Intimacy With God

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Intimacy With God

John 15:12-15
Sometimes God may seem far away. In those moments, we might wonder how personally involved in our lives He actually is. At such times, we should rely on what the Lord Himself has said in Scripture.
Psalms 139:13-17 (NIV) says that the Lord knit us together in the womb and loves us with an unconditional love. We also know that He plans to prosper us spiritually (Phil. 1:6). These truths confirm that our Father knows us intimately and loves us deeply.
The life of Jesus Christ further testifies to the divine desire for intimacy. He consistently reached out to strangers, inviting them to draw near to Him. He spoke words of encouragement to His disciples and other followers and taught them the profound truths that He’d received from His Father (John 7:16). He held them accountable for their actions. He invited certain ones to accompany Him for deeply personal experiences, such as the transfiguration and His last prayer retreat to the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 9:2; Matt. 26:36-37). These are all indications of real friendship.
Jesus’ final act—dying on the cross—made it possible for us to join His “inner circle” as a part of the family of God. The Holy Spirit, each believer’s indwelling companion and guide, also witnesses to God’s closeness and detailed knowledge of those who are His.
God has made intimacy with Him possible. Yet, all too often we hold back. Distracted by earthly concerns, we put limits on His involvement in our lives. Let’s commit to pursuing the Lord with all of our hearts (Mark 12:30).

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John 15:12-15
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Psalms 139:13-17
13 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

Philippians 1:6
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

John 7:16
16 So Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

Mark 9:2
2 Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them;

Matthew 26:36-37
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, Sit here while I go over there and pray."
37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed

Mark 12:30
30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'