January 5, 2016

Intimacy: January 5, 2016

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY JANUARY 5, 2016.
INTIMACY

DEFINITION:

A close, familiar, and affectionate personal relationship.

SCRIPTURE:

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11.


KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

One of our greatest needs is to know we are loved and to feel loved. We look for intimate love from our spouses, children, family and even close friends. But sadly, far too often the needed love is not there, which sends people looking for love and intimacy in the wrong places.

Frankly, there is only one answer that can be given to a person searching for intimacy. One needs to know Jesus first and then desire an intimacy with God which should be one’s highest desire.

Jeremiah, in the passage we have put above, was counselling the Children of Israel in Babylon to live like colonists and settle in because they were going to be there for 70 years. Furthermore, they were to seek peace and pray for the prosperity of Babylon, their temporary home. They knew that their own welfare depended on the peace and prosperity of Babylon and that God had a planned future of blessing for Israel.

Jeremiah assured the Israelites that even though they were living in exile far from the land God had chosen for them, they were not exiled from the intimacy of God’s love for them. No matter how far we may try to remove ourselves from God we are never so far away that God’s love cannot reach us.

As believers in Jesus we need to understand clearly that God loves us, cares for us, and wants only what is best for us and in accordance with His perfect plan for us. He loves us with a passionate intensity too deep for words and beyond our understanding. Therefore we can rest assured that His plan for us is for our good and not for harm. Best of all His plan for us is to give us hope and a blessed future.

We will experience the love of God when we willingly surrender our all to Him. Intimacy with God requires surrender. There are three reasons why God requires surrender:

First, He loves us and desires our fellowship and worship. We cannot hold something back from God and expect to fully experience His love. When we surrender to Him fully, we will see the power of His love at work in our life.

Secondly, He wants our service for Him to be fruitful and effective. The more we know and love Him the more effective will be our service to Him.

Thirdly, He waits for the freedom to bless us. Having intimacy with God is what He wants from us. He asks us for our willing surrender to Him so He can give us the best blessings He can offer.

God offers all of this to us but for many pride causes them to surrender to God. Many people think they know what is better for them than what God knows and they can handle the situations without His help. Others resist because they fear God will ask them to give up the sinful things they love to do. And finally, many believe the lies of Satan that God is demanding and will punish them every time they make a mistake.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in that Mark 16:15.

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”


PRAYER:

Help me not to drift away from You in my devotion to You. Draw me closer to You daily so that I might experience the intimacy of Your love and receive the blessings that You have for me.



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