Category: Intimacy with God

Continuing our study of the concept of abiding as presented in John 15, Jesus says in verses 7 and 8

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (NASB)

As a result of abiding in Jesus, Jesus says that we can expect something truly amazing: that we can ask Him for ANYTHING, and it will be done for us. What a challenge these verses are! What if they are true?! Many people ignore these verses, because they conclude that they cannot possibly mean what they say. Others get frustrated by these verses, because when they try to put them into practice, they don’t get what they ask for.

Having been a Christian a while now, I can say that there are many things that I have asked for, and yet they have not been done for me. I do not think I am alone in this experience. In fact, I will be so bold to assert that this is the universal experience. Listen carefully: I am not saying that God does not answer our prayers, I am just saying that experientially, God does not give us everything we ask for. I can also report, as many can, that God has given me some of the things I have asked for.

Continue reading “Abiding (Part 2)”

When I was a relatively new follower of Jesus, I was serving in the Marines and enjoyed long-distance running. You might say a lot of my life was about discipline and endurance. So you would think that I would be a natural at fasting, because fasting would seem to involve those traits. It was, in fact, during those years that I spent a reasonable amount of time fasting.

I think I fasted because I believed it was a spiritual discipline that was important for a follower of Jesus to have in his or her life. I think I also did it because I thought it lent power to my prayers — that somehow God would respond more readily to my prayers while I was fasting than if I was not. Sometimes I would fast only a day, sometimes many days, up to three weeks, as I recall. Most of my fasts were either water only, or liquids only.

I continued fasting this disciplined way after I got out of the Marines, and even after my distance running was only a memory. But in the 20 or so years of this phase of my fasting, I think I only remember one or two fasts that seemed to bear any spiritual fruit. Perhaps more things took place in the spiritual realm than I am giving credit for, but I am just sharing what I perceived and believe to be true. The reason for my “failures” during my fasting experiences, in retrospect, probably had to do with the fact that my times of fasting did not correspond generally with increased prayer on my part. I think the other thing that made it hard was that the increased hunger I felt did not usually translate into much new prayer, but rather fatigue and too much thinking about how hungry I was!

Continue reading “Some Things I Learned About Fasting for Spiritual Purposes”

There is probably no theme more important to the idea of intimacy than the theme of abiding in God. Jesus’ teaching on abiding is found in the Gospel of John. Perhaps the most famous passage is in John 15:4-6, where Jesus says,

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (NASB)

Continue reading “Abiding (Part 1)”

One of my favorites Psalms is the 23rd Psalm. There are few verses in all of Scripture that speak more powerfully about the rich and abundant life that is found in a walk of intimacy with God. As you read the words of the first three verses, let them speak to your heart:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul. (NIV)

The imagery used is God as a shepherd and His dearly loved children as sheep. The use of the shepherd analogy occurs several times in the Old Testament, mostly in the prophets. In Ezekiel chapter 34, the prophet voicing God’s thoughts says that Israel has suffered from having bad shepherds, ones who feed only themselves and look out only for their own advancement. But God promises that He will send a good shepherd whose heart is for the welfare of the sheep. In John chapter 10, Jesus seems to pick up on the words spoken through the prophets and declares that He is the Good Shepherd. He is trustworthy, willingly laying down His life for the well-being of the sheep. His sheep listen to His voice, and follow Him.

Continue reading “Trust in Our Shepherd”

Jesus is passionate for unity of the Spirit

In Jesus’s final words of hope and encouragement to His disciples in John 17, he prays extensively for them. At the end of this prayer, He prays not only for them, but all who would believe in Him through the ages. His prayer is that we may be one as He and His Father are one. One of His purposes in seeing this oneness is that it is a powerful witness to the world, and it is so that the world may know and understand His love for His followers.

This prayer is so profound, and it perhaps explains why I have such a passion for seeing unity throughout the entire Body of Christ. Not everybody shares this passion, and so perhaps God has granted me a revelation that He wants me to share. In what I write here, I want to explain what I see as being so important about unity, so that others can understand and perhaps join me in embracing what it takes to establish and maintain it.

Continue reading “Unity of the Spirit”

⁶And 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).

This verse is from the famous “faith’s hall of fame” chapter in Hebrews 11. The chapter emphasizes how faith has always been the most essential element of a relationship with God, even before Christ came into the world to give us a new covenant based on faith. This verse’s main idea is to drive that point home. I came across an additional application of this verse recently.

I have a favorite place I go to for a 4 hour silent retreat about once a month. I love this place! Some of my most wonderful times with God have taken place there. It is like there is an open heaven, as some say. I feel like I meet with God face to face there. I was asking God why I rarely experience anything like that when I pray at home. I felt like the Lord said that one of the reasons for this is that I expect to meet Him at the retreat center, but I don’t have the same expectation when I pray at home.

Continue reading “Reward for Those Who Seek God”