Category Archives: Intimacy with God

God Loves!

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Early morning before the sun is officially up is a beautiful time. As I sit on my east facing deck this morning, I am struck by how God thought of EVERYTHING to point to the greatness of His love.

The crickets are still in chorus right before the dawn. The neighbor’s roosters have joined in. An owl is singing his nightly song in the distance as well. God made all these sounds as a comfort and a joy. I can miss them if I don’t take the time to simply sit and enjoy.

What a lesson! I’ve got what seems to be a million plus one things to do today, but God wants me to sit and listen to His chorus of love He has written for me.

That’s how it is with our God. So often we run around disconnected and thinking about “our” lives. When He deeply desires for us to share His life that satisfies our deepest longings.

He made me for this, to sit with Him, to listen, to tell Him about all the things on my heart. He made me to experience Him.

Not only does His creation call out for me to think upon Him, He has given me His Word. May I cherish every word and sentence of His love letter to me!

He loves! God loves us deeply and we can miss it all together if we refuse to stop being all about ourselves and turn our eyes to Him. He has so much to give that He offers to us! The question is will we come to Him, offer our hearts to Him, and receive?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the World (you and me) that He gave…”

God Loves!

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Early morning before the sun is officially up is a beautiful time. As I sit on my east facing deck this morning, I am struck by how God thought of EVERYTHING to point to the greatness of His love.

The crickets are still in chorus right before the dawn. The neighbor’s roosters have joined in. An owl is singing his nightly song in the distance as well. God made all these sounds as a comfort and a joy. I can miss them if I don’t take the time to simply sit and enjoy.

What a lesson! I’ve got what seems to be a million plus one things to do today, but God wants me to sit and listen to His chorus of love He has written for me.

That’s how it is with our God. So often we run around disconnected and thinking about “our” lives. When He deeply desires for us to share His life that satisfies our deepest longings.

He made me for this, to sit with Him, to listen, to tell Him about all the things on my heart. He made me to experience Him.

Not only does His creation call out for me to think upon Him, He has given me His Word. May I cherish every word and sentence of His love letter to me!

He loves! God loves us deeply and we can miss it all together if we refuse to stop being all about ourselves and turn our eyes to Him. He has so much to give that He offers to us! The question is will we come to Him, offer our hearts to Him, and receive?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the World (you and me) that He gave…”

Help Me With My Unbelief

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“Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”” Mark 9:21-24 NIV

Jesus encountered a man with a desperate situation. His boy was demon possessed and was harmful to himself. There is an exchange between the father of the boy and Jesus, in this account, that stands out to me.

Jesus tells the man “Everything is possible for one who believes.” This man had the kind of belief that I have come to Jesus with so many times. I know in my head Jesus is good, He can do whatever He wants, He is all powerful, etc. but I haven’t truly believed or lived in faith. Faith is to the assent of the mind to the truth. Assent is the act of admitting or letting in. So often we hold God at a distance saying as the father did in this account, “I believe.” But we have not truly let the truth into our hearts. We have not taken in, grabbed ahold of it, or let God and His truth be a part of us. We are content to see Him at a distance and understand He is good and wants to help us, but we have not really believed.

Jesus said “everything is possible for the one who believes.” When Jesus is truly residing within us through the Holy Spirit and we have let Him into every corner of our lives; When we have ascended or admitted His Truth into our minds and we hold tightly to His truth clinging to it; it is then that God works the impossible in our lives.

Jesus wanted the father of the boy to see that he needed more than his son being well and in his right mind. The father needed to believe. He needed to admit and take Jesus into his heart.

The father spoke words to Jesus that are beautiful. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” If you find yourself distant from Jesus, this is the place to start. Jesus, I open my heart to you in belief. Help me where I am unbelieving.” We can cry out to Him and ask Him to change our hearts. In fact we need to ask Him to do just that. Hebrews 11:6 says this:

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV

We need to live in faith! It is impossible to please God without it, but this Faith is more than simply saying “I believe.” It is deep within us and it will be evidenced by what we do and what we say. If we are just living our own way, apart from that faith, we cannot please God. True Faith will be evidenced by us seeking God earnestly, following Him. It is not simply believing God is out there somewhere as we do whatever we want, when and how we want to.

He Knows Our Hearts

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Jesus knows what is inside of us. He knows our hearts. He knows if we truly desire to go in His ways, and He knows if we want do to our own thing.

In John 2 there is an account of Jesus when He was in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. He performed signs so that people were believing in Him. But there was a statement made that has been heavy on my heart today.

