Greetings! May the Lord bless you and keep you!
First off I would like to announce that I am FULLY FUNDED! Praise the Lord!
Now… a teaser. Things be a changing! I don’t know the specifics yet about the exact changes, but next week we will be leaving Nicaragua and travelling to Costa Rica. We have Debrief for 4 days before we travel to Panama. So, that techincally means 12 countries in 11 months, 😉 I ain’t even mad about it, 🙂 because Costa Rica was one of the original countries on the route. It was changed in Decemeber when Argentina was tacked onto the end of the trip, but God worked it out so that it made it back on the list, which brings me joy.
Now onto a personal story about trying to be intimate with the Lord.
Have you ever been in a spiritual dry season? Well, I was in one for quite a while. There would be times when I would quench my souls thirst by attending Bible Studies or having spiritual converstaions, but really what my soul needed (needs) is to find rest in His presence and by spending time alone with my heavenly Father. I admit, I had gotten away from daily Quiet Times and had been reading the Bible so that I could check it off my list. I knew who God was, but I didn’t really know God. I had projected my relationship with my earthly father onto God the Father and that is not who God is, nor how He is/operates.
I think that is difficult for me to be intimate with the Lord because I haven’t had many, if any, intimate relationships. I have had very few best friends over the years and was more of a tomboy growing up. I have dated a few guys, but I kept walls up and gaurded my heart. Talking about myself and about personal things with others was something that was very foreign to me 10 years ago and can still be awkward at times now. Growing up I always tried to be flexible in liking and doing what others liked and wanted to do, and kind of lost myself in the process, so now I am working on not being a people pleaser and voicing my opinions.
So, I was discussing this topic, intimacy with the Lord, with several people, and one of them asked me: “What does being intimate mean for you?” and I thought about it for several days and did some research. Below is a list of definitions that seem fitting:
– Close personal relation – closeness
-Familiar association; being familiar with the ways of God – however, I don’t want to limit the ways of God in my thoughts because God is so much bigger than anything that I could even begin to fathom.
-Very private – telling each other stuff that only the other one knows about.
-Warmly cozy – like cuddling with someone under a warm fleece blanket next to the fire with hot chocolate and popcorn on a rainy/snowy day.
-Detailed knowledge and deep understanding of God: like knowing His thoughts.
-Him speaking words of affirmation to me.
-Him drawing me unto Himself – I am currently reading “The Secret to the Stairs” and am working on understanding this.
-God and I just being close, Knowing secrets, Being besties.
-Experiencing security and warmth in His presence.
The Lord is forever pursuing me, and I feel as though He desires for me (and you) to pursue Him as well. I am reading the book called “The Secret of the Stairs” currently, and it is about having intimacy with the Lord. I’m sure I will post another blog about the things I learned from the book after I finish. For now, here is one thing that stuck out to me: It was talking about trusting the Lord and going deeper with the Lord. It was saying that in order to go up the stairs (to His chambers) that we need to first dig deep and remove all the “rubble” that is hindering us from building on the Rock. God has a funny way about timing things, but He always knows what we need to hear and when we need to hear it.
I think God is waiting for me to come to the next level, but I am not sure how to get there. This next statement is hard to describe because God isn’t like you and I, human. He doesn’t have a physical body, but I can feel Him at times. I can’t see Him, but I can see His works. I can hear Him speaking through His word and others and sometimes He puts thoughts in my head, but I don’t usually audibly hear Him speak through unexplainable voices.
I also have a feeling that I am fearful of going to the next level. I don’t do well with change and I know that where I am is comfortable. Comfortable is not what the Lord desires though. I’m reminded of Proverbs 3:5-6. “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” This is something that I am working on. I have definitely trusted God with parts of my life, and probably even my whole life at times, but for one reason or another I keep taking things back into my own hands. Submitting to His will is a daily and sometimes even moment by moment choice.
So, in an attempt to become more intimate with the Lord, I have been getting up earlier to spend time with the Lord daily before the start of my day. Sometimes I sit and read his Word. I usually pray. We have conversations in my head. Sometimes He tells me to take a walk and so I do. Sometimes I simply sit in His presence and work on being still. I feel as though this is something that just takes time and the more time I devote to pursuing Him, the more intimate we will become with one another.
Here comes my question to you: What does intimacy with the Lord look like to you? If you wouldn’t mind sharing, then I would love to hear your response. Leave a comment or send an e-mail.
Thanks for reading!
Keep Lookin’ Up,
Misha
