Thoughts on Experiencing a Deeper Intimacy With God Your Father

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (Revelation 4:11).

The Father created us for His pleasure. He created man so that He could have someone with which He could enjoy rich fellowship. We are created to bring Him pleasure. He has brought us into relationship with Him through the New Birth. And once the relationship is established, He longs for intimate fellowship with you.

 

Sometimes there are roadblocks to personal fellowship. A person raised in a harsh family environment where their thought and opinions were not welcomed or valued will at first struggle to have an intimate fellowship with the Lord. Some people are just naturally inclined to hold themselves back, and not share their heart with others.

 

This deeper level of communication with the Lord must be developed. It takes time to break habits of holding yourself back. The first key to having deep, rich fellowship with the Lord is knowing that He loves you, accepts you, and forgives and cleanses you from sin.

 

You are righteous in His presence.  When you confess your sin, it is as though you have never done wrong! As a righteous person in Christ, you have the same standing before the Father that Jesus has! The Father unconditionally loves and accepts you! Because He does, He has an open ear to listen to you and understands everything you think and feel.

The next step to rich fellowship with the Father is to force yourself to go there! Go to a private place and begin to share your heart secrets with Him. Tell Him everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Hold nothing from Him. At first, this is uncomfortable if your experiences have caused you to hold yourself back from others. But you’ll find that the moment you get real with the Father, His love and joy will rise up in you by the Holy Spirit. This is the beginning of your close communion and fellowship with Him.

 

As a new believer and a young man in my late teens, I would go to my room and read my Bible for a period of time. Then, I would begin to pray, and I found myself for the first time expressing to the Father my deepest heart thoughts.

 

At first I was afraid that He would be upset with me as I was so honest. I shared motives, thoughts, fears, questions, longings, and wrong desires. I found that when I did this, the Father did not judge me, yet He held me to the standard of the Word. And by the Holy Spirit He would speak to me and comfort me. He would encourage me to trust Him to change me.

In time, it became easier and easier to bear my heart to Him. God became a place of refuge when I felt emotional pain, or when the pressures of life seemed too much to bear. He is the kindest, most understanding person you will ever know.

The Father is a refuge from the storms life brings. In the shadow of His Presence you will find protection from the harshness of life. If you’ll give Him your heart life and open yourself up to Him, He will become an ever present strength and will sustain your mind and emotions in every challenge life brings. He will be the vine and you will be the branch. His life will pour into you as you unreservedly give Him your heart.

Come with me on this journey of intimacy with the Father. He’s longing for your fellowship today. Let the walls down!

Keep Your Fellowship With Jesus Updated!

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 1:9 -NKJV).

Fellowship is the mother of faith. Faith grows in the climate of rich, deep fellowship with the Father. Faith shrivels when fellowship is compromised.

Relationship is a result of birth or covenant, but fellowship is only by choice.

Fellowship is a sharing together, a communion. It’s two people coming together with a mutual interest and a part to play in that interest.

Fellowship must be fostered on purpose. I’ve found that many believers lack the rich fellowship with the Father that produces strong faith. Our upbringing and home life in our younger years has a lot to do with how we process our relationship and fellowship with the Lord. If in our home life, we were not welcomed to bear our hearts, but felt forced to keep our opinions to ourselves, then fellowship from the heart will be a challenge to overcome even in our relationship with the Father.

When we sin, our fellowship is broken. The joy that strengthens us leaves. Peace is replaced by a troubled uneasiness. For fellowship to be renewed, sin must be confessed. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). To confess means to same the same thing. It means to agree with. When I confess my sin, I agree with God that the thing I did that broke fellowship was wrong. I change my mind or repent of the activity and make a choice not to do it again.

The weakness of my flesh may take me there again, but a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again (Proverbs 24:16). Confess the sin the moment you commit it, and then renounce it before the Father, and tell Him that you believe you receive the inner strength to overcome this thing. Thank Him in faith for removing this thing from your life. Confess sin the moment it occurs is the key to remaining in constant fellowship with the Father.

