LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

I was asked recently just how a person can have intimacy with God. Immediately I Cor. 15:46 came to mind. I didn’t fly back with a Biblical verse however because that’s not how it works in the natural as well. You don’t walk up to a gal and say, “Hey, let’s get intimate”. Neither do you see someone you might like as a friend, and just walk up and say you want a friendship with them.

Hey guys, we men must start with twelve-play! It’s something that happens long before foreplay. Three times earlier!

Just playing.

Seriously, intimacy with a spouse starts the moment you get up, how you communicate throughout the day, how you serve, are involved in their life, etc. It’s similiar with God. Dialogue begins the moment you awake, before getting out of bed. You don’t have to kneel down beside the bed. God loves it when you are excited to be alive for another day and your gratitude bursts forth in silent thanksgiving. I love to ask Him what He’d like to see me do for Him that day.

At the office between 6:30 and 7:00am, after checking to see if the world is still spinning, how many critical emails there are, and a settling, calming triple grande, extra hot, latte (preferably Starbucks), I’m ready to journal. I may miss 5-10 days of journaling out of 365. Translation- it’s a habit, a routine, a must for me- for ME!

God, how I love to write my thoughts and praises of Him on paper.

After journaling, it’s a little MEDITATION time. I couldn’t do that in my old denomination. But then of course I couldn’t speak in tongues, raise my hands in praise, etc. I’m not being ugly, just mentioning some things I once could not do. Hey! How many things are off limits for you: either self imposed or dictated externally?

I have thirty five Scriptures that I mediate on weekly, about five a day. I ponder them, study them, ask God about them. The Scriptures change ever so often, as He does. Then it’s time to work. Amazing how much I get done in so little time.

And then there’s my CONTEMPLATION time.

There’s no set schedule; however, at least once and maybe two or three times a day, something will send me into nothingness (of course I was warned in my earlier days that this was not acceptable as well). A song, a feeling, something that someone said, a thought, you name it. I can stop on a dime, shut the world out for 3-20 minutes and just BE. There are times when it seems that all of eternity (past and future) somehow collapses into this one NOW moment.

Sometimes, it’s all so peaceful, other times it’s frightening, scary, and downright depressing. Last Thursday was one of those intercessory days I got tricked into. Bummer!

And then there’s life. Intimacy was created by God so we would SHARE and LOVE others. When you touch God, you are so thrilled, you just zone out and do stuff you’d never do without it: forgive people, serve people, be kind when people hurt you, submit to something that’s stupid and makes no sense to you, but makes the other person feel good, etc. It’s that Matthew 25 thing that Jesus was so big on: that we’re so absent minded on.

Of course this is just how I usually go about life with God. Since He treats all of His kids differenly, this will NOT be what you do; however, there may be some common threads that run through the tapestry. Are you SURE you want intimacy with God?

It’s going to cost you time, money, and emotions. Are you really sure?