In this series I am addressing experiencing intimacy with God “through prayer.” When I speak of this, I am not primarily thinking of prayer as petition, though petition is a usual part of prayer. I’m intending to convey the idea of prayer as a time, place/space to simply be with God and learn to be His beloved.
People throughout history who have experienced intimacy with God have universally shared that there is a learning curve to this. They confide that the “way” is a bit counterintuitive, and especially so for people who live in the western hemisphere. Our cultural emphasis on work and busyness work against this. Our attention to our phones and our virtually uninterruptible focus on social media imprison us. So, I hope you are open to taking a bit of a journey and that you’ll be willing to take some practical steps that will help you experience God more fully.
What I’m talking about is the core of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ prayer for His first-century disciples and for us, is that we know Him and His Father experientially and intimately (see John 17:3, 10). Paul described knowing God in that way as the driving force of his own life (see Philippians 3:10). Paul also prayed that the Ephesians would grow in their experiential knowledge of God (see Ephesians 1:16-19; 3:15-19). This matter is therefore vital to the Christian life.
Sadly, it’s very easy to neglect. The Ephesian church, cited in Revelation 2:1-7, is praised by the resurrected and glorified Savior for its many strengths. The Lord Jesus also mentioned one weakness, but that weakness was scandalous: this congregation got so involved in the work of the Lord that they forgot the Lord of the work. I have known countless vocational ministers whose focus is almost entirely outward, toward others, but not upward, toward the One who called them. They have forgotten that their primary calling is not ministry to others, but cultivation of one’s relationship with God (see 1 Corinthians 1:9).
The devil ferociously battles our every attempt to develop intimacy with God because he knows that if that is established in our lives, we will be a very real threat to him and his domain.
Next week we’ll explore how we can experience intimacy with God.