We walk deeper with God through intimacy. The very word suggests that to be intimate with someone, I must first be “into” him or her. Intimacy doesn’t happen when people are distant. The implication is that we’re close. We spend time together. We have a “heart” relationship. We can be intimate with God only by being into His Word, into His character, into His presence, and allowing Him to invade the secret spaces of our hearts and minds. Intimacy sets its own pace. It can’t be hurried. It has own agenda.
By Chester Mitchell
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(GOD’S SOLUTION TO THE LONGING OF OUR HEARTS)
Everything about your family spells success. The house, the car, the beautiful daughter, and the handsome son all lend credibility to the idea that you’re a family to be respected. And your family’s long-standing membership in the local church is just more proof that yours is the family to be envied. There’s just one problem.
Beneath the facade you and your husband are exhausted. You’re emotionally drained after years of working 40-plus hours a week to maintain the image. Your kids are now grown and you’re on the verge of divorce. You stay together because managing the image seems easier than dealing with the reality.
What’s the solution for this couple and for all of us who have learned to live with the superficiality curse? The secret is answering the Holy Spirit’s call to a deeper life. But how do we get there?
Just maybe you have found with the dilemma of dealing with the facade. You hate your job, but your image and sense of worth have meshed with what you do. Who you are has been lost in a mirage of emotional bareness.
Your friends admire your success, but deep down you feel the bite of “golden handcuffs” that have caused you anxiety.
Because of your bondage, you’ve been unable to open your heart to God and unreservedly follow the calling of your heart. This could be the moment when you resolve the tension between your job and the true calling of your soul.
In the previous chapter we read about the prophet Ezekiel’s journey with the man who led him into the deep waters. In the beginning, the water measured to his ankle. After some distance, it measured to his knee. Later, it was to his waist, and finally the water overwhelmed them. They were in over their heads.
The story is a metaphor for the life we have been called to live. God invites each of us to live with him in a deep relationship, but each of us must accept the Spirit’s prompting.
God’s promises for a deeper life:
- “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out” (Romans 11:33—NIV).
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