Intimacy..with God, as a precondition for REAL intimacy in Marriage!

Humans are ..........

.......unceasing, everlasting, -spiritual beings,

 who have been created to have:

- intimate, holy and on-going, fellowship with the Holy Trinity of God,

- being transformed into new creatures everyday........!

This is the crux of where an uplifting, positive and quality life begins.

If we want to hear God’s voice, it must be preceded by purposeful and continuous intimacy and communion with the Father....

People battle to hear from GOD, because they compromise in their lifestyles and daily decisions !

We have to get to the FATHER 1st, - before we are able to get a word from GOD, unless HE in sovereignty chooses to communicate with us for whatever reason...

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is a two-way street, in which the 'secret' is to focus on the quality of our relationship with the Lord. 

Many times we just want a Word, without making the effort of building fellowship with the Father.

See 1 John 1:7 

Hearing GOD is only one facet of the much greater Life within the Kingdom of GOD’s rule & principles.

Our Objective should be to synchronize & harmonize our lives with GOD’S will & purpose for us.
We must become fully immersed in adoration and worship of the Almighty, finding & delighting in the Great Creator and all HE has done for us.

Once we start practicing the presence of God, focusing our attention on HIM and communicating with HIM, we will discover that it will become a natural way of Daily life....

By continuous practice of the presence of GOD we find ourselves continually giving Him Glory & hearing from GOD becomes clearer and clearer......
1 Cor 10:31 AMP So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God.
Col 3:17 AMP And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.Ps 25:14 AMP The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of. the LORD have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning.
Deut 29:29 NKJV “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.Amos 3:7 NKJV Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
John 10:27 AMP The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 10:27 MESSAGE My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Long ago......
Becoming aware of God on a daily basis was something brand new to me. 

Thinking about God many times as a person was one thing. 

However the times I've experienced the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, it unleashed all sorts of emotions within me. 

'Knowledge' became 'reality'.......& 'Truth' was revealed. 

GOD was no longer just 'thought and spoken' of.....

HE was for real ..........I could clearly 'knowing that in my knower'! 
" Belief.....was Seeing" 2Cor 5:7
Life would never be the same again..... 

Something changed.....

I started to take things seriously with God from that time until now. 

I start to realize there were  actually two kingdoms. 

1. The kingdom of darkness under the control of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience .........&
2. The Kingdom of GOD where Life is Blessed, ( in the long run......after 'passing through' this 'Preparation Phase')

Many a person had neglected the Lord for  many years before realizing that the Lord was patiently, (all the years), -waiting for the person to respond? 

Building of a wonderful relationship of trust in the Lord helps to develop an 'interesting' life.  

It leads to a two-way communication with the Almighty.
See Psalm 139

Were we not originally created to be in constant fellowship with the Father - Eternally? 

Shouldn't hearing from GOD be the most natural thing to do?

Because of the Blood of JESUS, we owe our lives to Him and are therefore totally dependent on being led by God’s Holy Spirit.

How strong have our decision-making processes been when it came to making major choices that would impact our future? 

Can we even afford living apart from GOD’S guidance? 

How many times have my own bad decisions led to calamity on many fronts? 

Nobody desires to be a failure.

We bring insecurity and fear upon ourselves when we have made wrong choices...

Without the loving-guidance of GOD, our lives seem like a baby who starts walking and falls many times. 

Experience teaches us that we are to stop doing wrong things, for they may have disastrous consequences.

We are living in a world of yesterday’s right & wrong decisions......

It’s a fact that we have been created to have an intimate relationship with GOD all the days of our lives...! 

This has continued to be the highest desire of many Christ-followers, but only a few believers have discovered and experienced this amazingly powerful truth.
Perhaps, the most important thing for us to strive for is the implantation of the MIND OF CHRIST directing & guiding, in the way we live our lives. 

If we are not led by God, we have to live at the mercy of our personal choices which often times have disastrous end-results........

I am of the opinion that many Christians do NOT even realize how involved the LORD is with the details of our lives. 

Intimacy with HIM brings clarity and focus of both being in THE WILL OF GOD as well as doing WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO. (...in His' time...of course!)

We may be in the will of GOD and yet miss HIS leading concerning detailed things that he wants us to do at any given moment.
Once we are in the will of GOD, -following the leading of the Holy Spirit becomes remarkably clear. 

It is in fact (humanly) possible to live one’s whole life in GOD’S will (through God's Grace)!

There are some “driving forces” that cause us to really live close to GOD. 

....FAITH, 

....THE FEAR OF THE LORD, 

....LOVE,

....OBEDIENCE 

....ONGOING INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP with GOD. 

If these values are in place, we are well on our way to clarity of walking in the SPIRIT.

GOD wants us to live our lives as Jesus lived His, -while He was on the earth. 

By doing this we will become sensitive to the prompting of His Holy Spirit and will know how to live in His will every day of our lives.

Sometimes I feel as if I am unable to get to God and therefore cannot “hear His voice.” 

I would speak to the Lord in prayer, but hearing HIM is another thing altogether. 

The Lord did speak........... -but not always in the methods I've expected. 

It may be through His Word, a circumstance or situation, a thought that pops into our heads out of nowhere, a person who has no knowledge of our situation, giving us a 'Word' and many more ways. 

