Intimacy with God

Is it possible to sit and chat with the Creator of the Universe?  Remember in Genesis where it describes God coming to walk and talk with Adam (before the fall) in the cool of the evening? I've always thought that was so cool. What would it be like to just take a stroll with God and share back and forth with Him?  What would it have been like to have been one of Jesus's disciples, living day in and day out with Him, chatting about everything!  Incredible.

If you're a believer, you no doubt pray often. You bring your petitions to God and beg for answers. So many of you are going through horrific times right now. It seems that everywhere I turn I hear horrible stories of cancer and accidents and diseases and broken marriages and abused children and lost jobs and poverty.  We come before God and we beg for His help. But wouldn't it be so incredible to just sit down with him in our living room and hear His response? To have a back and forth with Him?

Remember when Jesus said that it was better that He leave the earth for then God would send the Holy Spirit? I always sort of cringed at that. Frankly, I'd love to sit down and have a one-on-one with Jesus. I can't see the Holy Spirit or touch Him or hear Him. Wouldn't it be better for Jesus to have stayed after He rose from the dead?

But the truth of the matter is, the longer I am a Christian, the more I understand what Jesus meant. He died and rose again and ascended to the Father so that we, His followers, could have the same relationship with the Father that Adam and Eve had!  Not in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm (which is far more real!).  We can walk with God. We can talk with God. And we can hear from Him. In fact, that's the entire reason mankind was created. AND the entire reason the Father sent His Son to die on our behalf. He wants an intimate relationship with us!  He wanted to restore what was lost in Eden.

Yet I meet so many Christians who say they never hear from God. So many who cry out but receive no answer. So many who have this sort of pseudo one-sided relationship with God that is anything but close and personal.

A quick glance through the New Testament reveals that the followers of Jesus should expect to hear from God on a daily basis. The instructions should be clear and loving and directional. So, where have we gone wrong? Why do most of us feel we have to go to our pastor or some spiritual giant to get a word from God? Why aren't we hearing from Him all the time?

I believe the key is found in the following verse:
But if from there you will seek (inquire for and require as necessity) the Lord your God, you will find Him if you [truly] seek Him with all your heart [and mind] and soul and life. Deuteronomy 4:29 Amp

When was the last time you actually sought God as if you were dying of thirst in a desert? When was the last time you sought Him with every ounce of your being, with the passion that said if you didn't find Him, you would die?  So many of us set aside 15 or 20 minutes to pray here and there, dump our requests on God, thank Him for listening and then go about our busy lives, hoping He'll answer. But when was the last time you took one of your day's off and sat alone with your Bible spread before you, desperate to hear from the Father?  

Do you have a question you'd like to ask Him? Something burning on your heart you don't understand?  Ask! Seek! Knock!  Sit alone with God as you would a good friend and ask. Then open the Bible and read. Read and pray and read and pray and wait on the Lord. I know a pastor who used to spend 3 or 4 hours at night just worshiping God, just hanging out with the Father. And this man often heard from the Lord. 

I know we are all busy. My schedule is so crazy, sometimes I have no idea how I will finish everything. We have kids and grandkids and jobs, spouses, elderly parents, and homes to take care of, etc..  And sometimes we just can't find time alone.  I get it. I really do. Yet...  we make time to eat. We make time to watch TV. We make time for our hobbies.  What is really important to you?  Maybe we need to rearrange some of our priorities, and make God a priority. I believe that's what it means to Seek Him with all your heart. 

Recently, I scheduled some time alone. I turned off the cell phone, the computer, the TV. I sat in my writing room with Bible open and just spoke to my Father. I had no expectations, no time limit, no desire but to know Him more. And boy am I glad I did! Because in that hour, the Father spoke to me clearly through a psalm I read. He reinforced 2 things for me. One was a promise He'd made to me long ago that my prodigal children would be saved, and the other was that my faith would grow to a point that I would no longer live in fear.  The prodigal question was something I had asked Him to reinforce a while ago. Maybe He was trying all along to give me an answer but I was too busy to hear Him. Anyway, it was a special special time, and proved the Scripture above that if you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him!


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