Intimacy with God

You cannot serve two masters.  If I am truly your Master, you will desire to please me above all others.  If pleasing people is your goal, you will be enslaved to them.  People can be harsh taskmasters when you give them this power over you.....The joy of living in My Presence outshines all other pleasures.  I want you to reflect My joyous light by living in increasing intimacy with Me. 

--from Jesus Calling, May 3

 

 

"Walk with Me; Sit with Me; Stand with Me."  I heard these words spoken to me interiorly years ago as I worked at my desk at the college.  In my mind, I had images of what the words meant, images from the Old Testament -- Enoch, Deborah, and Abraham. 

 

To "walk with God," as did Enoch (Gen. 5) is to be conscious of where He is leading us.  If someone grabs us by the arm and says, "Come with me," we can go only if we discern that person has been sent to us by God to take us in that direction.  The Spirit within us witnesses to our spirit: "This is the path; walk ye in it" (Is. 30).  If we go in response to human respect instead of being led by the Spirit, we enslave ourselves to human respect, which is ultimately fickle and unstable.  On Palm Sunday, the crowds in Jerusalem hailed Jesus with "Hosannahs;" on Good Friday, they shouted "Crucify Him!"  

 

If we walk with Jesus, we know that though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we will fear no evil, for He is with us.  He did nothing on His own, but only what He saw the Father doing, and the works He did were the works of the Father toward His children.  Would that we, too, could do only what we see Jesus doing.  Paul tells us to "put on Christ Jesus and put off the works of the flesh."  He uses terms in the Greek that refer to clothing.  Most of us have clothing that no longer fits us, either physically or psychologically -- as for example, if we still have "hippie" clothes from the 70's hanging in our closets.  Walking with Jesus means wearing the spiritual clothes He wears: kindness, compassion, mercy, truth.....   We cannot walk with others and wear the clothes they wear if they no longer fit who we are spiritually.

 

"Sitting with God," as did Deborah in the Book of Judges, means listening to Him above all the other voices that try to drown His out.  It means being receptive to Him above all other voices.  The goal of prayer is not to twist God's arm to our concerns, but to open our hearts to hear His Voice, His Will, His Truth about our concerns.  And hearing His Voice stills us, as it stills the voices of those around us. 

 

"Standing with God" reminds us of Abraham, who pleaded with the Lord for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18).  The Lord was willing to enter into negotiations with Abraham, agreeing with him that if even 10 good men/women could be found in those cities, He would spare them.  Unfortunately, that number could not be found, but in deference to His friend, God spared the lives of Lot (Abraham's nephew) and his family. 

 

Walking with God, Sitting with God, Standing with God means living in constant intimacy with Him.  He alone is the Source of our peace, our joy, our food.  To know Him is to live and not die a daily death, an event that necessarily follows our dependence on others for our peace, joy, and food.  What they give today, they can take away tomorrow, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!