Notice that if you do one thing; confess your sin, that the Father does four things in return! He will be faithful to you, just or fair to you, He will forgive your sin, and will cleanse you from unrighteousness. Cleansing from unrighteousness means that if you’ll confess what you know you did wrong, there is an automatic cleansing from those sins committed in ignorance, or because you didn’t know that particular thing was wrong. This is important for the new believer who may not understand the will of God in all of life’s causes. James 4:17 reads:Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Once sin is confessed, joy and peace return, and fellowship is fully restored. Be careful today to remain in constant fellowship with the Father. Don’t let a moment go by without deep, rich fellowship with Him. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss how to begin a close fellowship with the Father if your personal predisposition is to hold back.

Our Words Reveal What is in our Heart

For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34 - Amplified)

Words are an audible impression of heart content. The power of the words we speak comes from the content of what’s in our heart, our spirit. The power of our words comes from what we really believe within.

Words are like the water running over the rim of a reservoir. They reveal what’s inside. By the time we come to Jesus, we are already full of past life experiences that have produced certain thoughts, feelings and actions. It’s wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong speaking, that defeat us. Jesus wants us to allow Him into the contents of our inner life; that is into our thoughts, motives, and emotions.

Jesus knows what is in us from our past. He knows what affects us and urges us to do what we do. And He can help us sort it out! He wants us to invite Him in to our thought life, our emotional life, and He wants to talk to us about why we do what we do.

Our inner life, our soul (mind, emotions, and will) is a mismatched assortment of outright lies from the enemy, judgments towards others, judgments against ourselves, and wrong thinking passed down from our families and life experiences!

Our soul (mind, emotions, and will), could be compared to a messy closet that has so many things thrown around and piled on each other, that we just can’t see where to begin! Right words, right confession of what we believe starts by allowing Jesus entrance into our inner world of thinking and feeling.

Confession of God’s word that produces spiritual and natural fruit begins by first of all allowing Jesus to sort through the contents of our heart! Invite Him today to search you though and through. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.(24) Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life (Psalm 139:23-24 -NLT). Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins [which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves], You have set in the [revealing] light of Your countenance (Psalm 90:8 – Amplified) May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14 - NLT)

Take some time beginning today to get alone with Jesus. Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted, turn the lights low, and begin to tell ask Jesus to reveal to what needs changing in you. He is a very gentle person. He loves you more than anyone you’ve ever known.

He knows everything about you. He knows what motivates you. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Invite His holy presence into your inner world of thinking and feeling. Be willing to be gut level honest. Through the Holy Spirit in your spirit, Jesus will speak to you and deal with you. He will free you from wrong thinking, wrong believing, and from wrong feelings that rule you. He will help you change and organize the contents of your heart life. Then, your words will overflow from a heart filled with Him. And your life will begin a dramatic transformation.

The Incredible Power of Words!

The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences (Proverbs 18:21).

Your words are a powerful spiritual force in your life! Let me explain their importance by looking a moment at the natural laws that we’ve harnessed since the advent of the industrial age.

We’ve learned to harness the laws of motion, and we’ve changed forever how we travel. We’ve found that the laws of lift and thrust override the law of gravity. As a result, I’ve traveled almost 10,000 miles many times to Africa in about 36 hours, including layover time. We’ve put men on the moon, we have vehicles on Mars checking out the terrain. We have unmanned space vehicles that are now courting the edge of our solar system and sending back to us on earth amazing data.

We’ve harnessed the laws of quantum physics, and now enjoy the benefit of micro-chips that enable a plethora of modern conveniences, from mobile phones to laptop computers to iPods to computer games. We e-mail, send text and instant messages and communicate worldwide at the speed of light!

We know about natural laws and use them to our benefit. Jesus wants us to understand that there are also spiritual laws that govern spiritual things, and that harness tremendous spiritual power. I know this sounds a bit mechanical, but there is a real spiritual realm that we must learn to navigate if we’re going to overcome the fiery darts that Satan shoots at us daily! And there are law that govern the spiritual realm that we must understand.

