Intimacy with the Lord – Falling in love with Jesus

The ocean waves crashed against the rocky pier as I walked the wind swept beach. desperately crying out to the Lord for solutions to my problems, answers to my life … something … anything.

“Please,” I finally said in exhaustion, “Let’s just make this simple.  Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.  Tell me what to pray, how to feel, how to react and I’ll just obey You.  I can do that.”

There was a long uncomfortable silence as He waited for me to think about what I had just said.  Finally, I could hear the hurt in His voice as He quietly responded.

“That sounds rather like a master/servant relationship doesn’t it?  I say to My servant, “Do this” and he does it. (Mt. 8:9)  That’s not quite what I’m looking for from you.  You are My bride and I’m in love with you.  I want to bring you up here with Me to let you see through My eyes and hear through My ears.  I want to take you into the Father’s heart and show you how We feel.  It’s an intimate relationship I desire, My love.”

Immediately I repented for being so insensitive.  I was looking at things from the wrong perspective again.  Taking me in His arms now He spoke tenderly to me once again.

“If you need a job description it is to be My bride.  That’s it.  That’s all.”

There is a love so deep, so strong, so powerful that absolutely nothing can ever stop it.  It comes from the One who is love itself.  You were made for this.  He created you as the final object of His love.  And this is not a gender issue.  Whether male or female, every Believer is being invited into an eternal love relationship that far exceeds our wildest hopes and dreams.

Falling deeply and completely in love with Jesus solves many other issues and simplifies everything else.  He keeps drawing me back to this one thing – intimacy with Him.  He is the goal … not power or ministry gifts or even ministry itself.  Of course He has work for us to do but fruitfulness will naturally flow out of intimacy.  We do not choose to spend time with Him so that we can get power or revelation or have our needs met or get instructions.  We spend time with Him because we are so in love with Him that we long to be near Him.  We do not seek Him for secondary rewards…they are a poor substitute.  He is the reward.  All of these things are a part of Him but we are given all of Him.

How does one fall in love?   We are often initially attracted to another person physically.  Then the more we find out about them and get to know them, the more we like them.  As we share things back and forth we begin to see their hearts, their motives, their desires.  We begin to be more comfortable and trusting with them.  Soon, the more we are with them, the more we want to be with them.  The relationship begins to grow stronger.

It is like this with Jesus as well.  The real Jesus is more attractive than the most powerful magnet or the pull of gravity.  All it takes is one encounter in His presence and you can never be satisfied with anything less again.             The more you fall in love with Him, the more the pull of this realm’s gravity will lose it’s hold on you and the pull of His love will draw you away into His heart.

The Apostle Paul often described our relationship with Jesus in terms of a marriage.  II Cor. 11:2 says that we are betrothed to Christ (engaged to Him) and destined to become His bride.  I believe the reason for this terminology is that as humans we need a grid of understanding to help us.  The love between a man and a woman is one of the highest bonds in the earthly physical realm.  While this kind of love and family are given to us as gifts for this life, it is only a shadow of things to come in eternity.

In actuality, the relationship between us and the Lord goes so far beyond any earthly physical love that everything else pales in comparison.  It is deeper than … higher than … and completely other than.  There is no gender issue and it is not a physical relationship but, as Paul describes in 1 Cor. 6:15-17 by comparison, it is an intimate and powerful joining or bonding of our spirits with His Spirit.

But He will never force the issue.  This is the ultimate love affair and He waits for us to respond to Him.  “There is no fear in love” for He will never overstep His own holiness or the free will He has given to us.  As we keep taking baby steps closer to Him we will learn to allow His perfect love to cast out our fear. (1 John 4:18)  The more you get to know Him, the more you will love Him and the more you love Him, the more you will be able to trust Him.  It’s hard to completely trust someone you don’t know well.  And it’s difficult to fully love someone you don’t trust.  Love and trust are intertwined and He is the One most worthy of both.

This isn’t complicated.  He is inviting you to dinner. (Rev. 3:20)  Just open the door and say “yes”!

.