Intimate Communication with God

 

There is no relationship available in this life that is more precious and fulfilling than our union with Creator God. We abide in Christ, and He abides in us (John 15:4). We can live in abiding fellowship with Christ every moment of our life. We are much too occupied with busy work, which Satan supplies for us to do. Much of it is religious too, and we get sidetracked into thinking we are working for the Lord.

We are actually producing more human flesh, the stench of which makes God sick to His stomach (Revelation 3:16-18). We all have to earn a living in this world, but we can do our job by the power of God’s Spirit. This occurs as we submit each moment to God and listen to Him as He directs our steps (Proverbs 3:5-6). Our soul clings to Jesus and rests in Him all day and night, even as we sleep.

Heaven’s Joy lives in and through us. The goal is for us to bypass our brain and our natural inclinations in our soul, and to function instead from our inner life in our spirit where we abide with Christ. Close, personal contact with Christ is a necessity for authentic Christians. Once we connect with the Spirit of God, His fruit flows through our life. We have close fellowship with Christ through the Spirit.

A life of absolute surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the leadership of His Holy Spirit is one of abiding love, joy and peace. God can do with us as He pleases...to sit us on a shelf, to use us at His banqueting table, to put us in the darkest mood or the foulest disease, or to send us to the far reaches of the world or right here at home.

No matter where we are, we are never alone. Christ lives in us and loves to hang out and enjoy our undistracted fellowship; and, sometimes, even our companionable silence. We not only set aside time each day to pray, but we pray without ceasing in unbroken communion with Him each moment of the day about everything that we are thinking and doing.

Prayer:

Father God, just as Jesus gave His life and death entirely to You, we desire to follow in His footsteps. We completely and absolutely surrender to Your will and we seek Your pleasure above all else. Our greatest joy is to live entirely for You. We have no will or interest apart from Your will for us. Lord, bring everything in our life in complete harmony with the Blessed Vine of Christ.

Thought for the Day:

Live in total consecration to the will of God for your life.

– Ephesians 2:10

Companionable Silence

With the constant noise and activity in the world around us, we grow uncomfortable with silence. Many people even say that it is hard to bear God’s silences. I know how they feel. I used to get so discouraged when I took time to sit quietly at Jesus’ feet and He didn’t say anything to me! I felt silly sitting there with no productive activity between us. At times, I even thought He was hiding His face and turning His ear away from me (Psalm 102:1-7). Doubts plagued me. When I was confused about what to do about some situation in my life, I felt like God didn’t care or love me any more.

Sometimes, I just gave up and went to read a book, watch a movie, play a word game or put on praise music while I cleaned the house. However, the longer I walk with God, the more I realize that in the silence, God is bringing us into a more intimate relationship with Himself. He finds pleasure in hanging out with His children without any demand for talking. We are at ease with each other and just happy to be together. He is so comfortable in our presence that He does not feel the need to converse. He simply enjoys our companionable silence.

Other possibilities for His silence may be that I was not really listening (1 Kings 19:11-12), or that I harbored in my heart some selfish motives (James 4:3; Psalm 66:18) or disobedience (Galatians 6:7) or habitual sin (1 John 3:21-22) or ingratitude (1 John 5:14-15) or broken relationships (1 Peter 3:1-6) or unforgiveness. Maybe I failed to give to the poor in their time of need. If we are not guilty of any of these deviations in Godly behavior, however, the silence is simply evidence that He already heard our petitions and His answer is already on the way (Matthew 7:11; Daniel 10:12).

Now, all that remains is for us to meditate on His Word and praise Him for what He already told us, did for us and provided for us. As we pray in Jesus’ name, we pray according to the divinity of Christ within us, summoning all of His divine power and authority behind our prayers. Since this is true, we need to be careful to pray according to God’s will and not to pray according to our will. With patience, we will see answers to our prayers in God’s perfect timing (Hebrews 10:36). Until then, we can enjoy the companionable silence God offers to us each moment of the day, without any expectations or demands upon Him.

Prayer:

Father God, it is in the silent times that we can be still and know Your fullness as our God (Psalm 46:10). To be still is to surrender our will, our desires, our goals and our dreams for our life to Your plans and purposes for us in Your Kingdom. We stop trusting in our self or anyone but You. As we do this, we have no other recourse but to recognize, admit and proclaim to the world that You are our God, the great King over all the earth. When our Messiah, who is our very life (Colossians 3:2-4), returns to the earth, we will be with Him in all of His glory and exalt His name forevermore. We remain silent before You now, because the great Day of the Lord in at hand (Zephaniah 1:7).

Thought for the Day:

We mature to a place where we soon crave these silent times of comfort with God, as we center on His acceptance and joy.