OUR INTIMACY WITH GOD

 

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;...'" Genesis 1:26 NASB

LIFE PRINCIPLE 1

OUR INTIMACY WITH GOD - HIS HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR OUR LIVES - DETERMINES THE IMPACT OF OUR LIVES.

   One of our greatest needs is to know we are loved. Each of us has to feel certain, deep down in our hearts, that someone loves us, cares for us, and has our best interests at heart.

   That is how God designed us. He wants us to know He loves us with a passionate intensity too deep for words.

   God created human beings with fellowship in mind - first with Himself, then with others. But we cannot fully love one another until we have ourselves experienced the love of God. We experience His love when we willingly surrender to His call to be our Savior, Lord, and Friend.

   There are at least three reasons God seeks our surrender:

He loves us and desires our fellowship and worship.

   As long as we hold something back from God, we cannot know Him completely or fully experience His love. When we surrender to Him, we get all of Him. 

He wants our service for Him to be effective and fruitful.

   The more we know and love Jesus, the more effective our service will be. The closer we draw to God, the more impact our lives will have. The more energetically we nurture our relationship with the Lord, the greater the positive mark we will leave behind.

He waits for the freedom to bless us.

   God is omnipotent, but He will not violate His own principles. He draws us to Himself so we can experience His love and forgiveness. He asks for our willing surrender so He can give us the best blessings He has to offer.

So why do we resist? With all this in mind, why does anyone resist surrendering to God?

   Pride is the key reason most people resist surrender. They think they know better than God and that they can handle their lives better than He can, so they keep Him at a distance.

   Others do not surrender because they fear what God will do (or not do) for them, They think that if they give Him control, He'll make them do exactly what will make them most miserable.

   Still others refuse to surrender to Christ because they believe Satan's lie, which tells them God is judgmental and will punish them for their mistakes.

   All of this is completely false! God always has our best in mind. He will refuse us no good thing when we gladly submit to His will (Romans 8:32). He tells us, "'I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope'" (Jerimiah 29:11).

   It only makes sense to surrender to God, because when we do, we grow close to Him - His highest priority for us - and we begin to have an impact on our world.

Dr. Charles F. Stanley continues with a personal example from the life of Anne Graham Lotz. . .  

Do you want to know the Savior and live in the fulness of His blessing each day? You can. David wrote, "They who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing" (Psalm 34:10).

When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, He not only forgave you but also made you into a new creature. You were no longer standing at a distance from God but then were able to draw near to Him. . 

   He knows your weaknesses, and if you will tell Him you want Him to take control of your life, He will come to you in a mighty way and bring hope and light to your situation, no matter how dark and hopeless it may feel (Isaiah 55:6.7).

Stanley, Charles F. Life Principles Daily Bible: Biblical Principles for Each Day of the Year. Nashville, Thomas Nelson. 2011. page 2.

The Unconditional Love of God

1 John 4:7-10

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  NIV Bible Gateway.com

   One of the biggest struggles many people face is a feeling that the Lord couldn't possibly love them. Yet, today's reading clearly tells us He does. Far from just saying so with words, God has also given us ample proof. Creation itself is an expression of the awesome way he cares for us. He designed this earth as the perfect habitation for humanity and provides us with the necessities of life. But the highest expression of His love is manifested in His provision for our eternal needs. He sent His Son to redeem us from sin so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God - and then live with Him in heaven forever.
   Why, then, with all this evidence, do so many of us still doubt His love? Perhaps the reason is that we are looking at it form our own limited perspective: Since human beings cannot love others unconditionally, we doubt that the Lord can. After all, worldly logic considers it reasonable to be loving towards people who measure up to our standards but to hold ourselves aloof from those who don't.
   Or maybe we just feel unworthy of His love. Well, I have news for you: No one is worthy. God's love is based not on whether we are deserving but on His character - we need to understand that love isn't simply something God does; it's who He is (1 John 4:8).
   Divine love is a demonstration of God's commitment to our greatest good. It's like the ocean's tide. You can stand on the shore and say, "I don't believe in waves," but that doesn't stop them from coming. Likewise, nothing you do or feel will stop the Father's love from washing over you.
Stanley, Charles F. "The Unconditional Love of God." In Touch: Daily Readings For Devoted Living September 2016. Atlanta: In Touch Ministries. page 6.

Neva Coyle writer of Christian books for everyone!

A few of Neva Coyle books 

My introduction to Neva Coyle's writing began with overeating behavior. Her Overeaters Victorious Christian weight management concept was nonjudgmental and easily understood. A versatile author of fiction and non-fiction, Mrs. Coyle is also a gifted motivational speaker/teacher. Her understanding and love for people translates into everything she writes.

 
A Door of Hope is a novel. Karissa Hill, class of '57, eloped with the boy of her dreams. In November 1998, I wrote a review titled What does the future promise? In the review, I admitted that fiction was not my interest. Yet, this novel held my attention from the first page. I almost stayed up all night tonight reading it again. The author has a way of drawing in the reader. This is more than fiction. This is life! A person on the outside appears to have it all together; what is happening behind closed doors? Many of the readers will be able to identify with the characters in this story. We can see the hope each character received in the person of Jesus Christ. This same hope is available to every reader, no matter what has happened or what is currently going on in life.