“But Jesus [for His part] did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all [men]; And He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man [needed no evidence from anyone about men], for He Himself knew what was in human nature. [He could read men’s hearts.] [I Sam. 16:7.]” John 2:24-25 AMPC

What a sad course of events. Jesus did not have any confidence in the people who were believing in Him because He knew their hearts. He could not allow Himself to be close and intimate with them as a friend. He knew that their hearts were far from Him.

These were people who saw the wonderful signs He performed. They stood in awe of what He did. They believed in His name…But He knew what was inside of them.

How often we come to God believing He is there, but unwilling to have a heart that is given over to Him entirely, totally, and completely! There are so many times we desire to have the benefits of believing God without the surrender of our ways to Him.

My Bible reading today was in Mark 8. Jesus described the one who truly follows Him.

“Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:34-35 NIV

There is no way around it. If we want to truly know Jesus, if we want Him to entrust Himself to us, our selfish ways, our selfish wants, our selfish desires must be denied. That is so we are consumed with Jesus’s ways, wants, and desires. We must stop pursuing our self-centered life and let it die. It is only then that we gain Jesus and all the wonderful that He is. It is then that He “entrusts” Himself to us. Because He sees our hearts (what our mind thinks about , what our will chooses to do, and what our feelings reflect in our emotions) are not our own. They are His!

Grandma’s Song- “Still Small Voice”

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(Originally written to my nieces)

Grandma used to sing a chorus to you all when you were little, “Still small voice I hear you whisper. Still small voice I won’t be the same. Still small voice He’s reaching out to you. Still small voice calling my name.” The words are so very true!
But what is the still small voice of the Holy Spirit calling you for? Why does He whisper, reaching out to you, calling your name?
He is calling because He desires to be one with us. He wants to fill us entirely, totally and completely with Himself. It is what we were meant for, relationship of oneness with God. He calls desiring that we respond.
In order for us to go God’s way and to obey that voice, we have to leave our way behind. We cannot have both. Our way of our self-life only leads to death, darkness, and destruction because our way is not God’s.
Ephesians 1 talks about God’s way the still small voice has called us to. It is a life of spiritual blessings, becoming like Him- holy and blameless. It is a life of redemption and forgiveness from our sin. All of this accomplishes the one over arching purpose, He wants us to be ONE with Him!
We do not understand this because all we have ever known is separation from God. That is why the still small voice is calling to us. He wants to show us this oneness. We must listen to the voice. We must respond to the call! We must obey!!

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The New Life is a Life of Holiness. (Part 1)

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We come to Jesus for many reasons: Perhaps we see our life is a wreck and we need Him to save us from our poor choices. Maybe we see the direction of our lives and realize that we are separated from Him, eternally lost, facing an eternity in hell. It is true that Jesus came to extend the invitation promised in John 3:16.

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV.

We come to Jesus longing for safety from hell, but that safety is not the totality of why Jesus extended the invitation to a relationship with Him. We are to become like Him. The question then remains, what is Jesus like?

He is Holy. He is set apart by His sinlessness, His purity, His perfection.

“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”” 1 Peter 1:15-16 ESV

Reading these words may seem like an impossibility. It may seem that God has set the bar too high for us to jump. Let me assure you,God’s commands are for our good and for His glory!

Sin is like a cancer to our soul. It eats away and weighs us down with death, darkness, and destruction. God knows that the only way we can truly experience all His goodness and all of His life is for us to be like Him, free of sin!

He wants us to not only experience the assurance of salvation free from fear of punishment and hell. He wants His life to be flowing through us, His holy and pure life, free from the destruction of sin!

We may see this as nothing but impossibility. Because we know how badly we fail time and time again. Here is where the good news comes in.

We know that Salvation that gives us the assurance of eternity with God is free! Jesus paid the price. He did it all! Holiness that makes us more and more like Him, free from sin, is not what we conjure up and work on our own. Jesus works this within us when we give ourselves to Him 💯. He does it all!!

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”Philippians 2:13 NLT

There is more to be said about this. For today I want to encourage you to ask God to show you what all this means in your life.

(To be continued…)

No Longer Adrift: Connected to Him

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“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV

The feeling of disconnection from God is miserable. I have lived there more than once in my life. It is like being adrift in a boat on a sea of turmoil. The winds and waves of life stir fears within your heart that are paralyzing.

I also know how it feels to live connected to God. The peace, security, and love that overflows in your heart. Storms are simply storms. They have no power over you when you know you are held closely and connected to the One who with the words “Be still” can calm any situation that comes.

This morning when I read the words of this verse the last section lit up inside of my heart, “Be reconciled to God.”

To be reconciled is to be called back into union. It is to be reconnected to God.

Why live disconnected and adrift when God holds out His hands welcoming you in? Why allow the storms of life to paralyze and plummet you?

God offers us connection to Him. He desires for us who have been far away to become close. But we must be willing to allow Him to draw us in! He wants us united to Him, but we must be willing to give up our own way for His. Remember…our own way stinks!

