INTIMACY WITH GOD

God wants to give His power to those who spend time in His presence and have soft hearts. Jesus’ disciples were with their Lord day and night, they did everything together, they spent many nights listening to Him and telling Him what was in their hearts and they were the ones who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and started His church. But before the power came, they had intimacy with Jesus. This truth has never changed, power can come only after intimacy.
 
While being in God’s presence we start to understand ourselves better, as He shows us how we truly are, what is good and what needs correction in our character, heart, mind, speech and actions. Oftentimes the image we have about ourselves, is distorted, as we perceive ourselves based on our past, experiences, emotions and the circumstances we face. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to show us what needs to be changed. It is not easy to sit at Jesus’ feet, as Mary did and do nothing. You might think that you need to do things for the Lord to please Him, but Jesus put things in a different perspective when Martha asked Him to make her sister help her serve:

• Luke 10:41-42 And Jesus answered and said to her, ·“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

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Can you “hear” Martha’s possible thoughts? “Lord, what are You saying? You encourage laziness? She does nothing! I already worked so hard and you say my sister made the right choice? And she will even get to keep it? If I would sit there with her, there will never be any food on the table!” It is good to be like Martha and there are good results for our labor, but the more we learn to rest in God’s presence and receive from Him, the more productive we become while we do our work and the more we will enjoy our walk with Christ.
 
But how do we enter in His presence? The first step is to find a quiet place, where no one will disturb us. Then we need to quiet our minds and focus on the Lord. It is not easy to stop thinking about stuff, or even worrying and planning what we should do next. For many of us this can be done best by listening to worship or “soaking” music inspired by the Holy Spirit. We need to choose to open our hearts and receive what the Holy Spirit has for us and what He wants to do in us. As we start to praise God and thank Him for what He has done for us, His presence will start to manifest. The more often we do this, the sooner we get to sense His presence. Once we change our lifestyle to where we do our best to spend quality time with our Lord on a daily basis, the more we grow and mature spiritually and we can become more effective in God’s Kingdom. To learn to hear God’s voice, we can read the Bible asking the Holy Spirit to reveal its truth to us and to continue do it until what we read becomes real and speaks to our hearts.
 
You might say that God is omnipresent and that is true. He is everywhere all the time, but it takes effort and determination for us to be able to step out of our flesh and reach to Him in the spiritual realm. We need to get to where we silence our physical minds and senses, to allow to our born-again spirits to take control and the Holy Spirit to manifest. The more time we spend in God’s glory, the more we learn to live led by the Holy Spirit and not by our flesh.
 
To get to know someone takes time and effort. A strong relationship develops in time, as the two persons involved in it are sincere, devoted and love each other. We need to be the same in our relationship with God, as He is perfect in every way and already did all it takes for us to be His beloved.
 
The Lord is calling us all: “Come up here! All is much better, more beautiful and you will find perfect rest for your souls.” This is what getting in His presence does for us, we get to taste God’s love and goodness at the highest level, we get rest and strengthen our faith. And as we spend more and more time with Jesus, loving on Him and He loving on us, we become more and more like Him: more loving, kind, patient and merciful towards others. So much so, that others will delight to be in our presence and will start to desire what we have. This is the best evangelism method! As soon as we choose to turn our attention to the Lord, we start to think about the spiritual things and realize they matter more than the physical world around us. The spiritual world becomes more real and that helps us to tune our spiritual senses into seeing and hearing what God wants us to receive. In Colossians 3:2, we are urged to “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” and in Ephesians 2:6, it says that God “… made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” This means we are already in the spiritual realm, but we need to turn off the physical senses and turn on our spiritual ones to perceive it! Hardships, sadness, hurt and losses cannot overcome God’s presence and peace, as long as we truly love and seek God. Whenever we are hungry and thirsty for God, He will show up to infill us! When we choose to surrender it all unto the Lord, He can work for us, fix our problems, heal and restore us, take care of our needs, give us favor and even set a table for us in front of our enemies (Psalms 23:5).

• Isaiah 4:5b-6 For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.

 
When we enter in God’s glory, we are in His shelter. The more we enter into it, the more protected we are and the more we can live led by the Holy Spirit and not by our flesh. Thank You Lord for this wonderful gift!
 
Carmen Pușcaș