In Romans 8:2 Paul speaks of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that frees us from the law of sin and death. Understand this law frees you from the bondages that come to us as a result of Adam’s sin. Galatians 3 tells us that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the broken law, providing us freedom from spiritual death, poverty, sickness.

There is the law of love, by which the kingdom of God operates. Learning to live a lifestyle of love will place your life into the flow of the Holy Spirit producing great freeing power in spirit, soul, and body.

There are also spiritual laws that have to do with your words. The power of speech has been given to mankind alone in creation. Words have creative ability. They have the power to carry faith. Faith is the element in the life of believers that takes what Jesus has provided for us that exists in the spiritual realm and manifests it in the natural world in which we live.

Words are faith containers. Notice 2 Corinthians 4:13: And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak. Jesus said in many different ways in the Gospels, as you have believed, so be it done to you, or according to your faith let it be to you. Jesus works with the spiritual laws of faith to manifest His promises in our lives.

So if you want to know where your faith is in any area of life, just ask yourself, what have I been saying about that? What we say is really what we believe. You see, faith comes from our heart, our spirit. And the words that we really believe and speak also come from our hearts. In fact, it says, "The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart."  And that message is the very message about faith that we preach (Romans 10:8 – NLT). Again, what is in our heart comes out of our mouth. What we say is our faith speaking.

Notice Jesus’ word in Matthew 12: 34-37 (Amplified): You offspring of vipers(He’s speaking to religious hypocrites here)! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)? For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks.  (35) The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. (36) But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. (37) For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.

Begin today to fill your heart with faith by meditating in God’s word. The up from the reservoir of your heart will overflow words that show what you believe.

We’ll go further into this next time!

Three Things to Focus on in 2014 (part 3)

Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12 –NLT). Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead (1 Tim 4:1-2 –NLT). Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God (2 Corinthians 7:1 –NLT).

Amorality is a great scourge on the earth today. It is symptomatic of conditions on earth during the rule of the person known as “anti-Christ” during the tribulation period (see Daniel 11:36-38). Amorality means having no moral standard. In an amoral culture, anything is acceptable. We are now living in such a culture. These are pre-tribulation days.

God revealed Himself often in scripture by fire, which signifies purity. God descended upon Mount Sinai in fire (Exodus 19:18). He led the Israelites at night by a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:22). Ezekiel saw God as a consuming fire from head to foot (Ezekiel 1:26-28). John had a vision of Jesus on the Isle of Patmos and His eyes were like a flame of fire (Revelation 1:14). We are baptized by the Lord Jesus with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16). Divided tongues of fire sat upon the heads of the one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room as they were baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

Jesus by the Holy Spirit brings the fire of purity into our lives when we are born again. This purifying effect is magnified by the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Jesus goal is to cleanse our lives from the defilement of sin.

God’s heart desire for every believer is holy, set-apart from the world living. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16 –NLT).

You and I will not live holy lives without a direct choice of will to do so. Our media age is steeped in the lusts of the flesh. We must cry out to Jesus to create in us His holiness, and for Him to breathe His fire of purity within us continually. Notice 1 Peter 4:1-2 Amplified: So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and  purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God], So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.

Make a choice today to walk in holiness before God. Remember that He forgives, cleanses, and forgets all past sin when we confess it, and by His grace empowers us to live above flesh desires moment by moment.

Determine today to have clean eyes and clean thoughts. Choose to turn away from every appearance of impurity and trust the grace of God to help you.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things (Philippians 4:8). Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious — the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse (The Message Paraphrase).

Light shines brightest in darkness. Let’s choose to walk in the light of holiness with the Lord Jesus in 2014. This year, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14 –NLT).

Three Things to Focus on in 2014 (part 2)

But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith? (Luke 18:8 – NLT) Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12 –NLT). Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead (1 Tim 4:1-2 –NLT). Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God (2 Corinthians 7:1 –NLT).

Yesterday I mentioned the importance of faith in our daily lives in 2014. Today, I want to talk about the importance of pursuing love in 2014. In these days prior to the rapture, the tribulation, and the second coming of Christ, self-centered  living will come to the forefront in the world.

