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An Invitation To Intimacy
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Come unto me all who are weary and burdened, I shall give you rest (Matt: 11:28).
Lately I have been feeling this emptiness. This, void. This sense of not being satisfied. This sense that there is just more. A.W. Tozer wrote that sometimes in the church, the body of Christ, there is rut. This is when the status quo is accepted. It is when the body of Christ becomes satisfied with the state of spiritual affairs. But it seems to me that there should be a ceaseless yearning for more of Christ. There should be an insatiable desire to go deeper in our walk with the Lord. We should be in a relentless, unending pursuit of God.
For the most part, it seems, the members of the local body of Christ are content with the routine, uninspired worship services that they attend each Sunday. Every Sunday its the same old thing. The same "order" of worship, the same set of announcements, the same songs are sung, --- routine, mundane...
I search weekly, passionately hoping that there is an experience that leaves us saying, "God was in this place!" Now, I am well aware that God is omnipresent, I know my doctrine, but when was the last time that you knew that you were in the glorious presence of the Most High God. When was the last time you left a church service with your face aglow, in absolute silence, and feeling overwhelmed because you knew that you had been at the foot of the throne. Ah.... I remember those days. Funny thing is, the last time it happened (and back then it happened often) was at a youth worship service in the basement of a church 3 years ago. I long for the experience to happen again both in my corporate worship life, and my private life.
Jesus invites us to intimacy with Himself. It is this intimacy that puts us in position to experience the presence of Glorious Christ, the Most High God, and rich fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Why do we neglect the amazing opportunity to learn of Him. Especially in light of the fact that our days are overrun with busyness. We live in a microwave society and whether you are in corporate America, a full time student, or have given yourself to the full time work of ministry it is not strange to find yourself overwhelmed and detached from experiencing real fellowship with the Lord.
Christ invites the weary, the burdened, the overwhelmed, the detached, the searching to real authentic intimacy with Himself. Come unto me all who are weary and burdened, I shall give you rest (Matt: 11:28).
The Lord comforted His captive people with a word spoken through His prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 29:18-13 the Lord says
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD:
Amos 5:4
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
As John Piper eloquently writes in Desiring God "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him."
God invites us to find satisfaction in Him. God has promised satisfaction to those who relentlessly pursuit God and His kingdom.
Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
I love the Young's Literal Translation
but seek ye first the reign of God and His righteousness, and all these shall be added to you.
I encourage you to STOP... Reflect deeply.... Get alone with God.... Spend time in His presence... Ask him to increase your appetite for HIM....
Evaluate your walk with Him and ask yourself if as the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee, O God (Psalm 42:1)?
Accept the invitation of the Lord to be intimately involved...
Pray for me that I do the same...
I love you all...
Grace and Peace
