True intimacy is available…

Wow, it’s been over 1 year since I wrote anything on this blog, but recently I felt Holy Spirit prompt me to start writing again.  So here it goes!

So the topic that came to me to write about is intimacy with the Holy Spirit.

You may not realise it, but nearly everything we do is driven by a desire – no, a desperate need – to have life (and life to the full).  We are all looking for life (and rest).

Stop for a minute and examine yourself.  What habits do you possess that you do almost automatically, without thinking about?  For me (at the moment), it’s checking news sites!  I asked The Lord, “why do I do this?”.  And He said to me “You are looking for life”.

And He is right.  For some reason, deep inside of me, some part of me seems to think that life is found in keeping up to date with current affairs.  The truth is, however, that life – and life to the full – is only found in Jesus Christ.  (John 10:10).

For others, it’s sexual sin (I believe that sexual sin is out of control primarily today because people are starved of intimacy, and true life).  And for others it’s success, money, or something else.  Everyone is trying to find life.

God then reminded me of a truth He showed me a while back, when I was searching for more of Him.  I was in the USA at the time, and was about a 10 hour drive from a church that is known for it’s intimate connection with God.  So I decided to take the drive, to see if I could get more of Him.

Fast forward 10 long hours, and I arrived and was about to head over to the service when Jesus quite unexpectedly blindsided me.  I turned on the TV in a hotel room just as I was getting ready to leave for church, only to see a preacher come on (first channel I turned to, quite by accident), and explain everything that God has been doing inside of me the past 2 years!  I was completely glued to the TV as I heard someone put words to the amazing things God had been doing inside of me, but couldn’t explain.

All those nights spent seeking The Lord, with all my heart, and that presence that I felt, that refreshing that I experienced – something I couldn’t articulate, all explained in this quick interview that “randomly” came on the TV just as I was about to leave for Church.

Now, the church service was good, but the thing that changed my life forever (and I pray will change yours too) was to bring me across this fellow, Eric William Gilmour, and the understanding he has of experiencing God, and living in a genuine relationship with Jesus, receiving the life He has for us.

I love what he says in his book, Union: The Thirsting Soul Satisfied in God.

• Prayer is not the vine
• The Bible is not the vine
• The church is not the vine
• Pastors are not the vine
• Ministries are not the vine

“…Jesus alone is the river of the divine life of God that can be and must be drawn from, now.  If there is to be any production, growth, or vitality in our lives, we must cling to Him.” p55.

Jesus (the person of Jesus), is the way, the truth and the life.  (John 14:6).  And to get this life from Him, you need to experience Him.  Not know about Him, but tangibly experience His presence and the life that He has come to give you.

So how do you do this?  Actually, it’s scarily simple.  But I’ll let Eric explain this to you in a short excerpt of his teaching on this.

I pray that this blesses you, and helps you to come into the life that Jesus died to give us.