Mike Parsons –
This is the relationship God wants us to have: the deepest, most intimate relationship we could ever have with anyone.
He wants to reveal Himself in such a way that this relationship becomes possible, because we are no longer caught up in the issues that have separated us from Him or made us fearful of intimacy.
Often we are afraid of getting close because we think, well, He will really know me. But He already knows us, and He loves us anyway. That love is unconditional. Because of that, we do not need to be afraid to be real or honest with Him. We can share how we feel. We can learn how He feels towards us and be inspired by that. This is real relationship. It is not abstract or distant. It is real, and because it is real, it includes everything.
Sometimes we struggle. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes things happen that we do not understand and we ask, how could God allow that to happen? We have questions. We have doubts. At times, we even experience unbelief. God understands all of that. He is not threatened by it. He wants to draw us closer and closer, deeper and deeper, bringing us to a place where He truly reveals Himself.
As He does that, we begin to see ourselves reflected back in the wonderful mirror of His face. We see ourselves as He made us. He reveals who we really are. He wants us to live in that intimacy, but intimacy always brings change. It brings transformation. Sometimes the crucible gets hot, releasing the things in us that hinder relationship and closeness. But there is no guilt, no shame and no condemnation in that process. There is only love.
It was love that inspired me to trust God and to open my heart and my life fully to Him. It was love that brought me to the judgment seat, where the fire of His presence burned away the wood, hay and stubble of my scroll. It was love that brought me to a place of complete surrender. If I had feared Him, I could never have done that. He wants us to come to a place where the intimacy of His presence reveals the true nature of His heart, and we discover that this is home.
Not knowing who we are keeps us from Him. Sin is not primarily a verb, something we do, but a noun, something we are affected by. We lost our identity, and because we do not know who we are, we feel unworthy, undeserving or unqualified for relationship with God. Sometimes we even think we do not need it. All of these mindsets keep us from the relationship God always intended and has always prepared for us.
God’s desire has always been for us to return to restored innocence, to face-to-face relationship. The things that keep us from that are lies. Paul said that we are alienated in our own minds. God has never been separated from us. We think these things keep us from Him, but in reality, God embraces us as we are. In that intimacy, He reveals who we truly are.
As we come into agreement with that truth, we begin to resonate with it. The frequency of truth changes us. We are entrained into alignment with who we always were, but lost sight of and forgot. It is not behaviour that keeps us from God. It is mindset. It is the way we see ourselves.
That is why God wants to renew our minds, to the true nature of who He is and who we are. He wants us to realise that the only thing that keeps us from Him is our own perception. Once we begin to see rightly, we discover that nothing can separate us from God, not even ourselves, because His love never fails and never gives up.
As the psalmist David said, where can I go from Your presence? If I go into the grave, You are there. If I go into the highest heavens, You are there. In Him we live and move and have our being. We cannot be separated from Him except in our own minds. God has never separated Himself from us.
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422. From Rejection to Acceptance | Understanding Your Identity in Christ
Sons of Issachar 