Sunday, August 31, 2008
Intimacy With God

It's been quite a while since i blog down my devotions and i hope that this time round I have better time management skills. God has never cease to remind me that I am nothing without Him through this season of exams. I felt that it is now time to get right with God. I have to confess that I have not been doing my QT as usual. Being busy or having no time is a lousy excuse. I have to make time for that QT, I have to set aside that time to have a conversation with my Father.

Yesterday, I made the decision to skip my last guitar lesson to attend Ed Silvoso's seminar on 'Transformation InsideOUT'. It was a worthwhile decision that I made and I believe God wanted me to attend this seminar. There were 3 sessions in all and the first session was on Intimacy with God.

Rev Ed gave 7 (Not Always) easy steps to how we can be intimate with God. For some good reason, I was pretty awake and alert despite the lack of sleep the day before. I was able to grasp the 7 steps at the tip of my fingers and they spoke loudly to me. So what were the 7 steps?

1. God Reads Our Mail
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Ps 139 v1-6

God knows me personally. He knows me from the insideout, He knows my heart and every thought. He knows my every action, He knows what I'm about to do next and He knows when I will sin. His love for us is something really hard to comprehend; His sacrificial love to an undeserving people. He is faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful.

2.Too Close For Comfort
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Ps 139 v7-12

We are sinful people; we can never reach the standard that God has set for us. The good news for us is that our sins have been cleansed. Why? For Christ has sacrificed his life to take away the sins of people like us. Not only was our sins forgiven, the grace of God has overflowed like honey in our lives. Christ has brought salvation to those who are waiting for him. Truly, God is full of grace and truth and He does not want anyone of us to perish. If there’s one thing that speak about God’s main character, it would be that God loves us and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

3. Understanding God Through An Embryo
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Ps 139 v13-16

How wonderful and creative can our God be that He has already seen my unformed substance and predestined my life even before I came into being. We have been fearfully and wonderfully made, and our very soul knows it very well. I have held the belief that we should be happy with who we are, no matter how we look. If we do not love our bodies, we actually limit our capacity to love other people.

4. Now I Get It! And I Like It!
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Ps 139 v17-18

As mention earlier, we can never comprehend the love that God has for use. God, someone who is so big, is interested in the small us. He finds each and every one of us precious in His eyes and He yearns to draw close to us. God is right there with us, He has always been there for us and He surely will never forsake us. God not only loves you, He likes you.

5.It's Too Good To Compromise.
If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. Ps 139 v19-22

Sin is something that will separate you from God but thankfully by the grace of God, we receive God’s forgiveness when we truly repent with all our hearts. To get intimate with God, we have to know God’s character as well as His dos and don’ts. The devil will always be on the prowl, trying his best to keep you from God and I have learnt this first hand. The real enemy is the devil and not against the people around you.

Besides being on our guard, God wants us to learn how to be holy. What does it mean to be holy? Holiness is when you get angry of anything that stands between you and God.

6. Soul Surgery
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me... Ps 139 v23-24a

We have to constantly ask God to search deep into our hearts and settle any anxiety that we have held deep. I know that I have some anxieties in my heart that I have yet to settle and I pray that God will release these thoughts of mine if I truly want to draw close to God and let Him use me for the furtherance of His Kingdom. Let God be the solution in my life.

7.Divine Aftercare.
…and (You will) lead me in the way everlasting. Ps139 v24b

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We can only have eternal life through him. So what is eternal life? Some may say it’s the after life that we have after we go to heaven. But eternal life is more than that and John 17:3 tells just that.
‘Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’

God is our shepherd, and we are His sheep. Though we may not be perfect in our ways, He is there to guide us and the one simple thing that He desires is that we may draw close to Him to just have a conversation with Him.

The process of knowing God is just amazing. The interesting thing about God is that when you thought that you have known all about God, He surprises you with something new. Quoting from a friend of mine: ‘Big God is interested in small me.’ It’s just simply amazing.

Labels: Devotion