Notice the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:12 (various translations): And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity (Amplified); For many others, the overwhelming spread of evil will do them in — nothing left of their love but a mound of ashes (The Message Paraphrase); Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (NIV); There will be more and more evil in the world, so most people will stop showing their love for each other (New Century Version).

Jesus also mentions an attitude of offence that will be prevalent before His second coming and I believe this is already beginning: And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another (Matthew 24:10 - NKJV);  And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other's throat, everyone hating each other (Matthew 24:10 – The Message Paraphrase).

When we’re born again, Jesus places an ability to love the way He loves in our human spirit. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). He has commanded us to love the way He does (John 13:34-35). Love is to be the guiding factor in every word, thought, and action of life. Ask yourself constantly, What would love do?

Notice the call to love from 1 Corinthians 14:1 (Amplified): 1 Corinthians 14:1

Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love [make it your aim, your great quest]…

Before I walked with Jesus, I had hardened myself to others. I was hyper-critical, cynical, and uncaring about other people. After I had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the Lord emphasized to me the importance of living a lifestyle of love. I read 1 Corinthians 13 over and over again. I adopted 1 Corinthians 13:5 (Amplified) as my love gauge, my personal love thermometer: It takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

During that same time period of just coming to know Jesus intimately over 37 years ago, the Lord impressed Psalm 119:165 upon me. I knew that I must make this verse a passion of my life. It reads: Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them (KJV). I’ve made up my mind that regardless of what others do, I will not be offended. I’ve passed up some great opportunities for offence over the years!

Love enables us to overlook the petty faults, failures, and idiosyncrasies of others. Love acts as though others have done no wrong. It is a tall order to walk in love, but Jesus has commanded it, and we must obey!

Notice 1 Peter 4:8 (Amplified): Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].

Make a decision today that in 2014 ,you going to walk in love; that you’re not going to make mental lists of the wrongs done toward you; that you’re going to treat others as though they had done no wrong. Make a decision today that in 2014, you will refuse to take offence at anyone over anything! Make a decision today that in 2014, you’re going to love others fervently, and you’re going to forgive and disregard their offences! This love has nothing to do with feelings.

It’s a choice to honor Jesus and to obey His command of love, probably with no feelings in most instances! Be a lover in 2014!

Three Things to Focus on in 2014

But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the earth who have faith? (Luke 18:8 – NLT) Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12 –NLT). Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead (1 Tim 4:1-2 –NLT). Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God (2 Corinthians 7:1 –NLT).

I believe that we are living in the time period just before the rapture of the church, what is often called the 7 year tribulation, and the second coming of Christ. Above all we do this year, let’s determine to pursue faith, love, and holiness in 2014.

In the above verse from Luke 18, Jesus questioned whether or not He would find faith on the earth when He returned. This gives the inference that there will be times that circumstances will challenge the walk of faith. During 2014, let’s see to it that we keep our faith built up by meditating on scripture. Walking by faith is simply choosing to believe the Word of God rather than our own thoughts or feelings, or rather than the circumstances around us.

Walking by faith means choosing to believe that right now God has done or is doing what He said He would do in His Word. Faith never looks to the future to receive from the Lord. Faith believes that God is working right now! Faith is past or present tense, never future tense. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1- NKJV). Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it – New Century Version).

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours (Mark 11:24 –NLT). Faith takes the place of what God promised, and you don’t yet physically have, until it manifests physically.

Make a choice today and for the rest of 2014 to be a person who walks by faith and not by feelings. Learn to live above negative thoughts and emotions by choosing to believe and speak what God says in the face of opposing circumstances.

Be like the Joshua and Caleb, the only two of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses who believed that Israel could defeat the giants they saw there (see Numbers 13). The crowd of ten spies saw themselves only in the light of their circumstances. They focused on the size of the giants that made them look like grasshoppers in comparison instead of focusing by faith on how big God is! They focused on themselves

and their surroundings instead of on God and His faithfulness!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6 –NLT). So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever (2 Corinthians 4:18- NLT).

We’ll talk about pursuing love tomorrow.