Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
In and Within 20 There's More to Intimacy Than Meets the Eye
Before we get started here we have to make it clear that the word ‘intimacy’ is not a standard word in the Bible. In the NIV it appears only 4 times, twice meaning physical closeness and twice in Job for close friendship. However what affection, closeness and God’s relational love mean in our day can be covered by this word. The word "intimacy" is rooted in Latin intimatus, to inform, to notify, first used in English in 1641 according to a Google search.
In its original meaning, in other words, intimacy did not mean emotional closeness directly. It was the willingness to pass on honest information which, when extended into faithful living is exactly what we are called to do relationally, first with God and secondly with each other. We want to inform and notify the world that we are spiritually ready for open and honest interpersonal encounters because that is what Jesus did.
But you don’t work at getting intimacy. Intimacy is not a goal but a result. There is no formula to assure us that it will be earned or gained by anything we control. On the contrary we give complete control to the Lord. So there is no human methodology to gain intimacy. Intimacy is the result of a courageous abandonment of self to Jesus in the presence of God and others. Intimacy happens as we are humble before God wherever we happen to be. Intimacy descends upon us as we choose to be obedient to God’s calling and Word. Discipleship therefore, is the learning and practice of humility, obedience and honesty before God through Scriptural study and sharing. Intimacy is the resulting gift personally granted by the Father bringing Him ‘in and within’ through faith in Jesus enabled by the Holy Spirit.
If there is work involved (Paul says we have to ‘work’ out our salvation with fear and trembling, Php.2:12.) it is facing and removing the blocks, the barriers and the attitudes we place between our mind and God’s mind, our heart and God’s heart and our spirit and His Spirit (“…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2Cor.10:5). And Jesus does tell us that the work of God for us is to believe on the One He has sent (Jn.6:29). This kind of biblical work is called repentance. This kind of work is due to sin that builds the barriers and walls that block God’s work in us. To repent is working at not working, that is yielding control to the Lord, which is the opposite of sin’s intention. We decrease so that He may increase (Jn.3:30). It’s hard to let go of the internal habits we form. But it’s those inner sinful drives that form the strongholds of personal control that need elimination.
Sin prevents intimacy. Sin therefore, is what keeps us from having a relationship with Him. Jesus bore that sin which alienated us from Him. The Cross of Jesus was the restoration of our intimacy with God.
Salvation is the gift of restored intimacy with God.
Jesus saved us for intimacy with God, which leads to reconciliation and restored intimacy among people. God’s intimacy in the Trinity is His plan for us. That’s why we pray for His Kingdom to come on earth because that’s what already exists in heaven. The purpose of God’s will is intimacy and God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of intimacy.
Our God is the God of true intimacy. When Jesus said that seeing Him was seeing the Father He is telling us that in a relationship with Him we will have the kind of intimacy that the Father, Son and Spirit have in each other. Jesus prays for that in the Garden just before He was betrayed, “Father, may they be one just as you are in me and I am in you (Jn.17:21).” That unity, that oneness, that intimacy is why Jesus went to the Cross because only He could bring that kind of intimacy back to us. Intimacy with God is the heart experience of the Kingdom.
The whole point of our having been created in the glory of God the Father is exactly that, accepting intimacy with Him to reflect His glory, to give Him glory and be for the praise of His glory (Eph.1:12).
In its original meaning, in other words, intimacy did not mean emotional closeness directly. It was the willingness to pass on honest information which, when extended into faithful living is exactly what we are called to do relationally, first with God and secondly with each other. We want to inform and notify the world that we are spiritually ready for open and honest interpersonal encounters because that is what Jesus did.
But you don’t work at getting intimacy. Intimacy is not a goal but a result. There is no formula to assure us that it will be earned or gained by anything we control. On the contrary we give complete control to the Lord. So there is no human methodology to gain intimacy. Intimacy is the result of a courageous abandonment of self to Jesus in the presence of God and others. Intimacy happens as we are humble before God wherever we happen to be. Intimacy descends upon us as we choose to be obedient to God’s calling and Word. Discipleship therefore, is the learning and practice of humility, obedience and honesty before God through Scriptural study and sharing. Intimacy is the resulting gift personally granted by the Father bringing Him ‘in and within’ through faith in Jesus enabled by the Holy Spirit.
If there is work involved (Paul says we have to ‘work’ out our salvation with fear and trembling, Php.2:12.) it is facing and removing the blocks, the barriers and the attitudes we place between our mind and God’s mind, our heart and God’s heart and our spirit and His Spirit (“…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2Cor.10:5). And Jesus does tell us that the work of God for us is to believe on the One He has sent (Jn.6:29). This kind of biblical work is called repentance. This kind of work is due to sin that builds the barriers and walls that block God’s work in us. To repent is working at not working, that is yielding control to the Lord, which is the opposite of sin’s intention. We decrease so that He may increase (Jn.3:30). It’s hard to let go of the internal habits we form. But it’s those inner sinful drives that form the strongholds of personal control that need elimination.
Sin prevents intimacy. Sin therefore, is what keeps us from having a relationship with Him. Jesus bore that sin which alienated us from Him. The Cross of Jesus was the restoration of our intimacy with God.
Salvation is the gift of restored intimacy with God.
Jesus saved us for intimacy with God, which leads to reconciliation and restored intimacy among people. God’s intimacy in the Trinity is His plan for us. That’s why we pray for His Kingdom to come on earth because that’s what already exists in heaven. The purpose of God’s will is intimacy and God’s Kingdom is a kingdom of intimacy.
Our God is the God of true intimacy. When Jesus said that seeing Him was seeing the Father He is telling us that in a relationship with Him we will have the kind of intimacy that the Father, Son and Spirit have in each other. Jesus prays for that in the Garden just before He was betrayed, “Father, may they be one just as you are in me and I am in you (Jn.17:21).” That unity, that oneness, that intimacy is why Jesus went to the Cross because only He could bring that kind of intimacy back to us. Intimacy with God is the heart experience of the Kingdom.
The whole point of our having been created in the glory of God the Father is exactly that, accepting intimacy with Him to reflect His glory, to give Him glory and be for the praise of His glory (Eph.1:12).
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