want Him to be or as someone else told me He is, anger stirred within.
As the anger chewed on my insides, I studied it, wanting to know why it was blocking me from reading. I questioned its existence and strength, knowing -- or, at the very least believing I'm not blaming God for the 'messiness' in my life, and I realised it's more frustration than anger.
FRUSTRATION: |
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Okay, so, yeah... I understand that sensation and how I came to own it. And, truth was, the frustration was on the rise because I was expecting more 'unfulfilled' answers and 'unresolved problems'.
But, I didn't want to let that growth stop me from getting to know God intimately. I actually wanted to push it aside, forget about it, and pretend it didn't exist and never did. I tried to ignore it and read on... BUT, I'm hanging out with God, right -- the Maker of Heaven and Earth; He who knows everything -- so I can't exactly hide what's going on inside me, especially when ignoring what's going on inside one's own soul tends to give 'it' greater power, and the frustration was, once again, rising. So I confronted it, knowing God is with me, and asking Him to help me understand what my problem was. Then I saw my mindset (the foundation of the frustration): What's the point of reading the Bible again, when He's not going to talk to me?
I mean, I know He can drop revelation in my heart whenever He wants, and He knows I truly appreciate that -- especially when that revelation sets me free of heartache, a bad mood, wrong thinking, and so on -- but it's not like we'll be sharing a face-to-face conversation where I can get to know Him through His actions and responses and so on. I live in the flesh, for goodness sake; I need 'fleshly' interaction. Frustrating!
And that's when it came to me: There is a way for us to know God personally and intimately, as we would any friend.
The image that came to me was 'doing good works' -- and that NOT to win favour with God (we already have that), and NOT to earn our salvation (Jesus has that covered), but so we can see God in action.
The understanding I believe I received is: If we know Jesus (through the written word, the Bible) then we have seen the Father, but it's one thing to know someone as an acquaintance, and another to know them intimately. It's one thing to sit here and read and observe History through the written pages, and to receive insight into the heart of God through Jesus, and it's another to know Him and feel Him and see His heart in action when walking with Him and witnessing, first hand, how He interacts with the world. And the only way to do that -- as far as I can see now -- is to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
I mean, what better way to know someone than to hear what they are saying AND observe their heart in action!
God once placed on my heart: The Bible is God's heart on paper; Jesus is God's heart in the flesh; The Holy Spirit is God's heart in us; We are to be God's heart to the world. Go love someone.
The Bible is the living word of God. Jesus is the living word of God. The Holy Spirit lives the word of God and enables us to do so, too, but if we do not follow His promptings, if we do not reach out to the world, in love, as God calls us to do through 'the living word', by being the living word (which, in all its glory, is, basically, LOVE), then we fail to know the fullness of His heart. If we do not follow the Holy Spirit's promptings, giving when He says to give, embracing when He says to embrace, regarding an enemy as we would a love friend when He urges us to do so, and so on, then we not only fail to be the heart and living word of God to the world, we fail to know God more intimately. Or so I now believe.
But, I didn't want to let that growth stop me from getting to know God intimately. I actually wanted to push it aside, forget about it, and pretend it didn't exist and never did. I tried to ignore it and read on... BUT, I'm hanging out with God, right -- the Maker of Heaven and Earth; He who knows everything -- so I can't exactly hide what's going on inside me, especially when ignoring what's going on inside one's own soul tends to give 'it' greater power, and the frustration was, once again, rising. So I confronted it, knowing God is with me, and asking Him to help me understand what my problem was. Then I saw my mindset (the foundation of the frustration): What's the point of reading the Bible again, when He's not going to talk to me?
I mean, I know He can drop revelation in my heart whenever He wants, and He knows I truly appreciate that -- especially when that revelation sets me free of heartache, a bad mood, wrong thinking, and so on -- but it's not like we'll be sharing a face-to-face conversation where I can get to know Him through His actions and responses and so on. I live in the flesh, for goodness sake; I need 'fleshly' interaction. Frustrating!
And that's when it came to me: There is a way for us to know God personally and intimately, as we would any friend.
The image that came to me was 'doing good works' -- and that NOT to win favour with God (we already have that), and NOT to earn our salvation (Jesus has that covered), but so we can see God in action.
The understanding I believe I received is: If we know Jesus (through the written word, the Bible) then we have seen the Father, but it's one thing to know someone as an acquaintance, and another to know them intimately. It's one thing to sit here and read and observe History through the written pages, and to receive insight into the heart of God through Jesus, and it's another to know Him and feel Him and see His heart in action when walking with Him and witnessing, first hand, how He interacts with the world. And the only way to do that -- as far as I can see now -- is to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
I mean, what better way to know someone than to hear what they are saying AND observe their heart in action!
God once placed on my heart: The Bible is God's heart on paper; Jesus is God's heart in the flesh; The Holy Spirit is God's heart in us; We are to be God's heart to the world. Go love someone.
The Bible is the living word of God. Jesus is the living word of God. The Holy Spirit lives the word of God and enables us to do so, too, but if we do not follow His promptings, if we do not reach out to the world, in love, as God calls us to do through 'the living word', by being the living word (which, in all its glory, is, basically, LOVE), then we fail to know the fullness of His heart. If we do not follow the Holy Spirit's promptings, giving when He says to give, embracing when He says to embrace, regarding an enemy as we would a love friend when He urges us to do so, and so on, then we not only fail to be the heart and living word of God to the world, we fail to know God more intimately. Or so I now believe.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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So, what I'm seeing now is: Doing 'good works' isn't about religiosity, or about looking good, or being slaves to legalism, or any such thing... it is a way to get to know God more intimately.
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We need to be the living word of God. His hands, His feet, His heart, to the world. Giving when we are prompted to give. Praying when we are prompted to pray -- in love, even for our enemy. Being humble as Jesus is humble. Reacting in whatever way God calls us to react to any given situation, as He would react... In doing this, in being His hands, feet, and heart to the world He loves, we will experience His heart, His presence, Him... and then we shall know Him as He is, for who He is.
The Bible -- as Jesus delivers it to us. Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit. The promptings of the Holy Spirit. Obedience to those promptings... These, I feel, are how we get to know our Heavenly Father intimately.
The Bible -- as Jesus delivers it to us. Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit. The promptings of the Holy Spirit. Obedience to those promptings... These, I feel, are how we get to know our Heavenly Father intimately.
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So, this then, is my next step: Doing good works; following the prompting of The Holy Spirit... knowing the prize is greater awareness of God and who He is, and receiving a more intimate relationship with Him.
This is my next step. This is my desire.
This is my next step. This is my desire.