Journey in Intimacy

As promised in my last post on intimacy, I’m back with tips on how to begin this journey and continue in the journey. Intimacy literally means a close relationship. You are probably intimate with your close friends, partner, spouse or family. The intimacy being spoken of in this blogpost is in the context of your relationship with God.

I’ve noticed that people accept Christ and that’s the end. This is not what God intended though. The whole point of Jesus coming to the earth, dying and resurrecting was to grant us access to God. Jesus died and rose to give us a relationship with God, not just to save us from hell. The torn veil gives us the right to come boldly before the throne of God. I have always been a preacher of ‘There Is More’ because it’s quite sad how many Christians have not accessed this privilege that has been given to us.

The first step in this journey in intimacy is receiving salvation. If you didn’t know, the Creator of the universe and everything in it ‒ God loved you so much that He sent His son (Jesus) to come to this earth to give up His life as a sacrifice for your sins. You see, when God created the world, He put the first humans in the Garden of Eden. The relationship God had with the first humans was an intimate one, where they were naked and vulnerable before God without feeling weird. But the first humans sinned and this put a wedge between their relationship with God and them. Because of this first sin, humans had the nature of sin. Thus, all our relationships with God were hindered by sin. But God sent Jesus to resolve this problem and restore us to Himself. All we need to do is believe that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins and rose from the dead. We do this by confessing Jesus’ lordship over our lives. After this step, we truly begin our journey in intimacy with God.

After receiving salvation, what next? Well, I’ll begin by giving a disclaimer that a relationship with God, intimacy with God, is not a formula. Everyone’s journey with God is different; you can’t use someone else’s journey to judge yours. With that disclaimer, here are practical tips that can help you with this journey in intimacy:

Prayer: You’ve probably heard this before but prayer is communication with God, basically how you talk to your friends and loved ones. The way God was presented to me when I was younger was as a far-off old man in white beards who I had to be careful around. But the bible presents us with a different picture of God ‒ a loving Father. The parable of the prodigal son is a great example of God’s nature. God wants us to speak to Him freely. Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Speak freely to Him. Talk to Him like you would to a friend. Be honest about the challenges you are facing. Are you struggling with sin, tell Him that you are struggling. There should be no forming in your communication with God because He knows and sees you. You should be ‘naked’ and vulnerable in your conversation with God. A great way I communicate with God is by typing my prayers or journalling. I found that I was easily distracted when I spoke my prayers. In the same vein, I pray in my understanding mostly and not in tongues. I believe that speaking in tongues is beautiful and all, but I also find it easy to get distracted when I pray in tongues.

Bible Study: I know I was frustrated when I’d talk to God and not hear an audible voice from Him in response. However, God showed me that the bible is the first authority on His word. God speaks to us primarily through the bible. Before 2017, the only parts of the bible I understood were the stories. But God introduced me to resources that helped me understand the bible. The first thing He introduced me to was the New Living Translation (NLT). As previously mentioned, Paul’s letters could have as well been written in another language because I had no idea what the epistles were saying before NLT. Another resource was the BibleProject. It’s a YouTube Channel with video resources explaining the general theme of the bible and the books of the bible, as well as other topics in the bible. Honestly, the BibleProject changed everything for me in understanding the bible, you should check it out as well. Another great resource is the Bible App (Youversion). The app has hundreds of translations in different languages and it has a compare feature that helps you compare the verses of the bible in other versions. There are also numerous devotional plans for basically everything. Anytime I had a question or was struggling was something, I just searched for a devotional plan that was on that topic. Apart from not understanding the Bible, my mind wandered when I read the bible. The solution God gave me was to play the bible aloud to aid my concentration.

Become Aware of God’s Presence: So many bible verses tell us that God will never leave us. See Matthew 28:20, John 14:16, Hebrews 13:5-6, Psalm 94:14, and Deuteronomy 31:6, 8. David understood this when he wrote Psalm 139. My favourite of these verses is Romans 8:38-39. Nothing can ever separate me or you from God’s love and God is love (1 John 4:8). Understanding this changed my relationship with God. I got the realisation that God was with me all the time. He is with me as I am typing this blogpost and He is with you as you read this. God is with you all the time! He never leaves! This realisation allows me to talk to God at all times. You can also communicate with God at all times about anything and everything. You should involve God in everything you do. During working hours, you can ask Him for ways to do your work better. If anything funny happens and you want to gist with a friend about it, why not talk to God first about it. My favourite thing to do is report people that annoy me to Jesus, lol. It’s honestly the best way to deal with offence. You don’t even have to speak aloud, just speak in your mind. And God will speak to you as well. In fact, He is always speaking, we’re just distracted but when we are aware that He is with us, we hear Him more clearly. It’s one of the most beautiful things about being intimate with God for me.

Dependence and Obedience: The goal in this journey in intimacy is to depend on God. Romans 8:14 says that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Being led by God’s Spirit is being dependent on Him. To depend is to be controlled. This is where obedience comes in. People don’t like saying the ‘obedience’ word but it is God’s love language (John 14:15). To fully enjoy this relationship with God, we must obey His every instruction. We are not subject to the law because Jesus fulfilled its purpose but we are meant to depend on Him for our every move. And once He gives the instruction, we need to obey. This is what being led by the Spirit and being dependent really means. It means not having any will of your own and taking up God’s will (Romans 12:1-2). I know it is not easy giving up your own will and allowing yourself to be led (and be controlled) by God. I struggled with surrendering for the longest time but God showed me that I struggled because I didn’t trust Him. I didn’t trust that His will was better than my will. I believed that once I surrendered, God would send me to one of those places where Christians are persecuted and I’d be killed. Many of us are like this as well, we don’t trust God. But God loves you. He sent His son to die for you. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is. Not only does God love you, but He is all-knowing; He knows the end from the beginning. Understanding the nature of God will help you surrender your will and take His. It helped me. I still struggle but I know that He loves me and wants what is best for me. Also, the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to obey God’s instructions. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it and the help will come. Help is already here anyway because God never leaves you.

---

I mentioned that this was a journey in intimacy and not a journey to intimacy because we never reach the ‘highest level’ of intimacy. Well, maybe not in this life. God is so vast and it takes eternity to get to know Him. So, enjoy this journey and accept the grace God has given you. Even if you fall or you would rather do anything else than spend time with God, remember that He loves you, He is with you and He is always calling after you. Run to Him. I love you and God loves you more.