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home ::  archive ::  04.04.22. 

INTIMACY AND THE HEARING HEART.               

God has been disappointed as Christians have chosen to love themselves, to love money, and to love pleaser more than to love Him (2 Timothy 3:5).
We have chosen and settled for thinking about God, for knowing mere information and knowledge about God, more than actually relating to God.

This has robbed us of intimacy, communion, and fellowship with God.

Ephesians 3:17-19
"Pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Although the Lord is concerned about what we believe, He seems to be concerned first with where our hearts are.
Our problem with God placing emphasis on our hearts more than on our minds is that this removes us from being in control.
We can control much of what we believe and know, but not always what motivates and inspires us.

Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

What is it about Christianity which makes it different from all of the other world's religions?
  • Is Christianity different because it has the Bible?

    • Even though we would say that our Holy Scriptures are the true words of the true God, other religions claim to have inspired writings.
  • Is it because of Christianity's theology?

    • As true as our theology may be, other religions have some good things in them as well.
  • Is Christianity different because of Christian lifestyles?

    • As good as the Christian lifestyle can be, other religions have some good people too.
  • Is Christianity different because of Christian songs, sermons, and services?
As wonderful as our songs, sermons, and services can be, other religions have some pretty songs, stirring sermons, and pleasant services as well.

So, again, what makes Christianity different from all the other world's religions? Listen to what Moses said makes the difference in Exodus 33:15-16:

Then Moses said to [God], "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will any one know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

It is the presence of our Living God which makes the difference, not the things we have or do or know about.
It is God Himself who is the distinguishing factor.
It is not knowledge about Him, it is knowing Him as Jesus explains in John 17:3:
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
The Greek word for "know" means to be involved in a relationship in which one personally, experientially, and intimately knows the object.
It is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for Genesis 4:1 - - "Adam lay with (knew) his wife Eve, and she became pregnant.."
Christianity is not a religion of theology, a code of ethics, or a list of rules. It is a relationship that is experienced with the real Living God.
This should significantly impact all areas our relationship with God, especially in the area of prayer, which is suppose to be two-way communication.
Talking with and listening to God should be as natural as two lovers coming together to share and enjoy each other.
  • Knowing the Bible is not the same thing as knowing God.
  • Loving the Bible is not the same thing as loving God.
  • And, reading the Bible is not the same thing as hearing the Living God's voice.
Remember, Jesus Christ is not doctrine, theology, ministry, or the such.

Jesus Christ is a living and real Person.

And He is after a loving relationship which includes all of our minds, all of our hearts, and all of our bodies.
He wants deep and personal fellowship.
Hearing Him, communicating with Him is a significant part of this fellowship.
It would be ok with me if the same thing was said of me as was said of Peter and John:

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus' (Acts 4:13).

THE DEVELOPING OF INTIMACY WITH GOD

Most of us really wonder how God feels about us.
Jesus described God as being like the prodigal's father in Luke 15:11-27.
  • God is moved with affection and tenderness for us.
  • He is running toward us with joy and excitement.
  • His arms are outstretched, reaching for us, longing to catch us up in His loving embrace and kiss away our guilt and failure.
  • Our Heavenly Father is a watching, running, weeping, laughing, embracing, kissing God!
  • He is an encouraging, affirming, praising, affectionate kind of Father.
  • He is a God who loves our friendship and just wants us to be with Him.
  • He sees the sincere intentions of our hearts.
  • We .do not have to strive to make Him happy, because He became happy with us from the second we were born into His family.
  • He is a Father who is always cheering us on.
  • He enthusiastically calls us His children.
Such an understanding of God's extravagant affections for you will change your life powerfully and radically.
Such an understanding will replace your guilt with holy boldness and passionate affections for Him.
While we usually focus on our lack of mature attainment, God is looking at our sincere intentions.
Our Heavenly Father enjoys us while we are yet in the process of maturing, not sighing in disgust at our failures.

Understanding God's great affection for us ignites our love for Him.
Our little, flickering flame of human zeal is replaced by a consuming blaze of passionate love for a glorious Person.

