Prayer of Intimacy
- Nov 1, 2024
- 5 min read
Since we’ve embarked on this series of studies on prayer, I trust that you’ve strived even more to have an active prayer life? But, is such a life growing in intimacy with God or is it still a challenge?
Prayer is more personal and powerful when we accept prayer not as a daily duty or task, but as a way of life. When we strive for closeness with Him, we will grow in our intimacy with Him.
Tim Keller says, “There is inward prayer of self-examination and confession that bring a deeper sense of sin and in return a higher experience of grace and assurance of love. That is the prayer of intimacy.”
This is a time of year when I recall first going out with Alice. Can you remember the time you started courting? Do you remember the feelings of excitement or of wonder, the anticipation of spending time with the person; time just was not enough. But one of the most important things about spending time with the person you’re falling in love with is the attention you respectively pay to each other whilst sharing what’s on your heart.
Richard Foster gets it right: “To be effective pray-ers, we need to be effective lovers.... Real prayer comes not from gritting our teeth but from falling in love.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to view prayer like this? Entering into a time of communication that simply goes deeper and more intimate every day.
Or, perhaps look at it another way. What if I asked you to define your relationship with God. Would you say He is like a friend whom you meet occasionally for coffee? Or a valued member of your household who is included in every aspect of daily life?
Whatever the state of your relationship with the Lord, be assured that He wants something closer and more meaningful. God desires a connection so deep and strong that words like friendship and fellowship cannot fully describe it. God created us for intimacy.
“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed” (Jer 29:13, MSG).
John Wimber said; "The ability to hear what God is saying, to see what God is doing, and to move in the realm of the miraculous comes as an individual develops the same intimacy with and dependence upon the Father (as Jesus had)."
I wonder how many have lost touch with a way of life marked by personal connection or intimacy with the “Father?”
Webster's defines intimacy as: ‘belonging to or characterising one's deepest nature; marked by very close association, contact, or familiarity; marked by a warm friendship developing through long association.’
The essence of true spiritual intimacy is a oneness that is characterised by love. The relationship God desires with us is more than us simply having a knowledge of Him, it is one of intimacy and of a heart that is one with Him totally.
Jesus prayed to God,"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21).
Have you neglected your position as a child of God and ended up like so many still searching for intimacy and security of our Father’s adopting love?
John 14:18 says He has not left us as orphans. Yet many Christians live today, even though they have lost the label ‘orphan,’ still thinking and living like an orphan, like a slave, with no grasp at all on what is available to them in Christ. So many go back to an orphanage mentality of feeling unwanted, unloved, and unhappy.
Maybe today you need to renounce the orphan mindset and embrace God as the Father who’s adopted you, accepts and adores you.
A most wonderful part of our communication with God is that the Spirit of God communicates with our spirit. According to verse 14 ff: ‘Led by the Spirit of God are children of God. No longer slaves. The Spirit you received brought about adoption to sonship. “Abba, Father.” The Spirit testifies we are God’s children.'
It’s about an adoption-driven intimate communication with Father God.
Notice - 'you’ve received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”' (Roms 8:15).
Check it out! The Holy Spirit is in you. God not only gives us a new identity, as a child of the King, but also sends His Spirit to confirm and live the life through us. Paul actually makes it more personal, and compares two ways of thinking about God. One is about fear, dread, and inadequacy. Contrast that with a second way (right way) of thinking about God, one of intimacy, whereby the Spirit cries from within us, Abba! Father!
Romans 8 is emphatic, that all true Christian life is in the Spirit. We read in verse 15 that it ought to be the Spirit of Jesus within us, rising up and crying 'Abba, Father'. If you look over to verses 26 and 27 of Romans 8, we read that when we don't know how to pray - that is the weakness so many often have - or we don't know what the will of God is, the Holy Spirit within us intercedes, and with groanings which cannot be interpreted He prays!
The Greek word for groanings literally means “not expressed in words.”
If we’re experiencing a deep, intimate relationship with Father God, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us in wordless prayer, in accord with His will.
Stop and rest awhile
The Psalmist knew - Psalm 63:1: "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you."
John Eldredge writes: “God is courting us, as He pursues us with His love and calls us to a journey full of intimacy, adventure and beauty. To ignore this whispered call is to become one of the living dead who carry on their lives divorced from their heart.”
Actually, the Spirit of God is in our hearts, and He cries, “Abba! Father! As God’s child we’re given a new voice. It’s a voice of recognition, of life, of affection, of joy. Abba Father is a term of intimacy and close relationship, on the one hand, and obedience on the other hand.
When your heart cries, “Abba Father”, you’re aware of a Father who knows your greatest strengths, your greatest weaknesses and yet loves you just the same. When we run to “Abba, Father” we find forgiveness, the source of our hope, the security of our future, and the motivation to “live a life worthy of our calling you” and one of victory where all fear is gone (Eph 4:1)!
C. Stanley said, "Our intimacy with God, His highest priority for our lives, determines the impact of our lives."
Before the throne of God above; I have a strong, a perfect plea; A great high Priest whose Name is Love. Whoever lives and pleads for me; My name is graven on His hands; My name is written on His heart I know that while in heaven He stands; No tongue can bid me thence depart.
Prayer
"Father, thank you that you have given me the Spirit of adoption by which I can cry, ‘Abba, Father’. Thank you that you call me into the same relationship of intimacy that Jesus had with you. Help me to grow in this relationship of intimacy, simplicity and obedience. Through your Spirit may I grow in wisdom and stature, in favour with God and people."
N Gumbel
Reading these words and passages has been like reading them for the first time with a fresh pair of eyes. I wonder if God opens things up in his time or if this is from the strong desire to want to grow closer to God and know more of who he is. Before starting a devotional this morning I asked God to speak to me. I often open guided prayer in you version and it usually starts with asking to breathe in and out. This morning I though I would breathe God in as far as I could and lock him into my heart, it might sound daft, but that’s what I did. The devotional covered Hebrews 7:11-28 and ac…