Intimacy with God: Chapter One

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"The innermost strands are the strongest. I need no outer props to hold up my faith, for my faith holds me."
-E Stanley Jones

We're inclined to think there must be some secret to attaining intimacy with God that comes in a flash of enlightenment - some trick, or technique we must learn, and that once found, will whisk the seeker up into constant communion with God. This elusive search for easy answers is epitomized by the current assortment of pseudo-Christian self-help books available. Book stores are filled with literature that promises to help you lose weight, save your marriage, build your self-esteem, or discipline your time - "Just by following these 3 easy steps!". Unfortunately life is rarely that simple. We are dependent on God, and the only "secret" is that if we desire to know God more, we must rely on God for our answer - not on anything we can learn or do, but on God. Intimacy with God is not a spiritual state to achieve, but a relationship. We may think what we need is more faith, more trust, holiness, hunger.... But the question is, faith in whom? Holiness to whom? Trusting whom? Hunger for whom? It is not a thing that we seek, but a person. The question to ask is not what, but who.
To listen to some Christian circles though, you'd get just the opposite impression. There's always a story of amazing success in prayer or some person claiming to have a direct line to Heaven. It can be confusing when a guy on TV tells you his life is a constant stream of success and miracles. "And you could do it too!" they exclaim, "If you just had enough faith..." I imagine the feeling is similar to the frustration a poor person feels when being told by a yuppie to "just get a job." Jesus taught that the poor in spirit were the ones to be admired and envied, not the rich; because the poor understand that we all need to rely on God, and not ourselves, in order to grow closer.
The Charismatic movement has brought lots of focus onto experiencing God, and this is in many ways a positive and needed counter-balance to the head-oriented expressions of faith of other movements. It has unfortunately also often times led people to have unrealistic (and unbiblical) expectations of God, and to an unbalanced focus on emotions and self-fulfillment that has led to a great deal of disillusionment and hurt in the church. The goal of this book is to present a biblical, healthy, and realistic view of what intimacy with God means, and how we can develop it in our lives. That relationship is not dependent on our strength of faith, but on God and our learning to trust and rest in God's love.

FAITH IN FAITH

It's easy to get turned around in our culture of instant gratification, get-rich-quick schemes, super heroes, and superstition. W. Bingham Hunter talks of that Christian abracadabra "In Jesus' name."

I was told as a young Christian that the phrase In Jesus' name was essential to God hearing my prayer. Without it prayers would not get through. I remember wondering subsequently if a prayer I heard offered with a naked Amen at the end would really work. Later I noticed that some saints tended to pray with much emphasis on in Jesus' name, often drawing the words out and expressing real emotion. Others seemed just to tack them on at the end, almost as an after thought. More recently I have met persons who hold that evoking Jesus' name has direct power of its own. And once I was confronted by a very zealous believer who explained that praying in Jesus' name would actually force the father to give me whatever I asked.

He goes on to explain that what praying in Jesus' name really means is to pray as his ambassador, and with his intent. It doesn't give us a blank check, but means having our prayer echo God's heart and will.
Much of the confusion in this area comes from a misunderstanding of what faith is. We seem to think faith is something created within ourselves in order to be heard by God; a something pulled out of nothing, like a rabbit from a hat. If we can "muster" enough of it, then mountains will move. In times of crisis we work up this forced effort to believe and, already drained from the crisis, become overwhelmed. This added weight called "faith," instead of bringing us life, has added the yoke of guilt to our misery. We think "If I just had faith; if I would just believe hard enough then my situation would change." People see faith as this mysterious force which magically changes things around them. And they feel condemned if they don't seem to "have" it.
To see how silly and backwards this sounds, just imagine if you tried to use this same "faith" with people. When we say we have faith in a friend it simply means that we trust them. I have faith in my friends, but this doesn't mean I possess some power that makes them respond in my favor. There is no inherent power in faith, faith is simply trusting God.
A.W. Tozer wrote that, "faith is the gaze of the soul upon a loving God." God is here, whether we have the faith to believe it or not, and is willing and able to help us. Our faith does not change God, but it does change us. When we donÕt believe, we shut ourselves off from seeing GodÕs power and influence, just as we shut out the rest of the world around us by closing our eyes. God is standing right in front of us saying, "Listen, I love you!" yet by unbelief, we can shut the eyes of our heart - blinding us from seeing the one who loves us.
Our lack of sight doesn't mean God will cut off our food, or stop supplying for our needs "because you don't have enough faith." Paul writes, "If we are faithless, He will still remain faithful. For He cannot deny Himself" Without faith though, we cannot see that it was God who did it. We are numbed to Christ's presence nearness in our lives. Without faith you can't notice that God has remained faithful to you, providing for your needs, watching over you, loving you, because your eyes are closed.
If this is still difficult for you, think again of how trust works in human relationships, (after all it is a relationship we are talking about). Your trusting of a friend does not compel their love. My trusting you does not somehow cause you to love me. Trust does not initiate love nor does it maintain it. What it does do is open your heart to receive that love. We tend to look at faith as how we reach God:

Faith as a vehicle:

VEHICLE

But in reality it is God who does the reaching. Faith is merely letting God into our needs - opening our hearts. God is reaching for us. Faith's only work is to let God in. Consequently a more accurate picture of faith's role is this:

Faith as a door:

DOOR

We have simply to open the door and let the grace that has always been there, welling up, come flooding in, filling our hearts and lives with the presence of Christ. In the simply titled book "Prayer", O. Halesby writes,

"If any man open the door, I will come into him."
Notice carefully every word here. It is not our prayer which draws Jesus into our hearts. Nor is it our prayer which moves Jesus to come into us. All He needs is access. He enters of His own accord because He desires to come in. And He enters in wherever He is not denied admittance.
As air enters in quietly when we breath, and does its normal work in our lungs, so Jesus enters quietly into our hearts and does His blessed work there.
Notice how graciously prayer has been designed. To pray is nothing more involved than to let Jesus into our needs.

Faith is simply trusting, opening your heart. The rest of this book will be devoted to understanding and developing this intimate trust between us and God.

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