Be reconciled to God! Be reconnected to Him!

The New Life is a Life of Forgiveness of Sin!

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Confession of sin and repentance of sin is like frequent weeding of a garden.

Sin is not a fun topic. In fact, I believe I’ve been harping on it a lot lately, but there is a reason for that. It is not to make us feel bad. It is to gain an understanding of how dangerous sin is. The simple fact is God hates sin. He hates it because He knows sin separates us from Him. He longs for us to be connected to Him. Sin makes us unhappy and miserable. Because the one thing we were created for was to be connected to God through relationship. Sin keeps us disconnected. We will never know our life’s purpose when we are bound and tied up in sin.

There is joy in coming to God with our sin and confessing it. There is joy in receiving forgiveness.

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” Psalms 32:1 NLT

There is joy in turning from sin and loving God with all our heart all, our mind, and all our strength, displaying that love with our obedience to all He has commanded. (Matthew 28:20)

In fact, recognizing our need to be free of sin, coming to God regularly and asking God to show us anything that is not of Him within our lives so we can be close to Him is imperative.

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalms 139:23-24 NIV

Confession of sin and repentance of sin is like frequent weeding of a garden. It keeps the sin, that destroys the goodness of God growing in us, from taking root and reaping havoc in our lives.

God’s desire for us is freedom from the slavery of sin!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 NIV

The New Life is a Life of Surrender.

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I got married to Rich when I was 21. I had lived from the time I was 18 until I was 21 calling my own shots away from my parents and on my own. I did what I wanted, whenever I wanted to, and however I wanted. But when I stood at the altar to marry him and said “I do”… that was over. In order for my marriage to work I had to surrender to partnership. It’s kind of like a three legged race. I am connected to Rich. We have to run together, working together or our life together would fall apart.

I gave myself to him. He gave himself to me. It’s a surrender. Marriage isn’t a 50/50 thing that isn’t what works. It is me giving 💯 of myself to Rich and him giving 💯 of himself to me.

When we come to Jesus and receive His New Life. We enter into another relationship of surrender.

“And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord…”

2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV

In order for our relationship to work in our lives we have to give ourselves entirely, totally and completely to Him. Our days of doing what we want, when and how we want to have to end if we desire to have Him working in our lives. We have to surrender ourselves to Jesus 💯. In turn He gives Himself 💯 to us— His love, joy, peace, guidance, etc… We come to Him saying “All I have and all I am is Yours.” He in turn will fill us with His New Life.

This surrender is not something that only happens at an event or a special time spent praying at an altar of prayer in church. This surrender is required from the moment our eyes pop open in the morning until they close in rest at night. (Actually through the night too.) It is 24/7.

It is like we are in a three legged race with God, connected. But in order for us to win we must stay in step with Him and yield to His guidance. We have to be attentive to His every move. This surrender becomes a reality as we come to know Him. We know how He is going to move by spending time in His Word and prayer.

If your life isn’t working like you thought it should be after you’ve prayed and asked God to help you, check your surrender.

Does God have all of you, 💯? Are you surrendered to Him every moment of every day?

The New Life is a Life of Knowing God!

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We can KNOW God! That statement seems to be a little out there if we only look at it through our human eyes, but it is so very true. In fact, to KNOW God is what we were made for, anything short of KNOWING Him will end in death and eternal separation, or hell.

What is KNOWING God? It is first hand experiential KNOWING. It is living a life of intimacy/ closeness to Him. This is the kind of KNOWING that Jesus spoke of:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 NIV

This KNOWING is the New Life. It is eternal life. It is the kind of life we all long for and desire. But it will not be realized within us unless we allow Jesus into our lives. If we keep Jesus at a distance and are content to just do good deeds or live a “good” life, or be a good person, we really don’t know Him.

Jesus warned us of us “trying to be a good person” on our own without really knowing Him.

“”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

What a sad outcome to a life! They never KNEW Jesus! The truth of the matter is what we do to make ourselves feel and look good are described as a bunch of “filthy rags” in comparison to a Holy sinless God. (Isaiah 64:6)

That is why if we want to experience the New Life that is eternal life, we must know God through a close and personal relationship. We must come to Him, believing in Jesus His Son, asking Him to forgive us for and cleanse us of our sinful lives. We must invite Him to come and live in us so we can KNOW Him. Then the New Life of knowing Him will grow. As we seek Him in His Word, He will change us to be what we needed to be all along. As we pray to Him, listen to Him, and OBEY Him, we will KNOW Him!

That KNOWING produces the promise in us New Life that is eternal. We will live connected to Him with no fear of eternal separation from Him or death in hell because we will KNOW our God and and His eternal life!