7 Steps to Intimacy with God

Having read last week’s blog post- Infidelity, I See It In Your Heart- you may have felt guilty or maybe you thought to yourself, that’s all true but you don’t really know what to feel. Truthfully, you feel a bit ‘lost.’ Caught in between guilt and no feeling at all.

What’s worse?

Feeling guilty or feeling nothing at all knowing you should feel, something?

The whole scenario made it seem like you were in another world-but you know it’s you and you want to know what to do.

You long to repent like the other sisters around you but you are left feeling a bit outside of this experience simply because you can’t quite comprehend it. Something isn’t adding up.

You are left wondering:

Does God want me, to come close to Him?

Does God want me to get to know Him intimately?

Deeply?

Me?

No matter how shocking this is for you-it’s true.

God is calling you to a place in Him that you have never experienced before. Once you find that place you will never want to be anywhere else.

You may be thinking “yes I have been unfaithful, but I don’t know how to break free and get to that place of building a deep relationship with God!”

Maybe you're thinking “I’ve tried before but these times don’t last. These times of intimacy are set aside for others but not me.”

Maybe you are afraid to show up simply because you don’t know what really to expect and all the stories you’ve heard from other women are just too good to be true.

Or are they?

Let’s see what Holy Spirit has to say about intimacy. Let’s talk about what you need to do to find that place of assurance, freedom and security that comes from finding intimacy in God.

Intimacy is trust. It is the basis on which deep bonds are created. It speaks to closeness and a deep bond.

To repent means to change your mind about something. It should be followed by a change in lifestyle, attitude and action.

Repentance involves an inward decision, with an outward manifestation or sign.

But,

Repentance isn’t necessarily an emotional exercise-but it might be.

Repentance isn’t necessarily the shedding of tears-but tears might accompany the decision.

Repentance is not lip-service. Ladies, you must do what you say you will do. And believe that you can.

You must confess the sin, forsake the sin and its activities and work to restore your right relationship with God.

1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Father, I repent of my infidelity and my unfaithfulness. I am sorry for giving You the left-overs fromPlease the time you have given me each day.

Please, forgive me.

I need your help

God spoke these words to Adulterous Israel. He speaks these words over you today. He reminds you of how intentional His love is. How He purposed to give you His love despite knowing that your heart isn’t truly perfect toward Him. He loves you. He can’t help it. He wants you to know that you are cherished and intentionally loved by Him. Hear Him.

God speaks His heart in Ezekiel 16:4-14. He says-

On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the

open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had

formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked. “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine. “‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So, you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the

God speaks His heart in Ezekiel 16:4-14.

Many years ago, the Lord used this scripture shared by a friend to save me from spiraling out of control. The love He spoke about I did not know it. I had not experienced it although I was a Christian. His word was like balm to my parched, wounded soul. They rescued me. These words

filled me with hope that one day I would fully comprehend such love.

May these words heal you deep within the way they healed me. May the love of God confront you until you give in to His love and fall willingly into His outstretched arms. He has eyes for you alone. It’s true. It is hard to believe, right? But the truth is His love for you runs deep.

God wants to draw you to Himself so you can experience His love every single day of your life. It is this love that draws you into deep fellowship with Him daily.

Knowledge means knowing, understanding, intelligence, wisdom, and discernment.

That word grow implies that you have the capacity to increase over time or stage by stage.

So, what are you to do?

Increase over time or stage by stage your knowledge of God’s love for you.

How?

Read the Bible.

In Ephesians 3: 16-19 …that He (Jesus Christ) would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Your passion for God gets deeper as you grow in your knowledge of Christ’s love for you.

Knowledge of this love leads you to be vulnerable with a God who loves you completely and fully. God’s love if you allow it will draw you away from you and your shortcomings into a place where nothing else matters but His Presence and His voice.

In John 15:9 Jesus says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

Abiding in this love means dwelling, living and staying constant in Jesus' love that deepens your intimacy.

The best part of being in love is that you come as you are. Warts and all. You are accepted with all your imperfections but when you get into God’s presence you will ‘see’ the need for change to take place in your life and in your heart. Remember 1 Peter 1:16 Be ye Holy for I am Holy.

As you pursue intimacy with God, holiness will become an ideal to pursue and not an unrealistic goal to shy away from.

As you come to God or make time for Him, the compromise that once may have defined your life will now have no place in it.

Your people pleasing tendencies and your performance driven activities will fade away until theyare gone from your life.

Your knowledge of your true identity will provide the catalyst for the shift from orphan to daughter and that will become irreversible.

As you come, intimacy gets easier, intimacy gets sweeter as you move pass being self-conscious to knowing of a certainty that you, who you are at the core is fully covered, accepted and loved by God.

So, come as you are-no pretense.

God already knows you through and through and He is not put off by any stench of sin you may still carry. In fact, He already smells Christ on you.

Hear what 2 Corinthians 2:15 says, For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

Come as you are. Come talk with your Husband, the lover of your soul. He’s waiting not just to catch a glimpse of you but to catch the smell that’s you.

So, you have failed to honour God with your time. You haven’t quite lived up to your promise or your expectations. You have been unfaithful. You haven’t given God the preeminence or the prominence He deserves in your life and when you think about all He has done and continues to

do in your life you can’t help but feel ashamed even a little bit. But do like David did-seek the LORD first; see what He will do.

Psalm 34:4-5 says, I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.

Don’t be ashamed. Move past your fears. Go to your Father. He is waiting to welcome you in.

Trust Him.

Your feelings and emotions change constantly. They are not fixed. You know this because somedays you just feel blah while on other days you feel on top of the world. What’s more you know your feelings and emotions change far more frequently than that, truthfully, they can

change every second of the day.

So, what do you need to do?

Be intentional. Wage war.

2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 tells us like it is, We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Afterall, you are no longer a babe; you have matured into a beautiful woman so you fellowship deeply with God whether you feel like it or not. Whether you feel saved or not. Whether your heart condemns you or not and it will! Whether you feel victorious or not!

Remember 1 John 3: 20 says, For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Amen.

Reverential fear of God is not fear that cripples you or causes you to doubt and be afraid instead it leads you into adoration. The awareness of who God is and how amazing and majestic His works causes you to be in awe of Him which leads you to honour Him and elevate Him in your mind and heart. Your heart fills with adoration but also with respect for His undeniable power.

Proverbs 9:10 tells us that The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of wisdom [its starting point and

its essence], And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding and spiritual insight.

God wants that place in your heart where your deepest desires dwell.

He wants your entire world-your every waking moment to revolve around Him and His ways and not around your will, your material possessions, your position, your desires, your reputation or your earthly accolades.

Acts 17:25 says Nor is He (God) served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Wow.

Remember these days?

When you are in love you want to be with the object of your affection night and day. You don’t rush your time together in fact you savour it and you never want it to end.

Make a decision.

Say out loud,

I will no longer Rush my quiet times with God.

I will never Skip them altogether.

I will no longer Be impatient and distracted.

I Feel safe in God’s Presence.

I will quiet my heart. I will silence my fears. When He speaks. I will listen. I will hear.

Follow these steps and before you know it intimacy with God will be second nature.

But truthfully, if you have been unfaithful even in little things intimacy will be hard but all hope is not lost because intimacy can be built through intentional action and what was once hard becomes easy with time.

God desires intimacy. He desires friendship. He desires sharing in your deepest dreams and desires. He longs to-truly be your Husband and friend.

He is reaching for your hand. Come, spend time with Him...