Do you ever feel that God is distant and not especially concerned with your life? Do you faithfully go through the motions of attending church, reading your Bible, and doing good works, and yet…feel a lack of connection with God? Do you wonder if there’s more to be had?
The good news is that there is more – so very much more! God’s plan for us is to encounter Him – to have true intimacy with Him!
What Does God’s Word Say About Encounter?
- In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear). Ephesians 3:12, Amplified Bible
- [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Ephesians 3:19, Amplified Bible
What is the Will of God Here?
What is the plan of God revealed? God’s plan is that we may be strengthened and reinforced with the mighty power of God in our inner man, that we may be rooted and grounded, found securely in love, and that we may have power to know by experience His love and the fullness of God.
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
In the previous post, we discussed how Adam and Eve (and through them the entire human race), after eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, became separated from God.
When they (and we) were separated, and then shame came, they covered themselves. They wove coverings from fig leaves to hide their nakedness. Well, what did they cover with the fig leaves? They didn’t have helmets made of leaves and shoulder pads made of leaves, or knee pads. What did they cover? They covered their intimate private places.
These were the intimate places – the places of connection and unity between husband and wife. When the Bible says, “Adam knew Eve,” this means physical, emotional, and spiritual “knowing.” That’s what that word means – to really know, completely.
And so, when we look at Ephesians 3:19, where it talks about “knowing” His presence (I love how the Amplified Bible capitalizes the “P” in divine Presence), we see that it is God’s plan for us to have “the richest measure of the divine Presence.” God does not just want us to know Him only on an intellectual level – to know facts about Him. He wants us to experience Him – to know Him – to have connection and unity with Him.
That reminds me of that song, “Draw Me Closer” or the song “Deep calls unto Deep” – He is so excited about us. He is so longing. It says in the Song of Solomon that He is ravished, He is enraptured, with one look of the eye. He’s undone by us just paying attention or focusing on Him.
Eye to eye, nostril to nostril, He desires perfect intimacy with us. I remember when my babies were little, and their breath, when they were sleeping, was so sweet. I would inhale their exhale because they were so precious. And that’s how the Father feels about us.
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