Living by Chance or by Choice: How to Respond to Circumstances and Make Decisions With Courage and Clear Thinking explains that many of moments in life are crossroads. Things will never be the same. In the beginning, the author asks the reader, "Do you always see your crossroads as a crisis or a new start?... no book can change you... change and growth will involve an interaction between you and God." page 16 The book is divided into four parts with about eight chapters each. Read the rest of the book slowly; answer the questions, think clearly!

A devotional day-book, Learning to Know God ...and to Love His Friends offers 30 readings. Each one is complete with suggested scripture, thoughts and ideas to consider. The section headings include:

• God Knows Me
• Being God's Friend
• People Who Know God Change

Again in 1998, I wrote a book review. My goal was to explain how Neva Coyle gently leads the reader to a relationship with God. For me, this book brought tears. After reading the following scripture, tears of sorrow for the past choices that I had made instead of waiting or listening.

 ^{Jeremiah 31:3} The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3New International Version (NIV)

After reading the following scripture, tears of joy for God's love, grace and mercy to me!!!

^{John 15:9} “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love...." John 15:9 New International Version (NIV) www.Biblegateway.org

"Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" by Jeanne Guyon

Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ by Jeanne Guyon

     Who is Madame Jeanne Guyon? What was her life like? When and where did she live? Her writing is for everyone who wants to know more, more about Jesus Christ and how to live in His love. In the preface of Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, Jeanne wrote "This book has no other purpose than this: to invite the simple and the child-like to approach their Father...." (pageXI).

Experiencing God through Prayer by Madame Guyon

  

 The reader finds on page nine that God delights when we come to Him in simple, childlike confidence. Madame Guyon teaches this simple truth and childlike confidence. We must learn to pray from our heart, not from our head. She explains how to sit quietly (while being active) and wait on God.

   “I would emphasis my statement to you-you are called to enjoy God-not only His gifts to you…

   The whole desire of our heavenly Father is to give Himself to every creature according to the capacity in which we will receive Him.”

  

   Starting on page 31of chapter 7 The Bitter and the Sweet reads:

   “Be patient, dear ones, during suffering. It was through His suffering on Calvary that Jesus gave the greatest display of love.

   Don't be like those who give themselves to Jesus at one season only to withdraw from Him at another. They give themselves to Him only to be caressed, yet when in times of trouble, they turn back to man for consolation.

   No, beloved friends, you will not find consolation in anything other than the love of the cross and total abandonment. If you will not savor the cross you cannot savor the things of God. (See Matthew 16:23).

   It is impossible to love God without loving the cross. If you savor the cross, you will find even the most bitter things to be sweet.

   ‘To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet’ (Proverbs 27:7), because it finds itself hungering for God in the same proportion as it is hungering for the cross...

   Jesus Christ Himself chose to endure the utmost severity of the cross...

   (John 14:6)  Abandon [surrender] yourself then in Jesus. Follow Him as the way. Wait for Him to reveal truth to you. Allow Him to animate us with life.

   Abandonment [surrender] is the means God uses to reveal His mysteries to us.

   To bear all the marks of Jesus Christ is much greater than merely meditating on them. Paul said, ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus’ (Gal 6:17). He does not say he merely thought about them, he says he bore them.

   As you abandon yourselves to Jesus, He will reveal those marks to you. You have no choice but to reach after Him. Dwell with Him. Sink into nothingness before Him.

   Accept indiscriminately all His gifts whether sweetness or bitterness. Let nothing retard your course for even one moment...

   If you sincerely love God, you will love all that belongs to Him.”

   In another chapter we read, “The only genuine means of bringing about change is by inward means. You must commit yourself wholly into the hands of a loving God. The simple act of commitment in every circumstance where self exerts itself will, in time, produce a separation of the sensual from the spiritual…

   The nearer your spirit draws to God, the further you become separated from the soulish demands…

   God himself will show you the areas of your life which need attention. Those who are  faithfully abandoning all to God will indeed be purified, polished, and perfected in His timing…”

   A quote from the chapter entitled Matters of the Heart. “Sin takes possession of the soul deficient in faith and prayer. If we would but teach our wandering brethren to simply believe and diligently pray, rather than engaging them in endless reasonings, we would lead them sweetly into the arms of God.” And for references Madame Guyon gives Psalm 19:7, 119:130; Matthew 19:14, 11:25.

   Other chapter titles include: Thirsting For God, Scriptural Meditation, Surviving Dry Periods, Distractions, Put Off The Old, The Reward of Silence.

   Could our goals in life, our aim for class members, this book and the other resources we use as tools be:

   “To teach man to seek God in his heart, to think of Him, to return to Him whenever he has wandered, and to have a single eye to please Him, is leading that person to the source of all grace. There he will find everything necessary for sanctification…

   Teach the young to pray, not by reasoning or by method or by understanding, but by the prayer from the heart-the prayer of God’s Spirit rather than man’s invention…

   There is no better way to learn how to love God than to simply love Him.”