When one puts them all together we get a wonderful 'guiding picture' 

One clear fact that we must realize is that if we want to hear from GOD, we must learn to Listen as part of our prayer practice...!
John 14:21 AMP The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]

When the LORD came to dwell within us, HE wasn't intending to be absolutely silent. Throughout the Bible, the Lord tells us that HE SPEAKS to those who love HIM. .
We read of many people in the Bible to whom GOD spoke. 

They were not meant to be the only ones who communicated with the LORD. 

They were however, examples given to inspire us to have hope and enter into fellowship with the FATHER.
Our personal relationship with God is not just based on the fact that we are “be saved.” 

It is NOT just a 'consumerist / menu-driven' prayer life. 

The very word "fellowship" is deeply interactive. 

It’s a two- way street - giving and receiving. 

.........Joint participation. 

By doing this, prayer takes on another meaning completely, -in fact it changes our entire relationship / approach to the Father.
If we see prayer as a mere one-way street, it becomes a “works program” without receiving the vital implantation of the Life-giving Spirit of GOD. 

If we expect our prayers to be answered and we also desire to be led by the Lord and hear from HIM, our relationship with HIM must be based on:

- loving HIM , &  

- desiring with all our hearts to surrender & be obedient to HIS will & purpose for our lives.
There is an in-built hunger in the hearts of believers to walk closely with the Father. 

This naturally necessitates commitment to HIM, - if we are to achieve this. 

There exists no shortcut to true glory.......... 

It is very deceptive to desire the praises of men, & then expect the favor & glory of GOD as well. 

We cannot be man-pleasers and God-pleasers at the same time.
The 'halfhearted' expect GOD to bless them without wholehearted commitment&  just keep on giving while they continue with worldly ways and sin, all the while neglecting the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Unfortunately for them, it does not work this way..........

On the other hand, we see how our loving LORD keeps “invading” the lives of countless individuals on a one-on-one basis from Adam and Eve right till now. 

He desires to be involved with us. 

Our faith is not just a mere covenant / “contractual” arrangement of “once saved, always saved, done deal.......”
The LORD does not enter into a superficial relationship based on a halfhearted Commitment. 

Compromise and stubborn persistence of a wrongful lifestyle will withhold His favor and blessing on lives.

Everyone........ who really made lasting differences, was some-one who disciplined themselves to focusing on GOD and praying continuously! 

There are countless believers who have practiced the presence of GOD and will testify of miraculous encounters with the ALMIGHTY.
When anyone spends continuous communion with GOD, it leads to a deep, heartfelt 'change of character..' 

We sometimes come across people with a lot of 'WORD knowledge' who haven’t really changed in accordance to their level of knowledge (A change -in-Heart) 

However, those who spend constant time in communion with the LORD are the ones who go through the greatest degree of inner transformation.... 

This transformation is obvious to all who observe them.
Truly knowing GOD is more than just knowledge of HIM. 

It comes through revelation of the FATHER as a result of spending time in HIS presence. This makes Psalm 23 logical.... even to me!

We no longer blindly follow HIM, but can expect direct guidance.....

Authority of leadership is based upon our ongoing relationship and fellowship with the LORD and not merely on our knowledge of HIM. 

Its not natural talents, gifted-ness or qualification that make the difference...... 

It’s an ongoing personal encounter with the LORD that brings us into the realm of the 'miraculous'

The "Human Marriage" is an example of  'One-ness-on-Earth' with Heaven - in - Mind!

Even today, many like Gideon still put out a fleece to try to find out what GOD wants, instead of........ pursuing a purposeful rich relationship with HIM
Judg 6:17 NKJV Then he said to HIM, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me.
Judg 6:36—37 NKJV So Gideon said to God, “If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

One of the greatest needs in a believer’s life is to clearly 'Discern the Word and Will of GOD'. Wonderful committed believers continue to miss it by not discerning this, causing themselves a lot of painful frustrations.
It’s time for re-focusing our efforts to really hear from GOD and we shouldn't ever lose faith that it is actually possible. 

1 Sam 3:1 NKJV Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.
We must clearly understand that GOD communicates with us in a great variety of ways. 

We read of this in the Bible. 

If we narrow down HIS communication with us to just “hearing an audible voice speaking to us,” we will be disappointed.

GOD will communicate with us at the level of our knowledge of Him, with total understanding of our weaknesses because of generations of sinful lifestyles.... 

In other words, HE will meet us at the level of spirituality that we have reached.

We need to understand that our motives have to be pure and godly, without a trace of carnality or selfishness. 

Jesus never considered Himself, but was focused on the needs of others.....

We have to have a clear understanding of the nature and character of GOD, and the reason as well as purpose of HIS involvement with us. 

If we have a misconception of who HE really is and what HE really says in HIS WORD we will “import” that misconception into our decision-making processes. 

We see this happen all the time. 

People misapply the WORD and make it fit THEIR lifestyles instead of changing their lives in obedience to what HE actually is saying. 

We cannot expect HIM to communicate with us if we are disobedient to HIS WORD!
God gives us the final choice on many matters and HE will not override our decisions even if it is in conflict with HIS WORD.

Otherwise we would have been created as robots....

The choice is ours and we must respond correctly to the level of knowledge we have, in full submission to do His will and NOT ours.

Finally, we also need to understand also that as we build relationship with our friends, we also have to build relationship with the FATHER. 

As that relationship grows and is strengthened, we also understand HIM better and react correctly to what HE is saying.

.... & only then it will be True : "Intimacy..with God, as a precondition for REAL intimacy in Marriage"

Shalom .......... & Maranatha !