Philippians 3:7-9
"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

The greatest problem in the Church is that we have an entirely inadequate and distorted idea of God's heart.
A church that has lost the knowledge of the personality of God will be shallow, bored, and passionless.
It is the revelation of God's passionate love and affection for us that awakens ever- deepening feelings of love and passion for Him.
Simply put, we love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
The glory of God is beyond anything we have ever imagined.
It is the knowledge of the Holy One that fires the heart with passion.
Those who do not press on in pursuit of the breadth, length, height, and depth of God will eventually become bored with their faith.
Their shallow understanding does not capture their imaginations, much less inflame their passions.
Seeing the heart, mind, and character of God will cure our compromise and instability and motivate us to righteousness and holy passion.
Personal, experiential knowledge of the person of Jesus will fuel obedience and zeal.
The source of passionate affections for Jesus will never be in us.
Many are consumed with the passions of sin. This is a counterfeit passion.
Sinful passions are overcome when God replaces them with holy passions.
Who and what will possess people's affections are of grave concern to the Father.
God designed the human soul to be passionate.
The soul sinks into restlessness, boredom, passivity, and frustration if it has nothing worthy of giving itself to.
If we have nothing to die for, we really have nothing to live for.
God intended our souls to be captured, consumed, and enthralled with Jesus.
Our highest development and greatest fulfillment lie in worshipping Jesus and serving Him with an abandonment that will sacrifice everything.
The Father will never insult His beloved Son by presenting Him a bride that is bored, passive, and compromising.
Believers today are realizing that if our hunger for intimacy is ever to be satisfied, we must have Him whose affectionate love is far better than "churchianity" or the best wine of earthly experiences and possessions.
Passion for Jesus is the fruit of recognizing His dedication to us - not the fruit of our dedication to Him.
God is absolutely abandoned and totally committed to those who are His.
In His heart He is absolutely in love with us.
Oh, that God would give us new eyes to see His affectionate, yearning heart for us while we are still growing, still failing, still weak.
Knowing God is enchanted with your beauty fills your heart with new courage and confidence.
Understanding the affectionate personality of God equips you to wage war against the enemy and demolish the lying, accusing strongholds he has erected in your mind.
Resting in the sure and certain knowledge of God's ravished heart and overflowing, unwavering love will enable you to stand unoffended, unshaken, and mature in times of trouble or persecution.
Understanding that the powerful passions in the heart of God Himself are the source of holy passion in your own life ensures the continuing progression of your passion for Him.
God's estimation of your beauty comes from His great love for you - not as a result of any inherent goodness or beauty of your own.
Oh, how the Lord longs for His Church to receive a revelation of His ravished heart.
In a relationship defined by law, a believer is never made aware of a God whose heart is overwhelmed and ravished - enraptured and filled with delight - by His people.
Salvation is more than a legal exchange effecting our position before God.
Salvation also includes the exchange of deep loving affections and adoration.

There are Three simple things we can do which will give the Holy Spirit opportunity to develop passion in us for the Son of God:
    1. Gazing Upon The Throne Of God –
    Meditate through Passages such as Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Daniel 7, Revelation 4 and 5.
    Ask the Holy Spirit reveal the glorious Son of God to you.
    Our response will begin to be to give God glory, honor, thanks, worship, and cast our crowns before Him.

    2. Beholding The Glory Dimly –
    2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "And we, who with unveiled faces [beholding as in a mirror] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. "
    We do not have to see God perfectly.
    Even beholding the glory of the Lord dimly, as with an ancient mirror, is enough for God to transform us into His likeness in every-increasing ways.

    3. Wasting Your Life On Jesus –
    John 12:1-8 contain an example of wasting one's life on Jesus.
    Jesus loves the world and His Church, but there is a special bread He feeds those who love Him in private, who extravagantly waste themselves in His presence.
    None of us has an option of whether or not we will waste our lives.
    The only option is how, who, and what will we waste our lives on.


INTIMACY AND THE HEARING HEART

Paul prayed the following for the believers in Ephesus concerning their relationship with God;

Ephesians 1:17-19
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His in comparably great power for us who believe."

  • When Jesus explained who John the Baptist was He concluded with, "He who has ears, let him listen " (Matthew 11: 1 5).
  • At the end of Jesus' parable concerning for four kinds of soil seeds are sown upon He again said, "He who has ears, let him hear" (Matthew 13:9).
  • At the end of Jesus' parable of the good seeds and the weeds being sown together and left that way until the harvest He again said, "He who has ears, let him hear" (Matthew 13:43).
  • And, at the conclusion of Jesus' explanation of the cost of discipleship He said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 14:35).
Having ears to hear spiritually obviously is very important.
In John 12:23-33, Jesus is explaining the significance of His soon coming death.
In a moment of Passion (vs. 27-28) the Father responds to the Son in front of everyone in an audible voice.
And what was the response of the crowd who literally heard the Father's voice?
John 12:29 – "The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to Him. "
When we do not have ears to hear even the audible voice of Almighty God can be mistaken for mere thunder or maybe an angel.
No wonder having ears to hear and developing an intimate relationship with God is so important.
We can actually miss God and what He is doing if we do not have ears to hear and the relationship that listens.
Having an ear to hear God can be developed.
A baby is born with ears that can hear sounds, but he does not know what it is he is hearing.
He must learn to comprehend what he hears.
So it is with Christians. When we are born-again we are given spiritual ears that can hear spiritual sounds.
The problem is that we do not know what we hear in the Spirit. We must learn to comprehend what we hear in the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 2:6-16
The following are some ways that you can develop an ear that hears what God is saying:
    1. Make hearing God an absolute necessity.
    2. Remember your inabilities, weaknesses, and intense need for God to speak and for us to hear and understand.
    3. Believe what God's Word says about our need to hear God speak (i.e. Matthew 4:4; John 5:19-20; Romans 10: 1 7; Hebrews 11: 6).

Having a heart that is able to hear God is crucial, especially if we are going to fellowship and commune with Him. Note the following passages:
(The following are some of the characteristics of a heart that is willing and even leaning into God to listen to Him)
James 4:1-10
Proverbs 3:1-22



Dale Boehs

22 April 2004





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