Intimacy with God (V) Some ways of God

The possibility of entering into a deep intimacy with God begins by becoming as a little child (Matthew 18:3), being born again (John 3:3) and thus becoming His child (John 1:12). In the natural, the development of the relationship between parent and child depends both on how the parent, parents the child, and on how the child responds. As earthly parents we can sometimes give in to temper tantrums and manipulation. This is very bad for the child, since in effect, it teaches the child that temper tantrums and manipulation pay off. I want to suggest that we have all learned, one way or the other, to play similarly destructive "games". And after a while we likely do not even know we are playing them. They become part of us! And they negatively affect all our relationships, including our relationship with God!

In a previous post I suggested that He will never, never manipulate or control us, but neither will He allow us to manipulate or control Him. Neither will He play any of the other such negative games we may have learned to play. It is well known that we tend to project our faults onto others (Romans 2:1). In particular since we are talking about manipulation, if you or I are manipulative, we are likely to accuse others of being manipulative, when our manipulation is not working. What I am saying, is that many of the games we have learned to play and likely don’t even know we are playing, these games seriously hinder our entering into an intimate relationship not only with each other, but also with God!

It seems to me, that marriage is one of God’s primary tools to make us more like Christ. Someone I know and respect told me one time “I did not realize how selfish I am until I got married.” The scripture “As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens man” (Proverbs 27:17) comes to mind again. But what I want to say here, is that the same sort of thing that He wants us to learn about ourselves (good and bad) in and through our earthly relationships, these lessons are applicable to our relationship with Him, and in our drawing close to Him.

Father, part of the what You are doing in working all things for our good, is making us more like Christ, and in the process drawing us ever closer to You (Romans 8:28, 29). You are a good, good Father and You know how to father us perfectly. I choose to trust You Lord this morning that You are using all that You do, and all that You allow as vehicles to draw me more and more into the treasure of intimacy with You, in Jesus Name Amen