INtimacy

James 4:8
8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Are we for INTIMACY of for MINISTRY?
Sometimes, we put so much focus on the ministry God has left us that we set aside the most important bulk of our lives: our intimate relatioship with the Lord.
God wants us to draw close to Him. He invites us, everyday, to spend time with Him.

How do we draw close to GOD?
We chould come out from among them and He promised us that He shall be our GOD and we shall be His people.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (New International Version)
Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

There are two relationships you can choose to establish with God.

1.) People-GOD relationship (God is our God)
In this type of relationship, we consider God as our God and we are His people. This usually happens when we do more of ministry than being intimate with Him. We lose that "closeness" we have with our God. We consider Him as a being that is distant from us.

or we can have...

2.) SON-FAther relationship (God is our Father)
God wants us to have this type of relationship with him. The CROSS reminds us that God wants you and me to be His children. He let HIS only begotten SON shed His blood for us - a living proof that God wants us close in His heart.

The parable of the Ten virgins tells us one important thing: OIL is the product of Our Intimacy.

Matthew 25 (New International Version)
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'
9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'
10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'
12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'
13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

As you can see in the parable, there are five virgins who were foolish enough not to bring enough "OIL" for the waiting period that at the time when the master came, they ran out of oil and bought some more for themselves. In effect, they missed their master. These are the people who thought more of ministry rather than intimacy.

On the other hand, the five virgins are wise enough to bring extra "OIL" so that the oil lasted until the master came.

Sometimes, we want to do more but what we do not recognize is that GOD wants us to stay still and spend time with Him.

ITIMACY VS SIN
What Intimacy means?
INTIMACY..
meas being close to somebody else...
friendship bound together...
abscence of limits and walls...
Don't you wanna be intimate with the LORD?

SIN...
is the enemy of intimacy.
Our impure desires, our lustful thoughts, the very sins that we commit..
these hinder our intimate relationship with the Lord

Do you know what is the saddest day for God?
...
It was the day when man cut off that personal and intimate relationship when they ate the forbidden fruit..
It was on this day when God took man out of the garden and drove Him out...
The day when God could no longer walk side by side with man..

and do you know what is the happiest day for HIM?
...
It was when Jesus was nailed on the cross.
It was at this time when the curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies was torn.
This curtain represented SEPARATION
But when Jesus was nailed on the cross, this veil has been broken and That made God very happy because we are once again reunited with HIM.

Exodus 33:11 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Exodus 33:11 tells us of JOSHUA, a man having the heart of INTIMACY.
Everything that we do is determined by our level of intimacy for the Lord!
Do not forget that the veil represented separationand PRIVACY.
God doesn't want PRIVACY!
God wants INTIMACY!

Revelation 2:2-5 (New International Version)
2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Revelation 2:2-5 reminds us that God never says ENOUGH of us, WE ARE THE ONES THAT GIVE UP!


Let us be inspired with the life of SMITH WIGGLESWORTH, he lived a prayerful life.
And let us ask ourselves..How much time do we spend with GOD?

We have to begin with the presence of God.
The book of Revelation reminds us that we should:
1.) Remember where we have fallen
- Remember what it is to be intimate with God and what it felt like when you feel God's presence consuming you.
2.) Rependt, Return, Go back and Change
- Stop. Relfect. Turn and come back to YOUR FIRST LOVE.Just fall in love with Jesus.
In JOhn 10:39, He reminded us that we should go back to that time when we first knew Him and accepted Him as our personal LORD and SAVIOR. Go back to that point of reference in your life!
3.) Begin to do the first works.
- Remember that some fall down because they stop doing the things
that brought them to SUCCESS
Don't worry, for Intimacy will create doors for ministry. But while doing ministry,we must be aware that we CANNOT CONTAIN NATURAL THINGS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL.
In 2 Cor 2: 9-12, HE promised us that the things we have not see are the things that God has prepared for those that love Him.

Ephesians 2:14 (New International Version)
14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

God broke down the wall of separation.
It the door is open, the veil has been broken..
then why are you atill outside?
He has been waiting for you. What took you so long?

God is calling us for intimacy!
and Devotional time is the key..
Climb up that mountain with the Lord everyday...everyday!!!

-excerpts on my notes last SUNOG MINDANAO 2 on Pastor JOhnny Touzet's lecture on INTIMACY