Have you ever felt like sometimes we (Christians) are too chummy with God?
Now, I’m the first to confess that I need more intimacy with Jesus, not less. I want more of Him, a deeper relationship, stronger faith. I want to know His thoughts and His heart for me and for the world.
But allow me to play “you know who’s” advocate for a moment. Sometimes, I feel like our focus on intimacy with God as our friend overshadows our understanding of God as King and Master. Like all things, it’s easier to go all in one way or the other, instead of having a balance.
What do you think? Is it hard for you to view God both as your friend and as your King? How do we seek intimacy with Him, while at the same time, revering Him?
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Sometimes spiritual life feels like this, doesn’t it? We think we’re doing things right – we’re sticking to the “water” where we don’t think the enemy can reach us. Then, the next thing we know, in the midst of our church-going, Bible-studying, and prayer, the enemy has got us on dangerous land by the throat.
Fortunately, the analogy changes there. Unlike a real lion’s prey, Christians, the “prey” of the devil, have a lot of weapons available to fight back.
When the enemy has you by the neck, it’s very tempting to forget the good stuff you filled up on when things seemed to be going well. It’s easy to turn away from those things, in fact. It’s easy to say, “Well, God said He would protect me, but I don’t see Him anywhere now, so whatever. I guess I’ll just do what I want to do anyway. I guess I’ll fall back into temptations I had been running from. He doesn’t seem to care what happens to me.”
But when we have a reaction to suffering that rejects the good things we’ve put into our spirit, we stay in the enemy’s jaws. Eventually, we can be eaten up entirely – given over to depression and spiritual death.
If, on the other hand, we have a fighting attitude in the enemy’s jaws, he cannot stay locked on us forever. We can resist him, and it will work. It may not work exactly when and how we want, but if we persevere in our faith, if we take heart in knowing that we’re not alone, if we continue to trust God when it isn’t easy, we will overcome.
Have you experienced times of great trials and suffering in your life? What was your response? Have you had times when you responded with defeat? Other times when you responded with perseverance? What are some Scriptures that have helped you in hard times?
One of the best classes I took in college was Interpersonal Communication. It was MUCH better than Speech class, let me tell you!
Photo by Mother_Flickr (flickr.com)
In Interpersonal Communication, we learned about things like eye contact. In American culture, when someone makes eye contact with you, it’s communicating “I’m listening. I care about what you’re saying. I think you’re important.” When someone doesn’t make eye contact, it can communicate many things – maybe “I’m busy and preoccupied. You’re not that important to me.” Or “I’m afraid of you.” Or “I don’t like what you’re saying.”
One little thing like eye contact can make or break a first impression. Sometimes it can make or break a relationship.
As I learned about communication as it related to people, I began to wonder what interpersonal communication looked like between God and me. Do I make “eye contact” with Him when I pray? Or do I simply rattle off my list of requests, talking to Him more out of obligation than out of a desire to be with Him? Do I tell Him I think He’s important with my non-verbal as well as my verbal communication?
Spend a few minutes today thinking about your communication with God. Do you listen to Him? Or are you an interrupter? Do you focus on Him? Or is your mind wandering a million different directions as you pray and worship? Now, take some time to “communicate well” with Him. Do whatever it takes to focus – play some worship music, block out distractions, write Him a letter. Ask Him to help you commit to developing intimacy in your relationships with Him and with other people.
Maybe you can relate with this – usually I find it difficult to buckle down and study the Bible. It’s long, for one thing! Knowing there are so many passages I could read tends to overwhelm me into reading very little at all. I’m also a very systematic, organized person. I actually like reading the Bible in order rather than skipping around. So getting through some sections of the Old Testament (*cough* Chronicles *cough*) can be tedious.
But ultimately I think it’s probably spiritual warfare that keeps me from pouring over my Bible with devotion and interest. I absolutely believe that the devil would love for us to never crack open the Bible. But believing that doesn’t always make it easier to be disciplined about taking in the Word of God like it’s my daily bread.
One thing that does motivate me is remembering times when God has powerfully spoken to me through Scripture. There have been times when I was broken and in need of His voice. As I read the Bible, verses that had been there all the time suddenly seemed to come alive and speak right into my circumstances.
Have you had moments like that? Share a story about how God has spoken to you through His Word in the comments section.
