8 Keys To Intimacy With God - Pursuing Intimacy With God

What are the keys to intimacy with God ? How can we have the closest possible and most intimate fellowship with God ? And oneness and unity with Him ? And a partnership with God in His kingdom work and mission ?

In this 2 part series of Bible study articles we will look at the 8 keys to intimacy with God. In this article we will look at the first 4 keys to intimacy with God.

Remember that intimacy with God is all about having a restored and close relationship with God, and is not the same as a religion. Religion is very much different than having a restored relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ. Being that it is a relationship, the 8 keys to intimacy with God are similar to some of the keys to have a good relationship.

There are many similarities between having a good marriage relationship with your spouse and having a good personal relationship with God. In the Bible, there is a lot of language that refers to marriage in describing a personal relationship with God. Those who receive and profess Jesus as their Lord & Savior are referred to as the “bride of Christ”.

In Jeremiah 2:2 God says “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert”
Jeremiah 3:14 – God speaks to His people after they had left Him: “Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband.”
In Jeremiah 3:20: “But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to Me.”

We Are God’s First Love

We are God’s 1st love, and He wants to be our 1st love and have an intimate personal relationship with us.

“God who has called you into fellowship (“koinania”) with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord is faithful.” – 1 Corinthians 1:9

“Koinania” is the Greek word for fellowship: it means “the closest possible fellowship and intimacy with God, complete oneness and unity with God, and a partnership with God in His kingdom work and mission.”

In order to have this type of intimacy with God, there are some vital keys to intimacy with God that we have to have in order to have a wonderful and intimate fellowship with Jesus. Here are the first 4 keys to intimacy with God:

Keys to Intimacy With God – #1 – Commitment & Faithfulness

Deuteronomy 5:7-9 “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…”

Revelation 2:4-5 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far 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.”

Psalm 100:5 “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

Fully Devoted To Jesus

Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to…”

The Greek word for devoted literally means to “latch on and refuse to let go”. They were not religious people devoted to a religion or a church or to doing religious things. The early disciples & church “latched on” to Jesus and fully committed themselves to Him, even though they had to sacrifice much and even suffer for Him. Many of them died because they followed Jesus and did everything He commanded them to do.

God is fully devoted and committed and faithful to us, and His love is an unfailing, forever loyal love. He wants us to be fully devoted and committed to Him in return, and to love Him as He loves us. Would a marriage be very good if only 1 of the 2 people were totally committed to the other ? Our relationship with God will not be very good if we are not as committed to Him as He is to us

Keys to Intimacy With God – #2 – Love

Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

1 Timothy 1:12-14 “I thank Christ Jesus our LORD, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our LORD was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”

2 Corinthians 5:9, 14-15 ” So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it… For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Love For God

1 John 5:3 “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”

Psalm 91:14-16 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

The Greek word “agape” (New Testament) for Love means “unconditional & sacrificial love”, which Jesus demonstrated when He suffered and died on the cross to pay for the sins of the ones He loved. God wants us to love Him and others in the same way He loves us… sacrificially and unconditionally.

Keys to Intimacy With God – #3 – Respect (Honor, Reverence)

Psalm 25:12-14 “Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.”

Luke 11:1-2 “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “LORD, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.”

Acts 2:43, 47 “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles… praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the LORD added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (it was the Lord that did the great acts and wonders through the apostles)

1 Samuel 2:30 “Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.:

The Biblical word for “fear” means to be in awe of God, and to greatly respect and have a great reverence for Him. God is worthy of our reverence, and the more we know Him the more we will reverence Him and be in awe of Him. The word Praise means to “place great value on someone”, so when we praise God we are communicating how much we care for Him and value Him.

Keys to Intimacy With God – #4 – Trust & Faith

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Psalm 91:1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 22:4-5 “In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Psalm 62:5-8 “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”

You simply cannot have a good, intimate relationship with God (or with your spouse) if you cannot trust. Faith is absolutely vital in walking with God and having close fellowship with Him. Because God’s ways are so different than our own (Isaiah 55:8-9), there will be times we will not understand what He is doing or why He is doing the things He is doing. Trust and faith is absolutely vital during these times.

In Part 2 we will discover the final 4 keys to intimacy with God.

Pursuing Intimacy With God

Pursuing Intimacy With God is committed to helping you with the most important thing in your life… your intimacy with God , your fellowship with Him, and your partnership with God in His Kingdom work & mission.

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